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BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s first Mars rover should launch later this month, authorities said Wednesday, as the country races to catch up with the US dominance of space. The Tianwen-1 Mars rover is scheduled to blast off from Hainan island, off China’s south coast, between July 20 – 25, according to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It will be China’s first interplanetary mission, and takes place shortly before the next US Mars rover — […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing lifted several lockdowns imposed to control a fresh coronavirus outbreak and reported just three new cases in the city on Wednesday, raising hopes that the cluster had been brought under control. The Chinese capital had closed off dozens of residential compounds and carried out mass testing last month after hundreds of infections raised fears of a virus resurgence. But five residential communities that have had no new virus cases during […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada warned its citizens in Hong Kong on Wednesday that they faced a higher risk of arbitrary detention and extradition to mainland China after Beijing imposed a new security law on the city. The warning illustrates Western governments’ heightened concern for citizens under the new law that criminalizes subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. “You may be at increased risk of arbitrary detention on national security grounds and possible […]
by Bhuvan BAGGA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — TikTok denied Tuesday sharing Indian users’ data with the Chinese government, after New Delhi banned the wildly popular app in a sharp deterioration of relations with Beijing two weeks after a deadly border clash. “TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government,” […]
by Jerome TAYLOR / Yan ZHAO HONG KONG, China (AFP) — China passed a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong on Tuesday, a historic move that critics and many western governments fear will smother the finance hub’s freedoms and hollow out its autonomy. The legislation was unanimously approved by China’s rubber-stamp parliament, little more than six weeks after it was first unveiled, sending shockwaves through semi-autonomous Hong Kong and beyond. The United States, Britain, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the US science journal PNAS. Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009. It possesses “all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans,” say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities, and China’s Centers for […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s military has approved a coronavirus vaccine for use within its ranks that has been developed by its research unit and a biotech firm, the company said Monday. Organisations around the world are racing to find ways to treat and prevent the deadly pathogen, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has since killed over half a million people worldwide. More than half of 17 candidate vaccines […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — A giant panda gifted by China to Taiwan has given birth to a second female cub after being artificially inseminated, Taipei Zoo announced Monday. Yuan Yuan and her partner Tuan Tuan have been top attractions since arriving from China in 2008 as a symbol of what were then warm relations between the two sides. The unnamed cub, weighing 186 grams, was born on Sunday after five-hour labor, the zoo said. “We […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — The wife of one of two Canadians imprisoned in China said Sunday she is “disappointed” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s refusal to consider a swap for a detained Huawei executive facing extradition to the United States. Trudeau firmly rejected appeals that he intervene in the extradition proceedings against Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, in order to win the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Trudeau said such a […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Torrential weekend rains killed at least 12 people in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, state media reported Monday, as rising waters sparked mass evacuations during the annual flood season. The toll from the heavy rainstorm in Mianning county included two people who died when several vehicles plunged into a river after flooding damaged a highway. Ten others were missing and more than 7,000 had been evacuated from their homes, the official Xinhua […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Philippine rescuers were searching Monday for 14 people missing after a local fishing boat collided with a cargo ship, authorities said. The boats crashed early Sunday in waters southwest of Manila, capsizing the Philippine fishing vessel Liberty 5 off the coast of Occidental Mindoro province. The captain of the cargo ship Vienna Wood, which is registered in Hong Kong, called for help “a few hours later” and the vessel was being […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China imposed a strict lockdown on nearly half a million people in a province surrounding the capital to contain a fresh coronavirus cluster on Sunday, as authorities warned the outbreak was still “severe and complicated.” After China largely brought the virus under control, hundreds have been infected in Beijing and cases have emerged in neighbouring Hebei province in recent weeks. Health officials said Sunday that Anxin county — about 150 […]
