Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
HUAILAI, China (AFP) — China on Thursday completed a test of its Mars exploration lander ahead of Beijing’s first mission to the red planet slated for 2020. Beijing is pouring billions into its military-run space program, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022. Thursday’s hovering and obstacle-avoidance test, which took place in northern Hebei province, was conducted in a facility that simulated conditions on Mars. A red platform with steel cables attached […]
by Yan ZHAO / Catherine LAI HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to Hong Kong’s streets Friday, defying a warning by Chinese President Xi Jinping, as a campaign of mass disruption extended into a fifth straight day. Black-clad protesters also occupied university campuses, while office workers endured another day of transport chaos with suspensions on the vandalized train network and roads blocked by barricades. Hong Kong has seen relentless protests since […]
by Yan ZHAO / Catherine LAI HONG KONG, China (AFP) — China’s President Xi Jinping warned Thursday that protests in Hong Kong threaten the “one country, two systems” principle governing the semi-autonomous city that has tipped into worsening violence with two dead in a week. Hong Kong has been ruled by a unique system guaranteeing greater freedoms than on the mainland since its handover from British rule to China in 1997. But protests, which began […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Pro-democracy protesters challenging China’s rule of Hong Kong on Thursday choked the city for a fourth straight working day, firing arrows at police, barricading roads and disrupting transport links, as schools and businesses closed. The territory has entered its sixth month of protests, which have morphed from mass rallies into a “blossom everywhere” campaign of debilitating disruption by groups of black-clad mainly student demonstrators. Key arterial roads were clogged by […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Two people in Beijing have been diagnosed with the pneumonic plague — a rare instance of the highly-contagious disease that is fatal if left untreated. The two individuals were being treated at a central hospital in China’s capital city — home to over 21 million inhabitants — on Tuesday, local authorities said. Pneumonic plague can prove fatal in 24 to 72 hours and is the “most virulent form of plague,” according […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Mainland Chinese students have begun fleeing Hong Kong campuses over security fears, police and university officials said Wednesday, as the city’s seething political crisis saw some of its worst violence this week. The most intense clashes on Tuesday occurred at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where pitched battles were fought with the police firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets and protesters throwing petrol bombs and bricks, […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Pro-democracy protesters Wednesday stepped up a “blossom everywhere” campaign of road blocks and vandalism across Hong Kong that has crippled the international financial hub this week and ignited some of the worst violence in five months of unrest. The new phase in the crisis, which has forced schools and shopping malls to close as well as the shutdown of large chunks of the vital train network, prompted police to […]
by Su Xinqi and Jerome Taylor HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters fought intense battles with riot police on a university campus and paralyzed the city’s upmarket business district Tuesday, extending one of the most violent stretches of unrest seen in more than five months of political chaos. The confrontations followed a particularly brutal day on Monday when police shot a protester and a man was set on fire, prompting calls from […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — More than 50 people, mostly children, were injured by a man who broke into a kindergarten in southwest China and sprayed them with corrosive liquid, local authorities said Tuesday. The suspect, a 23-year-old surnamed Kong, entered the kindergarten by climbing a wall before spraying victims with sodium hydroxide, said local authorities in Kaiyuan city, Yunnan province. The attack took place on Monday at 3:35 pm (0735 GMT), authorities said on […]
by Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong protesters struck the city’s transport network for a second day running on Tuesday as western powers voiced concern over spiraling violence after police shot a young demonstrator and another man was set on fire. Small bands of masked protesters blocked roads, threw objects onto train tracks and held up subway trains, sparking cat and mouse clashes with riot police and renewed chaos […]
by Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi Agence France Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A police officer shot a masked protester in an incident shown live on Facebook and a man was set on fire Monday during one of the most violent days of clashes in Hong Kong since pro-democracy unrest erupted more than five months ago. Protesters, who had already begun a city-wide day of action aimed at paralyzing the international financial hub, […]
by Dan Martin SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Chinese customers spent billions of dollars during the opening hours of the country’s annual “Singles’ Day” frenzy Monday, the world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event that was kicked off by US megastar Taylor Swift. E-commerce giant Alibaba said the first $1 billion spent on its platforms was reached in just 68 seconds. The total gross merchandise volume settled through its payments platform Alipay hit 100 billion yuan ($14.3 billion) […]
