China

TAIYUAN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A modified version of the Long March-6 carrier rocket with solid strap-on boosters made its maiden flight on Tuesday, sending two satellites into planned orbit.

The rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province at 5:50 p.m. (Beijing Time).

The modified rocket is China's first type of carrier rocket equipped with solid strap-on boosters. It uses non-toxic and non-polluting propellants and can send satellites to the sun-synchronous orbit.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities sought to reassure companies and jittery investors on Tuesday as a two-phase lockdown of Shanghai’s 26 million people entered its second day, casting an unusual quiet over the normally bustling center of finance, manufacturing and trade.

The omicron outbreak in Shanghai is one of a series across the country that is testing the government’s ability to enforce a strict “zero-COVID” strategy without overly disrupting the economy and people’s daily lives.

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- China has announced tax-relief policies for parents rearing children under 3 years old, according to a State Council circular issued on Monday.

Starting Jan. 1, 2022, the individual taxable income of such parents can be reduced by a total of 1,000 yuan (157 U.S. dollars) per month for each baby, said the circular.

The deduction can be applied in full by one parent or can be split evenly, added the circular.

NANNING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- All 132 victims of the China Eastern Airlines plane crash have been identified through DNA testing, an official told a press briefing on Monday.

After the accident, public security authorities across 20 provincial-level regions were organized to identify the victims by collecting DNA samples of those on board and their relatives, said Liu Kaihui, an official with the Ministry of Public Security.

BEIJING (AP) — China began its most extensive lockdown in two years Monday to conduct mass testing and control a growing outbreak in Shanghai as questions are raised about the economic toll of the nation’s “zero-COVID” strategy.

BEIJING, March 27 (APP): In the changing international scenario, further strengthening comprehensive strategic cooperative relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is not only in line with the core interests of their respective countries, but also conducive to driving the Muslim world to play a greater role in world and regional affairs.

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-2 has separated from the core module of the country's space station Sunday afternoon, announced the China Manned Space Agency.  

BEIJING (AP) — The second “black box” has been recovered from the crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 that killed all 132 people on board last week, Chinese state media said Sunday.

Firefighters taking part in the search found the recorder, an orange cylinder, on a mountain slope about 1.5 meters (5 feet) underground, state broadcaster CCTV said. Experts confirmed it was the second black box. The impact of the crash scattered debris widely and created a 20-meter- (65-foot-) deep pit in the side of the mountain.

NANNING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- All 132 people on board China Eastern Airlines' plane that crashed Monday in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were dead, official sources said Saturday night.

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Friday reported 1,280 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, down from 1,301 on Thursday, according to the National Health Commission.

Of the new local infections, 1,122 were reported in the province of Jilin, 38 in Shanghai, 35 in Tianjin, 19 in Hebei, and 14 in Liaoning.

The rest of the cases were reported in 15 other provincial-level regions, including Heilongjiang and Gansu.

A total of 55 imported COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, said the commission in its daily report.