China

(Reuters) --- China will hold discussion on building a defence system against near-earth asteroids, a senior space agency official said on Saturday, as the country steps up efforts towards realizing its longer term space ambitions.

Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, didn't provide any further details in his opening remarks at a ceremony for China's space day in the eastern city of Nanjing.

NANJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia's aerospace authorities have invited all interested countries, international organizations and partners to cooperate in a moon station project.

The announcement was made by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos at a conference for the international moon station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province on Friday.

URUMQI, China (AP) — A spokesperson for the Xinjiang region called accusations of genocide “counter to the facts” as China came under more pressure this week over its treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group in the remote border area.

The British Parliament approved a nonbinding motion Thursday that said China’s policies amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Human Right Watch appealed to the U.N. earlier in the week to investigate the allegations of crimes against humanity.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s first Mars rover will be named Zhurong after a traditional fire god, the government announced Saturday.

The rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 probe that arrived in Mars orbit on Feb. 24 and is due to land in May to look for evidence of life.

It is part of Chinese space plans that include launching a crewed orbital station and landing a human on the moon. China in 2019 became the first country to land a space probe on the little-explored far side of the moon and in December returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s.

BEIJING, April 22 (APP): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s visit to Iran is of special importance during which both sides discussed regional security and economic cooperation.

“I have noticed two important points: one is that both sides discussed regional security issues, and the other is that both sides discussed economic cooperation under the new situation,” Cheng Xizhong, Visiting Professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law and former Defense Attache in South Asian countries said on Thursday.

(Reuters) --- China is set to resume cargo train service with North Korea, people familiar with the matter said, following a 15-month border closure due to COVID-19, as trade with the impoverished and isolated country begins to rebound.

The bridge linking the city of Dandong with Sinuiju, across the Yalu River in North Korea, will partially reopen to allow cargo train service "sometime before or after May 1", the head of a transportation company handling cross-border trade told Reuters on Wednesday.

(Reuters) --- Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Thursday that China hoped the upcoming ASEAN summit on member Myanmar would pave the way for a “soft landing”.

The in-person summit in Jakarta on Saturday is the first concerted international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, where security forces have killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters since a Feb. 1 coup.

WENCHANG, Hainan, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The combination of the core module of China's space station, Tianhe, and the Long March-5B Y2 rocket has been transported to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province on Friday.

The combination will then undergo various pre-launch function tests and joint tests as planned, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The facilities and equipment at the launch site are in good condition and preparations have been carried out as scheduled, the agency said. 

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Friday after Wall Street fell following a report that President Joe Biden will propose raising taxes on the wealthiest investors.

Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul rose while Tokyo and Sydney retreated.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.9% overnight after Bloomberg News, citing unidentified sources, said Biden will propose raising taxes on people who make more than $1 million on stock trades.

(Reuters) --- A Hong Kong court found a journalist guilty on Thursday of making false statements to obtain data for a documentary on the police handling of a mob attack on pro-democracy protesters, reporters and bystanders in 2019.

The case has fuelled concern over a crackdown on press freedom in the Chinese-ruled city, which has become increasingly authoritarian after a sweeping national security law imposed last year.