China

Wuhan, Mar 10 (AFP/PTI) Hard-hit Hubei, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China, will relax travel restrictions to allow healthy people to move within the province, officials said on Tuesday.

Hubei has been under lockdown since January with some 56 million people under quarantine, but the number of cases has declined in recent weeks.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Automakers across the world face the possibility of extended supply chain disruptions as factories in China stutter back to life after closures due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The car industry is especially exposed as Wuhan - the epicenter of the outbreak - is known as one of China’s ‘Detroits’, accounting for nearly 10% of vehicles made in the country and home to hundreds of parts suppliers.

XICHANG, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China launched a new satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 7:55 p.m. Monday (Beijing Time), only one step away from completing the whole global system.

The satellite, the 54th of the BeiDou family, was sent into a geostationary orbit as planned by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets took a breather from recent steep declines on Tuesday, with several regional benchmarks gaining more than 1% after New York futures reversed on news that President Donald Trump plans to ask Congress for a tax cut and other quick measures to ease the pain of the virus outbreak.

Tuesday’s rebounds followed Wall Street’s biggest one-day drop since the 2008 global crisis. Oil prices also bounced back from a record-setting fall.

BEIJING, Mar 9 APP): China’s bustling daily life, ground to a halt by COVID-19 since January this year, has started showing signs of normality with steady and gradual spell of restorations.

Embattling the most harsh lockdown and soon picking up momentum from the resumption of work, China, the second largest economy in the world that is expected to account for more than 16 percent of global GDP in 2019, has sent ripples through its people as well as the international community, according to an article published by China Economic Net (CEN).

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Apple sold fewer than half a million smartphones in China in February, government data showed on Monday, as the coronavirus outbreak halved demand for all such devices.

China placed curbs on travel and asked residents to avoid public places in late January, just ahead of the Lunar New Year festival, a major gift-giving holiday. Those restrictions stayed largely in place through most of February.

BEIJING (AP) — As the rest of the world grapples with a burgeoning virus outbreak, China’s ruling Communist Party has deployed its propaganda playbook to portray its leader as firmly in charge, leading an army of health workers in a “people’s war” against the disease.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and oil prices plunged Monday after a squabble among crude producers jolted investors who already were on edge about the surging costs of a virus outbreak.

The main stock indexes in London and Frankfurt dropped by more 8% at the opening. Tokyo closed down 5.1% while Sydney lost 7.3% and Shanghai was off 3%.

The benchmark U.S. crude price fell as much as 30%, deepening a rout that began when Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major producers failed to agree on how much to cut output to prop up prices.

BEIJING, March 8 (APP): China will dispatch the first batch of supplies to Karachi to assist the Pakistani authorities in controlling the locust disaster.

The first batch of the aid materials, to be dispatched on Monday will include 50,000 liters of pesticides and 14 air-powered high-efficiency remote sprayers, according to China Economic Net here on Sunday.

FUZHOU, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The death toll has risen to 10 as of 4:00 p.m. Sunday after a hotel building collapsed in east China's Fujian Province Saturday evening, local authorities said.

Forty-eight people had been rescued and 23 others remain trapped.

The Xinjia Hotel collapsed at around 7:05 p.m. in Licheng District of the city of Quanzhou, trapping 71 people.

A preliminary investigation showed the hotel building was being decorated when the accident occurred and the owner of the building has been put under police control.