China

BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua): Students from across the country are working to showcase the skills of artificial intelligence during a national vocational students' skills competition which started Sunday.

Events involving big data, cloud computing, intelligent logistics and smart homes will be held between students from China's vocational schools at this year's competition, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Education.

Skills related to national strategic industries such as information technologies, intelligent manufacturing and new energy are also included.

6 May 2019; DW: China told two US warships to turn back after they were sailing near disputed islands without permission. The busy waterway is the latest flashpoint as relations between the world's biggest economies continue to strain.

China said on Monday that it has warned two US ships sailing near disputed islands in the South China Sea to leave the area.

The move comes amid heightened tension between Beijing and Washington over trade tariffs, sanctions and Taiwan.

Washington, May 6 (PTI) China is considering to cancel the high-level trade talks with the US, multiple media reports have said, hours after President Donald Trump threatened to impose more punishing tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese products.

President Trump's remarks came on Sunday as the two countries locked in a longstanding trade war seemed near to striking a trade deal.

BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua): Canadian artistic swimmers enjoyed a flying start as Jacqueline Simoneau topped the solo technical and later joined with Cluadia Holzner to claim victory in duet technical routine on the first day of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series (CHN) held here on Saturday.

Simoneau breezed to win in 88.3898 points, beating Oleksand Burdova of Ukraine at 84.0224.

BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua): China has strengthened the intellectual property rights (IPR) protection of traditional culture, crafts and intangible cultural heritage, according to a report from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The report recalled the inscription of China's Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2018.

KUNMING, May 2 (Xinhua): Southwest China's Yunnan Province exported 7,108 tonnes of tea worth 33.1 million U.S. dollars in 2018, the provincial agriculture and rural affairs department said.

The planting area of tea in Yunnan reached 420,000 hectares, with a total yield of 16.7 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U. S. dollars), said Wei Min, deputy head of the department.

Yunnan is a major tea production base in China, with the locally produced Pu'er tea being especially popular in China and abroad.

2 May 2019; DW: Police in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China are using a mass surveillance app to target the Uighur Muslim population, a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

The tool profiles people by labeling "completely lawful" behavior as suspicious, in order to help authorities detain the religious minority, the report said.

May 1, 2019; GANASHAKTI: Millions of workers across the world poured into the streets Wednesday for International Workers’ Day, an annual working-class rebellion known as May Day.

Bus drivers and housekeepers in Hong Kong rallied for a 44-hour workweek. Garment workers in Bangladesh demanded paid maternity leave. In the Philippines, workers marched for a higher minimum wage.

BEIJING (AP) — American and Chinese trade negotiators began more talks Wednesday aimed at ending a tariff war after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said U.S. officials might be moving toward a decision on whether to make a deal with Beijing.

No agreements have been announced but both governments say they are making progress. That has helped to reassure jittery global financial markets.

Washington is pressing Beijing to roll back industry development plans it says are based in part on stolen technology and that violate its market-opening commitments.

Beijing, Apr 30 (AFP) China Tuesday rejected "any interference" in its internal affairs after UN chief Antonio Guterres raised the plight of ethnic Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang region during a visit to Beijing.

Guterres had been under pressure from rights groups to publicly confront Beijing over the mass detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities in Xinjiang during his trip.