China

24 Apr 2019; DW: A court in Hong Kong handed down sentences of up to 16 months to eight leaders of the city's "Umbrella Movement" on Wednesday, a month after they were found guilty of organizing a 79-day pro-democracy protest in 2014.

The movement had demanded Hong Kong's 5 million voters be given the right to choose the leader of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

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24 Apr 2019; DW: Oil prices surged to a nearly six-month high after the US government said it would not extend sanctions exemptions to countries importing oil from Iran when they expire in early May.

Eight governments — India, China, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — had been given six months to wean themselves off Iranian oil. Greece, Italy and Taiwan are believed to have eliminated imports from Iran. 

UNITED NATIONS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the Belt and Road Initiative is a "very important opportunity" to the world.

Beijing, Apri 23 (AFP) President Xi Jinping will lead a hard sales push at a Beijing summit this week, to corral more countries into a global infrastructure project at the core of China's superpower ambitions and win over those who see a strategic threat.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) envisages massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects across 65 countries from Asia to Europe and Africa that collectively account for 30 per cent of global GDP.

Tehran, April 22, IRNA - A delegation from Iran's Expediency Council is in China to take part in the country's Belt and Road Initiative.

22 Apr 2019; DW: US electric carmaker Tesla said on Monday it was investigating a video that had gone viral in China that appeared to show one of its cars spontaneously catching fire.

"After finding out about this incident in Shanghai, we immediately sent a team to the scene. We are currently contacting relevant departments to understand the situation. Based on current information, no one was hurt," Tesla wrote on Weibo, the main Chinese social media site.

SHENZHEN, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech giant Huawei's revenue rose 39 percent year on year to 179.7 billion yuan (26.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, the company announced on Monday.

The company's net profit margin in the first quarter was about 8 percent, slightly higher than in the same period last year.

Beijing, Apr 19 (PTI) China said Friday it was ready to hold a Wuhan-style summit meeting with India this year to improve ties, notwithstanding the differences over the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship project.

SHANGHAI (AP) — China’s economic growth held steady in the latest quarter despite a tariff war with Washington as Beijing’s efforts to reverse a slowdown started to gain traction.

The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.4% over a year earlier in the three months ending in March, the government reported Wednesday. That matched the previous quarter for the weakest growth since 2009.

“This confirms that China’s economic growth is bottoming out and this momentum is likely to continue,” said Tai Hui of JP Morgan Asset Management in a report.

GUANGZHOU, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The 125th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, opened Monday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, with over half of companies attending its import fair hailing from Belt and Road countries and regions.

The spring session of the biannual fair holds import exhibitions in its first and third phases, with 1,000 booths booked by 650 enterprises from 38 countries and regions.