Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

CHENGDU, May 17 (Xinhua): Having trouble discerning one furry panda from another? A facial recognition app will make it easy for you.

The app is developed by the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas along with researchers in Singapore Nanyang Technological university and Sichuan Normal University.

The image analysis research kicked off in 2017. A database now contains about 120,000 images and 10,000 video clips of giant pandas. Close to 10,000 panda pictures have been analyzed, marked and annotated.

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua): Instead of sitting in classrooms, students in China are encouraged to take part in outdoor sports to prevent myopia and maintain health.

Students from Beijing Primary School were acclaimed Wednesday as an example of China's efforts to promote health education by showcasing their exercise routine, such as soccer and basketball, at the opening ceremony of a thematic health education activity, China Education Daily reported.

PHNOM PENH, May 17 (Xinhua): Cambodia sent the sixth batch of 298 troops, including 25 women, to join a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in the war-torn West African nation of Mali on Friday.

The troops would substitute the fifth batch, whose one-year term had come to an end, Pol Saroeun, a senior minister in charge of sending troops to the UN peacekeeping missions, said during a sending-off ceremony held at the Phnom Penh International Airport.

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua): China hopes to work with the Iranian side to eliminate complicated disturbing factors and make efforts for the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday.

Wang made the remarks when meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

XICHANG, May 17 (Xinhua): China sent a new satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 11:48 p.m. Friday.

Launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket, it is the fourth BDS-2 backup satellite and the 45th satellite of the BDS satellite family.

After being sent to the geostationary earth orbit and in-orbit tests, it will be connected to the BDS to provide users with more reliable services and enhance the stability of the constellation.

HOHHOT, May 18 (Xinhua): The Helan Mountains in Alxa League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is starting to heal from decades of overexploitation, under an ecological restoration campaign launched by the local government three years ago.

According to Zhang Baojun, deputy director of the management bureau of Helan Mountains national nature reserve, facilities of 15 mining enterprises have been demolished, 17 coal mines permanently closed, over 3 million cubic meters of mining pits refilled, and the vegetation in a 667-hectare mining area restored.

17 May 2019; DW: The next-generation ALFA-X train is on course to become the fastest in the world. Testing will continue for three years, and the train is scheduled to go into use in 2030.

Japan's JR-EAST rail company unveiled a next-generation Shinkansen bullet train codenamed ALFA-X on Thursday. The company said the €82 million ($91 million) 10-car train, which was completed in early May, had already reached speeds of 320 km/h (198 mph).

DUSHANBE, May 17./TASS/: Russia will announce new anti-terrorist initiatives at the upcoming G20 summit, work on them is underway, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told TASS on Friday.

"They [initiatives] are being prepared at the moment, I am not yet ready to say exactly what kind of initiatives these will be, we still have a month-and-a-half before the G20 [summit]," the diplomat added.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s trade negotiator said Friday Washington won’t be demanding any numerical restrictions on Japanese auto exports to the U.S.

Toshimitsu Motegi, the economy minister, told reporters he had confirmed this by speaking with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The comments could not immediately be confirmed after office hours in the U.S. Earlier, media reports said this was a possibility.

TASHKENT, May 16 (Xinhua): The Uzbek National Guard and the Chinese People's Armed Police Force concluded their two-week-long joint anti-terror exercise code-named "Cooperation-2019" at the Forish field training base in the Jizzakh region on Wednesday.

The high level and the quality of the joint exercise have strengthened the friendship and mutual trust between the National Guard of Uzbekistan and People's Armed Police Force of China, said Bakhodir Toshmatov, the commander of the Uzbek National Guard, at a ceremony marking the accomplishment of the joint drills.