TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese spacecraft began its approach Thursday toward a distant asteroid on a mission to collect material that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.
Hayabusa2′s descent was delayed for about five hours for a safety check, but the unmanned craft is still due to touch down as scheduled on Friday morning, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.
Beijing, Feb 20 (AP) China is barring foreign travellers from Tibet over a period of several weeks that includes a pair of sensitive political anniversaries questioning the legitimacy of Beijing's rule over the Himalayan region.
Travel agencies contacted Wednesday said foreign tourists would not be allowed back into Tibet until April 1. It's not clear when the ban started, although some monitoring groups said it began this month.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan reports its exports tumbled 8.4 percent in January from a year earlier, as slowing Chinese growth pushed its monthly trade deficit to the highest level in nearly five years.
Exports to all of Asia dropped 13 percent year-on-year, largely due to the 17 percent plunge in shipments to China, where growth recently has fallen to its slowest pace in three decades.
PUTRAJAYA, Feb 20 (NNN- Bernama) – The extradition of former Goldman Sachs managing director, Roger Ng to the United States (US) will only be carried out after his cases in the Malaysian courts are completed, said Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin said this was the advice of Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to him via an official letter a few days ago informing that Ng has to face charges in Malaysia next month.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A former North Korean diplomat says leader Kim Jong Un has no intention of giving up his nuclear weapons and sees his upcoming second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump as a chance to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state.
Thae Yong Ho, who defected to South Korea in 2016, said in a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday that next week’s meeting in Vietnam will be a failure if Trump can’t get Kim to declare he will abandon all of his nuclear facilities and weapons and return North Korea to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement.
19 Feb 2019; DW: The founder of Huawei on Monday claimed there were political motivations behind the arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.
"Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable," Ren Zhengfei told the BBC in his first broadcast interview since the arrest. "The US likes to sanction others, whenever there's an issue, they'll use such combative methods."
19 Feb 2019; DW: After garnering praise for hosting last year's Asian Games, Indonesia has decided to throw its hat into the Olympic ring. If chosen, it could face competition from India and a joint bid by North and South Korea.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo submitted a bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games in a formal letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), state media reported on Tuesday.
SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (NNN-CNA) — The Singapore government will spend about S$22.7 billion, or 30 per cent of its total expenditure in Financial Year (FY) 2019, on defence, security and diplomacy, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in his Budget statement.
In FY2018, defence, security and diplomacy spending accounted for about 28 per cent of the total Government expenditure.
“Given its strategic significance, the Government will continue to invest a significant share of our resources … to support our defence, security and diplomacy efforts,” he told Parliament.
BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Monday unveiled the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to develop the region into "a role model of high-quality development."
The plan was released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council.
Promoting the development of the Greater Bay Area is a major decision made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, said an official in charge of the office of the leading group for developing the area.
BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- China will attract a large pour of foreign investment in 2019, as the country keeps widening foreign access to its capital market, China Securities News reported Monday.
In 2018, China's capital market welcomed a record-high overseas investment of 120 billion U.S. dollars, the newspaper said, citing a report released by the Citibank.
The bank also projects that foreign capital worth 200 billion U.S. dollars will flow to China's capital market this year.
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