Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sea trials of China's second aircraft carrier have been conducted safely and smoothly and achieved the anticipated goals, China's Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for the ministry, said at a regular press conference that the aircraft carrier left a dock at Dalian Shipyard in northeast China's Liaoning Province in recent days for the sea trials to test its equipment platform and facilities.

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China is unveiling new tax cuts to boost the real economy while working to ensure full implementation of all existing tax reduction measures, a State Council's executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Thursday.

BEIJING (AP) — China will make economic changes at its own pace regardless of U.S. pressure, and their worsening dispute over technology policy can only be solved through negotiations as equals, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

The comments reinforced Beijing’s rejection of U.S. demands to scale back technology plans Washington says violate China’s free-trade commitments and might erode American industrial leadership.

By SAM McNEIL

BEIJING; 30 Aug 2018; (AP) — A rare public protest by thousands of Hui Muslims this month was caused by local officials’ recklessness, Chinese authorities said Thursday, without settling concerns a large mosque in the northwestern region would be razed.

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A national-level platform to alert the public about online rumors and refute slander was launched in Beijing Wednesday.

The platform is hosted by the Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center under the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and operated by xinhuanet.com.

The platform operates under the guidance of 27 units, such as the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Facebook said Monday that it is banning Myanmar’s powerful military chief and 19 other individuals and organizations from its site to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation.

The social media giant was heavily criticized for permitting itself to be used to inflame ethnic and religious conflict in the country, particularly against minority Rohingya Muslims. It has been accused of being lax in fighting online misinformation and manipulation in many countries, but Myanmar is one where it has been most closely tied to deadly violence.

By Meryem Goktas

ANKARA; 27 Aug 2018; AA: The UN on Monday called for an investigation and prosecution of Myanmar's top military officials for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Rohingya Muslims.

According to a report by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, human rights violations and abuses committed in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan States need to be probed at the International Criminal Court.

WUHAN, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The China-Europe freight rail service network, a crucial part of the Belt and Road Initiative, has expanded rapidly, reaching 10,000 trips.

Sunday's arrival of freight train X8044 from Hamburg, Germany at Wujiashan railway container center station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, marked the 10,000th trip since its beginning of operation in March 2011.

BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's major industrial firms posted steady profit growth in the first seven months of 2018, official statistics showed Monday.

Profits at China's major industrial firms grew 17.1 percent in the first seven months, slightly down from the 17.2 percent expansion for January-June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

GUANGZHOU, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's independently-developed large amphibious aircraft, the AG600, has completed trial flights from a land take-off and entered a new test phase from the water.

The AG600, codenamed "Kunlong," successfully finished a trial flight from an airport in the city of Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, to an airport in Jingmen, a city in central China's Hubei Province, on Sunday, according to China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. Ltd.

The company said that it marked the start of a new journey for AG600 -- a test phase on the water.