China

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There's a Space Race On, and China Could Win It

'We better watch out,' says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson

(Newser) - "It is a fact: We're in a space race," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told Politico in a recent interview. And it's not just about politics and bragging rights—there are both national security and practical implications, according to many US officials. "We better watch out...

US Says Chinese Intercept Could Have Caused Collision

Fighter jet flew dangerously close to US plane over South China Sea, military says

(Newser) - The US military says a Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to an Air Force plane over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to maneuver to avoid a collision. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement Thursday that the incident occurred Dec. 21 when the Chinese People's...

US Says Travelers From China Need to Show Negative COVID Test

Officials cite lack of transparency from Beijing on spread of COVID

(Newser) - This story has been updated with new developments. As China prepares to drop most COVID restrictions for incoming travelers, the US is bringing in new restrictions for travelers from China. Officials announced Wednesday that starting Jan. 5, all air passengers from China, Hong Kong, and Macao will be required to...

Dense Fog Leads to Deadly Bridge Pile-Up

As many as 290 cars were involved in the incident on the Zhengxin Huanghe Bridge

(Newser) - It was a wild scene on a bridge in Zhengzhou, China, on Wednesday as dense fog caused a massive pileup. One person was killed in the incident, which happened when visibility dropped to a little over a tenth of a mile in places, reports Reuters . Videos and images posted to...

Taiwan Changes Mandated Military Service to One Year

'Peace does not come from the sky,' President Tsai says of new conscription plan

(Newser) - Taiwan will extend its compulsory military service from four months to a year starting in 2024, President Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday, as the self-ruled island faces China's military, diplomatic, and trade pressures. Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 during a civil war, is claimed by China. The...

China Makes a Big Move About Its Borders

Beijing significantly eases COVID rules for incoming travelers

(Newser) - COVID cases may be rising dramatically in China , but the government is not easing up on its relaxation of rules. The latest move has stock markets up internationally on Tuesday and stock futures rising in the US: Beijing said it will stop requiring incoming travelers to go into quarantine as...

Amid Staggering Estimates, China Halts COVID Data

Nation will no longer publish daily case counts; reports suggest about 20% of country is infected

(Newser) - By nearly all accounts, the number of COVID cases in China is exploding. Just don't look for official counts anymore from the government. Beijing's National Health Commission said this weekend that it would no longer publish daily case counts, reports NPR . The commission will instead delegate such data...

China Faces 'Very Hard Road' in COVID Fight

Experts predict up to 2M deaths next year

(Newser) - Nearly three years after it was first identified in China, the coronavirus is now spreading through the vast country. Experts predict difficult months ahead for its 1.4 billion people. China’s unyielding "zero-COVID" approach, which aimed to isolate all infected people, bought it years to prepare for the...

China Sees First COVID Deaths in Weeks. 1M Could Follow

Experts are worried about what's to come

(Newser) - China on Monday reported its first deaths linked to COVID-19 since Dec. 4—and there could be many more to come, experts tell ABC News . The following day, five deaths reported in Beijing brought China's COVID death toll to 5,242, a number the AP says is "relatively...

Senate Fears Federal Workers Are Using a 'Trojan Horse'

It passes bill that would bar the downloading, use of TikTok on government devices

(Newser) - TikTok has seen a smackdown of sorts across the nation, with multiple states banning use of the video hosting service on government devices. Now the Senate has voted in favor of a similar ban for federal employees, passing a bill that will need House approval before making its way to...

India: Chinese Troops Just 'Tried to Change the Status Quo'

Soldiers clash along contested 'Line of Actual Control' between 2 nations; minor injuries reported

(Newser) - Soldiers from India and China clashed last week along their disputed border, India's defense minister said Tuesday, in the latest violence along the contested frontier since June 2020, when troops from both countries engaged in a deadly brawl. Rajnath Singh, who addressed lawmakers in Parliament, said Friday's encounter...

China Mothballs COVID Travel Tracker

Hospitals are bracing for surge in cases as restrictions are eased

(Newser) - After almost three years, China's national COVID-19 people-tracking app is being deactivated. Authorities say the app will be shut down at the end of Monday, the BBC reports. The move, the latest shift away from the country's strict "zero COVID" policy, is being seen as a highly...

China Relaxes 'Zero COVID' Measures

But the road ahead could be rough

(Newser) - China began implementing a more relaxed version of its strict "zero COVID" policy on Thursday amid steps to restore normal life, but also trepidation over a possible broader outbreak once controls are eased. The country reported 21,165 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, though it was unclear whether the...

1.2M Pigs to Meet Demise Annually in New 'Pig Hotel'

Dozens of similar facilities are planned in coming years

(Newser) - Pigs are big business in China, which consumes about half of the world’s pork, but pig farms require lots of space. They also produce a slurry of toxic biproducts and—above all—are vulnerable to disease outbreaks like African swine fever, which wiped out 100 million pigs between 2018...

China's Xi Is Battling a Potent Weapon: Mockery

Nicholas Kristof weighs in on the China protests

(Newser) - Nicholas Kristof was the New York Times bureau chief in Beijing when the Tiananmen Square protests erupted in 1989, but he's not pretending to know how China's current unrest will end. His advice? "Run from anyone who predicts confidently where China is headed," he writes in...

China Signals Shift Away From 'Zero COVID' Policy

Country faces 'new stage and mission' in pandemic fight, top official says

(Newser) - Chinese authorities have vowed to "resolutely crack down" on protests against the country's harsh "zero COVID" policies—but they also appear to be moving away from those same policies, despite rising case numbers. Dozens of districts in Shanghai and Guangzhou have been released from lockdown measures and...

After Tiananmen, This Chinese Leader Defied Predictions

Former President Jiang Zemin, who led his nation out of isolation, is dead at age 96

(Newser) - Former President Jiang Zemin, who led China out of isolation after the army crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989 and supported economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth, died Wednesday. He was 96. Jiang died of leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai, where he...

China Will Nearly Quadruple Its Nuclear Warheads by 2035

Country is building up its stockpile at a rapid pace: Pentagon report

(Newser) - China is building up its stockpile of nuclear warheads at a fast clip, and if it keeps up its current pace, it will have 1,500 of them by 2035, according to the Pentagon's most recent annual report on China's military. In 2020, the US estimated China's...

To Curb Protests, China Sends Students Home

Police have stepped up activity in Shanghai, Beijing

(Newser) - Chinese universities sent students home and police fanned out in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent more protests Tuesday after crowds angered by severe anti-COVID restrictions called for leader Xi Jinping to resign in the biggest show of public dissent in decades. Authorities have eased some controls after demonstrations in at...

Flood of Spam Drowns Out China Protest News on Twitter

Searches for Chinese cities were overwhelmed by porn, escort service ads

(Newser) - On Twitter, news of the protests in China was obscured by a flood of spam on Sunday, much of it advertising escort services and pornography. TechCrunch calls it a "great wall of porn" that overwhelmed search results for Beijing, Shanghai, and other major Chinese cities, especially when Chinese-language search...

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