BEIJING: Three Chinese astronauts yesterday entered a space module after carrying out a docking manoeuvre, state media said, two days after the launch of the country’s longest manned space mission. The astronauts entered Tiangong-1 at 0817 GMT, almost three hours after their spacecraft Shenzhou-10 linked up with the laboratory in an “automated docking”, Xinhua said, citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre. Beijing sees the multi-billion-dollar programme as a symbol of its growing global stature and technical expertise, and of the ruling Communist Party’s success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
Xi receives Taiwan team
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping met a senior Taiwanese official in Beijing yesterday, state media said, amid improving relations between the two sides. Xi met Wu Poh-hsiung, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang Party, which governs Taiwan, on the second day of a three-day visit by a high-level delegation. Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou initiated detente with Beijing when he came to power in 2008.
Seoul warned over dialogue
SEOUL: North Korea yesterday accused South of deliberately sabotaging planned high-level talks with “arrogant obstructions” and warned that prospects for any future dialogue had been severely damaged. The talks initiative had been seen as a step forward after months of soaring military tensions, but its collapse has instead resulted in a sizeable backwards stride. “The South side had no intent to hold dialogue from the beginning,” said a spokesman for the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.
Self-immolation nun saved
BEIJING: A Tibetan nun who set fire to herself in protest against the Chinese rule has been saved, Radio Free Asia said yesterday. She set herself ablaze near Nyitso monastery, the scene of similar protests, in Daofu County, an area with ethnic Tibetans in China’s southwestern Sichuan province. It also said that the nun, who was not identified, had set herself ablaze at about 5pm on Tuesday during a “large religious gathering”.
New Nazi party in Myanmar
NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar has a newly registered Nazi party, the Rakhine National Development Party, created in the wake of anti-Muslim violence in Rakhine State. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has dined publicly with its leaders, confirming the strength of race-based politics in the country, where fawning by Western interests has helped to create a sense of invincibility regarding such fascist attitudes.
Kids missing after mishap
Beijing: Rescuers were still searching for five children who went missing after a minibus plunged into a river in southeast China’s Fujian Province, officials said yesterday. The seven-seat minibus carrying 10 people went into a 10-meter-deep river in the city of Zhangzhou. Five people swam to safety.
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