xinhua

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said on Monday that as many as 293,764 people remained affected by the drought in five northern districts of the island country. In its situation report issued on Monday, the DMC said Puttalam, Kurunegala, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Mannar were the five districts hit by the drought. Sri Lanka […]

BEIJING: Chinese authorities have retrieved 730 million yuan (about 111.8 million U.S. dollars) of misused poverty reduction funds in a targeted inspection of how the money was managed. Nearly 450 people have been investigated and punished for fraudulent claims or misappropriation of funds, according to the Ministry of Finance and the State Council Leading Group […]

BEIJING: As the world’s second biggest economy is at a historic transition, its central bank, the People’s Bank of China, (PBOC) has many balls to juggle. Sustaining growth, supporting structural reform, curbing asset bubbles, and averting financial risks — in face of the increasingly delicate tasks, the PBOC’s monetary regulation has also evolved. In the […]

NAIROBI: Nowadays, one can hardly travel around Africa without noticing the presence of Chinese nationals — regardless of whether they are tourists, businessmen, peacekeepers, staff members of medical teams, or employees of Chinese-owned enterprises. No matter which African country they are in, or what sort of occupation they are engaged in, they are the practitioners […]

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will conduct polls on Feb. 10 to elect members to the nation’s 341 local authorities, an official here said on Monday. Sri Lanka Election Commission’s Chairman Mahinda Desapriya told reporters on Monday that nominations were called for the elections these days and the nomination period will end on Dec. 21. The local […]

WASHINGTON: While attention in Asia has been distracted by the North Korean nuclear crisis in the past year, China has continued to install high-frequency radar and other facilities that can be used for military purposes on its man-made islands in the South China Sea, a US think tank said on Thursday. Chinese activity has involved […]

SANYA: China’s southern island province of Hainan has unveiled a satellite launch plan to assist remote sensing coverage over the South China Sea. The Sanyan Institute of Remote Sensing said the mission would start in 2019, when it would launch three optical satellites. After that, it will add another three optical satellites, two hyperspectral satellites […]

SARI PUL: 18 civilians including women and children have been killed and some 5,000 families have fled their homes as Taliban continues to attack Tabar valley of Sangcharak district in the northern Sari Pul province over the past four days, head of Provincial Council Mohammad Noor Rahmani said Friday. “Around 5,000 families have left their […]