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Local officials in London overwhelmingly rejected plans for a massive, new Chinese Embassy on Thursday. The decision over the long-planned project is a bitter setback for the Chinese government, which currently operates its embassy out of a townhouse in central London. It also comes as a once-promising "golden era" in relations between the two countries has deteriorated in recent years. In turning down the Chinese government's plans, councilors in the London borough of Tower Hamlets cited the need to protect 14th century ruins inside the proposed embassy grounds as well as concerns about potential terrorist attacks, public protests and traffic...

Black smoke has been seen billowing from China’s first assault carrier in Shanghai. The new Type-075 carrier, which is similar to the U.S. Navy’s America Class assault carriers, is designed to carry helicopters and hovercraft to support amphibious landings. The smoke was reported on Chinese social media platforms earlier today. Images suggest that the fire took hold within the hull of the ship, possibly in the expansive aircraft hanger. Smoke came out of the open aircraft lift near the front of the island superstructure. Smoke also came out of the rear hangar opening. For a time a massive cloud of...

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell announced his factories will be cranking out 50,000 face masks by Friday in an effort to help Americans during a time of crisis. Lindell said he dedicated 75% of his manufacturing to produce cotton face masks: “In 3 days I was up to 10,000 a day — by Friday I want to be up to 50,000 a day,” he said. Under Armour also agree to pivot production to assist in the fight against novel coronavirus. The Baltimore-based footwear and apparel brand announced on March 31 it plans to manufacture and distribute more than 500,000 fabric...

According to statistics, cited by the ministry, when the agreement enters into force it will affect more than 1.2 billion people, with a total domestic product of about $3.4 trillion. It will cut duties on 90 percent of goods on the continent. The deal could boost intra-African trade by 52.3 percent, the UN said. Rwandan President Paul Kagame hailed it as a “new chapter in African unity.” The African Union’s trade commissioner Albert Muchanga told Fortune: “When you look at the African economies right now, their basic problem is fragmentation.”

BEIJING — Police in northern China say an argument between construction workers escalated into a demolition derby-style clash of heavy machinery that left at least two bulldozers flipped over in a street. In online video taken Saturday, several bulldozers are seen ramming each other while passenger cars scurry away from the cloud of dust. The video shows one driver running unhurt out of his toppled bulldozer, a fast-moving type also known as a wheel loader, while a friendly bulldozer tries to lift it back up. Video at link

A shocking report titled Operation Shady RAT released by Dmitri Alperovitch,Vice President of Threat Research at McAfee revealed the existence of long standing cyber spying aimed at stealing intellectual property and trade secrets from western based firms. The folks a McAfee gained access to a server that was used by the hackers and downloaded logs “that reveal the full extent of the victim population since mid-2006 when the log collection began.” They noted this is when the event logs began but agreed the cyber-espionage program may have been in operation before 2006. “So far,it is unknown what information was downloaded...

he giant earthquake that devastated China's Sichuan region in May, killing more than 70,000 people, worsened geological stresses on important faults in the area, U.S. geologists said on Sunday. These stresses are likely to lead to large aftershocks, some greater than 150 miles (240 km) away, they reported in the journal Nature.

TOKYO - JAPAN plans to formulate a new defense policy outline to underline the need to meet China's rapid military buildup, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday. The outline, which spells out basic guidelines for Japan's defense policies, is reviewed by the government once every five years and had been revised in 1995 and in 2004 to meet changes in the international military environment, the paper said. The government initially planned to make only minor changes to the 2004 defense policy outline in the next fiscal year beginning in April 2009. But it decided to set up a new policy...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President Bush will spend the Fourth of July holiday with troops and their families at Fort Bragg in the state of North Carolina, where he says he will thank them for their service in what he calls freedom's cause. The President's 60th birthday is coming up this Thursday. So the Associated Press published some GWB quips about his age: "Security is strong at the airports. I hope they stop taking off the shoes of the elderly. I must confess, they haven't taken off my shoes lately at the airport." — Jan. 23, at Kansas State...

Children studying in their "classroom".. Child Labourers.. A rural Chinese classroom.. More pics at: http://www.india-defence.com/node/310

Health officials are investigating another four suspected cases of SARS in China. The cases bring the total number affected to eight, with more expected. All of the cases can be traced to a laboratory at the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China, where the coronavirus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was being studied. The first person to fall ill, on 25 March, was a 26-year-old female researcher who had worked in the lab.

Taiwan's 'referendum' a unilateral provocation The Chinese mainland said Saturday that it strongly opposes the attempt by Taiwan to hold a referendum on March 20, describing it as a unilateral provocation and a bid to prepare for "Taiwan independence". A spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council, the Chinese cabinet, said the mainland strongly opposes the attempt to split China. The spokesman, who declined to be identified, said Chen Shui-bian, leader of Taiwan authorities, made public the topics of the referendum on Friday despite the interests of the people in Taiwan and universal opposition by the international...

BEIJING - China announced a $45 billion plan Tuesday to shore up the finances of two major state-owned banks as part of an effort to turn them into free-standing corporations. The announcement in state media came amid a drive to modernize China's state banks in preparation for allowing foreign competitors into the industry. Chinese banks are trying to clear away mountains of unpaid debts accumulated by failing state companies. The two banks picked for the project are Bank of China and China Construction Bank, two of the China's four biggest state-owned commercial banks. They said the money to finance the...