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Bitcoin  Chinese e-commerce company  JD.com , a member of the Fortune Global 500 headquartered in Beijing, is launching AI Catapult Accelerator (AICA), an accelerator program designed to unlock the transformative potential of startups demonstrating cutting-edge talent in the blockchain space. JD.com is one of the two largest business-to-consumer (B2C) online retailers in China by transaction volume and revenue, and a major competitor to Alibaba-run Tmall. As of September 2017, JD.com’s platform, often referred to as the “eBay of China,” had more than 266 million active users, with a revenue of close to $50 billion. JD considers blockchain technology and its integration into mainstream use as the key to a new age of cost effectiveness and customer satisfaction. "Whole-process traceability is not a new concept but blockchain makes it really possible,” Yongli Yu, president of JD's supply chain research unit, said in conversation with  Bitcoin Magazine ....

Military  China's sole operational aircraft carrier passed through the Taiwan Strait Wednesday, the island's defence ministry said, as Beijing steps up pressure on its democratic rival. It comes weeks after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen warned against what she called China's "military expansion" -- the increase of air and naval drills around the island since she came to power in May 2016. Beijing views the self-ruling island as part of its territory, to be reunified at some point. Cross-strait relations have become increasingly frosty as Tsai refuses to acknowledge Taiwan is part of "one China". The aircraft carrier -- a second-hand Soviet ship -- caused a stir in Taiwan when it first entered the strait in January last year, viewed as a symbolic show of strength by Beijing. The defence ministry said the Liaoning carrier and accompanying vessels entered Taiwan's air defence zone early Wednesday morning and left by noon. The fleet, which ...

Penalties imposed on major exchanges underscore  perceptions that bitcoin requires heavy regulation and oversight. Across China, blockchain technology is recognized as an increasingly important development; however, bitcoin as a “virtual good” in China is facing yet another challenge from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). On May 10, 2017, China’s top-tier financial media outlet,  Caixin , reported that “according to a person close to PBOC, PBOC will soon issue a notice of penalties to BTCC, OKCoin and Huobi for irregularities based on its previous inspection in the past few months. The major problems are [related to] illegal margin trading services and lack of internal controls for anti-money laundering. The related penalty details have already been confirmed internally; all that is left to do is go through approval procedures.” Caixin also stated that, according to their source, further “regulation on bitcoin exchange and regulation on anti-money laundering systems for b...

HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, on a sea trial this week. (Photo by the Press Association)  At a time of rising tensions between China and the US, a move likely to anger Beijing. The UK would increase in presence in the waters after it sent four combat aircraft for joint exercises with Japan in the region last year, British Defense Minister Michael Fallon said Thursday. "We hope to send a warship to region next year. We have not finalized exactly where that deployment will take place but we won't be constrained by China from sailing through the South China Sea," Fallon told Reuters. "We flew RAF Typhoons through the South China Sea last October and we will exercise that right whenever we next have the opportunity to do so, whenever we have ships or planes in the region,” he added. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also said Thursday that Britain plans to sail two new aircraft carriers through contested Asian waters. “One...

Chinese troops march during the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2015.Reuters Buried in the Himalayas in the Siliguri Corridor, also known as the Chicken's neck, Chinese and Indian military forces sit on the respective sides of their vague borders and entrench themselves for what could become a shooting war between nuclear powers. Both Beijing and New Delhi see the conflict as a shoving match for dominance in the Himalayas, an age-old struggle between the two states that most recently went hot in 1962, before either state had perfected nuclear bombs. But now a Chinese construction project aiming to build a road that can support 40 ton vehicle traffic threatens a critical passage in India and risks alienating New Delhi from its ally, Bhutan. As China asserts sovereignty over the disputed border zone with the building project, Indian troops have entrenched themselves, according to  a dispatch from the South...

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe give a press conference following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 27, 2017. (Photos by AFP) Leaders of Russia and Japan have called for an urgent resumption of multi-party talks to find a solution to the current crisis in the Korean Peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that they were seeking de-escalation in the Korean conflict, admitting that the situation had seriously deteriorated over the past weeks. Putin urged all sides of the crisis to refrain from any provocation that could further deteriorate the situation. He also said the surge in hostilities had made it necessary for all stakeholders to embark on renewed efforts to find a solution to the conflict.  Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following their meeting at the Kremlin in Mos...

In-Depth Coverage Iran Press TV The US AirForce has test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, a move that is expected to escalate simmering tensions with North Korea over its development of missiles and nuclear weapons. The unarmed Minuteman III missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California, and successfully hit the target near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The test was aimed at assessing the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the missile system, the USAF said. Colonel John Moss, the commander of the 30th Space Wing, said the Minuteman missiles need to be tested on a regular basis to ensure their reliability and to demonstrate the national nuclear capabilities. The timing of the test was questioned by peacegroups, with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation calling it a "double standard" in the wake of rising tensions w...

China Image captionChinese state media released a picture of the launch showing the carrier bedecked in giant colourful streamers China has launched a new aircraft carrier, boosting its military presence amid rising tensions in the region. It is the country's second aircraft carrier, after the Liaoning, and the first to be made domestically. State media said the unnamed ship was "transferred from dry dock into the water" in the north-eastern port of Dalian. Previous reports said it would be operational by 2020. It comes amid heated rhetoric between the US and North Korea in recent days. China has had only one operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought from Ukraine and refitted. The US has deployed  warships and a submarine  to the Korean peninsula, prompting an angry reaction from North Korea. China has urged calm. There is also the ongoing issue of  competing territorial claims in the South China Sea . The new carrier will deploy Shenyang J-1...

Previously, before the People’s Bank of China requested local bitcoin exchanges to implement a trading fee system, the vast majority of traders and investors believed that the Chinese market controlled over 90% of the global bitcoin exchange market. While the Chinese market certainly did demonstrate dominance over the global bitcoin market in the past, the emergence and development of major US and Japanese bitcoin exchanges including Kraken, Bitfinex, and Bitflyer allowed the two countries to takeover and outpace China. Naturally, the PBoC’s involvement and statements on bitcoin showed diminishing impact on the value of bitcoin and the global bitcoin market has become less dependent on China, its government and exchange market. The weakening authority of the PBoC over the bitcoin exchange market allowed the digital currency to r eecover relatively quickly  amidst substantial declines in value and demonstrate a higher level of resilience towards the PBOC and regul...

The  Galaxy S8  has been leaked in all its glory by now, new software being the exception, so the countdown until the announcement is in full swing. At this point, the devil is in the details, with interested buyers and diehard fans alike yearning for specific information and the time of the sales commencement in their region or part of the world. Twitter member  @mmdj_china , known for his  Galaxy C5 Pro photo leak , brings new information about the Chinese variants as well as US sales commencement of the next Galaxy. From Twitter, the leakster says that all Galaxy S8 Chinese variants, both the S8 and S8 Plus, will feature 6GB of RAM and have a minimum of 64GB (128GB maximum) onboard storage out of the box. Chinese buyers can expect to pick up either Galaxy S8 in the 15th week (which puts Chinese sales commencement in the third week of April). As for the US Galaxy S8 sales release, the States will see the handset go on April 14th (one day earlier than  the rum...

Mark Wilson/Getty Images US President Donald Trump seems to have patched things up with China by promising to honor the "One China" agreement between the world's two biggest economies on his first phone call as president with Chinese President Xi Jinping. A press release from the White House said that during an "extremely cordial" conversation on Thursday evening, the "two leaders discussed numerous topics and President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our 'one China' policy." The release also said the two leaders extended invitations to meet in their respective countries, and that representatives of each country "will engage in discussions and negotiations on various issues of mutual interest." Trump rattled the Sino-US relationship after his inauguration by breaking with decades of US policy and  taking a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen  in December. The "One China" policy, which the  ...

A small interest-rate rise shows the central bank testing the limits of its independence IF ASKED before the start of 2017 to bet on which important central bank would be the first to raise interest rates this year, the safe choice would have been the Federal Reserve. Some gamblers, relishing the long odds, might have gone for the Bank of England or even taken a flutter on the European Central Bank. All these guesses would have been wrong. The first to budge this year? The People’s Bank of China. On February 3rd the Chinese central bank raised a series of short-term rates. The decision received scant attention. The increases were, after all, small: one-tenth of a percentage point for the main rates. It also seemed quite technical, primarily affecting liquidity tools that lenders can tap if short of cash. And there was no fanfare: the central bank did not publish an explanation. China Public finance Central banking But China’s move is important for two reasons. First, it highlights...

US president sends belated new year wishes, but failure to contact Beijing counterpart almost three weeks after inauguration is prompting questions  US president Donald Trump makes a call from the Oval Office of the White House – but not to China’s president Xi Jinping. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP View more sharing options Tom Phillips  in Beijing Thursday 9 February 2017 05.37 GMTLast modified on Thursday 9 February 2017 05.55 GMT Donald Trump has reportedly  yelled down the telephone  at Australia’s prime minister and  veered off into rants  about China and Nato with French leader François Hollande So the leader of the world’s second largest economy,  Xi Jinping , may feel he got off lightly with nothing more than a letter. Almost three weeks after Trump’s inauguration, that was how the US president decided to engage with his Chinese counterpart, in what observers described as a further indication of the dark clouds now ga...

China has become the world’s biggest producer of solar energy by installing projects that are already generating 77.42 gigawatts of electricity. Reports say China has become the world’s biggest producer of solar energy by installing projects that are already generating 77.42 gigawatts of electricity per year.    A report by digitaltrends.com emphasized that China officially claimed the title after doubling its installed photovoltaic capacity last year. “By the end of 2016, China’s capacity hit 77.42 gigawatts, and while this is great in terms of raw numbers, it’s a lot less impressive relative to the country’s massive population,” the report added. Solar energy represents only one percent of the China’s energy output. However, speculations are rising that this may soon change as China devotes more and more of its attention towards clean energy. The country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has already announced that plans are underway to add more than 110 gigawatts...

National flags of U.S. and China wave in front of an international hotel in Beijing February 4, 2010. (Photo by Reuters) China says it has protested to the US for putting Chinese companies and individuals on a new sanctions list targeting Iran.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday Beijing had "lodged representations" with Washington after Trump's administration imposed sanctions on 25 people and entities on Friday for trade with Iran. "We have consistently opposed any unilateral sanctions," Lu told a regular press briefing in Beijing. Unilateral US sanctions in the past have infuriated China. Last March, Beijing was outraged after the US government punished China’s largest telecom equipment maker ZTE Corps for alleged violations of sanctions on Iran. Read more:  China irate as US targets Iran trade China's Foreign Ministry expressed anger at the action, saying it is “opposed to the US citing domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese ...

Chinese Ambassador to Syria Qi Qianjin (R) shakes hands with Imad Sabuni, the head of the Syrian Planning and International Cooperation Commission, after signing two agreements in the Syrian capital Damascus, February 5, 2017. (Photo by Xinhua) China is set to provide Syria with some 16 million dollars worth of humanitarian aid under cooperation agreements with the Damascus government. On Sunday, the Chinese Embassy and the Syrian Planning and International Cooperation Commission (ICC) signed two agreements, under which Beijing will send two batches of humanitarian aid worth 16 million dollars to the Arab country. China’s envoy to Syria Qi Qianjin said the aid delivery will begin soon, adding that his country has been committed to providing crisis-hit Syria with aid over the past years. “We sympathize with the Syrian people for what has befallen their country, and we are signing this agreement with the aim of bolstering friendship between the Chinese and Syrian peoples an...

A mobile app helped Chinese authorities recover hundreds of missing children last year, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, in a country where child trafficking is rampant. The Ministry of Public Security said 611 missing children were found last year, Xinhua said. The "Tuanyuan", or "reunion" in Chinese, app developed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd was launched in May and has allowed police officers to share information and work together. Users near the location where a child has disappeared receive push notifications, including photos and descriptions. Notifications are sent to users farther and farther from the location of the disappearance if the child is still not found. A new version of the app in November has expanded its reach through cooperation with other popular mobile apps, such as Alibaba's online shopping website Taobao, search engine Baidu, Tencent Holdings Ltd's instant messaging software QQ and mobile ride-sharing platform Didi Chuxi...