How does the capillarity effect work in space? Take a glimpse of the experiment conducted by Chinese astronauts. This is part of the third live class from China's space station held Wednesday. #GLOBALink

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China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-4, carrying supplies for the upcoming Shenzhou-14 crewed mission, successfully docked with the combination of the space station core module Tianhe and the Tianzhou-3 cargo craft on Tuesday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. #GLOBALink

Produced by Xinhua Global Service

In the past 30 years, China's manned space project has been catching up with the international advanced level at an astonishing speed, leaving a string of brilliant Chinese footprints in space.

How do Chinese astronauts dispose of kitchen waste in space to keep the space station clean?

Produced by Xinhua Global Service

Visa and Space Neobank, powered by the Georgia’s largest bank TBC, launch delivery service for Space consumers in Georgia. Fully digital bank Space provides customers with smart range of retail banking services including bill payments, loans, money transfers and payment cards. Space Neobank is the mono issuer of Visa payment cards and from February 2019 they will be delivered directly to consumers by scooters ridden by Space Neobank “Pilots”, as they like to call them in the company.

 The partnership of Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments and Space, the first fully digital bank in Georgia and region, provides Georgian consumers with one greater choice in how to manage their daily finances. This is the only bank in Georgia that is able to register a new customer and open account remotely. Space Digital bank offers customers simplified procedures to make payments and money transfers from one application.

 “Customer Experience is the top priority for Space Neobank. We consider ourselves as innovations lab for daily banking services and having support of Visa in this is of outmost importance!“ – said Nika Kurdiani, TBC Bank Deputy CEO.

 ”We are proud to have a complete partnership with Space Neobank - the first fully digital bank in Georgia and in the Caucasus and together provide our consumers with the most innovative, reliable and secure digital payment experience. This collaboration together with newly added card delivery service help to bring convenient payments to a broader number of Georgian consumers and help us to drive Georgia as one of the most advanced counties in terms of payment innovations” said Vera Platonova, Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for Visa CISSEE.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere.  As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com, www.visasoutheasteurope.com, https://www.facebook.com/VisaGeorgiaGE, www.visanewscissee.com

About Space

For the first time in region, thoroughly digital banking service – Space has launched. Space, powered by TBC Bank, is aka Neobank, that doesn’t have any branch offices or physical spaces, and exists just on mobile phones. Space is user friendly and aims at giving simple, transparent and rapid daily financial service. Space, the first ever digital bank in Georgia and in the region, was launched in May, 2018 and it has already achieved around 350,000 downloads, 100,000 registered customers and around 50,000 Space Cards. Aim of Space bank is to deliver a full daily banking mobile service with superior customer experience by putting special focus on differentiating by design, customer care, price transparency and instant service delivery. Space is available on App Store and Google Play. For more information visit https://space.ge/

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov attended the opening ceremony of the Kiyanly Polymer Plant whose commissioning created approximately 1000 jobs, and then launched the autumn tree planting campaign by planting the first tree beside the territory of the new gas chemical complex.

The attendees joined the head of state’s initiative. Representatives of nearly every branch of the national economy, diplomats accredited to Turkmenistan and foreign guests took part in the tree planting campaign.

Careful attitude towards mother nature is the highest priority of Turkmenistan’s state policy. Green arteries of forests stretch along highways and railways, while green oases emerge around the dynamically developing industrial infrastructure, the rapidly growing towns and new settlements. Millions of trees were planted on the foothills of the Kopetdag Mountains that lie side by side with the white marble-cladded city of Ashgabat.

Particular attention is devoted to the emerald attire of Avaza National Tourist Zone. This investment project of major socio-economic importance, unprecedented in scale, has become an innovative model of integrated development of the regions. Kick-starting the rapid development of the tourist industry, the Avaza Project embraced several factors that influence Turkmenistan’s prosperity: the integrated use of the richest natural resources; recreational opportunities; the country’s advantageous location in terms of transit and transport and the ensuing diversification of the national economy.

Currently, according to the domestic specialists’ estimation and reputable international experts’ opinion, the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea is considered to be the most environmentally sustainable due to the focused works in this area. Environmentally friendly advanced technologies provide a framework for the urban development, the oil and gas sector, the chemical industry, the electric power industry and the agriculture. They also serve as essential criteria of the socio-economic programs, major international and regional projects deployed in the country.

The Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries, the flagship plant of the domestic petrochemical industry, is a concrete example of that. It is being modernized and technically re-equipped with the use of cutting-edge technology and technical solutions that help prevent technogenic damage to the environment.

The project for the construction of the International Sea Port in the city of Turkmenbashi, which was commissioned this May, was designed in accordance with the Green port international standard. To preserve the environment of the Caspian Sea, every terminal was provided with the bio-purifying equipment. It is remarkable that the soil extracted at the construction of the port was used to create an artificial island with the total area of 170 hectares in the gulf waters. It became a living, nesting and wintering ground for flamingoes, swans, geese, ducks, herons, pelicans and other birds.

Innovative technology is used in production of mineral fertilizers at the Garabogazkarbamid plant that became a valuable addition to the infrastructure of the country’s chemical industry in September. The environmental safety of this enterprise was confirmed by certificates from the reputable international organizations.

The new stage in implementing the National Forest Program was marked with the Resolution by the head of state, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, under which 3 million trees will be planted during the 2018 tree planting campaign. 1.5 million will be planted on the land between the districts of Ak Bugday and Baherden (Ahal province), and the same number of leafy, coniferous, fruit trees and vines will be planted on the outskirts of administrative centers of the provinces and in the cities. More than 445 thousand trees were planted in the country’s forest parks this spring.

The state news agency of Turkmenistan

SES-12, which has both traditional wide beams and high throughput capabilities, will meet diverse needs of fixed data, mobility, government and video customers across Asia-Pacific

Luxembourg, 12 April 2018 – The SES-12 spacecraft has arrived safely at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in preparation for launch on board a flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. 

SES-12, which is uniquely designed with both state-of-the-art wide beams and high throughput beams, will join SES-8 at 95 degrees East to serve SES video and data customers across the Asia-Pacific region. It will replace and augment services currently provided on NSS-6.

Like SES-14 and SES-15, which serve the Americas, SES-12’s high throughput capabilities are SES’s answer to soaring connectivity demand in the aeronautical and maritime segments in the Asia-Pacific region. SES-12 will also be pivotal in enabling governments that want to roll out connectivity programmes to bridge the digital divide and in allowing telcos, mobile network operators and internet service providers to deliver more reliable cellular backhaul and broadband services.

Together with SES-8, SES-12 will reach 18 million TV homes from its 95°E orbital position, and will provide pay-TV operators the reliability and scalability to deliver high-quality and immersive viewing experiences and address the ever-increasing audience demand for High Definition (HD) and Ultra HD content.

With six wide beams and 72 high throughput user spot beams, SES-12 is one of the largest geostationary satellites that SES has ever procured. The spacecraft also has a Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) that increases payload flexibility to provide much more customised bandwidth solutions to SES's customers. The all-electric SES-12 spacecraft was built by Airbus Defence and Space, and will rely fully on electric propulsion for orbit raising and subsequent in-orbit manoeuvres.

Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer at SES said, “SES-12 was built to meet the dynamic needs of our customers across the Asia-Pacific region, and to empower them to capture massive growth opportunities in their markets. When co-located with SES-8, it will provide incremental high performance capacity and offer greater reliability and flexibility to our video and data customers.”

The SES-12 spacecraft will join SES’s network of seven geostationary satellites and 16 MEO satellites in the Asia-Pacific region to provide unparalleled coverage to over 20 countries.