NANCHANG, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China's independently-developed AC313A large utility civil helicopter successfully conducted its maiden flight on Tuesday, announced the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's leading aircraft maker.

   The 13-tonne-class large helicopter conducted the flight at an airport in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, marking a major step forward in the development of China's air emergency rescue system, the AVIC said.

   With the completion of the maiden flight, AC313A will now enter the flight test phase, according to the developer.

   It is expected to receive an airworthiness certification during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), and thereafter enter the market to serve customers.

   AC313A is a major aerial vehicle specially developed to meet the country's needs for air rescue missions. It is expected to assist the country in strengthening the national air emergency rescue system, according to the AVIC.

   Upgraded from AC313 helicopter, AC313A is a large utility civil helicopter with new engines, an upgraded transmission system, and multiple other tech-optimization in systems such as the avionics and flight control, said the AVIC.

   This new helicopter model is also installed with the health and usage monitoring system (HUMS), as well as rotor ice protection and de-icing facilities to enhance its performance and safety.

   AC313A can carry up to 28 people onboard, with a maximum take-off weight of 13.8 tonnes with external sling loads. It can also load up to five tonnes of water for firefighting missions.

   Capable of operating in both visual and instrument flight, AC313A can operate in various complicated terrains and weather conditions, such as a high plateau and high and low temperatures.

   AC313A can be installed with various facilities for emergency rescue missions. This allows it to carry out various missions across the country such as supply delivery, forest and urban fire fighting, lifting large equipment, disaster prevention and relief, medical rescue, law enforcement, maritime rescue and search, and transport for offshore oil platforms, among others according to the developer.

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Fully loaded with 2,600 tonnes of sugar, a China-Europe freight train left Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Sunday.

The freight train is expected to arrive in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 11 days after passing through the Alataw Pass in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The whole journey is about 4,662 km.

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"The U.S. should not play with fire on issues concerning China's core interests," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said. The just-concluded U.S.-ASEAN summit is widely seen as an attempt by the world's sole superpower to pull members of the bloc into its camp against a rising China. #GLOBALink

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China's self-developed floating airship, designed for atmosphere observation, reached a record altitude of 9,032 meters in Tibet Autonomous Region on Sunday.

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Astronomers revealed the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy on Thursday.

The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.

It is the first direct visual evidence confirming the presence of the black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, at the center of the Milky Way, said the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in a release.

The black hole is about 27,000 light-years away from Earth, and 4 million times more massive than the Sun, according to the astronomers.

The effort to unveil the first picture of the black hole was made through the ingenuity of more than 300 researchers from 80 institutes around the world that together make up the EHT Collaboration, said the NSF.

"Although we cannot see the black hole itself, because it is completely dark, glowing gas around it reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region, called a 'shadow', surrounded by a bright ring-like structure," said the NSF.

The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole.

"We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein's Theory of General Relativity," said EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower.

"These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very center of our galaxy and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings," Bower said.

The breakthrough follows the EHT Collaboration's 2019 release of the first image of a black hole, called M87*, at the center of the more distant Messier 87 galaxy.

"Now we can study the differences between these two supermassive black holes to gain valuable new clues about how this important process works," said EHT scientist Keiichi Asada.

"We have images for two black holes - one at the large end and one at the small end of supermassive black holes in the Universe - so we can go a lot further in testing how gravity behaves in these extreme environments than ever before," Asada said.

Scientists have begun to use the new data to test theories and models of how gas behaves around supermassive black holes. This process is not yet fully understood but is thought to play a key role in shaping the formation and evolution of galaxies, according to the NSF.

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The International Nurses Day falls on May 12. Nurses and doctors have been at the core of the COVID-19 response, providing life-saving care and tireless efforts. Meet some of them still fighting the COVID resurgence in China's Shanghai. #GLOBALink   

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As the U.S. COVID-19 deaths near 1 million, experts blamed the shocking death toll on the U.S. government's botched response, raising concerns over the disregard for human life in face of the pandemic.

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Eyeing infrastructure as a pillar for economic and social development, China's central authorities have vowed to build modern infrastructure system and strengthen infrastructure construction in an all-round way.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday hailed the contributions made by young communists over the past century and called on them to offer energy and creativity to push forward national rejuvenation.

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KUNMING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Liu Zhicheng, a 26-year-old painter, together with his partner Xu Fengkai, has been creating artworks on the walls of farmhouses in Xingyi Village, Lijiang City, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Liu has studied wall painting for about six years. In 2020, Liu and his partner began painting walls free of charge and full of love and passion.

It usually takes Liu about two to three days to complete a wall painting.

The two record their creative process through short videos and upload them onto Chinese online platforms, which has won the dedicated artists 330,000 fans and more orders.

The profits generated from the increasing commercial orders in turn can better support the two to continue their public welfare painting campaigns in rural areas.

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