Shanghai, China's economic hub, launched a freight train service to Hamburg, Germany on Tuesday, marking the first cross-border railway service between Shanghai and Europe.

The "Shanghai Express" is loaded with 50 containers with cargoes such as apparels, auto parts, solar panels, tableware, furniture, daily necessities, machine parts and lamps.

It will leave China via the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and arrive in Hamburg about two weeks later.

According to Shanghai Customs, trains along this route will run regularly every week, while new routes will be opened, providing new logistics options for enterprises at home and abroad.

According to China Railway, Europe-China freight trains have made a total of 10,030 trips in the first 8 months of the year, up by 32 percent.

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China's independently developed AG600 large amphibious aircraft performed a flight at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Airshow China 2021, which opened Tuesday in the southern port city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

The aircraft displayed its capabilities of aerial water-dropping by opening the hatch door underneath and dropping nine tonnes of water during the flight.

Code-named Kunlong, the AG600 is a key piece of aeronautical equipment in China's emergency rescue system.

It completed its maiden flight from land in 2017, its first takeoff from a water reservoir in 2018, and its first sea takeoff in 2020.

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The track-laying work for the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway, the final section of the Taklimakan Desert railway loop line, was completed on Monday morning in Minfeng County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Construction on the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway started in December 2018. As a key national railway project extending over 825 km, it links up Hotan City in Hotan Prefecture with Ruoqiang County in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture.

When the railway goes into operation, it will fully encircle the Taklimakan Desert when connected with the existing Golmud-Korla Railway, the Kashgar-Hotan Railway and a number of other southern Xinjiang railways.

"This railway line runs through the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert. Sandstorms pose a serious threat to railway construction and operation as tracks can be buried," said Yang Baorong, chief designer of the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway.

Wang Jinzhong, chairman of Xinjiang Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway Co., Ltd., said anti-desertification programs and railway construction were carried out simultaneously, which is unprecedented in China. A total of 50 million square meters of grass grids were laid and 13 million seedlings were planted. Where the threat of sandstorms is greatest, viaducts were built to allow for safe passage.

As an important regional railway included in the national medium- and long-term railway network plan, the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway is expected to open in June 2022.

At that time, five counties in southern Xinjiang and certain towns of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps will be connected to the provincial rail network, which is of great significance to promoting the economic and social development of southern Xinjiang.

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It's harvest season, and this farm in Shanghai is busy not unlike countless others across the country. Except... There are no people to be seen! Click for more about the intelligent farm. #GLOBALink

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Ports, airports and bonded warehouses are no longer the only things associated with the Free Trade Zone (FTZ).

Explore how the FTZ is "getting smarter" as more cutting-edge sci-tech products and services have been offered in Anhui, China.

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Australia's move to establish an enhanced trilateral security partnership with the United States and Britain has raised concerns over nuclear proliferation from the international community as under the deal Australia has scrapped a contract to buy submarines from France in favor of U.S.-made nuclear vessels.

Under a new security partnership unveiled last Wednesday between Australia, Britain and the United States, known as AUKUS, Australia will build nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology.

Australia then announced it would scrap the deal with France signed in 2016 to purchase 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines.

The deal has provoked widespread concern across the world, with many experts and observers lamenting the deal's long shadow over regional security in the Asia-Pacific and on global non-proliferation endeavor.

AUKUS, the new partnership, "is creating security anxieties" in the Asia and Pacific region and "putting many countries like the Philippines in guessing game scenarios," said Rommel Banlaoi, chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Banlaoi warned that Washington and London's decision to help Australia build nuclear submarine capabilities could "intensify major power competition" in the region.

Aside from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Banlaoi said Australia also faces a problem with its immediate neighbor New Zealand, because of that country's "very strong position on nuclear weapons-free principle."

Speaking at a webinar organized by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University on Monday, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the deal has massive flaws.

Rudd said the Australian government's unilateral repeal of the submarine contract with France and switch to nuclear-powered submarines took place like "a bolt from the blue."

This is not the way to treat the French partner, friend and ally, said Rudd, who is now president and CEO of non-profit organization Asia Society.

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A shipyard in China has developed a zero-carbon carrier, showing that blue-skies thinking can produce real, world-changing results!

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The newly-established caretaker government in Afghanistan has named remaining ministers and members, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday.

SOUNDBITE (Pushtu): ZABUHULLAH MUJAHID, Taliban spokesperson

"The newly introduced members of the cabinet are professional personalities including doctors and highly educated persons, also from minorities."

The newly introduced cabinet members have been appointed in line with the decree of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, Mujahid said, adding a veteran businessman, Hajji Nurudin Azizi, has been appointed as acting minister for commerce, and Dr. Qalandar Ebad as the acting minister for public health.

Mujahid also expressed hope that the international community would give recognition to the Islamic Emirate.

At the press conference, Mujahid has rejected the presence of the hardliner Islamic State outfit, al-Qaida or other terrorist groups in Afghanistan, saying the Islamic Emirate is capable enough to smash any terrorist group and won't allow any Afghanistan soil to be used against any country.

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The combination of the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and a Long March-7 Y4 carrier rocket has been transferred to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, Sept. 16, 2021. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Thursday that the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft will be launched in the near future at an appropriate time. (Photo by Chen Haojie/Xinhua)

WENCHANG, Hainan, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The combination of the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and a Long March-7 Y4 carrier rocket has been transferred to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Thursday.

The CMSA said the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft will be launched in the near future at an appropriate time.

The facilities and equipment at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site are in good condition, and various pre-launch function checks and joint tests will be carried out as planned, the CMSA added. 

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China's Y-20 heavy transport aircraft has made its debut at the "Peace Mission 2021," a counter-terrorism military exercise for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.

The Y-20 aircraft arrived in Russia's Orenburg on Friday for the exercise, which will be held from Sept. 11 to 25.

The participants are from eight SCO member states, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.

Since its deployment in the PLA air force, Y-20 heavy transport aircraft have participated in multiple missions including the transportation of medical personnel and supplies to COVID-19-hit areas in the country and other humanitarian relief tasks.

Designed and manufactured by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the Y-20 has a maximum takeoff weight of around 200 tonnes.

It made its maiden flight in January 2013, and joined China's air force on July 6, 2016.

Y-20 is officially codenamed "Kunpeng," after a mythical bird that could fly vast distances.

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