No More War!

Anti-war emotion has intensified in the United States and the world at large, when thousands of protestors marched through the streets of Washington D.C. to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war on March 20.

Banners reading "U.S., Out of Iraq Now," "Stop Iraq War, No Iran War," "Bring Our Troops Home," and "Impeach Bush for War Crimes" brandished by chanting demonstrators were widely seen throughout the city.

SOCIETY

Space Aspirations

China's space scientists have published outlines of plans to develop a space laboratory and space walking by Chinese astronauts by 2010.

The plans are among goals published by the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense in its 11th five-year (2006-2010) plan for space science development.

The blueprint states that China will continue its manned space flight and lunar exploration, conduct a moon orbit in 2007 to acquire "three-dimensional pictures," try rendezvous and docking of space-craft, and develop a hard-X ray modulation telescope to research black holes among other programs.

Ushering In 3G

The Ministry of Information Industry released a message on March 20 that was a positive sign for third generation (3G) telecommunications.

"We will take advantage of the development of third generation mobile telecommunications to improve the structure of the telecommunications industry," Lou Qinjian, Vice Minister of China's telecommunications watchdog said.

He made the statement in Beijing at the 2007 Telecommunications Industry Development and Policy Briefing. In the upcoming 3G era, China is most likely to adopt its homegrown TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) technology, one of the three 3G technologies recognized by the International Telecommunication Union.

Analysts believe that this is another message from the regulator that China is set to roll out its 3G development policy very soon as well as a new round of reshuffles within the industry.

Exporting Chinese Language Teachers

China is stepping up efforts to train more Chinese language teachers and plans to set up 60 more Confucius Institutes to meet the demand for Mandarin across the world, according to the Chinese International Language Council.