介绍:
Australia Considers Joining China-led Bank, Following UK
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey has said that Australia will consider joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Hockey's remark came a day after Britain applied to join the China-proposed bank as a founding member.
In doing so, Britain is the first major Western country to apply to become a member of the bank, which will be formally established by the end of 2015.
A fully operational AIIB will support "access to finance" for infrastructure projects across Asia, using a variety of support measures, including loans, equity investments, and guarantees.
Britain's application has drawn a cautious response from Washington.
China and 20 other countries signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Beijing-headquartered bank in October.
North Korea Fires 7 Missiles
North Korea has fired seven surface-to-air missiles into its eastern waters.
South Korea's Defense Ministry says the North conducted the missile-firing exercises Thursday evening, and that top leader Kim Jong Un witnessed the test in-person.
This is believed to be the first-ever test of North Korea's SA-5 missile, with a range of about 260 km. Other, older types of missiles were fired as well.
The testing coincides with the ongoing U.S.- South Korea annual war games, code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, that kicked off on March 2.
The North fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters on the day that the military exercises began.
Beijing Power Station on Fire
There has been a fire at a power station in east Beijing.
Media reports indicate that the station in Chaoyang district belongs to China Huaneng Group.
Those reports also say the fire may have started in a generator at the facility. Smoke can be seen from several kilometers away.
Employees from the power station have evacuated from the site. Firefighters are on scene.
4 dead, 3 injured in east China road accident
A crash in eastern China has killed four people and injured three others.
It happened early this morning in Zhejiang Province. Local police say the accident, involving a van, a truck, and a car, happened on an expressway linking Shanghai and Hangzhou City.
Witnesses have told the authorities that the van crashed into the car and the truck, with both impacted vehicles at a stop when they were struck.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Former Sri Lankan President criticizes suspension of Chinese funded projects
Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse is criticizing the new Sri Lankan government's decision to halt certain development projects launched under his administration.
Rajapakse says the sudden decision to suspend the projects will lead to more unemployment, saying the development of the island-nation could be set back by some 200-years if the projects don't go forward.
Rajapakse has specifically pointed to the new Sri Lankan government's recent decision to suspend a Chinese funded port city project in the Port of Colombo.
The new administration in Sri Lanka has put the land reclamation project on-hold, citing concerns about the environmental approval process.
India reacts to release order of Mumbai terror attacks mastermind in Pakistan
India's government is reacting strongly to the news that a court in Pakistan has released the suspected mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
An official in New Dehli says it is Pakistan's responsibility to keep Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi locked up.
The Indian side also claims the evidence against the terror suspect has not been presented properly in the Pakistani courts.
The 55-year-old is accused of masterminding the Mumbai attack along with six others. In 2008, 10 gunmen entered India's financial capital by sea and went on a rampage.
NASA launches 4 spacecraft to study magnetic reconnection
U.S. space agency NASA has launched four identical spacecraft.
The launch is aimed at studying how magnetic fields like those around Earth and Sun interact, as part of efforts to understand space weather events that can disrupt power grids, communications, and navigation systems.
Known as the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, these spacecraft, stacked one atop the other, blasted off late on Thursday night local time from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida aboard an Atlas V rocket.
The 1.1-billion-U.S.-dollar project will study a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection, which occurs when magnetic fields connect and disconnect with an explosive release of energy that can accelerate particles up to nearly the speed of light.
