Presides over impeachment trial

New Delhi: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption and influence-peddling on Monday (March 1). A French court found him guilty of trying to bribe a Magistrate by offering him a prestigious job in return for information about a criminal case against him. Sarkozy, however, will not go to prison as the court suspended two years of the sentence and allowed him to serve a year at home with an electronic tag. The 66-year-old is the first former French president to receive a custodial sentence, reported BBC. Along with Sarkozy, his former lawyer and the Magistrate involved in the bribery also received similar sentences. The three re expected to appeal against the order. The judge observed that Sarkozy knew what he was doing was wrong and that his actions and those of his lawyer had given the public "a very bad image of justice". The crimes were specified as influence-peddling and violation of professional ... » Learn More about Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to three years jail on corruption charges

Sun Juanjuan, a white-collar worker in Shanghai, had been using an iPhone X for more than three years before buying an iPhone 12 immediately after Apple Inc unveiled its first smartphones with 5G connectivity in October. "I have been waiting for Apple's 5G smartphone for a long time. When the iPhone 12 was unveiled, I decided to buy one immediately. I love the green color so much," Sun said. Consumers like Sun are pushing sales of Apple to new highs in China. The United States tech giant raked in its highest ever revenue in China in the fourth quarter, driven by the popularity of its iPhone 12 series. Apple said its China revenue came in at $21.31 billion in the three months ended Dec 26, up 57 percent from a year earlier. Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed the strong performance to "more than an iPhone story", adding that its other products also contributed a lot, but he also highlighted that the iPhone 12 was crucial in fueling phone upgrades. "China had a record number of ... » Learn More about Mobile sector senses big growth opportunities in China

Surging export orders show China's pharma products are trusted overseas At Sinovac Biotech Ltd's base in Daxing district of Beijing, employees are busy manufacturing CoronaVac, the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, in bulk. From cell culture to packaging, a jab can be produced in just 48 days. Now the company churns out about 400,000 doses a day. "The yearly output of our first production line has reached 500 million doses. Our second production line started operations this month, enabling the company to attain capacity to produce 1 billion doses of vaccine every year," said Yin Weidong, chairman of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac. He said: "Ever since our first production line started operations in August, the machines ran almost 24 hours a day. Our employees worked round the clock in three shifts to meet the surging demand for vaccine." Currently, while ensuring adequate supplies of vaccine for the domestic market, the company is exporting some quantities to countries like Brazil, ... » Learn More about Protecting world through Chinese vaccines

Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province, has been on the forefront of China's intellectual property rights protection, with all-in-one measures taken in judiciary, law enforcement and public service sector, which further optimize the business environment for innovative enterprises, and pushes forward high-quality development of local economy. In 2018, the first judicial organ specialized in IP in Hunan province - Changsha intellectual property court - was set up on March 1. It deals with disputes on trademark, copyright, unfair competition, technical contracts and other cases related to IPR infringement. With over a total of 6,000 trials annually, the court has tried 1,708 patent cases in three years after establishment, strengthening the protection of technological achievements in core technologies and frontier fields. Changsha, the engineering hub in central China, and home to global giants of heavy machinery industry, such as SANY Group, Sunward Group and Zoomlion, ... » Learn More about Changsha in Hunan province leads the way in IP protection

Beijing: China has given conditional approval for a single dose COVID-19 vaccine, touted to be a rival to Johnson & Johnson's one-jab shot cleared by the US drug regulator on Sunday (February 28). China's first Ad5-nCoV COVID-19 vaccine was rolled out on Friday, the state-run Global Times reported on Sunday. Phase-I clinical trials of the vaccine started on March 16, last year, making it the world's first COVID-19 candidate vaccine that entered clinical trials, it said. It is the only single-dose COVID-19 vaccine that has been given conditional approval to be rolled out in China, the report quoted last Friday's story by the state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). People can get desirable protective effects after 14 days of inoculation. The protective effect can last at least six months after a single-dose inoculation and it can increase immune response by 10 to 20 times if the second dose is taken half a year after the first one, the report ... » Learn More about China rolls out first one-jab COVID-19 vaccine, rival to US’s Johnson & Johnson

A new study that links extreme rains with lower birth weights in Brazil’s Amazon region underscores the long-term health impacts of weather extremes connected to climate change, researchers said on Monday. Exceptionally heavy rain and floods during pregnancy were linked to lower birth weight and premature births in Brazil’s northern Amazonas state, according to the researchers from Britain’s Lancaster University and the FIOCRUZ health research institute. They compared nearly 3,00,000 births over 11 years with local weather data and found babies born after extreme rainfall were more likely to have low birth weights, which is linked to worse educational, health and even income attainment as adults. Even non-extreme intense rainfall was linked to a 40% higher chance of a child being low birth-weight, according to the study, published on Monday in the Nature Sustainability journal. Co-author Luke Parry said heavy rains and flooding could cause increases in infectious diseases ... » Learn More about Climate extremes seen harming unborn babies in Brazil’s Amazon

By Stephen Nellis Self-driving sensor startup Aeva Inc, founded by two Apple Inc alumni, has hired another former Apple executive to oversee manufacturing and supply chain operations ahead of an expected deal to become a public company later this month. Aeva, founded by former Apple engineers Soroush Salehian and Mina Rezk, makes a lidar sensor that helps cars gain a three-dimensional view of the road and detect how quickly distant objects are moving. The company said Tuesday it hired Tim Willis as vice president of global supply chain, manufacturing and strategy. Willis most recently oversaw manufacturing and supply chain operations at Waymo , Alphabet Inc's autonomous driving unit. Willis also worked at Apple and Motorola after a starting his career at Ford Motor Co. Willis said part of his job will be to develop supplier relationships well before Aeva launches production, drawing on his experience at Apple securing factory equipment. Aeva has deals to develop ... » Learn More about Self-driving startup Aeva hires Waymo, Apple veteran to oversee supply chain

Auto stocks on Tuesday increased as much as over 5 per cent after a rise in auto sales volume for February. With all the auto stocks ending in green, Tata Motors gained the most by ending at Rs 345.7, higher 5.36 per cent. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd spurted 4.98 per cent to Rs 859.9. Besides, Hero MotoCorp's scrip closed at Rs 3,474.8 by rising 3.73 per cent and Bajaj Auto went up by 3.53 per cent to Rs 3,947.55. In addition, Maruti Suzuki India closed at Rs 7,215.25 with 2.83 per cent gain and Balkrishna Industries Ltd rose 2.69 per cent to Rs 1,627.45. TVS Motor Company's scrip went higher by 2.4 per cent to Rs 631.5, Ashok Leyland closed the counter at Rs 132.6 with 2.28 per cent gain and Cummins India ended at 816.15, up 1.79 per cent. Also, Eicher Motors shares increased by 1.78 per cent to Rs 2,601.85 and that of Bosch went up by 1.37 per cent to Rs 15,443.1. Exide Industries ended the day at Rs 208.75, up 1.02 per cent and Amara Raja Batteries gained 0.78 per ... » Learn More about Auto stocks jump as much as over 5 pc post rise in sales volume in Feb

Video Player Close BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and U.S. local legislators vowed closer exchanges and cooperation at the Virtual Conference of the 5th China-U.S. Subnational Legislatures Cooperation Forum on Tuesday. It was co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF) of the United States. The forum was the first institutional activity of exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States to have resumed after the new U.S. administration took office. Addressing this forum, Lin Songtian, president of the CPAFFC, said the people and local governments of the two countries expressed mutual support in the face of COVID-19. They overcame the difficulties together, and the trade cooperation between the two countries grew despite the challenges. He said that the most confusion regarding China-U.S. relations resides in "understanding problems," and the fundamental ... » Learn More about Chinese, U.S. local legislators vow to enhance cooperation

Video Player Close Muto Toshiro, CEO of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), speaks during a press conference following the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on March 2, 2021. (Tokyo 2020/Handout via Xinhua) TOKYO, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee on Tuesday nominated 12 women to its executive board in an effort to "restore trust" after former president Yoshiro Mori's sexist remarks. Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto told reporters after an executive board meeting that the total female board members will be increased to 19 from the current seven, accounting for about 40% from 20%. The total number of board members will rise to 45 from the current 34. Muto did not disclose the details of the 12 women, adding they will be officially approved at the executive board meeting on Wednesday. Several Japanese news outlets reported that Sydney Olympic marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi and ... » Learn More about Tokyo 2020 organizers to add 12 female board members