Beijing - China on Wednesday launched a satellite into orbit for use in a global navigation system, the official Xinhua news agency said. A Long March 3C carrier rocked took off successfully from China's space centre Xichan in Sichuan province shortly after midnight, carrying the second satellite for China's Compass navigation system.

Beijing - New Zealand's Fonterra Co-operative Group will buy up shares from a farm it jointly owned with Sanlu Group, the company at the centre of a milk contamination scandal that killed six children in China last year, state media said Tuesday. Fonterra Chairman Henry van der Heyden said Monday that his company, which already owns 85 per cent of the dairy farm , plans to buy the remaining 15 per cent owned by Sanlu, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Beijing - A Chinese anti-tobacco group is petitioning the country's trademark authority, asking it to ban the use of the name of the country's leadership compound as a cigarette brand, state media reported. Zhongnanhai, the name of the central leadership's quarters in Beijing, is also the name of one of China's most popular cigarette brands.

Anti-tobacco lobbyists say using the name on a cigarette pack can mislead consumers, and submitted a petition to the trademark authority on Tuesday, the state-run China Daily said.

Print this article email this article Comment on this article Follow me on Twitter Beijing - China has issued a travel warning for Thailand, advising Chinese travelers to avoid riot zones in the country, state media reported Tuesday. The Foreign Ministry and National Tourism Administration have urged Chinese travelers to postpone trips to Thailand, two days after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and five surrounding provinces, the state-run China Daily reported Tuesday.

Chinese citizens already in Thailand are being cautioned to stay away from the rioting.

United Nations, Apr. 14: China''s UN envoy Zhang Yesui has urged the UN Security Council to give a cautious and proportionate response to the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK) recent rocket launch.

"Our position on the reaction from the Security Council has been very clear and consistent. That is, the reaction from the Security Council has to be cautious and proportionate," Xinhua quoted Zhang Yesui as telling reporters after the council adopted a presidential statement on the DPRK launch.

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong government Monday issued a travel warning for its residents to stay away from Bangkok as anti-government protests escalated in the Thai capital. Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee said the government of Hong Kong was the first to issue such a severe warning.

Lee called on tour operators and individuals to scrap their plans to Thailand due to the political unrest and said several tour operators had already cancelled packages.