عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Snow, Ice Disrupt Trips Home for Millions of Chinese Ahead of Spring Festival 

This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

Snow, Ice Disrupt Trips Home for Millions of Chinese Ahead of Spring Festival 

This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)

Freezing rain, snow and ice have snarled traffic in central and eastern China as billions of people travel home ahead of the Spring Festival holiday in blistering cold weather that has swept through parts of the country over the past week.

Hunan and Hubei provinces have borne the brunt of the severe weather, which worsened over the weekend, slowing highway traffic to a crawl and cancelling hundreds of trains.

The travel disruptions coincide with the biggest mass travel migration in the world as millions flock home to see their families for the Chinese New Year.

Over the past few days, videos across Chinese social media showed images of people stranded on trains and or trapped in cars on snowy highways in several cities, including Jingzhou.

One driver was trapped in a car for three days, business outlet Yicai reported on Monday, and a passenger going to Wuhan was stuck on a train after it lost power supply amid freezing temperatures, social media videos showed.

Hundreds of trains have been delayed or suspended, and throngs of passengers were stranded at railway stations in Wuhan, local media said. Runways at the Tianhe Airport in Wuhan were temporarily closed Tuesday, state media CCTV reported.

Photos from China Meteorological Administration showed bent and broken trees scattered across roads in Hunan, felled by freezing rain. In 10 provinces, about 129 sections of highways were closed, according to Beijing News.

At least two people have died in snow-related accidents. One person in Hubei and another from the southern province of Hunan were killed as awnings in farmers markets collapsed under heavy snow, according to a state media reports.

The severe weather is expected for another few days, according to China National Emergency Broadcasting. Several cities upgraded weather advisories and emergency response plans.

Authorities in Hubei said they aimed to clear out tunnels and bridges, where thick ice has caused choke points.

The province has instructed hundreds of highway toll stations to take traffic control measures, including letting vehicles through for free.

China's Central Meteorological Observatory predicted more rain, snow and freezing weather in the south for the first half of this week, but said conditions would improve starting Thursday.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

SpaceX Launches 12th Long-duration Crew to ISS

NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
TT
TT

SpaceX Launches 12th Long-duration Crew to ISS

NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

A SpaceX rocket lifted off from Florida early on Friday with a crew of two US NASA astronauts, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut headed to the International Space Station for an eight-month science mission in Earth orbit.

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, topped with an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, along Florida's Atlantic Coast, at about 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT).

A live NASA-SpaceX webcast showed the 25-story-tall vehicle rising from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life, gulping 700,000 gallons of fuel per second, emitting clouds of vapor and a reddish fireball that lit up the predawn sky, Reuters reported.

The four crew were set to ‌reach the space ‌station on Saturday afternoon after a 34-hour flight, docking with ‌the orbiting ⁠laboratory platform some ⁠250 miles (420 km) above Earth.

The mission, designated Crew-12, marks the 12th long-duration ISS team that NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle since the private rocket venture founded in 2002 by billionaire Elon Musk began sending US astronauts to orbit in May 2020.

Crew-12 was led by Jessica Meir, 48, a veteran astronaut and marine biologist on her second trip to the space station, nearly seven years after making history with NASA colleague Christina Koch by ⁠completing history's first all-female spacewalk.

Joining her was Jack Hathaway, 43, ‌a former US Navy fighter pilot and rookie ‌astronaut; European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, 43, a master helicopter pilot from France; and Russian cosmonaut ‌Andrey Fedyaev, a former military pilot on his second mission to the ISS.

Upon ‌arrival, the team will get busy with a host of scientific, medical and technical research tasks in microgravity, according to NASA.

Those include studies of pneumonia-causing bacteria to improve treatments on Earth, and experiments with plant and nitrogen-fixing microbe interactions to boost food production in space.

Crew-12 will be welcomed aboard ‌the space station by three current ISS occupants - NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev.

Four Crew-11 ⁠members who were ⁠supposed to have stayed aboard until the arrival of Crew-12 departed a few weeks early, when an undisclosed serious health condition affecting one forced an unprecedented medical evacuation flight home in mid-January.

The ISS, which spans the length of a football field and ranks as the largest human-made object in space, has been continuously operated by a US-Russian-led consortium that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.

The first hardware for the outpost was launched more than a quarter century ago. It was conceived as part of a multinational venture to improve ties between Washington and Moscow following the Soviet Union's collapse and the end of Cold War rivalries that spurred the original US-Soviet space race in the 1950s and 1960s.

NASA has said it is committed to keeping the space station operating until the end of 2030.

Varieties

Saudi Arabia: King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Plants 10,000 Native Trees to Combat Desertification

The project engaged 300 volunteers from government agencies and educational institutions to rehabilitate local ecosystems. SPA
The project engaged 300 volunteers from government agencies and educational institutions to rehabilitate local ecosystems. SPA
TT
TT

Saudi Arabia: King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Plants 10,000 Native Trees to Combat Desertification

The project engaged 300 volunteers from government agencies and educational institutions to rehabilitate local ecosystems. SPA
The project engaged 300 volunteers from government agencies and educational institutions to rehabilitate local ecosystems. SPA

The King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority, in partnership with the Green Dahna Association, has launched an initiative to plant 10,000 Arta trees in the Al-Dahna sands.

The project engaged 300 volunteers from government agencies and educational institutions to rehabilitate local ecosystems and promote a culture of environmental stewardship.

Chosen for its high adaptability to harsh desert climates and its effectiveness in soil stabilization, the Arta tree serves as a strategic investment in biodiversity and desertification control.

Authority CEO Maher AlGothmi‏ highlighted that this collaboration exemplifies the institutional integration required to meet Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030 goals, ensuring the sustainability of natural resources for future generations through research and community engagement.

Varieties

Hello Kitty Designer Bows Out After 40 Years in Charge 

A participant dressed as Hello Kitty throws beans during the annual Setsubun ceremony to celebrate the upcoming arrival of spring. (Reuters)
A participant dressed as Hello Kitty throws beans during the annual Setsubun ceremony to celebrate the upcoming arrival of spring. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Hello Kitty Designer Bows Out After 40 Years in Charge 

A participant dressed as Hello Kitty throws beans during the annual Setsubun ceremony to celebrate the upcoming arrival of spring. (Reuters)
A participant dressed as Hello Kitty throws beans during the annual Setsubun ceremony to celebrate the upcoming arrival of spring. (Reuters)

The flamboyant designer behind Hello Kitty -- the cute Japanese character that became a global mega brand -- is stepping down after more than four decades in charge of her look.

Yuko Yamaguchi has been responsible since 1980 for the design of Kitty, who is officially not a cat but a little girl from London, overseeing her rise to the epitome of Japan's "kawaii" -- cute -- soft power.

But now Yamaguchi, who often wore Kitty-style dresses in public and piled her hair in buns -- has "passed the baton to the next generation", Sanrio, the company behind the character, said on its website Tuesday.

The company said new designer "Aya" -- a pseudonym -- was due to start by the end of 2026.

Yamaguchi "listened to the voices of fans, actively collaborated with artists and designers from Japan and abroad and has grown Hello Kitty into a character loved by everyone", Sanrio said, as it thanked her for her work.

Hello Kitty started life as an illustration on a vinyl coin purse.

It has since appeared on tens of thousands of products -- everything from handbags to rice cookers -- and has secured lucrative tie-ups with Adidas, Balenciaga and other top brands.

The phenomenon shows no sign of slowing, with a Warner Bros movie in the pipeline and a new Hello Kitty theme park due to open next year on China's tropical Hainan island.

Unlike other Japanese cultural exports such as Pokemon or Dragon Ball, there is minimal narrative around the character, whose full name is Kitty White.

She has a twin sister Mimmy, a boyfriend called Dear Daniel, and a pet cat of her own, Sanrio says. She loves her mother's apple pie and dreams of becoming a pianist or poet.