China holds state commemoration for Nanjing Massacre victims
The people of Nanjing observed a minute of silence and sirens were heard across the city as China held a memorial ceremony on Sunday to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Despite the winter chill, thousands of people clad in dark attire attended the massacre’s seventh national memorial ceremony in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province. Attendees included massacre survivors, local students and foreign visitors.
In 2014, China’s top legislature designated Dec. 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, which took place when Japanese troops captured the city on Dec. 13, 1937. The Japanese invaders brutally killed about 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers during the six-week massacre, making it one of the most barbaric episodes of World War II.
Chang’e-5 orbiter-returner enters moon-Earth transfer orbit
The orbiter-returner combination of China’s Chang’e-5 lunar probe has conducted its second orbital maneuver and entered the moon-Earth transfer orbit.
The combination made the first injection operation on Saturday after traveling in a near-circular lunar orbit for nearly six days.
The combination will perform midcourse corrections during its flight back to Earth and will carry out the separation in due course.
President Xi calls for improving global climate governance
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the international community to pursue a new approach to climate governance that highlights green recovery.
Addressing the virtual Climate Ambition Summit, President Xi pledged China’s further commitments for 2030 to tackling the global climate challenge.
The Chinese president noted the international landscape is evolving more rapidly, and COVID-19 is triggering deep reflections on the relationship between man and nature.
Xi Jinping called for making new advances in climate governance that features win-win cooperation and fostering a new architecture of climate governance where every party does its part.
President Xi said China will lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 percent from the 2005 level and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 percent.
He also said the country will increase the forest stock volume by 6 billion cubic meters from the 2005 level, and bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kilowatts.
UN Secretary-General urges countries to declare ‘climate emergency’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on all countries to declare a “state of climate emergency” while urging them to fulfill their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
He says global warming will soon enter a dangerous level if action is not taken.
“Carbon dioxide levels are at record highs. Today we are 1.2 degrees hotter than before the industrial revolution. If we don’t change course, we may be headed for a catastrophic temperature rise of more than three degrees this century.”
He made the call in his opening remarks at the Climate Ambition Summit on Saturday.
Guterres has suggested that all countries should declare climate emergencies before reaching their carbon neutral goals.
South Korea’s Moon warns of toughest COVID-19 curbs
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has warned that COVID-19 restrictions may be raised to the highest level after a second day of record increases in cases as the country battles a third wave of infection.
Presiding over an emergency meeting, Moon has urged vigilance and called for all-out efforts to contain the virus.
South Korea reported 1,030 new coronavirus infections on Sunday after 950 the previous day, bringing total infections to over 42,700 with 580 deaths.
Most of the new cases were locally transmitted.
Germany tightens virus lockdown rules
Germany is closing most stores and schools, and further limiting social contacts to drive down the rate of coronavirus infections.
Chancellor Angela Merkel says the lockdown measures run till Jan. 10.
She says the existing restrictions failed to significantly reduce the number of new infections.
EU: talks will continue on post-Brexit trade deal
The European Commission President says talks with the UK will continue on a trade agreement.
Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had set Sunday as the deadline for a breakthrough or breakdown in negotiations.
But von der Leyen says they have mandated their negotiators to continue the talks.
Source and Photo: CRI
