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Here are today’s picks from our editors.
China's Chang'e-4 probe soft-lands on moon's far side
China's Chang'e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon at 10:26 am Thursday, becoming the first spacecraft soft-landing on the moon's uncharted side never visible from Earth, according to China National Space Administration.
Chang'e-4 blasted off from Earth on December 8 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and flew for 26 days before touching down on the moon's hidden hemisphere.
The probe will conduct low-frequency radio astronomical observation, survey the terrain and landforms, detect the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure and measure the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon, according to CNSA.
CNSA also named "Yutu-2", or Jade Rabbit-2, for its new moon rover on Thursday.
The CNSA made the announcement after China's Chang'e-4 probe, comprised of a lander and a rover, landed on the far side of the moon earlier in the day.
Yutu-2 left the first ever "footprint" from a human spacecraft on the far side of the moon late at night on Thursday, after it separated from the lander smoothly. (People's Daily app - Xinhua)
Beijing releases plans to develop second airport by 2022
A detailed plan to develop Beijing’s two airports into a world-class cluster by March 2022 has been released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Beijing Daxing International Airport is designed to function as a large international aviation hub, to create new impetus for China’s development and to support Xiongan New Area transportation in the developing Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Beijing Capital International Airport is being positioned as a large international aviation hub and important composite hub in the Asia-Pacific region, serving the capital’s core functions.
By 2021, the Daxing International Airport is expected to handle 45 million passengers, and by 2025, the number will reach 72 million. (People's Daily app)
Leader of France's 'yellow vests' arrested
One of the leaders of the "yellow vest" anti-government demonstrations was detained by police in Paris late Wednesday for organizing an unauthorized protest, signaling a harder line by the authorities against the movement.
Eric Drouet - who already faces a trial for carrying a weapon at a previous protest - was held while heading for the Champs-Elysees.
Drouet, a truck driver who appears on television as a spokesman for the "yellow vests," had called for the demonstration in a video posted on his Facebook page. (AFP)
Mexico mayor gunned down hours after being sworn in
A mayor in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca was gunned down Tuesday just hours after being sworn in, the second mayor in Mexico to be killed in the last month, according to reports.
Alejandro Aparicio, the mayor of Tlaxiaco, was shot while on his way to a town hall meeting and was pronounced dead on arrival at the local hospital, reports said.
A 34-year-old man was arrested in connection with the shooting, CNN reported.
Since 2006, 72 mayors and mayors-elect, as well as 71 former mayors, have been killed, according to Mexico's National Association of Mayors. (CGTN)
Indian women make history by entering Hindu temple, spark violent protests
Two women on Wednesday entered one of India's largest Hindu pilgrimage sites that had been forbidden to females between the ages of 10 and 50, sparking protests across a southern state, with police firing tear gas at several places to disperse stone-throwing protesters, police said.
The Supreme Court lifted a ban in September on women worshipping at Sabarimala temple in Kerala state. The ban was informal for many years, but became law in 1972.
Despite the ruling, demonstrators including Hindu priests and conservatives continued to block women of menstruating age from entering the centuries-old temple.
On Wednesday, hundreds of women in Mumbai formed a human chain to express solidarity with the women in Kerala. (AP)
Apple shares plunge after guidance cut
US tech giant Apple saw its stock price plunging more than 9 percent in early trading on Thursday after the company issued lower guidance for fiscal 2019 first quarter.
In a letter to investors from CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday, the company lowered revenue guidance to $84 billion, down from the $89-93 billion range it had previously projected.
The gross margin stood at approximately 38 percent, according to the letter, also lower than previous estimate.
Apple attributed the lowered guidance to four main factors, namely the timing of iPhone launches, a strong US dollar, constrained sales of products including Apple Watch Series 4 and iPad Pro among others, and economic weakness in some emerging markets. (Xinhua)
Sahara desert swings between wet and dry every 20,000 years: study
A study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances has shown that the Sahara desert and North Africa in general swing between wet and dry climates every 20,000 years.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said this climatic pendulum was mainly driven by changes to the Earth's axis as the planet orbits the sun, which in turn affect the distribution of sunlight between seasons.
They found the Earth swings from more sunlight in summer to less, and back again.
The increased solar flux in North Africa can intensify the region's monsoon activity, which in turn makes for a wetter, "greener" Sahara, according to the researchers.
Accordingly, when the planet's axis swings toward an angle that reduces the amount of incoming summer sunlight, it produces a drier, parched climate like what we see today. (Xinhua)
Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.
And now for the Question of the Day:
What do camels store in their humps?
(Answer: Fat)
Today's quote is from Greek poet Pindar (552 BC - 433 BC).
"The best of healers is good cheer."
(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Lance Crayon, Elaine Yue Lin, and Da Hang.)