China

Prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu is the latest to appear in a widely disseminated online video, renouncing her legal work for the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm.

She has subsequently been freed, though many people online believe that she made the video under duress.

Televised confessions have become a trend in the past four years under Xi Jinping's presidency, and include confessions of crime, but also confessions of perceived dissent.

The drills will be carried out in the "relevant sea and air of the South China Sea", defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters at a monthly briefing, adding the exercise was "routine" and "does not target any third party".

Publisher Wang Jianmin and editor Guo Zhongxiao worked on New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face, which published gossipy news about mainland leaders.

The articles were published in Hong Kong, which has greater media freedoms, but copies were sent to the mainland.

They were arrested in 2014 in Shenzhen, and both men pleaded guilty in court.

Wang was jailed for five years and three months, while Guo was jailed for two years and three months and is expected to be released soon for time served.

News services run by some of China's biggest online portals, including Sina, Sohu, NetEase and iFeng, were shut for publishing independent reports instead of official statements, the media said.

The sites had seriously violated reporting rules, officials said.

China has tightened controls on online communications in recent years.

Most Chinese news sites are prohibited from gathering or reporting on political or social issues themselves, and are instead meant to rely on reports published by official media, such as state news agency Xinhua.

The amphibious AG600 is about the size of a Boeing 737 and will be used to fight forest fires and perform marine rescue operations, state-run news agency Xinhua said.

With a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tons, the AG600 is the largest seaplane in the world, Xinhua said. It has a reported flight range of 4,500 kilometers and can collect 12 tons of water in only 20 seconds.

After an international tribunal on territorial disputes ruled against China and in favour of the Philippines, Chinese netizens used social media to call for a boycott of the Philippine fruit, as well as to make their feelings known through other memes and pictures.

Slogans like "If you want to eat mango, buy Thailand's" and "Starve the Filipinos to death" have been widely circulated on microblogging site Weibo.

"If you love China, don't buy Filipino imports", said one comment.

Yolanda Jiang, PT&I China’s Manager, Trade, Operations and Special Projects based in Beijing, attended the 11thFuzhou International Fisheries Expo, the second largest professional fisheries fair in China.

The iPhone 6 and 6S models are similar to Shenzhen Baili's little-known 100C phone, the authority ruled.

In theory, this could lead to iPhone sales being halted in Beijing but sales continue as Apple has appealed to a higher court.

The tech giant said the handset is still available throughout China.

Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva and  Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Tonga, Huang Huahuang jointly signed the Agreement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade earlier this afternoon.

According to the Agreement, citizens from China and Tonga shall be exempted from visa requirement for entry into, from or transit through the territory of the other for a period of stay not exceeding 30 days. If the citizens stay longer than 30 days or engaged in study, residence or employment, it shall be approved in advance.

Director of Health, Dr. Siale 'Akau'ola  told Radio and TV Tonga News the students need to fulfil several conditions after graduation before they are allowed to practice as doctors.

He said most students have applied for jobs at the Ministry of Health after graduating from Chinese universities but they have been offered jobs as health inspectors associate.

The Chinese Embassy in Tonga says one of the problems identified is that students are not given time for practical work.