Historic landing

China’s Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon on Thursday, becoming the first spacecraft to make a soft-landing on the moon’s uncharted* side, which is never visible from Earth.

The probe, comprised of a lander and a rover, touched down at the preselected landing area at 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the moon at 10:26 a.m. (Beijing Time), the China National Space Administration announced.

18 detained

Police have detained 18 suspects implicated in a health product company’s scandal of pyramid selling* and false advertising, investigators said on Monday.

The suspects include 51-year-old Shu Yuhui, founder and chairman of Quanjian Nature Medicine Technology Development Co. based in Tianjin, according to a joint investigation group. On January 1, Tianjin police started an investigation into the company that had allegedly organized and led a pyramid scheme and made false claims in its advertisements.

Daxing airport

Beijing’s new international airport is expected to handle 45 million passengers annually by 2021 and 72 million by 2025, according to the country’s civil aviation regulator.

Beijing Daxing International Airport, set to start operation this year, is designed to become “a large international aviation hub, a new driver of development for the country and a comprehensive transport hub in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region that supports the Xiongan New Area’s development,” according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Shanghai’s whales

A Shanghai ocean park said its most popular stars — two female beluga whales* — will be relocated to an open water sanctuary about 6,000 miles away in Iceland this spring.

Shanghai’s Changfeng Ocean World said “Little Grey” and “Little White” will take the 30-hour-plus journey by air, land and sea to arrive at the Sea Life Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary.

The sanctuary was created by the Sea Life Trust and Whale and Dolphin Conservation, in a bay at Heimaey Island, located off the southern coast of Iceland. (SD-Agencies)