The new communication satellite APSTAR-6C blasts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on May 4, 2018. [Photo/VCG] A Long March rocket launched an advanced communications satellite on Friday for a Hong Kong-based operator. The APSTAR-6C was atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket that blasted off at 12:06 am from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, according to a statement from China Great Wall Industry Corp in Beijing, prime contractor on the project. The satellite was designed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology based on the DFH-4 satellite design. With a design life of 15 years, it is equipped with 45 transponders in C, Ku and Ka bands. It will provide regional communications and broadcasting services to users in the Asia-Pacific, the statement said. The launch marked the 273rd flight of the Long March rocket family. APSTAR-6C's user, APT Satellite in Hong Kong, now has five communications satellites including the latest one, the second in the firm's satellite fleet made in the mainland. The company's first mainland-made satellite was APSTAR-9, which was also developed by the China Academy of Space Technology based on the DFH-4 and launched in October 2015 by a Long March 3B rocket. It is capable of covering China, South and Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. silicone wristbands australiarubber message braceletscool rubber band bracelets with loomwhere can i buy silicone braceletswholesale custom silicone wristbands
SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was removing propaganda loudspeakers from the border area with South Korea in a bid to enforce the Panmunjom Declaration, announced after the inter-Korean summit last week, local media reported Tuesday citing the South Korean military. The Peace House, the venue for the inter-Korean summit on April 27, 2018, is pictured at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, April 18, 2018. [Photo/Agencies] An unidentified South Korean military official was quoted by local media as saying moves were spotted earlier in the day pulling back loudspeakers from the frontline areas. The DPRK is reported to have operated about 40 fixed loudspeakers along the heavily fortified inter-Korean border to conduct psychological warfare against South Korea. South Korea's military, which had operated some 40 mobile and fixed loudspeakers, planned to remove them from 2 p.m. local time (0500 GMT). South Korea's anti-DPRK broadcast through the loudspeakers was already stopped on April 23 ahead of the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un on April 27. After the third-ever inter-Korean summit at the border village of Panmunjom, Moon and Kim signed and announced the Panmunjom Declaration. Under the declaration, the two leaders agreed to stop all hostile acts, including the propaganda broadcast and the distribution of leaflets, and remove tools for it in areas near the military demarcation line (MDL) dividing the Koreas since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. They agreed to change the MDL into an actual peace zone.
