Battle against poverty In a historic feat, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has bid farewell to absolute poverty. The last 10 impoverished counties in Xinjiang have managed to end absolute poverty, the regional government announced on Saturday. The 10 counties, including Shache County, Moyu County and Akto County, are no longer impoverished counties by official standards, the local government said in a statement. Asteroid named Fudan University held a ceremony on Friday to publicize the naming of an asteroid, numbered 297161, in honor of the late Su Buqing, the university’s former president. The asteroid was discovered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Purple Mountain Observatory in 2008, and the official naming announcement was published by the Minor Planet Center on behalf of Division F of the International Astronomical Union on November 8, 2019. Su, who died in 2003 at the age of 101, was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Anniversary of Pudong Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday attended a grand gathering to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the development and opening up of Shanghai’s Pudong. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the event. Efforts should be made to make Pudong a pioneer of reform and opening-up at a higher level and a vanguard in fully building a modern socialist country, Xi said. Pudong should also strive to become an example that highlights the Chinese people’s confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said. Quarantine measures The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has decided to launch the “Return2hk” travel scheme which allows Hong Kong residents returning from neighboring Guangdong Province or the Macao SAR to be exempted from a 14-day quarantine on meeting certain requirements starting November 23. Under the scheme, returnees from Guangdong or Macao need to apply for a specific quota and meet certain requirements to skip the mandatory quarantine, including possession of a proof of a valid negative nucleic acid test result issued by recognized institutions upon arrival in Hong Kong. (SD-Agencies) | 