China plans to land probes on moonBEIJING — China vowed today to speed up the development of its space industry as it set out its plans to become the first country to soft land a probe on the far side of the moon, by around 2018, and launch its first Mars probe by 2020.“To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is a dream we pursue unremittingly,” read a white paper setting out the country’s space strategy for the next five years. It says China aims to use space for peaceful purposes and to guarantee national security, and to carry out cutting-edge scientific research.The white paper, released by the information office of China’s Cabinet, points to the growing ambitions of China’s already rapidly advancing space program. China places great emphasis on the development of its space industry, seen as a symbol of national prestige that will raise the country’s standing in the world. Although the white paper doesn’t mention it, China’s eventual goal is to land an astronaut on the moon.Since China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, it has staged a spacewalk and landed a rover on the moon in 2013 — the first time humans had soft landed anything on the moon since the 1970s.

Principal resigns over Nazi paradeTAIPEI, Taiwan — The principal of a high school in northern Taiwan has resigned following widespread criticism over an event staged by students that featured Nazi-themed costumes and banners.Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported this week that Cheng Hsiao-Ming, principal of Kuang Fu High School in the city of Hsinchu, apologized for the incident as he announced his resignation.The event on Friday drew public attention after images were posted on social media of the students hoisting swastika banners in a parade behind a tank fashioned from cardboard.Israel’s representative office in Taipei condemned the event, calling it “deplorable and shocking.”