China has revoked the press credentials of three journalists of the Wall Street Journal after the newspaper declined to apologise for a column with a headline calling China the "real sick man of Asia", the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

China has revoked the press credentials of three journalists of the Wall Street Journal after the newspaper declined to apologise for a column with a headline calling China the "real sick man of Asia", the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing made "stern representations" to the paper over the February 3 column, which China criticised as racist and denigrating its efforts to combat a coronavirus epidemic, but the paper had failed to apologise or investigate those responsible. "The Chinese people do not welcome media that publish racist statements and maliciously attack China," Geng told a daily briefing. "In light of this, China has decided to revoke the press cards of the three Wall Street Journal correspondents in Beijing, starting today." Also Read: US designates Chinese media outlets as 'foreign missions' He did not identify the journalists. The Wall Street Journal said its deputy bureau chief, Josh Chin, and reporters Chao Deng and Philip Wen, had been ordered to leave within five days. Chin and Deng are US citizens and Wen is Australian. In a statement, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China expressed "deep concern and strong condemnation" over the move. "The action taken against the Journal correspondents is an extreme and obvious attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign news organizations by taking retribution against their China-based correspondents," it said. China's step comes after the United States said on Tuesday it would begin treating five Chinese state-run media entities with US operations the same as foreign embassies. Among these are the Xinhua news agency, China Global Television Network and China Daily Distribution Corp, which will be required to register employees and US properties with the State Department. Watch: Coronavirus Outbreak: China records over 1,693 deaths 24 hours Geng said China opposed the new rules and Beijing reserved the right to respond. China declined to renew credentials of another Wall Street Journal reporter last year. The June 30 report said Australian authorities were looking into the activities of one of President Xi Jinping's cousins as part of investigations into organised crime, money laundering and alleged Chinese influence-peddling. Foreigners are not allowed to work as journalists in China without official credentials, which are required to obtain a residence visa.

China revokes three press cards of three US journalists

Outrage erupted on social media after a Chinese theme part forced a pig to bungee jump off a 68-metre high tower, the BBC reported.

As visible in the video, the pig was tied to a pole and then ushered by two men to the top of the tower before being pushed off.

The amusement park claims that the stunt was curated to mark the inauguration of the new bungee ride.

According to local media, the pig was then sent to a slaughterhouse.

<h6><img alt="pig" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6b81590b-b124-45e4-9e96-8d5a6c0f9ef2" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%282%29_48.jpg" /> 
Image courtesy: Twitter user&nbsp;@DanielPartain4 
&nbsp;</h6>

The world has become more sensitive to animal rights, as reflected in the anger that was sparked online after the video went viral.

Since then, the theme park has put out a statement and said that they accept the ''criticism''.

"We sincerely accept netizens' criticism and advice and apologise to the public... We will improve [our] marketing of the tourist site, to provide tourists with better services'', the statement read.

The pig was thrown off the edge on January 18 at the Meixin Red Wine Town park in southwestern Chinese municipality of Chongqing.

The event was called ''The Golden Pig Bungee Jump''.

Local media reported that the pig weighed 75 kilograms and was adorned in a purple cape before being pushed off. Pig squeals can be clearly heard in the video.

<img alt="pig" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="800ad048-2755-470e-b895-5773e0c93db7" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%283%29_37.jpg" />

<h6>Image courtesy: Twitter user @steve8412 
&nbsp;</h6>

In one video of the incident, what sound like pig squeals can be heard.

In China, animal cruelty is not punishable or recognised by law. But the global movement for animal rights has spurred the conversation about animal welfare issues in the last few years.

Even though there was a lot of outrage against the incident, many users claimed that what happened to the pig was no different than ''killing a pig for food''. 
 
"Killing animals for consumption and treating them cruelly for entertainment are two different things... There is no need to torture them like this", a user said.&nbsp;

Animal rights organisation PETA called it ''animal cruelty at its worst''.

Outrage erupted on social media after a Chinese theme part forced a pig to bungee jump off a 68-metre high tower, the BBC reported. As visible in the video, the pig was tied to a pole and then ushered by two men to the top of the tower before being pushed off.

Outrage erupted on social media after a Chinese theme part forced a pig to bungee jump off a 68-metre high tower, the BBC reported. As visible in the video, the pig was tied to a pole and then ushered by two men to the top of the tower before being pushed off. The amusement park claims that the stunt was curated to mark the inauguration of the new bungee ride. According to local media, the pig was then sent to a slaughterhouse. Image courtesy: Twitter user @DanielPartain4 The world has become more sensitive to animal rights, as reflected in the anger that was sparked online after the video went viral. Since then, the theme park has put out a statement and said that they accept the ''criticism''. "We sincerely accept netizens' criticism and advice and apologise to the public... We will improve [our] marketing of the tourist site, to provide tourists with better services'', the statement read. The pig was thrown off the edge on January 18 at the Meixin Red Wine Town park in southwestern Chinese municipality of Chongqing. The event was called ''The Golden Pig Bungee Jump''. Local media reported that the pig weighed 75 kilograms and was adorned in a purple cape before being pushed off. Pig squeals can be clearly heard in the video. Image courtesy: Twitter user @steve8412 In one video of the incident, what sound like pig squeals can be heard. In China, animal cruelty is not punishable or recognised by law. But the global movement for animal rights has spurred the conversation about animal welfare issues in the last few years. Even though there was a lot of outrage against the incident, many users claimed that what happened to the pig was no different than ''killing a pig for food''. "Killing animals for consumption and treating them cruelly for entertainment are two different things... There is no need to torture them like this", a user said. Animal rights organisation PETA called it ''animal cruelty at its worst''.

Chinese theme park forces pig to bungee jump as part of stunt, online outrage follows

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-says-he-and-xi-jinping-will-sign-china-trade-deal-270340">China</a> warned earlier this week that a destructive pest that has threatened the country's grain output is expected to hit more crops across wider areas in 2020, including the key corn-growing region in the northeast.

The fall armyworm, first detected in China's <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/14-miners-dead-after-southwest-china-mine-blast-268614">southwestern province</a> of Yunnan in January this year, is expected to spread to the corn belt in the northeast next year, a government institute said in a report on Monday, citing the pest's reproduction patterns and high mobility.

"It is expected that in 2020, fall armyworm will be very severe and the situation will be extremely grave," according to the report by the National Agriculture Technology Extension Service Center (NATESC), an institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The pest infested 16.88 million mu (1.13 million hectare) of land in 26 provinces and regions in 2019, NATESC said in the report. <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/drought-pests-could-force-india-to-grant-duty-free-corn-imports-197618">Fall armyworms</a>, which feast in large numbers on the leaves and stems of many plant species, including sorghum, corn and sugarcane, can't be eradicated and can infest and damage hundreds of hectares of crops in a single night.

China is the world's second-biggest corn consumer and producer. While 98.1 per cent&nbsp;of the land infested by <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/a-very-hungry-caterpillar-invades-asia-194892">fall armyworm</a> in 2019 was corn field not in the northeast, 19 other crops including wheat, ginger, sugarcane and sorghum were also hit, NATESC said in the report, published on its website.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/chinese-hospital-stops-single-woman-from-freezing-her-eggs-get-sued-270187">Beijing</a> warned earlier this year that armyworm was a severe threat to the country's food security and in May launched a campaign to "snatch grain from the insect's mouth".

With its arrival expected in the north early next year, the report warned of an increasing risk that armyworm will hit corn during its budding period, devastating young crops. In the absence of corn, the pest will turn to wheat in neighbouring areas.

Larva of the pest has already been found in 9,120 mu of wheat field in China since late September, in provinces including Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu, major growers of the grain in China, the world's top consumer and producer of wheat, according to the report.

First found in the Americas, fall armyworm has spread through Asia since it was detected in southern India late last year.

NATESC urged local authorities to inspect winter crops in their region, and include fall armyworm as a regular and major target for monitoring.

China warned earlier this week that a destructive pest that has threatened the country's grain output is expected to hit more crops across wider areas in 2020, including the key corn-growing region in the northeast.

China warned earlier this week that a destructive pest that has threatened the country's grain output is expected to hit more crops across wider areas in 2020, including the key corn-growing region in the northeast. The fall armyworm, first detected in China's southwestern province of Yunnan in January this year, is expected to spread to the corn belt in the northeast next year, a government institute said in a report on Monday, citing the pest's reproduction patterns and high mobility. "It is expected that in 2020, fall armyworm will be very severe and the situation will be extremely grave," according to the report by the National Agriculture Technology Extension Service Center (NATESC), an institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The pest infested 16.88 million mu (1.13 million hectare) of land in 26 provinces and regions in 2019, NATESC said in the report. Fall armyworms, which feast in large numbers on the leaves and stems of many plant species, including sorghum, corn and sugarcane, can't be eradicated and can infest and damage hundreds of hectares of crops in a single night. China is the world's second-biggest corn consumer and producer. While 98.1 per cent of the land infested by fall armyworm in 2019 was corn field not in the northeast, 19 other crops including wheat, ginger, sugarcane and sorghum were also hit, NATESC said in the report, published on its website. Beijing warned earlier this year that armyworm was a severe threat to the country's food security and in May launched a campaign to "snatch grain from the insect's mouth". With its arrival expected in the north early next year, the report warned of an increasing risk that armyworm will hit corn during its budding period, devastating young crops. In the absence of corn, the pest will turn to wheat in neighbouring areas. Larva of the pest has already been found in 9,120 mu of wheat field in China since late September, in provinces including Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu, major growers of the grain in China, the world's top consumer and producer of wheat, according to the report. First found in the Americas, fall armyworm has spread through Asia since it was detected in southern India late last year. NATESC urged local authorities to inspect winter crops in their region, and include fall armyworm as a regular and major target for monitoring.

China's northeast cornbelt likely to be hit by fall armyworm in 2020: Reports

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China revokes three press cards of three US journalists

Chinese theme park forces pig to bungee jump as part of stunt, online outrage follows

China's northeast cornbelt likely to be hit by fall armyworm in 2020: Reports