Briefs

Refitted aircraft carrier starts eighth sea trial

China's refitted aircraft carrier launched its eighth sea trial last Thursday morning, the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily reports. The newspaper said the trial would last for a relatively longer period of 13 days. The vessel and its crew had taken a rest of no more than a week after the seventh test ended on June 1, the report said. A Macau businessman bought the half-built Soviet aircraft carrier, formerly called the Varyag, from the Ukraine military in 1998 for a price of US$20 million, under the pretence of converting it into a floating casino. It was then given to the People's Liberation Army. Choi Chi-yuk