Beijing and Shanghai are accelerating resumption of railway and air transportation on the eve of the summer travel peak after the two megacities emerged from a struggle with Omicron with no new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases reported for days.

Chinese mainland found 183 local COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 38 confirmed and 145 asymptomatic cases. Daily cases on Friday expanded from the previous day, when the number of cases exceeded the 100 mark for the first time in 15 days. At least three cities have tightened their anti-epidemic measures including restricting personnel flows, however, experts said this round of burgeoning outbreak is limited in scale and could be quickly put under control.

July 1, 2022 marks the 101st anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). A 96-year-old CPC member named Yang Qingchun is retaking an oath in front of the Party flag in the memorial hall of the First National Congress of the CPC in Shanghai. Photo: Qi Xijia/GT

On a sunny summer morning Friday, July 1, marking the 101st anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), groups of CPC members solemnly reviewed the Party admission oath in front of the former site of the First National Congress of the CPC in Shanghai.

Bidding farewell to the era of saying "Yes, Sir!" in English, the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) will embrace more new changes starting Friday, from taking Chinese-style marching, to new uniforms for counterterrorism units, and equipping officers with domestically produced anti-riot vehicles - all of which have been hailed by the Chinese people as they recalled the historical moment 25 years ago when the city's defense was handed over back to the People's Liberation Army (PLA), washing away a century of humiliation from the West.

On Friday, hours before swearing in to become chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), John Lee Ka-chiu opened social media accounts, including Sina Weibo and Facebook, to have more interactions and communication with the public.

China's aerospace institutions explained on Thursday that the water in a cup didn't float in space due to the water surface tension at work in the weightless environment, and the cup was fixed on the table for ease of use, as a science class from China's space station run by taikonauts triggered a wide discussion on overseas social media recently.

The sixth-term Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee Ka-chiu and the principal officials of the new-term government took their oaths of office at an inaugural ceremony on Friday, which also marked the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The Jinyanghe Bridge, with the world's tallest pier of a rigid-frame bridge, spanning the Jinyang River, opened to traffic on Thursday, serving the people of the mountainous Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of the Power Construction Corporation of China, which is responsible for the construction, consultation and management of the project, told the Global Times.

Earthquake relief supplies from Chinese charities and NGOs arrived in Afghanistan as emergency humanitarian aid for victims of the deadly earthquake in Paktika and Khost provinces, following $7.47 million in emergency humanitarian assistance by the Chinese government and aid from local Chinese companies.

Launched in Fuding, East China's Fujian Province, from June 27 to 30, the forum aims to promote the tea industry and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, to further boost the construction of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and share China's experience on rural revitalization.

Against the backdrop of bright sunshine, floating music, passionate cast members and smiling tourists, Shanghai Disneyland reopened on Thursday morning after a more than three-month lockdown. The big welcome at Shanghai Disneyland came after China on Wednesday announced the nationwide travel tracking system will no longer mark cities having areas of COVID-19 infection risks. Market watchers said the confidence for an economic rebound when COVID-19 is not yet over is because China has built up an effective system of normalized epidemic prevention and control, and strong economic resilience will further reward the persistence of a precise epidemic approach. A 19-year-old girl surnamed Yuan, who arrived at the theme park with her friend immediately after its reopening, told Global Times reporters on Thursday that she was “so excited” that she only slept for about three hours last night.

The celebration of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland marked not only a historic moment full of joy and pride shared by the Chinese people, but also a hard-fought recovery of the city since the 2019 turmoil, which deeply influenced and harmed the young people who live, work and study in the city.

Inside the New Territories south regional headquarters of the Hong Kong Police Force, a statue of Guan Yu, a general during China's late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) who was known for his bravery and skill in battle, stands at one corner of the headquarters' canteen: the spirit of Guan happens to coincide with Hong Kong police's motto - Serving Hong Kong with Honor, Duty and Loyalty.

Editor's Note: Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, returned to the motherland in 1997 after more than a century of turbulence under the British rule. Now, 25 years later, we take you on a tour through city landmarks, and on the way you'll understand the city's role as a financial hub, its economic and social achievements under the “one country, two systems,” integration into national development blueprints, as well as better governance after tackling social unrest. Traveling through history, it is evident that twists and turns cannot stop Hong Kong's promising future and Hongkongers' pursuit of better lives in the embrace of the motherland.

China has won an overwhelming victory in the fight against corruption in the past decade with the anti-graft watchdog investigating 4.39 million cases and punishing 4.7 million people as of April. Chinese observers believe upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the fundamental guarantee for China's achievements in countering graft, which also reflects China's institutional strengths compared with the US and a few Western countries where corruption has been institutionalized. Wang Jianxin, director of the Publicity Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and the National Commission of Supervision, said at a press conference on Thursday that since the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012 to the end of April this year, the discipline inspection and supervision organs nationwide investigated 4.39 million cases, and punished 4.7 million people.

Sixian county in East China's Anhui Province was placed under urgent lockdown on Wednesday after a sudden flare-up with 32 asymptomatic infections reported, which has posed a risk of spillover to neighboring provinces.

The Economist magazine has rephrased the controversial comparison featured in one of their articles that compares pigs to Chinese people and clarified that it was not intended to cause offense, which, however, failed to convince Chinese netizens outraged by such racist and dehumanizing language.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong by train on Thursday afternoon, launching his visit to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the city's return to the motherland.

China shortened the quarantine time for international arrivals and canceled marking cities with COVID infection risk areas in the travel tracking system in two consecutive days, but these adjustments do not mean China has changed its "dynamic zero COVID" strategy or that it's a relaxation in epidemic prevention, but refined and optimized methods to meet current needs, said Wu Zunyou, top epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, said that public consultation on draft laws has become an important channel for ordinary people to participate in the law making with more than 3800,000 public opinions collected over the past decade.

UK publication The Economist on Wednesday deleted a tweet which compared pigs with Chinese people after it encountered a tidal wave of criticism for being racist and dehumanizing. The now-deleted tweet was published on Tuesday and was used by The Economist to promote an article titled “Most of the world's grain is not eaten by humans.” “In 2019 pigs ate 432m tonnes of grain, 45% more than the people of China did,” it read.

Shanghai city will reopen museums, galleries, tourist attractions from July 1, and restart cinemas and theaters from July 8, after about three months of closure due to the Omicron outbreak.

A latest annual report issued on Wednesday has shown continuous dynamism on China's scientific and technological achievements' commercialization by universities and scientific research institutes, with the total contracts amount reaching 125.61 billion yuan ($18.64 billion), according to Science and Technology Daily.

China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Wednesday released the latest batch of Mars images taken by the country's Tianwen-1 probe and announced that the mission has accomplished all its assigned tasks as of Wednesday, obtaining data of medium-resolution covering the entire red planet and achieving exploration assignments with a variety of scientific payload.

China no longer marks cities with COVID infections in travel tracking system to balance epidemic control & socioeconomic dev, facilitate traveling starting from Wed: Ministry of Industry & Information Technology. In practice, those from marked cities usually face restrictions while traveling

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will open a new campus in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, and has recently gained approval from the Ministry of Education (MOE). The move is expected to better integrate quality educational resources of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland, ahead of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

On Wednesday China's official virus emergency response office and leading cybersecurity company disclosed a new vulnerability attack weapon platform deployed by the US National Security Agency (NSA), which cybersecurity experts believe is the main equipment of the NSA's computer network hacking operation team, and it targets the world with a focus on China and Russia.

China has halved the amount of time international arrivals and close contacts of COVID-19 patients must spend in centralized quarantine from 14 days to seven days and has drawn a clear standard on what constitutes medium- and high-risk areas. Epidemiologists said the move is a further improvement in the country's COVID-19 playbook that will provide more balance between antivirus measures and the need to maintain people's lives and livelihoods.

As the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland approaches, various celebration events are being launched in the special administrative region.

Close contacts of COVID-19 infected patients and people entering China from overseas will undergo shorter quarantine period. The time has been reduced from 14 days of collective quarantine and another seven days of home health monitoring to seven and three days respectively, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council announced in an updated epidemic prevention announcement on Tuesday, adding that the measure is not a relaxation of dynamic zero-COVID policy, but it is simply aimed at more accurate and scientific prevention, said officials in a press conference following the announcement.

China has launched a 100-day campaign to crack down on illegal behaviors to eliminate security problems, highlighting the protection of vulnerable groups including children and women. It came after the curtain call of special campaign against crimes in the wake of the brutality at a restaurant in the city of Tangshan in North China's Hebei Province.

A recent study showed that an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm presents satisfying immunogenicity and safety levels when administered among senior citizens suffering from hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

A bus slid into a roadside river in Shanghai's Pudong New Area on Tuesday morning, and the driver has been rescued and no passengers stayed in the bus, Shanghai police said on Tuesday.

The tale of two cities in China – Beijing and Shanghai – sees final curtain come down on the latest epidemic fight as the two metropolises emerge from the month-long Omicron shadow, with both registering zero new infections on Monday, authorities announced on Tuesday.

China has tweaked COVID-19 prevention playbook to shorten collective quarantine time of close contacts and intl arrivals to 7 days. It also unified the standard of classifying high-, medium-risk areas, based on if new cases emerge in the past 7 days.

​To ensure safety of the upcoming celebrations on 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, Shenzhen has banned drones and other small aircraft in the city for six days, the local public security bureau said Monday.

The Hangzhou police filed the case for investigation of a babysitter for allegedly causing the death of a girl under the age of two, media reported on Monday quoting the girl's father, noting that the girl's family wants the babysitter to be held criminally responsible and the agent and the property owner to face civil liabilities.

On the day marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, some officials of the sixth-term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government will be sworn in. Recently, the State Council approved the list of key officials proposed by the sixth-term chief executive of the HKSAR government, and veteran official Paul Chan Mo-po will continue serving as Financial Secretary.

On the day marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, some officials of the sixth-term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government will be sworn in. Recently, China's State Council approved the list of key officials proposed by the sixth-term chief executive of the HKSAR government, and veteran official Chris Tang Ping-keung will continue serving as Secretary for Security.

Early on Monday morning, Beijing's primary and middle school students who have been confined at home for nearly two months due to the resurgence of COVID-19, returned to campus in light drizzle following strict epidemic prevention and control measures. Health experts said the school resumption, around 20 days before the summer holidays, can serve as a test for regular epidemic measures, and some measures may be adjusted under the dynamic zero-COVID-19 policy to better prevent outbreaks on campus. The resumption of in-person classes in the capital took place after the capital reported single-digit COVID-19 cases for 10 consecutive days after the latest Heaven Supermarket bar-related outbreak on June 9.

Spinal deformity has become the third most harmful disease for Chinese children and adolescents after obesity and myopia, with over 5 million primary and high school students currently expected to suffer from scoliosis, with an annual increase in cases of about 300,000. Experts attribute the problem to incorrect sitting and dancing postures.

The positive rate of the influenza viruses dominated by the influenza A (H3N2) subtype in southern China has continued to rise, with some regions seeing a spike in cases surpassing that of winter, according to data released by the Chinese National Influenza Center (CNIC). Medical experts attributed the outbreak to multiple factors but highlighted that weak immunity against influenza may rise due to low exposure to respiratory pathogens affected by prevention and control measures against COVID-19.

Several Chinese cities suffered severe waterlogging due to the torrential rains started on Sunday. According to China's National Meteorological Center, heavy rainfalls will continue to 8 pm Tuesday across 12 areas including Southwest China's Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou, North China's Inner Mongolia, Northeast China's Liaoning and Jilin, East China's Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui, Central China's Henan, Hubei and Hunan.

Beijing has made great achievements in ecological civilization over the past years, with all major ambient air pollutants in 2021 reaching national air quality standards for the first time, a report delivered to the 13th Beijing Municipal Party Congress said.

A six-month-long nationwide campaign was launched by the Bureau of Network Security Protection under the Ministry of Public Security on Sunday to crack down on internet water armies, who have been attempting to control or disrupt online public opinions through releasing fake and harmful information.

Latest in battle against coronavirus

Chinese lawmakers approved a revision to the country's Sports Law on June 24, a significant step to improve the high-quality development of sports, in a bid to build the country into a sporting powerhouse.

Shortly after China launched the Fujian, the country's third aircraft carrier, the good news flew thousands of miles to the memorial of Chinese heroes in foreign lands with many overseas Chinese bringing photos of the Fujian to honor the sailors buried at the Chinese Beiyang Fleet Sailors' Memorial in Newcastle, UK.

All guests visiting the Universal Beijing Resort are required to provide a negative nucleic acid test result obtained within 48 hours, as well as their health code and personal ID starting on Monday. The Resort reopened on Saturday after nearly two months' closure due to COVID-19.

Beijing and Shanghai – China's top two cities – are generally getting back on track after a months-long Omicron fight. On Sunday, Beijing announced the resumption of on-site classes for primary and secondary schools, while Shanghai decided to resume dine-in service in some communities after declaring victory in a three-month battle against the variant. Nonetheless, the cities' health authorities and experts warned that risks cannot be completely ruled out. At Sunday's news conferences, Beijing and Shanghai each reported two new COVID-19 infections. Experts called for precise epidemiological surveys, monitoring of key groups and swift responses as important measures to curb rebounds and consolidate epidemic prevention and control results.

Malcolm Clarke, a two-time Oscar winner for best short documentary and a 16-time Emmy winner, has made a series of documentaries on the year of social turmoil in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 2019, triggered by the anti-extradition movement. These documentaries, in sharp contrast to the mainstream narrative about Hong Kong in the West, have won applause from netizens and observers in the city for presenting what happened three years ago with an unbiased perspective. In a new interview with Hong Kong media outlet hk01.com, Clarke said that he was angry and disappointed at the biased coverage of the movement in the Western narrative about the chaos. The site started to air the documentaries Hong Kong Returns starting on Thursday, featuring 10 episodes focusing on different scenarios during the social turmoil in 2019. The UK director, who used to work at the BBC, said that the movement was simplified by European and US media outlets, which described it as “a group of courageous young people seeking democracy against an authoritarian China.”

The multi-country monkeypox outbreak does not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), announced the World Health Organization (WHO) in a statement on Saturday, as some 47 countries and regions have reported an accumulated 3,040 cases since May and the first imported case was found in China's Taiwan on Friday.

"The Party's endeavors over the past century have produced a profound influence on the course of world history," read the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century, which was adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC in November, 2021.

Beijing issued flood and geological hazard alerts on Sunday as the heaviest rainstorm in the flooding season is about to hit northern China, including the capital city.

With sporadic cases from unknown sources reported in Dandong, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, experts noted the epidemic prevention and control situation in the city bordering North Korea remains grim and complex as the risk of a large-scale rebound of epidemic still exists.

Rights of the Hong Kong residents and businesses are more fully protected by the national security law for Hong Kong and the new electoral system, which help the city overcome chaos and embark on a new journey toward prosperity and good governance, a representative from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said at the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has underscored the importance of better listening to the people's voices by making use of the internet and other channels.

The Handmaid's Tale seems to be becoming a reality in the US as many US women experienced their darkest day on Friday as the US Supreme Court overruled the landmark Roe v Wade ruling of 1973, which will lead to a total ban on abortions in roughly half of all US states. The move has drawn wide condemnation around the world as many described it as an attack on women's freedoms and rights, a serious setback, and will further split an already divided US society, lighting the fuse on a dangerous political bomb.

The PLA has organized air and ground forces to monitor the entire operation of the US spy aircraft's flyover in the Taiwan Straits: spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the PLA

After suspension of nearly two months, Universal Beijing Resort resumed operations on Saturday, albeit at limited capacity. Platform data showed that bookings for the theme park outpaced all other theme parks in China, underlying the popularity of the resort as well as the accelerated recovery of the tourism sector in Beijing after the virus was brought under control.

Shanghai on Saturday announced it has won the battle against the latest round of COVID-19 outbreak, a confirmation of the correct decisions and plans made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, as well as unity and painstaking efforts by people across the country.

Students of elementary, middle and high schools in the capital city are slated to return to school on Monday. This comes as the city further lifts pandemic epidemic response restrictions and steadily returns to normalcy as the latest outbreak continues to wane.

Residents in COVID-19 risk-free regions in Dandong, a border city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province have been allowed to move around freely in an orderly manner within the city so long as they have a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours, the local authorities said on Friday.

An official from China's National Health Commission (NHC) emphasized on Friday that it is absolutely forbidden for local governments to change people's health QR codes for reasons other than epidemic prevention and control.

When American gun advocates celebrate their new triumph after the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled out a century-old New York law restricting the carrying of concealed firearms, observers saw the US lay bare to the world its inability in front of a real-life problem, deep social divisions, and indifference to the lives of ordinary people in fresh bloodshed left by mass shooting victims.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering whether to declare the outbreak of monkeypox a "public health emergency of international concern," the highest level of global alert. This comes as the disease has not only affected countries in West and Central Africa, but also has spread to the rest of the world.

The 35th meeting of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee voted on June 24 to amend the country's Anti-Monopoly Law which will take effect from August 1, 2022, Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

The government of Northeast China's Liaoning Province held a video conference on Thursday night over the anti-epidemic work in the border city of Dandong amid the controversial case of an old man who attacked a police officer which led to heated discussions on Chinese social media over one-size-fits-all anti-epidemic policies.

Entertainment venues were ordered to close and dine-in services at restaurants were banned from Thursday afternoon in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) after the city's COVID-19 infections increased to 110 in the latest flare-up. The chief executive of the Macao SAR assured the public that the outbreak would be curbed soon.

​A Chinese university in Northwest China's Shaanxi said on Wed its email system had been attacked by an overseas hacker group and it has reported it to the police.

After more than a month of clearance of infections in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, the city has reported sporadic local COVID-19 cases in recent days. In light of this, Shenzhen has tightened its anti-epidemic measures by requesting its residents to show negative nucleic acid testing results obtained within 48 hours or proof of testing records within 24 hours when using public transportation or entering public enclosed areas starting from Friday.

The rush to regular testing has slowed down, less than two months after the construction of 15-minute distance nucleic acid testing services began in big cities across the country.

WeChat, one of China's most popular social media platforms, announced on Wednesday that it will launch a crackdown on accounts and content that create or spread online rumors and false information related to hot social security issues.

Seven people who were injured in the gas explosion in Baodi, North China's Tianjin Municipality on Tuesday afternoon have been discharged from the hospital,while nine individuals responsible for the accident are under custody, the local authorities announced on Wednesday.

China's top media and culture authorities on Wednesday jointly issued behavior norms to guide livestreamers, prohibiting 31 kinds of misbehavior including smearing Chinese culture, historic figures and national heroes, and hyping sensitive issues, in a move to promote a healthy cyberspace amid public calls for more regulation due to wrongdoings in the booming industry.

Five officials from Zhengzhou, in Central China's Henan Province, were punished for abusing the health code system, the city's commission for discipline inspection and supervision announced on Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum officially opened on Wednesday, with Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam addressing the opening ceremony as the last public event of her tenure, wishing the museum will further enhance Hong Kong residents' national identity.

A dozen Chinese provinces and regions are easing travel curbs ahead of the summer holiday, which is expected to boost the tourism market amid encouraging national policies and constant low levels of COVID-19 infections.

The Public Security Bureau in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has cracked a major drug case that included a five-tier drug cartel. The gang's leader told police that he was “inspired” to manufacture drugs by the plot of a foreign TV series.

Due to the continuous heavy rain, a hydrometric station of a main stream in Zhujiang (Pearl) River Basin, South China's Guangdong Province registered a flood flow that exceeded historic records on Wednesday, and is expected to have a peak discharge on Thursday, which will be a once-in- a-century flood.

Affected by the recent heavy rainfall, the second flood of Beijiang River in the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Basin will develop into a major flood and the fourth flood of Xijiang River is probable, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

The original destination of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, sinking in the South China Sea on Monday night, was Cambodia, the Marine Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said on Tuesday, noting that it has demanded the boat owner to hand in a report and has launched a follow-up investigation.

Ahead of the 14th BRICS summit in Beijing, China's top think tank released a report on Tuesday on the results the BRICS has achieved in the past and its development expectations, clarifying some misconceptions about the block.

A gas explosion was reported in North China's Tianjin Municipality on Tuesday afternoon, leaving 23 injured, including three severely burned, according to media.

Chinese scientists found for the first time high-pressure minerals in the lunar regolith samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 lunar probe. The discovery provides important evidence of the presence of impact ejecta near the craters in the sampling area of Chang'e-5, which was previously determined through the analysis of remote sensing data.

China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) initiated two contingency plans ensuring sufficient quarantine and treatment facilities after reporting 49 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday amid rising epidemic risks.

As the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)'s return to the motherland approaches, officers at the Hong Kong Police College in Wong Chuk Hang are practicing the Chinese-style foot drills of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). People familiar with the matter believed that their smooth movements in a decisive manner fully underscored the spirit of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) in the new era.

The public security authority of North China's Hebei Province on Tuesday gave an update on the situations of four victims injured in a brutal restaurant assault in Tangshan on June 10, as well as progress in the probe of the attackers and disciplinary investigation into some police officers' mishandling of the case, amid mounting public calls for more information to be released.

The CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission have conferred 2nd-class Aerospace Merit Medals to Shenzhou-13 mission commander Zhai Zhigang and crew member Wang Yaping, and an honorary title of Hero Astronaut and 3rd-class Aerospace Merit Medalto Shenzhou-13 crew member Ye Guangfu.

The four victims in a harassing and beating incident at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, North China's Hebei Province, were respectivelyidentified as mild or minor injuries of class II, according to a newly released statement by Hebei provincial public security department on Tuesday.

The city of Jilin in Northeast China's Jilin Province on Tuesday reported 10 new COVID-19 asymptomatic carriers, who worked in an imported cold-chain food processing workshop of a trade company, amid the rising epidemic risks in the city as it is conducting a three-day citywide nucleic acid testing.

Hong Kong residents lamented that one of its most iconic landmarks, the Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsized in the South China Sea on Monday night, and some of them said it indeed marked “the end of an era.”

The Beijing Municipal High People's Court on Monday announced a public verdict in the case against Wang Linqing, a former official at China's top court, rejecting his appeal and upholding the original verdict.

The Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, an island located in Zhuhai in South China's Guangdong Province, announced on Monday that bus services and on-site classes will be suspended from Monday for three days, amid the COVID-19 resurgence risk in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), which is adjacent to the zone.

Extreme weather, likely caused by climate change, has plagued China, ranging from a heat wave of up to 40 C in the northern part of the country to heavy floods in large parts of southern China, with some 85 rivers nationwide exceeding alert levels.

In move that experts said will diminish the impact of COVID-19 controls on international exchanges and domestic mobility, at least five Chinese cities have curtailed centralized quarantine periods for international arrivals from 14 days to 10 or seven days, Chinese embassies have streamlined visa applications for foreigners, and certain cities have let their guard down for travelers from previously COVID-hit cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

A person who was infected by COVID-19 due to community transmission failed to report their symptoms, leading to five more infections, the Beijing government said at a news conference on Monday, noting that the city's epidemic prevention work cannot be treated lightly.

As the epidemic prevention and control situation in Beijing continues to improve and has entered the final phase, local authorities launched an inspection campaign to consolidate the hard-won achievements in the COVID fight.

A skull fossil of a Parataxidea of the mustelidae species diagnosed of ossifying fibroma was discovered by scientists for the first time in China, a new achievement in the field of paleopathology, a joint team of Chinese and foreign scientists announced on Monday.