Extreme heat and sandstorms in the Middle East pose specific engineering challenges to new energy vehicles. Battery thermal management, dust protection and charging infrastructure compatible with local power grids all require solutions tailored to local conditions.

Chinese researchers have identified a new Jurassic bird fossil – a discovery that challenges the conventional notion that the origin and early evolution of birds were primarily driven by adaptations for flight, according to a report released by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.

While taking part in a writing program in Shanghai, US writer Cleo Qian told the Global Times during an exclusive interview that she has welcomed the opportunity to meet international writers and has been inspired to explore literary genres that she had seldom ventured into before.

The death of Chen Ziyi, a 24-year-old Chinese mukbang creator known online as "Gan Fan Ying," has drawn widespread attention in recent days. Related hashtags topped Sina Weibo (China's Instagram-like platform) hot search list, garnering more than 210 million views as of press time.

AI girl group BABYQUEEN has drawn widespread attention on China's social media after its virtual member, Mity, announced that she was pregnant and would temporarily suspend activities. A new-song teaser released by the group just an hour later prompted netizens to joke about Mity's "short maternity leave." The topic soon garnered more than 75 million views on Sina Weibo, China's Instagram-like platform.

Chinese short-video platforms have removed thousands of AI-generated videos pairing Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from Journey to the West, with Lin Daiyu, the female lead of Dream of the Red Chamber, after a viral crossover trend triggered debate over the boundaries of reworking classical literature.

The British Council (BC), which administers IELTS tests, announced in a statement on Tuesday that it would arrange two additional days of free test sessions in the Chinese mainland for affected candidates after computer-delivered IELTS exams scheduled for Saturday and Sunday were canceled due to technical issues.

Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin said artificial intelligence (AI) may carry Earth's civilization beyond humanity, even if that future does not belong to humans, as he marked 20 years since The Three-Body Problem began serialization.

The return of the IWF World Weightlifting Championships to China after a 31-year absence will put Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, in the spotlight as the sport's first qualifying event for LA2028 gets underway.

Chinese tennis star Zheng Qinwen defeated Russia's Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday to become the first Chinese player to win the China Open women's singles title, a historic victory that instantly dominated Chinese social media and boosted her commercial value.

Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition "The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum," running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027.

China's Supreme People's Court and the National Cultural Heritage Administration on Saturday released information on six representative cases of cultural relic crimes, including a man who taught himself tomb-raiding techniques from fictional novels and another who dug up an ancient burial site beneath his own courtyard, as government authorities warned that heritage-related offenses are becoming increasingly professional and technology-driven.

China's Zheng Qinwen captured the women's singles title at the China Open on Sunday, defeating fourth-seeded Mirra Andreeva to complete a historic run at home and claim her first WTA 1000 championship.

In August, the heat of Hongsibu district in Southwest China's Ningxia Province carries the sweet scent of daylilies. Driving into a village, the roads are lined with large fields of daylilies, glowing under the sun. Further out, rows of deep-red goji berry fields spread across the brown-yellow earth. Yellow, red, green - patch by patch, they look like a spilled palette on the Gobi.

Chinese and Australian researchers have identified a new genus and species of lungfish in a fossil collected in northern Pakistan dating back about 360 million years, offering new clues to ancient life in the Himalaya-Karakoram region.

Performers from China's Zhejiang Wu Opera Research Center received a standing ovation in Maseru on Friday evening at a cultural event celebrating the 60th anniversary of Lesotho's independence.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair, books are more than products on display. For many international readers and publishing professionals, they offer a window into China, its history, culture, society and changing ways of life.

China's Zheng Qinwen defeated Belgium's Elise Mertens 7-5, 6-2 here on Saturday to reach the China Open women's singles final for the first time, while home veteran Zhang Shuai and the Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova advanced to the women's doubles final.

In a village in Central China's Henan Province, a grocery store sells the things people come for every day - cooking oil, snacks, drinks and household goods. But in one corner of the store in Lishi village, Neihuang county, there is something less ordinary: a reading space lined with books. Villagers can stop by to borrow books, join reading activities or simply sit down and read. And sometimes, while waiting for customers to finish shopping, the store owner, Li Cuili, does the same.

For many first-time visitors to Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Qujing may not be a city that immediately comes to mind when planning one's trip. Yunnan offers well-known destinations such as Kunming, the provincial capital; Dali old town, the nearby Erhai Lake; and Lijiang, famous for its historic streets and mountain scenery.

Canadian writer Anne Carson has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the second Canadian author ever to receive the honor, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday. The prize was awarded to Carson "for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature," the academy said.

As autumn sets in, a breeze sweeps across the Xiaohe National Wetland Park in Xiaoyi, North China's Shanxi Province. Reeds sway and waterbirds skim the surface, while small groups of residents stroll along the riverside paths, enjoying the refreshing air. On September 30, Yan, a visitor to the wetlands, filmed the scenery along the banks of the Xiao River. She explained that she was recording the video to share with friends living elsewhere and show them the changes in her hometown. "The air is fresh and the environment is lovely; it's incredibly pleasant to come here in the evening."

After becoming the first Chinese racer to win the Talent category title at the 2026 Spanish Superbike Championship (ESBK), teenage motorcycle rider Sun Shengbo told the Global Times during a recent interview how much the title means to him.

India's micro drama sector is undergoing explosive growth, largely fueled by the successful business and content models pioneered by China's booming mobile-based short drama industry, foreign media has reported.

In response to recent incidents involving some extreme fans repeatedly verbally abusing, spreading rumors about, and personally attacking national team coaches and players, the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) has reported the cases to the police and will work to establish a stadium ban list to strengthen the maintenance of order at competitions, according to a statement released by the CTTA on Wednesday night.

The world's largest book fair opened Wednesday in Frankfurt, Germany, bringing together more than 4,000 publishing institutions from over 100 countries and regions. Over 230,000 visitors are expected to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair, which runs until Sunday at Messe Frankfurt exhibition center.

Medals, the torch, uniforms and equipment for the Changchun 2027 Winter Universiade were unveiled Wednesday at a 100-day countdown event at Changchun International Aviation Expo City. The torch, named "Ji Xiang," or "Auspicious Flight," is inspired by the clivia, Changchun's city flower. Its upper section features a filmstrip motif and 12 winter sports icons representing the Games' disciplines, a reference to Changchun's film industry.

China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen battled past giant-killer Alina Charaeva 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the China Open quarterfinals, overcoming another three-set test on the eve of her 24th birthday.

For several weeks each autumn, professional tennis in China follows an unusually concentrated route with thousands of fans queuing up to watch elite tennis players compete. The sequence moves from ATP 250 events in Chengdu and Hangzhou to the China Open in Beijing, an ATP 500 event, before reaching the Shanghai Masters, one of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour calendar.

A forum titled "China Through Overseas Eyes: The Global Expression of Chinese Aesthetics and Dialogue Among Civilizations" was recently held online. Hosted by the Global Times, the event was moderated by Andrea Bellini of the School of Arts at Peking University. Alan Macfarlane, emeritus professor at the University of Cambridge, fellow of the British Academy and life fellow of King's College, and Ai Lin, director of the Deji Art Museum in Nanjing, delivered keynote speeches and joined discussions on the overseas communication of Chinese aesthetics, digital museums, cross-cultural understanding and museum cooperation.

On brightly lit Qilou Old Street, vendors slice open pink wax apples, their juice sparkling under the lights. A drone captures traffic weaving across Haikou's cross-sea bridge, while elsewhere, women in ethnic attire craft traditional goods amid lush rainforests, and rockets launch into space from the vast coastline.

Top seed Wang Manyu of China held off India's unorthodox Manika Batra in the women's singles round of 32, while men's top seed Felix Lebrun of France and Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju fought hard to reach last 16 at the 2026 WTT China Smash here on Tuesday.

Chinese tourists take selfies at Castle Hill in Budapest, Hungary, Oct. 5, 2026.

A Chinese tourist poses with a Chinese high school textbook with cover of the Colosseum in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, Oct. 4, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games came to a close Sunday, with China topping the gold medal table for the 12th consecutive edition, and finishing with 169 gold, 89 silver and 83 bronze medals, its best haul at an overseas Asiad.

Forget the traveling call, just run with the ball. Forget about winning or losing, just enjoy the game.

Chinese swimming prodigy Yu Zidi was named the female Most Valuable Player of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday, adding another distinction to a standout campaign as China completed the Games with a record 169 gold medals and becoming the youngest MVP in Asian Games history.

Crime drama "Traces of Justice" led China's box office on Thursday, the first day of the weeklong National Day holiday, emerging as the early front-runner in a release calendar short on traditional blockbuster fare. According to ticketing platform Maoyan, China's box office totaled 180 million yuan (about 26.73 million U.S. dollars) on Oct. 1. "Traces of Justice" generated 71 million yuan, accounting for 39 percent of total ticket sales.

A new study has identified trace fossils of a large horseshoe crab species dating back more than 240 million years, from the shallow reaches of long-vanished waters in east China. These findings offer valuable clues to ocean life after the most severe extinction event in Earth's history.

A Chinese archway featuring two dragons and Madrid's emblematic bear was unveiled Thursday in the Usera district of the Spanish capital, celebrating the neighborhood's cultural diversity and the ties with its Chinese community. Standing at the end of a pedestrian route linking Madrid Rio with the heart of Usera, the Chinese archway was developed as part of the improvement of the district's public space. It is decorated with cloud motifs. An inscription on its columns celebrates the cultural ties between China and Spain and the friendship among neighbors.

A China-Egypt civilization roundtable dialogue and a book donation ceremony were held Wednesday at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. During the event, officials from relevant Chinese departments presented catalogues of selected books to the Egyptian Publishers Association, the Chinese Language Department at Ain Shams University, the Faculty of Languages at Suez Canal University, and the Chinese Language Department at Al-Azhar University.

China's U23 football team at the Asian Games came to an end on Wednesday after South Korea rallied for a 2-1 victory in the men's football semifinal.

Two years after a narrow Olympic defeat to Japan left him with an Olympic silver medal and plenty to reflect on, China's gymnastics star Zhang Boheng found himself facing the same rival on another major stage.

For 28-year-old Zhang Zhe, checking into a hotel in Hengdian, East China's Zhejiang Province, during the Mid-Autumn Festival holidays was more than getting a room for the night. By staying in Hengdian, one of China's major film and television production bases, she was stepping into the world of dramas.

A dam as tall as an 80-story building now stands deep in Northwest China's Xinjiang region. At 247 meters high, the Dashixia Water Control Project has set a record as the world's tallest concrete-faced sand-gravel dam.

Actors dressed in traditional attire perform during a grand ceremony honoring Confucius in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 28, 2026. A grand ceremony honoring the ancient Chinese sage Confucius was held on Monday in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, to commemorate the 2,577th anniversary of his birth.

Zhao Xintong competes during the round 2 match between Scott Donaldson of Scotland and Zhao Xintong of China at World Snooker Tour Shenzhen Open 2026 in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 28, 2026.

In Yunshan Tun, a centuries-old village in Anshun, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, ­Chinese and foreign volunteers recently joined local craftsmen in carefully removing weathered tiles, clearing walls and moving heavy ­timber beams as they worked to restore an old house.

Two thousand years ago, long before computers, chips or modern clocks existed, ancient Greek innovators had already created sophisticated mechanical devices with gears that could measure time and simulate celestial movements.

At the center of a quiet museum hall at the Nanjing Grand Bao'en Temple Ruins Museum, a nearly two-meter-tall wooden pagoda stands in the soft light. Its eight sides rise in nine slender tiers. Tiny bells hang from the eaves. Visitors circle it slowly, some pausing to take photos, others simply staring.

Drums, lion dances, opera movements and the aroma of Chinese food filled Copenhagen's City Hall Square on Sunday as the first Copenhagen China Festival was held in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Organized by the China Cultural Center in Copenhagen and other partners, the event, under the theme "Mid-Autumn in Poetry," turned one of the Danish capital's busiest public squares into an open-air stage for Chinese culture, featuring performances, food and hands-on cultural activities.

The re-release of Marvel's Avengers: Endgame with some added scenes, billed in China as Avengers Endgame: Encore, was leading China's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday box office, helping push total ticket sales for the three-day holidays above 270 million yuan ($40.2 million) and warming up the country's movie market ahead of the longer National Day holidays.

China enjoyed a productive day in athletics at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday, including Chen Yuanjiang winning the men's 110m hurdles, while female prodigy Chen Yujie took silver in the women's 200 meters and javelin thrower Yan Ziyi won gold by only a first-round try.

At 32, Wang Shun knows that the next breakthrough in his swimming career may not come from doing more of what he has already been doing for years, but from finding the remaining 5 percent that he has yet to explore.

A Chinese-led international research team has shed new light on the origin of wild boar, the ancestors of domestic pigs, finding that modern wild boar arose from tropical mainland Asia rather than the islands of Southeast Asia, according to Xinhua News Agency.

In pics: mid-autumn moon across China

Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated across China

At an Asian Games in which established champions remain central to China's medal campaign, a younger generation of Chinese athletes is increasingly making itself impossible to overlook.

Gymnastics legend Oksana Chusovitina left the vault final at the Asian Games without a medal, but the 51-year-old Uzbek told the Global Times that reaching the final had given her fresh confidence that her extraordinary career still has another chapter to write.

A Chinese artist performs at a Mid-Autumn Festival cultural gala in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sept. 24, 2026. The gala was held here on Thursday, ahead of the traditional Chinese festival, which falls on Friday this year. At the gala, artists from China's Zhejiang Performing Arts Group presented vocal music, dance, traditional Chinese folk music and face-changing acrobatics, weaving in elements of Sri Lankan culture.

Greek Embassy in China hosted an award ceremony of the photo contest "Greece Through China's Lens" to mark the 20th anniversary of China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership. Ambassador of Greece to China Evgenios Kalpyris and Chang Jian, Deputy Director General of the Department of European Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighted the achievements of cultural exchange, resonance and cooperation between the two countries in their speeches. Ambassador Kalpyris underlined in his opening remarks that the millennia-old exchanges between the two civilizations of Greece and China are so important. Today, the Greek Embassy in China celebrates the two-decade old China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership. "Let us seize this important milestone of the 20th anniversary to achieve even more fruitful results," the diplomat said, extending his gratitude to all the participants of the competition.

Bathed in gentle indoor light, a magnificent 15.1-meter-long, 7.52-meter-high Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) mural hangs in the hall of the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum in Beijing, captivating visitors who pause to admire its solemn aura.

China's National Cultural Heritage Administration on Thursday announced new results from three overseas joint archaeological projects, including the discovery of twin sacred lakes at the Montu Temple site in Egypt, the Ben Arous Forest site, Punic-to-Roman remains in Tunisia and the Krasnaya Rechka site, a medieval urban layout in Kyrgyzstan.

Britain returned 12 cultural relics and artworks to China at a handover ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Britain on Wednesday evening.

On the world maps most of us have seen since childhood, Greenland looks almost as big as Africa. But Africa is actually about 14 times larger, and Russia and Canada also appear far bigger than their true size. That does not mean the maps are simply "wrong."

China's under-23 men's football team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Games as Group B winners after playing out a 0-0 draw with the United Arab Emirates in Japan on Wednesday.

Fu Youxu presses the airbag of a small syringe, and a thin line of white adhesive slowly seeps through a crack in an ancient mural.

Students from the Confucius Institute of the University of Abomey-Calavi recite poems during a poetry event celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Cotonou, Benin, Sept. 22, 2026. The Chinese Cultural Center in Benin and the Confucius Institute of the University of Abomey-Calavi jointly held the event on Tuesday.

From certain angles, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art looks less like a building than a weather event. A white shell of 1,271 curved fiber-reinforced polymer panels seems to hover above the tree canopy in Exposition Park. Sunlight pours through a 56-meter central arch onto a public plaza below. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum opened in Los Angeles, the US, on Tuesday.

From certain angles, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art looks less like a building than a weather event. A white shell of 1,271 curved fiber-reinforced polymer panels seems to hover above the tree canopy in Exposition Park. Sunlight pours through a 56-meter central arch onto a public plaza below. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum opened in Los Angeles, the US, on Tuesday.

Chinese state media reported on Tuesday on the recently concluded 13th edition of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition in South Africa, where Chinese equipment, including the J-10CE and JF-17 fighter jets and the Y-20 large transport aircraft, were displayed together, drawing significant attention.

"There are robot dogs, cars and manufacturing technologies, nail machines and AI coffee machines," Nang Si Thoung, a student at Brainworks International School in Myanmar, told the Global Times, recalling what she saw during her days in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. "They provided us with examples, not only explanations, so it was really clear." For 16-year-old Thoung, it was one of the most memorable parts of her first trip to China.

At sunset, rainwater kept seeping into a basement in Lintong, Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, while the stuffy air inside made it hard to breathe. Yet actors and crew members stayed there for an entire day of filming.

The Chinese community in Botswana gathered on Sunday at the Gaborone International Convention Center in the capital of Botswana, celebrating the Chinese traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept. 25 this year.

Representatives from French cultural institutions hailed China's support in the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral and shared their insights on the in-depth cooperation between France and China in the field of cultural heritage preservation during a salon held in Beijing on Monday.

Chinese gymnastics star Zhang Boheng successfully defended his individual all-around title at the Asian Games in Nagoya with 85.065 points on Monday, edging out Paris Olympics champion Shinnosuke Oka and Tokyo Olympics champion Daiki Hashimoto of Japan.

Twelve years after making his Asian Games debut, Chinese equestrian Hua Tian is preparing for his fourth appearance at the continental multi-sport event, with more experience and a deeper pool of horses at his disposal.

Fossilized tracks of a previously unknown giant horseshoe crab species dating back more than 240 million years have been discovered in eastern China, offering new evidence that marine ecosystems recovered far faster after Earth's deadliest mass extinction than previously thought, according to a press release that the research team sent to the Global Times on Monday.

After more than four decades on the Qinqiang stage, Li Mei is still taking on new roles. China's first-class actress, head of the Shaanxi Opera Research Institute and two-time winner of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, Li is best known for roles such as Li Huiniang, the wronged ghost in Wandering the West Lake, whom she has played more than 1,300 times.

Thirteen-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi of China made a record-breaking Asian Games debut in Tokyo on Sunday, spearheading a prolific opening medal day for China as its athletes collected 11 gold medals across the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. China now tops both the gold medal table and overall medal tally.

Chinese archaeologists have uncovered a high-ranking royal mausoleum dating back to the late Warring States Period (475BC-221BC) in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, with substantial evidence suggesting it might be the burial place of Queen Dowager Huayang, the adoptive grandmother of Qinshihuang, China's first emperor who unified China for the first time more than 2,200 years ago, according to a press release that the local archaeological authority sent to the Global Times on Sunday.

Chinese trail runner Zhao Jiaju crossed the finish line in Courmayeur, Italy, after 65 hours, 55 minutes and 22 seconds, winning the men's title at the TOR330 “Tor des Géants” ultramarathon and setting a new course record, 13 minutes faster than the previous record of 66 hours, 8 minutes and 22 seconds, set by French-Belgian runner Victor Richard in 2025. He is the first Chinese runner and the first non-European runner to win the race since its inception in 2010.

The 20th Asian Games officially opened on Saturday night, offering an opportunity to look back on another remarkable journey: the transformation of Chinese sport over more than half a century.

Much of Sun's reading still takes place in the time left over from work. But some of the books he encountered as a child have stayed with him for decades.

Minning is a town named after a partnership. “Min” comes from Fujian Province in Southeast China, while “Ning” refers to Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region – bringing together a prosperous coastal province and an impoverished inland region more than 2,000 kilometers away.

As the haunting melodies of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto filled the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on Thursday evening, Ro Jae-hun, ambassador of the Republic of Korea to China, emphasized the timing as a pivotal moment for bilateral cultural exchanges. The performance marked the China premiere of the first-ever opera co-produced by China and South Korea.

Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk publicly apologized on Thursday after a mid-race bowel incident at the Hyrox Beijing event on September 12, saying she regretted not stepping off the track and would retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points she earned.

The Embassy of the United Mexican States in China hosted a grand event celebrating the 216th anniversary of Mexico's independence in Beijing on September 11. At the reception, Jesus Seade, Mexican ambassador to China, stressed in his address that Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Roberto Velasco Álvarez, who recently visited China, had received a warm welcome. The two sides had further enhanced political mutual trust and built consensus on cooperation, injecting new momentum into the China-Mexico comprehensive strategic partnership, he noted.

The Embassy of the French Republic in China launched the 2026 Franco-Chinese Month of the Environment (MFCE) at the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau in Beijing on Monday. Diplomats, a Chinese official in the industrial sector and an image ambassador for the campaign urged more action be taken to raise awareness and protect our shared home - Earth. This year, the campaign is themed "A Planet Full of Life," paying tribute to the magnificent diversity of the Earth's biosphere while reminding humanity to focus on the threats it faces and the resulting challenges.

With the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games set to officially open on Saturday, Chinese athletes are arriving in Japan as the Chinese delegation prepares to defend its dominant position on the Asian Games gold medal table for the 12th consecutive time.

The annual fair, which will run through September 27, has become a familiar fixture of Beijing's cultural calendar.

Chinese women's cricket team's long-awaited return to the Asian Games ended before it could even take the field, as its quarterfinal against Bangladesh was canceled due to a waterlogged pitch on Wednesday during the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan, Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

China's micro-drama users have surpassed 800 million, and the market exceeded 100 billion yuan in 2025, a senior broadcasting official said on Thursday, as the country released 430,000 micro-dramas in the first eight months of 2026, 13 times the total for all of last year, with AI-generated titles accounting for more than 90 percent. The figures underscore a boom that is reshaping content creation and prompting tighter scrutiny.

A total of 58 cultural relics, works of art and paleontological fossils were returned to China by the Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Program of the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at a handover ceremony held by the Chinese Embassy in the US on Wednesday, according to a report published by the embassy's official WeChat account on Thursday.

Athletes from China and several other countries and regions were stranded for hours near Nagoya airport on Wednesday after transport arrangements broke down, leaving some waiting nearly six hours without food as they tried to reach their accommodations ahead of the Asian Games, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Lebanon on Wednesday returned to Egypt 37 ancient artifacts that had been illegally smuggled into Lebanon, according to a statement by Lebanon's Culture Ministry. Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh handed the artifacts over to Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa at a ceremony at the National Museum in Beirut.

Three exceedingly rare mammal species have been caught on camera for the first time in a protected conservation area in Southwestern Cambodia's Koh Kong province, conservationists announced in a joint press release on Wednesday. The recorded mammals include the endangered Hog Deer (Axis porcinus), the Large-spotted Civet (Viverra megaspila), and the Hairy-nosed Otter (Lutra sumatrana). The photos and videos were captured between late 2025 and early 2026 during a comprehensive camera-trap survey at the site.

The Early Spring, an urban workplace romance produced by China's online video platform Youku, has become the highest-ranked Chinese mainland series ever on Netflix's global non-English TV chart, a result that industry analysts say marks a shift in how Chinese audiovisual content is winning over overseas audiences.

For decades, Chinese athletes standing on an Asian Games podium have often been associated with uniforms dominated by red, yellow and white. At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, however, the visual picture will be markedly different as blue will take the center stage.