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☆ Xi says China to consider holding Belt & Road Forum in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China would consider hosting the third Belt & Road Forum for International Cooperation next year, which would be the first staging of the event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Belt & Road is Xi's signature infrastructure investment initiative, and previous editions of the forum, in 2017 and 2019, drew leaders and officials from dozens of countries. However, China has all-but-shut its borders since COVID and cancelled most big in-person international events that it had been due to host. Xi was speaking on Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Bangkok. Reporting by Tony Munroe and Albee Zhang; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China revises COVID guidelines for entertainment venues
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the revised guidelines to travel agencies, entertainment and performance venues. A government statement said local administrators should improve the accuracy of their prevention and control measures and should not shut down entertainment venues down at will. The specific measures are mostly in line with China's latest easing of COVID rules, but could be a bright spot for entertainment and tourism firms that have been hammered by a near three-year strict zero-COVID policy. Places such as KTVs, internet cafes and offline board game venues are allowed to operate under normalised COVID prevention rules in low risk regions, which means as long as they apply certain COVID prevention rules, they can open their business as usual, according to the government. Reporting by Albee Zhang, Bernard Orr; Editing by Shri Navaratnam & Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China to speed up vaccinations, build more designated COVID hospitals
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Nov 17 (Reuters) - China plans to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations and will release information to the public in due course, the head of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Shen Hongbing made the comments at a regular National Health Commission (NHC) news conference when asked if foreign vaccines would become available. read moreAuthorities highlighted the need to build more designated COVID hospitals and increase the number of beds in intensive care units. "ICU beds need to account for 10% of total beds," NHC official Guo Yanhong said. Several cities where cases are rising like Guangzhou and Beijing are conducting mass-testing but other cities have pulled back on testing.

"It would become a testing point regarding the government’s determination to push for the relaxation of COVID control measures," they said. China reported 17,772 new local COVID-19 infections for Nov. 14, up from 16,072 new cases a day earlier and the most since April, with major cities including Chongqing and Zhengzhou among the worst-hit. On Monday, Beijing's most populous district of Chaoyang, where most of its cases are located, moved some testing sites closer to residential compounds. On Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV said Chaoyang district was adding more testing sites, including near office buildings. Under China's new rules, testing efforts are to be more targeted, easing what has been a significant financial burden on cities.

☆ China confirms orders for 140 Airbus jets worth $17 bln
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Nov 4 (Reuters) - China's state aircraft buying agency officially signed orders to buy 140 Airbus planes worth about $17 billion on Friday, China Aviation Supplies (CAS) Holding said in a statement. They are all pre-existing orders, with some included in an order for 292 jets announced earlier this year, Airbus said on Friday. The formal signing of the agreement took place on Friday, during a visit to China by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Boeing suggested it may have to make do without Chinese deliveries for some time amid the zero COVID policy and U.S.-Chinese tensions. Friday's purchase agreement includes 132 of the European planemaker's A320 series planes and eight A350 planes, the company said.

☆ Disney closes Shanghai resort from Oct 31 due to COVID curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Shanghai Disney Resort said on Monday it had closed the whole resort including Shanghai Disney from Oct. 31 due to COVID-19 prevention requirements in the city, according to a company statement. The company didn't give a time frame for when the operation will be resumed. Reporting by Albee Zhang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China tells U.S. to stop containment and suppression against it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his U.S. counterpart that the United States should stop the practice of containment and suppression against China and not create new obstacles to the relationship between the two countries, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. Wang also said in a Monday phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that export controls that Washington imposed on China severely damaged its legitimate rights and must be rectified. Reporting by Albee Zhang and Tony Munroe; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China's Xi says willing to work with United States for mutual benefit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Oct 27 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping said China is willing to work with the United States to find ways to get along to the benefit of both, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday. As major powers, China and the United States should strengthen communication and cooperation to help provide stability to the world, Xi said in a message to an event of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations on Wednesday. The two countries have been at odds over China's policy towards Taiwan, China's relationship with Russia and more recently, U.S. efforts to prevent its semiconductor companies selling technology to Chinese companies. China said the United States was sending "dangerous signals" on the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own. read moreU.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said "the United State does not seek conflict with China."

☆ China reports 998 new COVID cases on Oct 22 vs 1,006 a day earlier
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - China reported 998 new COVID-19 infections on Oct. 22, of which 207 were symptomatic and 791 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Sunday. That compared with 1,006 new cases a day earlier – 215 symptomatic and 791 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterChina's capital Beijing reported seven symptomatic cases and one asymptomatic case, compared with 18 symptomatic and one asymptomatic cases the previous day, local government data showed. Financial hub Shanghai reported no symptomatic and 12 asymptomatic cases, compared with no symptomatic and 16 asymptomatic cases a day before, the local health authority reported. The southern technology hub of Shenzhen reported 11 new locally transmitted COVID infections, compared with 10 infections the day before.

☆ Factbox: China's new elite Communist Party leadership
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - China's Xi Jinping on Sunday secured a third term as leader of the Communist Party and unveiled a new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which he heads, that will determine the path of the country's development in the next five years. Below are the personnel elected on Sunday by the Central Committee, the biggest of the party's top decision-making bodies, to the pinnacle of China's political power. General Secretary of the Central Committee:Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterXi JinpingStanding Committee of the Political Bureau, or Politburo, of the Central Committee (seven members):Xi Jinping, 69; Li Qiang, 63; Zhao Leji, 65; Wang Huning, 67; Cai Qi, 66; Ding Xuexiang, 60; Li Xi, 66Politburo of the Central Committee (24 members):Ding Xuexiang, Xi Jinping, Ma Xingrui, Wang Yi, Wang Huning, Yin Li, Shi Taifeng, Liu Guozhong, Li Xi, Li Qiang, Li Ganjie, Li Shulei, Li Hongzhong, He Weidong, He Lifeng, Zhang Youxia, Zhang Guoqing, Chen Wenqing, Chen Jining, Chen Miner, Zhao Leji, Yuan Jiajun, Huang Kunming, Cai QiCentral Military Commission Chairman:Xi JinpingCentral Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary:Li XiRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ COVID-hit Shanghai unveils $257 billion in projects in infrastructure push
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Aly SongBEIJING, Sept 20 (Reuters) - China's commercial hub of Shanghai on Tuesday announced eight infrastructure projects with total investment of 1.8 trillion yuan ($257 billion), after the city was hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns in April and May. In the first eight months of the year, Shanghai's infrastructure investment fell 27.4% versus an 8.3% gain nationwide, data from local statistics bureaus showed on Monday. The cabinet told local governments to complete selling more than 500 billion yuan in special bonds by the end of October under carryover quotas from 2019. Such bonds, on top of the annual quota of 3.65 trillion yuan, will help to fund infrastructure projects. "China's infrastructure investment will in the coming years bolster its slowing economy," Moody's analysts wrote in a recent note.

China's 'zero-COVID' policy – including stringent lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing - has taken a heavy toll on the country's economy. The government's crackdown on big technology companies has also had an outsized effect on the young workforce. Chinese households overall added 10.8 trillion yuan ($1.54 trillion) in new bank savings in the first eight months of the year, up from 6.4 trillion yuan in the same period last year. China is the only leading economy that cut interest rates this year, in an effort to spur growth. Fu said she switched her makeup powder brand from Givenchy to a Chinese brand called Florasis, which is about 60% cheaper.

☆ Mary Gordon and Glenda Jackson Talk Poetry, Theater and the State of Feminism
▼ + stars: | 2018-03-21 | by ( Boris Kachka | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Finally, and just as surprisingly, Jackson returned to acting. Just after turning 80 two years ago, she won raves in London as a gender-blind King Lear. One morning in January in Manhattan, Gordon finally met her idol for a long conversation, which covered poetry, film and theater, but most significantly the state of feminism today. GLENDA JACKSON: It doesn’t have that effect on me at all. We’d played it in London to totally silent audiences, but in New York, they applauded the songs; they shouted, “Encore!”MG: Yes, I remember it.

Persons: Mary Gordon, Glenda Jackson, ” Gordon, Jackson, “ Marat, Sade, ”, Gordon, John Schlesinger, Alex, Peter Finch, —, King Lear, Edward Albee’s, MARY GORDON, it’s, GLENDA JACKSON, We’d, Lear Organizations: Company, Women, New York, Broadway Locations: America, London, Manhattan, New York

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