Beijing
Millions in Beijing urged to work from home to fight COVID outbreak
Chinese authorities have pressed on with their zero-COVID policy involving lockdowns and mass testing as they battle the biggest outbreak since the early days...
China is trying to contain a wave of infections in Shanghai - its biggest city - which has been almost entirely locked down for weeks and reported 52 new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday.
Downtown Beijing's most populous district Chaoyang, home to around 3.5 million people, ordered mass testing from Monday for residents and those coming to work there. The area hosts the headquarters of many multinational firms and embassies.
China's cases constitute a tiny fraction of the massive surge in countries around the globe, with the highly contagious Omicron variant driving a fresh spike in infections.
A thick haze of smog blanketed swathes of northern China on Friday, with visibility in some areas reduced to less than 200 metres (yards), according to the country's weather forecaster.
The latest flare-up has prompted the grounding of hundreds of flights, the closure of scenic areas and schools and a flurry of stay-home orders in affected housing compounds.
China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and vows to retake it one day, by force if necessary.
City authorities issued warnings to residents to stay home as the Chinese capital faced its biggest storm this year.
Beijing has accused the United States of "suppressing" Chinese firms and issued veiled threats of retaliation after President Joe Biden last week expanded a blacklist of companies Americans are barred from investing in.
Beijing sees democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory which is to be seized one day, by force if necessary, and rages at any diplomatic attempts to recognise the island as an independent nation.
Human rights groups and figures from former president Donald Trump's Republican Party have urged a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, amid a sharp deterioration of relations between the United States and China.
"The UK now considers Beijing to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
On Sunday, police confirmed 47 of them had now been charged with one count each of "conspiracy to commit subversion" -- one of the new national security crimes -
More than 250,000 people in the northwestern region have been formally sentenced and imprisoned since 2016, according to Human Rights Watch.
In the video, published by state broadcaster CCTV, the surface of the planet is seen coming into view out of a pitch-black sky against the outside of the Tianwen-1, which entered the orbit of the Red Planet on Wednesday.
The vaccine has already been rolled out to key groups at higher risk of exposure to coronavirus but Saturday's approval allows for its use on the general public.
Seven cases were reported in the city on Wednesday, including six in southern Daxing district.
The executive order said the Chinese government obliges private firms to support these activities and through capital markets "exploits United States investors to finance the development and modernization of its military."
COVID-19 first emerged in central China late last year, but Beijing has largely brought its outbreak under control through tight travel restrictions and stringent health measures for anyone entering the country.