China

BEIJING, April 19 (Reuters) - As China's domestic tourism unravels, desperate provinces are slashing ticket prices, offering tax breaks and even begging locals to help save plummeting tourist earnings in a sector that employs tens of millions of people.

The slump in tourism - which includes travel, accommodation and catering - has persisted into 2022 because of wider COVID-related curbs on inter-province travel, lockdowns and endless mass testing, official data shows.

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China will adhere to its dynamic zero-COVID approach as local infections are surging, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC) said Tuesday.

The World Health Organization said COVID-19 remains a public health emergency of international concern, NHC spokesperson Mi Feng told a press conference, adding that China will keep in place its measures against both imported and local infections.

BEIJING, Apr 18 (APP): China on Monday expressed concern over the escalating tension between Palestinians and Israeli police at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

China has been following closely with concern the escalating tension between Palestine and Israel in Jerusalem, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing here.

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The crews of China's Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 missions have been selected, and are carrying out relevant training and mission preparations, according to a press conference on Sunday.

Both crews will stay in orbit for six months, and they will for the first time rotate in orbit to realize the uninterrupted manned residence, Huang Weifen, chief designer of the China manned space program's astronaut system, said at the press conference.

The two crews, totaling six astronauts, will live together in orbit for five to 10 days.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leaders face pressure to shore up sinking economic growth after Shanghai and other cities shut down to fight coronavirus outbreaks, threatening to disrupt global trade and manufacturing.

Growth slid to 1.3% over the previous quarter in the first three months of 2022, down from a 1.4% rate in last year’s final quarter, official data showed Monday. Compared with a year earlier, a measurement that can hide recent fluctuations, growth was 4.8%, up from 4% in the final quarter of 2021.

BEIJING (AP) — Beibei sleeps beside thousands of strangers in rows of cots in a high-ceilinged exhibition center. The lights stay on all night, and the 30-year-old real estate saleswoman has yet to find a hot shower.

Beibei and her husband were ordered into the massive National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai last Tuesday after spending 10 days isolated at home following a positive test. Their 2-year-old daughter, who was negative, went to her grandfather, while her nanny also went into quarantine.

BEIJING, April 17 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will take China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) forward with new vigor, vitality and in a rejuvenated manner ensuring multifaceted development of the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said on Sunday.

BEIJING (AP) — China will launch three more astronauts to its newest space station in June after the latest crew returned this weekend following a six-month stay in orbit, an official said Sunday.

The crew of the Shenzhou 14 capsule will spend six months on the Tiangong to add two modules to the station, Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, told a news conference.

SHANGHAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Saturday and other areas across China tightened controls as the country kept up its "dynamic clearance" approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone, a central Chinese manufacturing area that includes Apple Inc supplier Foxconn, announced a 14-day lockdown on Friday "to be adjusted according to the epidemic situation".

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland Friday reported 3,867 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 3,590 were in Shanghai, according to the report of the National Health Commission (NHC) Saturday.

Apart from Shanghai, 14 other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new local COVID-19 cases, including 195 in the northeastern province of Jilin.

Shanghai also reported 19,923 locally-transmitted asymptomatic infections of the novel coronavirus Friday, out of a total of 20,813 local asymptomatic carriers newly identified on the mainland.