China

HONG KONG, June 30 (Reuters) - Hong Kong media group Next Digital (0282.HK), owned by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai, will cease operating from July 1 after the company's assets were frozen as part of a national security investigation, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Next Digital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company is the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed last week after its newsroom had been raided by 500 police officers investigating whether some articles breached the security law.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong is still China’s wealthiest, most capitalist city. Its vistas of skyscraper and sea framed by dragon-backed emerald peaks are as stunning as ever. But a year after Beijing imposed a harsh national security law on the former British colony, the civil liberties that raised hopes for more democracy among many of its 7 million people are fading.

BEIJING (AP) — Growth in China’s manufacturing activity softened in June as export demand weakened and producers struggled with supply bottlenecks, a survey showed Wednesday.

The monthly purchasing managers’ index issued by the national statistics agency and an industry group declined to 50.9 from May’s 51.0 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing.

Measures of new export orders, production and factory gate prices declined.

BEIJING, June 28 (APP): The Matiari-Lahore transmission line project is another example of how China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has contributed to improvement of people’s livelihood and economic development in Pakistan.

“The project will offer local people access to stable and high quality electricity and it’s of great significance to breaking bottleneck of South-North power transmission in Pakistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing held here on Monday.

GUANGZHOU, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said in an interview with Xinhua that building an immune barrier is urgently needed to combat the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19.

Zhong said the resurgence of the virus in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, was the first time that China had to cope with the delta variant spreading in the community.

The variant, which was first identified in India, has a shorter incubation period than other variants and the infected individuals experience longer recovery periods.

BEIJING (AP) — The first two generating units of the world’s second-biggest hydroelectric dam were officially turned on Monday in southwestern China, the government announced.

The Baihetan Dam on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze, is part of Chinese efforts to curb surging fossil fuel demand by building more hydropower capacity at a time when dams have fallen out of favor in other countries due to environmental complaints.

The announcement comes ahead of the ruling Communist Party’s celebration this week of the official 100th anniversary of its 1921 founding.

HONG KONG (AP) — An editorial writer of the now-defunct Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was arrested at the airport on Sunday night while attempting to leave the city, local media reported.

Local newspaper South China Morning Post and online news outlet Citizen News cited unidentified sources saying that editorial writer Fung Wai-kong was arrested on suspicion of foreign collusion to endanger national security.

HONG KONG, June 27 (Reuters) - A fire swept through a marina in Hong Kong in the early hours of Sunday, igniting fuel tanks as it passed along a line of closely moored cabin cruisers, and resulting in at least 10 sinking before firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Authorities in the Asian financial hub said at least 16 vessels were set ablaze, including those that sank, but there were no serious casualties.

The fire at the shelter in the city’s Aberdeen district began 2.30 am (1830 GMT Saturday) and took firefighters more than six hours to put out.

GUANGZHOU, June 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said in an interview with Xinhua that building an immune barrier is urgently needed to combat the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19.

Zhong said the resurgence of the virus in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, was the first time that China had to cope with the delta variant spreading in the community.

The variant, which was first identified in India, has a shorter incubation period than other variants and the infected individuals experience longer recovery periods.

Beijing, Jun 27 (AP-PTI) Tesla is recalling about 285,000 electric vehicles in China because the cruise-control function can be activated accidentally and cause cars to accelerate suddenly, creating a safety hazard, Chinese authorities have said.

In a message to customers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday, Tesla said, There are potential safety hazards in extreme cases.