China

Hong Kong, Apr 22 (AP) Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a Cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services and home affairs, as well as innovation and technology.

The reshuffle, approved by the central Chinese government in Beijing and announced by China's State Council, came on recommendations by Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets fell further Wednesday as oil prices recovered some of their record-setting losses amid anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic’s mounting economic damage.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia retreated while Shanghai was little-changed after Wall Street suffered its biggest decline in weeks.

WUHAN, China (AP) — Bathed in golden late-afternoon light, Chen Enting snapped a photo of his ticket to commemorate his first ferry ride across the Yangtze River after a 76-day quarantine ended in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began.

The reopening of ferry services on the Yangtze, the heart of life in Wuhan for two millennia, was an important symbolic step to get business and daily life in this city of 11 million people back to normal.

BEIJING, Apr 21 (APP): China will carry out specific work through bilateral consultations at the request of relevant poor borrowers in accordance with the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative.

China has put forward a systematic proposition on the debt service suspension based on the consensus reached by G20 leaders when participating in the discussion of Debt Service Suspension Initiative for Poorest at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, an official from the Chinese Finance Ministry told China Economic Net (CEN) on Tuesday.

BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The central government has the authority and responsibility to safeguard constitutional order in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), a spokesperson said Tuesday.

When the full and faithful implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle and the HKSAR Basic Law is seriously affected, or the fundamental interests of the nation and Hong Kong are damaged, the central government will definitely take action, said a spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

HAIKOU, April 20. /TASS/: The total revenue of Hainan's duty free stores over nine years exceeded 55 billion yuan (about $ 7.78 billion), according to the local customs office. 

Over nine years since the launch of the pilot program for the development of duty free stores on the island, more than 16 million customers have shopped at the stores; the volume of sold goods  reached 72 million.

19 April 2020; AFP: The director of a maximum-security laboratory in China's coronavirus ground-zero city of Wuhan has rejected claims that it could be the source of the outbreak, calling it "impossible".

Beijing has come under increasing pressure over transparency in its handling of the pandemic, with the US probing whether the virus actually originated in a virology institute with a high-security biosafety laboratory.

Chinese scientists have said the virus likely jumped from an animal to humans in a market that sold wildlife.

WUHAN, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Wuhan, once the hardest-hit city by novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has been classified as a low-risk area of the outbreak as the city has met the criteria of no newly confirmed cases for the last 14 days, according to the latest assessment released Saturday by local authorities.

By the end of Friday, the central province of Hubei, which administers Wuhan, has 76 low-risk cities and counties and none with high risk or medium risk, according to the provincial COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control headquarters Saturday.

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday that at the critical moment when the world is combating the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) and its director-general is to safeguard the philosophy and principle of multilateralism.

He made the remarks when holding a phone conversation with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noting that the support is also an act to secure the United Nations' status and role and maintain the international solidarity in the face of the disease.

HONG KONG (AP) — The United States condemned the arrests of at least 14 veteran pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on charges of joining massive anti-government protests last year, saying the police action jeopardizes a high degree of autonomy guaranteed the southern Chinese city.

Among those arrested Saturday were 81-year-old activist and former lawmaker Martin Lee and democracy advocates Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Au Nok-hin. Police also arrested media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded the local newspaper Apple Daily.