Volunteers at a Beijing dog shelter hand out treats to dozens of rescued animals which had been bound for a controversial dog meat festival under way this week in southern China. The annual event in Yulin city always provokes outrage from animal rights activists, but this year they hope the coronavirus epidemic will be the death knell of a tradition they see as cruel.It is "inhumane and barbaric", said Jeffrey Beri, founder of the No Dogs Left Behind organisation, which kee

By the time COVID-19 reached South Asia, it had already penetrated most other regions of the world. Pakistan was one of the first in the region to be hit. In late February, Shia pilgrims who had come in contact with Chinese pilgrims while visiting holy sites in Iran brought it home with them. Not long after, Indian expatriates visiting from the United States (US) carried the virus to India.

Back in 2013, the Chinese government laid out a policy agenda that promised real reforms to an economy laden with debt and distorted by the influence of the country’s large state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector.

China will set up a "national security agency" in Hong Kong to oversee a forthcoming new law aimed at cracking down on dissent in the city, state media said on Saturday.The new law also would override any existing Hong Kong laws that may conflict with it once it is implemented, Xinhua news agency said in a report detailing the draft legislation.The report followed the conclusion of a meeting in Beijing of China's top law-making committee that reviewed draft provisions aimed at

The United States (US) finds itself confronting several daunting challenges simultaneously. There is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already claimed nearly 120,000 lives and shows little sign of abating in large swaths of the country.

China freed 10 Indian soldiers seized in a deadly high-altitude border clash in the Himalayas ahead of fresh talks Friday to ease tensions between the world's two most populous nations, officials said.Two majors were among the troops held prisoner after a battle with nail studded batons, rocks and fists on Monday that left 20 Indians dead as well as an unknown number of Chinese casualties.It was the most serious incident in more than four decades on the bitterly disputed unofficial borde

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Friday of a "new and dangerous phase" of the coronavirus pandemic with people tiring of lockdowns despite the disease's accelerating spread.The warning came as it emerged the virus was present in Italy in December, months before its first confirmed cases and about the same time as the disease was first reported in China.The virus, which has now killed more than 454,000 people and infected 8.4 million people worldwide, is surging in the

Western societies are currently gripped by the ominous idea that we are entering a new cold war, this time between the United States (US) and China. This narrative started coming to the fore as a result of the Sino-American trade dispute, and now the COVID-19 crisis has given it the final nudge to centre stage.

China imposed travel restrictions on nearly half a million people near its capital on Thursday to contain a fresh coronavirus outbreak as deaths surged in other parts of the world. The threat of a second wave hitting China, which had largely brought the virus under control, and rising tolls in Latin America and South Asia underscore the global challenge in slowing down the pandemic that has killed more than 450,000 people.The world economy has also taken a hit, with the United States

The United States (US) on Thursday questioned China's credibility on reporting fresh coronavirus cases in Beijing and called for neutral observers to assess the extent of the outbreak.China has locked down the capital as it seeks to prevent a second wave of COVID-19, reporting 158 cases since a fresh cluster was detected last week.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an outspoken critic of China, urged greater transparency during talks Wednesday in Hawaii with senior Chinese official Yang Jie