Global stock markets advanced on Monday, driven by an easing of COVID lockdowns in the world's second-biggest economy, China.London's stock market, reopening after a British public holiday to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, shrugged off news that embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to face a confidence vote from MPs in his own conservative party.Elsewhere, eurozone stocks also closed higher ahead of a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting Thursday when

Shanghai eased a range of COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday in a step towards returning to normal after a two-month lockdown that confined residents of the megacity to their homes and battered China's economy.The commercial hub of 25 million people was closed down in sections from late March, when the Omicron virus variant fuelled China's worst outbreak since COVID first took hold in 2020.After some rules were gradually relaxed over the past few weeks, authorities on Wednesday bega

China's premier called for more to be done to stabilise the world's second-largest economy, issuing an unusually stark warning as the country's zero-COVID strategy bites into growth.China is the last major economy welded to a policy of mass testing and hard lockdowns to eliminate virus clusters, but the strict curbs have battered businesses.Restrictions around the nation in recent months – including on the manufacturing hubs of Shenzhen and Shanghai, as well as the breadbasket

A tough decision to lockdown Shanghai, China’s largest city, shocked the world. After six weeks, and despite a sharp decline in infections, Shanghai’s lockdown has imposed enormous costs on the city and its residents.

Global stock markets rallied Tuesday on hopes that China will ease its weeks-long COVID lockdown and gradually reopen businesses.European exchanges closed higher and Wall Street's main indices also rose, spurred as well by a nearly one-percent rise in April retail sales."We've seen a much more positive vibe around European equity markets today, with reports out of Asia suggesting that China might be close to looking to ease some of its COVID restrictions, as case rates come dow

In Pyongyang, COVID is spreading fast, and one capital where the North Korean disaster is surely being watched with rapt attention is Beijing. North Korea, like China, has made a virtue of its authoritarian system being better suited to COVID control than the democracies.Unlike North Korea, China has been rolling out vaccines for more than a year, but like its neighbour, it has millions of older people who have never taken the jab.

Leaving a fine mist of disinfectant in their wake, China's hazmat-clad health workers are cleaning homes, roads, parcels and even people – but more than two years into the pandemic, experts say it is a futile measure against COVID-19.China is tied to a zero-COVID strategy, wielding snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines as part of unrelenting efforts to quash virus outbreaks no matter the cost to the economy or freedoms of its people.Among its arsenal of virus controls is d

From quoting the national anthem to referencing Hollywood blockbusters and George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984", Chinese web users are using creative methods to dodge censorship and voice discontent over COVID measures.China maintains a tight grip over the internet, with legions of censors scrubbing out posts that cast the Communist Party's policies in a negative light.The censorship machine is now in overdrive to defend Beijing's stringent zero-COVID policy as the

The streets of Beijing's business district were deserted on Thursday as the government called for people to return to work remotely, with scores of subway stations shut after a national holiday muted by coronavirus curbs.Chinese authorities have stuck to their zero-COVID policy of lockdowns and mass testing as they battle the biggest outbreak since the early days of the pandemic, with entire neighbourhoods in the capital sealed over handfuls of infections.Beijing reported 50 local cases

So, they've ordered a mass clean-up – an army of people disinfecting thousands of compounds and residential areas aiming to eradicate the virus.Then China's financial capital will open up, but it will be gradual, tentative, cautious.The brutal "war" against Omicron has left a scarred city. People as old as 100 were among those who tested positive and were taken to quarantine centres.