China

ZHENGZHOU: Biology student Ma Jingjing wandered the hall of a job fair in central China among other young Chinese hoping to find work in an economy crushed by the coronavirus pandemic. Ma, 26, is one of almost 9 million people graduating and entering the job market this year at a time of great uncertainty, an issue that has the ruling Communist Party worried to the point that President Xi Jinping has made it a priority. The world's second-largest economy may have rebounded sharply from a historic virus-induced contraction, but its young graduate jobless rate in June was more than three times that for urban unemployment. Ma was among hundreds of young faces streaming in and out of the job fair on a recent weekend in Zhengzhou, where employers in industries ranging from real estate to...

BERLIN: Clinical trials on humans have begun in China for a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by German pharmaceutical group BioNTech with Chinese company Fosun Pharma, the companies said Wednesday (Aug 5). Seventy-two participants have already received their first dose following approval for the phase 1 trial from Chinese regulatory authorities, BioNTech and Fosun Pharma said in a statement. The vaccine candidate, known as BNT162b1, is one of four based on BioNTech's proprietary mRNA technology. Another, BNT162b2, is being evaluated in a global phase 3 trial conducted by BioNTech and US giant Pfizer which started on Jul 27. The phase 1 trial in China involves 144 participants who will receive two doses 21 days apart. Those aged 18-55 will be the first to take part, followed...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. U.S. stock futures slipped and Asian shares came under pressure in early Monday trade as tit-for-tat consulate closures in China and the United States fanned worries about worsening diplomatic ties between the world's two largest economies. TOKYO: U.S. stock futures slipped and Asian shares came under pressure in early Monday trade as tit-for-tat consulate closures in China and the United States fanned worries about worsening diplomatic ties between the world's two largest economies. S&P500 futures dropped 0.2per cent while Nasdaq futures lost 0.3per cent. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.3per cent, re-opening after a long weekend. MSCI's b...

NAYPYITAW: China's embassy in Myanmar on Sunday (Jul 19) accused the United States of “outrageously smearing” the country and driving a wedge with its Southeast Asian neighbours over the contested South China Sea and Hong Kong, as tensions mount between the superpowers. Responding to US claims that Beijing was undermining the sovereignty of its neighbours, the Chinese embassy said US agencies abroad were doing "disgusting things" to contain China and had showed a "selfish, hypocritical, contemptible, and ugly face". The United States last week hardened its position on the South China Sea, saying it would back countries in the region that challenge Beijing’s claim to about 90 per cent of the strategic waterway. In a statement on Saturday, the US embassy in Yangon called China's actio...

China's economy likely returned to modest growth in the second quarter after a record contraction, as lockdown measures ended and policymakers announced more stimulus to combat the shock from the coronavirus crisis, according to a Reuters poll. BEIJING: China's economy likely returned to modest growth in the second quarter after a record contraction, as lockdown measures ended and policymakers announced more stimulus to combat the shock from the coronavirus crisis, according to a Reuters poll. The world's second-largest economy likely grew 2.5per cent in April-June from a year earlier, reversing a 6.8per cent decline in the first quarter - the first contraction since at least 1992 when official quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) records started, the poll showed. But the expected...

SHANGHAI: China on Friday (Jul 3) reported five new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Jul 2, compared with three cases a day earlier, the health authority said. Three of the new infections were imported cases, the National Health Commission said in a statement, while the capital city of Beijing reported two new cases. There were no new deaths. China also reported four new asymptomatic patients, down from two a day earlier. As of Jul 2, mainland China had a total of 83,542confirmed coronavirus cases, it said. China's death toll from the coronavirus remained at 4,634.