Giant pandas bring Chinese and Americans closer together

People in the United States like to petition, about everything, from demanding President Donald Trump to release his tax returns to ending wildlife trafficking.

Uncertainties remain for UK as Brexit process begins

On Wednesday, the United Kingdom formally launched the process for it to leave the European Union, with Prime Minister Theresa May triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which opens a two-year window for negotiations on it leaving the bloc.

Support for real economy

The People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the country's banking, securities and insurance regulators, jointly issued a guideline recently aimed at providing greater financial support to the real economy.

Harsher penalties could deter officials from misreporting disaster death tolls

ON AUG 4, 2012, a flood hit several cities in northeastern China's Liaoning province. In December, media outlets found that the Youyan Man autonomous county, which suffered from the disaster, had 38 deaths but reported there were only five deaths and three people missing to higher authorities. On Tuesday, the media reported that Liaoyang county, which is adjacent to Youyan, had at least seven deaths or missing, but claimed there were "zero casualties". An editorial on thepaper.cn comments:

Tackle healthcare scams on elderly

THE ANNUAL SALES OF HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS could reach 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) in China, more than half of which are expected to be purchased by senior citizens, according to a report by China Central Television. The Mirror commented on Wednesday:

Online courses serve to promote higher education

SU DEKUANG, a math professor at Zhejiang University, became an online celebrity in China recently after he started a calculus class online and attracted more than 13,000 participants. China Education Newspaper commented on Wednesday:

Cartoon

Belt and Road beckon Canberra, Wellington

Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Australia and New Zealand from March 22 to 29 was the first by a Chinese premier in 11 years. Amid increasing geopolitical changes and challenges, his visit to the two countries showed China's commitment to the liberalization of trade and investment, as well as its efforts to march toward a regional free trade pact with other economies in the region.

AIIB is recharging globalization

The emergence of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has had two major global implications. The first is in terms of additional availability of finance for regional infrastructure development. Traditional financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank have been funding multiple development projects in many countries.

ROK's WTO complaints don't hold water

The Republic of Korea has complained to the World Trade Organization about China's "countermeasures" in tourism and business for Seoul's decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in the ROK.

Recycling smartphones a challenge for users

China's cellphone shipments increased to 560 millions last year, up 8 percent year-on-year, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Japanese official's visit to Taiwan seriously damages ties

The visit to Taiwan by Japanese senior vice-minister of internal affairs and communications on Saturday was provocative and breaches the commitment made by Japan to interact with Taiwan only at nongovernmental and local levels.