Blue skies are not an occasional luxury

BEIJING, TIANJIN AND HEBEI suffered from heavy air pollution from Tuesday to Thursday, with smog covering the whole region. Thepaper.cn comments:

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Guangdong takes bullying by the horns

THE EDUCATION BUREAU of South China's Guangdong province recently issued a regulation together with 12 other departments, which prohibits bullying in primary and secondary schools, including the use of insulting nicknames. Thepaper.cn comments:

Brexit still unsettled despite agreed terms of divorce

Brexit has been compared to someone leaving a marital house to put an end to the arguments, only to find that their former spouse is keeping the house, the car and the joint bank accounts.

Nationalism poses test for transatlantic ties

In his speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that self-interested nationalism marked "a betrayal of patriotism". The reverberations of his words were felt from across the Atlantic Ocean.

Environment remains vulnerable to corruption

Editor's note: Last month, online reports showed a villa has been constructed on Qinling Mountain, Shaanxi province, where such construction is prohibited, with the owner being the son of a local official. The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee recently issued a document about the incident, saying the local Communist Party of China committees had violated Party discipline. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Fortunes of private companies in the hands of local governments

FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS OF the central authorities, at least seven provincial-level regions have issued supportive policies to ease the burden on private enterprises. Beijing News comments:

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Building a more prosperous Asia-Pacific

Time to spot signs of diabetes in kids

Diabetes is a global epidemic that concerns every family. Spotting the warning signs is vital to prevent the life-threatening complications associated with the condition. Yet this is much easier said than done because parents are struggling to spot the warning signs of diabetes in their own children.

Brighter future in store for private sector

Over the years the private sector has experienced impressive growth, generating more than 50 percent of the country's GDP in 2015 - from a mere 1 percent in the early days of reform and opening-up. In provinces such as Henan, Zhejiang and Fujian, the non-State economy's overall economic output is more than 60 percent, even 70 percent, of the total provincial output.

Region rallies to support multilateralism, free trade

In his speech addressing a business forum in Singapore on Tuesday, Premier Li Keqiang struck a resonant note on multilateralism, stressing that the world should not shun the principles of multilateralism and free trade, and neither does it need to reinvent the wheel.