Hong Kong embraces greater development opportunities with new policy address unveiled

The new measures, among seven aspects of policy support by the central government, were tangible, detailed and practical, Chan Yung, vice-chairperson of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said.

Trump pardons Flynn despite guilty plea in Russia probe

President Donald Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday, ending a yearslong prosecution in the Russia investigation that saw Flynn twice plead guilty to lying to the FBI and then reverse himself before the Justice Department stepped in to dismiss his case.

Biden transition OK’d to start as Trump runs out of options

The federal government recognized President-elect Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election, formally starting the transition of power after President Donald Trump spent weeks testing the boundaries of American democracy. Trump relented after suffering yet more legal and procedural defeats in his seemingly futile effort to overturn the election with baseless claims of fraud.

China launches Chang'e-5 to collect, return moon samples

China Tuesday launched a spacecraft to collect and return samples from the moon, the country's first attempt to retrieve samples from an extraterrestrial body.

Xiplomacy shows China's sense of responsibility in time of pandemic, global recession

Attending an array of international events in the past week that virtually gathered leaders of the world's major economies, Xi has demonstrated China's firm commitment to helping the world defeat COVID-19, building an open world economy, and advocating multilateralism.

Biden’s transition gets green light as Trump at last relents

The federal government recognized President-elect Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election on Monday, formally starting the transition of power after President Donald Trump spent weeks testing the boundaries of American democracy. He relented after suffering yet more legal and procedural defeats in his seemingly futile effort to overturn the election with baseless claims of fraud.

Biden’s 1st Cabinet picks expected Tuesday amid roadblocks

President-elect Joe Biden’s first Cabinet picks are coming Tuesday and planning is underway for a pandemic-modified inauguration in January as his team moves forward despite roadblocks from the Trump administration.

Xi pledges joint efforts to build beautiful world free of poverty

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday China is ready to work with other countries to build a beautiful world that is free of poverty and enjoys common development. Xi made the remarks at Session II of the G20 Riyadh Summit via video link in Beijing.

Analysis: With silence, GOP enables Trump’s risky endgame

Republicans in Congress are engaged in a risky but calculated bet that once President Donald Trump has exhausted his legal challenges to the election, he will come to grips with his loss to President-elect Joe Biden.

Biden wants Congress to pass virus aid in lame-duck session

President-elect Joe Biden is pushing Congress to approve billions of dollars in emergency COVID-19 assistance before he takes office, saying in a meeting Friday with the top Democrats in the House and Senate that such a package should be approved during the lame-duck session.

One more Chinese COVID-19 vaccine enters late-stage human trials

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday that China had five COVID-19 vaccine candidates undergoing phase-3 trials in the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Pakistan and Peru. 

China urges U.S. to stop official exchanges with Taiwan

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing in response to reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler would visit Taiwan in December.

Biden chides Trump for lack of cooperation on vaccine

President-elect Joe Biden met Thursday with governors from both parties and criticized President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempt to block the peaceful transition of power, saying it was hindering the flow of information about programs to develop a vitally important coronavirus vaccine.

‘Tired to the bone’: Hospitals overwhelmed with virus cases

The number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 in the U.S. has doubled in the past month and set new records every day this week. As of Tuesday, nearly 77,000 were hospitalized with the virus.

GOP increasingly accepts Trump’s defeat — but not in public

When Kamala Harris returned to the Senate this week for the first time as vice president-elect, her Republican colleagues offered their congratulations and Sen. Lindsey Graham greeted her with a fist bump.

China has five COVID-19 vaccines in phase III clinical trials

He said currently China has five vaccines for COVID-19 that are currently undergoing phase III clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Pakistan and Peru, and some other vaccines that are undergoing phase I and II clinical trials.

Hurricane Iota roars onto Nicaragua as 2nd blow in 2 weeks

Hurricane Iota battered Nicaragua with screeching winds and pounding surf Tuesday, chasing tens of thousands of people from their homes along the same stretch of the Caribbean coast that was devastated by an equally powerful hurricane just two weeks ago.

China prepares to launch Long March-5 rocket for Chang'e-5 mission

The carrier rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y5, is planned to be launched in late November, according to the China National Space Administration

Hurricane Iota nearing Nicaragua as catastrophic Category 5

Tremendously powerful Category 5 Hurricane Iota was just off Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast Monday evening and was likely to bring catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by a powerful Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago.

Poll workers contract virus, but Election Day link unclear

Despite painstaking efforts to keep election sites safe, some poll workers who came in contact with voters on Election Day have tested positive for the coronavirus, including more than two dozen in Missouri and others in New York, Iowa, Indiana and Virginia.