Dozens missing after building collapses in China in latest incident

At least 23 people were trapped under a building that collapsed in central China, officials said, as rescuers pulled apart the rubble brick by brick in an effort to reach survivors. The building, comprising a hotel, apartments and a cinema, caved in on Friday afternoon in Changsha city, Hunan province, leaving a gaping hole in a densely built street front. Another 39 people were uncontactable after the incident, the mayor of Changsha said. It was not clear if authorities believed the people who could not be contacted were also under…

Beijing bans restaurant dining as holiday begins in zero-Covid clampdown

Restaurants across Beijing will temporarily ban dining-in and residents will need clear Covid tests to visit public spaces, officials said on Saturday, in a major ramp-up of virus controls at the start of the Labour Day holiday. The five-day break is typically one of China’s busiest travel periods, but the country’s worst Covid resurgence since early in the pandemic is expected to keep people at home. Faced with the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Chinese officials have doubled down on their zero-Covid policy, quashing virus clusters through mass testing and lockdowns.…

Why some Chinese are angry about covid

Apr 30th 2022 ONE CONSEQUENCE of imposing a pandemic lockdown on Shanghai, China’s worldliest and stroppiest city, is a stream of smartphone videos showing officials being yelled at by locals. As this metropolis of 25m people approaches a month of near-paralysis, these filmed confrontations have taken on a darker tone. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser does not support the <audio> element. Listen to this story Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitask OK Social-media posts show locked-in…

Grim tales test China’s claim to be governed by the people

Apr 30th 2022 BEIJING MOST CHINESE with an internet connection have probably seen the video of a mentally ill woman chained by the neck in the province of Jiangsu. Identified as Yang Qingxia, she was sold to her husband in 1998 and bore him eight children. Ms Yang’s plight was revealed in February. The next month another trafficked woman, with the surname Tao, was discovered locked in a cage in Shaanxi province. Her husband paid 8,000 yuan ($1,220) for her in 2010. The cases sparked outrage. A well-known lawyer pointed…

Hunting for the next virus

Searching for the next virus The Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet, but some researchers are already worrying about mousepox. Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown University, has spent the last few years training computers to predict which dangerous viruses could jump from animals to humans, following in the footsteps of the coronavirus (which came from bats), H.I.V. (chimpanzees) and hundreds of other pathogens. His team used machine learning to develop a short list of potentially dangerous viruses that could eventually make a leap. Mousepox — a virus that infects…

The China-Solomons security deal has been signed, time to move on from megaphone diplomacy | Meg Keen

Now that the Solomons-China security agreement is signed, there’s little value in indulging in a retrospective blame game. Instead, we would benefit from a sharpened focus on the security issues ahead and how collectively to address them. With respect to the Solomons-China security deal there are several key issues that need our attention. First, the secrecy of the deal reflects a pattern, not an unforeseen surprise. Previous “security surprises” include Santo in Vanuatu, Tulagi in Solomon Islands and Kanton in Kiribati. These deals are a push by China, via the…

Political Stakes High as Beijing Responds to Virus Outbreak

Advertisement Classes suspended. Buildings and communities sealed off. Mass testing of residents. A rush to stock up on food, just in case. Beijing, China’s sprawling capital, is starting to resemble other Chinese cities grappling with the latest wave of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Authorities are moving quickly to try to prevent a massive COVID-19 outbreak that could trigger a citywide lockdown like the one that has paralyzed Shanghai for more than three weeks. The political stakes are high as the ruling Communist Party prepares for a major congress…

Beijing Closes Schools as It Tries to Contain an Outbreak

Schools in Beijing, where a coronavirus outbreak has alarmed Chinese leaders, were closed on Friday and dozens of buildings remained under lockdown, as a five-day holiday weekend approached. The Chinese capital has recorded more than 200 cases since April 22, according to officials — a tiny number most anywhere else in the world, but cause for concern for officials in China, where the coronavirus has been kept largely under control for two years. The central government is still adhering to a policy of trying to stamp out local transmission, rather…

Under Lockdown in China

At the height of China’s worst Covid outbreak, the authorities in Shanghai took over gleaming high-rise office buildings and turned them into mass isolation centers. Floor after floor, room after room, the buildings were filled with people, their beds arranged in tight rows. Those buildings, and the broader lockdown of Shanghai, reinforced the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s power to marshal resources in its quest to eliminate Covid. But they also fueled deep frustration with the government’s failures and overreach. In eastern Shanghai, police officers in white protective suits clashed with…