WORLD

BEIJING | Xinhua |  “I have many hobbies. I love reading most,” Chinese President Xi Jinping once said. For Xi, reading is more than a personal hobby — it is a way of life. As China’s top leader, Xi often draws on books that have long enriched his intellectual world, …

BEIJING | Xinhua |  Across the deserts in northwest China, where the sun blazes and the winds never relent, those forces that people once had to endure are now powering a new source of wealth. “We used to hide from them,” said Qi Pengxiao, now in his 80s. He arrived …

WASHINGTON | Xinhua | U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will extend the ceasefire with Iran as the current two-week truce is set to expire on Wednesday night. “Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal …

  BEIJING | Xinhua |  As spring unfolds across China, so do the pages of countless books. On Monday, the country’s first national reading week and the fifth national reading conference opened in tandem, an invitation to turn over a new leaf in the nation’s journey toward a book-loving society. …

BUDAPEST | Xinhua |  Peter Magyar, leader of Hungary’s Tisza Party, said on Monday that his incoming government is working to unlock frozen European Union (EU) funds within a short timeframe, following recent technical talks with EU officials in Budapest. The Tisza party secured a landslide victory in the April …

Humanoid robot “Flash” of Qitiandasheng Team in the autonomous category runs during the Beijing E-Town half-marathon and humanoid robots half-marathon in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area in southeast Beijing, China, April 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Luo Yuan)   BEIJING | Xinhua | On a crisp Sunday morning, the starting gun rang out …

BEIJING, CHINA | Xinhua | Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, on his fourth consecutive annual visit to China, was seen in Beijing this week exploring the smart products of Chinese tech firm Xiaomi, a moment that carries a subtle but far-reaching significance. Sanchez followed a succession of developed-nation leaders who …

TEHRAN | Xinhua | With a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire nearing its expiry, uncertainty once again clouds the outlook for the Middle East. The stop-and-go situation in the Strait of Hormuz — briefly reopened and then shut again by Iran — has added to the volatility. The episode highlights deep-rooted disagreements …

COMMENT | JAMES A. GOLDSTON | As the tragic consequences of US President Donald Trump’s war of choice against Iran continue to accumulate, one hears a cry of desperation: Are we witnessing the “death of international law?” It is a reasonable question. But there is a more important one: Can we …

TEHRAN | Xinhua | Although the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s oil supply, has been declared fully open for commercial vessels, its operational status remains contested. Both Washington and Tehran confirmed on Friday that the strait had been completely open for all commercial vessels. However, U.S. …