WORLD

WASHINGTON | Xinhua | The Pentagon announced on Wednesday the unexpected removal of U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan from his post, without providing any explanation or clarifying whether the decision was voluntary. The move, just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Randy George, once again …

Washington has a well-worn playbook: whenever China makes technological progress, it is promptly recast as misconduct. BEIJING, CHINA | Xinhua | Washington is once again casting Chinese AI firms as culprits, turning a routine engineering method into supposed evidence of intellectual property theft, a familiar tactic to justify another round …

A UK study, involving nearly 20,000 people, found that those who spent at least a total of 120 minutes every week in greenery were significantly more likely to report good health and higher psychological well-being.   NEWS FEATURE | AGENCIES | If you’ve ever felt calmer after a walk in …

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 …