Beijing orders lockdown amid fresh outbreak

The property company's financial plight comes as the Communist Party cracks down on business and tightens its control of the economy. Evergrande's fate and that of its founder, hang in the balance.

Chinese and foreign figure skaters train ahead of the 2021 CS Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, which will be held in Beijing this week as a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics. All journalists and Winter Olympics staff are required to wear masks inside the stadium as Covid-19 prevention measures.

The ceremony to light the Olympic flame was disrupted as Tibetan and Hong Kong activists held banners protesting human rights abuses in China.

Human rights activists on Monday (October 19) urged governments and athletes world-wide to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China as Athens prepared to hand over the Olympic flame to Beijing in a ceremony in the capital, saying that anything less would make the world complicit in what they called 'genocide' by Beijing. China's treatment of minorities has come under increased scrutiny in the run-up to the games, scheduled from Feb. 4-20. Activists protested at Ancient Olympia on Monday, where the flame lighting ceremony was held.

Russian President Vladimir Putin orders a nationwide week-long paid holiday starting on October 30 to curb Covid infections amid record coronavirus deaths.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolves transitional authorities and declares a state of emergency during a statement on Sudan state television. The announcement comes after armed forces detained figures of the government in charge of leading the transition to democracy since the April 2019 ouster of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir.

Beijing said the use of spy agencies, not scientists, was "iron-clad proof" of Washington's attempts to politicize the origins of COVID-19. A new report published Friday shed little fresh light on how the virus emerged.

The expert faces charges of providing false statements as part of special counsel John Durham's ongoing investigation into the so-called "Steele dossier."

An official Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic venue held a test ice hockey match on Monday (November 8), with the Games just months away. The match, which was held without spectators and featured local teams Beijing Arcfox and Beijing Shougang, comes amid uncertainty over the participation status of China's men's national hockey team in next year's Games. China is guaranteed a spot in the ice hockey tournament due to its status as host nation, but International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) president Luc Tardif said in September that the men's team could be prevented from playing due to its "insufficient sporting standard".

Germany is facing a massive fourth COVID-19 wave even though two-thirds of its population is vaccinated. Here's why.

Dissidents were arrested or prevented from leaving their apartments. The Cuban government has accused the US of endorsing the unrest in an attempt to destabilize the island.

The migrants were "crammed" into the trailers of two trucks, according to the local head of the Human Rights Commission. Most were from the neighboring state of Guatemala.