Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reconfirming Beijing's continued support of the regime in Pyongyang, which is under international sanctions for weapons testing.

The former CIA employee who blew the lid on a huge US surveillance program has made fresh revelations. Edward Snowden says the National Security Agency has been hacking Chinese computer systems for years. The news comes after the NSA's director defended the program at a US Senate hearing.

China is witnessing its biggest wave of public dissent in a decade. Chinese universities are now sending students home in a bid to tighten COVID restrictions.

In a DW interview, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he hoped Chinese authorities would "respect" the protesters' freedom, and expressed that he did not see a way out of Russia's war on Ukraine "at this point in time."

Fresh protests were reported from China's Guangzhou despite massive police deployment across the country. China is currently facing its largest civil disobedience movement since the Tiananmen massacre.

Authorities in at least seven districts in Guangzhou announced lifting temporary lockdowns. State media also cited a top official as saying the virus was weakening.

DW spoke to Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei about the protests in China against its extreme COVID lockdowns.

Statements by authorities suggesting a relaxation of pandemic control measures look more like a move to relieve political pressure than a turnaround in policy. Experts say fully opening is still too risky.

Cities across China have rolled back some Covid-19 restrictions, requiring less testing and allowing people to isolate at home instead of in quarantine centres. The authorities have been careful not to send any signal that the relaxing of rules were in any way a response to rare displays of public discontent.

The New Zealand government is to investigate its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The country's zero-tolerance policy on the spread of the disease was initially praised but later criticized for its wider cost.

Judges have ruled that Germany should be able to take part in the EU's €750-billion COVID-19 reconstruction fund. The court rejected two complaints that participation hands too much power from Berlin to Brussels.

China has said it will allow COVID patients with mild symptoms to isolate at home, it has also reduced the scope of lockdowns where cases are noticed and made regional travel easier. This follows widespread protests.