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A Reuters report said around one-quarter of U.S. embassy and consular staff would choose to leave “as soon as possible,” amid concerns that Chinese health authorities could mandate hospital isolation and separate parents from children as part of a zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy. The U.S. government has failed to exempt American officials from the “intrusive pandemic control measures,” sources told the news agency. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that the country’s public health measures were rigorous and scientific, and its policies effective....

The drills took place near the Taiwan Strait, the 110-mile divide between Taiwan and China. For decades, China has asserted that Taiwan is its territory, though the two split in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War. Though the U.S. has kept its relations with Taiwan informal, the relationship continues to be strong. AP reported that the delegation arrived in Taipei on Tuesday, though no other details were immediately available....

That was the reply on Saturday of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying to her American counterpart, Morgan Ortagus, who had criticized Beijing over its moves to end Hong Kong’s autonomy. Since Friday, when President Donald Trump announced measures targeting China over Hong Kong and other matters, Beijing has waged a ferocious disinformation campaign against the United States. The campaign is clearly a result of Beijing’s new hardline approach to the world, and is possibly a sign that Chinese policymakers have run out of feasible options....

Momota seized control of the first game, racing away to an early lead. Despite leading 19-16 at one point in time, Momota somehow contrived to lose the game as Chen Long fought back strongly, taking the opener 21-19. It set the stage for what was to be a thoroughly exciting match between two top players. With the momentum in Long’s corner, the Chinese rushed to an 11-6 lead at the mid-game interval....

Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, wrapped himself in the mantle of the American-built international system—but in reality, he poses the most dangerous threat to it. Trump sounded like he wanted to take down the post-World War II order, but he is its most important defender. “No country has the right to dominate global affairs, control the destiny of others, or keep advantages in development all to itself,” said Xi in his Monday remarks commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the U....

China’s approach to containing cases involves strict lockdowns, multiple rounds of mass testing, and centralized quarantine, the Associated Press reports. The restrictions are not widespread but are unpredictable. Unlucky travelers can find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and unable to get home. Beijing resident Wang Lijie is one of the thousands stuck in quarantine, the AP reported. He’s been there more than three weeks after he planned to spend only three days in the Gobi Desert....

The Global Times, one of Beijing’s largest media outlets, published multiple scathing articles that ridiculed Senators Tammy Duckworth, Chris Coons and Dan Sullivan for visiting Taiwan as part of a “risky provocation.” It mocked the U.S. for characterizing the visit as an “epidemic prevention request” aimed at providing COVID-19 vaccines to the pandemic-struck island country. Beijing controversially still views Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China, and Chinese Communist Party mouthpieces said the U....

Austin made the comment during a Reagan National Defense Forum speech in California on Saturday, according to France 24. China’s military appears to be “exploring their true capabilities,” he added. In recent months, China has flown an increased number of military planes near Taiwan, heightening tensions between the Washington and Beijing. Austin said the U.S. is committed to supporting “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself while also maintaining our capacity to resist any resort to force that would jeopardize the security of the people of Taiwan....

Qi Fabao, the 41-year-old People’s Liberation Army officer involved in last summer’s deadly clash along the Line of Actual Control, made the remarks at a ceremony honoring his fallen colleagues ahead of the one-year anniversary of the melee on June 15. “We have no fear and fear no sacrifice,” Qi told a room of uniformed officials with the Central Military Commission, the country’s command and control organ chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping....

Its country report for China said more than a million Uyghurs and members of mainly Muslim ethnic minority groups had been arbitrarily imprisoned, deprived of their physical liberty, and subjected to forced sterilization, coerced abortions and rape. Beijing’s repressive policies in northwest China also included “draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement,” said the report covering 2021. An additional two million Muslims were forcibly enrolled in daytime “re-education” classes, the document said....

While annoying, chigger bites are fairly easy to treat. Better yet, you can take steps to prevent them. This article describes what chiggers are, how they bite, and the symptoms they cause. It also explains how to treat and prevent chigger bites. What Are Chiggers? Chiggers are the larvae (babies) of harvest mites, or Trombiculidae. Closely related to ticks, the mites are arachnids and part of the same family that includes spiders and scorpions....

Friday morning around 8 a.m. local time, a staff member at Laurens Elementary School found a loaded handgun on the student’s desk, and reported it to police. Later in the day, local police announced they had arrested Kalim Abdul Alawajid, the child’s grandfather, and charged him with unlawful conduct toward a child, according to WBTW-TV. No one was injured and school officials have said no threat was made as the student told them and police that he wanted to “shoot zombies,” and did not appear to want to do harm against any students or teachers, WYFF-TV reported....

But then they started arriving: Children in twos and threes. On bikes and on foot. Some with parents, but most—and this was significant—without. They swarmed the playground, enveloping our children. They began spontaneous games, making up rules as needed. Without supervision, they negotiated turn-taking on the monkey bars, who was supposed to go next at the water fountain, and who by rights should be “it.” By the time my brother’s friend arrived, there was nothing he could tell us about life in Idaho that the presence of those children in the park had not already taught us: This was a place we wanted to be....

When George W. Bush visits China next month, he’ll be a long way from Sertar, too. But events there will be on the minds of some U.S. officials traveling with the president; Washington hopes to raise the issue at bilateral human-rights discussions that may resume later this month. Chinese authorities are expected to continue demolition until October, and in early August, NEWSWEEK has learned, a bomb exploded outside local government offices in the town of Kangding....

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday said “political forces” in the U.S. are influencing the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The communist Chinese government on Friday announced new national security laws aimed to suppress such protests by banning behaviors loosely classified as treason and subversion. Wang chastised U.S. leaders during a press conference during the annual National People’s Congress meetings in which Beijing lawmakers addressed their top 2020 concerns: national security issues involving the Hong Kong protests and economic growth in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic....

Speaking from Beijing on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused U.S. diplomats of making “groundless attacks” against China’s foreign and domestic policies when the countries met a day earlier in Anchorage, Alaska. “It was the U.S. side that…provoked the dispute in the first place, so the two sides had a strong smell of gunpowder and drama from the beginning in the opening remarks. It was not the original intention of the Chinese side,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing, the Associated Press reported....

Senior members of the party’s Central Committee addressed the press from Beijing on Tuesday as they marked the 100-day countdown to the symbolic celebrations on July 1. However, unlike past celebrations to observe important anniversaries, there will be no military parade on Tiananmen Square for the milestone. Instead, each member of the party and the People’s Liberation Army will be taught loyalty to party ideology and their leader, Xi Jinping....

The COVID-19 outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei last December, before it then rapidly spread to nearly every corner of the globe. Beijing’s aggressive containment methods have drastically slowed the virus’ impact domestically in recent weeks, with official cases plummeting and a significant portion of new cases being imported from outside the country. However, a recent outbreak in Heilongjiang has prompted Chinese officials to close its land border with Russia to keep coronavirus-infected individuals entering from the neighboring nation....

At a White House press conference Friday, Trump called the Chinese National People’s Congress passage of new national security legislation for Hong Kong on Thursday a “plain violation” of a 1984 according which paved the way for the United Kingdom to handover the former colony to the People’s Republic in 1997. “China has replaced its promised formula of one country two systems with one country one system,” Trump said. “Therefore, I am directing my administration to begin the process of eliminating the exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment....