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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a delegation of the Taliban led by Taliban political committee head Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Wednesday, marking the group’s latest in a series of international trips as its fighters take territory nationwide in Afghanistan amid a U.S. military withdrawal from the country. The top Chinese diplomat said his country “has always respected Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, adhered to non-interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and pursued a friendly policy toward the entire Afghan people,” according to a readout provided by the Chinese Foreign Ministry....

The agreement came before the virtual summit held by the countries, according to the China Daily newspaper. Under the terms of the deal, China will give American journalists one-year multiple-entry work visas. Likewise, the U.S. will provide Chinese journalists with the same type of visa. Both nations will initiate processes to address “duration of status” issues as they appear. “We hope that the U.S. will keep its promise to put the relevant measures and policies in place as soon as possible and work with China to create favorable conditions for both (nations’) media to continue to work and live in each other’s countries,” said China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian to reporters at a daily briefing....

Chinese military-tied media aired footage Monday of troops conducting large-scale air defense drills in southeast Guangdong province, which lies across the Taiwan Strait from the self-ruling island still claimed by the central government in Beijing and borders semi-autonomous Hong Kong, also the subject of international tensions. The exercises involved advanced systems such as the double 35-millimeter-barreled PGZ-09 and the quadruple 25-millimeter-barreled PGZ-95. Global Times, an official Chinese Communist Party publication, cited unnamed experts Wednesday saying the exercises displayed China’s willingness to defend its territory amid heightened U....

In the sixth meeting between the two star quarterbacks, Mahomes stole the show with 247 passing yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target, tight end Travis Kelce, also stood out with nine catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. Brady (39 for 52, 385 yards, three TDs, no INTs) and the Bucs’ offense put in a respectable performance, but Tampa Bay’s defense was overwhelmed by its opponent’s offensive barrage....

Quarterback Philip Rivers, now in his 15th NFL season, has led the Chargers’ resurgence. He has thrown 29 touchdowns to six interceptions — the best ratio of his career. But dynamic Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes could win the MVP in his second year in the league, having tossed 43 passing scores this season. MORE: Watch Chiefs-Chargers live or on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) The Chiefs beat the Chargers, 38-28, when these teams met in Week 1....

Patrick Mahomes was 29 for 48 for 275 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The interception was his league-leading 10th, and he would have thrown another if not for an offside penalty against the Giants that nullified it. He came into the game as the Chiefs’ leading rusher but carried just three times for 10 yards Monday. Tyreek Hill had 12 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown, while Travis Kelce was targeted just seven times and had just 27 receiving yards to go with a costly fumble....

Many adults see a child act in these ways and assume the child’s behavior is due to bad parenting—parents who are too permissive, don’t set limits, and can’t control their child. But before you judge these as socially unacceptable behaviors, consider the possibility the child may have autism. Autistic Behaviors People with autism may be prone to unusual behaviors. Some children are inattentive, distracted, or even throw loud long-lasting tantrums or meltdowns....

The 21-year-old has made five appearances for the Three Lions, four as a member of the starting line-up, and his performances for the Foxes are ensuring he retains a strong claim to the left-back spot in Southgate’s team. Chilwell, who signed a new six-year contract at King Power Stadium in October, has helped Leicester keep clean sheets against Watford, Burnley and Cardiff City in recent weeks and is focussed on maintaining his form until England’s European Championship qualifiers in March....

In three major sea regions, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted simultaneous exercises, according to the Global Times. Experts said on Thursday that it showed the Chinese military’s combat preparedness. Russia is also conducting military drills, sending thousands of troops to Belarus with convoys of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems, the Associated Press reported. The Russian training exercises with Belarus are reportedly aimed at “repelling external aggression,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said....

The guilty verdicts are part of a larger, long-term effort by Beijing to rein in journalists and activists, say analysts. And worryingly, they were handed out with little regard to legal niceties. Consider the case of rural activist Chen Guangcheng, whose lawyers were all arrested the day before he was to go to trial. On Aug. 24, he was sentenced to more than four years in prison for “disturbing public order....

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the repeal of Article 370 granting special autonomy to the stretch of Kashmir located on its side of contested borders with China and Pakistan, Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah introduced bills naming both the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its Ladakh region as separate union territories to be governed directly by the central government. The sudden change in a decades-long arrangement was hailed by Shah as a “historic decision” but it elicited negative reactions from both Beijing and Islamabad, which have grown closer in recent years and have separately engaged in heated confrontations with New Delhi....

In Melbourne, protesters held a vigil to honor those lost in the Urumqi apartment fire. Many have blamed China’s strict zero-Covid policy for blocking authorities from putting out the fire in time. In addition to candles, the demonstrators in Australia also held signs expressing their discontent with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s leadership and China’s Covid protocols. Others had blank white signs, a symbol of the protests meant to circumvent Chinese censorship laws....

Chinese military aircraft, mostly fighter jets, were detected in the island’s air defense identification zone, east of the Taiwan Strait median line, on 1,737 occasions in 2022, up from 972 in the previous 12 months, statistics compiled by U.S.-based analysts Gerald Brown and Ben Lewis revealed. Taiwan, like China, maintains an ADIZ beyond its territorial airspace. This acts as a buffer zone for incoming civilian and military aircraft, which are expected to self-identity on national security grounds....

China is ostensibly neutral on Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine—although it doesn’t call it an “invasion” and rarely uses the word “war.” But earlier this week, it helped the Kremlin complete a classic disinformation loop that the United States believes could be a false flag operation and a portent of more atrocities to come. At a daily media briefing on Tuesday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, read a news report about Russian troops who allegedly discovered that Ukrainian authorities had destroyed evidence of a biological weapons program in the country....

Capacity for the hospital will be 600 beds. It is expected to be staffed by 400 members of medical personnel. “We will admit and treat every single person who requires admission and treatment,” said medical team leader Yu Kaihong at a Thursday news conference. “We will use the whole strength of the province to prevent the import of the virus.” Newsweek reached out to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America for comment....

Key Developments after China privacy with digital yuan Mu Changchun, head of the Digital Currency Institute at the People’s Bank of China, says that while people will use digital yuan, only a certain amount of their personal info would be collected, and they will restrict access to that info. He at a forum in Fujian, China, also said that ‘limited anonymity is a key feature to the digital. ’Along with this, it will also prevent and combat all sort of illegal activities which includes terrorist financing, money laundering, and tax evasion....

At 72, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959, is beginning to plan his succession, saying that he refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it’s under Chinese control. Assuming he’s able to master the feat of controlling his rebirth, as Dalai Lamas supposedly have for the last 600 years, the situation is shaping up in which there could be two Dalai Lamas: one picked by the Chinese government, the other by Buddhist monks....

China’s Peng Shuai piled on the misery for Japan as she downed Ayumi Morita at Wimbledon on Wednesday as Tatsuma Ito and veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm also went crashing out. Peng, the 30th seed, won 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the all-Asian second round clash, her better serving and fewer unforced errors making the difference after a tight first set. Peng next faces Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, who knocked out Australian fifth seed Sam Stosur, the reigning US Open champion, for a place in the last 16....