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The paper comes amid a debate in the U.S. about when and how children should go back to in-person learning in classrooms, with evidence showing that although COVID-19 is milder in younger children, with some showing no symptoms, they are still able to spread it. The research letter published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics involved 145 people with mild to moderate COVID-19 from Chicago, who were tested for the coronavirus between March 23 and April 27, 2020, one week after their symptoms started....

The 112-page document, which focused on the social media accounts of 5 million users from October 18 to November 21, claims that 19.3 percent of the 60 million comments analyzed came from abroad, according to Presna Latina. The social media platforms the government looked at were Telegram, Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp. Among the blamed influences: Russian cable channels teleSUR and Russia Today, multiple Spanish singers and songwriters, several soccer players, several comics and politicians such as Camila Vallejo, Karol Cariola, Beatriz Sanchez and Pamela Jiles....

“We’ve been the leaders on both medals and gold medal tables of Asian Games for nine straight editions. We want to keep on winning this time,” said Liu at the flag rising and welcome ceremony held at the athletes’ village, reports Xinhua. Sending a delegation of more than 1,300 athletes and officials, including 33 Olympic champions, China will participate in all but one of the 36 sports at the September 19 to October 4 extravaganza....

Officials from both sides have remained largely silent on the territorial dispute, with media outlets driving public awareness of the situation. Indian army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane acknowledged in a statement that at least two rounds of unarmed clashes earlier this month in the northern Ladakh region and further east in the pass of Naku La that ties India’s Sikkim with China’s Tibet, reportedly resulting in injuries on both sides, according to several Indian news outlets....

Putin will formally sign agreements to annex four of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions at a signing ceremony in Moscow on Friday, the Kremlin said in a statement. Beijing is unlikely to endorse the move, which could represent a real hard limit on China’s political relationship with Moscow. Military relations, however, are set to grow regardless of events in Europe. Colonel Tan Kefei, China’s defense ministry spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday that the two countries would “deepen strategic communication” between their two forces and “carry out pragmatic cooperation” based on the consensus reached by Xi and Putin....

The company’s stock picked up on Thursday as investors appeared to be buoyed by news that its main subsidiary, Hengda Real Estate Group, would meet a $35.9 million interest payment on an onshore bond due on September 23. In a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Hengda said it had struck a last-minute deal through “private negotiations.” But Beijing is showing no signs that it will bail out Evergrande from its $300 billion in liabilities....

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian claimed at a regular press briefing on Thursday that evidence showing China’s persecution of Uighur and other minority groups was “fabricated,” and framed the forced labor order as evidence of Sinophobia in the U.S. Zhao said China was “firmly opposed” to the new American legislation. “‘Forced labor’ is the biggest lie of the century made by persons and agencies in some Western countries including the United States, with an aim to restrict and suppress the relevant Chinese authorities and companies and contain China’s development,” he added, according to a transcript posted on the foreign ministry’s website....

Even as talks between the countries continue, as Beijing and Washington seek to iron out the details of the “phase one” agreement to end the 18-month trade war, China cautioned on Thursday that the long-running conflict won’t end until the U.S. removes all tariffs levied since July 2018. “The ultimate goal for the negotiations between the two sides is to end the trade war, cancel all additional tariffs. This is good for China, good for the US and good for the whole world,” Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said in a statement Thursday, the South China Morning Post reported....

The project is led by a group from the School of Mechano-electronic Engineering at Xidian University in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, according to a report Wednesday by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. The team is expecting its hardware to have civilian uses in rescue operations, but governments may be eyeing similar “transmedium” hardware to gain an upper hand in future naval warfare, the paper said. A research paper about the specially designed drone was published in bimonthly journal Flight Dynamics....

Chinese forces “successfully completed various tasks” during the naval and air force training missions around Taiwan, said Col. Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command. The exercises originally scheduled from August 4 to 7 were extended twice, and Taiwan’s armed forces continued to detect large military maneuvers on August 10. “Theater troops will pay close attention to changes in the situation in the Taiwan Strait, continue to train and prepare, organize regular combat readiness patrols in the Taiwan Strait and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Shi said....

The FBI changed eight and arrested five people Wednesday involved in China’s anti-corruption “Operation Fox Hunt,” which has been targeting Chinese citizens abroad accused of a range of economic crimes since 2014. The three not arrested remain at large in China. The CCP has been cracking down on corruption and economic crimes since President Xi Jinping took power. Not even senior party officials have been spared long jail terms and huge fines in Xi’s efforts to purge the CCP of corruption....

The World No.5 needed just an hour and 30 minutes to defeat the Slovakian 6-0, 6-4, reports Xinhua. The first set was a lopsided one as Li broke her opponent three times and used only 30 minutes to take the set. Hantuchova did not win her first game of the match until she held serve in the fifth game of the second set. The 30-year-old then picked up her momentum to break Li for the first time to pull within 4-3....

Sindhu coasted to a 21-12, 21-16 win over Chia Hsin Lee of Taiwan in her round of 32 match. Sindhu, who took the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics earlier this year, will face Beiwen Zhang of Singapore in the pre-quarterfinals. Zhang defeated Ya Ching Hsu of Taiwan 21-16, 21-18 in her campaign opener. Sindhu is playing her first tournament since the Rio Olympics. Saina, meanwhile, lost to Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand in a hard fought encounter....

The 36-page report, titled Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China’s Human Rights, argues that the government is maintaining peace and stability in ethnic minority areas. “With strong support from all ethnic groups, the government takes lawful actions to combat terrorists, separatists and religious extremists, to safeguard ethnic unity and social stability,” the report read. “People’s rights to a peaceful existence, to life and health, and to property are effectively protected, and their sense of gain, happiness and security continues to grow....

The highly contagious Omicron variant has forced many cities in China to go into lockdown to combat recent surges, and China’s financial hub entered its first citywide lockdown since the start of the pandemic on Monday. Half of the city’s 26 million residents went into an intensive lockdown at the start of the week, with the other half initially scheduled to lockdown on Friday, but Shanghai authorities began placing some areas of the second group on lockdown a few days early....

For 30 years, China has banned most urban couples from having more than one kid. But though the penalties for breaking the rule can be steep—including fines of up to six times a couple’s annual income—more and more Chinese are starting to ignore them, because they have either the money or the connections to do so. In Hunan province alone, 1,968 government workers violated the family-planning law between 2000 and 2005, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency....

Less than 24 hours after the quake hit, the death toll had climbed close to 10,000 and state media reported that in one county 80 percent of the buildings had been leveled. That casualty count is expected to rise still further as rescuers get closer to the epicenter of the destruction. Could some of the deaths have been prevented in this notoriously high-risk area? And what chances do those trapped under the rubble have of surviving the wait to be dug out?...

At a press conference in Beijing, Chinese State Council Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office spokesperson Yang Guang warned that “the situation in Hong Kong remains complex and grim,” with some instances of violence growing amid the months-long protest movement. Asked by reporters, he reaffirmed his previous assertion that months-long demonstrations were beginning to show signs of “terrorism” as they attacked public property such as airport and rail facilities and clashed with law enforcement, who have increasingly responded with force....

Asked by Newsweek if Chinese authorities had identified a U.S. effort to incite unrest in Xinjiang during a virtual event hosted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday, the Chinese Communist Party chief for the region’s capital said that “the ulterior motive is known to all.” Xu Hairong, who serves as secretary for the Chinese Communist Party Urumqi Municipal Committee, then proceeded to play two video clips. The first clip was taken from a 2018 address to the Ron Paul Institute by retired U....

In a statement on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said visa restrictions would be placed on individuals believed to be involved in the harassment of religious practitioners and human rights advocates. The names and precise number of those blacklisted were not disclosed. At a regular press briefing in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Blinken’s statement was full of “prejudice and lies,” before calling it an interference in its domestic affairs....