A Chinese startup named DeepSeek has taken the lead in the AI race, with its assistant app becoming the most popular free app on Apple’s US App Store, surpassing ChatGPT, according to data firm Sensor Tower. The app, powered by the DeepSeek-V3 model, was launched on January 10 and has quickly gained attention in the United States.

Apple has lost its position as China's leading smartphone seller in 2024, with Vivo and Huawei overtaking the iPhone maker, according to data from research firm Canalys, states a recent Reuters report.

"This move gravely infringes on China's sovereignty and security interests," Beijing's foreign ministry said in a statement, adding it "firmly opposes this action".

Xi will attend the inauguration of Macau's new administration during his trip and "also conduct an inspection tour", state news agency Xinhua reported.

The China-based companies identified include Zhejiang Uniview Technologies, which US officials accuse of enabling human rights violations such as surveillance of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups.

Nepal and China signed an initial deal in 2017 for President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build China's infrastructure and trade links with the world.

Beijing has been promoting various measures to try to make having children more attractive to young couples after China posted a second consecutive year of population decline in 2023.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is suing a former intern for 8 million yuan (about $1.1 million), accusing him of deliberately disrupting its artificial intelligence (AI) training operations. The lawsuit, filed in Beijing's Haidian District People's Court, has sparked widespread interest in China owing to its unique nature.

Moscow has reacted furiously to a decision by US President Joe Biden to change policy on Ukraine and allow Kyiv to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time.

A car drove into a group of people outside a sports centre in China's southern city of Zhuhai

Last month's airport bombing in the southern port city that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing's interests in Pakistan.

Hidden debts are defined as borrowing for which a government is liable, but not disclosed to its citizens or to other creditors.

The consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in October, down from 0.4 percent in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The economy expanded 4.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, down from 4.7 in the previous three months and the slowest since early 2023

The further deterioration in Myanmar, a Beijing ally where the military seized power in 2021, marks the first time in a decade that any country has matched China for a low score in the Freedom on the Net report.

Outlying islands administered by Taipei were on "heightened alert" and "aircraft and ships will respond to enemy situations in accordance with the engagement rules", Taiwan's defence ministry said.

The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the implementation of cross-border payment services via QR codes and an agreement to study a model for an "economic cooperation zone" across their border

China and North Korea are traditional socialist allies, and Beijing has long provided crucial support for Pyongyang's diplomatically isolated government.

China this week unveiled a bundle of new measures aimed at kickstarting its economy, battered by unprecedented headwinds including a property sector crisis and sluggish spending

More than 2,000 panda lovers formed long queues outside the zoo Saturday morning, some having spent the whole night there armed with picnic blankets and camping chairs.