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JUIZ DE FORA : Three firemen pulled a man’s body from the mud amidst the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in southeastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains. A river burst its banks and streets became raging currents of brown water in the state of Minas Gerais after the overnight downpour in a region that has seen record rain this month. State firefighters said 30 people had died in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba. More than 200 people have been rescued. Firefighters and sniffer dogs…

BEIJING: China looks forward to promoting deeper and more practical cooperation with Germany, the country’s Premier Li Qiang said in a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Beijing on Wednesday. Relations between both countries have been steadily advancing, the Chinese leader said, adding that China is willing strengthen dialogue, communication and mutual trust with the European nation.

BEIJING: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz touched down in Beijing on Wednesday hoping to reset bilateral ties, with China pitching itself as a reliable economic partner as Europe struggles to balance its U.S. alliance and address supply chain vulnerabilities. Merz, on his first visit to China, becomes the latest European leader seeking to reset ties with China after Britain’s Starmer and Canada’s Carney earlier this year, while Beijing touts the benefits of engaging with its massive consumer market and advanced manufacturing base. Engagement between Europe’s largest economy and China could set the stage for EU-China relations this year. But Merz faces a tough balancing…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, a potentially pivotal moment as the White House seeks to firm up support among Republican voters ahead of November’s midterm elections. Trump’s speech comes against a backdrop of rising tensions with Iran and voter frustration with the high cost of living. Risky business Trump put dollars and cents at the heart of his speech, but he stuck to a risky message on the economy that some strategists have warned could lose his Republican Party the congressional elections in November, when all 435 seats in the House and…

China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday following a takeover by Panamanian authorities of two Panama Canal ports operated by Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison. Reiterating that China’s stance on the port-related issues in Panama is clear, Mao said at a regular news briefing that relevant enterprise has issued a statement, indicating that it reserves all rights, including resorting to legal procedures.

The Central Leading Group for Party Building of the Communist Party of China (CPC) met to plan a new Party-wide educational campaign for the establishment and application of a sound understanding of what it means to perform well. The meeting was chaired by Cai Qi, the group’s head, and attended by the group’s deputy head, Li Xi. Cai and Li, both of whom are members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also delivered speeches. According to the meeting, the education campaign is essential for implementing the strategic plans of the fourth plenary session…

A compilation of excerpts from discourses by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on establishing and practicing a correct understanding of what it means to perform well has been published by the Central Party Literature Press. The book, featuring seven themes, contains 253 excerpts selected from more than 150 important documents, including reports, speeches, letters, instructions and directives by Xi from November 2012 to January 2026. Some of these excerpts are published for the first time. These discourses are of great significance for guiding CPC organizations and members to make solid achievements that…

China’s 2026 Spring Festival holiday – a record-long nine days – witnessed massive population movement alongside strong consumption, tourism, box office and retail sectors. The infographic below provides a comprehensive snapshot of the holiday surge, highlighting record-high domestic mobility, cross-border travel growth and booming box office revenue. According to data from the China State Railway Group, the railways handled about 121 million passenger trips during the holiday (February 15 to 23), with a daily average of 13.41 million trips, up 11.5 percent from last year. Notably, a record 18.73 million passenger trips were recorded on February 23, setting a new…

ISLAMABAD : In a major step toward a unified and digitally secure identity ecosystem, the Federal government has formally upgraded the National Identity Card (NIC) and Pakistan Origin Card (POC) frameworks under its vision of “One Nation – One Identity.” The amendments—issued through S.R.O. 330(I)/2026 and S.R.O. 331(I)/2026 and published in the Gazette on 24 February 2026—modernize Pakistan’s identity system with QR-based verification, enhanced biometric features, stronger fraud controls, and improved citizen facilitation. A key highlight is the legal introduction of the Quick Response (QR) code as a security and authentication feature across identity documents. The Rules now define the…

Qatar has reaffirmed its commitment to deepening economic cooperation with Pakistan, with a particular focus on enhancing private-sector collaboration and fostering stronger business-to-business ties. The development came during a high-level meeting between H.E. Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Sayed, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of Qatar and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is on an official visit to Doha, on Tuesday, read a PMO statement. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed bilateral trade and economic cooperation and expressed satisfaction over the growing momentum in Pakistan–Qatar relations. Al-Sayed, who is also the chairman of the Pak-Qatar Joint Business Task Force, reiterated…