Headlines

Beijing asks president-elect not to destroy foundation for Sino-US cooperation  

Beijing, Dec. 13.─ The Foreign Ministry urged US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday to act prudently on the Taiwan question to avoid "serious damage to the Sino-US relationship", after Trump once again publicly provoked China.

Beijing could react with countermeasures in trade and regional issues, if Trump keeps challenging the time-tested one-China policy, which is the diplomatic cornerstone of relations between the world's two biggest economies, Chinese experts said.

Beirut/Aleppo, Dec.12.─ Hundreds of Syrians stood in long lines Sunday, some getting on government buses, to flee the ever shrinking rebel-held enclave of eastern Aleppo as military troops and allied militias continued their push to regain full control of the opposition stronghold.

Syria’s state news agency said at least 4,000 people fled the enclave Sunday. The state TV channel said more than 70,000 of eastern Aleppo’s estimated 275,000 residents have fled in recent days — mostly to government-held western Aleppo districts.
 

 Newcastle, Dec.5.─ She’s thousands of kilometres away from her homeland, but Muzoon Almellehan is still fighting for Syria.

The rainy grey streets of this English port city could hardly feel further from the olive grove-covered hills of her home province of Daraa, but the 17-year-old Ms. Almellehan sees everything she does here – from her high-school studies to her relentless campaigning to ensure other refugee children get access to education – as a front in the war for her homeland’s future.

53.3% of Austrian voters chose Alexander Van der Bellen  

Vienna, Dec.5.─ Austria's voters have resoundingly rejected anti-immigration and eurosceptic Norbert Hofer's bid to become the European Union's first far-right president, a result greeted with relief from centrist politicians across the continent.

Instead, Greens-backed independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen swept 53.3 % of Sunday's vote against 46.7 % for his rival from the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe), according to public television projections.