China awards May 4th Medals to 44 outstanding individuals, groups

China has awarded 30 individuals and 14 groups and organizations the May 4th Medals to celebrate their contributions to the country.

Among the recipients was a working group from Sinovac Life Sciences known for developing one of the home-made COVID-19 vaccines.

The May 4th Medal has been bestowed on exceptional individuals and entities since 1997 with the aim of inspiring the country's youth to embrace and preserve the spirit of the May 4th Movement, which was launched in 1919 by young Chinese students and intellectuals to fight imperialism and feudalism.

Hong Kong's economy sees 7.8 pct rebound in Q1

Hong Kong's economy surged by 7.8 percent year on year in the first three months of this year, bringing an end to prolonged contraction since the third quarter of 2019.

The figure rebounded from a 2.8 percent decline seen in the 4th quarter of last year.

It's suggested the growth was mainly powered by fast recovering exports and the low base of comparison a year ago.

China's holiday train travel beats pre-epidemic levels for second day

The daily number of train trips in China continued to exceed pre-epidemic levels on Sunday.

Over 14.7 million rail-passenger trips were made during the second day of the five-day May Day holiday, over 11 percent higher than the same day of the holiday two years ago.

On Saturday, the figure was over 18.8 million, up over 9 percent from the 2019 level.

Shanghai shopping festival gets off to strong start

Stats show that cumulative consumption in the first 24 hours of this year's Shanghai Double Five Shopping Festival hit 17.3 billion yuan, roughly 2.6 billion U.S dollars, marking an 11-percent increase year-on-year.

The shopping frenzy kicked off on Saturday, in conjunction with the launch of the National Consumption Promotion Month.

Organizers are holding around 1,900 activities in the city over the coming weeks to promote consumption.

Their strategy includes distributing shopping coupons and giving discounts.

Authorities will also use the festival to trial the digital yuan issued by China's central bank.

Iran denies prisoner swap agreement with U.S.: official

Iran has denied a media report concerning a prisoner swap agreement with the United States.

Iran's state television said on Sunday that Tehran would release four U.S. and British prisoners in exchange for four Iranians detained in the United States, as well as the release of 7 billion U.S. dollars in Iran's frozen assets.

Both Iran's foreign ministry and its permanent representative to the United Nations denied the report on Monday.

Washington has also said the report is not true.

EU to ease travel restrictions to its 27 countries

The European Union's executive branch has proposed to ease restrictions on travel to the 27-member bloc as vaccination campaigns keep gathering speed.

Travel to the EU is currently extremely limited except for a handful of countries with low infection rates.

With the summer season looming, the European Commission hopes that the new recommendations will help dramatically expand that list.

It also calls for efforts to address variants through a new emergency brake mechanism.

Pakistan to commence local production of China's COVID-19 vaccine: official

Pakistan says the local production of China's single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country.

The country is vaccinating nearly 150,000 people every day, while the government is making efforts to reach a target of 300,000 vaccinations daily.

Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan says the start of the local production of the CanSino jab will gradually make the country largely self-sufficient in meeting its COVID-19 vaccine needs.

One in two people globally lost income due to the pandemic - Gallup

Research shows one in two people worldwide have seen their earnings drop due to the coronavirus.

U.S.-based polling company Gallup has surveyed 300,000 people across 117 countries.

In Bolivia, Myanmar, Kenya, Uganda, Indonesia, Honduras and Ecuador, over 70% people polled said they took home less than before the global health crisis.

In 57 countries including India, Zimbabwe and the Philippines, more than 65% of respondents said they stopped working for a time.

DR Congo declares end of latest Ebola outbreak

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has officially declared the end of the 12th Ebola outbreak.

12 cases, including 6 deaths, have been reported since the outbreak was declared in February in the eastern province of North Kivu.

The resurgence was genetically linked to the epidemic between 2018 and last year in the northeastern part of the country, which led to about 3,500 infections and nearly 2,300 deaths.