State Council orders review of flood response

China's State Council has announced a decision to set up a team tasked with assessing the response to the floods that devastated the central city of Zhengzhou.

The team will be led by the Ministry of Emergency Management and will include officials and experts from related departments.

A statement said that the investigation will aim to document the experiences and summarize the lessons drawn from the response and propose measures that can be taken to improve disaster prevention and relief in the future.

It also said that those found to have failed in their duties in connection with the flooding in the provincial capital of Henan will be held accountable.

So far 292 people have been confirmed dead in Zhengzhou owing to the serious flooding that took place in mid-July. Forty-seven remain missing.

Wang Yi to attend meetings on East Asia cooperation

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend a series of meetings on East Asia cooperation this week.

The ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and the ASEAN Regional Forum will take place via video link between August 3 and 6.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry is calling on all countries in the region to continue focusing on cooperation and shared economic development.

The ministry says that countries in the region should endeavor to jointly address challenges and safeguard peace, stability, development and prosperity.

Chinese, Indian military leaders hold talks

Representatives of the Chinese and Indian militaries have held talks intended to defuse tensions along their common border.

It was the 12th such meeting of corps commanders.

The meeting took place at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point, on the Indian side of the border between the two countries.

A statement said that the two sides had held a candid and in-depth exchange of views on how best to resolve the remaining issues on disengagement along part of their shared frontier.

China delivers 350 million doses of vaccines to BRI partners

Chinese authorities say that they have delivered 350 million doses of vaccines to partners along the Belt and Road.

The deliveries have been made through the Initiative for Belt and Road Partnership on COVID-19 Vaccines Cooperation.

A government spokesperson said that China has reached agreements with co-sponsors of the initiative to deliver a total of 775 million doses of vaccines, including in the form of concentrates.

The official also said that Chinese companies have already begun joint production with four of the co-sponsors and are discussing similar arrangements with other countries.

Joint statement calls for depoliticizing efforts to trace COVID-19 origins

More than 300 political parties, organizations and think tanks from over 100 countries and regions are calling for efforts to trace the origins of the novel coronavirus to be depoliticized.

The appeal was made in a joint statement submitted to the World Health Organization.

The statement said virus origin tracing is a serious scientific issue based on facts and evidence and only by joint efforts can the international community defeat the pandemic, which recognizes no borders or nations.

While highlighting China's efforts to provide COVID-19 vaccines to other countries, the statement also called for more efforts to address the global immunization divide and practices by some countries to hoard or restrict the exportation of vaccines.

Brisbane lockdown extended until Sunday

Australia's third-largest city Brisbane has extended a lockdown until Sunday due to increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections.

Thirteen local cases of the Delta variant were detected in the latest 24-hour period.

Meanwhile Australia's largest city Sydney is in its sixth week of lockdown and will last until at least August 28.

Only 19% of Australia's adult population is fully vaccinated.

Seoul says decision pending on military exercise with U.S.

South Korea's Defense Ministry says that no decision has been made yet on a joint annual military exercise with the United States that would normally have taken place this summer.

Detachments of the South Korean and U.S. military have usually held their summertime command post drills around mid-August every year.

North Korea has denounced the maneuvers, calling them a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The South Korean Defense Ministry says that Seoul and Washington are in close consultations over the issue.

It says that the two sides will take into account the overall context, including the COVID-19 pandemic, their combined defense posture, the ongoing transfer of the wartime operational command, and the support for diplomatic efforts.

Four killed in helicopter crash in Northern California

Local authorities say that four people traveling aboard a helicopter were killed when it crashed Sunday in a remote area of Northern California.

The helicopter crashed in Colusa County, north of the state capital Sacramento.

Investigations are underway.