Beijing

China has granted more than 100 new video game licences in January, regulators said Friday, the highest number of monthly approvals since Beijing lifted a freeze imposed during a sweeping state crackdown on the sector.

The world's second largest economy is also one of its biggest markets for video games, worth some $42.2 billion, according to official figures.

China's vice foreign minister was in Pyongyang on Friday for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart.

China and Russia are North Korea's traditional allies, and Washington warned last year that military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow were "growing and dangerous".

The United States has called on Beijing — the North's biggest economic benefactor — to restrain Pyongyang.

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and dissident who believes it his job to be "incorrect," was hard at work on the night of Jan 23 during an appearance at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

The United States has reportedly reached out to China, urging them to use their influence with Tehran to put an end to the ship attacks carried out by Yemen's Iran-affiliated Houthi rebels. Despite repeated discussions on the matter, Washington has encountered limited cooperation from Beijing, as reported by the Financial Times, citing US officials.

The statement came based on the latest report of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the United States House of Representatives, in which it was pointed out that such behavior of China cost the world crucial time to prepare defenses against the pandemic.

China called for an end to "harassment" of civilian vessels in the Red Sea on Friday after attacks on ships by Huthi rebels in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Huthi aggression against vessels in and around the Red Sea has led to retaliatory strikes in Yemen by U.S. and British forces.

The Taiwanese, especially after seeing how Beijing suffocated Hong Kong in the past four years, do not want to be ruled by China

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday met U.S. delegates who arrived on the island on the heels of an election won by a pro-sovereignty candidate who Beijing said would bring war to the self-ruled island.

Taiwan's ruling party candidate Lai Ching-te, branded a threat to peace by China, on Saturday won the island's presidential election, a vote watched closely from Beijing to Washington.

Lai delivered an unprecedented third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after a raucous campaign in which he pitched himself as the defender of Taiwan's democratic way of life.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen took to the polls in New Taipei City, urging citizens to participate in the democratic process during the presidential election. As the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai cast her ballot at the Xiulang Elementary School voting place, accompanied by vice-presidential candidate Hsiao Bi-khim and party officials.