Li Keqiang

The two explosions, which occurred at a warehouse in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Wednesday night, claimed the lives of at least seventeen people and left hundreds others injured.

According to media reports, the explosions hit a warehouse storing "dangerous and chemical goods" in the port area of the city, the BBC informs.

China said on Friday that it was confident Greece's talks with creditors to avoid defaulting on its debt would go positively, in comments made ahead of Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Europe next week.

China said on Thursday it hoped that talks to avert a debt default in Greece would succeed in bringing an end to the crisis.

"We hope the ongoing negotiations about Greece's crisis can make progress and can soon help Greece come out of the crisis," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

Support for a Greece-creditors deal came from far-off China on Wednesday, with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang expressing his hope that Greece remains in the eurozone — with the subsequent economic turbulence thus avoided.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Wednesday discussed the economic and political cooperation between the two countries.

On behalf of Premier Li Keqiang, Zhang invited Vucic to visit China, which will host this year's summit of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries.

China said on Tuesday it hopes Greece gets out of its debt crisis at an early date.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that China has noted the close communication among the relevant parties surrounding the debt crisis in Greece.

The death toll of a river cruise capsizing in the Yangtze River jumped by 39 fatalities to a total of 65 June 4 morning, the most significant increase since the Eastern Star overturned in a heavy storm with 456 people on board more than two days earlier.

PM Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday sent a message of condolences to Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in the wake of the tragic shipwreck on the Yangtze River.

"It is with great sadness that we learned of the tragic shipwreck on the Yangtze River, in which human lives were lost and many passengers are still reported missing," the Serbian prime minister said, and added:

BELGRADE - Deputy Minister of Public Security of China Meng Hongwei met with State Secretary in the Serbian Interior Ministry Aleksandar Nikolic Tuesday to discuss cooperation between the two ministries in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, and high-tech and other forms of organized crime, the Serbian Interior Ministry said in a release.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had a phone conversation today with his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Keqiang.

According to an announcement released by the PM’s office, their discussion focused mainly on ways to further improve the multi-level cooperation between the two countries over the next months.