The world is struggling to contain the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, and faces an unstable security landscape and economic slowdown

China has 18 percent of the world's population, but less than 9 percent of the world's cropland and only one-third of the global average availability of freshwater on a per capita basis.

Not long after China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, our team (from the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University) conducted a study on the development levels of the countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which showed that among the 65 countries (including China) surveyed, the ones least developed in 2014 — Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Palestine — faced political turmoil for a long time.

The world today faces a future that is in peril. Our challenges have become more complex and interconnected, as we see the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, an uneven economic recovery, a climate emergency, growing inequalities, and an increase in conflicts globally.

With the strategic landscape of Central Asia undergoing drastic changes, promoting pragmatic cooperation has become a greater challenge for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which will hold its 2022 summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Thursday and Friday.

Chinese people are looking forward to the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday starting from Saturday and the Golden Week National Day holiday from Oct 1.But sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks have forced several local governments to implement strict prevention and control measures, dealing a big blow to the already distraught tourism sector.

French environmentalist and biologist Rene DuBos asked us to "think globally, act locally", but when it comes to hunger in the world that is not always the best approach. Most hunger problems today have local rather than global origins. Acting locally remains important, but we must learn to think locally as well.

As part of the hyperactive senior official- and minister-level talks launched during US President Joe Biden's visit to Japan in May, the United States is hosting the first in-person ministerial meeting of "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" signatory states on Thursday and Friday.

These measures demonstrate the determination of the two governments to support the development of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds and to make the two cities serve as dual engines of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, while enabling Hong Kong to further sharpen its edge as an international asset-management center.

We have a reasonably clear idea of what Liz Truss, the new British prime minister, would like to do, but the real question is whether circumstances will allow her to pursue the path she appeared to make clear during the long campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and the country.

Water is a basic human right－but it is also a finite resource. Water scarcity is a growing problem, with one in every four people living in water-scarce areas.

Sri Lanka's debt crisis, which led to political upheaval and change of government, is the result of debt accumulation, domestic policy dysfunction and external shocks.

NASA has delayed the launch of the Artemis I new moon program until at least Sept 19 after cancelling a planned launch on Saturday. The decision on Saturday was the second time in a week that the launch was scrapped.

The "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity" announced by US President Joe Biden on May 23 is progressing on its negotiations. After the meeting of senior officials from the IPEF member countries in Singapore in mid-July, and the first virtual ministerial meeting in end-July, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai will host the first in-person ministerial meeting in California on Thursday and Friday.

Most of the 2.1 billion strong workforce in Asia and the Pacific are denied access to decent jobs, health care and social protection but there is an array of policies and tools that governments can use to remedy these deficiencies and ensure that the rights and aspirations of these workers and their families are upheld and that they remain the engine of economic growth for the region.

With its profound cultural connotations and hidden artistic value, wine is popular all over the world and enjoys a worldwide reputation. Ningxia is a rising "new star" in the global wine fraternity.

The new Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is faced with multiple domestic and international challenges. Domestically, Australia faces high levels of inflation and falling standards of living. Despite near full employment, productivity and wages remain stagnant, national debt has reached its highest level since World War II and interest rate increases are negatively impacting significant sectors of the economy.

Yang Dong is director of the Research Center of Financial Technology and Internet Security, National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China; and Sha Han is an associate researcher at the same institute. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

China is facing a rapidly rising aging population, with the number of people aged 60 or above likely to exceed 300 million, or about 20 percent of the total population, during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

The world economy is entering a critical phase of structural transformation. In such a situation, promoting global development through cooperation and boosting global growth through eco-friendly innovations are key to leading the world economy out of the downturn.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are in the grip of a drought unseen in decades, with extreme heat causing serious water shortage in many areas. What's worse, Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality could face more extreme weather events including floods after long days of drought.

The "metaverse" isn't here yet, and when it arrives it will not be a single domain controlled by any one company.

This summer has been the hottest in China since 1961. Intensification of subtropical highs and heat waves in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have raised temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in many places along the river.

China is facing serious demographic challenges because of sluggish population growth and a rapidly rising aging population.

The rich world's fossil fuel hypocrisy is on full display in its response to the global energy crisis following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Intense heat waves have hit many parts of the world, including the United States, many European countries, East and Central Africa, India, Pakistan, Chile, the Republic of Korea and southern China.

China has made remarkable achievements in advancing law-based governance and establishing socialist rule of law since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

By emphasizing that "reform and the rule of law are like two wings of a bird and two wheels of a cart", President Xi Jinping has highlighted the correlation between reform and rule of law in China.

Since the adoption of the first five-year plan and its pledge to establish the rule of law, China has introduced and amended many laws to promote the country's development and build a harmonious society.

It's true that the completion of some housing projects has been delayed, but work on most of the projects is progressing smoothly and housing units will be handed over to the homebuyers on time, said Fu Linghui, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics and director of the bureau's Department of Comprehensive Statistics, during a news conference this week.

Streaming giant Netflix reported its first subscriber loss since 2011, with media reports saying the US subscription streaming and production company lost close to 1 million subscribers in the first half of this year. Although the number was far lower than what the company itself had forecast - about 2 million subscribers - the loss was followed by hundreds of job cuts and a sharp decline in its share price.

With bountiful natural resources to world-renowned tourist attractions, Africa has the potential of transforming from the poorest region in the world into a major economic powerhouse. However, potential alone is not enough to propel the continent's transformation. What would it take for Africa to transition from potential to prosperity?

Global warming is producing all types of extreme weather anomalies around the globe. In the past, these extreme weather events were mostly reflected in major floods and prolonged droughts, although in the past decade, wildfires have become rampant and received considerable attention.

China has to overcome many challenges to stabilize the employment situation in the country, especially because millions of fresh college graduates and other youths enter the job market every year and the sluggish demand of enterprises for workers has raised the unemployment rate.

The central government has taken many measures and made continuous efforts since 2020 to protect people who have tested positive for COVID-19 against employment discrimination.

This summer has been one of the hottest on record as global temperatures are rising faster than ever before, threatening lives and livelihoods.

We are living in dangerous times of our own making. Unprecedented heat waves have been sweeping the globe－turbocharged by climate change－causing pain, loss and even deaths. This is a wake-up call to everyone.

What's worrying is that extreme temperatures melted many roads into black goo in the United Kingdom last month－something that is becoming common in the West.

Unusually high temperatures and extreme weather events have become more frequent worldwide, which means climate change is intensifying. To avoid triggering the climate tipping points, the world needs to drastically reduce fossil fuel use and cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

International Youth Day, celebrated on Aug 12 every year, is an important occasion to acknowledge the crucial contributions of the more than 1.2 billion people aged 15-24 across the world to global development. Incidentally, 1 billion of those youths live in developing countries.