Chinese government

At least 13 American journalists stand to be expelled from China in retaliation for a new limit imposed by the Trump administration on visas for Chinese state-owned media operating in the U.S.

US Republican Senator Marco Rubio has asked the US Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General to launch "a full review of the national security implication of AT&T's upcoming sale of the Central European Media Group Enterprises, CME, to the Czech-owned conglomerate PPF Group".

The U.S. is designating five Chinese state-run media organizations as foreign missions, a State Department official said on Feb. 18.

They include Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corporation and Hai Tian Development USA.

The coronavirus outbreak poses a "very grave threat for the rest of the world", the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an appeal for sharing virus samples and speeding up research into drugs and vaccines against a new type of coronavirus, which has killed more than 1,000 people so far.

Crude oil prices were up on Feb. 5 as the global oil market and investors hope that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would make deeper cuts in crude production to support low prices.

The international benchmark Brent crude was trading at $54.20 per barrel at 0723 GMT for a 0.7 percent increase after closing on Feb. 4 at $53.81 a barrel.

The postal operator in China informs that in order to prevent the risk of further transmission and spread of the new coronavirus, the Chinese government has mandated the country's postal operator of all consignments to the city of Wuhan and transit through the sorting centre in the city, to be desinfected officials from "Bulgarian Posts" said.

According to the latest information, the number infected with the new type of coronavirus in China has increased to 440, and nine people have died.
The new coronavirus, which causes pneumonia, transmits from person to person, so it is contagious between humans.

The death toll from a new flu-like coronavirus in China rose to nine on Jan. 22 with 440 confirmed cases, Chinese health officials said as authorities stepped up efforts to control the outbreak by discouraging public gatherings in Hubei province.

The end of "one-child policy" could not stop China's declining birth rate, the BBC reported.

The birth rate has dropped to its lowest level since the inception of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago - despite the elimination of "one-child policy".

The birth rate was 10.48 per thousand in 2019 - the lowest since 1949, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

A second person has died from a new coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of pneumonia in central China, health authorities said.

A 69-year-old man surnamed Xiong fell ill with the respiratory condition on Dec. 31, according to a statement late on Jan. 16 from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. He died on Jan. 15.