标签： Asia

亚洲

Beijing metro handles 3.58 billion trips in 2025

Beijing’s rapid urban rail transit network closed out 2025 with robust performance, recording a total of 3.58 billion passenger trips across the year as city authorities ramp up investments to enhance service quality and operational efficiency, according to findings from an official third-party assessment.

Data published on the Beijing Infrastructure Investment website reveals that by the end of 2025, the city’s metro operating mileage expanded to 909 kilometers, connecting more residential, commercial, and industrial hubs across the Chinese capital. On average, the system handled 9.8 million passenger trips per day in 2025, with weekday ridership reaching an average of 11.15 million trips, reflecting the network’s central role in supporting the city’s daily mobility.

The comprehensive evaluation was commissioned by the Beijing Commission of Transport, and covered 27 operational lines across the network. Newly opened sections that had been in service for less than 12 months — including the southern extension of Line 6, the central section of Line 17, and the full Line 18 — were excluded from the assessment to ensure data consistency. Evaluators focused on three core domains: passenger satisfaction, overall service capacity, and key operational performance indicators.

Survey results show that passengers gave overwhelmingly positive feedback on the metro system across multiple key dimensions, including accessibility to stations, in-station environment, public order on platforms and trains, and routine facility maintenance. The system also maintained high service standards across ticketing processes, waiting times, and basic passenger support functions. Operational performance was equally strong, with 10 critical metrics — including on-time train service and overall facility reliability — earning perfect scores in the assessment.

Per the final evaluation report, the Beijing metro management will continue to prioritize user-centered service upgrades, reinforce strict operational safety protocols, and adjust capacity allocation to match real-time passenger demand, all with the goal of delivering safer, more efficient travel experiences for commuters and visitors alike.

The metro’s strong performance is part of a broader steady expansion of Beijing’s public transport ecosystem. Separate data from the Beijing Bureau of Statistics shows that by the end of 2025, the city’s public bus and trolleybus network included 1,252 routes, covering a total operating length of 28,928.8 kilometers. The bus network carried 1.6 billion passenger trips across 2025, working in tandem with the metro system to meet the mobility needs of Beijing’s large population.

27 4 月, 2026
Pakistan accused of attacking Afghan university

Fresh cross-border violence has reignited tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, after Pakistani jets and drones carried out strikes on the eastern Afghan province of Kunar that have left at least seven civilians dead and 75 more injured, multiple informed sources have confirmed to the BBC. Among the casualties are multiple students and one faculty member from Kunar University, with the ruling Taliban administration confirming that 30 of those wounded are currently enrolled university students.

Local accounts from the strike zone paint a picture of chaos and destruction. A Kunar University professor who was on campus during the attacks described hearing deafening, terrifying explosions that rippled across the entire university grounds. Official statements from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education later confirmed that university buildings and their surrounding residential and public areas suffered extensive structural damage from the bombings.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information has issued a direct denial of the claims, dismissing reports that strikes targeted the university and residential neighborhoods as completely false manufactured information.

This latest escalation comes just weeks after a far deadlier Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation facility in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul. United Nations officials have confirmed that the earlier attack killed 269 people, making it one of the deadliest cross-border strikes in the region in recent years.

The resumption of violence breaks a fragile ceasefire that had held across most of the shared border for nearly a month. That truce was brokered through Chinese diplomatic mediation, which brought representatives from both nations to talks in the Chinese city of Urumqi in early April aimed at de-escalating months of growing cross-border conflict.

Over the past six months, hundreds of people have been killed or wounded in recurring clashes and cross-border strikes between the two neighboring nations. Pakistan has repeatedly justified its air operations inside Afghan territory, stating that all strikes are targeted exclusively at militant hideouts that it says operate from Afghan soil to launch attacks against Pakistani targets. Notably, Pakistan has recently taken on a diplomatic mediation role itself, working to de-escalate tensions between Iran and the United States amid their ongoing standoff.

27 4 月, 2026
Former National Railway Administration head indicted with bribery

In an official announcement made Monday, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) confirmed that Fei Dongbin, the former director of the National Railway Administration, has been formally indicted on suspicion of bribery following a year-long investigation by national supervisory authorities.

The case follows a standard legal process for major corruption probes in China: after the National Commission of Supervision completed its fact-finding and investigation, the matter was transferred to procuratorial organs for prosecution review. The SPP first approved a formal arrest warrant for Fei, then designated the Changchun People’s Procuratorate based in northeast China’s Jilin Province to handle the prosecution of the case. The prosecuting office recently submitted its formal indictment to the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court, opening the next phase of judicial proceedings.

Per official case documents, Fei is accused of abusing a series of senior positions he held over decades of work in both the national railway system and local government to extract illegal gains. His career included senior leadership roles as executive deputy director of the former Beijing Railway Bureau and former Jinan Railway Bureau, director of the former Hohhot Railway Bureau, mayor of Ulaanqab in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, vice-governor of central China’s Henan Province, and finally head of the National Railway Administration starting in September 2022. Prosecutors allege that Fei used his official influence to coordinate with other state functionaries to secure improper business and personal benefits for specific organizations and individuals, and in exchange, illegally accepted an exceptionally large sum of money and high-value assets.

Throughout the prosecution review process, legal procedural requirements were strictly followed: prosecuting officials informed Fei of all his litigation rights as a defendant, conducted formal interrogations, and accepted and reviewed arguments presented by Fei’s defense legal team. Prosecutors have formally stated that Fei must bear criminal liability for the suspected bribery offense.

A 55-year-old native of Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, Fei began his professional career in 1991, joining the Communist Party of China five years later in 1996. His entire career was rooted in public service, starting with an entry-level role at the former Shenyang Railway Bureau in his home province, where he rose through the ranks to hold senior roles including deputy director and chief engineer. Following 2017, Fei transitioned into senior local government roles, first serving as deputy Party chief and mayor of Ulaanqab, then vice-governor of Henan Province, before his appointment to lead the National Railway Administration in 2022.

Fei’s tenure at the top of the national railway regulator ended abruptly when he was placed under official investigation for corruption in 2025. By December that same year, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from all public office, ahead of the formal indictment announced this week. The case is part of China’s ongoing national anti-corruption campaign that targets misconduct by senior officials across all critical public sectors, including transportation infrastructure.

27 4 月, 2026
Chinese and Kyrgyz defense ministers discuss bilateral military cooperation

On Monday, during an official invited visit to Kyrgyzstan, China’s Minister of National Defense Dong Jun met face-to-face with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Mukambetov Ruslan Mustafaevich, for high-level bilateral defense discussions.

Prior to the formal negotiations, Minister Mukambetov extended a formal welcome to Dong by hosting a traditional honor guard ceremony, where the two leaders jointly inspected the guard of honor to mark the significance of the diplomatic meeting.

According to an official statement released by China’s Ministry of National Defense immediately following the talks, the two defense chiefs held a thorough, in-depth exchange of views across a wide range of critical topics. These included the current state of bilateral state-to-state and military-to-military relations, evolving dynamics in the international and regional security landscape, and other shared concerns that impact both nations.

Both sides reached a clear mutual agreement: they will continue to follow through on the consensus that has already been established by the two countries’ heads of state, and work to expand and deepen practical, on-the-ground military cooperation in the coming period. This meeting marks another step forward in strengthening the constructive defense partnership between China and Kyrgyzstan, aligning with long-term efforts to boost regional stability and cross-border mutual trust.

27 4 月, 2026
China issues alerts for strong winds, heavy rain and convective weather

China’s top meteorological body has launched a Level IV emergency response as the nation prepares to face a spell of hazardous weather, including strong winds, intense downpours and severe convective activity. On Monday, the National Meteorological Center issued a tiered set of weather alerts: a yellow warning for strong gusts, and blue warnings for both heavy rain and severe convective weather.

China operates a standardized four-tier color-coded warning system for wind and rain events, where red marks the most severe level, followed by orange, yellow, and blue as the least urgent. For severe convective weather, the country uses a three-tier warning framework.

According to the center’s forecast, the strong wind event will impact a wide swathe of northern China between 8 a.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday. Affected regions include the provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Liaoning and Shandong, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, as well as the direct-controlled municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin. Sustained average wind speeds across these areas are projected to hit 10 to 20 meters per second, with gusts capable of reaching up to 28 meters per second in hard-hit zones. These conditions are strong enough to uproot fully grown trees and cause structural damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Over the same 24-hour window, heavy rainfall will lash multiple regions in southern and central China, including Chongqing Municipality, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Some localities are expected to record total precipitation of 100 to 140 millimeters, with short-duration intense rain events driving the bulk of the accumulation. Hourly rainfall totals are forecast to peak at 20 to 50 millimeters, and the downpours will be paired with severe convective hazards including thunderstorms, sudden wind gusts and hail.

In specific high-risk zones, the hazards carry elevated risks to life and property. Parts of southwestern Guizhou and western Guangxi face dangerous thunderstorm gales, where gusts could be strong enough to collapse unstable informal housing and damage power transmission infrastructure. In sections of eastern and southwestern Hunan, as well as northern Guangxi, hourly rainfall will climb above 50 millimeters, with some locations even exceeding 60 millimeters of rain in a single hour – conditions that raise the risk of flash flooding and secondary disasters.

To reduce the risk of harm, the National Meteorological Center has issued a series of public safety guidance. Vessels operating in affected coastal and inland waters are urged to proceed with extreme caution to avoid wind and wave-related accidents. Residents across all impacted regions have been advised to cut back on non-essential outdoor activities, and maintain a safe distance from flimsy temporary structures such as construction scaffolding and temporary market stalls.

Meteorological officials have also called on local authorities to take proactive preparatory measures. These include stepping up fire prevention work, securing loose or easily moved outdoor structures, prepping urban and rural drainage systems to handle heavy runoff, and putting early response plans in place to manage secondary disasters such as mountain torrents, landslides and mudslides.

27 4 月, 2026
Camera trap shows Sumatra orangutan using a canopy bridge to cross a public road in Indonesia

For the first time ever, a wild Sumatran orangutan has been recorded crossing a busy public road via a purpose-built artificial canopy bridge, a landmark breakthrough for conservation efforts protecting this critically endangered species, Indonesian environmental leaders announced Monday.

Decades of rapid economic and infrastructure development across Sumatra have gnawed away at the ancient jungle habitats that orangutans depend on, splitting once-contiguous wild populations into isolated, vulnerable groups and raising the frequency of deadly human-orangutan conflicts as hungry or displaced primates enter settled areas. This latest milestone comes from conservation work focused on a high-stakes stretch of infrastructure in North Sumatra’s Pakpak Bharat district, where the Lagan–Pagindar road serves as a critical lifeline connecting remote local communities to schools, medical care and government services. When the road was upgraded in 2024, the expansion widened the gap in the forest canopy, completely eliminating the natural tree-to-tree crossings that arboreal orangutans rely on to move between forest patches. The road now cuts the region’s estimated 350 wild orangutans into two completely disconnected groups, separated between the Siranggas Wildlife Reserve and the Sikulaping Protection Forest.

“Development was necessary for people,” explained Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director of Indonesian conservation non-profit Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa (TaHuKah). “But without intervention, it would have left orangutans trapped on either side.”

Working in partnership with the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) and local and national government agencies, TaHuKah rolled out a low-cost, targeted solution: five rope canopy bridges suspended between mature trees on opposite sides of the road, designed to let tree-dwelling wildlife cross safely above moving vehicle traffic. Each bridge was sized and reinforced to support the weight of orangutans— the world’s largest tree-dwelling mammal—and motion-activated camera traps were installed at every site, placed after extensive surveys mapping orangutan nesting sites, forest cover and local wildlife movement patterns. A long-term monitoring program, including regular anti-encroachment patrols, was also put in place to protect the corridor.

Conservationists waited two full years for the first orangutan to use the crossing. In the months after installation, smaller arboreal species were the first to test the structures: squirrels, langur monkeys and macaques were followed by gibbons, a encouraging sign that the bridges were viewed as safe. Over time, the young male orangutan that would eventually make the crossing gradually acclimated to the structure: building sleeping nests near the bridge edge, lingering to observe the crossing and testing the rope’s stability repeatedly before committing to the full traverse.

“They observe,” Siregar said. “They don’t rush. They watch, they try, they retreat. Only when they’re certain it’s safe do they move.”

The brief, historic crossing was captured by the motion-activated camera, which recorded the young orangutan pausing at the forest edge, gripping the bridge rope with deliberate care before stepping out over the open road. Halfway across, it paused to glance down at the traffic below before completing the crossing to the opposite forest. Conservationists emphasize this is the first documented case of any Sumatran orangutan using an artificial canopy bridge to cross a public road. While orangutans have used similar structures to cross rivers and private industrial forest roads elsewhere, busy public roads—with their constant noise, vehicle movement and unpredictability—present a far larger barrier and greater risk to the shy primates.

For the long-term survival of Sumatran orangutans, reestablishing habitat connectivity is a critical priority. Isolated populations face extreme risks of inbreeding, genetic decline and eventual population collapse, while restored connectivity allows orangutans to access new food sources, find mates and maintain genetically healthy, resilient populations. Once widespread across much of southern Asia, orangutans now survive only on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Current conservation data puts the total wild Sumatran orangutan population at fewer than 14,000 individuals, alongside just 800 Tapanuli orangutans and roughly 104,700 Bornean orangutans, all three species classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“This was the moment we had been waiting for,” Siregar told the Associated Press. “We are very grateful that the canopy here provides benefits for orangutan conservation efforts.” Conservation teams now hope this pioneering crossing will encourage more orangutans to use the bridges, and that the successful model can be replicated in other fragmented orangutan habitats across Sumatra and Borneo to reduce extinction risk for the species. “These bridges allow orangutans to move, to mix, to maintain healthy populations,” Siregar said. “It reduces the risk of extinction.”

27 4 月, 2026
Israel sent air defence system and troops to UAE during Iran war, report says

In a landmark development that underscores deepening security ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Israel deployed its Iron Dome air defence system – complete with operating troops – to the Gulf nation during the ongoing conflict with Iran, multiple senior officials confirmed to Axios in a report published Sunday.

The deployment, the first time Israel has ever sent an operational Iron Dome battery to another country, was ordered shortly after the conflict began by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following a direct phone call between Netanyahu and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed, the US-based news outlet reported. The shipment included a full working battery, interceptor missiles, and several dozen specially trained Israeli soldiers to operate the system.

One senior Israeli official noted that this deployment makes the UAE only the third country in the world – after the United States and Israel itself – to host and use the Iron Dome air defence system in active conflict. During the 40-day war, which began on February 28 when a joint US-Israeli aerial offensive targeted Iranian leadership, hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones were launched at US military installations located within UAE territory and other Emirati targets. Israeli officials confirm the Iron Dome system successfully intercepted dozens of these incoming Iranian projectiles.

This historic security deployment is just one piece of a far broader pattern of intensive bilateral cooperation between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi that has emerged since the start of the conflict, officials from both nations told Axios. The two countries have coordinated closely across both military and political spheres since hostilities began, when the joint US-Israeli strike killed Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei alongside multiple other senior Iranian government and military officials.

Beyond the Iron Dome deployment, the Israeli Air Force conducted pre-emptive strikes against short-range Iranian missile positions in southern Iran, destroying the projectiles before they could be launched toward the UAE and other neighbouring Gulf states.

Escalation of the conflict followed a joint US-Israeli bombing raid on Iran’s strategic South Pars gas field, a critical cornerstone of Iran’s national energy infrastructure, on March 18. In response, Tehran launched a widespread counteroffensive targeting energy infrastructure across the entire Gulf region, expanding attacks to hit hotels, airports, data centres, commercial ports, and US diplomatic missions across the Middle East.

The UAE emerged as one of Iran’s most heavily targeted adversaries in the conflict. Emirati authorities confirm Iran launched approximately 550 ballistic and cruise missiles, plus more than 2,200 attack drones, at targets across the country. While the vast majority of incoming projectiles were intercepted by allied air defence systems, falling debris still caused substantial damage across key urban and economic centres in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, including at iconic landmarks such as Burj Al Arab and Palm Jumeirah, Dubai International Airport, and the Fujairah oil industrial zone.

The sustained conflict has also taken a major economic toll on the UAE: Dubai’s global reputation as a leading luxury tourism destination has suffered significant damage, and the country’s oil exports have slowed to a fraction of pre-war levels.

On April 8, the United States and Iran agreed to implement a temporary ceasefire that halted large-scale active hostilities and opened the door for bilateral negotiations. As of the latest reporting, these talks have not yet produced any major breakthrough toward a lasting peace agreement.

27 4 月, 2026
China’s first 1-mln-cubic-meter salt cavern hydrogen storage project starts operation

In a landmark milestone for global hydrogen energy development, China’s first one-million-cubic-meter-scale salt cavern hydrogen storage demonstration project officially entered commercial operation on Saturday in Pingdingshan, a city in China’s central Henan province. The launch pushes the nation’s renewable energy transition and hydrogen industrialization agenda into an unprecedented new phase, industry leaders confirmed at the opening ceremony.

Salt cavern hydrogen storage is widely recognized as a transformative solution to one of the clean energy sector’s most persistent bottlenecks: low-cost, large-scale long-duration hydrogen storage and transport that can underpin the buildout of resilient new energy systems. Yang Chunhe, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, emphasized this critical role in remarks at the commissioning event. “This technology is the key to unlocking wide adoption of hydrogen as a mainstream clean energy source by removing the barriers that have held back large-scale storage and transportation to support new energy system construction,” Yang explained.

The project leverages the high-purity natural salt rock deposits held by a gas storage and salt chemical subsidiary of the China Pingmei Shenma Group, a major state-owned energy and chemical enterprise. A collaborative cross-institutional team delivered the facility: core technological innovations were spearheaded by the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with engineering design and construction carried out in partnership with two of China’s largest national energy giants, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec).

Liang Wuxing, deputy chief economist of China Pingmei Shenma, outlined the facility’s key specifications. The project developed a purpose-built water-soluble salt cavern with a total internal volume exceeding 30,000 cubic meters, delivering a total working hydrogen storage capacity of 1.5 million standard cubic meters. Currently, the facility operates two high-pressure compressors that inject hydrogen at 15 megapascals, with a steady injection rate of 2,000 standard cubic meters per hour.

Unlike single-bodied thick salt formations common to many existing salt cavern storage sites, this project stores hydrogen in layered salt rock structures, a geological condition that accounts for most of China’s salt resource reserves. Yang confirmed that the operational launch has already formally verified both the long-term sealing reliability and full engineering feasibility of hydrogen storage in this common geological structure, clearing a major path for wider replication across the country.

Looking ahead, the project’s engineering team has committed to advancing new development pathways for bulk hydrogen energy adoption. The team will work to commercialize the technology and test a range of diversified hydrogen use cases, from blending hydrogen into existing natural gas pipeline networks to fuel for hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks and hydrogen-fired industrial boilers.

27 4 月, 2026
Shanghai hosts dialogue to foster cultural and tech fusion

On April 26, 2026, Shanghai played host to the Shanghai sub-forum of the 2026 World Dialogue on Art and Technology, a gathering that spotlights the coastal metropolis’ long-term ambition to carve out its status as a leading international cultural hub and global design capital. Held under the guidance of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and co-organized by Shanghai University and a cohort of partner institutions, the one-day event convened scholars, industry practitioners and educators from across the globe to unpack cross-cutting questions at the intersection of art, technology and cultural development. Centered on two core themes, the forum pooled international research insights and real-world case studies to investigate how cutting-edge digital tools can both supercharge innovation in folk arts and strengthen efforts to preserve centuries-old traditional cultural practices, while mapping out new collaborative pathways for integrating technology and creative design in the increasingly digital 21st century. Speaking at the opening of the forum, Hu Dawei, Deputy Party Secretary and Vice President of Shanghai University, underscored the institution’s longstanding dedication to breaking down silos between academic disciplines. The university, he noted, has prioritized combining strengths in science and engineering with expertise in humanities, social sciences and the arts to align with national development strategies and advance Shanghai’s ongoing urban transformation. “This gathering is more than an academic exchange—it is a starting point for boosting the revitalization of China’s outstanding traditional culture and expanding its global footprint through cross-civilizational dialogue and mutual learning,” Hu added. Over the course of the event, participants delved into rich, in-depth discussions across a range of high-priority topics, from the broader integration of science and art and digital innovation in folk arts to cultural heritage revitalization and the digitization of cultural and museum collections. Attendees also shared a diverse set of research outcomes that merge groundbreaking theoretical innovation with hands-on practical application, laying a foundation for future collaborative projects across sectors and borders. To cap off the forum, organizers also officially launched the Eighth China Creativity Festival for College Students. Organized by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the annual festival is designed to establish a national platform for emerging creative talent from colleges and universities across the country to showcase their original work, while encouraging young innovators to contribute fresh perspectives and new energy to the creative expression and forward-thinking development of China’s vast and diverse cultural heritage.

27 4 月, 2026
Shanghai hosts global event on reproductive genetics

In a landmark moment for global reproductive health collaboration, the 23rd International Conference on Preimplantation Genetics officially opened its doors in Shanghai on April 25, 2026. This gathering marks the first time the leading international event in the specialized field of reproductive genetics has been hosted on Chinese soil, breaking new ground for cross-border knowledge exchange in the region.

Over four days, the conference brings together more than 300 clinical practitioners and research scientists from 23 countries and regions across the globe. Attendees have gathered to explore cutting-edge advancements reshaping preimplantation genetic testing, or PGT, a life-changing technology that plays a critical role in advancing global reproductive health and curbing the global prevalence of birth defects. The event is co-hosted by the Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis International Society (PGDIS) and Renji Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, alongside other leading national healthcare institutions.

Specialists in the field note that traditional prenatal screening methods have long carried a significant limitation: they frequently fail to detect single-gene genetic disorders early in pregnancy. When these conditions are identified after conception, they often leave families facing devastating decisions, imposing heavy long-term emotional and financial burdens that extend to broader society. PGT, widely recognized as a core technological tool for preventing birth defects, addresses this gap by allowing clinicians to conduct a highly precise analysis of an embryo’s genetic material before implantation. This process enables care teams to select only healthy embryos that do not carry pathogenic genetic mutations, drastically reducing the risk of inherited genetic conditions being passed to newborns.

This year’s conference agenda features deep dives into some of the most pressing topics in the field, including the expanding clinical use of non-invasive PGT techniques, as well as the ethical frameworks and real-world implementation practices for PGT designed to assess polygenic disease risk. In a highlight of the program, Chinese leading researchers and clinicians shared the latest breakthroughs and outcomes from PGT clinical adoption across China, offering global peers valuable insight into the nation’s rapid progress in the sector.

Global industry leaders have praised the milestone hosting of the conference in Shanghai, noting that the event reflects the city’s rising international influence in reproductive genetics and its sustained commitment to nurturing international partnership and innovation in life-saving healthcare technology. For the global reproductive health community, the conference is expected to drive faster, more equitable advancement of PGT technology, improving outcomes for families seeking to build healthy families across the world.

27 4 月, 2026