BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s President Xi Jinping urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restart peace talks with the Palestinians as soon as possible, days after he tried to convince Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to revive discussions.

Xi’s comments to Netanyahu and Abbas this week reflect China’s intent to strengthen its diplomatic role in a region where its influence has historically been weak. On Monday, Xi floated China’s “four-point proposal” for peace with Abbas, who was visiting China in the same week as Netanyahu.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s President Xi Jinping urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restart peace talks with the Palestinians as soon as possible, days after he tried to convince Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to revive discussions.

Xi’s comments to Netanyahu and Abbas this week reflect China’s intent to strengthen its diplomatic role in a region where its influence has historically been weak. On Monday, Xi floated China’s “four-point proposal” for peace with Abbas, who was visiting China in the same week as Netanyahu.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The eldest brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng said he was beaten up on Thursday by two men he said were government-hired thugs, which would mark a sharp escalation in harassment meted out to Chen’s family.

The treatment of Chen Guangcheng’s family has received prominent attention from the United States in recent weeks and could cause further friction between Beijing and Washington over human rights.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese police have detained an activist agitating for officials to disclose their assets on subversion charges, her lawyer said on Wednesday, underscoring the limits of an anti-corruption push by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi, who became Communist Party chief in November and president in March, has called for a crackdown on graft, warning, as many have before him, that the problem is so severe it could threaten the party’s survival.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas next week for separate bilateral talks as it tries to shore up its role in a region where its diplomatic influence is limited.

Netanyahu’s visit — the first trip by a top Israeli leader to China since former prime minister Ehud Olmert visited in 2007 — will be focused on trade, though experts have also said he is likely to discuss Iran’s nuclear program with China.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Several governments in Asia have ordered tougher screening of air travelers from China in an effort to contain a possible spread of a new strain of bird flu that has killed 23 people in the mainland and infected one visitor from Taiwan.

The H7N9 virus has infected 109 people in China since it was first detected in March. The Geneva-based World Health Organization said it has no evidence so far of sustained transmission between people but added that this strain was more easily transmitted than an earlier, more deadly H5N1 strain that has killed hundreds around the world since 2003.

BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) – Several governments in Asia
have ordered tougher screening of air travelers from China in an
effort to contain a possible spread of a new strain of bird flu
that has killed 23 people in the mainland and infected one
visitor from Taiwan.

The H7N9 virus has infected 109 people in China since it was
first detected in March. The Geneva-based World Health
Organization said it has no evidence so far of sustained
transmission between people but added that this strain was more
easily transmitted than an earlier, more deadly H5N1 strain that
has killed hundreds around the world since 2003.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A new strain of bird flu that has killed 22 people in China is “one of the most lethal” of its kind and is more easily transmissible to humans than an earlier strain that has killed hundreds around the world since 2003, a top World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Wednesday.

The H7N9 virus has infected 108 people in China since it was first detected in March, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Although it is not clear exactly how people have been infected, WHO experts see no evidence so far of the most worrisome scenario – sustained transmission between people.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is investigating the possibility of human-to-human transmission of a new strain of bird flu that has killed 17 people and is examining “family clusters” of people infected with the virus, a top health official was quoted as saying.

Authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and closed some live poultry markets to slow the rate of human infection. But many aspects of this new variety of bird flu remain a mystery, particularly whether the H7N9 strain is being transmitted between people.

GENEVA/BEIJING, April 17 (Reuters) – The World Health
Organization said on Wednesday that a number of people who have
tested positive for a new strain of bird flu in China have had
no history of contact with poultry, adding to the mystery about
a virus that has killed 16 people to date.

Chinese authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and
closed some live poultry markets to try and stem the rate of
human infection, but many questions remain unsolved, including
whether the H7N9 strain is being transmitted between people.