Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a good start in strengthening national defense and the armed forces in the next five years.
He made the remarks while attending a meeting of the People's Liberation Army and People's Armed Police Force, at the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress.
Chinese President says development of the armed forces must focus on combat readiness.
He demanded efforts to step up building high-caliber strategic deterrence and joint operation systems.
Deputies to the ongoing fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress have submitted more than 470 proposals.
The secretariat of the session says it's also received around nine thousand suggestions, criticisms and comments from NPC deputies.
Most of the proposals are legislative items, focusing on topics including improving people's wellbeing and social governance, economic systems, and protecting the environment.
The suggestions focus on topics such as expanding the achievements of poverty eradication, enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights, and reinforcing national strength in science and technology.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned British Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson, lodging representations over her signed article on social media.
An official with the ministry says Wilson used the official platform to express grievances for individual foreign media which have been sanctioned for false reports, as well as turning a blind eye when Chinese media are oppressed by foreign side.
The official says the article caused dissatisfaction among the Chinese public and was criticized immediately after it was published.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has said the global gross domestic product will grow at 5.6 percent this year if vaccination rollouts are fast and effective across the world.
In its latest Interim Economic Outlook, the Paris-based organization says that world output is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by the middle of this year and the global economy is expected to grow by 4 percent next year.
The OECD projected the U.S. economy to grow at 6.5 percent in 2021 thanks to "significant fiscal stimulus along with faster vaccination."
It forecast that GDP will rise 3.9 percent in the euro area, "where the level of fiscal stimulus is lower and vaccine rollout is slower."
The organization also says the prospects are brighter in the Asia-Pacific region, with China's GDP growth projected to be 7.8 percent this year.
A World Health Organization study has found that one in three women worldwide suffer physical or sexual abuse by their intimate partners.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the report covers data from 158 countries on violence against women and girls from 15 years and older.
US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have discussed renewed transatlantic cooperation on climate change.
Kerry says this year's UN climate summit in Glasgow is the world's last, best hope to address the environmental crisis.
Von der Leyen says the European Commission is working hard to ensure they meet their set targets.
Two department stores and a major restaurant have become the first retailers to accept digital currency in Shanghai.
Shanghai New World department store says it partnered with commercial banks to launch the payment option on discounted items during International Women's Day on Monday.
The Bank of Communications is offering 6,500 shoppers 100 yuan worth of virtual coupons each, to use when they pay with the digital currency.