China

Trump has signaled a willingness to confront Beijing, and his latest comments in an interview with Fox News suggested that he won't hesitate to anger China until the country comes to the bargaining table on trade and North Korea.

China's response was measured but clear: co-operation with the US "would be out of the question" if Trump doesn't adhere to the 'one China' policy -- a cornerstone of bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties in the 1970s.

Mr Branstad was seen entering Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday for talks with the president-elect.

He called Chinese President Xi Jinping a "long-time friend" when Mr Xi visited Iowa before becoming Chinese leader.

After Bloomberg first reported the nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, Beijing responded by calling Mr Branstad an "old friend".

"We welcome him to play a greater role in advancing the development of China-US relations," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Russia said the document infringed the council rule allowing countries 24 hours to consider the final wording.

The US dismissed this as a "made-up alibi", saying Russia wanted to preserve recent military gains by Syrian government troops in Aleppo.

The army are reported to have seized more parts of rebel-held east Aleppo.

If confirmed, that would mean the government had recaptured about 70% of the rebel-controlled area in just over a week.

 Multiple flights to and from the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in central China were canceled or delayed, while many were forced to land at other airports, China's Xinhua news agency reported, calling it "the worst fog to hit the ... city in years."

Images from China Central Television (CCTV) showed weary passengers asleep in their airport seats and others eating instant pot noodles, while crates of luggage sat on the tarmac next to grounded planes.

That was the limit of her formal sex education. For millions of young Chinese people, it's more than they ever got.

As China marks World AIDS Day Thursday, the effects of that missing knowledge is more evident than ever, with growing numbers of HIV infections and staggeringly high abortion rates.

No protection

In 2015, there were 115,000 new HIV infections in China, according to China's National Center for STD/AIDS Prevention and Control. Of those, 17,000, or 14.7%, were in the 15-24 age group.

Squash remains the country's main agricultural export, with Korea and Japan the traditional markets.

The chief executive of the Agrculture Ministry, Viliami Manu said a critical factor is being able to service those markets in late November and early December when Tonga is able to command better prices.

He said efforts to secure a market in China had been underway for a year.

The bank was recently launched by China with 57 foundation member countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Beijing hopes it will become a global institution to rival the World Bank.

Washington has balked at its creation, and one of its main objections has been a concern that it would seek to undermine the authority of the World Bank, which was established by the United States at the end of World War II.

But the head of the World Bank's Pacific division, Michel Kerf, said having another development partner in the region would be a positive thing.

It has quietly built a censorship tool that would keep certain posts out of people's news feeds, according to The New York Times.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made no secret of his desire to get the giant social network unblocked in the world's most populous nation.

Rainer Gaertner, Daimler's trucks and buses president in the country, also allegedly used pepper spray on bystanders who intervened.

Chinese media said the incident took place in a Beijing car park on Sunday.

Daimler said it was "a purely private issue, which has now been resolved in an amicable manner".

The argument, involving strong language, began when Mr Gaertner cut into a parking space in Beijing's well-to-do Shunyi suburb ahead of a local driver, reports said.

That kind of cooperation was on display during a joint disaster relief exercise held by the United States and China in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming last week.

Around 200 soldiers trained for several days on a variety of scenarios, a rare instance of cooperation that stands in stark contrast to the otherwise often contentious relationship between the world's two largest militaries.