China's services trade grows 8 pct in H1 2025

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — China's services trade maintained steady growth in the first half of this year, with the combined import and export volume reaching 3.89 trillion yuan (about 544.9 billion U.S. dollars), up 8 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

In particular, according to the department, exports of services grew by 15 percent to 1.69 trillion yuan, and imports increased by 3.2 percent to 2.2 trillion yuan, while the negative balance decreased year-on-year by 152.2 billion yuan.

Trade in knowledge-intensive services continued to grow, with imports and exports totaling 1.5 trillion yuan, up 6 percent year-on-year.

Tourism services became the largest category of services trade by volume in the first half of the year, with a total trade volume of 1.08 trillion yuan, up 12.3 percent year on year.

It is noteworthy that the export of tourism services during the reporting period increased by 68.7 percent. –0–

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Chinese companies show steady sales revenue growth in first half

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — Chinese companies showed steady growth in sales revenue in the first half of 2025, according to value-added tax invoices for the first half of the year released by the General Administration of Taxation.

In particular, in January-June, sales revenues in the manufacturing industry grew by 1.5 percentage points faster than the overall national figure, which confirms the importance of this sector as one of the main pillars of national economic growth.

During the reporting period, the development of new quality productive forces also gained momentum: sales revenues from high-tech sectors grew by 14.3 percent year-on-year.

Machinery purchases nationwide rose 11.1 percent in the first half of the year, driven by the national equipment renewal program, and maintained the rapid growth seen in 2024. The consumer goods trade-in program boosted demand for related products, leading to a sharp rise in retail sales.

At the same time, as the data showed, according to the results of the first half of the year, interregional sales accounted for 40.7 percent of all sales revenues in the country, which reflects steady progress in the formation of a single national market. –0–

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Beijing issues red alert over heavy rainfall, evacuates over 82,000 residents

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — More than 82,000 people had been evacuated from various parts of Beijing as of 9 p.m. Monday due to heavy rains, the city's flood control headquarters said.

Authorities have closed 201 tourist areas, 3,480 guest houses and 245 camping areas to visitors. In addition, work has been suspended at more than 3,200 construction sites across the city.

The Beijing Meteorological Department issued a red alert for heavy rain on Monday afternoon, the highest level in China's four-tier warning system. Forecasters said heavy rain was possible across the city from midday on August 4 to the morning of August 5.

Beijing has also activated its highest level of flood emergency response.

Meanwhile, the capital's water management department and meteorological service issued a joint flood warning, with Miyun District identified as the most vulnerable area, and Fangshan, Mentougou and Huairou districts also at risk.

Residents were urged to take shelter during thunderstorms, avoid driving on flooded roads and stay away from high ground and rivers.

Last week, heavy rains in Beijing killed 44 people, affecting more than 300,000 residents and damaging about 24,000 homes.

On Monday, China's National Flood and Drought Control Headquarters raised the flood emergency response to Level 3 (the third-highest in the nation's four-tier system) in Beijing, Tianjin Municipality, Hebei Province and Guangdong Province.

Heavy rains are forecast in the four regions mentioned above from the evening of August 4 to August 5, with showers expected in some places.

It is reported that working teams dispatched by the headquarters office are currently continuing to provide assistance in flood control efforts in Beijing, Hebei and Guangdong provinces. –0–

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Kazakhstan Delivered 85,000 Tons of Oil to Hungary via Croatia

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

Almaty, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas (KMG) has delivered its first batch of 85,000 tons of oil to Hungary via Croatia, the KMG press service reported on Monday.

As reported by KMG, the first oil delivery from Kazakhstan to Hungary was carried out as part of the strategic expansion of cooperation between KMG and the international oil and gas company headquartered in Budapest.

It is specified that the oil was delivered from the port of Novorossiysk to the Croatian port of Omisalj by tanker. Further transportation to the final destination – the Szazhalombatta oil refinery in Hungary – will be carried out via the Adriatic oil pipeline.

The two parties signed a framework agreement on future oil supplies.

The negotiations on the supply of Kazakh oil to Hungary first became known in February 2025. –0–

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Polytechnic University presented innovative developments to representatives of federal authorities

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

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On August 4, a representative delegation headed by Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Mikhail Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Dmitry Afanasyev and Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Sergey Kuchushev visited Polytechnic University on a working visit.

The delegation also included Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Competition Protection Valery Gartung, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Knyaginin, Acting Chairman of the Committee on Industrial Policy, Innovation and Trade of St. Petersburg Alexander Sitov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Industrial Policy, Innovation and Trade of St. Petersburg Alexey Yakovlev, and heads of departments of ministries.

The guests were met by the rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy, vice-rectors Vitaly Sergeev, Lyudmila Pankova, Yuri Fomin, Dmitry Tikhonov, director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport Anatoly Popovich, scientific secretary Dmitry Karpov, heads and employees of scientific centers and laboratories.

It is a great honor for us to receive such a representative delegation interested in getting acquainted with the advanced developments of our scientists, – noted the rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy. – Today, our university is one of the leading scientific and educational centers, where innovative ideas are born and the most daring engineering projects are implemented. We are proud of the achievements of our researchers and are happy to share our accumulated experience. I am sure that your visit will open up new prospects for our scientists, for the interaction of the university with the industrial sector and various branches of the economy. We are ready to share our developments and are open to dialogue, which will undoubtedly contribute to the development of science and technological leadership of our country.

During the visit, government officials learned about the latest achievements of the Polytechnic’s research teams, saw the unique equipment developed at the university and the products manufactured on it, including those ordered by industrial partners.

The acquaintance began with a visit to laboratories and centers engaged in additive manufacturing. In the Laboratory of Lightweight Materials and Structures, the delegation members were told about additive electric arc growing (WAAM), and were shown the first robotic WAAM printer in the Russian Federation and other installations. They were also presented with the technology for manufacturing parts using friction stir welding on a robotic complex of their own production.

The staff of the Research Laboratory "Laser and Additive Technologies" of the Institute of Metallurgical Engineering and Technology presented the mobile laser cladding complex "Nomad". This is a unique development for Russia, created on a single platform using a robot, a powder feeder and a high-precision laser. The complex is compact and mobile: it can be easily transported for on-site work on the restoration of large-sized and specialized products. With its help, key elements of gas turbine engines of both Russian and foreign manufacture have already been restored.

Another development that has attracted interest is the laser welding complex for hydrogen energy source fuel cells. This is the only equipment in the country that has produced more than 700 hydrogen energy source fuel cells, 350 of which are undergoing sea trials on board the Ecobalt vessel.

The guests were also shown hip joint cups created by a combined method, using the technology of applying a porous coating to the blank. Now the laboratory is creating a production complex that will allow serial production of up to 40 thousand such products per year.

It is important for us to show developments live – not on slides, but in action. This is the only way to truly convey the scale and potential of these technologies, – said the director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport Anatoly Popovich. – When guests see examples of work created by the hands of engineers and scientists, this turns from an abstract innovation into a subject of real interest and further support.

The guests also learned that the Polytechnic University became the first university to have a section for serial production of gas turbine engine parts: nozzle assemblies and injectors. In addition, SPbPU has the first domestically produced high-temperature 3D printing equipment in Russia and Western Europe, which allows for the growth of products with a directional structure.

In the lobby of the Technopolis Polytech Research Building, delegations presented scientific and technical developments by young scientists and engineers, including university students.

The achievements of the Advanced Engineering School of SPbPU "Digital Engineering" were presented by the Deputy Head of the Engineering Center (CompMechLab®) of SPbPU Nikolay Efimov-Soini. He spoke about a unique Russian development focused on ensuring the design and production of globally competitive high-tech products in various industries and in new markets in the shortest possible time — the CML-Bench® Digital Platform. Nikolay Konstantinovich emphasized that dozens of breakthrough projects have been implemented on the CML-Bench® Digital Platform to develop digital twins of products for high-tech industries, including engine building, aircraft manufacturing, nuclear energy, oil and gas, automotive manufacturing, shipbuilding, shipbuilding and medicine, in accordance with the national standard of the Russian Federation — GOST R 57700.37–2021 "Computer models and modeling. DIGITAL DOUBLES OF PRODUCTS. General Provisions".

In accordance with the current needs of industrial enterprises and the unmanned aircraft systems sector, SPbPU Advanced Engineering School is adapting the Digital Platform for the Development and Application of Digital Twins CML-Bench® to the UAS industry. The digital platform CML-Bench.BASTM has been supplemented with a system for constructing virtual test benches and testing grounds for conducting digital tests of both individual UAS elements and the aircraft as a whole. In addition, the platform includes a Digital Certification module, which allows for full-scale certification tests to be passed the first time by conducting a large number of preliminary digital tests. This reduces the cost of development, the timing and cost of certification work, and also accelerates the launch of products to the market, – noted Alexander Gordeev, Deputy Head of the Experimental Design Bureau of the Advanced Engineering School of SPbPU "Digital Engineering".

At the stand, guests saw a prototype of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) "Snegir-1.5", created in 2024 on the basis of the CML-Bench® Digital Platform for flight tests, control system development, validation and verification of calculation models. And Nikolay Efimov-Soini presented innovative solutions of particular interest for the development of UAVs that are competitive in terms of technical characteristics – demonstrators of overprinting technologies, induction welding of thermoplastic composite materials and automated laying of thermoplastic unidirectional prepregs.

Among the developments of the SPbPU PISh "Digital Engineering" there was also a full-scale sample of an anti-debris filter – a high-tech solution created in the interests of JSC TVEL (part of the Fuel Division of the Rosatom State Corporation) and ensuring the uninterrupted operation of equipment in extreme operating conditions.

Optimization technologies made it possible to generate a design with a large number of "needles" that form the optimal internal microstructure of the channels to intensify heat exchange. At the same time, the design provides rigidity and dynamic strength under the impact of foreign objects weighing up to 200 grams, flying at a speed of up to 6 meters per second, – emphasized Nikolay Efimov-Soini. – As a result, due to the use of digital design and additive manufacturing methods, the filtration efficiency has increased by 10 times.

Let us recall that at the International Industrial Exhibition INNOPROM-2025 specialists from the Advanced Engineering School of SPbPU "Digital Engineering" presented a model of the UAV "Snegir-2", a prototype of which will be created in August 2025.

The Center for Technology Projects demonstrated the Morena unmanned boat for hydrographic and search operations and the Octopus-M remotely controlled unmanned underwater vehicle.

The students' developments aroused keen interest among the guests. Thus, the Polytech Voltage Machine student association presented a firefighting robot on a caterpillar track called "Freze" and an unmanned truck.

And the guys from the Student Design Bureau showed the first modification of the combat robot Honey Badger and shared that in its third version it won bronze atInternational Championship "Battle of Robots" in 2024.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Chinese authorities have provided Inner Mongolia with emergency flood relief supplies.

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — The Office of the National Flood Relief and Drought Control Headquarters of the People's Republic of China and the State Food and Material Administration of the People's Republic of China on Monday sent more than 13,000 emergency aid items to north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to support flood control and rescue work.

The funds were provided at the request of Inner Mongolia's flood control authorities and include rescue boats, drainage pumps, power generators and lighting equipment.

The funds allocated will be used to support local flood prevention and disaster relief efforts.

Inner Mongolia has been experiencing continuous rain since July 23, causing flooding in some areas.

China's National Meteorological Center extended an orange-level rainfall alert on Monday, forecasting heavy rainfall across large swathes of the country, including Inner Mongolia, from 2 p.m. Monday to 2 p.m. Tuesday. –0–

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At least 5 killed, dozens kidnapped in attacks in northern Nigeria

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

ABUJA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — At least five people were killed and dozens of others kidnapped over the weekend in coordinated attacks by suspected bandits in Nigeria's northern Zamfara state, local media reported Monday.

At least 16 villages in Kaura-Namoda Local Government Area were attacked on August 2 and 3, Daily Trust reported, citing sources and survivors. Women and children made up the majority of the casualties.

The attacks “caused destruction and fear,” according to survivors. The gunmen, riding motorcycles, opened fire indiscriminately on residents on the evening of August 2. Local self-defense units tried to resist the attackers, but were eventually overwhelmed.

Violence escalated on Sunday, with reports suggesting the death toll could rise. The attackers also looted livestock and goods from shops, Daily Trust reported.

As of Monday, neither police nor local authorities had made any official statements about the attacks. Nigerian security forces continue to grapple with persistent threats of banditry and kidnapping. –0–

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Clashes between Syrian troops and Kurdish SDF in Aleppo province

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

DAMASCUS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — Armed clashes between the Syrian government-controlled forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) erupted early Monday morning in the eastern Aleppo countryside, with both sides accusing each other of violating a recently reached ceasefire and escalating tensions.

The SDF press center said its forces exercised their “legitimate right to self-defense” after pro-government militias attacked four SDF positions in the village of al-Imam at around 03:00 local time /00:00 GMT/. The “attack” was repelled after a 20-minute battle, the press center said.

The SDF accused “undisciplined militias” subordinate to the Syrian government of unjustified shelling of residential areas near the front line over the weekend, demanded that Damascus restrain these forces and accused the Syrian defense ministry, which claims that the SDF launched the attack, of distorting the facts. In its statement, the SDF also warned of further escalation if such “provocations” continue.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed clashes in Imam on Monday, saying both sides had used medium and heavy weapons, but there were no confirmed casualties by midday.

Earlier on August 2, state news agency SANA reported, citing the Syrian Defense Ministry, that the SDF had “irresponsibly” and for unknown reasons launched missile strikes on civilian homes. –0–

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Ukraine strikes Russian fuel depot and fighter jets — General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

KYIV, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — Ukraine has struck a Russian fuel and lubricants base and fighter jets, Ukrainian official sources said on Monday.

According to the data published in Telegram by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF), the day before, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces, in cooperation with other units of the Defense Forces, hit a fuel and refueling complex at Sochi Airport in the Krasnodar Territory in the southwest of the Russian Federation. As noted, Russian army aviation was also located on the airport's territory. As a result of the attack, a large fire broke out.

In addition, on Monday night, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) used unmanned aerial vehicles to strike the Russian military airfield of Saki in Crimea, as reported by the SBU press service. According to the Ukrainian side, four fighters were damaged during the attack, another aircraft was completely destroyed, and an aviation weapons depot was also hit.

Ukraine says the main goal of the special operations is to reduce the number and intensity of Russian air strikes. According to Ukrainian sources, on Monday night alone, the Russian army launched 162 combat drones and drone imitators, as well as one Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile at Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces reportedly managed to neutralize 161 drones in the northern, southern, eastern and central parts of the country, one drone hit its target, and debris was recorded falling in nine locations. –0–

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China provides aid to foreign container ship that caught fire in South China Sea

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — China has provided assistance to a foreign container ship that caught fire in the South China Sea, saving the lives of 25 of its crew members, all foreign nationals, the Ministry of Transport said Monday.

The department said four containers on a large container ship registered in Liberia suddenly caught fire on July 28 while the vessel was about 190 nautical miles northwest of Yongshu Reef in China's Nansha Islands, threatening the safety of the crew and international shipping routes.

After receiving the relevant message from the Marine Search and Rescue Center of Hainan Province, the Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China launched an emergency response and dispatched a rescue ship to the disaster area. The ship "Nanhaiju-116", which was on a routine patrol nearby, headed to the scene at full speed. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the rescue operation and the safety of the personnel, a B-72CS rescue helicopter was also deployed, transmitting real-time information about the fire.

The visible flames were extinguished by approximately 2:00 p.m. local time on July 30. By the evening of August 1, after repeated checks, rescuers confirmed that there were no signs of a secondary fire, ensuring the safety of the crew, vessel and cargo and preventing secondary disasters such as marine pollution.

The Chinese rescue vessel continues to remain close to the container ship to protect it and ensure the safety of its subsequent voyage.

The ministry stressed that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the safety of international shipping routes in the South China Sea. As noted, the successful rescue operation not only tested China's ability to respond to emergencies in deep-sea and remote marine areas, but also demonstrated to the international community China's ability to protect the safety of people's lives and property at sea and ensure the smooth operation of international shipping routes through practical actions. –0–

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