The Beijing Hour

Hong Kong has unveiled its first five-year plan for economic and social development, with a focus on integrating finance with technology and innovation (01:06). China has opened a canal creating a shortcut from its landlocked southwest to the coast and overseas markets, particularly among ASEAN members (06:53). A building sheltering Palestinian families displaced by the Israeli war on Gaza has collapsed, causing casualties (13:19).

Authorities say China's national economy remained steady in August, powered by innovation and high-quality growth (01:09). Hostilities between Yemen's Houthi group and Saudi Arabia continue, with mounting pressure on Riyadh over how to respond to the group's rapid advances along the Red Sea coast (08:23). Participants at the 13th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing are discussing how to build consensus on stability and advance security governance, with special emphasis on voices from the Global South (17:55).

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says President Xi Jinping's attendance at the BRICS summit in India was of strategic significance for steering the high-quality development for greater BRICS cooperation (01:10). The Houthi group in Yemen says Saudi Arabia has launched 58 airstrikes across six provinces of the country, following Houthi drone and missile attacks on a military base in southern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border (07:50). China pledges to prioritize health development and deepen the reform of the medical and health system during the next five years (20:27).

The Chinese president and other leaders of the world's emerging economies will focus on key global and economic issues at the 18th BRICS Summit in India on the weekend (01:07). The Houthi group in Yemen has seized the coastal city of Mokha, close to another crucial shipping lane on the Red Sea (10:47). A report on global services trade development released at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing shows services trade has increasingly become a key engine driving economic growth (17:51).

Iran and the US have traded the biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the six-month old conflict began (01:05). This year's China International Fair for Trade in Services is underway in Beijing, where service providers focus on helping businesses navigate the challenges of going global (10:31). Foreign travel to China continued to pick up in the first eight months of the year, with foreign nationals making over 61 million trips across China's borders during the period (32:58).