Welcome to Morning News. It's Nov. 30, Monday. 13-22 ℃, cloudy.

1. The Guangzhou-Qingyuan Intercity Railway (Huadu station-Qingcheng station) and the Guangzhou East Ring Intercity Railway (Huadu station-Baiyun Airport North station) officially start operation today. Huadu station will serve as the interchange station between the two rail lines and Guangzhou Metro line 9, while the Baiyun Airport North station will enable interchange with Guangzhou metro line 3.

2. The Suikang mini-program on WeChat has slashed the price of masks by as much as 85.71% and launched new functions allowing citizens to buy drugs, health care products, reserve nucleic acid tests and disease screening online.

3. Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has launched large-scale COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, tracing and disinfection after an outbound traveler was diagnosed as an asymptomatic coronavirus case upon arriving in the Republic of Korea (ROK), the local health commission said on Sunday.

4. Hong Kong will suspend classes at all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools from Wednesday until after the Christmas holidays.

5. The Chinese mainland reported 18 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Sunday, including three locally transmitted in Inner Mongolia and 15 imported cases.

6. More than 10 people have been trapped after a coal mine was flooded in central China's Hunan Province on Sunday, local authorities said.

7. The sequel to The Wandering Earth, a 2019 Chinese science fiction action film, will be released in 2023.

 World

1. US President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday announced the nomination of an all-female White House communications team, with Jen Psaki being the press secretary.

2. Canada announced on Sunday that travel restrictions on U.S. citizens to enter Canada will be extended until Dec. 21, and restrictions on travelers arriving from other countries will be extended until Jan. 21.

3. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Sunday that talks with the European Union (EU) on post-Brexit trade are entering "the last week or so" of "substantive" post-Brexit trade negotiations.

4. The assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist and a promise of retaliation from Tehran have triggered widespread fears of rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, where the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was re-deployed earlier this week.

5. South Korean authorities announced a ban on year-end parties and some music lessons on Sunday and said public saunas and some cafes must also close.

6. The latest round of Syrian constitutional talks, which aim at writing a new constitution so as to pave the way for a political solution for the decade-long conflict in the country, will kick off in Geneva on Monday, the UN said on Sunday.

7. The Walt Disney Co. announced plans to lay off 4,000 more employees largely due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. The coronavirus-delayed Tokyo Olympics could cost about 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) more than its original budget of $13 billion, a 15 percent increase, organizers have estimated. 

9. Authorities on Sunday raided the home and offices of neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, the personal physician of late Argentinean soccer star Diego Armando Maradona, during an investigation into possible medical malfeasance.

Source: People's Daily APP, CGTN, China Daily, Xinhua

Editor: Sophia