Sinopharm Reports Progress on Covid-19 Drug, Biden Tells B-52 Bombers to Target Taliban, Huawei’s HarmonyOS Users Exceed 50 Million

Here is today’s ranking of the 10 most-read news stories in China, in economics, finance and current affairs, to help give you a sense of what’s trending in the Chinese language sphere.

Chinese social media users have been paying close attention to the Alibaba manager accused of rape. They are also following the discovery of drugs potentially effective against mutant coronavirus variants.

1. Sinopharm finds drug that may be effective against coronavirus strains

Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm (external source, in Chinese) said its researchers had recently discovered antibodies effective against delta variants of the coronavirus.

2. U.S. President Biden orders B-52 bombers to target Taliban

U.S. President Joe Biden (external source, in Chinese) ordered the deployment of B-52 bombers and helicopter gunships to carry out attacks on the Taliban after they claimed Saturday to have seized Sheberghan, the capital of Jowzjan province in northern Afghanistan.

3. 6,000 Alibaba employees propose anti-sexual assault system

Some 6,000 Alibaba employees (external source, in Chinese) reportedly launched a joint initiative on Sunday, pointing out systemic issues in the company and proposing an anti-sexual assault system after allegations of rape against an Alibaba Group manager sparked fierce public criticism.

4. CNN fires unvaccinated employees for going to office

CNN has fired three employees (external source, in Chinese) who violated company policy by going to the office without receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. The company’s President Jeff Zucker emphasized in a memo to employees that CNN has a “zero tolerance” policy on coronavirus control issues.

5. Nearly a quarter of unvaccinated Americans don’t plan to get a vaccine

Half of unvaccinated U.S. respondents to a survey said they would get the Covid-19 vaccine (external source, in Chinese) as soon as it became available, but nearly a quarter said they would “definitely not” get the vaccine, according to a study released Feb. 3 by Monmouth University.

6. Trump will run for president in 2024, former press secretary says

Donald Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer (external source, in Chinese) says his former boss will run for president again in 2024.

7. Huawei’s HarmonyOS users exceed 50 million

Huawei (external source, in Chinese) said Monday that the users of its smartphone operating system HarmonyOS have exceeded 50 million as of Friday.

8. Vipkid stops selling online classes taught by foreign tutors

Tencent-backed Chinese one-to-one English tutoring agency Vipkid (external source, in Chinese) said Saturday that it would stop selling online courses taught by foreign tutors to comply with a series of measures issued by the central government in July.

9. Taliban seize three Afghan provincial capitals in a day

The Taliban (external source, in Chinese) announced Sunday that it had seized the Afghan city of Kunduz, which is the third Afghan provincial capital city captured by the Taliban in three days, following the capture of Zaranj in Nimroz province on Friday and Sheberghan in Jowzjan province on Saturday.

10. Amazon postpones return of corporate staff to offices until January 2022

Amazon has delayed the return of corporate employees to its offices (external source, in Chinese) until early next year due to an increase in Covid-19 cases caused by the highly contagious delta variant.

Translated by intern reporter Chen Bingyi.

Caixin has not independently verified the veracity or accuracy of all of the headlines or stories.

The daily ranking of most-read news stories among Chinese people, about China and global affairs, is jointly provided to you by Caixin Insight and HANA Data, an artificial intelligence technology team.

The key indicators calculated on the list are based on mass data sourced from China’s mainstream social media platforms and online news websites. Click here for a detailed introduction of our methodology.