China to boost supply capacity of high-quality consumer goods: official

China will make efforts to further improve the supply capacity of high-quality consumer goods, an official said at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Since 2024, China has deeply implemented the strategy of increasing varieties, improving quality, and building brands for consumer goods, and the supply capacity of high-quality consumer goods has continued to improve, making contributions to the stable growth of the industrial economy and meeting the people's needs for a better life.

In 2024, the value added of consumer goods industries above the designated size grew by 4.5 percent year on year, 3.6 percentage points higher than the same period in 2023, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Driven by the new round of consumer goods trade-in program, the ministry will take multiple measures to improve the supply capacity of high-quality consumer goods, said Tao Qing, director of the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau of the ministry.

"In the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will step up efforts to expand the scale of consumer goods trade-in program, and formulate an action plan to enhance the adaptability of supply and demand of light industrial consumer goods to boost domestic demand. We will also implement the plan to renew excellent textile and clothing brands, and cultivate a batch of light industrial textile industry clusters with a scale of 100 billion yuan," Tao said.

China will take about three years to cultivate over 1,000 high-quality brands, actively promote new energy vehicles, smart home appliances and other products in county-level regions and remote rural areas and formulate implementation plans for the digital transformation of key industries such as textiles, light industry, food, and medicine, according to the ministry.

Efforts will also be made to promote large-scale equipment upgrades and technological transformation, and accelerate the integration and application of digital technology and artificial intelligence in the consumer goods industry.

China to boost supply capacity of high-quality consumer goods: official

Iran is not only ready for talks with the U.S. on the basis of mutual respect, but also fully prepared for war, said Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Monday.

Araghchi accused the U.S. and Israel of playing a direct role in recent unrest across Iran. He said the Iranian government has obtained evidence showing that the recent disturbances, including attacking police stations and burning public facilities, were carried out by "terrorists" backed by the U.S. and Israel.

The Iranian government announced a three-day nationwide mourning period from Monday to honor police officers, security personnel, and civilians killed during the disturbances.

According to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, at least 111 members of Iran's security forces have been killed in the unrest over the past two weeks. Iranian authorities have not released official casualty figures for protesters.

At midday on Monday, Iranians remained largely without internet access, according to on-the-ground reporting by a China Media Group (CM) journalist, who also said domestic phone services have not been disrupted in Iran over the past 24 hours.

Security has been reinforced across Tehran, with police increasing patrols in key locations and blocks.

Despite heightened security measures, traffic conditions in Tehran were reported to be normal.

Iran ready for talks with US based on mutual respect: FM