China refines measures to ensure safety, convenience in holiday travel

China's transportation authorities have refined measures to ensure safe and convenient trips for holidaymakers as the traffic flow across the country remains high on Saturday -- the fourth day of the ongoing eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

For the national railway network, it is expected to handle a total of 18.2 million passenger trips on Saturday, with an additional 903 train trips scheduled to accommodate the surging travel demand.

Accordingly, the railway authorities have managed to enlarge the transportation capacity by attaching more carriages to trains, and running extra temporary passenger trains and nighttime high-speed trains.

The Guangzhou Bureau of China Railway managing rail transport in south China has planned to add 140 passenger train trips on popular routes, while the Wuhan Bureau overseeing rail transport in central China has introduced a schedule for the addition of 196 passenger trains to hot destinations.

In terms of highways, the nationwide traffic volume has entered a stable phase of the holiday travel rush. The traffic flow is mainly concentrated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China, the Yangtze River Delta region in east China, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in south China and the Chengdu-Chongqing region in southwest China.

To cope with traffic congestions, highway authorities have deployed personnel to guide vehicles on roads around cities and those leading to popular tourist destinations. China's civil aviation system is projected to handle 2.34 million passenger trips nationwide on Saturday, up 5.1 percent year on year. A total of 18,677 flights are expected to be operated, up 6.16 percent year on year.

Also on the day, China's waterways are expected to handle 1.9 million passenger trips, a year-on-year increase of 5.15 percent.

China refines measures to ensure safety, convenience in holiday travel

China refines measures to ensure safety, convenience in holiday travel

China refines measures to ensure safety, convenience in holiday travel

China refines measures to ensure safety, convenience in holiday travel

China refines measures to ensure safety, convenience in holiday travel

Geoeconomic confrontation is the leading short-term global threat in 2026, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned in its Global Risks Report 2026 released on Wednesday ahead of its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The report ranks geoeconomic confrontation as the top risk for 2026, followed by interstate conflict, extreme weather, societal polarization, and misinformation and disinformation. It also identifies geoeconomic confrontation as the most severe risk over the next two years.

"I think if there is to be one key takeaway from the report, it's that we are entering an age of competition and this new competitive order is then shaping current global risks, but it is also shaping and to some extent hindering our ability to actually cope with them. That's really the key takeaway. If we take a look at, the number one risk both for 2026 and two years out, it's dual economic confrontation. But then if we look at the risks 10 years out. It's really the climate and environment related risks. All of these things require global cooperation and that's where we're seeing a big backsliding in this new age of competition," said Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the WEF.

Economic risks showed the largest increase in the two-year outlook, with concerns over economic downturns, inflation, rising debt and potential asset bubbles intensifying amid geoeconomic tensions, the report said.

Environmental risks remain the most severe overall, led by extreme weather, biodiversity loss and critical changes to Earth systems. The report noted that three-quarters of respondents expect a turbulent environmental outlook.

Risks related to adverse outcomes of artificial intelligence rose sharply, climbing from 30th in the two-year horizon to fifth in the 10-year outlook, reflecting concerns over impacts on labor markets, society and security.

The 21st edition of the report draws on views from more than 1,300 experts, policymakers and industry leaders.

The WEF's annual meeting will be held in Davos from Jan 19 to 23 and draw nearly 3,000 guests from more than 130 countries and regions to participate.

"So overall, we are starting to see this shift away from what have traditionally been the ways in which people have been able to cooperate. Now, that is not to say that any of this is a foregone conclusion. And I think that's a really important message around the risks report. None of this is set in stone. All of this is in the hands of leaders. Whether they choose to cooperate and invest in resilience or whether they do not. So that's really what we'll be focused on next week in Davos bringing leaders together under this overall theme of 'a spirit of dialogue' and trying to reestablish relationships, cooperation and trust. That's the fundamental," said Zahidi.

WEF warns of rising geoeconomic risks in 2026