Shanghai kicks off new year with tourism spending boom

Shanghai's tourism spending during the New Year holiday, running from Thursday to Saturday, reached over 12.27 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion U.S. dollars), as the eastern Chinese metropolis rolled out a series of colorful events to attract tourists.

Shanghai held more than 130 cultural and tourism activities to welcome the new year, and the city also rolled out over 120 travel routes.

The festive events included an iconic running race held on Thursday that drew about 1,000 participants to climb the landmark Oriental Pearl Tower.

During the three-day holiday, Shanghai received more than 6.82 million tourist visits.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his team are weighing "a range of options" to acquire Denmark's Greenland, including "utilizing the U.S. military," a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, including purchasing the territory from Denmark, establishing a free association agreement with Greenland, and utilizing the U.S. military, according to the official.

The official said that Trump would like to acquire Greenland during his current term, and that the issue of acquiring Greenland by the U.S. will not disappear.

According to a White House statement, acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, despite the opposition of some NATO leaders, adding that Trump is actively seeking to reach an agreement.

On the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a classified briefing that Trump administration's current tough stance on Greenland did not signal an imminent military action and that the core goal is to buy the island from Denmark.