UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate de-escalation between Israel and Lebanon during a press conference in Beirut on Saturday, warning that escalating violence risks devastating large parts of the country.
"The south [of Lebanon] risks being turned into a wasteland. Southern Beirut, which is under sweeping evacuation orders by Israel, risks being bombed to oblivion. The Beqaa and Baalbek and other areas are scenes of destruction and panic. It is tragic to see all this happening in a country that has contributed so much to world civilization," the UN chief said.
Guterres said the UN is working intensively through diplomatic channels to halt the fighting and bring the parties back to dialogue.
Guterres stressed that there is "no military solution" to the conflict and urged the parties to stop the fighting and return to diplomacy and dialogue in line with the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1701.
"My message to the warring partners is clear. Stop the fighting. Stop the bombing. There is no military solution. Only diplomacy, dialogue and full implementation of the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions," he said.
Guterres also reiterated calls for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and stressed the need to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's Public Health Ministry said the death toll from Israeli attacks in the country since March 2 has risen to 826, with 2,009 people wounded, and over 820,000 people displaced.
According to the ministry's Emergency Operations Center, the number of health workers killed rose to 31 after missing personnel were found under the rubble of a primary healthcare center in southern Lebanon, which was hit in an Israeli strike early Saturday.
Hezbollah announced the launch of rockets from Lebanon toward Israel on March 2 for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27, 2024. Israel subsequently launched an offensive military campaign against the group, carrying out intensive airstrikes on multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs.
UN chief urges de-escalation during Lebanon visit as death toll rises
China's real estate policies over the next five years in the country’s new economic plan, are set to place more emphasis on ensuring people's wellbeing, while emphasizing improved living quality in the quest for high-quality development of the real estate market, effectively meeting residents' demand for more comfortable housing conditions, according to Wu Jing, director of the real estate research center at Tsinghua University .
On Friday, China officially unveiled the outline of the 15th Five-Year (2026-2030) Plan for national economic and social development, which includes a focus on the real estate sector.
The outline calls for efforts to accelerate the development of a new model for real estate development and to improve the housing system, featuring multiple suppliers and various channels of support that encourage both rentals and purchases, to achieve a higher level of housing security.
Wu pointed out that the efforts signal that ensuring people’s well-being is a key development direction.
Meanwhile, the outline elaborates on the need to optimize the supply of affordable housing and puts forward more detailed requirements regarding the target groups, management processes and sources of affordable housing, and reforms to the housing provident fund system.
Wu said the core objective is to ensure people's housing needs are met.
"The outline specifies a more refined housing security system, proposing requirements such as improving the entire process of affordable housing management, exploring the orderly conversion and coordinated use of affordable housing for both rental and purchase purposes, and deepening the reform of the housing provident fund system. It also requires the housing security system to place greater emphasis on families with multiple children. All of these reflect that the coverage of the housing security system is expanding, its precision is improving, and it will be better integrated with population policies," he said.
In addition to ensuring people’s well-being, the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan makes arrangements for promoting the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.
It urges efforts to improve basic systems for housing development, financing, and sales, and advance the sale of existing homes.
Meanwhile, it stresses local governments should be granted greater autonomy, making regulation more precise and effective, and more closely aligned with local needs.
Furthermore, it calls for building safe, comfortable, green and intelligent homes, and establishing a full life-cycle safety management system for housing.
"Most notably, the construction of basic systems has entered a substantial stage of advancement. Specific requirements are put forward, and measures are deployed to promote the sale of existing homes in a powerful and orderly manner. These are fundamental solutions to prevent risks and constitute the core institutional cornerstone for building a new model of real estate development," said Wu.
To effectively implement the policies outlined, pilot programs can be carried out in certain cities or projects and then gradually expanded, laying a solid foundation for the stable and healthy development of the real estate market, said Wu.
China to prioritize people's wellbeing, increase housing conditions in 2026-2030 Five-Year Plan
