(April 16): China's consumption saw a conspicuous upturn in the first quarter of the year, official data showed, as the economy staged a stellar turnaround from the COVID-19 fallout in the previous year, said Global Times.

China's first-quarter social retail sales soared 33.9 percent year-on-year to 10.52 trillion yuan ($1.61 trillion), according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The reading was up 1.86 percent from the previous quarter.