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☆ China's economy faltered before major Covid policy shift, retail sales and unemployment data show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Retail sales declined 5.9% in November from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It was the worst contraction in retail spending since May, when widespread Covid lockdowns, including in the country’s richest city Shanghai, pummeled the economy. Property sales by value plummeted by more than 26%. Last week, customs data showed the country’s exports contracted 8.7% in November from a year ago, the worst performance since February 2020. China’s economy has been battered by its stringent zero-Covid policy and persistent property woes this year.

☆ First Russia, now China? Europe doesn’t appear ready to ‘decouple’ from Beijing just yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Marie Brockling | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Scholz was the first leader of a Group of 7 nations to visit China since the start of the pandemic, which was first detected there in 2019. China’s relations with Europe have deteriorated amid tensions over Taiwan, human rights issues and Beijing’s tacit support for Russia in its war on Ukraine. China has welcomed Scholz’s visit, saying it would “contribute to world peace, stability and growth.” But it received considerable pushback in Europe. Fears over Chinese interferenceScholz’s one-day visit to Beijing comes amid heightened fears in Europe over Chinese interference abroad. Wang suggested Europe could have the “best of both worlds” by playing a mediating role between Beijing and Washington.

☆ North Korea fires artillery into sea as South Korea, U.S. pledge cooperation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

North Korea fired multiple missiles into the sea on Thursday, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), prompting the United States and South Korea to extend air drills that have angered Pyongyang. Beginning shortly before midnight on Thursday, South Korea's military said it had detected more than 80 artillery rounds fired into the sea by North Korea, in what it says is a violation of a 2018 inter-Korean agreement. The South issued a warning communication to the North over the firing, the South Korean Ministry of Defence said in a statement. South Korea and the United States also say that North Korea has completed technical preparation to test a nuclear device at any time, in what would be its first nuclear test since 2017. "The United States and South Korea will find that they have made a terrible mistake that cannot be reversed," said Pak.

[1/2] People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing three ballistic missiles into the sea, in Seoul, South Korea, November 2, 2022. South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL in response, the South's military said. The South's launches came after Yoon's office vowed a "swift and firm response" so North Korea "pays the price for provocation". The North Korean weapon was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. It was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters, JCS said.

☆ North Korea says U.S.-South Korea drills 'can no longer be tolerated'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - North Korea on Tuesday again demanded that the United States and South Korea halt joint military exercises, saying such "rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated," while the White House said concern remains high about the potential for a North Korean nuclear test. In denouncing the drills in a statement carried by North Korea's official news agency, Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, warned the United States and South Korea against any attempt to attack. North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday demanded an end to the drills, saying they could draw "more powerful follow-up measures" from Pyongyang. North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war since an armistice agreement ended fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War.

☆ Xi Jinping just became unassailable. Here’s why investors are running scared
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Xi’s preference for personal loyalty over technocratic competence bodes ill for China’s already bleak economic outlook, analysts said. “In effect, Xi Jinping establishes an echo chamber around his own ideas,” she said. People watch the opening session of the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress in Huaibei, in China's eastern Anhui province. Li Qiang, the party boss of Shanghai who presided over the city’s chaotic two-month lockdown, is now the second-highest ranking party official after Xi. The NDRC is China’s top economic planner, responsible for drafting the country’s economic plans and overseeing major state investment projects.

☆ China is about to hold the most important meeting in its political calendar. Here’s what you need to know.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Rhoda Kwan | Rhoda Kwan Is A Taipei-Based Journalist. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

China is about to hold the most important meeting in its political calendar, the five-yearly Communist Party congress, where President Xi Jinping is expected to gain an unprecedented third term as the country’s leader. What is the Communist Party congress? State media report that these representatives were "elected" but all of them were carefully vetted and no open campaigning is allowed. A Central Committee of around 200 voting members will also pick 25 members for the Politburo, the highest policy-making body in the world's second largest economy. “It’s not just about ideas, it’s really about signaling a leader’s power and legacy,” David Bandurski, the co-director at the China Media Project, a research program that analyses the country’s media landscape, said.

☆ Hu Jintao Fast Facts
▼ + stars: | 2012-12-20 | by ( Cnn Editorial Research | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

1982-1985 - Works for the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, eventually becoming its leader. 1992-1997 - Member of the 14th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo and the Standing Committee. 1993-2002 - President CPC, Central Committee’s Central Party School. 1997-2002 - Member of the 15th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo, the Standing Committee and later the Secretariat. 2002 - Becomes a member of the 16th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo and the Standing Committee.

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