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Macron last visited China in 2019 while it will be von der Leyen's first trip since becoming European Commission president that year. However, some analysts said ostentatious deal-signing would appear opportunistic at a time of heightened frictions between the United States and China. "Both (Macron and von der Leyen) have not only business in mind but also Ukraine," said Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. Macron and von der Leyen are expected to echo the message that Xi should also talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. China and EU decoupling will only serve U.S. interests, but make both China and Europe suffer," it said.

☆ Pictures of the month: March
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jeremy Schultz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A woman dresses up her child at a hospital in Bamiyan, Afghanistan,. Since taking over in 2021, Taliban authorities have barred women from universities and most charity jobs, but they have made exemptions in the healthcare sector, such as the trainee...moreA woman dresses up her child at a hospital in Bamiyan, Afghanistan,. Since taking over in 2021, Taliban authorities have barred women from universities and most charity jobs, but they have made exemptions in the healthcare sector, such as the trainee midwife program that has been spearheaded by the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) with a local NGO, where young women train for two years in the provincial capital hospital as midwives, after which they will return home to help the women in the community. Picture taken March 2. REUTERS/Ali KharaClose

Yet congenital syphilis is easily preventable if an infected person gets access to penicillin during their pregnancy. There were 2,677 cases of congenital syphilis in the U.S. in 2021 for a population of 332 million, according to preliminary CDC data. Canada had 96 cases for a population of 38 million, according to Health Canada. Health Canada told Reuters it has dispatched epidemiologists to help provinces contain the increase in congenital syphilis. The province had an incidence of 185 cases of congenital syphilis per 100,00 live births in 2021.

OTTAWA, March 30 (Reuters) - Canada's province of Alberta - the heart of the country's oil and gas industry - is expected to offer more support for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects now that the federal government has its incentives in place, the federal natural resources minister told Reuters on Thursday. This week, Canada's federal budget expanded eligibility for CCUS investment tax credits over the next five years, by adding C$520 million to the C$2.6 billion program laid out in last year's budget. Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said he has had many conversations with the Alberta government on CCUS, including one earlier this week, and he hopes to see some of the major CCUS projects launched by end-year. In an interview with Reuters in January, Trudeau urged Alberta to contribute to CCUS. ($1 = 1.3526 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Steve Scherer and Nia Williams Editing by Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In poorer areas, which are bleeding people and private business to urban centres, the task of providing jobs falls more squarely on local governments at a time they are struggling to raise revenue through income tax and state land sales. However, "budgetary and debt pressures are more acute for these provinces, so increasing expenditure comes with additional fiscal risks," Yuan noted. The local governments adding the most jobs in relative terms are also among the most indebted. The local governments of Gansu, Yunnan and Guangxi did not respond to a request for comment and Reuters could not establish exactly why the governments are ramping up hiring and how it will impact their finances. Moody's Yuan said local governments including Gansu have faced increased refinancing pressure to meet their debt obligations.

☆ China plans random, spot checks at hospitals to track COVID
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 30 (Reuters) - Chinese officials plan random and spot checks at medical facilities in the country to track incomplete and under-reported COVID-19 data, the country's health authority said, amid a wider call by global authorities for more transparency. For months, the country has faced pressure from countries and health experts to reveal and be more forthcoming with COVID data, most notably official numbers around severe hospitalisations and deaths. Recently, advisers to the World Health Organization urged China to release all information related to the origin of the COVID pandemic. Local governments should actively seek financial support to ensure funding for the costs surrounding the random checks, the health authority said. Reporting by Ethan Wang and Bernard Orr; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] People gather to receive sacks of free flour, at a distribution point in Peshawar, Pakistan March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizLAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - At least five people have been killed in recent weeks and more injured in Pakistan in stampedes at sites distributing free flour under a government-backed scheme to help families struggling with soaring costs of basic staples. The Pakistani government has launched the flour distribution programme to reach millions of families in need during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan that began last week. Another person was killed in a stampede at a distribution centre last week in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province according to records shared by the provincial food authority. "There were some unfortunate incidents of stampedes and looting," Khan Ghalib, an official at the provincial food department said.

☆ Inquiry into Canada's worst mass shooting calls for police reforms, gun regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

OTTAWA, March 30 (Reuters) - Officials reviewing Canada's worst mass shooting called for police reforms, stricter gun safety regulations and better public communication on Thursday after an investigation found many shortcomings in authorities' response to the incident in 2020. The commission recommended increasing transparency and accountability for RCMP oversight, improving critical incident response capabilities, and focusing more on everyday policing practices. It is influenced by the United States discourse centred on a right to bear arms which does not exist in our constitutional and legal structure," the commission said. Canada has stricter gun laws than the United States, but Canadians can own firearms with a license. The commission recommended that federal and regional governments should adopt "legislation affirming that gun ownership is a conditional privilege."

☆ Americans to Be Barred From Buying Ozempic in British Columbia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Vipal Monga | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TORONTO—British Columbia is moving to restrict the sale of the diabetes drug Ozempic to Canadian residents after people from the U.S. sought out supplies to lose weight, threatening to send the medicine into shortage. British Columbia’s health ministry said Tuesday it will bar doctors and pharmacists from dispensing the drug to people who don’t live in Canada in coming weeks, once the provincial government amends existing healthcare rules.

The project is expected to cost 83.7 billion yuan ($12.2 billion), partner Panjin Xicheng Industrial Group said in a statement on WeChat on Sunday. Construction at the complex will start in the second quarter after the project secures the required administrative approvals, Aramco said. Before the pandemic, Aramco signed two other initial agreements for refinery-petrochemical investments in China. The other is with Shandong Energy that includes a potential crude supply agreement and chemical products offtake deal, as well as exploring collaboration on an integrated refining and petrochemical complex in China. Earlier in March, Saudi Aramco also broke ground on a $7 billion project to produce petrochemicals from crude oil at its South Korean affiliate S-Oil Corp's (010950.KS) refining complex in the port city of Ulsan.

☆ U-20 World Cup draw in Bali postponed amid protest against Israel participation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Rohith Nair | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

March 26 (Reuters) - The draw for the Under-20 FIFA World Cup that was scheduled to take place in Indonesia next week will be postponed, a source told Reuters after Bali's governor refused to host Israel's team. The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) said the draw that was to be held on Friday had been cancelled. "Previously, Bali governor Wayan Koster rejected the presence of the Israeli national team in the FIFA U-20 World Cup event... This can be a reason for FIFA to cancel the U-20 World Cup draw," the PSSI said in a statement. "The chairman will also report to Mr President at the first opportunity to find a solution to all this, both diplomacy and foreign policy... to save Indonesian football that we love," Sinulingga added.

On a recent trip to Mexico, a small delegation of China-based business executives got a lavish welcome, meeting with a parade of top officials, including the country’s foreign minister, its finance minister, Mexico’s ambassador to China and provincial heads of government. The elite interest in the visit highlights how countries are jostling to grab a piece of China’s manufacturing action as tariff battles, the pandemic and worsening U.S.-China ties jolt companies into reordering global supply chains. Executives are circling the globe looking for factory space or local tie-ups to reduce their dependence on China and its vast factory floor—and governments are pulling out the stops to welcome them.

☆ Insurer Chubb Demands Energy Producers Cut Methane Emissions for Coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Leslie Scism | Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Oil-and-gas companies will provide plans to manage emissions or lose underwriting from Chubb. Global insurer Chubb Ltd. is tightening its requirements on insurance policies for oil-and- gas producers, demanding that they reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Chubb , which is a top-10 insurer in the worldwide oil-and-gas market by premium volume, will also stop underwriting projects in areas designated as protected by state, provincial or national governments, effective immediately.

☆ China firm wins Solomon Islands port project as Australia watches on
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Solomon Islands and China have consistently denied that their security pact would allow a naval base. The Solomon Islands Infrastructure Development Ministry has said that there will be no expansion of the port for dual use," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday evening. Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week, competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation. "This will see the rehabilitation of the old Honiara international port and construction of the Honiara domestic port and two provincial ports," the Solomon Islands government said in a statement. "It is not about bases it is about access," Connolly, a former military officer, said, referring to the security pact between Honiara and Beijing.

"The reality is that China has more coal power capacity than it needs," said Zhang Shuwei, director at Draworld Energy Research Centre. That's equivalent to about a hundred large coal-fired plants and enough to supply the whole of Britain. China's big jump in coal power approvals has sparked fears that there will be backsliding on its climate goals. Share of coal in China's energy mixAnalysts note existing coal plants could provide sufficient backup for renewables if they were plugged into a nationwide market, but China's power sector remains fragmented. "It would be far cheaper... to incentivise provincial trading than incentivising new loss-making coal," he said.

☆ China firm wins tender to redevelop Solomon Islands port
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces," Qaqara said. The Solomon Islands and China have denied the security pact would allow a naval base, however. Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week, competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation. "This will see the rehabilitation of the old Honiara international port and construction of the Honiara domestic port and two provincial ports," the government said in a statement. Writing in the Australian Foreign Affairs this month, Connolly noted that ADB infrastructure contracts in the Pacific islands had been dominated by Chinese state companies who offered the lowest bids.

☆ Earthquake in Afghanistan kills at least 11, nine of them in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in northwest Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck in neighbouring Afghanistan late on Tuesday, a Pakistani government official said. At least two people were killed in Afghanistan, a disaster agency official there said. The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000 km wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan.

The HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, wants the opposition to back demands for Kurdish rights and other issues. The Kurdish party held talks with Kilicdaroglu on Monday and is expected to announce this week whether it will back him. HDP lawmaker Imam Tascier said Kilicdaroglu had acknowledged the "Kurdish problem", terms reminiscent of language used by Erdogan in earlier years when he was seeking Kurdish support. Now, he said, Erdogan "pushed freedoms, democracy, human rights and the Kurdish problem away with the back of his hand". Yet, legal challenges could derail the role of HDP, which also won almost 12% of the national vote in 2018.

☆ Earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hits northern Afghanistan, killing at least 3
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, March 21 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, killing two in the east of the country and one child in neighbouring Pakistan. The tremor was very deep, 194 km (120.5 miles), and its epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the remote northern Afghan province of Badakhshan. A spokesperson for Red Cross said they had no immediate reports of damages from Badakhshan's capital but were making checks on other areas. "We felt a strong earthquake, according to primary information the main place (affected) was Yamgan District," he said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed over 1,000 people last year.

☆ Fact Check-Viral clip shows tree catkins, not ‘rain of worms’ in China - scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A viral clip online likely shows the catkins, or flower spikes, of poplar trees covering cars in northern China, not a “rain of worms” as social media posts and some news reports have claimed, experts told Reuters. One tweet saying: “China citizens told to find shelter after it looked like it started to rain worms” has been viewed more than 18 million times at the time of writing (here). There can be thousands of poplar catkins per tree, Claire Thomas Federici, a botanist and plant geneticist at the University of California, Riverside (here), said by email. China has a “distinctively rich” variety of trees in the poplar family, particularly in northern China, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (here), (here). Experts say the video from China likely shows catkins from poplar trees instead of a “rain” of worms or caterpillars.

☆ Iran Protests in Far-Flung Enclave Pose New Challenge to Tehran
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In a remote corner of southeastern Iran, protesters from a Sunni Muslim minority are pushing for more rights and autonomy in a sustained challenge to the government, which had largely managed to tamp down last year’s nationwide protests. On Friday, large crowds of residents of Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, took to the streets following noon prayers to protest against the government, according to unverified footage on social media.

☆ Canada's B.C. province sets high emissions bar for new LNG projects
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Nia Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The entrance to Shell's LNG Canada project site is shown in Kitimat in northwestern British Columbia on April 12, 2014. While the tougher regulation will not impact the huge Shell-led (SHEL.L) LNG Canada project already under construction, a proposed export terminal adjoining the small-scale Tilbury LNG facility and the early-stage Ksi Lisims LNG project in northern B.C will fall under the new rule. The province will start exporting 14 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) when LNG Canada enters service in 2025. "That (net-zero requirement) is a very high bar and a high hurdle to pass," said Mark Zacharias, executive director of think-tank Clean Energy Canada, adding the new framework rounds out B.C. 's new regulations also include an oil and gas emissions cap and plans to accelerate the electrification of the economy.

[1/6] Supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan carry bamboo sticks and slingshots, as they gather and chant slogans, at the entrance of Khan's house, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. Even though there was no police presence on Friday, witnesses said Khan's supporters, armed with batons and iron rods, remained stationed outside his home. The Election Commission of Pakistan had found him guilty and barred Khan from holding public office for one parliamentary term. Khan has said he was willing to submit a written undertaking that he would voluntarily appear before the court on Saturday, but the court said such an undertaking was insufficient. Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan's demands, saying an election would be held as scheduled later this year.

☆ Dutch farmers' protest party scores big election win, shaking up Senate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Dutch farmers' protest party shakes up the Senate in the Netherlands. A farmers' protest party shook up the political landscape in the Netherlands on Wednesday, emerging as the big winner in provincial elections that determine the make-up of the Senate. The BBB or BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer-Citizen Movement) party rode a wave of protests against the government's environmental policies and looked set to have won more Senate seats than Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative VVD party. Rutte's government has not had a Senate majority since the previous provincial elections in 2019 and must negotiate deals with mostly left-wing opponents. BBB won a single Lower House seat in 2021, but its popularity has surged on the back of growing distrust of the government and anger over issues such as immigration.

According to CNBC analysis of state media reports, 7.7 million people took the civil service exam in the 2023 application round, vying for more than 200,000 government jobs at the national and provincial level. Qilai Shen | Corbis Historical | Getty ImagesA record number of people in China took the civil service exam this year, as unemployment among young people soared. According to CNBC analysis of state media reports, 7.7 million people took the civil service exam in the 2023 application round, vying for more than 200,000 government jobs at the national and provincial level. China's National Civil Service Administration could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts by CNBC. However, Xi and other senior leaders did not need to take the civil service exam to gain their current roles.

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