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☆ At the China-Russia Border, the Xi-Putin Partnership Shows Signs of Fraying
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Brian Spegele | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HEIHE, China—Years of investment in cities along the China-Russia border were intended to open the door to mutual prosperity and close partnership between the two global powers. The potholed streets, stray dogs and empty storefronts of Heihe, on the border in China’s far north, are more reminiscent of a declining U.S. Rust-Belt city. The city’s International Trade Center, a three-story shopping complex, was once popular with Russian shoppers looking for furs, leather coats and shoes. Now, stores covering only half the ground floor are open for business.

Kishida said there were four "pillars" to Japan's new Indo-Pacific plan: maintaining peace, dealing with new global issues in cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries, achieving global connectivity through various platforms, and ensuring the safety of the open seas and skies. Japan pledged $75 billion to the region by 2030 via private investment and yen loans and by ramping up aid through official governmental assistance and grants. "We plan to expand the cooperation of the free and open Indo-Pacific framework," Kishida told the Indian Council of World Affairs. China has ramped up its military presence in the Indo-Pacific and rapidly modernised its navy while promoting its Belt and Road Initiative. "Giving voice to the priorities of the Global South is an important pillar of our G20 presidency," Modi said after his talks with Kishida.

☆ South African authorities arrest 87 ahead of anti-government protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, March 20 (Reuters) - South African security forces said on Monday that 87 people had been arrested in the last 12 hours across the country over public violence ahead of planned protests by the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party. The EFF has called for a national shutdown to protest crippling power cuts and demand the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa. The party's main constituency are the poor and working class Black South Africans who feel left out of the country's prosperity since the governing African National Congress (ANC) ended white minority rule in 1994. Parliament said in a statement on Sunday that the South African military would deploy 3,474 troops for a month until April 17 to prevent and combat crime in cooperation with the police. "Law enforcement officers are on high alert and will continue to prevent and combat any acts of criminality," NatJOINTS said.

☆ The Xi-Putin ‘No Limits’ Partnership Is Undercut by Frayed Economic Ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Brian Spegele | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Italy pushing IMF to help Tunisia and avoid instability, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

However, Tajani has spoken to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and urged her to show flexibility to stave off possible financial collapse. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also "working the phones", one official said, warning that Italy faced an "invasion of migrants" in the coming months if Tunisia did not get the money. "Uncontrolled irregular migration can only be reduced by improving the conditions of security and economic stability," Tajani said, adding that Italy was looking to boost training opportunities for Tunisians as an alternative to migration. Of the arrivals this year to Italy, the top country of origin is Ivory Coast (3,223), followed by Guinea (2,906). "The stability and prosperity of Tunisia, with respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, are crucial for the stability of the entire Mediterranean region," Tajani said.

☆ Conservatives scoff at Trump's 'leftist plan' to build 10 new American cities featuring flying cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump recently announced a plan to build up to 10 new American cities on federal land. But some right-wing critics have attacked it as a "leftist plan" to create walkable "15-minute cities." Fox News left its in-house comedian, Greg Gutfeld, to handle the coverage of Freedom Cities. A conservative member of the UK parliament recently called 15-minute cities an "international socialist concept" that "would take away your personal freedoms." But Freedom Cities don't sound like 15-minute cities at all.

☆ These stocks are table-pounding buys as bank fears linger, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Wall Street analysts unveiled a slew of must-own stocks this week even as bank and macroeconomic worries permeate the market. While some investors might be distracted by the ongoing financial turmoil, analysts say there are plenty of quality buying opportunities. They include: TrueCar, Apple, Progressive, Academy Sports and Prosperity Bancshares. Apple Morgan Stanley is doubling down on Apple shares. Apple shares are up almost 20% since the start of the year.

☆ The history of the swastika: From a sign of luck and fortune to a symbol of evil
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The statue was discovered alongside a range of "phallic objects," suggesting the swastika was used as a good luck symbol to invite fertility. Swastika in EuropeWorshipers of the Norse religion used the swastika symbol as early as 401 AD. US art director Steven Heller, author of "Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption?" Co-opted by the NazisSome researchers believe that people of Aryan culture used the symbol as a sign of luck and prosperity. Sheetal Deo and her husband, Sanmeet Deo, hold a Hindu swastika symbol in their home in Syosset, N.Y., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022.

☆ Beijing may allow foreign financial firms to list in China - ex-finance minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, March 18 (Reuters) - China will encourage foreign capital to participate in its financial markets and may allow foreign-funded financial institutions to go public in the country when "conditions are ripe", local media quoted a former finance minister as saying on Saturday. China has been stepping up efforts to woo foreign companies and investors to aid an economic recovery after the dismantling of its zero-COVID policy late last year. It has sped up fund license approvals for foreign asset managers in recent months. Lou also commented on the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, saying Chinese authorities attached great importance to preventing and resolving systemic risks and were trying to improve financial supervision with the creation of a new financial regulatory body. "We will also continue to cooperate with the financial regulatory agencies of other countries to jointly prevent and resolve systemic risks in the global financial system and maintain the stability and prosperity of the global financial market," he added, according to the newspaper.

☆ Australia report calls for tax, migration reforms as productivity stalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, March 17 (Reuters) - Australia's Productivity Commission called on the federal government on Friday to improve tax and migration systems, remove import tariffs and secure net-zero carbon emissions at the lowest cost to boost stalling economic productivity. The report titled "Advancing Prosperity" and produced once every five years, made 71 recommendations, while warning that the country's low productivity growth, which has hit the slowest since the 1970s, would curtail long-term prosperity. "Lifting Australia's productivity growth will involve a combination of economy-wide and structural reforms, in addition to targeted policies in particular sectors to push Australian industries closer to the global frontier," said the report. "The Albanese government takes the productivity challenge seriously which is why we've committed to a range of productivity-enhancing investments and reforms," said Chalmers in a statement on Friday. Chalmers said the government would not be taking up every single recommendation from the report, but that government plans are aligned with the proposed themes.

☆ Putin tells Russia's billionaires to put patriotism before profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a forum of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) in Moscow, Russia, March 16, 2023. MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin urged Russia's billionaires on Thursday to put patriotism before profit, telling them to invest at home to shore up the economy in the face of Western sanctions. Addressing Russia's business elite in person for the first time since the day he sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, Putin told them their role was not just to make money but to support society. Last month he told business leaders that ordinary Russians had no sympathy for the confiscation of their yachts and palaces. ECONOMY RESISTS SANCTIONSThe president said on Thursday that what he called an attempt to destroy Russia's economy with sanctions had failed.

☆ Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey, who is worth $75 million, says that business is 'judged and attacked' by society. 'We are the real value creators in the world.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey thinks business is "judged and attacked" by society. Mackey spoke at a conference, in one of his first appearances since stepping down as Whole Foods CEO. "I always felt that business is misunderstood by society," Mackey said during the presentation, according to industry publication Baking Business. "Entrepreneurs are the true heroes in a free-enterprise economy, driving progress in business, society, and the world," he wrote. Now, he plans to start a chain of health restaurants in Southern California called Love.Life!, according to Baking Business.

☆ Nepal seeks easier trade access to Chinese markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Beijing accounts for 14% of Nepal's international trade while India holds nearly two-thirds of it, trade officials said. Beijing will also help Nepal construct a trans-Himalayan railway network linking Kathmandu with the Tibet region of China. He had requested China to give access to "some 512 tradable Nepali products" to the country's duty-free and quota-free market, he said. "Trade is the engine of growth and our future prosperity lies in our capacity to produce and trade more," Dahal added. China allows duty and quota free entry to 8,030 items from least-developed countries including Nepal, officials said.

☆ This Isn't What Millennial Middle Age Was Supposed to Look Like - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +25 min

Things have been difficult for her family, she says, but one thing she isn’t worried about: a midlife crisis, looming just over the horizon. One of our questions was about whether they had experienced a midlife crisis and how they would define the term. Many people said they felt they couldn’t be having a midlife crisis, because there was no bourgeois numbness to rebel against. “Who has midlife crisis money?”The traditional midlife crisis, as presented in popular culture, at least, unfolds amid suburban ennui. We just increase our Lexapro.”Was the midlife crisis ever even real?

Li, installed as premier on Saturday during the annual session of China's parliament, is tasked with reviving the world's second-largest economy after three years of COVID curbs. But he faces challenges including weak confidence among consumers and private industry, sluggish demand for exports and worsening relations with the United States. China's private sector has been rattled in recent years by a sweeping regulatory clampdown targeting some of its most vibrant industries, including the internet and private education. At the opening of the annual parliamentary session, China set a GDP growth target of 5% percent, its lowest goal in nearly three decades, after the economy grew just 3% last year. China's relations with the United States sank to a low after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

☆ A Revolution Is Coming for China’s Families
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Nicholas Eberstadt | Ashton Verdery | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Population trends in China aren’t cooperating with Xi Jinping’s ambitions. The “China Dream”—the Communist Party’s vision of national prosperity and international power—faces stiff and strengthening demographic headwinds. China’s working-age manpower is in steep decline. The country is rapidly graying, and the largely dependent 65-plus population is soaring. In January Beijing announced that the country’s total population shrank in 2022—a decade earlier than Western demographers had been forecasting as recently as 2019.

☆ Britain talking to EU and US over Inflation Reduction Act concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, March 10 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday he was talking to the United States and European Union about the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act amid concern it could make European markets uncompetitive. There are concerns in Europe that the United States' $369 billion of subsidies for electric vehicles and other clean technologies could put companies based on the continent at a disadvantage. Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt has called the act a "very real competitive threat." Asked if the U.S. measures could drive investment away from Britain and into the United States, Sunak said "my general view is that it's better for all of us to maintain free and open markets." Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William JamesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ House Republicans target the CFPB as the agency takes aim at 'junk fees'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers discussed ways to reform, or altogether defund, the nation's foremost consumer protection agency on Thursday, as the regulator takes aim at illegal "junk fees" levied on consumers. GOP lawmakers in the hearing criticized the Biden administration's push to eradicate "junk fees," largely regulated by the CFPB. On Wednesday, the agency released a list of illegal junk fees encompassing deposit accounts; auto and mortgage loan servicing; and payday and title lending. Subcommittee member Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., said Chopra has used junk fees as an excuse to expand his authority. The CFPB's working definition of junk fees is "any fee they don't like," argued Devin Watkins, an attorney at the conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute.

☆ Google to launch fund to support Taiwan's media outlets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Google has come under pressure in some countries to negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content, though not in Taiwan. Google said it will pay local publishers through what it calls a "Taiwan News Digital Co-prosperity Fund" to strengthen their digital publishing capability. The fund will help Taiwan local media "hone digital skills, gain expertise and support the sustainable development of Taiwan's news industry", the company said. "Even while Google faces many challenges in the overall international environment, Taiwan remains a crucial global stronghold," Tina Lin, managing director of sales and operations at Google Taiwan, told reporters in Taipei. Google said Taiwan's media industry has been facing major competitive challenges in adapting to the digital age, pointing out that advertising revenues for traditional media outlets have dropped 70% from 2003 to 2020.

☆ In economics, women's voices still struggle to be heard
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Maria Martinez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

There seems to be a lot to celebrate on International Women's Day in the field of economics. Women head the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the U.S. Treasury and the European Central Bank. "The pervasive underrepresentation of women in economics is systemic and structural," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman to head the World Trade Organization, told Reuters. "There are no women in the textbooks and most big names in economics are men," said Sandra Kretschmer, economics researcher and member of the Women in Economics Initiative. Women and men tend to have different research interests, said Alisa Weinberger, economics researcher at Goethe.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Wagner mercenaries claim control of Bakhmut's east
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FIGHTING* German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Wednesday warned against reaching premature conclusions on who was responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, suggesting the attack could have been a "false flag" operation to blame Ukraine. * Russian forces made more than 30 unsuccessful attacks over the past day near Orikhovo-Vasylivka alone, 20 km (12 miles) northwest of Bakhmut, the General Staff of the Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Wednesday. * Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the seizure of Bakhmut would allow Moscow's forces to mount further offensive operations deeper inside Ukraine. * Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov urged his European Union counterparts on Wednesday to support a plan to buy 1 million artillery shells to help Kyiv fight Russia's invasion and replenish their own stocks. * External backers pour billions into Ukraine* How has China stood by 'no limits' partner Russia?

☆ Biden to host S.Korea's Yoon for state visit April 26 -White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will host South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state visit on April 26, the White House said on Tuesday. "The upcoming visit celebrates the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-ROK alliance, which is critical to advancing peace, stability, and prosperity for our two countries, the Indo-Pacific, and around the world," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The visit will highlight the United States' "unwavering commitment" to South Korea, she said. The state visit is the second of Biden's administration, she said. Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina ChiacuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NPC 2023: Xi Jinping hits out at US as he urges China's private firms to 'fight' alongside Communist Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“The private sector is an important force for our party to govern in the long term,” Xi said. Business confidence has plummeted following an unprecedented regulatory crackdown on the private sector and increasing uncertainties about China’s future path. Major contributorThe private sector, despite being dwarfed in size by the state sector, contributes more than 60% to China’s GDP and over 80% of employment, according to official statistics. It’s also necessary to protect the property rights of private companies and entrepreneurs and treat state firms and private companies equally, so as to “boost market expectations and confidence,” he said. “[We should] let private companies play an important role in stabilizing employment and increasing [government] income,” he said.

☆ Explainer: What's at stake in Turkey's upcoming elections?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The opposition promises to reverse many of the policies of Erdogan, who has championed religious piety, military-backed diplomacy and low interest rates. WHAT'S AT STAKE IN THIS ELECTION FOR TURKEY ... Erdogan has also centralised power around an executive presidency, based in a 1,000-room palace on the edge of Ankara, which sets policy on Turkey's economic, security, domestic and international affairs. Economists say Erdogan's calls for low interest rates sent inflation soaring to a 24-year high of 85% last year, and the lira slumping to one tenth of its value against the dollar over the last decade. How the opposition will garner support among the Kurdish voters, accounting for 15% of the electorate, remains key.

☆ China's Xi urges private firms to 'be rich and loving' in pursuit of prosperity for all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Yew Lun Tian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Private Chinese and foreign firms have been waiting for Beijing to flesh out details on how it intends to pursue "common prosperity", Xi's signature initiative to narrow China's wealth gap, and how it expects private firms to contribute. Xi also said that private firms should share the fruits of their growth with employees more equitably, in what he called a "community of shared interests". "Be rich and responsible, be rich and benefit others, be rich and loving," state radio cited Xi as saying. He said it is unfair to expect private firms to share the social responsibility for "common prosperity" with state-owned firms, which enjoy privileged access to markets and preferential loans not always available to private firms. "Led by the United States, the West has implemented all-round containment to suppress China, bringing unprecedented challenges to China's development," state radio quoted Xi as saying.

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