China Financial News

HARBIN, China, — China's annual Ice and Snow Festival, with its fairy-tale ice sculptures, opened on Friday attracting throngs of tourists who shuffled carefully over the slippy ice and snow and dragged their children in sledges around the park. This year the ice park spans 810,000 sq metres with 250,000 cubic metres of sculptured ice, harvested from the nearby frozen Songhua River, and lit up at night with colourful lights. The sculptures, some a few-storeys-high, featured Chinese-style buildings and bridges, fairy-tale castles, towers and one fashioned after Beijing's Temple of Heaven.

military government has acknowledged that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the northeastern border with China after it was taken over by an alliance of ethnic armed groups it has been battling for months. The Three Brotherhood Alliance took control of Laukkaing late Thursday after Myanmar military forces laid down their arms and were allowed to withdraw, both sides said on Saturday. Photos and videos on social media showed a vast amount of weapons that the alliance claimed to have captured.

online scam operations in another blow to the embattled junta. The military is facing its biggest threat since seizing power in a 2021 coup after three armed ethnic groups — known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance — launched a sweeping October offensive in northern Shan state. Since November people have been fleeing Laukkai town, located in a district bordering China that is run by a Myanmar military-aligned militia and notorious for gambling, prostitution and online scams run out of compounds staffed by thousands of people, many trafficked. The alliance — made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) — said the town was now under their control. «All members from the Myanmar Army's Military Operational Command in Laukkai were disarmed and Laukkai became a clean area where there are no more members of the Myanmar Army,» the alliance said in a statement. It added that scores of junta soldiers, including some officers, had been captured and disarmed. The junta has not commented. TNLA Brigadier-General Tar Bhone Kyaw confirmed Saturday that the MNDAA had taken Laukkai. «It is their land, they got it back now,» he told AFP.

China's envoy's team visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, Maharashtra. In a post on X, Kerala Congress captioned a media report, saying, “Ab Ki Baar Xi Jinping?" However, according to the TOI report, the group of Chinese scholars specializing in Hindi participated in a workshop at Wardha's Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (Hindi University) in Nagpur on December 7th.

Ant Group is closing in on a deal to buy Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay as part of the Chinese financial technology group's latest push into Western payment markets, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to value MultiSafepay at around $200 million, one of the people said. It generates $50 million in revenue, the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Red Sea have thrown global shippers of vital goods for a loop — but it is hardly the only issue that big carriers are facing as 2024 kicks off. Giants like Maersk say the industry, which handles 90% of global trade, faces the possibility of significant disruptions, from ongoing wars to droughts affecting key routes like the Panama Canal. Complex vessel schedules are likely to be knocked out of sync for giant container ships, fuel tankers and other commodity haulers throughout the year.

Taiwan's defence ministry accused China on Saturday of threatening aviation safety and waging psychological warfare on the island's people with a recent spate of balloons spotted near or over the island, days before key Taiwanese elections. The potential for China to use balloons for spying became a global issue in February when the United States shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon. China said the balloon was a civilian craft that accidentally drifted astray. Taiwan is on high alert for Chinese military and political activity ahead of the Jan.

Karnataka makes Covid test mandatory for patients with respiratory illnesses Singapore's OneCare Medical also saw Covid-19 cases stabilising across its 38 clinics. It said cases are less likely to go up significantly again in the near term. “We feel that the ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) has already peaked, so we should see the numbers stabilise and probably slowly come down over the next few weeks, back to the usual baseline numbers," CNA quoted CEO of OneCare Medical Dr Jimmy Chew.

New Delhi: Union steel minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said India becoming a net importer of steel between April and November this fiscal year is not a concern for the government, terming the imports a drop in the ocean of total steel consumption in the country. “Indian steel production has gone up by 12.9% y-o-y (year-on-year). So, more steel is being produced, but the demand is also much more," he said.

(Updated — January 5, 2024 12:02 PM EST)

Two private companies are aiming to get the U.S. back in the moon-landing business, more than five decades after the Apollo program ended

Tesla is recalling more than 1.6 million Model S, X, 3 and Y electric vehicles exported to China to fix problems with their automatic assisted steering functions and door latch controls

By James Oliphant

A spokesperson from the company said the assets in the fund became «too few to keep the fund alive» following investors pulling their capital.

The BLS noted that employment continued to trend up in government, health care, social assistance and construction, while transportation and warehousing saw dwindling total jobs.

Of the firm's 124 equity categories, 19 returned a net negative performance in 2023, with the bottom ten dominated by Asia exposures.

The China State Administration for Market Regulation revealed Friday that electric automaker, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will recall 1.62 million vehicles in the country. The recall follows two others that were enacted in the United States in December.

Sri Lanka has declared a moratorium on foreign research ships entering its waters for a year amid concerns from India over Chinese research vessels docking in its neighborhood. Though the moratorium comes ostensibly for capacity building it is seen as a reaction to growing concerns in India.

establish a correct understanding and cooperation between the two sides is «no longer an option but an imperative» for the world. Cooperation is the «most correct choice for China and the United States to get along», Wang said in a keynote speech at an event to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S.

This new index features a less heavy financial skew, instead aiming for a greater balance, with a higher allocation towards healthcare and new energy companies.

capital overseas, raising hope for the nation’s wealthy as they wait for clarifications from regulators to make similar moves. Premji Invest has received an in-principle approval to set up a so-called family investment fund at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, also known as GIFT City based in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, according to people familiar with the matter. Dozens of applications for FIFs that allow families to make investments across various asset classes and instruments offshore, are still pending, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.