Three-minute news breakfast on Thursday, July 4, 2024

Xi Jinping and Tokayev jointly attended the opening ceremony of the China-Europe cross-Caspian direct express line via video link. Xi Jinping also met with Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Uzbek President Mirziyoyev separately.

2) Premier Li Qiang emphasized during his inspection tour in Jiangsu the need to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing and promote the vigorous development of specialized and new enterprises.

3) Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: Promoting the 30-year extension of land contracting pilot program to stimulate rural economic vitality.

4) New breakthroughs achieved in the localization of key equipment for China's offshore platform conductor jackets. The world's largest single-unit floating wind turbine has been installed.

5) The National Forest and Grassland Fire Prevention and Control Command Office and seven other departments jointly deployed to strengthen the construction of local forest and grassland firefighting teams.

6) Two departments released typical best practices in curbing food waste, with Beijing, Guangdong, Shenyang (Liaoning), and Yibin (Sichuan) selected. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel, with over 300,000 vehicle trips in 72 hours, has built a 'super channel'.

7) [Rule of Law] Tangshan: 2116 people have been disciplined in the city in 2024, including 90 county-level cadres. A family of four in Changde, Hunan, was murdered due to a neighborhood dispute, including a child. Police: The suspect has been arrested.

8) [Military] A spokesperson for the China Coast Guard stated that on July 2, Fujian Coast Guard officers boarded and inspected a Taiwanese fishing vessel suspected of illegal fishing near Quanzhou. Meanwhile, relevant Taiwanese vessels attempted to interfere with normal law enforcement, and the Fujian Coast Guard warned and expelled them according to law. China and Laos will hold the "Friendship Shield-2024" joint military exercise in Laos in the middle to upper half of July.

9) [Hong Kong and Macau] The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government welcomes the Legislative Council's passage of the Deposit Protection Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2024. The first three visas under Hong Kong's "New Capital Investor Entry Scheme" have been approved. The Hong Kong SAR government will submit a resolution to reinstate the hotel room tax.

1) The United States released a report indicating that China may have established four listening posts in Cuba. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: This is baseless, and even the US embassy in Cuba doesn't believe it. The US military checked the phones of passersby one by one to steal Syrian wheat. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The US should immediately end its illegal presence in Syria and stop plundering Syria's national resources. China and the US cooperated closely, with the US sending a large charter flight to repatriate 116 illegally-entered Chinese citizens, the first time since 2018. The Finnish president said that if Beijing is willing, a phone call could end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: China is not the creator of the Ukraine crisis. A spokesperson for the Philippine National Police said that clues related to the murder of Chinese citizens have been obtained. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: China will continue to urge South Korea to properly handle the aftermath of the Huacheng battery factory fire accident.

2) The western land-sea new channel cross-border highway bus routes have reached 19 countries. World Intellectual Property Organization: China's applications for generative AI patents rank first in the world, six times that of the United States, which is second. China urges Israel to ensure the large-scale entry of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip. The Paris Olympic Village will open its doors to guests in mid-July.

The sentencing in the Trump "hush money" case has been postponed to September. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell says the timing of a rate cut is still uncertain.

4) A Russian deputy defense minister was dismissed for alleged bribery, and several other officials in the Russian Ministry of Defense have been arrested.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Rally party, accused Macron's camp of possibly staging an "administrative coup." The Elysee Palace responded: Calm down.

6) Brazil has designated November 19 each year as "Pele Day".

7) A petition on the South Korean National Assembly's petition website titled "Immediately launch impeachment proceedings against Yoon Suk-yeol" has garnered over 1 million signatures.

8) Japanese citizens strongly protested the government's concealment of sexual assault cases involving US troops stationed in Japan. The latest statement from the assassin of Shinzo Abe: He loaded ammunition the day before and planned to shoot Abe during his speech, originally planning to shoot indoors.

9) The Israeli army claims that at least 900 Hamas militants have been killed in military operations in the Rafah area.

10) Vietnam surpasses India to become the world's second-largest mobile phone exporter. India released preliminary findings of the stampede investigation: Security personnel and the crowd engaged in a shoving match. The Indian stock index surpassed 80,000 points for the first time in history.

5) Yesterday's closing prices:

Shanghai Composite Index 2982.38/-0.49%

Shenzhen Component Index 8760.43/-0.59%

ChiNext 1660.12/-0.30%

Hang Seng Index 17978.57/+1.18%

1) On July 3, over 30 representatives from the new middle class service group in Guizhou visited Wangmo County, Guizhou Province. They first held a medicine donation ceremony, visited Xintun Village, the "home of Buyi ballad singing," to investigate the rural revitalization situation; and then visited Shuniang Embroidery Company, a representative of intangible cultural heritage, which combines traditional culture with the modern market, achieving a win-win situation in economic benefits and cultural inheritance.

2) The book "100 Lectures on the Community of the Chinese Nation in History and Culture" was released in Beijing.

5) The icebreakers "Xuelong 2" and "Polar" were unveiled in Qingdao and opened to the public for visits.

6) Lin Dan, a badminton grand slam winner, posted a message mourning Zhang Zhijie, a young badminton player who died in Indonesia from cardiac arrest.

3) With the continuous rise of the water levels of the Yangtze River and the Han River, Wuhan has closed 78 sluice gates along the river, and over 40% are using aluminum alloy assembled flood control barriers.

7) There will be stronger rainfall in Henan, Shandong, and northern Jiangsu and Anhui. From 8 pm on July 3 to 8 pm on July 4, moderate to heavy rain is expected in southern Heilongjiang, northern Jilin, eastern and southern Shandong, northern Jiangsu and Anhui, eastern and central-southern Henan, central and western Hubei, Chongqing, southern Sichuan, northern Guizhou, northern and western Yunnan, Hainan Island, eastern and southern Tibet, etc.