Three-minute news breakfast on Thursday, December 26, 2024

The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in Relevant Work during the 2025 New Year and Spring Festival Period".

3) Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development: Continue to strive to promote the recovery and stabilization of the real estate market, and plan and implement a batch of urban renewal and transformation projects in 2025.

4) National Healthcare Security Administration: Has never authorized any social personnel to activate the "electronic medical insurance card".

5) In 2024, national cotton production increased by 9.7% year-on-year, reaching 6.164 million tons.

6) Ministry of Water Resources: Seven situations on the Yangtze River are not approved for sand mining. The "Xuelong 2" and "Yongsheng" ships arrived at the Qinling Station to begin unloading.

7) [Rule of Law] The newly passed Value-Added Tax Law will come into effect on January 1, 2026, meaning that the value-added tax has been upgraded from a State Council provisional regulation to a law. In November, 28,327 cases of violations of the spirit of the eight central regulations were investigated and dealt with nationwide. News extortion and other criminal acts were severely cracked down on in accordance with the law; the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued typical cases. The Supreme People's Court issued guiding cases on state compensation. Zhang Zulin, former vice governor of Yunnan Province, was formally prosecuted for suspected bribery. Wang Xiaojie, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, is under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation. Zhang Kunming, deputy director of the Qinghai Provincial Committee of the CPC, is suspected of serious disciplinary violations and law-breaking, and has surrendered himself; he is currently under review and investigation.

8) [Military] The People's Liberation Army Military Band was invited to Vietnam from December 14 to 23 to participate in the 80th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army. Former Deputy Commander of the Army You Haitao and Commander of the Navy of the Southern Theater Command Li Pengcheng were dismissed as NPC deputies. More than 9.2 billion yuan in "Chongjun Loans" in Ningxia helped retired military personnel start businesses.

9) [Hong Kong and Macao] Some countries have made irresponsible remarks about Hong Kong's pursuit of fugitive anti-China and disruptive elements. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Relevant countries should respect China's sovereignty and Hong Kong's legal system and stop supporting and shielding anti-China and disruptive elements.

10) [Taiwan] Taiwan Affairs Office: Actively explore the "two systems" Taiwan plan and enrich the practice of peaceful reunification. Three Taiwan residents were arrested in Guangdong for suspected crimes of organizing and using religious sects to undermine the implementation of the law. The Taiwan Affairs Office responded to the US delivery of 38 tanks to Taiwan: The US side should earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three joint communiqués between China and the US, and translate its commitment to not supporting "Taiwan independence" into concrete actions. Scholars say that "the mainland will not formulate a timetable for unifying Taiwan within four years." The Taiwan Affairs Office responded: This is the scholar's personal opinion; the reunification of the motherland is inevitable.

1) China extended the anti-dumping investigation period for relevant brandies imported from the EU. A spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress issued a statement on the negative clauses concerning China in the US "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025": We strongly urge the US side to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice, not to implement the negative clauses concerning China in the above-mentioned Act, and not to make repeated mistakes on issues involving China's sovereignty and core interests. Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The 2025 Asian Winter Games are another "two-way journey" for Chinese and foreign people to enhance friendship. Japanese Foreign Minister: Japan will relax the conditions for issuing visas for Chinese tourists to visit Japan. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines condemned the Philippine Secretary of Defense's erroneous remarks on China.

2) The UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime. The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway is fully operational.

3) Biden signed a bill officially designating the bald eagle as the national bird of the United States.

9) Local time December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying 72 people crashed in Kazakhstan, at least 28 survived, and the plane had sent a distress signal.