2024

With these accusations flying about around rumours, non-truth and disinformation don't you think a bit of truth is what is needed?

If it was that embarrassing for the BBC not to find such a person, maybe they should have pulled the piece until they did.

As communist China turns 75, can Xi fix its economy ?...by João da Silva, Business reporter

d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2024/10/2024-09-30T152708Z_429419866_RC21BAA09CBS_RTRMADP_3_CHINA-ANNIVERSARY-HONGKONG-DRONES-1200x800.jpg

As China prepared to celebrate its Golden Week holiday and mark the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic, the ruling Communist Party rolled out a raft of measures aimed at boosting its ailing economy.

The plans included help for the country's crisis-hit property industry, support for the stock market, cash handouts for the poor and more government spending.

Shares in mainland China and Hong Kong chalked up record gains after the announcements.

But economists warn the policies may not be enough to fix China's economic problems.

Some of the new measures announced by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on 24 September took direct aim at the country's beaten-down stock market.

The new tools included funding worth 800bn yuan ($114bn; £85.6bn) that can be borrowed by insurers, brokers and asset managers to buy shares.

PBOC governor, Pan Gongsheng, also said the central bank would offer support to listed companies that want to buy back their own shares and announced plans to lower borrowing costs, and allow banks to increase their lending.

The People's Republic marking its 75th anniversary means it has been in existence longer than the only other major communist sate - the Soviet Union - which collapsed 74 years after its founding.

"Avoiding the fate of the Soviet Union has long been a key concern for China's leaders," said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

At the forefront of officials' minds will be boosting confidence in the broader economy amid growing concerns that it may miss its own 5% annual growth target.

"In China targets must be met, by any means necessary," said Yuen Yuen Ang, professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University.

"The leadership worries that failing to meet them in 2024 will worsen a downward spiral of slow growth and low confidence."

On the day of the 75th anniversary, an editorial in the state-controlled newspaper, People's Daily, struck an optimistic tone, recognising that "while the journey ahead remains challenging, the future is promising".

According to the article, concepts created by President Xi such as "high-quality development" and "new productive forces" are key to unlocking that path to a better future.

The emphasis on those ideas reflects Xi's push to switch from the fast drivers of growth in the past such as property and infrastructure investment, while trying to develop a more balanced economy based on high-end industries.

The challenge China faces, according to Ms Ang, is that the "old and the new economies are deeply intertwined; if the old economy falters too quickly, it will inevitably hinder the rise of the new".

"This is what the leadership has come to realise and is responding to."

MI5 have been speaking today, highlighting Russia, Iran and a resurgent IS as areas of concern.


The split of MI5's counter-terrorism work is roughly 75% Islamist and 25% extreme right-wing, although Mr McCallum described a "dizzying range of beliefs and ideologies" as people access a range of online hatred, conspiracy theories and disinformation.


news.sky.com/story/growing-number-of-children-involved-in-uk-terrorism-head-of-mi5-warns-13230236

Ha!🙄

Insincere and creepy nonsense.

Reminds me of the rainbow colours ,boldly emblazoned on the fire engine working on the floods on Tuesday,Stapleton Road,by The Black Swan.

We like sodomites,lesbians and whatever you prefer to do,or suspect you may prefer to do ,with your plumbing.

Sensational!

The fire brigade likes people.

Sodomites? Interesting language.

I understand the individual words but put together in this order in this post they are pretty much indecipherable.

But that would be a tautology as you've included lesbians as a distinct group.

So what?