Xi Jinping

The support package also includes lower down-payment requirements for homebuyers and 300 billion ($42 billion) of central bank funding to help government-backed firms buy excess inventory from developers

From Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to France and former Starbucks CEO's advice to the company to South Korea's illegal short sellers, here's a look at some of the major developments from across the world.

The Biden administration has pointed to wins with China, with Blinken highlighting efforts by China to curb precursor chemicals to fentanyl, the painkiller behind an epidemic in the United States

This is the first phone call between the two leaders after their summit meeting at Woodside in California last November.

Insurance players might have to dole out over $4 billion following the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge, while GameStop has laid off a chunk of their staff on falling revenues.

The meeting began at 11 a.m. (0300 GMT) following the taking of a group photo, the report said. An accompanying video showed the attendees would be sat in a square formation, with the two fully visible sides both set out with seven seats each.

Since 2014, there’s only been one other occasion where an industrial policy slogan has taken top billing. Typically, that slot has gone to pledges about macroeconomic policy.

While it’s unclear whether any new support measures will come out of the meeting, traders are hoping that this time will be different.

The geopolitical benefits are on display this week with Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s first state visit to China, breaking convention with previous Maldivian leaders and handing Xi a victory over regional rival India.

Indians constitute the largest number of tourists in the tourism-dependent Maldives.

Muizzu, who is regarded as 'pro-China', is accompanied by his wife Sajidha Mohamed and a high-level delegation.

The two presidents met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco in November and agreed to cool down the raging tensions between the top two economies of the world.

The appointment was made by Chinese lawmakers, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, on Friday.

During the visit a multi-billion-dollar rail link and mining of rare earth projects are likely to be finalised between the two sides.

Xi, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party, emphasised the need to implement the thought on socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics for the new era.

Xi Jinping, who got a standing ovation, reiterated that China will never pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others...His conciliatory tone was well-received

Central banks are trying to bring inflation further down and a soft-landing doesn’t look certain as yet

Europe's moves saw the STOXX 600 slip from a more than one-month high, Wall Street look set for an early dip, and Taiwan's dollar rise after China's President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Joe Biden agreed to reopen key military communications channels between the two superpowers.

The two leaders also affirmed the need to address the risks of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems and improve AI safety through US-China government talks during their meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.

Clashing economic and geopolitical interests are unlikely to make the Washington-Beijing equation easy and with the US a year away from the presidential election, the relationship will face increased scrutiny at home and abroad