Crypto News: Escaping a painful past

Xi Jinping is trying to turn a corner, showing he's willing to begin putting the stringent Covid Zero policy behind him.

Yet, even as pandemic restrictions are slowly lifted bit by bit, life will return to a very different normal.

Key reading:

For years the Communist Party promised prosperity for its people in exchange for certain freedoms, but that social contract has changed under Xi.

Tough pandemic measures have crimped China's economic growth. Lockdowns that stripped residents of autonomy have hardened the crackdown on political and civic freedoms under his leadership.

The eruption of sporadic but widespread protests in cities across the nation show just how intolerable pandemic controls are to many. While they've died down, the ramifications of this policy are still emerging: China's younger generation is experiencing its first economic downturn, with youth employment levels close to a record low and the private sector offering fewer opportunities.

This rather grim reality is being driven home by the death of former leader Jiang Zemin, who presided over a period of remarkable prosperity and international openness during the 1990s and early 2000s. For all the political fanfare this week surrounding his passing, it's hard to deny uncomfortable comparisons with Xi.

It was under Jiang, for instance, that China joined the World Trade Organization. By contrast, Xi's determination to form an alternative international order is deepening fractures with some Western powers, even as he signals greater international engagement — tentatively planning to visit Saudi Arabia this month and cooperating with Washington's technology curbs.

Like China's rip-roaring markets, Xi may now be trying to put the difficulties of Covid behind him. That's going to be a challenge as the full costs of Beijing's isolation over the past three years have yet to be paid.— Rebecca Choong Wilkins

A demonstrator holds a sign reading "There is faith in our soul" during a protest in Beijing on Nov. 27. Source: Bloomberg

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Boosting protection | US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said strengthening Ukraine's air defenses is a top priority for the Pentagon as emergency power shutdowns were again imposed across the country to allow repairs to energy facilities hit by Russian missiles. Austin condemned Russia's "brutal air attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure" in talks with his counterpart in Kyiv, Oleksii Reznikov.

A third Russian airfield came under drone attack today after Moscow accused Ukraine of carrying out strikes yesterday against two bases used by its long-range bombers.
The Joe Biden administration is convening senior executives from oil and gas companies to brainstorm ways to help Ukraine reinforce its war-battered energy infrastructure.

Brief reprieve | South Africa's governing party will order its lawmakers to reject an independent panel's report that President Cyril Ramaphosa may be guilty of violating the constitution, after he approached the nation's top court to set the damning findings aside. The parliamentary debate on the scandal surrounding a theft of foreign currency from his game farm that could lead to his impeachment was delayed until next week.

More than 200,000 Britons who left the UK labor market in the year to July reported suffering from long Covid. Analysis by the Office for National Statistics sheds light on why so many people have dropped out of the workforce since the pandemic, one of the things that's pushing up wages and inflation. Inactivity has risen by 600,000 since early 2020, with long-term sickness the main factor.

Key runoff | Voters in the US state of Georgia will decide today whether to send Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock back to Washington for a six-year term or elect Republican Herschel Walker. A Warnock victory would give the Democrats 51 seats and hand them an advantage on key committees and make it easier for Biden to make nominations, including within the judicial branch.

Feeling the pressure | UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dropped plans to impose mandatory housebuilding targets on local councils in a major climbdown in the face of a brewing rebellion by Conservative lawmakers. The rollback on a flagship piece of legislation demonstrates how Sunak is beholden to his backbenchers, especially as he seeks to restore calm to government after a year in which the ruling Tories ousted two prime ministers.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama accused the UK government of trying to create a narrative that blames his country for a rising number of asylum-seekers.

Graft charges | A federal court in Argentina is expected to issue a ruling today on a case alleging corruption involving Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. A prosecutor has recommended 12 years in prison and a lifetime ban on political positions for Kirchner, who denies wrongdoing. She is protected by her immunity as a senator from serving jail time, and denounces the case as a political maneuver by the opposition to oust her.

Kirchner in Buenos Aires in December 2021. Photographer: Sarah Pabst/Bloomberg

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The US has proposed selling Taiwan as many as 100 of its most advanced Patriot air-defense missiles along with radar and support equipment in a deal valued at $882 million.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said he expects Biden to announce he's running for re-election after the end-year holidays.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered a spending hike that could see his long-pacifist country's defense budget balloon to near the levels spent by Russia.
Indonesian lawmakers passed a contentious criminal code that outlaws extramarital sex and raises penalties on abortions as part of legislation that sparked violent protests when introduced in 2019.
Biden travels today to Arizona where chipmaker TSMC will announce plans to bolster its investment in the US state to $40 billion and build a second production facility.

And finally ... Humans have loved chocolate for thousands of years. But its production is now linked to widespread deforestation and child labor, posing an ethical quandary for consumers. Clara Hernanz Lizarraga reports about a British startup that promises a guilt-free alternative that can be indistinguishable from the real thing. The company uses techniques employed by vegan food manufacturers to analyze a particular chocolate's flavors and aromas at the molecular level and to identify traits it wants to mimic.