Crypto News: Giving work from home a break

The pandemic is over, but Chinese President Xi Jinping still isn't really traveling. Instead, he's making foreign leaders come to him.

Xi has left China for only two days and hosted dignitaries from 36 nations since January. That flurry of domestic diplomacy sounds substantial after his years-long Covid isolation, but it's actually a decline compared to pre-pandemic engagements when he hosted an average of 48 dignitaries by this point in the year from 2013 to 2019.

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Xi's lingering preference to work from home comes as he faces a slew of domestic challenges that even his precedent-defying third term can't insulate him from.

China's economy is fending off deflation, his protege foreign minister, Qin Gang, has been ousted, and his nuclear-missile force has been rocked by reports of corruption probes. Record rainfall hitting Beijing this week has posed another problem, as officials' calls to prioritize protecting Xi's flagship new city, Xiong'an, have caused outrage among flood victims.

Still, Xi can't stay home forever. A BRICS summit in South Africa this month is expected to be his first overseas multilateral event of this year. Beijing has been pushing for the five-nation bloc to expand beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, with an announcement expected in Johannesburg, though other member states are less keen on the idea.

A bigger BRICS would give Xi an important tool to counter the US. In a larger format, BRICS would start to look more comparable to the Group of Seven major economies.

It would also put Xi in a stronger position going into next month's Group of 20 summit in India that'll likely bring him into President Joe Biden's orbit for the first time since November.

If there's one thing that would inspire Xi to leave home, it's a chance to notch up a win over Beijing's biggest rival. — Jenni Marsh

Xi with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 21. Photographer: Pavel Byrkin/AFP/Getty Images

Listen to our Twitter Space discussion on the signs in China of a significant economic slowdown after decades of supercharged growth.

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Russia is mounting an "assault on the global food system" with its invasion of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a United Nations debate on efforts to combat global hunger. He led a session the US billed as a broad call to address a hunger crisis as demand for food grows and climate change reduces supply.

Russia's commodity export hub in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was closed for several hours today after a Ukrainian drone damaged a navy warship.

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to obstruct the 2020 presidential election and interfere with the voting rights of millions of Americans — a case his legal team said it would "vigorously" defend. The former president remains free while the case moves forward, with the next hearing set for Aug. 28 when Judge Tanya Chutkan intends to set a date for the trial.

Read more about the day the first former US president was charged with allegedly committing crimes in office.

While the UK isn't alone among western nations to be gripped by debates about rising crime rates, more than a decade of Conservative Party austerity policies has eroded visible neighborhood policing and jammed up the criminal justice system. That has put the experience of ordinary Britons in stark contrast to the picture painted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of a country in which crime has halved since his Conservatives came to power in 2010.

Some of the worst religious violence in years threatens to taint Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts as host of the Group of 20 nations to showcase India as a strategic counterweight and investment alternative to China. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims this week left six people dead near New Delhi's international airport, close to where world leaders are set to arrive for the summit starting Sept. 9.

New Zealand will invest in a "combat-capable" defense force and protect its interests in the Pacific as China seeks more influence in the region. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Defence Minister Andrew Little said the country is facing more geostrategic challenges than it has in decades, including "competition in our region which, up until recently, we thought was protected by its remoteness."

Texas disputed claims by the Mexican government that a drowning in the Rio Grande was caused by controversial buoys put up by the state. The US government sued Texas this week over the barrier of buoys the state recently deployed, arguing that the border security measure violates federal law and was installed without authorization.

Tune in to Bloomberg TV's Balance of Power at 5pm to 6pm ET weekdays with Washington correspondents Annmarie Hordern and Joe Mathieu. You can watch and listen on Bloomberg channels and online here.

The son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he would turn over evidence that money from crime found its way into his father's presidential campaign, according to a prosecutor.
US Navy sailors and Marines are in training for a possible mission to board merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz to counter Iranian aggression, according to a US military official.
Two US Navy sailors have been arrested on charges of providing sensitive military information to China in exchange for money in what the Justice Department called a relentless effort by Beijing to get US secrets.

Pop quiz (no cheating!) The US tightened entry rules for citizens of which European country this week? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally ... South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered police to mobilize all possible forces and tighten security after a series of threats to commit copycat crimes were posted on social media following a mass stabbing near Seoul. Police arrested a suspect after 14 people were wounded when a man drove a car onto a pedestrian walkway and went on a stabbing rampage at a department store. Copycat threats were posted online hours later.

Police on patrol after the stabbing rampage. Photographer: Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo

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