This is People’s Daily Tonight, your news source from China.
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Global growth to slow in 2019: World Bank
Global economic growth is projected to soften from 3 percent in 2018 to 2.9 percent in 2019.
This, amid rising downside risks to the outlook.
The World Bank said international trade and manufacturing activity has softened, trade tensions remain elevated, and some large emerging markets have experienced substantial financial market pressures.
China's growth is expected to slow to 6.2 percent this year, and East Asia and the Pacific remain among the fastest growing developing regions in the world.
Growth among advanced economies is forecast to drop to 2 percent. (People's Daily app)
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China punishes 51 senior officials over discipline violations in 2018
Fifty-one officials at or above the provincial/ministerial level were punished in 2018, according to China's top discipline inspection and supervision agencies.
The officials were among a total of 621,000 people punished by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission in 2018.
The officials punished were implicated in 638,000 cases, some of which derived from public tip-offs. (Xinhua)
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Trump urges wall funding to fix border 'crisis'
US President Donald Trump urged congressional Democrats to fund his long-promised border wall.
In a televised address, he blamed illegal immigration for what he called a scourge of drugs and violence in the US and framed the debate over the partial government shutdown in stark terms.
In response, Democrats accused Trump of appealing to “fear, not facts” and manufacturing a border crisis for political gain.
The back-to-back remarks by Trump and Democratic leaders appeared unlikely to do much to break the logjam that has left large swaths of the government closed.
Three weeks into the shutdown, the strain was starting to show, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers on track to miss paychecks this week. (AP)
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Australia police examining suspicious packages at consulates
At least 11 international consulates in Melbourne have been evacuated on Wednesday with early media reports asserting that "suspicious packages" were sent to the locations along with written threats.
While Victorian State Police have not yet released any details of the developing incident, hazmat teams and a large contingency of emergency responders have been photographed outside.
The consulates are from the United States, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Pakistan, Greece, Egypt, Indonesia, India and the United Kingdom.
It has also been reported that the Australian Federal Police are now conducting the operation. (Xinhua)
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Chinese tourists travel more; spend more in 2018
Despite talk of an economic slowdown in China, domestic tourists did not cut back on their overseas trips in 2018.
Chinese travelers made 140 million outbound trips.
That’s up 13.5 percent from the previous year’s 129 million.
They also spent more than $120 billion, 20 billion more than in 2017.
Chinese tourists are also increasingly attracted to visit less popular areas such as the Antarctic, which could attract as many as 10,000 trips by Chinese visitors in 2019. (Global Times)
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China to achieve 6.5% growth target, NBS says
China is expected to attain its economic growth target of 6.5 percent with the economic aggregate reaching 90 trillion yuan in 2018, said Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on Monday.
The 6.5 percent growth rate is one of the fastest among big economies, Ning said.
China's economic aggregate surpassed 82 trillion yuan in 2017, and is expected to hit 90 trillion yuan in 2018, an increase of 8 trillion yuan, and the increment accounts for nearly one third of global growth, according to Ning.
The investment in agriculture, environment and water conservancy rose 10 percent and 20 percent in 2018, Ning said. (China Daily)
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China sees significant drop in gun, explosives crimes in 2018
China saw a drop in gun and explosives-related crimes from January to November last year.
The country’s Ministry of Public Security said China had 42 gun crimes and 39 explosives-related crimes.
The numbers put China on the list of countries with the fewest gun and explosives-related crimes in the world.
Chinese police said they busted over 37,000 cases related to guns and explosives, and arrested 43,000 suspects. (China Daily)
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And that’s People’s Daily Tonight. Thanks for joining us.
(Produced by David Nye and Zhan Huilan)