Category: Flash News

On January 5th, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a war report stating that the Russian military has taken control of a settlement in the Luhansk region. The Russian air defense system intercepted 8 American Army tactical missile system missiles and shot down 72 drones. The Russian military also attacked multiple Ukrainian military airports, drone assembly workshops, and warehouses. On the same day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released early morning battle information stating that in the past day, the Ukrainian army had repelled Russian attacks in the directions of Volchansk and Kulahovo. The Ukrainian army also destroyed 23 sets of Russian artillery systems, 107 drones, and 3 cruise missiles. (CCTV News)

On January 4th, according to the Associated Press, the state funeral of former US President Jimmy Carter began on Saturday local time, and the Secret Service agent who had protected Carter served as the coffin carrier for the hearse. The hearse will first travel to Carter’s hometown of Plains, passing through important places where Carter lived, lived, and worked before finally arriving at the state assembly of Georgia – Atlanta. On Saturday afternoon local time, the convoy will arrive at the Georgia State Capitol and the Carter Presidential Center for separate ceremonies. From 19:00 on Saturday evening to 6:00am next Monday, Carter’s body will be placed in the memorial hall for the public to come and offer condolences. Subsequently, Carter’s body will be transported to Washington D.C. and placed in the Congressional Rotunda until Thursday morning at 10 a.m. for a state funeral ceremony at the National Cathedral in Washington, where US President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy. In the afternoon, the Carter family will hold a private hometown funeral in Plains and bury Carter. It is reported that Carter’s grave is located in a visible location on his front porch.

On January 4th, a spokesperson for the German Federal Ministry of the Interior told the media that according to the current assessment, the computer system failure at several airports in Germany the previous day was purely due to technical reasons. “So far, there is no indication of a hacker attack or any other information technology security incident.” According to the spokesperson, this interruption is limited to the “information technology network hardware field,” and it is expected that the final elimination of the problem will take a few more days. The spokesperson stated that the German Federal Criminal Police is working closely with relevant cooperating units to restore normal operations and investigate the reasons. (CCTV News)

On January 4th, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released data showing that the China Commodity Price Index (CBPI) for December 2024 was 111.2 points, a decrease of 1% month on month and 1.3% year-on-year. From the operation of the index, it can be seen that due to the deepening adverse effects of external environmental changes and the traditional off-season consumption, the index has experienced a slight correction, but it is higher than the low point of the year, indicating that the overall operation of the bulk market is stable.

On January 4, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Sebiga announced on his official social platform that he had a conversation with Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Feidan the same day, and the two sides discussed bilateral relations, Black Sea security, the situation in Syria and the Middle East, and other issues. Serbiga said that both sides agreed to further strengthen their strategic partnership.

On January 4th, US President elect Trump announced the latest nominations for three positions in the new administration, including former Fox senior news writer Tammy Bruce as the spokesperson for the State Department. Since winning the US presidential election in November 2024, Trump has successively announced his cabinet nominations and the list of key positions has been released. Next, this long list is only awaiting confirmation from the Senate. As Trump begins his second presidential term, over 1300 appointments of officials will require Senate approval. (CCTV)

On January 4th, Serbian President Vu č i ć revealed at a government meeting that the United States plans to impose comprehensive sanctions on the Serbian Oil Industry Corporation (NIS) before January 15th. These sanctions will not only be limited to the financial sector, but will also directly target the company. Vucic expressed concern about this, believing that sanctions could lead to disruptions in Serbia’s energy supply chain and potentially affect transportation through Croatia’s oil pipelines. Vucic stated that if talks can be arranged with the US Treasury Department regarding sanctions against Serbia’s oil industry company, he plans to visit the United States around January 20th. He also plans to hold talks with Russian President Putin around January 27th to discuss a solution.

On January 4, according to the Law of the Republic of Korea on Entry and Exit Administration, foreigners in South Korea (no matter what visa they hold) are not allowed to participate in political activities, except for the circumstances prescribed by law. If violated, it may result in forced deportation. Recently, there have been frequent political rallies such as marches and demonstrations in many parts of South Korea. The Chinese Embassy in South Korea hereby reminds Chinese citizens in South Korea and Chinese tourists visiting South Korea to enhance their awareness of laws and self-protection, keep a distance from local political gatherings and crowded places, not publicly express political opinions, pay attention to traffic control caused by gatherings, and ensure personal and travel safety.

On January 4th, the official Weibo account of Sina Weibo Community Management announced that Weibo will enhance the transparency of its hot search algorithm. Weibo will add concise and intuitive explanatory tags to the top 50 trending words on the hot search list, striving to quickly, lightweight, and easily understandable display to the public the sources of popularity and reasons for being on the list behind each trending word, and add more complaint categories related to hot search terms and content.

On January 4th, Agricultural Bank of China, Minsheng Bank, Qingdao Bank and other banks recently announced a reduction in the commission fee rate for their sales funds, stating that they will offer a discount of 10% to 50% on promotional products in the first quarter of 2025. Regarding the phenomenon of banks lowering their commission fees for mutual funds, Du Yang, a researcher at the China Banking Research Institute, believes that from the perspective of the development of banks themselves, offering fee discounts can attract more investors to purchase public fund products, and by supplementing prices with quantity, improve the level of intermediary business income for banks. From the perspective of investors, reducing the commission rate can to some extent improve the return level of investors purchasing public fund products, optimize the investment experience of investors, and is also an important way for banks to reduce fees and benefit financial consumers. (Shanghai Stock News)