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South Korea will gradually reduce the rice planting area to cope with the decline in demand. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of South Korea said on Thursday that South Korea will strive to gradually reduce the rice field area to solve the problem of declining demand and adopt environmentally-friendly planting methods. Due to the change of diet structure, the annual rice consumption of Koreans has decreased, and the per capita rice consumption has dropped significantly from 61 kg in 2018 to 56.4 kg in 2023. At present, the total area of rice fields in South Korea is about 698,000 hectares, and the government says it plans to reduce the area of rice fields by 80,000 hectares next year. In addition, by 2029, the planting area of environmentally friendly rice will be expanded from 35,000 hectares this year to 68,000 hectares. The government will also allocate 244 billion won (about 170 million US dollars) to subsidize farms that grow strategic crops other than rice, such as wheat, beans and barley, which is an increase from 186.5 billion won this year.Behind the cheers of the shooting of American medical insurance executives: blood-sucking insurance companies and the new threat of "ghost guns", the suspect who shot and killed a senior executive of an American medical insurance company in the streets of new york City was arrested on the 9th. Police said on the 11th that a number of evidences have confirmed the criminal facts of suspect Luigi Man Ghione. After the shooting, the American public's anger against medical insurance companies broke out on the Internet, and the "ghost gun" 3D printed pistol used by the suspect also showed that the problem of gun proliferation in the United States became increasingly difficult to solve. Agence France-Presse reported that since Thompson was shot, the voice of ridicule and satire has flooded the Internet, and the lack of sympathy has become the mainstream sentiment of the public, which reflects the dissatisfaction and anger of Americans towards the medical system. (CCTV)Increase to 6 flights per week. The Shanghai-Riyadh route of China Eastern Airlines will be encrypted soon. It was learned from China Eastern Airlines on December 12 that recently, China Eastern Airlines announced that it will encrypt the direct flight route from Shanghai to Riyadh from 3 flights per week to 6 flights per week from February 21, 2025.

Extremely Yue insiders: Xia Yiping still stays in the company's on-site office and is seeking financing. I learned from the inside of Extremely Yue Automobile that on the morning of December 12, Extreme Yue CEO Xia Yiping appeared in the company's headquarters office. Xia Yiping said that he appeared first to prove to employees that he had not run away, to tide over the difficulties with the company, and second to communicate with employees face to face. "His main task at present is financing, and he is also actively contacting investors for help." Insiders revealed to reporters. (The Paper)Minister of Finance Lan Foan attended and delivered a speech at the launching ceremony of the China-World Bank Group Global Ecosystem and Transformation Center. On December 8, the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank jointly held the launching ceremony of the China-World Bank Group Global Ecosystem and Transformation Center (hereinafter referred to as the Global Center). Lan Foan, Minister of Finance, delivered an opening speech with Peng Anjie, President of the World Bank, and signed a memorandum on the Global Center and an agreement on the renewal of the China-World Bank Group Partnership Fund. Liao Minyi, Vice Minister of Finance, and Philo, Vice President of the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank, made closing remarks. More than 100 Chinese and foreign representatives from more than 20 embassies and international organizations in China, as well as relevant domestic departments and research institutions attended the event. Lan Foan emphasized that in the past decade, the central government has invested nearly 6 trillion yuan to fully guarantee the construction of beautiful China. The "gold content" of China's ecological environment has improved significantly, and the "green content" of its development has increased significantly. At the same time, China has assumed the responsibility of a big country, demonstrated its role as a big country, and achieved a major transformation from a participant to a leader in global environmental governance. China is willing to take the global center as a bridge, share China's experience in ecological protection and development, and embark on the road of green transformation together with other countries.Korean media: South Korea's ruling party has added another person to support the impeachment of Yin Xiyue, and the number of members in favor has now increased to six. According to the latest news in Yonhap News Agency, Zhongwu Qin, a member of parliament of South Korea's ruling National Power Party, said on the 12th that he would vote for the impeachment of the president on the 14th. Yonhap News Agency said that so far, the number of members of the ruling party who have publicly expressed their support for the impeachment of President Yin Xiyue has increased to six.

Citigroup slightly lowered South Korea's GDP growth forecast to 1.5% next year. It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates next month. Citigroup released a report saying that considering the worse economic sentiment in South Korea this month, it slightly lowered its GDP forecast for this year and next year by 0.1 percentage point to 2.1% and 1.5% respectively. The bank slightly lowered Korea's GDP growth forecast for the last quarter of this year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.3% quarterly, and raised its GDP growth forecast for the first quarter of next year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.6% quarterly. Looking forward to the first quarter of next year, the bank expects South Korea to adopt a combination of expansionary policies, including the Bank of Korea's expected interest rate cut to 2.75% in mid-January, and the government's expected additional budget of 30 trillion won (equivalent to about 1.1% of GDP next year). It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates by 25BP each in January, April, July and October next year, and the final interest rate is expected to be 2%.India's NIFTY 50 index fell, with the latest drop of 0.1%.The Sharm el-Liberation Organization said that Syria will form a government led by technocrats, and Abu Mohammad Giulani, leader of the Syrian armed group "Liberation Syria" (also translated as "Sharm el-Liberation Organization"), said in a statement on December 11th that the organization will cooperate with international organizations to ensure the safety of the sites where chemical weapons may be stored. He also said that the security forces during the Assad regime will be demobilized. Giulani also said that he will form a technocratic government, and the current transitional government will be in power until March 2025. (CCTV News)