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China and the United States renewed the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the two governments. On December 13, 2024, representatives of the Chinese and American governments exchanged notes and signed the Protocol on Amending and Extending the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Two Governments, which extended the Agreement for five years from August 27, 2024. (Ministry of Science and Technology)Two States in the United States sued Glock, a gun manufacturer, for ignoring the design flaw that "pistols can easily become machine guns". On the 12th, the prosecutors in New Jersey and Minnesota respectively sued Glock, an Austrian weapons manufacturer, accusing the pistol manufactured by them of design defects and being easily converted into illegal machine guns. According to the complaint, Glock knew this situation for a long time, and continued to sell this pistol to the United States and profit from it, which promoted the proliferation of gun violence in the United States. (Xinhua News Agency)Boosting consumption will be the top priority of economic work. Among the nine key tasks of economic work next year, "vigorously boosting consumption, improving investment efficiency and expanding domestic demand in all directions" ranks first. Among them, "consumption" has been placed in a more important position. The Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that it is necessary to grasp key links to complete the key tasks of economic work next year, and focus on boosting domestic demand, especially consumer demand. Zhao Bo, an associate professor of economics in the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, pointed out that since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the proportion of China's household consumption in GDP has experienced a short-term rise and a continuous decline, and rebounded around 2009, and it is currently maintained at around 40%. Zhou Qingjie, a professor at the School of Economics of Beijing Technology and Business University, said in the article "Paying attention to the key role of household consumption in expanding domestic demand" that according to the internationally accepted national economic accounting system, household consumption is one of the "four pillars" in GDP, alongside domestic private total investment, government purchase, public investment and net export. From the international comparison, the proportion of Chinese residents' consumption in GDP is at a relatively low level. Therefore, in the process of building a new development pattern in China, the effective practice of expanding domestic demand strategy depends more on the "internal" efforts of residents' departments, so that residents can spend money, rest assured and freely. (Securities Times)

Apple is about to switch to self-developed Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips for iPhone and smart home. Apple plans to switch to domestic chips for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection on its devices from next year, which will gradually phase out some components currently provided by Broadcom. This chip, code-named Proxima, has been developed for several years and is now planned to be used in the first batch of iPhone and smart home devices produced in 2025. The internal chips of iPhone manufacturers will be produced by TSMC.Kering's Butterfly Family appointed Louise Trotter as the new creative director. On December 13th, kering and its brand Bottega Veneta announced that Louise Trotter would be the new creative director of the brand. Trott is the current creative director of Carven, and she will officially join the Butterfly Family at the end of January 2025.U.S. policy outlook is uncertain. Lagarde lamented that the EU would "ask for it" for political uncertainty. European Central Bank President Lagarde said that the monetary policy decision of policymakers on Thursday was shrouded in the turbulent political situation in Europe. Although Lagarde did not directly mention the collapse of the French and German governments in recent weeks, she pointed out that it is not conducive to the central bank's decision-making to keep the fiscal plan and election results in suspense. At present, policymakers are still paying attention to the impact of Donald Trump's return to power. "We hope that many things will become clear in the coming months," Lagarde told reporters. "If we have discussed anything in the past two days, it is the uncertainty we are facing, whether it is the political situation from some member States or the US policy."

The Baltic dry bulk freight index fell 0.38% to 1051 points.BMO raised the target price of Chevron from $170 to $175.Guterres: Syria's credible, orderly and inclusive transitional arrangements must be supported. On December 12, local time, UN Secretary-General Guterres issued a statement through a spokesman, expressing deep concern about the recent extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The statement specifically mentioned hundreds of air strikes by Israel against Syria, and said that there is an urgent need to alleviate violence in all aspects of Syria. Guterres said that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement is still valid, and he condemned all actions inconsistent with the Agreement and called on the parties to the Agreement to fulfill their obligations, including ending all unauthorized presence in the separation zone. The statement stressed that while maintaining public order, it is necessary to support Syria's credible, orderly and inclusive transitional arrangements.