A bipartisan commission recommended people stop referring to China's Xi Jinping as "president" and instead to call him by his party title, "general secretary," the group wrote in its annual report, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Why it matters: The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission reported on Thursday that characterizing Xi as "president" implies he was democratically elected. But the leader's position is the result of "an internal power contest in the Chinese Communist Party," the Journal writes.
The Chinese government is set to eliminate restrictions on foreign ownership of fund management firms in 2020, opening up major opportunities for U.S. and other global firms to capture potentially trillions of dollars in new assets, according to new research from Deloitte.
Why it matters: The Chinese government has been taking steps in recent years to liberalize its capital markets and attract investment.
Israeli and Palestinian officials reached a ceasefire on Thursday following days of deadly cross-border fighting that began after Israel killed a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander in an airstrike.
The latest: An Israel Defense Forces(IDF) spokesman confirmed the ceasefire in Gaza had come into effect. Israeli officials said earlier that forces had "achieved all the goals of its military operation."
Americans continue to rely on their credit cards, while the rest of the world rapidly moves toward mobile payments.
The big picture: China is the clear leader, with nearly half of the population paying for goods with their phones. But the fastest growth in the adoption of e-payments is happening in India.
A senior State Department official has rejected Israeli criticism regarding U.S. assistance to the Lebanese armed forces, as well as the Israeli demand to condition the aid on the Lebanese government acting against Hezbollah’s precision missile factories.
Why it matters: The U.S. gives the Lebanese army around $105 million a year and supports it with training and equipment. Israel is concerned that the Lebanese army is infiltrated by Hezbollah and that any U.S. assistance to the Lebanese army will end up in the terror organization’s hands.
Suspected Chinese hackers breached an influential trade group earlier this year as U.S.-China trade negotiations began to boil, according to a report by Reuters.
Why it matters: The targeted trade group, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), has aided Trump administration officials in organizing events at manufacturing plants across the country, promising to rebuild factory jobs in the U.S.
The Israeli military and militants in the Gaza Strip exchanged fire on Wednesday, beginning a second day of fighting after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The death of Bahaa Abu el-Atta has set off the heaviest fighting in months — and Israel's targeting of the Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed group, comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to paint Iran as Israel's primary nemesis in the region.
Hong Kong closed all schools including kindergartens Wednesday as protests paralyzed the city for a third day, the BBC reports.
What's happening: Many business and some public transport services also closed as riot police clashed with some protesters in parts of the Asian financial hub, Reuters notes.
