Recently, on foreign social media, many Americans have complained about the rising cost of living.

An American posted a meal bill on foreign social media, complaining about the current high prices in the United States, such as a sandwich, which costs more than 100 yuan; At the same time, many American bloggers on foreign social media constantly spit out the current living environment, causing hundreds of thousands of comments to resonate.

How much pressure does the American people have on their lives?

The sojourner in the United States said this.

Guo Guojun interviewed several overseas Chinese studying and living in the United States. They said that although the price in the United States has been at a high level in recent years, the situation of "sky-high" sandwiches is not common. Recently, the overall price has risen partially, but most of them are still within the acceptable range.

Mr. Kong, who has lived in Washington for ten years, told Guo Guojun that in and around Washington, DC, the prices of daily necessities and food in large and medium-sized supermarket chains frequented by local Americans, such as Walmart, Target and Whole Foods, increased slightly, and some even lowered the prices of commonly used foods to stimulate consumption. In contrast, the Asian food monopoly supermarkets frequented by Asians and Chinese, such as 99 Dahua and Greater China, have seen a marked increase in food and fresh food prices. This has led to a sharp increase in the prices of Chinese restaurants and take-away vegetables, ranging from 10% to 30%.

Goods sold in American supermarkets. Photo courtesy of Mr. Kong

Wang Jiarui, who has been studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for three years, told Guojun that in Wisconsin, prices are like "boiled frogs in warm water" and "our sensitivity to prices is decreasing due to high prices for many years".

In an interview with Guo Guojun, Ms. Yang, who works for Costco Retail in the United States, bluntly said that in Los Angeles and California, prices have obviously increased recently, especially for a box of eggs, which has increased by about $2. At the same time, she said that there is also a certain gap in the prices of different States in the United States. It may be that there is a certain imbalance between the supply and demand of local related foods, which led to the emergence of "high-priced sandwiches".

Eggs sold in American supermarkets. Photo courtesy of Miss Yang

At the same time, pay cuts, layoffs and rising housing insurance have become increasingly serious, which has also affected the lives of the American people.

According to the report of the Federal Reserve, in the past year, the cost of renting a house in the United States was higher than that in the previous year: 19% of tenants said that they had defaulted on their rent in the previous year, up from 17% in 2022. According to the survey, the current rent cost in the United States is much higher than the overall inflation rate, and the median monthly rent has risen by 10% to $1,100.

Mr. Kong said that in the past 1-2 years, inflation has led to a significant increase in house prices and rents. House prices in some school districts and convenient transportation areas have risen by more than 15%. In addition, daily living expenses such as water, electricity, coal and gasoline prices have also increased slightly, especially the average increase of residents’ electricity bills has exceeded 8%.

On foreign social media, many low-and middle-income Americans express their dissatisfaction with the current living environment. One user wrote: "I’m exhausted, but we shouldn’t go bankrupt because of basic expenses." Another user said: "The rent has increased by 500 dollars since the beginning of this year. In order to continue living in the house, I have to work two jobs at the same time."

Inflation in the United States has slowed down but remains stubborn

Recently, inflation in the United States has dropped slightly, and it has slowed down for two consecutive months in May.

According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI) in the United States in May increased by 3.3% year-on-year, slightly lower than the previous value and expected value of 3.4%; In May, the CPI increased by 0% month-on-month, which was also significantly slower than the previous value, the lowest level since July 2022.

Although the price pressure in the United States has weakened, different Americans have different views on price perception, mainly because of their different lifestyles, income levels and consumption habits. Some people in the United States still continue to feel the tremendous pressure brought by stubborn inflation.

For example, most Americans say that their financial situation has hardly changed in the past year, and some Americans say that life has become more difficult. According to a poll, nearly half of the people in the United States believe that the recent inflation has made their lives even more difficult. The US media believes that the inflation rate may continue to be higher than the wage increase in the next few years.

The American media reported recently that there is more and more evidence that American consumers are reducing their consumption when facing severe economic obstacles. Low-income Americans are already struggling, and the pain has now spread to middle-income consumers.

This pressure may last for a long time. The American media reported that an analysis of Moneywise financial website based on the data of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Housing Administration and the online real estate service website Redfin pointed out that in the next few years, the inflation rate will continue to exceed the increase of wages in most industries. In the past five years, 97% of the professional wages have failed to keep up with inflation, and waiters are the only industry that has achieved real wage growth.

Inflationary pressure is a long-term problem

On June 12, local time, the Federal Reserve’s meeting on interest rates released the latest statement. The US economic activity continued to expand steadily, employment growth remained strong, and the inflation rate eased in the past year, but it was still at a high level.

Zhang Monan, a researcher at China International Economic Exchange Center.He said that strong domestic demand in the United States has led to an increase in inflation expectations. Despite the recent decline in inflation growth for two consecutive months, the price increases in food, housing, transportation, medical care and other fields are structural and may exist for a long time, which has squeezed the spending power of American consumers.

Zhang Monan said that from the current point of view, the Fed remains in a relatively neutral position. Therefore, on the one hand, promoting interest rate cuts will take inflation into account, on the other hand, it will help the Biden administration to continue to expand its fiscal revenue and expenditure, thus reducing the financing cost of long-term US government bonds.

According to the May retail sales data recently released by the US Department of Commerce, the US retail sales in May increased by 0.1% month-on-month, which was lower than the market expectation of 0.3%, and the previous value was revised down from 0% to -0.2%.

Professor Li Haidong, Institute of International Relations, Foreign Affairs University.China News Service is a through train, which means that inflation in the United States is a long-term phenomenon and cannot be solved in the short term. This kind of inflation is closely related to the existing economic structural problems in the United States. At present, prices in the United States continue to rise, mainly because of the high tariffs in the US foreign trade and economic policy, which leads to the high tariffs being borne by American consumers themselves.

"Blindly imposing tariffs can only lead to inflation; Without tariffs, people will be dissatisfied with the authorities. Therefore, the existing political level in the United States cannot find a satisfactory answer. Inflation will be a long-term problem, and the loose conditions in a short time are not mature. " Li Haidong said.

Although rumors can be analyzed and understood from the etymological meaning and sociological meaning of Chinese, rumors and false information can be regarded as synonymous under legal semantics.

□ The terminology of legislation and judicial documents should be standardized, and "rumours", "false information", "false facts" and "fabricated facts" should be uniformly expressed as "false information" as far as possible. In judicial practice, fabricating (manufacturing) false information and spreading false information can be referred to as "spreading rumors" for short.

At present, there are many crimes involving rumors in China’s criminal law. Among them, the crimes of directly using the concept of "rumors" include the crime of inciting subversion of state power, the crime of disturbing the morale of the military in wartime, and the crime of spreading rumors to confuse people in wartime; The crimes of using the concept of "false information" include the crime of fabricating and deliberately spreading false information, the crime of fabricating and deliberately spreading false terrorist information, the crime of fabricating and spreading false information in securities and futures trading, and the crime of network rumors to stir up trouble; The crime of damaging business reputation and commodity reputation uses the expression of "fabricating and spreading false facts" In addition, it also stipulates that the act of "fabricating facts to slander others" may constitute libel. As for the crime of false accusation and frame-up stipulated in Article 243 of the Criminal Law, although it also has the characteristics of "fabricating facts", its behavioral characteristics are not distributed to the society, but reported to specific state organs, which is not a rumor crime. If the perpetrator spreads the fabricated criminal facts to the society and constitutes a crime, it will be treated as libel. Article 25 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law stipulates the administrative punishment of "spreading rumors". Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Defamation by Information Network issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on September 6, 2013.(hereinafter referred to as "Internet Defamation Interpretation")Article 5 stipulates that "whoever fabricates false information, or knowingly fabricates false information and spreads it on the information network, or organizes or instructs personnel to spread it on the information network, thus causing serious chaos in public order" shall be punished as the crime of stirring up trouble.

However, whether rumors, false information, false facts and fabricated facts in the above specifications are all equal to rumors, whether rumors can be defined as false information and how to identify them are controversial. Modern Chinese Dictionary interprets rumors as news without factual basis. Cihai interprets rumors as unfounded rumors or fabricated news. The academic understanding of rumors is basically based on these two explanations, and a lot of consensus has been formed, emphasizing that rumors are a description of objective facts, not just subjective comments; False information should be related to real life, not myths, superstitions and literary works. However, scholars have different opinions on whether rumors are false information. At present, there are three main viewpoints in academic circles:

The first view is that rumors must be false information, but the scope of rumors is smaller than false information. Some scholars believe that unfounded news is often inconsistent with reality, so rumors must belong to false information; However, news that is inconsistent with reality is not necessarily unfounded, so false information does not necessarily belong to rumors, and the scope of rumors is smaller than false information. Analyzing this view, we can find that there are two essential views: one is to subjectively and intentionally spread rumors as the fundamental condition; Second, it is believed that information spread on the basis of certain real information is not a rumor, so the scope of rumors is smaller than false information. The first view is of course correct. There are no rumors spread subjectively and intentionally. Of course, it is also a rumor in the sociological sense, but it is not a rumor in criminal law. However, it is debatable that some false rumors are not rumors.

The second view is that rumors are not necessarily false information, and that rumors can be false. Some scholars believe that "unfounded news is not necessarily news that does not conform to the facts." Another scholar believes that "falsehood is not the definition standard of rumors, rumors can be false, and its fundamental feature is the unknowability that is different from accuracy". Some scholars believe that the rumor itself may be true, but not necessarily false. Some scholars believe that "the falsity of information is not the fundamental feature of rumors", and the essence of rumors should be "unconfirmed and specious". This view artificially expands the explanation of rumors, and defines rumors as neutral words, which are equivalent to rumors. Its essence is to artificially extract the elements of deliberate fabrication and malicious dissemination of unconfirmed news from rumors, which is stealing the established concept of rumors.

The third view is that rumors and false information are synonyms. Some scholars believe that "both unfounded and fabricated point to the falsity of information" and that "rumors are not necessarily unfounded for false arguments". Some scholars also agree that rumors in Chinese refer to false information; For unconfirmed information, people are used to calling it "rumor" and "rumor".

Most scholars agree with the third view, that is, rumors can be analyzed and understood from the etymological meaning and sociological meaning of Chinese, but under the legal semantics, rumors and false information can be regarded as synonymous. Some scholars advocate that the position should be interpreted based on restrictive theory. Under the semantics of criminal law, rumors and false information can be regarded as synonymous. Some supporters believe that false information in judicial interpretation should be defined as "unfounded" and "inconsistent with the facts". Some scholars believe that under the semantics of criminal law, network rumors refer to false information on the internet, but the concept of rumors itself is ambiguous in etymology. It is suggested that the same meaning should not be expressed in different words in legislation, and the concept of network rumors should be replaced by false information on the internet. It can be seen that although scholars have different concepts in interpreting rumors from Chinese semantics, most of them regard rumors and false information as synonyms from legal semantics.

This paper also agrees with the third view for the following reasons:

First, rumors in modern Chinese semantics have negative meanings and derogatory meanings, and are generally not neutral words that can be equated with "rumors". "Making rumors" is always associated with "making trouble" and "gossiping about right and wrong". Defining rumors as false information conforms to the language habits of modern Chinese and is easy for people to understand.

Second, in law, rumors, unfounded facts and false information are the same thing. Because this is not a philosophical problem, but a realistic legal fact problem. The criterion for identifying legal facts here is whether there is a verifiable basis in reality, rather than whether it is a fact in the long run or from philosophical truth, which is consistent with the purpose of maintaining social order in criminal law. Fabricating and disseminating unconfirmed information also has serious social harm, and it is in line with the legislative purpose to identify it as false information. It is not feasible in law to take the philosophical truth standard as the standard for determining legal facts.

Thirdly, from the description of the criminal law and the public security administration punishment law in China, rumors and false information are also the same concept, and they have the same meaning. As mentioned earlier, the crimes of using the concept of "rumor" include the crime of inciting subversion of state power, the crime of disturbing the morale of the army by spreading rumors in wartime, and the crime of spreading rumors to confuse people in wartime. The crimes of using the concept of "false information" include the crime of fabricating and deliberately spreading false information, the crime of fabricating and deliberately spreading false terrorist information, the crime of fabricating and spreading false information in securities and futures trading, and the crime of network rumors to stir up trouble. The term "fabricating and spreading false facts" is used in the crime of damaging business reputation and commodity reputation. In addition, the crime of libel also stipulates that its behavioral characteristics are "fabricating facts to slander others". In traditional military crimes, the word "spreading rumors" is used in legislation to describe the charges. The author believes that the reason is that there was no such thing as false information in our society at the time of legislation. At the same time, for the sake of simplicity of charges, legislators directly used common sayings in life as charges, and the meaning of the word "rumor" still means "fabricating and deliberately spreading false information".

Fourth, rumors containing some false facts should also belong to rumors. Article 1 of the Interpretation of Internet Defamation defines rumors as fabricating facts or "tampering with the original information content related to others on the information network as facts that damage others’ reputation", which actually refers to some false facts.

It should be noted that it is not scientific to judge false information by the proportion of the information contained in the event or whether it is confirmed. For a major event, even if it contains 1% false components, it may seriously harm the society, because this 1% false component may be the key fact or the fact that people are most concerned about in communication, so as long as it is false information, no matter how much the false component accounts for in the whole event, its own falsehood is 100%. At the same time, it is not practical to judge whether it is a rumor according to the proportion of false components.

To sum up, we should standardize the language of legislative and judicial documents, and express "rumors", "false information", "false facts" and "fabricated facts" as unified as possible as "false information", which can be fabricated in judicial practice.(manufacturing)False information and spreading false information are referred to as "spreading rumors" and "spreading rumors" for short.

(The authors are professors and doctoral students of Southwest University of Political Science and Law)

　　1. From 17 to 19, there was a rare heavy rain and snow weather in the central and eastern regions during the same period in history.

　　Since November 17th, there has been a large range of heavy rain and snow in the central and eastern regions of China, which has a wide range of influence and strong intensity, and is rare in the same period in history.

　　According to the monitoring data, as of the morning of the 19th, there were heavy blizzards in parts of southeastern Heilongjiang, northwestern Jilin, central and southeastern Inner Mongolia, and heavy blizzards in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, Tongliao and Chifeng, Inner Mongolia (snowfall 20 ~ 43mm); Heavy rains occurred in southeastern Jilin, eastern Liaoning, Shandong, central and eastern Henan, central and northern Jiangsu, central and northern Anhui, southwestern and eastern Hubei, northern Chongqing, northeastern Sichuan and other places, and heavy rains occurred in Dandong, Liaoning and northern Chongqing (rainfall 100 ~ 141 mm); The depth of snow in southeastern Heilongjiang, western Jilin and central and eastern Inner Mongolia is 5-10 cm, and the local area is 15-25 cm.

　　According to statistics, the daily precipitation of 243 national meteorological observatories in Liaoning, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan and other places has exceeded the historical extreme in November since meteorological records were recorded.

　　On the morning of the 19th, the heavy rain and snow process was still not over, and the Central Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning of blizzard: It is expected that there will be heavy snowstorms in parts of central and eastern Heilongjiang and central and northern Jilin in the next 24 hours, among which there will be heavy snowstorms in the eastern part of Heilongjiang (20 ~ 23 mm); The depth of newly added snow in the above areas is 5 ~ 10 cm, and the local area is more than 15 cm.

　　2. A new round of rain, snow and cooling weather struck from 20th to 22nd.

　　It is expected that there will be a large-scale rain and snow cooling weather again in the central and eastern regions from the 20th to the 22nd. The specific forecast is as follows:

　　Rain and snow forecast: From 20th to 22nd, there will be small to medium snow or sleet in the eastern part of northwest China, northern Sichuan Plateau, north China, northern Huanghuai and south-central part of northeast China, and there will be heavy snow or blizzard in the southeast of Qinghai, southern Gansu, north-central Shaanxi, Shanxi and northwest Hebei, with 1-5 cm of newly added snow and 8-10 cm of local area. There are small to moderate rains in the eastern part of Southwest China, southern Huanghuai, Jianghan, Jianghuai, Jiangnan and South China, and heavy rains in Chongqing, northwestern Hunan, Hubei and central Anhui.

　　Temperature forecast: From 19th to 23rd, affected by two cold air streams, the temperature in the central and eastern regions will continue to drop, with the temperature dropping by 8 ~ 12℃ in most areas, with the temperature dropping by more than 14℃ in parts of the south of the Yangtze River and northern South China. After the cold air passes, the lowest temperature 0℃ line will be pressed to the south-central part of Huanghuai on the morning of 23rd or 24th, in which the lowest temperature in north and northeast China is-12 ~-8℃ and the lowest temperature in south China and Huanghuai is-4 ~ 0℃. There are 4 ~ 6 northerly winds and 7 ~ 8 gusts in the north of the Yangtze River and the west of the south of the Yangtze River.

　　Meteorologists reminded that the public should guard against the adverse effects of snow and ice on roads caused by rain and snow and low visibility weather on travel traffic; Under the continuous suppression of cold air, the temperature in the south of the Yangtze River and the north will continue to drop in the next few days. Please ask the public to increase their clothes in time, take measures to prevent cold and wind, and beware of catching a cold.

　　(Editor: Su Jessie)

Experts interpret the resolution of 65 nm mask aligner.

Recently, the discussion about "65nm mask aligner" on the Internet is quite enthusiastic, but many comments lack authoritative basis, which leads to many people’s increasingly vague understanding of this technical concept. Some people explain the resolution of 65 nm mask aligner only by "8 nm alignment accuracy", and this simplified treatment deepens the confusion. Fortunately, with the promotion of popular science, the public has gradually reached a consensus: the prototype of the ArF light source mask aligner with 65 nm resolution and 8 nm overlay accuracy is about "XT:1460K" model introduced by ASML Company 20 years ago.

The next question is, can this mask aligner reach a higher level of chip manufacturing node with the help of multiple exposure technology? Looking back on an article published by IEEE in 2008, this paper discusses the challenge of 193 nm mask aligner in alignment accuracy control, and we briefly summarize it by analyzing the data in this paper.

In this paper, a series of mask aligner in ASML are listed, which evolved from dry type (such as 870G to 1400E) to the first generation submerged type (such as 1700Fi and 1900Gi), and their resolution and alignment accuracy changes are shown. In the chart, the blue line at the top represents the mask aligner resolution, which is almost equivalent to the node name of the chip in the era of dry lithography. Obviously, ASML’s XT:1400E dry ArF mask aligner matches the standards of 65nm resolution and 8nm alignment accuracy.

The orange line shows the maximum allowable deviation of registration accuracy at a certain resolution, for example, at a resolution of 65 nm, the allowable deviation is 11 nm. Therefore, the alignment accuracy of 8 nm completely meets the process standard of 65 nm. It is worth noting that before the 65 nm node, its importance has not been paid enough attention because of the large margin of overlay accuracy. When it reaches 65 nm, as dry lithography approaches the limit, the surplus space of alignment accuracy almost disappears.

It should be emphasized that the above registration accuracy standard is based on a single exposure.

In fact, ASML skipped the 65nm mask aligner and directly entered the immersion technology for the mass production of 32nm and 28nm chips. However, historical data show that the company has explored the use of a 65nm dry mask aligner with a numerical aperture of 0.93 to achieve a resolution of 40nm through double exposure technology, which was documented in the IEEE conference in 2006.

It is pointed out that for the 65nm mask aligner with a numerical aperture of 0.93, the registration accuracy required by a single exposure is 8nm, and it is required to be further improved to 5.6nm in the double exposure mode. This means that even the 8 nm alignment accuracy is not enough in the face of the demand of double exposure to 40 nm resolution. Moreover, 40 nm is only the level of a single exposure of immersion mask aligner.

According to the analysis of available historical data, mask aligner with 65nm resolution and 8nm alignment accuracy is mainly suitable for the chip manufacturing process from 65nm to 55nm, and cannot effectively enter the finer manufacturing fields such as 32nm and 28nm through double exposure technology.

　　Cctv newsOn April 23rd, the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism held a press conference to introduce the popularization of scientific knowledge of prevention and control in COVID-19 and answer questions from reporters.

　

　　The reporter asked, Chinese medicine says that "healthy qi should be kept inside, and evil should not be done". For ordinary people, what methods can Chinese medicine provide to strengthen healthy qi and improve immunity in daily life?

　　Qi Wensheng, chief physician of Guang ‘anmen Hospital of Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that Chinese medicine believes that immunity is transferred out, not supplemented. If you get angry, you need to purge fire, and if you have deficiency, you can supplement it. Only when the yin and yang are balanced is the state of healthy qi. The balance between yin and yang is very important.

　　How to keep the balance of yin and yang, and how to keep healthy qi inside? Traditional Chinese medicine believes that there are several aspects: first, to adapt to the climate change of the four seasons, people’s daily life and life should be adapted to the four seasons, aerobic exercise should be properly carried out, adequate sleep should be guaranteed, and clothes should be increased or decreased in time.

　　The second is to adjust emotions. Because the fluctuation and change of mental state will affect immunity, we should maintain a mental balance at ordinary times to avoid the influence of negative emotions such as anxiety and tension.

　　The third is to control diet. It doesn’t mean to eat more and eat less, and the diet should be balanced and not partial eclipse, especially when you catch a cold in summer or winter, you should pay attention to the light and nutritious diet.

　　The fourth is to do some drug conditioning appropriately. If you still feel uncomfortable after the above-mentioned daily conditioning, such as getting angry, dry or unsmooth stool, poor sleep, and no spirit, you can adjust it with Chinese medicine.

　　CCTV News:"Beijing Yanqing" WeChat WeChat official account news, Beijing Yanqing District Center for Disease Control and Prevention informed that on July 4, Yanqing District screened out a case of people who were positive for nucleic acid testing and returned to Beijing after the expiration of entry quarantine. The residence of this person is the commune (hotel) at the foot of the Great Wall in Badaling Town, Yanqing District. At 14: 37 on July 4, the nucleic acid test result was positive. At present, it has been transferred to the designated hospital in the city for isolation treatment.

　　After receiving the report, Yanqing District immediately started the 8-hour working mechanism, and the relevant risk personnel and risk points have been investigated and controlled.

　　Activity trajectory:At 11: 00 on July 1st, take MU5103 flight from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to T1 Terminal of Capital International Airport, and take it to Yanqing’s residence by special bus.

　　At 16: 00 on July 2, I went to the nucleic acid sampling point of Badaling Town Tourism Service Consultation Station in Yanqing District for nucleic acid testing, and then walked back to my residence.

　　At 17: 30 on July 3rd, the nucleic acid was sampled at the nucleic acid sampling point in the southwest corner of the intersection of commercial street in Kangzhuang Town, Yanqing District. At about 18: 00, we went to Kangzhuang Town Grassland Love Hot Pot City (Yangxiezi Store) for dinner. After the meal, walk to Baipinshang Shopping Center, stay for about 20 minutes, and leave the supermarket at 18: 45.

　　Please take the initiative to report to the community (village), work unit and hotel where you live.

　　　

　　Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, December 15th Title: 2016 China Minsheng Hotspot Scan

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhendong

　　In 2016, despite the downward pressure of the economy, China’s investment and guarantee in the field of people’s livelihood have not weakened at all, the first victory in poverty alleviation can be expected, the employment situation is improving, and the policies of education and medical care for the benefit of the people are constantly increasing … … One reform after another has brought people more sense of gain.

　　[Poverty Alleviation] All tasks are progressing smoothly.

　　The central poverty alleviation and development work conference held at the end of November 2015 sounded the charge of decisive battle against poverty. Over the past year, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core, the all-round poverty alleviation network has become more and more dense, and all key tasks in the fight against poverty have progressed smoothly, and good news has been frequently reported in the first year of the war.

　　In order to make the poverty alleviation targets more accurate, nearly 2 million people were mobilized nationwide this year to set up a file for poverty alleviation targets to "look back". A total of 9.29 million poor people were excluded and 8.07 million were re-recorded. Under the impetus of the "five batches" project, all the ex situ poverty alleviation and relocation projects in 833 counties across the country started; Free vocational education and high school education for children from poor families are basically realized; The three systems of the new rural cooperative medical system, serious illness insurance and medical assistance for serious and serious diseases fully cover the rural poor. It is predicted that the goal of reducing poverty by more than 10 million people can be achieved this year.

　　[Employment] Complete the annual objectives and tasks ahead of schedule

　　Employment is the foundation of people’s livelihood. According to the latest data from Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, from January to November this year, 12.49 million people were newly employed in cities and towns in China, fulfilling the target of 10 million people in the whole year ahead of schedule. By the end of the third quarter, the national urban registered unemployment rate was 4.04%, which was lower than the annual control target.

　　It is worth mentioning that this year’s "employment report card" is not only "high in total score" but also "strong in single item". Among them, 5.11 million unemployed people in cities and towns were re-employed, completing 102.2% of the annual target tasks; The number of people with employment difficulties was 1.54 million, accounting for 128.3% of the annual target, reflecting the close connection between ensuring employment and benefiting people’s livelihood.

　　[Education] Formulate ten measures to promote urban-rural integration.

　　Eliminate the plan of large class size, reform the schooling mechanism of children who move with them, build urban schools at the same time, promote the standardization of schools, and implement the preferential policy of rural teachers’ income distribution … … In July this year, the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Reform and Development of Urban and Rural Compulsory Education in Counties", and formulated ten measures, proposing that by 2020, the balanced development of compulsory education in counties and the equalization of basic public education services in urban and rural areas will be basically realized.

　　Promoting the integration of compulsory education in urban and rural areas as a whole is a realistic need to narrow the gap between urban and rural education and complete the task of poverty alleviation through education in an all-round way, and it is also a fundamental requirement for building a well-off society in an all-round way. Reform is a complex systematic project. In the process of implementation, we must strengthen government responsibility, strengthen supervision and inspection, and open social supervision to ensure that every reform measure takes root.

　　Graded diagnosis and treatment alleviates "difficulty in seeing a doctor"

　　In April this year, the the State Council executive meeting determined the key points of deepening medical reform in 2016, including deepening the reform of public hospitals, promoting the construction of graded diagnosis and treatment, and promoting the "transparency" of drug prices.

　　After a few months, the results are bright. The participation rate of basic medical insurance in China is fixed at over 95%, and the serious illness insurance for urban and rural residents has been fully promoted. The number of pilot cities for comprehensive reform of public hospitals has been expanded to 200, the drug supply guarantee system has been further improved, the market-oriented drug price formation mechanism has been gradually established, and the proportion of personal health expenditure in total health expenditure has been declining. More than half of the counties in the country have carried out pilot projects for the first consultation at the grassroots level, and the rate of medical treatment within the county has reached more than 80%.

　　[Pension] policies are intensively introduced to fill the shortcomings of rural pension.

　　China has been in the stage of aging, and "providing for the aged" has increasingly become the focus of social attention. By the end of the third quarter of this year, the number of all kinds of old-age beds in China had reached 6.959 million, with 31.6 old-age beds per thousand elderly people, an increase of 4.3% over the end of last year.

　　Since the beginning of this year, various pension policies have been intensively introduced. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched a pilot reform of home and community care services, focusing on supporting the construction of facilities such as rural nursing homes and community day care centers. It is estimated that about 50,000 beds of various types of care services will be added after completion; The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Guiding Opinions on Piloting the Long-term Care Insurance System" and launched 15 pilot cities. It is planned to explore and establish a policy framework for the long-term care insurance system suitable for the national conditions in one to two years; The Health and Family Planning Commission and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued a notice to identify 50 cities (districts) across the country as the first batch of national-level pilot units for combining medical care with nursing care, and further promote the extension of medical resources to communities and families.

　　[Income] The per capita disposable income of residents and GDP grew together.

　　The data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, the per capita disposable income of the national residents was 17,735 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.4% year-on-year, and a real increase of 6.3% after deducting the price factor. The income of urban and rural residents was basically synchronized with the GDP growth rate. At the same time, the regional income gap is narrowing. From the published data of the first three quarters, the income growth rate in the western region is relatively high, and the nominal growth rate of per capita disposable income of urban residents in Guizhou and Qinghai reaches 9%, leading the country.

　　In November this year, the Central Office and the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Implementing the Distribution Policy Oriented to Increasing Knowledge Value". Accordingly, the income of scientific researchers, university teachers, medical staff and other groups will change greatly in the future.

　　The policy of "comprehensive two children" was formally implemented, and the number of births increased significantly.

　　On January 1st this year, it was officially implemented in the universal two-child policy. According to statistics, the number of applications for birth registration of Chinese citizens has increased significantly this year, and the number of births has shown a significant growth momentum. In the first half of the year, the national birth population was 8.31 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; The birth rate of two children was 44.6%, an increase of 6.7 percentage points compared with last year.

　　The implementation of the universal two-child policy is an important strategic decision made by the central government based on the new situation of China’s population and economic and social development. After the implementation of the universal two-child policy, a large number of families who meet the policy will be released in a centralized way, which also brings challenges such as a significant increase in the number of elderly pregnant women, an increase in maternity risks, an increase in the shortage of pediatricians, and an increase in the pressure on maternity insurance funds in some areas. Relevant departments should step up their efforts to improve relevant facilities and give play to the positive effects of the policy.

　　[Environmental protection] has been improved, and there is a long way to go.

　　According to data recently released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, from January to November this year, the average number of excellent days in 338 cities at prefecture level and above was 80.5%, up 2.6 percentage points year-on-year. The concentration of PM2.5 was 44 μ g/m3, down 8.3% year-on-year; The concentration of PM10 was 79 μ g/m3, a year-on-year decrease of 7.1%.

　　From the data point of view, the concentration of particulate matter in the whole country and key areas has shown a downward trend this year, and the air quality has improved overall, achieving the annual control goal. However, since November, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas have experienced three large-scale heavy pollution weather, and many cities in Northeast China have also experienced extremely heavy pollution weather processes, reflecting that smog control has a long way to go.

　　Speaking of the B-class car market, most people will think of SAIC Volkswagen Passat first. After all, in this market segment, Passat’s spatial attributes can be compared. Unless it is a luxury car, there are really few rivals. In the face of market demand, SAIC Volkswagen Passat is also constantly improving product quality. Not long ago, the 2023 Passat was officially listed. In this regard, what adjustments have been made to this 2023 Passat? Let’s take a look at it below.

　　SAIC Volkswagen announced the official launch of the 2023 Passat, and launched 9 models of 1.4T and 2.0T low-power engine powertrains, with the price range of 18.19-23.39 million yuan. On the basis of continuing the 2022 model, a 280TSI Star Elite version has been added, and two optional body colors, elegant white and crystal diamond silver, have been added.

　　The design has not changed, but only some details have been adjusted. On the whole, it is still quite satisfactory, retaining the original feeling of calm, low-key and luxury. The layout of the front face maintains the original model, but it is divided into conventional dot matrix layout and starry front face. Compared with the 2022 model, the decoration of chrome trim strips is reduced and the simple design style is restored. Matching the penetrating headlight group, daytime running lights extend to both sides of the front face, which has high recognition.

　　The length, width and height of the 2023 models are 4948×1836×1469 mm and the wheelbase is 2871mm respectively. The alloy wheels with 18-inch silver-black two-color design are full of movement.

　　A penetrating taillight group is applied at the rear of the car, and the interior of the taillight is designed with a horizontal light strip. The tail still uses a hidden exhaust system.

　　The interior has not changed, and it is still a family-style design language, calm and atmospheric, with three flat-bottomed multi-function steering wheels. This aspect has changed, and the latest style of Volkswagen has been adopted. 10.2-inch full LCD instrument panel and 9.2-inch central control display screen, intelligently support mobile phone interconnection mapping, voice recognition control, OTA upgrade and so on.

　　According to the different configuration and price of the new car, the seats are made of imitation leather and genuine leather fabrics for everyone to choose from. The electric adjustable seats, front seat heating, and adjustable buttons in the back of the co-pilot seat are the standard of this new car.

　　Section 2023Saic VolkswagenPassatofAdd configuration

　　Elite Edition/Star Elite Edition is equipped with parking automatic folding rearview mirror and ACC adaptive cruise; Deluxe Edition/Star Deluxe Edition adds 360 panoramic images, IQ. Smart car coupling system, electric trunk lid (induction opening), and provides HUD, Harman Kardon advanced audio and lane change assistance system as options.

　　The 2023 Passat is equipped with two kinds of power including 280TSI(1.4T) and 330TSI(2.0T low power). The maximum power is 110kW(150 HP) and 137kW(186 HP), and the peak torque is 250Nm, 320Nm and 350Nm respectively, matching the 7-speed dry dual-clutch gearbox and the 7-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox.

　　Generally speaking, the redesigned 2023 SAIC Volkswagen Passat is a new engine model with a variety of power options. The front McPherson independent suspension, the rear multi-link independent suspension, and the relatively compact chassis enable Passat, which is close to 5 meters long, to stably control the body posture when making an emergency turn. Will you be interested in this 23 Passat? Interested parties can go to the store for a test drive.

　　(Source: Look at the headline network)

CCTV News:In May, many departments launched a "combination boxing" of real estate policies, and introduced a series of optimization and adjustment policies, including the minimum down payment ratio to 15% and the cancellation of the lower limit of commercial loan interest rates. Many cities followed suit, including lowering the threshold, lowering the down payment, adjusting interest rates, and "swapping old for new" policies. Now, one month has passed, what is the effect? On June 23rd, we will pay attention to the recent changes in the real estate market. In Beijing, after visiting the new housing market, the reporter found that with the continuous release of the policy effect, the number of people looking at the house has increased significantly, and the amount of online and offline consultation has greatly increased.

In the sales office of a new house project in Beijing’s South Fourth Ring Road, the reporter saw that many prospective buyers were learning about the real estate situation from the sales staff. The reporter made a rough statistics at the scene. Within an hour, the sales office hall received more than 20 groups of people who came to see the house. Sales staff told reporters that compared with before, the number of people who came to see the house recently increased significantly.

According to the statistics of relevant institutions, influenced by a series of policy optimization and adjustment recently, the number of consultations and offline visits of many new housing projects in Beijing has increased significantly, and the number of visits of some projects has increased by 70% compared with the beginning of the year. At the same time, influenced by the optimization of the purchase restriction policy outside the Fifth Ring Road, Shunyi, Changping, Daxing, Fangshan, Tongzhou and other districts have now become the best areas in Beijing’s new housing market. According to the latest data released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, from May 17 to June 17 this year, 3,147 sets of new commercial residential buildings were signed online in Beijing.

Wang Ruimin, an associate researcher at the Institute of Market Economy of the State Council Development Research Center, said: "I think confidence in the market is a great boost, which means that most buyers who have some wait-and-see mood also actively enter the market, which will also drive other residents to have confidence, and the market transaction heat will increase and become active."

However, after visiting real estates in other regions, the reporter found that not all real estates have seen a substantial increase in the number of visits at present, and there is also a phenomenon of uneven hot and cold between different real estates. The real estates suitable for just-needed and improved needs are obviously more attractive to buyers. In addition, because Beijing’s current policy has only lowered the interest rate of provident fund loans, it has not followed up by lowering the down payment and lowering the interest rate of commercial loans. Therefore, the new housing market is more wait-and-see than the second-hand housing market, and many buyers are still waiting to see more policies.

Hangzhou: Second-hand housing transactions increased significantly.

On May 9, Hangzhou announced the cancellation of the purchase restriction. It has been more than a month since then. What is the effect of the policy? After the reporter visited, it was found that the volume and volume of local second-hand housing belts have increased in different ranges.

Not long ago, Zhejiang Branch of the People’s Bank of China issued the first home down payment and loan interest rate policy. The down payment ratio was not less than 15%, and the first home loan interest rate dropped to 3.25%, both of which were at historical lows, greatly boosting the just-needed willingness to buy a house. Xiao Zhang, who has worked in Hangzhou for four years, has been busy looking at houses in various intermediaries recently after learning that the local mortgage interest rate has dropped sharply.

Statistics from relevant intermediaries show that in May, 8254 sets of second-hand houses were sold in Hangzhou, up 8.3% year-on-year, and the turnover of second-hand houses exceeded 8000 sets for three consecutive months.

Shangguan Jian, dean of RealData Hangzhou Branch, said: "The full liberalization of purchase restrictions has significantly reduced the cost of buying a house, which has played a significant role in helping the whole market."

The reporter noted that the Hangzhou property market, stimulated by the New Deal, recently saw an increase of 20% and 30% in the daily average number of second-hand houses and the number of people who booked rooms compared with those before the New Deal.

He Chenyu, deputy director of the Real Estate Development Department of Hangzhou Housing Security and Real Estate Administration, said: "We have noticed that the leading indicators of the relevant markets are at a high level in the past two years. According to this, it is predicted that the policy follow-up will still have a certain lasting effect and the market will continue to pick up."　

Wuhan: Market confidence has been further enhanced.

Wuhan is the first city in China to announce the reduction of the lower limit of mortgage interest rate after the "New Deal of May 17th". In the past month, with the successive implementation of various real estate policies, the activity of Wuhan property market has been significantly improved, consumers’ expectations have improved, and market confidence has been further enhanced.

In a sales office in Hanyang District, Wuhan, Mr. Xiang is consulting about buying a house. With the new house purchase measures, the down payment threshold is lowered, and he can now replace the same down payment with a larger house.

At present, Wuhan’s provident fund loan interest rate, commercial loan interest rate and minimum down payment ratio are all at historical lows. Affected by this, in the past month, the average daily transaction volume of new houses in Wuhan was nearly 200 sets, which was nearly 20% higher than that in April and nearly 50% higher than that in the first four months of this year.

Compared with new houses, the activity of the second-hand housing market in Wuhan has also increased obviously, and the transaction volume of second-hand housing has exceeded that of new houses for three consecutive months. Many intermediaries told reporters that in the past, the intermediary commission was mostly borne by the buyer, but now it is borne by the seller or shared by both parties, which shows that the market is shifting from the seller’s market to the buyer’s market.

Experts said that with the release of the real estate policy effect, I believe that the follow-up will further boost the market.

Pan Shibing, president of Hubei Real Estate Association, said: "The policy has been implemented for more than a month, and I think the effect is quite obvious. The whole consumer’s expectation has improved, and the market confidence has obviously recovered, including the obvious increase in the whole sales volume. In the next step, the recovery of the entire real estate market will be more obvious, and the confidence of real estate enterprises will be more obvious. "

Shenzhen: The policy effect is still being released.

After the announcement of the "5.17 New Deal for the Property Market", Shenzhen also actively followed up and lowered the minimum down payment ratio and the lower interest rate limit of individual housing loans. The reporter recently visited and found that it has been more than a month since the release of the policy. The current activity of the Shenzhen property market has improved and the policy effect is being continuously released.

Recently, the reporter learned in a real estate agency store in the central area of Shenzhen that since the implementation of the New Deal, the transaction volume of second-hand houses in this store has increased by 52% month-on-month, and the enthusiasm of customers who just need to buy a house for the first time has been significantly improved, especially the number of customers who come to see the house for the first time through online appointment has increased by more than 20% compared with before, among which the growth of customers who just need to buy a house is particularly obvious.

In the interview, many buyers said that the landing of the new policy has reduced the down payment of buyers. Under the condition of limited budget, buyers now have more choices.

The reporter learned from the Shenzhen Real Estate Agency Association that after the introduction of the New Deal, the policy effect of low down payment and low interest rate continued to be released, which not only drove some customers who just needed to enter the market, but also improved the activity of improved housing transactions.

According to relevant statistics, from May 18th to June 17th, 2286 sets of new houses were sold in Shenzhen, up by 3.96% over the month before the New Deal. A total of 4136 sets of second-hand houses were sold, up 2.86% from the month before the New Deal.

　　Recently, Venezuela has welcomed a number of "benefits", the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela have been loosened, the so-called "interim government" supported by the United States in an attempt to replace the current government has been dissolved, and European countries represented by Spain and France are easing their relations with Venezuela. In particular, Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Brazil, have resumed diplomatic relations with Venezuela. These Latin American countries advocate multilateral mechanisms to solve problems and oppose unilateral sanctions and crowding out Venezuela.

　　Local analysts pointed out that there are indications that since 2018, the United States has tried to use unilateral sanctions to force the Venezuelan government to yield and pressure European and Latin American countries to isolate Venezuela, which cannot succeed.

　　American companies resume importing Venezuelan oil.

　　Since 2018, the United States has imposed "extreme pressure" on the Venezuelan government for many years, with the aim of supporting the so-called "interim government" led by Venezuelan opposition leader Guaido. Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on February 24 last year, Europe and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russian crude oil exports, resulting in tight international crude oil supply and rising prices for a long time, which has also brought obvious negative effects to domestic oil prices in the United States. In order to stabilize domestic oil prices, the United States began to take the initiative to contact Venezuela, a major oil producer, to seek the possibility of importing oil from Venezuela.

　　On November 26, 2022, the US Treasury Department announced that in the next six months, Chevron will be allowed to resume its oil exploration business in Venezuela and allow it to import oil from Venezuela. As a result, two oil tankers sent by Chevron arrived at Lake Maracaibo, the main oil and gas producing area of Venezuela, on December 29th last year and January 3rd this year respectively. In addition to bringing naphtha used to dilute heavy crude oil to the joint venture between Chevron and Venezuela’s national oil company, it is estimated that 500,000 barrels of crude oil will be transported to Chevron’s refinery in the Gulf of Mexico. This will be the first batch of crude oil shipped from Venezuela to the United States in four years.

△ Chevron oil tanker sent to Venezuela

　　Francesco Monaldi, director of Latin American energy project of Baker School of Public Policy, Rice University, said that the crude oil production capacity of Chevron’s joint venture in Venezuela was 50,000 barrels per day at the end of November last year, and it is expected to increase to 800,000 to 100,000 barrels per day in the following months. If there is enough investment, the production capacity of Chevron is expected to increase to 200,000 to 220,000 barrels per day in the next two years.

　　Under the "favorable" factors such as Chevron’s resumption of operation in Venezuela, the Venezuelan Petrochemical Chamber of Commerce said that by the end of 2023, Venezuela could increase its crude oil production from the current 700,000 barrels per day to 1 million barrels per day, which would greatly increase the country’s oil export revenue. By the end of 2023, the export income including oil, gold and other minerals is expected to reach about 20 billion US dollars, exceeding the estimated income of 15 billion US dollars in 2022, which will help improve Venezuela’s balance of payments.

　　The process of multi-party game is difficult and tortuous.

　　The recent relaxation of sanctions against Venezuela by the United States is the result of a multi-party game, and its process is difficult and tortuous. Shortly after the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States completely banned the import of Russian oil, resulting in a gap of 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day. In order to fill the gap, the US government sent a high-level delegation to Venezuela for talks with the Venezuelan government on March 5 last year. In the negotiations, US officials mentioned that Venezuela should export oil directly to the United States in exchange for relaxing US oil sanctions against Venezuela, while trying to determine whether Maduro’s government is prepared to keep a distance from its ally Russia in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Plasencia, Venezuela’s foreign minister, said shortly afterwards that Venezuela was ready to sell oil to the United States again, but at the same time, it remained "loyal" to Russia, which remained an ally.

　　Since the end of March last year, Biden’s government has released 180 million barrels of reserve crude oil to the domestic market in the United States. The urgency of the United States to resume importing oil from Venezuela to stabilize oil prices has declined in a short period of time, and the negotiations between the United States and Venezuela have come to a standstill.

　　After temporarily shelving the option of Venezuela, the US government once tried to persuade Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other oil-producing countries in the Middle East to increase oil production. Last July, Biden visited Saudi Arabia. At the beginning of October 2022, "OPEC+"countries including Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates decided to reduce crude oil production by 2 million barrels per day from November until the end of 2022. Biden stated in this regard that the decision of "OPEC+"prompted the United States to reconsider the issue of oil import substitutes, but the United States has many options. The US media subsequently reported that Biden’s administration is considering the option of relaxing sanctions against Venezuela, so that American oil companies can restart oil production activities in Venezuela.

△ "OPEC+"countries hold a meeting

　　At the end of November last year, Biden’s government allowed Chevron to resume its oil exploration and export business in Venezuela, and Chevron quickly sent tankers to Venezuela to transport crude oil. According to American media reports, Chevron was able to quickly resume importing crude oil after obtaining the license, thanks to the company’s preparations as early as several months ago.

　　The analysis pointed out that a series of chain reactions triggered by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the world forced the United States to consider loosening sanctions against the Committee. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently wrote in official website that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has continuously strengthened the right to speak in the negotiations between Maduro’s government and the United States. As the United States demands to cut off Russian oil and gas exports and seek alternatives for Russian oil imports, the United States is giving up its "threatening language" against Venezuela in previous years and releasing more "goodwill" instead. Now Venezuela is becoming a "valuable partner" of the United States.

　　The "interim president" was dismissed because of infighting in the opposition.

　　Just as the United States relaxed its sanctions against Venezuela, both the "interim government" and the "interim president" Guaido supported by the United States had problems: the former was dissolved and the latter was dismissed. In the vote on December 30 last year, the Venezuelan opposition passed the decision to dissolve the so-called "interim government" and dismissed Guaido, the "interim president". Of the four main opposition parties in Venezuela, three supported the above decision.

　　Looking back at history, in May 2018, the current president of Venezuela, Maduro, won re-election in the presidential election, but the United States and some western countries did not recognize the election results and supported Guaido, who was elected as the chairman of Venezuela’s parliament in January 2019, as an "interim president". In fact, Guaido has never actually been in power for a day.

　　After the dissolution of the "interim government", the National Security Council of the United States indicated that the United States would continue to support the "interim government" in whatever form it existed. The State Council spokesman Price said on January 3 that although the "interim government" has been dissolved, the United States still "does not recognize" Maduro’s government and will continue to maintain the existing sanctions.

　　Compared with the tough stance of the United States, Venezuelan President Maduro said on January 1 this year that Venezuela is "fully prepared to take measures to normalize relations with the United States". Maduro criticized the US government’s extreme pressure on Venezuela. He said that the United States has taken measures such as suppressing Venezuela, threatening invasion and imposing extreme sanctions, hoping to force Venezuela to split internally and "arrange a president" for Venezuela from the outside, but these measures have been defeated.

　　However, although the Venezuelan government firmly opposed the "interim government" supported by the United States, it did not close the communication channels with the "interim government", especially on November 26 last year, the Venezuelan government and the opposition made an important breakthrough in negotiations for the first time in many years. The two sides agreed to implement a humanitarian rescue plan worth about $3 billion and continue the dialogue in Mexico. This further strengthened the initiative of the Maduro government.

△ Venezuelan President Maduro

　　Although the United States does not admit its failure in supporting the opposition, many mainstream media have quite consistent judgments on this. The New York Times wrote that Guaido’s dismissal was a major blow to the US government, which has been supporting Guaido since 2019. This clearly shows that the opposition has lost confidence in the goal of "replacing the Maduro government" led by Guaido. German news TV issued a document saying that Guaido’s dismissal means that "the attempt to support an influential opposition to compete with the Maduro government has failed".

　　The Sao Paulo newspaper, which has the largest circulation in Brazil, pointed out that although Biden’s government is unwilling to "recognize" Maduro’s government, it has shown that the US policy toward Venezuela has obvious pragmatism from sending a high-level delegation to visit Venezuela in March last year to allowing Chevron to import Venezuelan crude oil.

　　Some European countries began to ease relations with Venezuela.

　　Over the past few years, many European countries have expressed their support for the "interim government" and adopted measures to sanction the Venezuelan government, while some Latin American countries have also "selected side stations" and collectively put pressure on the Maduro government.

　　Today, these situations are changing.

　　In Europe, European countries have realized the importance of Venezuela since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine led to the energy supply crisis in Europe. French President Macron called for the diversification of European oil imports and the return of Venezuela to the international oil market at the G7 summit last July. Last November, at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Macron met with Maduro, and Macron expressed his willingness to start bilateral cooperation beneficial to the whole region. Recently, the Spanish government appointed a new ambassador to Venezuela to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries at the ambassadorial level in order to coordinate the import of oil from Venezuela by the country’s oil companies.

△ European cruise ships arrived in Venezuela for the first time in 15 years.

　　In fact, European energy companies have started importing Venezuelan crude oil earlier. In the middle of last year, Italy’s Eni Group and Spain’s Lepsol Company imported a total of 3.6 million barrels of crude oil from Venezuela, which was the first time that Europe imported Venezuelan oil in two years. Since then, Venezuela has suspended the export of oil to these two European companies for three months because of dissatisfaction with the settlement method that exporting oil can only be used to pay off debts. Since November, Venezuela has resumed oil sales to these two companies. In that month, 2 million barrels of crude oil were exported to Europe, most of which were received by Lepsol’s Bilbao Refinery. The refinery uses heavy crude oil to produce a large amount of petroleum coke (an important raw material for cement, graphite, steelmaking and other industries), and the petroleum coke production capacity of the refinery can meet the demand of European market by about 5%.

　　Jon Imas, president of Lepsol Company, said that importing Venezuelan oil is not only beneficial to the company itself, but also beneficial to Europe as a whole. In the case that Europe is short of Russian oil due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Venezuela provides another option to supply Europe.

　　Just as some European countries eased relations with Venezuela and increased imports of Venezuelan oil. On January 3, a cruise ship from Europe docked in Venezuela, and nearly 500 passengers from France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Italy visited Venezuela for the first time in 15 years.

　　Latin American countries move closer to Venezuela

　　At the level of Latin American countries, cracks have appeared within the Lima Group. The Lima Group was founded in Lima, Peru in 2017 by 12 Latin American countries including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, with the aim of trying to solve the Venezuelan crisis by peaceful means. At the beginning of the establishment of Lima Group, many member countries boycotted the current Venezuelan government and supported the United States’ practice of excluding Venezuela from attending the Summit of the Americas.

△ Colombian President petro and Venezuelan President Maduro met for the first time in three years

　　Now, the situation has changed. Peru recognized the Maduro government in 2021, while Argentina and Mexico announced their withdrawal from the Lima Group in 2021. On the other hand, after the new President petro took office, Colombian neighbors quickly resumed diplomatic relations with Venezuela at the ambassadorial level, lifted the border blockade, and achieved the first meeting between the two presidents in three years. In Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, Lula officially became president on January 1, which not only ordered the lifting of the ban on the entry of President Maduro into Brazil, but also restored diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between the two countries. (General Station reporter Lei Xiangping)