BRICS News

The CPJ says that 41 journalists have been killed in India since 1992 [Xinhua]
The Indian Home Ministry on Wednesday issued a directive to state governments asking them to ensure the safety and security of reporters and journalists in the country.
The advisory comes on the heels of the murder of two prominent journalists in the last month alone.
Editor Gauri Lankesh was shot dead by unknown attackers in Bangalore, the Indian press reported on September 5.

Tackling the issue of rising mortgage’s Xi said “houses are for living in, not for speculation”[Xinhua]
The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concludes tomorrow following week-long sessions in which President Xi Jinping outlined his priorities for the next five years.
The Communist Party’s 2,000 delegates on Tuesday inserted Xi Jinping “Thought” into its constitution, effectively making the president the most powerful man in China.

The services sector accounts for almost half of the economy and is the biggest employer in China [Xinhua]
Despite the pressures of having to re-align its economy to meet current day lower commodity demands around the world, the Chinese government has been able to successfully lower the unemployment rate to its lowest level in years.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which kicked off late last week, that the unemployment rate in the cities fell to 3.95 per cent.

The head of the Syrian government delegation to the Astana talks is Bashar Jaafari (C) seen here at Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 21, 2016 [Xinhua]
The governments of Kazakhstan and Russia have announced that the seventh round of Syria peace talks will be held in the Kazakh capital Astana on October 30.
The talks will focus on hostage release and prisoner exchange as well as establishing a mechanism to search for missing persons.

Putin does not agree with Trump’s threats against North Korea, and says such vitriol will add to tensions in the region [PPIO]
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week to enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions on North Korea.
In line with the UNSC resolutions, Putin ordered that increased restrictions be applied to North Korea in the trade, financial, and scientific sectors even though Russia has no existing economic ties to the country.
The UNSC passed Resolution 2371 on August 5 in response to Pyongyang testing two ballistic missiles.

The Syrian army said its soldiers have surrounded Islamic State elements in Deir e Zor along the eastern border with Iraq [Xinhua]
The Russian military says that the Islamic State in Syria has been nearly routed even as the Syrian Arab Army announces that it has retaken yet more territory from the extremist group.
On Tuesday the Syrian Army’s 4th Mechanized Division said it had liberated east Hama city and destroyed the Islamic State’s largest training facility there.

Increased parliamentary exchange can boost economic recovery, intra-BRICS trade and a greater role for emerging economies in the international financial architecture [Xinhua]
BRICS member states at a forum in the the Russian city of St. Petersburg have concluded that they want to strengthen parliamentary cooperation between them.
The parliamentary forum, chaired by China, comes on the heels of the 9th BRICS Summit held in the Chinese city of Xiamen last September.

The upcoming 19th CPC National Congress will have to find ways to fast-track economic reform if the country is to maintain a health GDP growth rate
Xi has increased the anti-corruption campaign while also focusing on poverty eradication [Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has days ahead of the 19th Communist Party (CPC) National Congress called for greater cooperative work to be carried out with non-Communist parties in the country.

File photo of a Marine patrol ship “Haixun 31” sails out of the Chinese port of Sanya for the South China Sea, Feb. 28, 2013 [Xinhua]
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has filed a formal complaint with US authorities in protest of a US naval destroyer crossing into territorial waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea near the Xisha Islands.
“China sent military vessels and planes to investigate and identify the US military ship and warned it to leave,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Wednesday said at a regular news briefing.

China aims to significantly reduce poverty by 2020 [Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called the campaign against poverty the “toughest of all battles” and that the country should exert all efforts to eradicate it.
His statement comes ahead of the UN earmarked International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17.
Two weeks ago, Beijing upgraded a new mechanism to help local governments and municipalities target poverty reduction through a 100-point assessment system that measures the efficacy of funds allocated to this pursuit.