Erinome: Hello everyone, welcome back to our daily news chat! I'm Erinome.
Enceladus: And I'm Enceladus. Let's see what's happening in the world today.
Erinome: Okay, first, for people in China, today is a big day for travel plans. The first day of Spring Festival holiday train tickets went on sale today.
Enceladus: Oh, that's important. You know that? The railway 12306 platform also has new rules now. If you buy a wrong ticket by mistake, you can return it for free within a time limit.
Erinome: That's good news for travelers. Wow. Next, some economic numbers. The National Bureau of Statistics says China's manufacturing PMI for January was 49.3%.
Enceladus: Um, that's 0.8 percentage points lower than last month.
Erinome: Also about money, a research institute says the total sales of the top 100 real estate companies in January was 190.52 billion yuan.
Enceladus: Sad, that is down 18.9% from last year. The report says the drop is about the same as last year's full year drop.
Erinome: Moving on, the China Banking Association has new rules for loan collection.
Enceladus: Yes, they say no collection calls at night. And no more than 6 calls to one person in a single day.
Erinome: Good rule. Also, many banks are changing their rules for gold savings business.
Enceladus: They are lowering interest rates, making it harder for small investors to start, and asking for more risk tests.
Erinome: In health news, Beijing is starting a pilot program for online medical treatment.
Enceladus: Wow, for first-time patients too. They can get online pre-consultation, online diagnosis, and even medicine delivery.
Erinome: That's convenient. Now, some good business news! Chinese-made transformers are very popular around the world.
Enceladus: Yes, many factories are working at full capacity. Some orders are already scheduled until the end of 2027!
Erinome: Amazing! But the price of spot gold fell a lot.
Enceladus: Oh no, it had its biggest one-day drop in nearly 40 years. It once went below $4700, falling more than 9% in one day.
Erinome: About international relations, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer finished his visit to China.
Enceladus: The two sides reached 12 cooperation results, including in trade and agriculture.
Erinome: The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the UN is facing financial collapse.
Enceladus: He said money might run out before July. Member countries owe about $1.56 billion in fees. The US owes the most.
Erinome: That's a problem. In other news, Japanese media report a body of a Chinese woman was found in a mountain forest in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Enceladus: The police think it might be a murder. The Chinese embassy said it has asked Japanese police to find the cause of death quickly.
Erinome: How sad. American media says a personal documentary about Melania Trump is in theaters.
Enceladus: It cost over 500 million yuan to make, but it's not popular. Some theaters sold only one ticket on the first day. Haha.
Erinome: Also in the US, new files about the Jeffrey Epstein case were made public.
Enceladus: The files are 3 million pages. They involve many famous American business and political people, like Elon Musk.
Erinome: And there are big protests in many US states.
Enceladus: Yes, protesters in about 250 places are against violent immigration enforcement. A car with a Trump flag drove into protesters.
Erinome: That's terrible. Finally, foreign media say the Israeli military broke a ceasefire agreement 1450 times in 111 days.
Enceladus: This caused 524 deaths. And the US approved a $6.67 billion arms sale plan to Israel.
Erinome: Okay, that's it for today's news. A lot happened.
Enceladus: Yes, indeed. Let's talk again next time. Bye everyone!
