China state planner is 'fully confident' of achieving 2024 economic goals
Voice of America
FILE - A man walks by a fruits vendor waiting for customers outside a luxury housing construction site in Beijing, Sept. 24, 2024.
China is "fully confident" of achieving its full-year economic and social development targets, with some funds from 2025's budget being brought forward to support projects, chairman of the country's economic planner Zheng Shanjie said on Tuesday.
Investigators work near a scooter at the place where Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant were killed by an explosive device in Moscow, Dec. 17, 2024.
Officials from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and China pose for a photo before the six-country informal consultation to discuss ways to address shared concerns, in Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 19, 2024. Participants attend an informal consultation among ASEAN member states on Myanmar in Bangkok, Dec. 20, 2024.
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FILE - Debra Tice, mother of U.S. journalist Austin Tice who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012, holds a dated portrait of him during a press conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut on July 20, 2017.
Myanmar's army-appointed Foreign Minister Than Swe attends a six-country informal consultation on the situation in Myanmar, in Bangkok, Dec. 19, 2024. (Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout via Reuters) Group picture taken before a six-country informal consultation on the situation in Myanmar, in Bangkok, Dec. 19, 2024. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout via Reuters) FILE - Gen. Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. Thailand's Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa looks on during a press conference following a 6-Country informal consultation, comprising Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Thailand on the situation in Myanmar, in Bangkok, Dec. 19, 2024.
U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello speaks to VOA, in this screenshot from the interview.
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Palestinians pray next to the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Dec. 19, 2024.
FILE - The American and Chinese flags wave at Genting Snow Park ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Zhangjiakou, China, on Feb. 2, 2022.
FILE - Pakistani military personnel stand beside a surface-to-surface ballistic missile during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad on March 23, 2019. A White House official said on Dec. 19, 2024, that Pakistan is developing missile capabilities that could reach the U.S.
Macao's new leader, Sam Hou Fai, left, is sworn in by China's President Xi Jinping during an inauguration ceremony as part of marking the 25th anniversary of Macao's handover from Portugal to China, in Macao, Dec. 20, 2024.