Mediating in Public and Private: Can Donald Trump Achieve Peace in the Ukraine War?: The prospects for brokering a just peace in Ukraine will depend on the Trump Administration’s willingness and ability to undertake a sustained, focused effort in the coming months. Success will require strategically backing personal diplomacy through incentives and threats, effectively using…
The Annual Research Report on China’s Cultural and Tourism Industries (2024) is unveiled in Beijing on Jan 11, 2024. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
The Annual Research Report on China’s Cultural and Tourism Industries (2024) was unveiled on Saturday at the 751 Library in Beijing to a combined audience of officials, scholars, journalists, and industry professionals.
A signature academic endeavor initiated by Beijing-based think tank Jinghe Institute of Culture and Tourism four years ago, this year’s report was jointly presented by the think tank, Xinhuanet Cultural Industry Research Institute, and Beijing 798 Culture Technology Co Ltd.
According to the launch event, more than 30 scholars spent around three months writing and editing the report, which received the consulship of about 20 industry experts. The full report will be published free of charge later this month to provide valuable decision-making references to individuals working in the cultural and tourism industries.
Fan Zhou, director of the Jinghe Institute of Culture and Tourism and head of the report’s writing team, said the 2024 report focuses on the deep intertwining trend between the cultural and tourism industries and various other sectors of the national economy.
“The close collaboration among the three organizations in producing the report also helps break industry barriers, unify industry consensus, making the report’s summary more comprehensive and its analysis perspective broader,” he said.
Fan Zhou, director of the Jinghe Institute of Culture and Tourism [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
The report comprising five chapters discusses the macro socioeconomic environment in 2024 and provides an overview of the general performance, characteristics of the two increasingly integrated industries, and governmental policies related to them in the last year.
The research summarizes the 10 highlights in the Chinese cultural and tourism markets in 2024 and forecasts the top 10 trends that would probably characterize the two industries this year.
The 10 highlights are as follows. Beijing’s Central Axis gained UNESCO World Heritage status. The Chinese-developed video game Black Myth: Wukong reaped worldwide popularity. Visa facilitation policies inspired “China Travel” to be a buzzword on overseas social media platforms. The Spring Festival was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The social media craze catapulted cities such as Harbin in Heilongjiang province and Tianshui in Gansu province into hot tourist destinations. China’s micro drama market has witnessed exponential growth. Museums retained their appeal to tourists. Popular immersive spaces have driven a deeper integration of culture and technology. China’s first domestically made large cruise ship, Adora Magic City, completed its first trial. The hit mini-series To the Wonder, based on writer Li Juan’s award-winning essay collection My Altay, sparked huge tourism interest in the area located in Northwest China’s Xinjiang autonomous region.
A TikTok user humorously thought of a creative way to cover his school books without spending money and used boxes of items from the householdHis clever cereal boxes book covering idea went viral after he shared it on the TikTok platformThe brilliant idea sparked laughter on social media and inspired others to think out of the box when for school suppliesThe back-to-school financial strain affects many Mzansi familiesA local guy showed off his school books, which he covered with cereal boxes. Credit: Aaron AmatSource: Getty ImagesMany people struggle to make ends meet in January as the stretch from the mid-month pay of December to the end of January gets long, forcing people to resort to creativity and cut corners where they can. One creative guy named @lustrylove left many TikTok users in stitches after showing his creative side by covering school books with empty cereal boxes and saving money in the process. Beating the Januworry woesRead alsoBack-to-school blues: Parent shows Januworry fridge with labelled food for kidThe video begins with a close-up of three schoolbooks wrapped in repurposed packaging from a six-pack of fresh milk, Kellog’s Cornflakes, and Weetbix. The camera shows @lustrylove’s hand as he carefully picks each book and shows its back and front, revealing its beautiful covers, which can be mistaken for food items. Watch the video below: Back-to-school financial strain on parentsThe South African school curriculum is about to commence in just a few days, and many parents are reportedly finding it difficult to cope as prices keep rising while salaries remain the same. Some parents either share their Januworry woes in frustration or humorously on social media platforms, showing that back-to-school preparations affect the majority of South Africans. Local publication IOL had the pleasure of speaking with trade union UASA spokesperson Abigail Moyo, who encouraged the government to intervene in helping struggling families during the back-to-school period. Read alsoSA in stitches over soccer fan’s viral high heel outfit, peeps can’t stop laughingMzansi finds the book idea cuteThe video attracted 801K views, 77K likes, and nearly 1.4K comments from entertained social media users who took to the comment section to applaud @lustrylove’s creativity. Many praised his resourcefulness, with some admitting they would try the book-covering idea on their books.User @Claudine Paulse joked:”The teacher will be full after marking 😂.”User @Tshepang Maluleke”You will write delicious homework.”User @matsiliso_7″I thought you were opening a box of milk 😅 …this is dope.”User @Tebogo”Coolest I’ve seen thus far! I wouldn’t even be mad at my parents 😂User @Rakesia ♡ said: “Wait, this is actually a vibe. You might be on to something.”User @Lisa Sherri Locke commented”Love this 💕 looks super cool.”3 Januworry Briefly News articles A parent shared a video of her fridge with foods labelled as just for the kid to carry at school in an amusing January blues clip. A mom left many social media users thinking she had no January financial issues after filling a trolley full of Woolworths groceries to top up her weekly buy. A TikTok user shared a humourous post joking that people were moving from the Cash Kontant December vibe to seeking money at Cash Crusaders as back-to-school approaches. Source: Briefly News
Tuesday, 14 January 2025, 4:07 pmPress Release: New Zealand Government
Hon Nicola
WillisMinister of FinanceThe latest
NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, which shows the
highest level of general business confidence since 2021, is
a sign the economy is moving in the right direction, Finance
Minister Nicola Willis says.“When businesses have
the confidence to invest and grow, it means more jobs and
higher incomes for Kiwis,” Nicola Willis
says.“The survey shows business is feeling more
positive after a period doing it tough with a period of high
inflation and climbing interest rates now coming to an
end.“Business confidence turning positive for the
first time since June 2021, and only the second time since
2017, shows the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy
is working.“We are doing our bit to support growth
by fast-tracking projects of economic significance, signing
trade agreements, refocusing the education system on core
skills and removing red tape.“There have been three
official cash rate drops since August and annual inflation
is down to 2.2 per cent, providing relief to Kiwis and
lowering the cost of borrowing for businesses wanting to
invest and grow.“Businesses know this Government
has their backs, that’s why more and more of them are
taking heart that the economy is turning a
corner.”Notes: NZIER Quarterly
Survey of Business Opinion release is available here.
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IITian Baba at Mahakumbh: He studied aerospace engineering at IIT Bombay, then turned to spirituality BySanya Jain Jan 14, 2025 08:06 AM IST Share Via Copy Link
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris decided to cosplay as leaders on Monday by giving a briefing on the devastating California wildfires. That’s the thing about pretending, though. It rarely ends well, and things went downhill very quickly. Advertisement ALSO SEE: Joe Biden Uses His Last Foreign Policy Speech to Shamelessly Lie to…
Soodhu Kavvum 2, the recently released Tamil film starring Mirchi Shiva in the lead role, is now available for streaming on Aha Tamil and OTTplay Premium exclusively. The dark comedy drama is directed by SJ Arjun.Soodhu Kavvum 2 out on OTTWe had earlier reported that the post theatrical streaming rights of the latest Tamil film Soodhu Kavvum 2 have been bagged by Aha Tamil. The film is now available for streaming on the platform, as well as on OTTplay Premium app.
The sequel, which is titled Soodhu Kavvum II: Naadum Naatu Makkalum, takes after its 2013 first part Soodhu Kavvum, and follows up with a kidnapping gang who go by their ethical set of rules. Karunakaran, Harisha, Radha Ravi, Karunakaran, MS Bhaskar, Ramesh Thilak and Yog Japee, among others are also part of the film, which is lead by Mirchi Shiva.The 2013 film was helmed by filmmaker Nalan Kumarasamy in his debut, while the second part is written and directed by SJ Arjun. He has written the film along with T Yogaraja. The main cast of the first part do not return for the second part.
CV Kumar, who backed the 2013 film will return as the producer for the sequel as well, under the banner Thirukumaran Entertainment. The technical crew consists of music by Edwin Louis Viswanath. It will be shot by Karthik K Thillai and Ignatious Aswin is the editor.Soodhu Kavvum 2Where to watch Soodhu Kavvum on OTTIf you are a fan of the first part, which starred Vijay Sethupathi, Ashok Selvan, Bobby Simha, Ramesh Thilak, Sanchita Shetty, and others, you can stream it on ZEE5. It is one of the offerings of OTTplay Premium app. The first part opened to positive reviews upon its release.Stay tuned to OTTplay to be updated on everything about films, OTT and world of entertainment.
Game Changer is Ram Charan’s new film, which has been in the making for nearly three and a half years. Finally, it hit the screens on January 10, 2025, as a Sankranthi special. Though the film opened with solid collections on day one, its occupancy dropped due to the dominance of negative reviews online.Game Changer day four collections are hereThe film has now completed four days of its run and has made Rs 8.5 crore net worldwide during this period. With this, the total collection of the film stands at Rs 97 crore. Today, on its fifth day, Game Changer is expected to cross the coveted Rs 100 crore mark worldwide. However, that is not enough, as the film is yet to break even in the Telugu states. Out of the Rs 97 crore, close to Rs 70 crore has come from Telugu collections.
Daaku Maharaaj vs Game ChangerGame Changer needs close to Rs 50 crore more to enter the safe zone in Telangana. While it might achieve break-even status in this region, other areas are likely to face challenges. Reports indicate that the film needs to collect close to Rs 128 crore to achieve break-even status in the Telugu states. As it approaches the Rs 100 crore milestone, it still needs Rs 30 crore more to enter the profit zone. Given the negative word of mouth, this appears to be a challenging task.Game Changer US collections detailsMeanwhile, other Sankranthi releases, Sankranthiki Vasthunnam and Daaku Maharaaj, have also hit the screens with strong word of mouth and are expected to provide tough competition for Game Changer. Directed by Shankar, the film has grossed just over $2 million USD in North America.Sj Suryah in Game ChangerIn the coming days, it will be crucial to see how much Game Changer can earn in the Telugu states. For now, occupancy rates have declined, but as it is the Sankranthi season, the film is expected to attract viewers for the next four days. However, once the festive season concludes, the true box-office potential of Game Changer will become evident.Dil Raju has produced the film, heavily banking on its post-theatrical rights. Amazon Prime has acquired the OTT rights for a substantial price. Stay tuned for more updates on this project.
