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Sources

Another Chemical Attack In Syria, Still No Accountability

Victim of April 4 chemical attack
Victim of April 4 chemical attack

Members of the U.N. Security Council will gather today for an emergency meeting following reports of a chemical attack in Syria that may have have killed between 50 and 100 people, including children.

The appalling story is front-page news today in many of the world's newspapers. The chemical attack is considered the deadliest in Syria since August 2013.

France, Britain and the United States have all blamed the Syrian regime. Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French foreign minister, spoke of "a disgusting act," while his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, said "all the evidence I have seen suggests this was the Assad regime ... using illegal weapons on their own people." And Donald Trump described "heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime."

The accused Syrian regime, meanwhile, denied all responsibility.

The three countries drafted a resolution that will likely be put to a vote at the Security Council meeting. But if past experience teaches us anything, Assad's ally Russia (and perhaps even China) will likely answer with a veto.

Commenting on yesterday's attack on a rebel-held town in the northwestern Idlib province, Russia's Defense Ministry rejected accusations of a deliberate chemical attack by government forces. It claimed instead that Syrian airstrikes in the area had hit "a large terrorist ammunition depot and a concentration of military hardware" including "workshops which produced chemical warfare munitions' similar to those used last fall in Aleppo, ministry spokesman Igor Konoshenkov said. The accused Syrian regime, meanwhile, denied all responsibility.

Unsurprisingly, all sides are sticking to their narrative. As the ancient and famous saying goes, the first casualty in a war is the truth. And that is all the truer in a total war like the one that's been unfolding for more than six years now. What yesterday's attack and the reactions it sparked brutally remind us is that the Syrian war won't end until all sides agree to put aside their differences and work together on the country's future. Or until one camp annihilates the other.

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Economy

How A Xi Jinping Dinner In San Francisco May Have Sealed Mastercard's Arrival In China

The credit giant becomes only the second player after American Express to be allowed to set up a bank card-clearing RMB operation in mainland China.

Photo of a hand holding a phone displaying an Union Pay logo, with a Mastercard VISA logo in the background of the photo.

Mastercard has just been granted a bank card clearing license in China.

Liu Qianshan

-Analysis-

It appears that one of the biggest beneficiaries from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to San Francisco was Mastercard.

The U.S. credit card giant has since secured eagerly anticipated approval to expand in China's massive financial sector, having finally obtained long sought approval from China's central bank and financial regulatory authorities to initiate a bank card business in China through its joint venture with its new Chinese partner.

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Through a joint venture in China between Mastercard and China's NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, dubbed Mastercard NUCC, it has officially entered mainland China as an RMB currency clearing organization. It's only the second foreign business of its kind to do so following American Express in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the development is linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting on Nov. 15 with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco, part of a two-day visit that also included dinner that Xi had with U.S. business executives.

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