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Venezuela

First Images of Hugo Chavez Since December Surgery

Worldcrunch

The Venezuelan government has posted the first photographs of President Hugo Chavez since his cancer surgery more than two months ago in Cuba. In the images you can see Chavez lying down, surrounded by his two daughters, with signs of a tracheal breathing tube.

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(source: Venezuelan government)

There has been much speculation about the Venezuelan leader's condition, after he was forced to miss the inauguration for his fourth term last month. Venezuela's Interior Minister Ernesto Villegas has given the most recent official update on Chavez's health: “The respiratory infection that he suffered was triggered during his post operatory recovery, and it has been controlled, although he still has some respiratory insufficiency, which is why he breathes with the help of a tracheal cannula.”

[rebelmouse-image 27086310 alt="""" original_size="600x375" expand=1]


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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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