- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
China's Xi urges 'all-out' infrastructure push to boost growth
Chinese president Xi Jinping has called for an "all-out" campaign to build infrastructure, according to state media, marking the latest attempt by leaders to boost growth in the Covid-battered economy.
Despite struggling to defeat the country's worst outbreak in two years, the leadership is digging in its heels with a strict zero-Covid policy that involves lockdowns in the biggest cities and mass testing.
But the measures have snarled supply chains and hammered business morale, sending shockwaves through the global economy and markets.
"Infrastructure is an important support for economic and social development," Xi said at a high-level meeting on Tuesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
China's "infrastructure is still incompatible with the demand for national development and security", the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs said.
The meeting identified several sectors such as transport and energy where an infrastructure boost was needed, including the construction of ports and airports.
Recent lockdowns have clogged supply chains and transport networks -- including in the economic dynamos of Shanghai and Shenzhen as well as the northeastern grain basket of Jilin.
Xi's comments are the latest in a series of statements and steps aimed at boosting confidence in the economy and reassuring markets, but traders remained unmoved by the latest sweeping pledge, while a major spending push could also reignite debt worries.
After the 2008 financial crisis, Beijing launched a stimulus package worth hundreds of billions of dollars -- including massive infrastructure investment -- but that piled on the debt for local governments and state enterprises.
With risks to consumption and manufacturing exports, "initiatives to ramp up infrastructure spending are a direct policy tool to lift government spending", said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
But infrastructure is "not a quick fix", cautioned Nomura chief China economist Ting Lu.
"Lockdowns make the task of ramping up infrastructure investment more difficult due to... travel bans and shortage of construction workers in... (affected) areas," he told AFP.
It would also "be unrealistic to expect much faster infrastructure investment growth, and its pace... would only fill a small part of the gap left by slowing export growth, the large property sector contraction and the rising costs of China's zero-Covid strategy," Nomura had said in a recent report.
A.Seabra--PC