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February 8th - The China Earthquake Networks Center officially measured a 3.8-magnitude earthquake in Luding County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province at 14:06 on February 8th, with a focal depth of 10 kilometers. According to the Luding County Publicity Department, the earthquake was felt in the area. The Luding County Emergency Management Bureau is currently assessing the situation, and there are no reports of casualties or property damage so far.

The China Earthquake Networks Center automatically determined that an earthquake of approximately magnitude 4.0 occurred near Luding County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province at 14:06 on February 8. The final result is subject to the official rapid report.

February 8th - Sources in the Indian refining and trading sectors indicate that Indian refiners are avoiding purchasing Russian oil for April delivery and are expected to stay away from Russian oil for an extended period. This move could help India reach a trade agreement with the United States. The US and India have taken a step towards a trade agreement, announcing a framework aimed at finalizing negotiations by March. A trader who has liaised with Indian refiners stated that Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Oil Corporation, and Reliance Industries are currently not accepting offers from traders for Russian oil with loading dates in March and April.

February 8th - Currently, the red envelope codes from Alibaba's Qianwen app and Tencent's Yuanbao can be copied within WeChat. Previously, on the afternoon of February 6th, WeChat "blocked" Qianwen activity codes; some users who shared Qianwen red envelope codes to WeChat found that even after selecting the code, the WeChat page did not display a copy button. Yuanbao codes were also temporarily blocked.

February 8th - "Currently, new funds deposited in three-year fixed deposits can enjoy an interest rate of 1.95%, which just came into effect a few days ago, an increase of about 10 basis points compared to before," a wealth management manager at a Ningbo Bank branch in Beijing told reporters. Recently, reporters visited and contacted several banks and learned that, with the Spring Festival approaching, many banks are launching special deposit and large-denomination certificate of deposit products, and are temporarily raising deposit interest rates.

February 8th - According to China Railway Construction Corporation, China's "undersea space station" has been successfully applied. On the morning of February 6th, the world's longest undersea high-speed railway tunnel made new progress. After 22 days of operation, China's first domestically developed shield tunneling machine with saturated pressure entry, the "Deep-Sea Space Station," successfully completed its debut on the Ningbo side of the Jintang Undersea Tunnel of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway, constructed by China Railway 14th Bureau Group. It successfully carried out shield tunneling operations at a depth of 75 meters in a high-pressure environment, replacing 46 cutterheads. This marks the successful application of my country's independently developed shield tunneling saturated pressure entry technology, breaking through the 60-meter safe operating depth limit and continuing to explore depths up to 75 meters.

The China Earthquake Networks Center officially reported that a magnitude 3.3 earthquake struck Beichuan County, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province at 11:01 AM on February 8th, with a focal depth of 14 kilometers.

The China Earthquake Networks Center automatically determined that an earthquake of approximately magnitude 3.1 occurred near Beichuan County, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province at 11:01 on February 8. The final result is subject to the official rapid report.

February 8th - Danish officials stated on the 7th that despite the commencement of diplomatic dialogue with the United States, negotiations between Denmark and the US regarding Greenland have not met expectations. On the same day, Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen, Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Mozfeldt, and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand held a joint press conference in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, to celebrate the official opening of the Canadian Consulate in Nuuk on the 6th. Mozfeldt said that the current situation has "improved somewhat" compared to a month ago, mainly due to the establishment of direct diplomatic channels of dialogue with the United States, but Greenland has not achieved the expected results in the negotiations. She said, "There is still a long way to go, so it is too early to say what the outcome will be."

On February 8th, Lu Zhe, chief economist at Dongwu Securities, pointed out that from a medium- to long-term price structure perspective, gold has been in a continuous upward trend since 2020, but the recent price movement has changed. The time it took for London gold to rise from $2,000/ounce to $3,000/ounce, from $3,000/ounce to $4,000/ounce, and from $4,000/ounce to $5,000/ounce has shortened, and the price increase slope shows an accelerating characteristic. He believes this phenomenon reflects that against the backdrop of rising macroeconomic uncertainty and increased risk premiums, the way funds price gold has gradually shifted from "trend-driven allocation" to "emotion and expectation-driven," and the price is reacting to positive factors faster than in previous periods. This accelerated price movement, while strengthening the medium- to long-term upward trend, also means increased sensitivity to external disturbances in the short term.

On February 8th, Fujian Province issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development," which proposes to systematically advance the construction of "good houses." This includes accelerating the construction of a new real estate development model and improving the "market + guarantee" housing supply system. The document also calls for implementing a housing quality improvement project to enhance the entire housing chain, from design and construction to maintenance and services, and vigorously promoting the construction of safe, comfortable, green, and smart "good houses." Furthermore, it aims to build a modern industrial system for residential construction. The document also emphasizes steadily advancing the renovation of urban villages and dilapidated housing, supporting the independent renewal and reconstruction of old housing, continuously promoting the renovation of old urban residential communities, and implementing an action plan to improve the quality of property services.

February 8th - Japanese voters will head to polling stations on Sunday (January 22nd) to cast their votes for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government. Takaichi hopes to consolidate her power and secure clear authorization for her spending and investment plans, which have unsettled some investors. Takaichi has stated she will stake her job on the election results and will resign if the ruling coalition fails to win a majority in the more powerful House of Representatives. Takaichi currently holds a slim majority of 233 of the 465 seats in the House of Representatives. Polls suggest she is poised for a landslide victory. The Nikkei reports that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its smaller ruling coalition partner, the Japan Restoration Party, could win over 300 seats. The Mainichi Shimbun states that the LDP alone could win 300 seats, meaning the ruling coalition could secure two-thirds of the House of Representatives. Despite this, the Middle Way Reform Coalition appears to be struggling to win over voters. Some polls suggest the party may ultimately lose half of its seats. In a rare winter election, snowfall in the north could also reduce voter turnout and weaken support for Kaohsiung, especially given that she relies on personal popularity rather than organized voting to increase the Liberal Democratic Party's seats.

February 8th - The "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development" was recently issued, proposing to promote the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities. It supports Fuzhou in accelerating its construction as a modern international city; Xiamen in building a leading demonstration zone for high-quality development; Zhangzhou in building a green intelligent manufacturing base on the southeast coast, and a modern, livable, ecological garden city; Quanzhou innovating and developing the "Jinjiang Experience," building a 21st-century "Maritime Silk Road City" and a strong intelligent manufacturing city; Sanming and Longyan in building high-quality development demonstration zones in the old revolutionary base area of western Fujian; Putian in implementing the Mulan River governance concept, building a pioneering city for green and high-quality development; Nanping in building the core area of the Greater Wuyi Cultural Tourism Circle; Ningde in building the core area of the new energy and new materials industry; and the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone in a new round of opening-up and development. It supports various localities in exploring urban development positioning that suits their local conditions. It also accelerates the extension of the functions of central cities, driving the development of small and medium-sized cities through industrial transfer and "enclave economy."

On February 8th, Fujian Province issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development," which proposes to improve urban infrastructure. This includes accelerating the construction of the Fuzhou and Xiamen subway projects; optimizing the hierarchical structure of the urban road network, removing bottlenecks and congestion, and optimizing the urban freight network; strengthening the construction of parking and charging facilities; continuously enhancing the deep coverage of 5G, 5G-A, and gigabit optical networks; coordinating the construction of computing infrastructure and IoT sensing facilities; and encouraging qualified cities to pilot data infrastructure construction. The document also promotes the upgrading and digital transformation of traditional infrastructure and the construction of underground integrated pipe corridors according to local conditions. Furthermore, it accelerates the construction of a modern water network to enhance flood disaster prevention, water resource allocation, and urban and rural water supply security capabilities. Finally, it promotes the high-quality development of the urban power distribution network.

On February 8th, the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Fujian Provincial People's Government issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development," which proposes to enhance urban development momentum through city-specific policies. The document calls for promoting the expansion and upgrading of urban industrial parks, adhering to intelligent, green, and integrated development. It emphasizes consolidating and enhancing the pillar industry of manufacturing, and cultivating strategic emerging industry clusters such as optoelectronic information, integrated circuits, and new energy. It also calls for planning and constructing future industries, developing new productive forces according to local conditions. Furthermore, it promotes intelligent construction, cultivates a modern construction industry chain, and accelerates the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry. The document also encourages the active development of first-of-its-kind, silver-haired, low-altitude, cultural tourism, and marine economies, fostering new consumption scenarios and new business models. It supports Xiamen in carrying out pilot work for the construction of an internationalized consumption environment and accelerates the creation of distinctive cultural blocks, nighttime cultural and tourism consumption clusters, tourism and leisure blocks, and intangible cultural heritage characteristic blocks.

February 8th - Voting began at 7:00 AM local time on February 8th for the Japanese House of Representatives election. Voting will conclude at 8:00 PM, except in some areas. The vote counting will then begin. This election involves contesting 465 seats in the House of Representatives, including 289 single-election seats and 176 proportional representation seats. The House of Representatives has a legally mandated four-year term, but under pressure from incumbent Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, it was dissolved early on January 23rd, just one year and three months after the last election.

Musk: Once solar power generation, robotics manufacturing, chip manufacturing, and AI form a closed loop, traditional currencies will become an obstacle. What really matters will be (power generation) capacity and output, not the US dollar.

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February 7th - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a message on the 7th local time, stating that he received a briefing from the Ukrainian negotiating team following their talks with the US and Russia. The Ukrainian negotiating team provided him with a detailed overview of the progress of the negotiations. He stated that Ukraine needs to achieve substantial results, and one of the most important foundations for a peaceful resolution is effective security guarantees.