Reuters reports, "Chinese stocks fell on Tuesday, taking little comfort from a slew of support measures unleashed by Beijing in recent days, and unnerved by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's failure to mention the market chaos in a statement on theeconomy. Before the market opened, Li said in comments posted on a government website that China had the confidence and ability to deal with challenges faced by its economy, but had nothing to say on the three-week plunge that has knocked around 30 percent off Chinese shares since mid-June. After a brief pause in the slide on Monday, the CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen ended down 1.8 percent on Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC lost 1.3 percent. The ChiNext growth board (CHINEXTC), home to some of China's giddiest small-cap valuations, fell 5.1 percent."
"Dire poverty has dropped sharply, and just as many girls as boys are now enrolled in primary schools around the world... 'The report confirms that the global efforts to achieve the goals have saved millions of lives and improved conditions for millions more around the world,' the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said Monday as he released the report in Oslo. In fact, though, how much of those gains can be attributed to the goals is unknown. The sharp reductions in extreme poverty are due largely to the economic strides made by one big country,China... 14 percent of people in the developing world are extremely poor now, compared with 47 percent in 1990. China did the most, reducing the share of its people in extreme poverty to just 4 percent this year, from 61 percent in 1990," writes The New York Times.
CNN reports, "Over 700 Chinese companies have halted trading to 'self preserve,' according to the state media. That means about a quarter of the companies listed on China's two big exchanges -- the Shanghai and Shenzhen -- are no longer trading. China's stock markets are in trouble. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen over 25% since mid-June. The Shenzhen, which has more tech companies and is often compared to America's Nasdaq Index, is down even more.The government has taken extraordinary steps to try to prevent further damage. The Chinese central bank made a surprise rate cut at the end of June. Then China's securities regulator stopped initial public offerings on the exchanges. Over the weekend, over 20 of China's top brokerage firms publicly pledged to buy back stocks and funds in an effort to slow the downfall. The firms expect to spend at least 120 billion yuan (about $19.3 billion). 'The government is taking good care of the stock market,' China's vice commerce minister said this week. But investors clearly aren't convinced. China's stock market has been undergoing wild swings where it will open up as much as 5% and then end the day down that much or vice versa.