China

World Politics
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Highest inequality in decades underpins Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong will soon mark 20 years since Britain returned the former colony to China and Chinese state media is touting the milestone by promoting the city’s greater prosperity under its “one country, two systems” strategy. But few Hong Kongers are feeling very prosperous or celebratory given that recent data has revealed the wealth gap is now the widest it’s been since the city began tracking income equality 46 years ago.

Basics
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Top incomes, inequality in China ‘massively underestimated,’ new study reveals

China’s economic miracle has long been hailed as one of the biggest contributors to the fall in the global rate of extreme poverty. But now that growth is slowing and the country is working its way out of the “middle income trap,” economists have turned their focus toward the sharp inequality that latched onto China’s stunning growth. And according to a new study, it’s far worse than previously estimated.

Environment
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India’s coal plans could ‘single-handedly jeopardize’ Paris Agreement

As President Donald Trump decides in the next few weeks if he will pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, India and China have said the world can look to them to uphold the pact. Although India has been making impressive strides to cut pollution and increase solar capacity in particular, a recent study says the country’s coal plans could “single-handedly jeopardize” the Paris Agreement.

Human Rights
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U.S. absent as 11 countries rebuke China for torture of human rights lawyers

Eleven countries have jointly called on the Chinese government to investigate “credible claims of torture” against human rights lawyers, the Globe and Mail reported yesterday. In a letter dated Feb. 27 – which the Canadian newspaper said has not been made public – the signatories also condemned China’s practice of detaining suspects in secret locations for long periods of time.

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