According to the Associated Press, on the 15th local time, Iowa held its primary for the 2024 presidential election. Former US President Trump won the Iowa Republican primary, officially marking the beginning of the quadrennial general election in the United States. A previous prediction showed that former US President Trump had a preliminary lead in support in Iowa, with most Republicans planning to choose former President Trump as the presidential nominee.

Public information shows that Iowa is a small agricultural state in the Midwest of the United States, with onlyWith a population of over 3 million, the economy and reputation are not particularly prominent. But this is the first battlefield in the US presidential election over the years. As early as the 1972 US presidential election, Iowa was the first to hold the electionIn the Democratic primary, four years later, the Republican Party also chose to initiate the primary process in the state, thus continuing the tradition of Iowa as the first primary state for both parties.

military affairs

01North Korea successfully tests a new type of missile

According to North Korean Central News Agency, recently, the North Korean Missile Administration successfully tested a hypersonic medium to long range ballistic missile using a new type of solid fuel. The test aims to verify the gliding and maneuvering characteristics of the medium to long range hypersonic maneuvering warhead, as well as the reliability of the newly developed multi-stage high-power solid fuel engine. The North Korean side stated that this test launch has not affected the security of neighboring countries and is not related to the regional situation. It is only a part of North Korea's routine activities in developing weapon systems. The North Korean authorities have not publicly disclosed specific data such as the missile's flight altitude and speed.

It is reported that the so-called hypersonic missile refers to a weapon with a flight speed of over Mach 5. Mach is a unit of speed, 1 Mach is equal to twice the speed of sound, which means that in the Earth's atmosphere, hypersonic missiles have a flight speed five times that of sound, which is about 6000 kilometers per hour. Currently, only some countries such as China and Russia have successfully developed this weapon.

North Korea has been around since last yearStarted testing solid fuel engines in AprilThe intercontinental ballistic missile was first tested in November last year, but the launch failed. The successful test launch indicates that North Korea's missile technology has reached a level that renders the missile defense systems of South Korea, the United States, and Japan ineffective. In this regard, the South Korean Ministry of Defense strongly condemns North Korea's violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution prohibiting the use of ballistic missile technology.

According to CCTV News Network, Türkiye's Ministry of Defense issued a statement on January 13 local time, saying that Turkish security forces launched air and ground fire strikes against Kurdish forces in Iraq and northern Syria from the night of January 12 to 13 local time. The attack included 29 locations, including caves, bunkers, bunkers, and oil facilities belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Syrian Kurdistan Armed People's Protection Force. A total of 57 "terrorists" were eliminated and 29 targets were destroyed.

It is understood that the Kurdistan Workers' Party has been searching forIt is required to establish an independent state in the Kurdish populated areas at the border between Türkiye and Iraq, Iran and Syria by force. Türkiye regards this organization as a terrorist organization and has repeatedly crossed Iraq and Syria to attack PKK targets. fromFrom April 2022, Türkiye launched the "Claw Lock Operation" against the local Kurdish armed forces in northern Iraq, planning to eliminate the threat of terrorism to national security from the source.

01Malaysia and Singapore Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Johor Bahru Special Economic Zone

ASEAN Finance News: Recently, under the witness of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian Minister of Economy Raffaz and Singaporean Minister of Trade and Industry Yen Jin yong signed a memorandum of cooperation for the Johor Bahru Special Economic Zone on behalf of the two countries. It is reported that the memorandum mainly involves providing investment facilitation measures for Singaporean enterprises within the economic zone, improving the efficiency of personnel and goods clearance between both parties, promoting cooperation in renewable energy and talent cultivation in the economic zone. The two countries will also establish a joint committee to promote the implementation of the special economic zone plan.

It is understood that both Malaysia and Singapore last yearIn July, the idea of building a "Johor Singapore Special Economic Zone" was officially proposed within the state of Johor, and a joint working group was established thereafter to promote this plan. The signing of this memorandum is considered a substantive move to promote the construction of special economic zones. Raffles saidThe establishment of special economic zones will promote the flow of people and goods between Singapore and Malaysia, and enhance the economic attractiveness of Johor and Singapore. On the same day, Anhua also inspected the Malaysia Singapore MRT system jointly built by the two countries with Lee Hsien Loong. This is a commuter system that spans across two countries and has recently completed the connection project of the sea elevated bridge.

According to Agence France Presse, data released by the Tokyo Bureau of Commerce and Industry recently showed that 8690 Japanese companies declared bankruptcy in 2023, an increase of 35.2% compared to 2022. It is reported that the number of enterprises declared bankrupt in Japan has increased for two consecutive years, which is the first time since 2019 that the number of bankrupt enterprises in Japan has exceeded 8000, and the growth rate has reached a new high since the collapse of the foam economy in 1992.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese government, through Japanese financial companies and other institutions, launched measures targeting micro enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprisesA fiscal aid plan of 1.6 trillion yen, providing unsecured and interest free loans to enterprises affected by the epidemic. Nowadays, as full repayment begins, these loans have become a heavy burden on Japanese companies, coupled with issues such as rising raw material prices and insufficient manpower pushing up wages,All of these have led Japanese companies into operational difficulties. Data shows that the total debt of Japanese companies increased by 3.1% year-on-year, reaching 240026 trillion yen, while small-scale bankrupt enterprises with debt of less than 100 million yen surged by 39.3% to 6493.