Daily Dispatches

From TeleSUR, Caracas
Thursday, July 9, 2026

Burkina Faso on July 9 inaugurated its first state-owned gold mine, marking a major milestone in the government's strategy to expand public control over the country's natural resources and strengthen its economic sovereignty.

Located in the municipality of Yako, in the Yatenga region, the project will be operated by the state-owned Societe de Participation Miniere du Burkina and is expected to produce more than seven tons of gold over the next 15 years while creating more than 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.

By Chelsea Yang
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
Thursday, July 9, 2026

China's "big four" state-run banks are the largest in the world in terms of asset scale, a new report has found, underscoring Beijing's rising ambitions to build the country into a global financial powerhouse.

The ranking, released by The Banker magazine on Wednesday, was topped by the four Chinese banks -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China -- with JPMorgan Chase following in fifth place.

Outspoken Chinese Economist Who Doubted Official GDP Data Dies

By Joe Leahy
Financial Times, London
Wednesday, July 8, 2026

The death of a prominent Chinese economist who openly questioned official GDP data has prompted an outpouring of mourning for a figure many saw as a "daring truth teller" in a country intolerant of independent voices.

Gao Shanwen, former economist of SDIC Securities, a government-controlled investment group, passed away at the age of 55 "due to illness," the state-owned Shanghai Securities News reported.

By Chris Anstey and Augusta Saraiva
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Sometime during the crash in the price of gold in the mid-2010s, one veteran financial-market journalist declared that "this is the moment when the world realized gold isn't a financial asset." Famous last words, as they say.