Welcome to Aposto Digest in English!We are excited to share our first issue with you. As our selection of publications keeps growing, this publication is going to share highlights from the English-language Aposto publications every week. Curated by the editors at Aposto, the issues will feature the best articles from our media service from business to technology, travel to literature, philosophy to wine...We hope you enjoy your reading!Aposto Team

<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Aposto Europe&nbsp;delivers your daily briefing on markets, politics, business, tech and more - all under 5 minutes. Don't miss out on what's happening in the world.</h3><hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"><a fr-original-style="" href="https://aposto.com/i/a-kind-farewell?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Friday</a>•&nbsp;New Zealand's PM Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation, saying she no longer has "enough in the tank" to lead. Becoming the world's youngest female head of government when she was elected in 2017 at the age of 37, Ardern steered New Zealand through the pandemic, the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the White Island volcanic eruption. Her Labour Party's MPs will vote for a new leader on Sunday.<a fr-original-style="" href="https://aposto.com/i/is-in-a-sorry-state?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Thursday</a>•&nbsp;A helicopter carrying Ukraine's Interior Minister crashed into a kindergarten near Kyiv, killing the minister and about a dozen other people, including children on the ground, authorities said. There was no immediate information about whether the crash on a foggy morning in Bovary was an accident or related to the war.<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">What Zelenskiy said:"This is not an accident because it has been due to war and the war has many dimensions, not just on the battlefield,"&nbsp;President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Meanwhile in Russia: President Vladimir Putin could be ready to announce a second round of mobilization to expand his army, as early as Jan. 18, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In other news: Dutch PM Mark Rutte said the country had the intention to follow US and Germany’s effort to train and arm Ukraine with advanced Patriot missile defense systems, in a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House.</li></ul>WednesdayChina’s economy grew by 3% in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, missing an official target of around 5.5% set in March but beating market expectations. The GDP growth follows an 8.4% rebound in 2021 from just a 2.2% expansion in 2020. GDP rose by 2.9% in Q4-2022, beating expectations of 1.8% growth.<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Furthermore: China’s retail sales declined by 1.8% from a year ago in December, much less than the expected 8.6% plunge predicted by analysts. For 2022, retail sales fell by 0.2%. Meanwhile, industrial production rose by 1.3% in December, well above the 0.2% forecast. For the whole year, factory output rose by 3.6%.</li></ul><p contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-wrapper fr-deletable" fr-original-style="text-align:center" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><a bgcolor="#effe75" color="#090909" contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-link" fr-original-style="background-color:#effe75 !important;color:#090909 !important" href="https://aposto.com/n/news?utm_source=aposto" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(239, 254, 117) !important; color: rgb(9, 9, 9) !important; text-decoration: none; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Subscribe</a>

POPULAR ON APOSTO

<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Aposto Business&nbsp;presents the best articles on business at Aposto, curated by our editors. Topics include micro-mobility, future of work, energy, green economy, consumer products, marketing and more.</h3><hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">Donations from billionaires: Charity or tax avoidance?There is news that we are used to seeing frequently in the headlines, but which manages to attract our attention every time:&nbsp;'Philanthropist billionaire pledges to donate most of his fortune.'Mackenzie Scott, one of the actors in one of the most expensive divorces in history in 2019, is at the forefront of this news. Scott, who played an important role in the founding of Amazon with her ex-husband Jeff Bezos, is already among the richest women in the world with Amazon shares, of which she owns 4% as part of the divorce settlement, and a fortune of $21.2 billion. What saves Scott from being referred to as 'Jeff Bezos' ex-wife' in the headlines and keeps her in the public eye despite not giving any interviews is the donations she has made in the last three years...Most recently, on 15 December 2022, Scott launched a website called 'Yield Giving', detailing the more than $14 billion in donations she has made to more than 1,600 organisations to date, and <a fr-original-style="" href="https://link.apos.to/c/u2z0vFn-fF2n?c=fRlgqLB55Pi8GLSS364Ld&sub=62b033905d379200061d8935&s=web&utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">announced</a> that she would launch an open call process for charities to request funds. For some, this step taken in the name of transparency was an important development in terms of setting a precedent; however, the scepticism that arises when it comes to billionaires has once again surfaced:&nbsp;'There are more philanthropists today than ever before. How is it that inequality continues to grow? Are billionaires' donations charity or a way to avoid taxes?'<p contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-wrapper fr-deletable" fr-original-style="text-align:center" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><a bgcolor="#effe75" color="#090909" contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-link" fr-original-style="background-color:#effe75 !important;color:#090909 !important" href="https://aposto.com/i/donations-from-billionaires-charity-or-tax-avoidance?utm_source=aposto" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(239, 254, 117) !important; color: rgb(9, 9, 9) !important; text-decoration: none; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Read more</a><p contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-wrapper fr-deletable" fr-original-style="text-align:center" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><a bgcolor="#effe75" color="#090909" contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-link" fr-original-style="background-color:#effe75 !important;color:#090909 !important" href="https://aposto.com/n/aposto-business?utm_source=aposto" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(239, 254, 117) !important; color: rgb(9, 9, 9) !important; text-decoration: none; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Subscribe</a>

BUSINESS

<h3 fr-original-style="text-align: left;" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Aposto Finance&nbsp;gathers the best articles on finance at Aposto, curated by our editors. Topics include micro and macro economic developments, market reports and more.</h3><hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">A China Optimist’s LamentWritten by Stephen S. RoachNEW HAVEN – I have been a congenital China optimist for most of the past 25 years. I first came to that view in the depths of the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98. The so-called <a fr-original-style="" href="https://link.apos.to/c/HBSR91kQyrIJ?c=nGyqdUfJBBfvSpIbqyl6E&sub=62b033905d379200061d8935&s=web&utm_source=aposto" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">East Asian growth miracle</a> was in tatters and China was widely portrayed as the <a fr-original-style="" href="https://link.apos.to/c/QaMFCGnR6vea?c=nGyqdUfJBBfvSpIbqyl6E&sub=62b033905d379200061d8935&s=web&utm_source=aposto" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">final domino</a> that would fall in what was then viewed as the first crisis of globalization. Having shuttled back and forth to the region during that period as Morgan Stanley’s chief economist, I had quickly come to appreciate the power of China’s market-based economic transition. So, in March 1998, I took a very different view on the pages of the Financial Times with my <a fr-original-style="" href="https://link.apos.to/c/h-_an7VUTIa-?c=nGyqdUfJBBfvSpIbqyl6E&sub=62b033905d379200061d8935&s=web&utm_source=aposto" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">first published commentary</a> on China, “The Land of the Rising Dragon.”My argument, in a nutshell, was that China would supplant Japan as the new engine of post-crisis Asia. Japan was floundering in the aftermath of its post-bubble implosion, whereas a reform-oriented China had the wherewithal, determination, and strategy to withstand the currency contagion of a devastating external shock and sustain rapid economic growth. As <a fr-original-style="" href="https://link.apos.to/c/Gzgf8TiTZP51?c=nGyqdUfJBBfvSpIbqyl6E&sub=62b033905d379200061d8935&s=web&utm_source=aposto" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">China delivered</a>, boosted by its accession to the World Trade Organization in late 2001, and Japan sunk into its second lost decade, the Chinese economy took off like a rocket.<p contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-wrapper fr-deletable" fr-original-style="text-align:center" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><a bgcolor="#effe75" color="#090909" contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-link" fr-original-style="background-color:#effe75 !important;color:#090909 !important" href="https://aposto.com/i/a-china-optimists-lament?utm_source=aposto" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(239, 254, 117) !important; color: rgb(9, 9, 9) !important; text-decoration: none; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Read more</a><p contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-wrapper fr-deletable" fr-original-style="text-align:center" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><a bgcolor="#effe75" color="#090909" contenteditable="false" fr-original-class="custom-button-link" fr-original-style="background-color:#effe75 !important;color:#090909 !important" href="https://aposto.com/n/aposto-finance?utm_source=aposto" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(239, 254, 117) !important; color: rgb(9, 9, 9) !important; text-decoration: none; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Subscribe</a>

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