News Snapshot:
It was a difficult summer for China’s leader, Xi Jinping. He was faced with natural disasters, economic uncertainty and a roster of disappearing ministers that had observers around the world speculating on their fate. But one brief highlight among the gloom was the Brics summit in Johannesburg, in which six new countries were added to the bloc of emerging economies, more than doubling its size. With the addition of the new members, Brics will account for nearly half of the world’s population. Xi had long called for the admission of new members to strengthen the bloc’s voice on the world...
