China's communists pick country's new leader

[NewsCaster]

Feng Li / Getty ImagesChina's new leadership seen Thursday -- from left to right: Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli  -- greet the media at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday.By Ed Flanagan, NBC NewsBEIJING – China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday selected a new seven-person leadership group fronted by Xi Jinping that will lead the world’s second largest economy for at least the next five years.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld Xi, the newly selected party secretary, and his deputy, Li Keqiang -- the new members of the all-important Politburo Standing Committee -- take over a nation whose economy has quadrupled under the leadership of outgoing leader, Hu Jintao, but now faces serious environmental, political and social questions in the near future.

For Xi though, this Standing Committee appears better poised to bring about much-needed reforms than that of his predecessor, Hu.

NBCNews