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☆ Kevin Hart shares his No. 1 'secret weapon' for career success—it's great advice, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In addition to his comedy, actor Kevin Hart owns a plant-based restaurant chain, a tequila brand and an entertainment and production company called HartBeat. The single thread between them all, and the "secret weapon" to his success, the 44-year-old said in a recently published MasterClass course: the power of humor. "Humor has acted like the master key to every door that I've [gone] through," said Hart. In much tougher moments, humor is equally valuable, Hart noted. Making people genuinely laugh boosts their output by up to 12%, found a 2015 study that Sgroi co-authored.

Persons: Kevin Hart, Hart, you've, Daniel Sgroi, Warren Buffett Organizations: University of Warwick, CNBC, The University of Pennsylvania, Hong Kong University of Science, Technology

☆ Paternity leave: In Japan, it's four weeks, but men are too afraid to take it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Japanese men are entitled to four weeks of flexible paternity leave, on up to 80% of their salary, under a bill passed by the Japanese parliament in 2021. While it is illegal to discriminate against workers who take maternity and paternity leave in Japan, Iwahashi said workers on fixed-term contracts were particularly vulnerable. And anyway, “A little tweak on paternity leave won’t significantly change a declining birth rate,” he added. He also unveiled a plan aimed at boosting the uptake of paternity leave by encouraging firms to disclose their performance. But he saw a silver lining in encouraging paternity leave.

[1/7] Farmer Wang Zhanling sits next to his wife in their house in Quansheng village, Heilongjiang Province, China, February 8, 2023. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences sees the pension system running out of money by 2035. "If the pension system does not change, this is unsustainable," said Xiujian Peng, senior research fellow in the Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University in Australia. The province has the lowest birth rate in China, with just over 100,000 births in 2021 and 460,000 deaths. Many experts, including Macquarie's chief China economist Larry Hu, suggest implementing a unified national pension system, backstopped by the more resourceful central government rather than cash-strapped local administrations.

☆ A Chinese city is offering couples almost $2,900 to have a third child and some others are giving newlyweds paid marriage leave to help boost the birth rate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Chinese city of Hangzhou is giving $2,900 to parents welcoming a third child this year. Some other cities are giving almost 30 days of marriage leave to boost the birth rate. Meanwhile, the northeastern city of Shenyang is offering subsidies of up to $72 a month till a child is three years old. Chinese employees are typically entitled to three days of paid marriage leave. The push for babies comes after China's population started shrinking for the first time in six decades.

☆ Explainer: What we know about China's medical reform protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Laurie Chen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

WHAT ARE THE MEDICAL INSURANCE REFORMS? Beginning Feb. 1, personal medical insurance benefits for Wuhan retirees were slashed from about 5% of the average basic pension to 2.5%, or 83 yuan ($12) per month, according to the Wuhan Healthcare Security Administration. In an essay published Thursday that did not refer to the protests, Finance Minister Liu Kun vowed to "deepen the reform of medical insurance payment methods". Following initial protests in Wuhan last week, the hashtag "Major adjustment in Wuhan medical reform" was viewed over 100 million times before being blocked. Since January, similar insurance reforms have been rolled out in provinces and regions including Jiangxi, Gansu，Shanxi, Qinghai, Sichuan and Guangxi.

Vindman first joined Twitter while working in the Trump administration because it was often the way his then-boss, the president, made policy. His wife, liberal activist and podcaster Rachel Vindman, has almost 400,000 followers, making them a progressive Twitter power couple. In a clubby city obsessed with status and information, Twitter delivers both, all from the comfort of one’s mobile phone. No one wants to leave Twitter until everyone else does, but there’s no obvious place to go next. Some think Musk will kill Twitter regardless of whether there’s a mass exodus of its users.

☆ China to punish internet users for ‘liking’ posts in crackdown after zero-Covid protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong CNN Business —Internet users in China will soon be held liable for liking posts deemed illegal or harmful, sparking fears that the world’s second largest economy plans to control social media like never before. China’s internet watchdog is stepping up its regulation of cyberspace as authorities intensify their crackdown on online dissent amid growing public anger against the country’s stringent Covid restrictions. For the first time, it states that “likes” of public posts must be regulated, along with other types of comments. This year, the country’s strict zero-Covid policy and Xi’s securing of a historic third term have sparked discontent and anger among many online users. “Cyberspace policing by Chinese authorities is already beyond measure, but that does not stop brave Chinese citizens from challenging the regime,” he said.

Easing Covid measures means accepting a rise in cases that is likely to get worse as winter approaches. Residents buy medications at a pharmacy in Shijiazhuang, China, last week. “There will always be complaints.”Though many people in China still support “zero-Covid,” the strict measures have also stoked growing resentment. China is thus now facing a dual challenge, said Donald Low, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “You’re going to see the Hong Kong story played out on a much larger scale” in mainland China, Low said.

☆ Musk's Twitter takeover sent thousands flocking to Mastodon. Here’s what I discovered using the app
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

It has been reported that more than 200.000 new users flocked the social media app after the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. Hundreds of thousands of users have joined the platform since Elon Musk took over Twitter. On its website, it describes itself as "radically different social media, back in the hands of the people." To make a Mastodon account, you first have to pick a server — the source of my initial feeling of overwhelm. "Mastodon still looks too technical for the standard user, which will pose challenges to adoption," she told CNBC's Make It.

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