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☆ China's BYD bets on self-developed chassis suspension system
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, April 10 (Reuters) - China's BYD launched on Monday a new chassis suspension system as the electric vehicle maker ramps up efforts to move upmarket with premium products. The system, BYD DiSus Intelligent Body Control System, is similar to the chassis suspension systems available in premium and luxury cars, such as Porsche's Dynamic Chassis Control and Mercedes Benz's Magic Body Control. The DiSus system will come in three variations and will be used in BYD's luxury off-road SUV Yangwang U8 initially, BYD said in a statement. BYD launched its first luxury car brand Yangwang in January with an off-road SUV and a sportscar priced above 1 million yuan. BYD has benefited from its strategy to use self-developed batteries and powertrain systems.

☆ Chinese lenders focus on risk management amid global banking crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, April 3 (Reuters) - China's top lenders should enhance risk management practices and be more sensitive to macroeconomic fluctuations, senior Chinese banking officials said, in response to a global banking sector crisis that has roiled financial markets. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) suggests banks should strictly abide by the regulatory requirements and measures of risk management, Xie Xiaoxue, from China Construction Bank Corp's (CCB) credit management department, said. "China's commercial banks should constantly improve the organisational structure of risk management and strengthen risk governance with sound and prudent measures," Xie wrote. Executives at China's big five banks said during annual results last week the lenders have limited exposure to the banking crisis. Xie said that Chinese banks should fully use stress tests and other tools to measure the impact of economic fluctuations and the changes in market participants' financial situations.

☆ China to boost regulatory oversight of digital economy -c.bank deputy governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOAO, China, March 31 (Reuters) - China will beef up its regulatory oversight of the digital economy, as new technologies, especially new forms of finance, should not be blindly accepted and recognised, a deputy governor of China's central bank said on Friday. Digital currencies and newly invented cryptocurrencies, rather than solving problems in finance, can in fact create new challenges, Xuan Changneng, a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the annual Boao Forum in Hainan province. He did not spell out steps that will be taken to boost oversight. China itself has launched its own digital renminbi, or yuan, but it is little used. The National Financial Regulatory Administration will absorb the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's responsibilities and take over some supervisory functions from the central bank and the securities regulator.

☆ Hong Kong Arrests Show No Letup in Beijing-Driven Crackdown on Dissent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Elizabeth Tang flew home to visit her husband in Stanley Prison, where he is awaiting trial on national security charges. As the 65-year-old labor activist left the Hong Kong maximum security facility earlier this month, a team of police was waiting—along with journalists from a state-owned newspaper. Ms. Tang’s arrest on March 9 for alleged collusion with foreign forces sent a signal to the financial hub’s 7.3 million people and their Communist Party rulers in Beijing: There would likely be no letup in the campaign to root out dissent.

REUTERS/Florence Lo/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Five big lenders post over 3.5% annual net profit growthNet interest margin shrank at all fiveNPL ratios steady or down for all fiveBEIJING, March 30 (Reuters) - China's Big Five lenders posted above 3.5% annual net profit growth this week, but warned that the foundations of the country's recovery were "not yet solid". China's Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom) (601328.SS), and Bank of China (BoC) (601988.SS) both posted just over 5% annual net profit growth on Thursday. Even higher figures came from the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (601288.SS) (AgBank) on Thursday and China Construction Bank Corp on Wednesday, which both posted over 7% annual net profit growth. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (601398.SS), , the world's largest listed lender by assets, came in at 3.5% annual net profit growth. NPLsWhile all five lenders posted steady or falling non-performing loan ratios, they also logged shrinking net interest margins (NIM), a key gauge of bank profitability.

☆ The Second Opinion That Enabled Keyontae Johnson to Reach the Elite Eight After ‘Sudden Cardiac Death’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Laine Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kansas State’s Keyontae Johnson soared into the national spotlight on Thursday night when he slammed home an alley-oop pass from teammate Markquis Nowell, completing an audacious trick play that sealed a dramatic March Madness win over Michigan State. The play—which began with Nowell appearing to feign an argument with Kansas State coach Jerome Tang as a distracting ruse—completed a performance in which Johnson scored 22 points and played all 45 minutes of the overtime contest. That last stat might be the most remarkable of all given Johnson’s first, unwelcome turn in the spotlight more than two years ago.

☆ The Incredible Trick Play That Delivered a Classic March Madness Win for Kansas State
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Jim Chairusmi | Laine Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A wild Sweet 16 battle between Michigan State and Kansas State was tied at 92 in overtime when Wildcats guard Markquis Nowell took an inbounds pass, turned to a crowd where NBA legend Isiah Thomas and former Spartans star Mateen Cleaves were sitting and said: “Watch this.”Nowell dribbled the ball upcourt and crossed the half-court line. Then he paused and appeared to have an argument with his coach, Jerome Tang, on the sidelines. Nowell gestured angrily. Tang gestured back—but if you looked carefully, Tang also appeared to be signaling toward the basket with one arm.

☆ The ‘Argument’ Between a Kansas State Player and Coach That Led to a Wild Sweet 16 Victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Jim Chairusmi | Laine Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Here are a financial advisor's 4 most important money tips for parents with young kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Save for future education costsThere are tax-advantaged ways to save for your child's future education. Among the most popular is the 529 plan, which allows parents to invest money for higher education and other costs. While each state has its own 529 plan, parents can invest in a plan outside of their state. "I think parents should ask, do they want to relinquish ownership of this money when their child is an adult?" There are other avenues for parents to invest for their kids, but they may be more challenging.

☆ The Football Play That Sent Two College Basketball Teams to the Sweet 16
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Andrew Beaton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kansas State was clinging to a narrow lead over Kentucky in the final minute of their second-round NCAA tournament game when coach Jerome Tang knew exactly which play to call. What unfolded next looked completely out of place on a basketball court. That’s because he was betting his chances for reaching the Sweet 16 on a football play.

☆ China firm wins tender to redevelop Solomon Islands port
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces," Qaqara said. The Solomon Islands and China have denied the security pact would allow a naval base, however. Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week, competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation. "This will see the rehabilitation of the old Honiara international port and construction of the Honiara domestic port and two provincial ports," the government said in a statement. Writing in the Australian Foreign Affairs this month, Connolly noted that ADB infrastructure contracts in the Pacific islands had been dominated by Chinese state companies who offered the lowest bids.

☆ China firm wins Solomon Islands port project as Australia watches on
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Solomon Islands and China have consistently denied that their security pact would allow a naval base. The Solomon Islands Infrastructure Development Ministry has said that there will be no expansion of the port for dual use," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday evening. Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week, competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation. "This will see the rehabilitation of the old Honiara international port and construction of the Honiara domestic port and two provincial ports," the Solomon Islands government said in a statement. "It is not about bases it is about access," Connolly, a former military officer, said, referring to the security pact between Honiara and Beijing.

☆ Exclusive: BYD reduces shifts at two electric vehicle plants in China - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BYD also reduced shifts at its Shenzhen plant, which makes its Han sedans, from three shifts per day to two per day, four people with knowledge of the development said. BYD did not give a reason for the reduced shifts in its planning memo reviewed by Reuters. Reuters was not able to determine how long the reduced shifts would last for BYD and if any of its other three assembly plants in China were affected by production schedule changes. It was also not clear how the reduced shifts would translate into production volume changes. To spur demand, BYD began offering discounts for its best-selling Yuan Plus and Seal EVs in March.

[1/3] Former Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Albert Ho, walks after his arrest by police, in Hong Kong, China March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuHONG KONG, March 21 (Reuters) - Hong Kong police on Tuesday arrested a veteran pro-democracy politician who was granted bail last August for medical treatment after spending more than a year in detention on a subversion charge. He was granted bail last August, with media reporting at the time he needed medical treatment for lung cancer. She was charged with collusion with foreign forces and granted bail. Chinese and Hong Kong officials deny that and say foreign interference is endangering the financial hub's stability and prosperity.

☆ Baidu's Ernie writes poems but says it has insufficient information on Xi, tests show
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Eduardo Baptista | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Tingshu WangBEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) - Baidu's (9888.HK) Ernie bot can within seconds generate pictures of flowers and write Tang dynasty-style poems but will decline questions about Chinese President Xi Jinping by saying it has not yet learnt how to answer them, Reuters tests showed. Some analysts and users soon began posting positive reviews of their experiences with Ernie bot, and side-by-side comparisons with ChatGPT, that drove Baidu's share price higher. Tests by Reuters of ChatGPT indicated that the Microsoft-backed chatbot is not averse to answering such questions. "Let's change the subject and start again," read a prompt Reuters received over a dozen times in response to sensitive questions. The Ernie bot would also produce the same restart prompts when asked similar questions about U.S. President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump.

☆ China fines Deloitte $31 mln for auditing negligence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, March 17 (Reuters) - China has fined auditing firm Deloitte 211.9 million yuan ($30.8 million) for failing to perform its duty in assessing the asset quality of China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd (2799.HK), the finance ministry said on its website on Friday. Deloitte's Beijing operations also will be suspended for three months, the ministry said in a statement. Deloitte said it respects and accepts the ministry's decision, according to a statement published on its website. "We regret that, in this matter, the MOF considers certain aspects of our work fell below the required auditing standards," it said. In a separate statement, Huarong said the company and its seven subsidiaries had received a 100,000 yuan fine each.

☆ North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles could hit central US in just 33 minutes, says Chinese study
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

North Korea's ICBMs can conceivably penetrate the US missile defense system, a Chinese study found. The study simulated the launch of a Hwasongpho-15 missile towards Columbia, Missouri. The study simulated the firing of a Hwasongpho-15 missile from the central North Korean city of Sunchon, towards Columbia, Missouri, per the SCMP. The report, released mid-February, came ahead of a series of North Korean test-firings this week. On Monday, two strategic cruise missiles were fired from a submarine off North Korea's eastern coast, according to Al-Jazeera.

☆ General Motors' China business is hurting, and it's not just because of Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

He purchased his Nio over models from rival Chinese automakers Xpeng , Li Auto and IM Motors. GM's operations in the country are much larger than those of its crosstown rival Ford Motor, for example. Equity income from GM's Chinese operations and joint ventures has fallen 67% since its peak of more than $2 billion in 2014 and 2015. And the rising quality of domestic-made electric vehicles helped support — and tap — growing nationalistic pride among China's consumers. In February, Ford named Sam Wu, a former Whirlpool executive who joined the automaker in October, as president and chief executive of its China operations, starting March 1.

☆ 10 qualities that bisexual people find attractive, according to science
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Kelly Burch | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

About 4% of Americans identify as bisexual, meaning they're attracted to more than one gender. Brendon Urie, Cardi B, and Halsey are among celebrities who have said they don't identify as either straight or gay. Frazer Harrison/Todd Williamson/NBCU Photo Bank/Karwai Tang/Getty ImagesThat's according to a 2021 survey, and it's up from just 1% in 2010. There's limited research around what bisexual people find attractive. Here are the qualities that Crowe, Ogle, and limited studies suggest bisexuals are most attracted to.

☆ Banks sought record Fed liquidity in wake of SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

That reverses a substantial portion of the balance sheet reduction accomplished since last summer. The bank lending facility is backstopped by $25 billion from the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund. Record discount window borrowing was somewhat unexpected as many analysts had thought banks would instead gravitate to the new lending facility. That said, some saw the discount window borrowing surge as a positive by itself. Reuters GraphicsBALANCE SHEET UPSWINGThe surge in emergency lending caused the Fed’s balance sheet to stop shrinking and grow notably larger.

☆ Fed's new banking backstop could slow balance sheet drawdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Those bonds - collateral for Fed loans of up to a year in duration - will end up on the central bank's $8.4 trillion balance sheet. So far it has managed to shed nearly $600 billion of bonds from a balance sheet that topped out above $9 trillion in the middle of last year. "The more advantageous financial terms of the new Fed facility could divert a substantial amount of borrowing from the (Federal Home Loan Banks) and boost the size of the Fed's balance sheet," Wrightson said. Still, "reserve balances might not fall as much as they thought before because BTFP will actually add reserves and grow the balance sheet." Some observers believe the unsettled nature of markets right now means the Fed should consider stopping the balance sheet drawdown process.

☆ A video game company made a bot the CEO, and its stock climbed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

NetDragon Websoft announced last year it had appointed a bot as the CEO of its flagship subsidiary. It said the bot will increase efficiency and make key decisions for the gaming company. In August, the Chinese gaming company NetDragon Websoft announced it had appointed an "AI-powered virtual humanoid robot" named Tang Yu as the chief executive of its subsidiary, Fujian NetDragon Websoft. NetDragon stock has since outperformed the Hang Seng Index, which tracks the biggest companies listed in Hong Kong, per The Hustle. NetDragon, founded in 1999, developed several multi-player games including "Eudemons Online", "Heroes Evolved" and "Conquer Online" as well as China's first online gaming portal, 17173.com.

China's four new vice premiers:Ding Xuexiang, 60, is the first-ranked vice premier who also sits in the ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, China's top echelon of power. Wang Zhigang, 65, remains minister of science and technology. Huai Jinpeng, 60, remains minister of educationPan Yue, 62, remains head of the National Ethnic Affairs CommissionWang Xiaohong, 65, remains minister of public securityChen Yixin, 63, remains minister of state security. Considered a Xi ally, he had worked with Xi when the latter was party chief of Zhejiang province from 2002-2007. Tang Dengjie, 63, remains minister of civil affairsHe Rong, 60, remains minister of justiceWang Xiaoping, 59, remains minister of human resources and social securityWang Guanghua, 59, remains minister of natural resourcesHuang Runqiu, 59, remains minister of ecology and environmentNi Hong, 60, remains minister of housing and urban-rural developmentLi Xiaopeng, 63, remains minister of transportLi Guoying, 63, remains minister of water resourcesTang Renjian, 60, remains minister of agriculture and rural affairsHu Heping, 60, remains minister of culture and tourismMa Xiaowei, 63, remains head of the National Health CommissionPei Jinjia, 59, remains minister of veterans affairsWang Xiangxi, 60, remains minister of emergency managementHou Kai, 60, remains auditor-general of the National Audit OfficeReporting by Yew Lun Tian, Ziyi Tang, additional reporting by Albee Zhang; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG, March 11 (Reuters) - Three former members of a Hong Kong group that organised annual vigils to mark China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, were jailed on Saturday for four and a half months for not complying with a national security police request for information. Chow Hang-tung, 38, a prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, was among those convicted by a magistrate's court. The now-disbanded Alliance was the main organiser of Hong Kong's June 4 candlelight vigil for victims of China's Tiananmen Square crackdown. The national security law, which punishes acts including subversion and collusion with foreign forces, has been criticised by some Western governments as a tool to crush dissent. The Hong Kong and Chinese governments say the law had brought stability since it was enacted in 2020 in response to mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.

☆ ‘Scream VI’ Review: Ghostface Is Still Slashing, Now in New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

There is no “Scream V,” but now we have “Scream VI.” In case you’ve lost track (or lost interest), the latest self-aware slasher flick is the sequel to a “re-quel,” last year’s modestly successful “Scream.” That entry helpfully included characters who, referring to the franchise-within-the-franchise “Stab” and its successors, in effect told the audience that it was a combination of reboot and sequel (cf. What was once cleverly self-referential now comes across as nostalgia for ’90s comfort food, like the fried ice cream at Chi-Chi’s. The 1996 franchise-starter, written by “Dawson’s Creek” creator Kevin Williamson , fondly mocked the slasher-movie clichés beloved by Gen X audiences who had grown up watching “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” on cable TV. Two generations later, however, Mr. Williamson’s meta-cinematic framing is everywhere and the tang of originality is long gone. “Scream VI” feels like a photocopy of a photocopy.

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