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☆ Elon Musk might be right. Chinese EV firms could 'demolish' their US rivals.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk warned Chinese EV firms could "demolish" rivals like Tesla without trade barriers. AdvertisementA decade ago, Elon Musk laughed off the threat posed by Chinese electric carmaker BYD . "The Chinese car companies are the most competitive car companies in the world," Musk told investors during Tesla's Q4 earnings call. I think the Chinese companies are more willing to take risks and gamble with something and see how it goes," he said. Something else that may stop Chinese EV companies from overrunning the US market with cheap models is range.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, —, BYD, Musk, Biden, Zhang Fan, Fortune, we've, John Helveston, Helveston, Nio, Dr, Fei Shen, Shen Organizations: Service, EV, Companies, Chery, GAC, George Washington University, US, Nio's, BI Locations: Mexico, China, Europe

The collection of American memorabilia, vast and well-lit in a busy area of City Hall in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, reflected decades of eager courtship. Maps highlighted sister cities in Ohio and Arizona. There was a celebration of baseball, an American flag laid out on a table. And in the middle of it all, a card sent to the United States that seemed to reveal the thinking of Tainan, a metropolis of 1.8 million, and nearly all of Taiwan. “Solidarity conquers all.”The message was aspirational — a graphic illustration of profound insecurity.

Organizations: City Hall, Solidarity Locations: City, Tainan, Ohio, Arizona, American, United States, Taiwan, China

☆ A Chinese blogger went viral for lamenting the solitary lives of men in his nation: '50 years old and eliminated by society'
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Chinese blogger has gone viral for asking if his male relative is "eliminated by society" at 50. No one comes to hang out with him, to eat or drink," the Shanghai blogger wrote. If you have money, it's better to have a good meal with your family," the blogger wrote of his relative's mindset. The man also doesn't take vacations, is uninterested in shopping and isn't bothered about getting promoted at work, BubblePisces wrote. BubblePisces wrote.

Persons: —, BubblePisces, it's, Zhang Fei, Yichuan Yuebai Organizations: Service, Weibo, Twitter, Business Locations: Shanghai, Hubei, Beijing

☆ AI experts are roasting the NYT list of 'who's who' in AI for having zero women
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The New York Times list of "who's who" in AI has been slammed for featuring zero women. "Godmother of AI" Fei-Fei Li criticized the list, writing, "It's not about me, but all of us in AI." AdvertisementThe New York Times' profile of "who's who" in AI, published Sunday, has drawn criticism for featuring zero women. "You literally erased all the heavy hitting women of AI and but included people who are more 'influencers,'" wrote Daneshjou. AdvertisementThe New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Fei, Fei Li, —, Kara Swisher, Li, It’s, recup, asha, Dane, Wale, ari, Hass, Hoff, lon Musk Organizations: New York Times, Service, ust, ctu, rit, emi Locations: usk

☆ A Tech Pioneer Focused on Making AI a Force for Good
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fei-Fei Li , a renowned pioneer in artificial intelligence, says a conversation with her mother changed the course of her career. She notes that her parents, who brought her to the U.S. from China when she was 15 with hopes for a better life, had always been supportive of her work. That feat is now widely credited with helping to spawn the “deep learning” revolution in AI. Her mom was intrigued but unmoved. “What,” she pointedly asked, “can AI do to help people?”

Persons: Fei, Fei Li, “ Fei, Li, ” Li, ” Locations: China

☆ Goldman Sachs just promoted 608 employees to the coveted role of managing directors. See the full list here.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Goldman Sachs announced its 2023 class of managing directors Thursday afternoon, giving 608 employees the coveted title. It's a smaller cohort than the bank's 2021 MD class, down 5% amid a dealmaking slowdown. Still, Goldman appears to have taken pains to promote employees in revenue-generating divisions like investment banking and trading. Goldman says the percentage of women it promoted as part of the 2023 MD class sets a record, up 1% from 2021. Two years ago, Goldman promoted the largest managing director class in its history, naming 643 employees to the designation in 2021.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, David Solomon, John Waldron, we've, Solomon, Waldron, Goldman Sachs Fereshteh Abbasi Thomas Abe Devina Abreo Francesca Adamski Emmanuel Adenitire Gopal Agarwal Prasoon Agarwal Udit Agrawal Khamran Ali Omar Alzaim Dorothee Amar Akbar Amin Joe Amsler Wilfred Amuri Jack Anstey Paul Antonios Hidemi Aoki, Carolina Aragon Gonzalez Nelson Armbrust Georgina Aspden Laurene, Gisha, Sharon Babick Navin Babu Alexey Bachurin Alberto Bacis Patrick Badaro Rahul Bajaj Elise Bal Tanya Ballaram Brian Baltz Guillaume Banderet Nirav Bansal Nitin Bansal Swati, Chalapathi, Andrei Banu Camella Barnes James Barry Elisa Anna Bassu Aman Batra Eleanor Beasley Nicole Beavan Michael Becker Yukiko Beer Omar Benchekroune Richard Bennett Nigel Beslee Ashima Bhalla Nikhil Bhandari Nimita Bhargava Bodha Bhattacharya Rebecca Bibb Roseline, Rahul Bindu Mark Bird Leo Biselman Christian Blanc Patrick Bogues Michael Boratin Katherine Bordlemay Gabriela Borges Kate Boucher Erik Bouland Joanne Braidi Chris Brett Joseph Briggs Charles Brockett Emmeline Brothers Aaron Brown Adrienne Brown Kevin Bryck Archana Budida Oliver Bunn Rebecca Burgoyne Andrew Burpitt Todd Byers Patrick Byrne Michael Cahill Ashley Caldwell Jake Caldwell Serdar Caliskan Jon Calluzzo Stewart Campbell Samantha Cantor Yuri Cantor Dan Carabas Gemma Carlaw Laura Carroll Tim Carson Matt Carter Quentin Cezard Alex Cham Simon Chamama Heidi Chan Patrick Chan Suraj Chandran Kim Cheah Jon Cheh CP Chen Nelly Cheng Sarrah Cherhabil Jackson Cheung Michael Cheung Rama, Stan Chiu Anish, Kunal Choraria Ankit Chowdhari Dario Claus Cosimo Codacci, Michael Coleman David Collerd Shannon Collins Francesca Condini Lee Coppersmith John Couch Tim Creamer Maziar, Satish Damodaran Gareth Davies Serkan, Nick De Kock Ann de la, Nick De Kock Ann de la Montaigne Jan Debeuckelaer Molly Decker Gabrielle Decrion Laurent Dedieu Antoine Demongeot Yannick Derippe Deepalakshmi Desai Tim Desiano Joshua Dezube Randeep Dhillon Javier Diaz, Merry Matheus, Jared Dickow Alex Doell Mao Dong Praneil Doolabh Daniel Dooling Michelle Dorea Szymon Doroz Jacqueline Du Benjamin Duell Kelsey Dumont Julie Duval Todd Ebe Dayo, Jeremy Eisenstein Chris Elmore Ryan Erickson Joaquin Escribano Larry Estrada Pavel Fadeev Will Fairbourn Jeremy Falgiani Fabio Federici Wenlong Fei David Felman Sophia Ferguson Zach Fernandez David Fernandez Miguez Scott, William Fio Rito Duffy Fischer Lisa Florentine Akshay Fomra Janice Foo Nicholas Forbat Elie Franko Georgina Fraser Jason Freeman Nicole Freeman Oliver Friedberg Gavriel Friedland Ross Fuller Angela Fung Greg Furness Nikhil Gadodia Stefano Gamba Amit Singh Gambhir Javier Gandara Giorgio Gandola Amit Gangrade Sudha Garimella Mima Garland Mingmin Ge Graziano Gemma Shefali Gera Constance Germain Brad Gifford Benjamin Giles Abbas Ginwala Marlene Giorgio Thomas Giovachini Zachary Glasser Guillaume Gnech Harley Golding Yuriy Goldman Jesse Goldstein Roy Golender Sharon Gonnella Alejandro Gonzalez Steven Gooden Jessie Gould Varun, George Graf von Waldersee Florian Granier Jamie Greenberg Brian Grzelakowski Alessandro Guicciardi Michael Guiliano Samuel Guinness Bivash Gunpath Deepa Gupta Parikshit Gupta Lauren Gutierrez Johannes Hahn Chris Hallam Alex Halpern Christina Halpin Michael Hamilton Brooke Hammel Saki Hanioka John Hanson Mathew Harris Ally Hart Amy Harwood Tom, Emily Hashimoto Rob Haslam Michael Heino Brandon Herde Sarah Higgins Camilla Hill Spencer Hill Sho, Cecilia Ho Jonathan Ho Bryan Hoffman Kevin Hoffmeyer Eliza Hollyday Simon Holmes Mehdi, Lily, Derek Hu Jennifer Hui Tim Huiszoon Camille Humbert Kurt Humes Kelley Hutchison Masayuki Ichioka Andrew Imber Calvin Isaac Jackson Isaacs Sharif Ismail Yu, Doug Michael Jaffa Nitin Jagga Rahul Jain, Jataprolu Fiona Jervis Yinpeng Jin Sandeep Jindal Jennifer Jochinger Steven Johnson David Johnstone Megan Jordan Nicolas Joseph Bob Kadel Jean Kam Harneet Kaur Vinay Kaura Peter Kelman Stephanie Kenary Maggie Keohan Humayun Khalid Sunil Khandelwal Scott Kilpatrick Jenny Kim Ashley King Joel Klaus Rene Klos Rossitsa, Michael Kondoleon Gregory Kontopoulos Larry Kornreich Shrivathsa Kota Konrad Krallmann Ken Kraska Alexander Kretzberg Bryant Krongard Simon Kubbies Adam Kulik Peter Kulka Ajeya Kumar Aditya Kurella Sara Lachapelle Raagini, Langalia Chaim Langer Alexander Langley Raven LaRue Dolapo Lawal Claire Leblanc, Langalia Chaim Langer Alexander Langley Raven LaRue Dolapo Lawal Claire Leblanc Mary LeDonne, Allison Lee Michael Lee Soohyun Lee Victoria Lewis Alice Li Qing Li George Lin Ali Lippert David Lipworth Bozhena Lisko, Murphy Mark Littlewood Zhenyi Liu Yelli Lobel Avinash Lobo Burke Loeffler Gabriela Lopez Cristian Lopez, Balboa Carlos Lopez Torrero Stephanie Louie Edward Lowe Reynolds Lowry Fei Luo Ranjan Luthra Sangeetha M Martin Ma Matthew Maciaszek Michael Magee Steffen Mahringer Poonam Majithia Terres Maloney Gopal Manchikanti Jade Mandel, Manfay Varun, Pierre Marboeuf Matt Margolin Thiago Marinheiro Kevin Martens Masato Maruyama Lucinda Mataka Rishi Mathur Pierre Maugest Scott Maxfield Andrei Maxim Michael McClurg Selina McCole Jeff McCown Andrea McGee Sinead McGuigan John McGuinness Benjamin McRoberts Amit Mehrotra Gaurav Mehta Kelly Mellecker Josef Menasche Raf Mercado Alexander Mielke Rachel Miles Christopher Miller Megan Miller Robert Miller Max Minton Edward Mitchell Oliver Money Tyler Moni Anna Montvai Taylor Moore Anthony Moschella Brandon Moy Faraz Munaim Sasha Munn Ashok Musuvathy Negar, Julian Naden Robinson Hiroki Nagamine Srijith Nair Cornelius Namiluko Sanjiv Nanwani Jay Narain Robert Andranik Nazarian Jovan Negovan Ryan Newman Michael Ng, Tasuku Nishihara John Nixon Kristy Nomi Alexandre Nunes Patrick O'Callaghan Yusuke Ochi KC O'Connor David Olivares Erica Olsen Victoria Ortengren Anas, Peter Pace Robert Packwood Nitin, Ellen Pak Ruth Pan Pedro Panizo Jayshri, Rahul Parikh Dan Parisi Freddie Parker Phil Parsons Peter Paruch Paul Pate Bella Patel Preya Patel Rakesh Patel Amit Patni Ed Paulinski Adam Pennacchio Kyle Penton Abhishek Periwal Michael Perrier Yoric Perrin Rasmus Persson Tommy Pinhas, Marco Poletti Megan Prasad Avijit Praveer James Puccinelli Sameer Punde Rob Pyne Na Qiao Valentina Quadri Marco Quirico Anya Radford Abhishek Rai Rahul Raj Ram Rajamony Ryan Ramsay Rami Rankoussi Nach Rao Pawan Rao Anurag Rathi Philip Renton Noel Reyes Ruth Reynolds Timothy Richards Peter Richter Brigid Riley Hutchinson Nick Rill Kristina Ristagno Vicky Ritter Martin Roberson James Roberts James Robinson Giorgio, Erin Roos Erin Ross Sumit Roy Conrad Ryan Soo, Ryu David Sage Jai Sahani Namita, Sarah Sakkej Karim Saleh Ayesha Salman Divya Samani Henrik Samuelsson Ryan Sansalone Vikram Sarker Shalini Satish Babu Charlotte Saury, Hania Schmidt Helene Schmitt Emily Schorr Wendy Schrunk Thomas Schwegler Michael Sciancalepore Brandon Seaman Benjamin Seigel Gamal Selvarajah Nicholas Semeniuk Devjoy Sengupta Michael Shafik Arpan Shah Shashwat Shah Shahnawaz Shahbaz Manoj Sharma Sachin Sharma Wazila, Gunduz Shirin Alex Silver Asmita Singh Kamalpreet Singh Andrew Sinnott Sapna, Dan Skinner Andrew Snow Stephanie Snyder Farouk Soussa Christopher Spahr Erik Sparks Matt Speltz Naveen Srinivasan Bhargav, Warren, Damian Steele Tobias Stein Catherine Stemp Dave Stringer Shekar Subramanian Jordan Sudy Philipp Suess Fatima Sultana Lu Sun Kumar Sundaram Fiona Syer Matthew Sykes Tofi, Filippo Taddei Sandhya Tadishetty Omer Tanvir Rita Taylor Zachary Tcheyan Brian Teague Wesley, Caitlin Terry Thomas Tesauro Hemal, Justin Therry Christine Thornburg Gregory Thysheril Angelo Tierno Alexander Tingle Ryan Townsend Cynthia Trillo Dimitris, Jessica Tung Jonathan Tung Ezgi, Zachary Upcheshaw Kiyomi, Nadine Urseanu Jim Vais Pim Valantagul Perrin Van Allen Annerieke van Dijk Jeroen van Dorp Dennis van Laer Todd van Stolk, Riley Jacqueline Vargas Alexander Vavalidis Edwin Velez Prasanna Venugopal Tim Verheyden Amanda Verstegen Ankit Vijay Vargiya Salvador Villanueva Arthur Villard Sichel Denzel Voesenek Bradley Wainwright Adam Walker Barbara Walters Omar Waly Daniel Wang Kenneth Wang Kristen Ward Gavin Warren Michael Washington Harry Webster Fredrik Weege Brian Weiss Thomas Weitz Nat Wells Joe Wenzel Tim Whitehead Henry Willans Matthew Williams Taylor Williams Katie Wilson Richard Wilson Stephanie Wisner Ilana Wolfe Jake Woodson Jeff Wu Qi Wu Jackson Yang Esma, Yoon Harm, John Zhai Jenny Zhang Lynn Zhang Raye Zhu Jane Zhuang Hans Zijlmans Carolyn Zimmer Samia Zitouni Mira Zorkot Organizations: Goldman, Wall, Carolina, Nick De Kock Ann de la Montaigne, Langalia Chaim Langer Alexander Langley Raven LaRue Dolapo Lawal Claire Leblanc Mary Locations: Europe, Asia, India

☆ ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ star Maggie Smith, 88, is the face of Loewe’s new campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Dame Maggie Smith, the British actress acclaimed for her appearances both on stage and in cinema, has taken on a new role — and this time it’s in the world of luxury fashion. Loewe has cast the 88-year-old, known for roles such as Professor McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” film franchise, in its spring/summer 2024 pre-collection campaign. The pointed hat and cape of Hogwarts are a distant memory as Smith sports three cosy and stylish looks for the campaign. In another, Smith is adorned in a floor-length faux fur coat and holds Loewe’s signature Puzzle bag. The actress is one of several older women who have fronted fashion lines and magazine covers in recent years.

Persons: Maggie Smith, Loewe, McGonagall, Harry Potter, Smith, Juergen Teller, Dakota Fanning, Greta Lee, Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, Taeyong, Rachel Jones, Fei Fei Sun, Heartstopper, Sebastian Croft, Jonathan Anderson, “, Juergen Teller Smith —, Countess Violet Crawley, —, Oscar, Miss Jean Brodie, ”, Apo, Od, Dame Judi Dench Organizations: CNN, Loewe Creative, Broadway, Vogue Philippines, British Vogue Locations: British, Hogwarts, American, South Korean, ”, California

☆ What Is the Government’s Role in Developing—and Regulating—AI?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Commerce Department’s Alan Davidson, center, and Stanford’s Fei-Fei Li, right, at WSJ Tech Live. Li said it’s still an uphill battle for women and people of color trying to make a mark in the AI field. Photo: Nikki Ritcher for the Wall Street JournalAs AI develops, it becomes more of a critical issue in politics. How important is it in our competition with China? Does the field have enough diverse voices?

Persons: Alan Davidson, Stanford’s Fei, Fei Li, Li, it’s, Nikki Ritcher, Wells, Fei Organizations: WSJ Tech, Wall, Stanford Institute for, Intelligence, Commerce Department, Tech Locations: China

☆ China to double size of space station, touts alternative to NASA-led ISS
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Oct 5 (Reuters) - China plans to expand its space station to six modules from three in coming years, offering astronauts from other nations an alternative platform for near-Earth missions as the NASA-led International Space Station (ISS) nears the end of its lifespan. The operational lifetime of the Chinese space station will be more than 15 years, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a unit of China's main space contractor, said at the 74th International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday. At 180 metric tons after its expansion to six modules, Tiangong is still just 40% of the mass of the ISS, which can hold a crew of seven astronauts. Russia, a participant in the ISS, has similar space diplomacy plans, suggesting that Moscow's partners in the BRICS group - Brazil, India, China and South Africa - could construct a module for its space station. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said last year it was planning to build a space station comprising six modules that could accommodate up to four cosmonauts.

Persons: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, Zhang Lu, Florence, Tiangong, Ryan Woo, Gerry Doyle Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, NASA, Space, China Academy of Space Technology, International Astronautical, European Space Agency, ESA, Global Times, U.S, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, Baku, Azerbaijan, European, U.S, United States, Russia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Russian

The figures suggest that China's latest steps to revive a crisis-hit property market, including lower mortgage rates and down payments, could unlock some pockets of housing demand in the most sought-after areas, but may struggle to halt the broader property market downturn. "These measures may generate a short-term rebound in property transactions, but are insufficient to stabilize the property market," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note. But Yu Fei, a property sales agent at HomeLink, said the initial spike in interest he noticed in the first few days is already petering out. "Many homebuyers remain in a wait-and-see approach, some hoping for more radical policies to stimulate the property market," Yu said. Goldman analysts said if property sales kept sliding policymakers could release more liquidity into the market by cutting banks' reserve requirement ratios, lowering rates, easing home purchasing rules further.

Persons: Jason Lee, Goldman Sachs, Zhang Guoqiang, I'm, Zhang, Zhao Jie, Yu Fei, Yu, Goldman, Wan, Emelia Sithole Organizations: REUTERS, China Index, Haitong Securities, Longfor, HK, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, BEIJING, HONG KONG, China's

LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - As the world's best badminton players travel home after the World Championships in Denmark, the sport's leading manufacturer Yonex (7906.T) told Reuters some of them were fighting it out for the first time in sneakers made partly from recycled materials. In addition to appeasing environmentally conscious shoppers, the companies argue that switching to recycled materials helps reduce waste and their reliance on finite resources. While developing the products, Yonex thought about how to blend materials in order to overcome the challenge of the physical properties of sustainable materials generally being different to traditional materials. He added that sustainable materials currently cost more to use because suppliers mass-produce traditional materials. Yonex said it uses sustainable materials in 83% of its apparel products, such as organic cotton or recycled fibers.

Persons: Chen Yu Fei, Viktor Axelsen, Yonex, Shinichiro Chiba, Chiba, Taiwan's Victor, Richa Naidu, David Holmes Organizations: Reuters, Sports, Adidas, Badminton World Federation, Olympic, Thomson Locations: Denmark, Tokyo, China

☆ Amid fierce, bloody fighting in Ukraine, the US and China are training for new ways to get wounded troops away from the frontline
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Intense fighting and high casualties in Ukraine have raised new challenges for military medicine. This summer, the US and Chinese militaries both trained on new ways to evacuate wounded troops. Since the Korean War, US soldiers have become accustomed to rapid "medevac" by purpose-built medical vehicles, ships, or aircraft. US Marines conduct medical evacuation drills during an exercise in Bulgaria in August 2018. "This is the first time mobile air forces were introduced in a medical exercise," said Su Xingliang, head of the coastal defense brigade's support department.

Persons: Lance Cpl, Angel D, Travis US, Amy Picard, Su Xingliang, Sun Fei, Diego Herrera Carcedo Organizations: Service, US Marine Corps, US Air Force, Guardian, Air Force Times, New Zealand Air Force, Global Times, Chinese Communist Party, Getty, American College of Surgeons, Anadolu Agency, Artillery Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Korean, China, Bulgaria, Pacific, Beijing, South, Zhejiang Province, Taiwan, Xinhua, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhya

Even as the import ban kicked in, tables were filled at Japanese restaurant Fumi in Hong Kong on August 24, 2023. Kathleen Magramo/CNNHours before China’s announcement, the Asian financial center of Hong Kong – a semi-autonomous Chinese city – imposed its own ban on aquatic product imports from 10 Japanese regions including Tokyo and Fukushima. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has reportedly “strongly” requested via diplomatic channels that China “immediately overturn” the ban. Still, Fei too thought that the bans from China and Hong Kong would have limited impact on Japanese trade. Consequently, even considering the reputational damage for Japanese seafood products, Japan’s overall exports will not be materially undermined,” Fei said.

Persons: “ It’s, ”, Thomason Ng, Fumi’s, “, Kathleen Magramo, Japan’s, Masanobu Sakamoto, Fumio Kishida, ” Sakamoto, –, Nigel Marks, there’s, CNN “ It’s, ” Marks, David Krofcheck, ” Krofcheck, Stefan Angrick, Angrick, That’s, China “, Fei Xue, Fei, ” Fei, restaurateurs, Hong Kong’s, Cara Man, we’ll Organizations: CNN, Hong Kong’s, East China, Fisherman’s Cooperative Association, ” “ Fishermen, Japanese, Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, Curtin University, University of Auckland, World Health Organization, Moody’s, Economist Intelligence Unit, “ Seafood Locations: Hong, Hong Kong’s Central, Fumi, Asia, Japan, China, Fukushima, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Weibo, East, Beijing, Australia, Ocean, South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Japanese, Central, Japan’s Hokkaido, Kyushu, Kagoshima, Norway, Canada

[1/5] Workers walk out of a construction site of residential buildings by Chinese developer Country Garden, in Tianjin, China August 18, 2023. Both sites are run by Country Garden, China's largest developer by sales volume before this year, now mired in a debt crisis threatening to spill over to the wider economy. Once considered one of the more financially sound developers, Country Garden is now a bellwether of how the cycle has turned for developers. Country Garden built its success by quickly selling a large number of units for low margins and by promising "five-star living" in less popular, smaller cities. Tianjin has about a dozen Country Garden projects, with the majority finished and delivered, said Gao Fei, investment advisory manager at the Tianjin branch of Centaline Property Agency.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Wang, Wei, Gao Fei, Gao, Laurie Chen, Clare Jim, Sumeet Chatterjee, Sonali Paul Organizations: Workers, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Construction, Nomura, Centaline Property Agency, Thomson Locations: Tianjin, China, Rights TIANJIN, HK, Beijing, Shenyang Tengyue, Centaline, Hong Kong

☆ Taiwan celebrates linguistic diversity at annual music awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/10] Julia Peng poses for pictures at the 34th Golden Melody Awards ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan July 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ann WangTAIPEI, July 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan celebrated linguistic diversity at the Golden Melody Awards late Saturday with big wins for singers who primarily sing in Mandarin, at one of the most prestigious entertainment events in the Chinese-speaking world. Cheng, speaking in Mandarin, thanked the Taiwanese language for "teaching me how to bow my head and slow down". In the indigenous language category, the Paiwan singers Kasiwa and Matzka rapped and sang in their native tongue, with Kasiwa getting the prestigious jury award. "Here, no matter what language everyone uses - Taiwanese, Hakka, indigenous languages, Mandarin, English and Japanese, - they can all sing freely, which also brings us together."

Persons: Julia Peng, Ann Wang, Enno Cheng, Peng, Cheng, Kasiwa, Matzka, Tsai Ing, Ouyang Fei Fei, Ouyang, Ben Blanchard, William Mallard Organizations: REUTERS, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, Ann Wang TAIPEI, China, Japan

☆ Oracle is betting its AI future on a company called Cohere. Here's why this little-known startup is becoming OpenAI's chief rival.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Oracle is offering generative AI to its customers based on tech from a startup called Cohere. Oracle will be embedding Cohere's generative AI technology into a bunch of its products and Cohere will be using Oracle's cloud to train, build, and deploy its generative AI models, Oracle chairman and CTO Larry Ellison said. One is that Cohere is designed for enterprise customers, meaning companies can use their own data to train their AI models, without sharing that data. But at the moment, Cohere is the only partner Oracle announced to power its generative AI services for customers, though this could change one day. He was a research intern at Google Brain in 2017 when he co-authored a paper on a way of training AI models to improve their abilities to understand language.

Persons: Cohere, Geoffrey Hinton, Fei, Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel, Larry Ellison, That's, Ellison, OpenAI, ChatGPT, Salesforce, Aidan Gomez, cofounders, Nick Frosst, Ivan Zhang, Gomez Organizations: Oracle, Morning, NVIDIA, Salesforce Ventures, New York Times, Microsoft, Wall, Nvidia, Google, Cohere Locations: Cohere, OpenAI, Toronto

☆ Italian drugs cartels conceal payments via Chinese shadow banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Emilio Parodi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

[1/3] Seized drugs are seen following an investigation on drugs cartels operating in Italy increasingly using shadow networks of unlicensed Chinese money brokers to launder their proceeds in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on April 4, 2023. Carabinieri/Handout via REUTERSMILAN, April 6 (Reuters) - Drugs cartels operating in Italy are increasingly using shadow networks of unlicensed Chinese money brokers to conceal cross-border payments, according to Italian judicial and law enforcement authorities. U.S. authorities have said Chinese “money brokers” represent one of the most worrisome new threats in their war on drugs, as a Reuters investigation in 2020 found. Chinese authorities have previously vowed to crackdown on underground banking. One of the first probes to come to light involving use of Chinese money brokers by Italian mobsters was linked to the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta group, one of the largest crime gangs in the world.

☆ China's Nio opens trial for high-speed EV battery swapping stations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Aly SongSHANGHAI, March 28 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio Inc (9866.HK) began trial operation on Tuesday of faster, more efficient battery swapping stations in China in its push to make battery swapping a viable alternative to rival EV makers' rapid-charging technology. Tesla's (TSLA.O) rapid-charging Supercharger allows EV users to top up vehicles to a range of 200 miles in 15 minutes. Rival Tesla has dismissed battery swapping as "riddled with problems and not suitable for widescale use". Nio, which has set a target of 2,300 battery swapping stations globally by year-end, had 1,323 in operation as of March 23, Shen said. It aims for 900 of the latest power swap stations to be operating this year, he added.

[1/5] Badminton - All England Open Badminton Championships - Utilita Arena, Birmingham, Britain - March 19, 2023 South Korea's An Se-young celebrates on the podium after winning the women's singles final Action Images via Reuters/Andrew BoyersBIRMINGHAM, England, March 19 (Reuters) - South Korea's An Se Young smashed her way to the women's singles title at the All England Open badminton championships on Sunday, beating Tokyo 2020 Olympics gold medallist Chen Yu Fei of China. "I'm so tremendously happy," said An, 21, who had knocked Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan out in the semi-finals on Saturday. It was touch-and-go for An in the second half of the final game, with Chen pressing with aggressive smashes and smart backhands. China beat South Korea in the mixed doubles final 21-16 16-21 21-12. Later on Sunday, Li Shi Feng will play fellow Chinese shuttler Shi Yu Qi in the men's final.

However, further announcements are expected in coming weeks as China implements a reorganisation of its financial regulatory structure and other government bodies. "Opting for continuity in these critical economic roles suggests an emphasis on credibility and stability," said Mattie Bekink, China director at the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network. The U.S.-educated central bank chief Yi, appointed PBOC governor in 2018, had widely been expected to retire after being left off the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee during the party's once-in-five-years congress in October. "It shows China wants to at least have a dialogue with the United States on monetary policy and financial cooperation," he said. The parliamentary session will end on Monday, with Xi expected to give a speech and Li, the new premier, scheduled to hold a televised media conference afterwards.

☆ Dow tumbles 345 points as the biggest bank failure since 2008 rattles nerves
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Stocks dropped sharply Friday after regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank. The bank failure is the biggest since the 2008 financial crisis and has sparked contagion fears. The index's financial sector was the worst performing on Friday as regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank to prevent a run on the tech-startups lender. The bank collapsed after this week saying higher interest rates spurred billions in losses on a $21 billion bond portfolio. "Silicon Valley Bank was heavily reliant on the tech industry, catering mainly to startups and the investors that fund them.

☆ China's Weibo ups stake in Inmyshow Digital with $315 mln acquisition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 1 (Reuters) - China's Weibo Corp (9898.HK) said on Wednesday it was raising its stake in Shanghai-listed media marketing firm Inmyshow Digital Technology Group Co Ltd (600556.SS) through the acquisition of ShowWorld Hong Kong Ltd for 2.16 billion yuan ($314.7 million). ShowWorld Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Chinese technology company SINA Corp, holds an 18.4% stake in Inmyshow Digital Technology. On completion of the deal, Weibo will own a cumulative 26.57% stake in Inmyshow, becoming its biggest shareholder. Inmyshow Digital Technology provides its clients with marketing strategies and social media operations. ($1 = 6.8640 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sohini GoswamiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ AI startup Cohere in talks to raise funding at $6 bln plus valuation -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Generative AI aims to make human-like creations through computer code that has processed vast amounts of data. FOCUS ON NLPFocusing on training natural language processing (NLP) models, Cohere competes with a group of foundation model providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Gomez said the company differentiates itself by focusing on serving enterprise users, and Cohere has been talking to companies from marketing, consulting and tech to help them incorporate generative AI. Cohere is powering some consumer applications including Hyperwrite, which helps people write faster and generate articles using AI. Other foundation model providers such as Anthropic is also in talks to raise funding at multi-billion valuations, investor sources said.

☆ China fell in EIU's democracy index partly because of its Covid restrictions, analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina fell in EIU's democracy index partly because of its Covid restrictions, analyst saysFei Xue of the Economist Intelligence Unit says the country has been a laggard in terms of lifting Covid restrictions on social and economic life.

☆ Man demanded $300K before killing 4 Chinese nationals at Oklahoma pot farm, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A man accused of killing four people at an illegal Oklahoma marijuana farm last month opened fire after demanding employees give him $300,000 as a return for his “investment” in the illegal operation, prosecutors said. He is accused of killing Chinese nationals Quirong Lin, Chen He Chun, Chen He Qiang and Fang Hui Lee and injuring Yi Fei Lin, according to charging documents. Police respond to a crime scene where four people were found dead in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, on Nov. 21, 2022. The marijuana farm has since been seized by law enforcement, the filing stated. Law enforcement officials have reported a rise in black market operators using suspected human trafficking victims, including Chinese nationals, to grow and trim marijuana sold in legal dispensaries.

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