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☆ China declares 'decisive victory' over COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jennifer LorenziniBEIJING, Feb 17 (Reuters) - China's top leaders declared a "decisive victory" over COVID-19, claiming the world's lowest fatality rate, although experts have questioned Beijing's data as the coronovirus tore across the country after largely being kept at bay for three years. China abruptly ended its zero-COVID policy in early December, with 80% of its 1.4 billion population becoming infected, a prominent government scientist said last month. Though there were widespread reports of packed hospital wards and mortuaries, China recorded only about 80,000 COVID deaths in hospitals in the two months after dropping its curbs. "With continuous efforts to optimise COVID-19 prevention and control measures since November 2022, China's COVID-19 response has made a smooth transition in a relatively short time," China's Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) said in a meeting on Thursday. The meeting stressed that China will increase the vaccination rate for the elderly, and strengthen the supply and production of medical goods.

Workers who get paid in cash, especially sex workers, face extra challenges during tax season. But people who work in cash economies — like sex workers, bartenders, servers, and side-hustlers who get paid in cash — face additional challenges during tax season. "I just remember feeling so paralyzed any time I thought about finance," sex worker and tax preparer Daisy Douglas tells Insider. Insider's Featured Tax Software Tax SlayerLiberty TaxH&R Block Tax Software Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. "Assert your rights and let them know that this is the way tip income is supposed to be reported."

☆ IRS about 3 to 5 times more likely to audit Black Americans' tax returns, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Jeffrey Coolidge | Photodisc | Getty ImagesBlack Americans are roughly three to five times more likely to face an IRS audit than other taxpayers, according to a new study. Specifically, the study examines audits of filers claiming the earned income tax credit, a tax break for low to moderate earners. The findings show Black filers claiming the earned income tax credit were more likely to be audited than non-Black filers claiming the same credit. Evelyn Smith Study co-authorSmith said the IRS has focused on specific mistakes with claiming the earned income tax credit, such as missing dependents or misreporting income, which are required for eligibility. "Focusing on these individual-level issues rather than the total dollar amount of underreporting seems to be driving these differences," she said, noting a shift to self-employed earned income tax credit filers would help address the problem.

☆ The Biden administration could exclude North Africans and Middle Easterners as 'white' in the 2030 Census. New categories will prevent undercounting of MENA people, advocates say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It includes categories for Middle Eastern and North African people previously considered white. The proposed changes come after years of reviews on the way the US Census Bureau collects its data. Last year, President Joe Biden continued the review effort after former President Donald Trump's administration stalled on decisions regarding the implementation of proposed changes for the 2020 census, NPR reported. The new MENA category would also help with allocating resources to these groups, the document notes. A MENA category was supposed to be added to the 2020 census, but the bureau announced in 2018 that would no longer be the case until further research on the categories was done.

☆ From boom to bottom and now big change: Renault and Nissan reshape alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

It gave Nissan a 15% stake in Renault, on a par with the French state, but no voting rights. The alliance was thrown into turmoil following Ghosn's arrest on financial misconduct charges in late 2018 and his subsequent ouster as alliance chairman. 2002 Nissan announces its "Nissan 180" three-year plan, targeting an increase of 1 million vehicles in global sales by 2005. 2017 Both Nissan and Renault post record operating profits, though Nissan still falls short on some targets. Alliance Chairman Senard rules out any merger of the carmaking partners, saying they don't need to combine to be efficient.

☆ From boom to bottom and now big change: Renault and Nissan look to reshape alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Rural China is running out of coffins because COVID-19 is rampant — and the cost of funerals is skyrocketing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rural areas in China are running out of coffins amid a COVID-19 outbreak, the BBC reported. There's no official COVID-19 death count or estimate in some rural areas in China. One villager told BBC that funeral industry workers were "earning a small fortune." One doctor who operates a small clinic in rural china told BBC that he is hopeful the worst is over and that most of the residents in his town had already caught COVID-19. But there is a concern that more COVID-19 deaths are still to come, the BBC reported.

DHEISHEH, West Bank ⁠— Palestinian tradition dictates that only men transport the dead to their graves. For a few moments, she led the funerary procession for Amr, 14, who Palestinians say was killed by an Israeli bullet during a raid in the Dheisheh refugee camp. Around her, mourners packed the street inside the camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank just south of Bethlehem. Around Khamour, posters large and small from a variety of Palestinian organizations and institutions declared Amr a martyr. In 2022, 29 people were killed by Palestinians in Israel, east Jerusalem and the West Bank, according Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

☆ Cloudflare Takes Aim at a Top Security Threat: Your Inbox
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Cloud-infrastructure company Cloudflare Inc. announced Wednesday new email security capabilities aimed at helping businesses defend against phishing, malware and other cyberattacks commonly targeting corporate email accounts. It provides web performance, cybersecurity and other services to millions of customers, of which more than 156,000 pay for its services. Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare Photo: Cloudflare Inc.Chief Executive Matthew Prince said the new security functions are also in response to an increase in ransomware and other sophisticated cyberattacks, some of which are perpetrated by relatively unsophisticated hackers. Prince said, referring to the growth of so-called “ransomware-as-a-service,” where ransomware operators provide malware programs to affiliates to launch attacks. Prince said Cloudflare, which was itself a customer of Area 1 before pursuing an acquisition, has more closely integrated its existing cybersecurity services with Area 1’s email security platform.

The holiday, known before the pandemic as the world's largest annual migration of people, comes amid an escalating diplomatic spat over COVID curbs that saw Beijing introduce transit curbs for South Korean and Japanese nationals on Wednesday. The virus is spreading unchecked in China after Beijing abruptly began dismantling its previously tight curbs in early December following historic protests. Among them, South Korea and Japan have also limited flights and require tests on arrival, with passengers showing up as positive being sent to quarantine. COUNTING DEATHSSome of the governments that announced curbs on travellers from China cited concerns over Beijing's data transparency. Annual spending by Chinese tourists abroad reached $250 billion before the pandemic, with South Korea and Japan among the top shopping destinations.

GENEVA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said it is working with China to manage the risks of COVID-19 surging again as people travel for Lunar New Year celebrations but the country's response continues to be challenged by a lack of data. COVID-19 is spreading unchecked in China after the country lifted its zero-COVID policy in December, but the WHO said it still does not have enough information from China to make a full assessment of the dangers of the surge. That is also an issue in working with China on how to mitigate the risks of travel ahead of the Lunar New Year public holiday, which officially runs from Jan. 21, the WHO said. The WHO also said China is still heavily underreporting deaths from COVID-19, although it is now providing more information on its outbreak. "There are some very important information gaps that we are working with China to fill," said COVID-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove.

☆ Tesla investor and former 'fanboy' questions whether Elon Musk is purposely tanking the carmaker's stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla investor Leo KoGuan questioned whether Elon Musk is intentionally crushing Tesla stock. KoGuan, who is "one of Tesla's largest individual shareholders," per Bloomberg, had amassed about 22.6 million Tesla shares as of August 27, 2022. Musk, KoGuan, and Lagetko did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication. On Friday morning, Tesla stock was trading around $105 per share, its lowest since August 12, 2020, amid slowing demand from China. The Tesla CEO's fortune, largely tied to his shares in Tesla, declined as the company's stock price tumbled.

☆ China Stops Issuing Daily Covid Data Ahead of Outbreak’s Peak
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China’s central health authority has stopped publishing daily Covid-19 data, ending a three-year effort that has drawn mounting criticism for massively underreporting the surge in infections now sweeping the country. In a one-line announcement Sunday, China’s National Health Commission said it would no longer issue its daily report on Covid infections and deaths. Relevant Covid information will instead be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research, it said, without giving any further information.

☆ IRS delays rule change for people who get paid on Venmo, Etsy, Airbnb and other apps
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Anyone getting paid for their goods and services through apps like Venmo, PayPal or CashApp, or platforms like Etsy and Airbnb, just got a reprieve from the IRS. But the 1099-K reporting will make it harder for someone to evade the taxes they owe by underreporting their business income. The rule also does not apply to personal transactions you conduct on an electronic payment platform. Lastly, the 1099-K reporting rule does not apply to any transactions made through Zelle. But the IRS may still get reporting on at least some of your business transactions on Zelle, Walker said.

☆ Just How Bad Is the ‘Tripledemic’?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Amy Schoenfeld Walker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

R.S.V., or respiratory syncytial virus, has made so many young children ill this fall that weekly pediatric hospitalizations for R.S.V. Public health officials have been warning for weeks that a “tripledemic” of Covid-19, flu and R.S.V. Weekly hospitalizations for Covid-19, R.S.V. With flu surging and Covid-19 circulating, respiratory illness has overwhelmed pediatric units across the country, shifting the strain to emergency rooms and children’s hospitals. The predominant type of flu circulating right now, a subtype of influenza A known as H3, also tends to result in higher flu hospitalizations among the elderly, according to the C.D.C.

☆ Amazon slammed by US government for failing to record warehouse-worker injuries. The investigation is ongoing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The US government is investigating Amazon warehouses in five states. Federal regulators slapped Amazon with 14 citations for failing to record workers' injuries. The company's self-reported data to the Department of Labor shows that Amazon warehouse employees get hurt roughly twice as often, on average, as non-Amazon workers in the same industry. One worker at an Amazon warehouse in Colorado, for instance, reported shoulder pain after repeatedly lifting packages. Following referrals from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Department of Labor began investigating the Amazon warehouses this summer.

☆ If you're making at least $600 from Fantasy Football, the IRS wants to know about it – and you should tell them
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Starting in 2022, $600 and over in Fantasy Football gambling winnings must be reported to the IRS. The IRS defines a 1099-K form as an "IRS information return used to report certain payment transactions to improve voluntary tax compliance." The payment transactions include those from third-party payment networks. "Loan providers want to see copies of your tax returns, and if you're understating income, you're hurting yourself because you're not really showing all of your income," Bronnenkant said. It takes at least 40 credits to qualify for Social Security benefits.

☆ Biden administration plans to let mpox emergency declaration end in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Katherine Dillinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The US Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that it does not plan to renew the public health emergency declaration for mpox. “Given the low number of cases today, HHS does not expect that it needs to renew the emergency declaration when it ends on January 31, 2023,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Friday. President Joe Biden named Bob Fenton, a regional Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC, as coordinators of the White House’s mpox response in August. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. Fenton’s and Daskalakis’ appointments are not tied to the emergency declaration and will continue for now, as will data collection and some other flexibilities provided by the emergency declaration.

☆ Get paid via Venmo, Etsy or Airbnb? Here’s what you need to know before tax season
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

If you get paid through apps like Venmo or PayPal or platforms like Etsy or Airbnb, preparing your taxes next year may be a little more confusing than usual. But the new lower threshold of $600 opens the door to a virtual paper chase of tax forms for the 2023 tax filing season. But the 1099-K reporting will make it harder for someone to evade the taxes they owe by underreporting their business income. Lastly, the 1099-K reporting rule does not apply to any transactions made through Zelle. But the IRS may still get reporting on at least some of your business transactions on Zelle, Walker said.

☆ Investors ignore China Covid spike at their peril
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HONG KONG, Nov 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The blistering relief rally underway in Chinese equities is understandable. Most of China’s trading partners have moved on to living with the virus, but Xi still aspires to keep it out. New cases have officially multiplied from roughly 1,000 per day in October to 25,353 on Thursday. In the second, Covid-19 finally runs wild in China, killing the unvaccinated elderly as it did in Hong Kong earlier this year. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index in Hong Kong has risen nearly 30% in the past 14 trading days, Refinitiv data show, while the onshore benchmark CSI300 index gained 9%.

☆ Fact Check-No evidence 40% of COVID-19 deaths in Finland were fabricated
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Data on COVID-19 deaths in Finland is being misinterpreted by users online who claim that 40% of reported pandemic deaths have been fraudulent or fabricated. As Finland reports deaths within 30 days of a positive COVID-19 test result, 40% of cases are deaths with COVID-19 but not directly due to COVID-19. Deaths within these 30 days include up to 40% of cases with COVID-19, though not primarily due to COVID-19. There is no evidence that Finland fabricated or exaggerated 40% of COVID-19 deaths. To avoid underreporting of COVID-related deaths, the national health institute reports deaths due directly to COVID-19 and deaths that occurred with COVID-19 to which the disease might have contributed.

☆ Business owners have an IRS payment coming due well before April federal income tax deadline
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

New business formation has boomed, and that means more new business owners than ever are dealing with tax season and potential tax nightmares. For starters, there's a big tax bill coming due for many business owners related to the pandemic, well ahead of the April 2023 federal income tax deadline. Here are a few more tips to stay ahead of the IRS this income tax season. Expect a new tax form related to Venmo, PayPal incomeFor tax year 2022, many business owners may be receiving a form they haven't in the past. The Wave State of Small Business Study for 2022 found that 35% of small businesses are blurring the lines between personal and business accounts.

☆ The federal government is losing $98 billion a year on small businesses and wealthy Americans either making mistakes or dodging taxes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

From 2014 through 2016, the tax gap, which measures taxes owed versus paid, grew to nearly $500 billion. That's largely due to people underreporting how much they owe, including for capital gains and small business taxes owed. For instance, there's a tax gap of $18 billion on capital gains, which taxes the sales of major assets. Meanwhile, nonfarm proprietor income — which tracks income for small businesses that aren't incorporated — saw a tax gap of $80 billion. Rettig previously said that "it would not be outlandish to believe that the actual tax gap could approach and possibly exceed $1 trillion per year."

☆ Covid leads to long Covid, in governments as well as people
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Brian Michael Jenkins | Brian Michael Jenkins Is An Army Combat Veteran Who Currently Serves As Senior Adviser To The President Of The Nonprofit | Nonpartisan Rand Corporation. His Latest Book Is | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

Unlike previous pandemics, however, Covid didn’t see the same offsets in unifying sentiment. There were many explanations for this, including underreporting of Covid deaths in many countries, but the optics were not good. Democratic governments imposed controls that intruded into ordinarily personal space, while authoritarian governments exploited the pandemic to tighten their control. The decline in Covid numbers, if it holds, will not reverse these developments after the November elections. Just as we may talk about societal comorbidity, societies may suffer from long Covid — an impaired functioning of democracy that may persist long after the contagion survives.

Note: Data for 2020 is from June 2020 through May 2021; for 2021, it is from June 2021 through May 2022. Path of Hai Feng 718 over 365 days Encounters with Chinese fishing vessels Note: Data is from June 2021 through May 2022. Transshipment allows fishing vessels to stay at sea year-round Parked side by side, carrier vessels exchange fuel, crew supplies and the catch from fishing vessels. This allows fishing ships to fish for longer periods. Fish hold where fish is transported from Fender to maintain a safe distance between ships FISHING VESSEL CARRIER VESSEL Crane to transport catch from fishing vessel to carrier vessel Fish hold where fish is transported from Fender to maintain a safe distance between ships FISHING VESSEL CARRIER VESSEL Crane to transport catch from fishing vessel to carrier vessel Transshipment between a squid fishing vessel and a cargo carrier in the North Indian Ocean last year.

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