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☆ PDD, Shein, Binance: These hugely successful companies were born in China. They don't want you to know that
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Hong Kong CNN —Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, doesn’t want to be called a Chinese company. “Our opposition in the West bends over backward to paint us as a ‘Chinese company,’” he wrote in a blog post last September. Zhao has been vocal about how he feels his firm is misrepresented as a "Chinese company." The same concern could, in theory, apply to any Chinese company. TikTok CEO Shou Chew testifying before US Congress in March.

BERLIN, May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Wednesday China has invited him to visit "in the near term" for talks on averting a global climate change crisis even as diplomatic relations between the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters remain tense. The United States and China must work together to address climate change, Kerry said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on global warming in Berlin. China, for example, first must issue its plan to reduce methane emissions and advance in the transition away from coal, Kerry added. "We're not pointing fingers and we're not out there trying to, you know, make this part of the other issues that are out there" between the United States and China, Kerry added. "This (climate change) is a free-standing issue which affects China as it affects the United States."

☆ US Ambassador to China: ‘We are ready to talk’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Jennifer Hansler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said Tuesday the United States is “ready to talk” to China, and expressed hope that Beijing would “meet us halfway on this.”Burns, however, did not give a clear answer about when Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China – which was postponed in February – would be rescheduled. “Our view is we need better channels between the two governments and deeper channels, and we are ready to talk,” Burns said at an event at the Stimson Center, which he attended virtually. “We’ve never been shy of talking, and we hope the Chinese will meet us halfway on this,” he said. Tensions soared following a visit by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan and after a Chinese surveillance balloon traversed the US, leading Blinken to call off that planned visit to China. “So I think that’s what we would like and I’m sure that’s what the European countries would like, that’s what Ukraine wants from China.”

☆ AOC and Matt Gaetz introduce a bipartisan bill to ban Congress members from trading individual stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban Congress members from trading individual stocks. Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi has long been scrutinized for his extensive history of trading stocks. The Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act would prohibit Congress members and their spouses and any dependents from trading individual stocks. The bill would prevent Congressional lawmakers and their spouses and dependents from trading individual stocks. Instead of owning individual stocks, Congress members would be allowed to buy and sell baskets of stocks via mutual funds or ETFs, as well as Treasury securities.

☆ Nikki Haley says pushing out Dianne Feinstein isn't sexist because the 89-year-old senator has proven she 'can no longer do her job'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said absentee Sen. Dianne Feinstein should resign now. Haley maintains that removing Feinstein is necessary because she's no longer "up to the job." And that's not sexist," Haley tweeted in response to Pelosi and others rallying to Feinstein's side during her months-long absence from Capitol Hill. While she praised Feinstein as a political trailblazer, Haley said that's ancient history. "It's been obvious for quite some time that she's in significant mental and physical decline," Haley wrote online, billing Feinstein as "a prime example of why we need mental competency tests for politicians."

☆ Hakeem Jeffries is enjoying an early honeymoon leading House Democrats. But one day, he'll have to make 'hard commitments.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

House Democrats say Hakeem Jeffries is a better listener and is more consensus-oriented than Pelosi. There's one big reason for it: House Democrats can't pass any of their own bills right now. Pelosi and Jeffries on the House floor after she announced she would step down from party leadership on November 17, 2022. 'He gets it'Jeffries, 52, has enjoyed a rapid ascent to the top of the Democratic caucus. "There were always very different views within the Democratic caucus on people who voted their district," said Slotkin.

☆ Fact Check-Video features deepfakes of Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

(Editors note: Paragraph 11 contains language some readers may find offensive)A video with clips of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden that have been digitally altered is being shared by users who believe it to be real. The video includes clips from the documentary Pelosi in the House, made by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra (here). We’re at [redacted], which has facilities for the House and the Senate to meet. Project Veritas and James O’Keefe, both mentioned in the video, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Audio tracks appearing to be the voices of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden were added onto various clips.

☆ Renowned China investor Ray Dalio says the US and China are on the brink of war, and that both sides are 'beyond the ability to talk'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Billionaire Ray Dalio warned on Thursday that the US and China are on the precipice of war. "The United States and China are on the brink of war and are beyond the ability to talk," reads Dalio's grim message. And as both powers look to protect their sources of essential technologies and minerals, they're making countries around the world choose sides, Dalio warned further. "I want to emphasize that by saying that they are on the brink, I don't mean to say that they will necessarily go over the brink," Dalio wrote. "Have all parties make clear that peace is better than war," Dalio said.

☆ Tucker Carlson's history of alleged workplace sexism stretches back to 2015, long before Abby Grossberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Possible rationales include Murdoch's contempt for Carlson's religiosity and Carlson's insistence on hewing to conspiracy theories about the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Internal correspondence unearthed in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News showed Carlson used sexist expletives to refer to a female Fox executive and a guest. The company last week agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Carlson was one of many Fox News hosts who promoted false election conspiracies, the subject of the defamation suit, on their shows. Fox News is still facing a similar defamation suit from another voting machine manufacturer.

☆ He Calls the Shots for New York’s Governor. He Lives in Colorado.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But Mr. Sullivan often insisted that crime was a losing issue for Ms. Hochul. Mr. Sullivan declined to comment on campaign strategy. He and Ms. Hochul have stood by its chairman, Jay Jacobs, who has become a punching bag for Democrats, especially on the left. Mr. Sullivan’s allies say he and Ms. Hochul want to strengthen the party, but they could only describe vague plans. “I don’t think he has any agenda other than the governor being successful.”Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

☆ TikTok ban is the least palatable of options
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Montana is following a movement around the United States to try to keep Americans from using TikTok. That has consequences: The United States has never pulled a platform used by so many people to communicate. China, which before TikTok had never cracked the U.S. market with a successful social media network, is unlikely to let ByteDance part with TikTok. More recently the company had been working with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to ease concerns. TikTok users in the United States could still binge on short videos, but the company – and its rivals – would face tougher constraints.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Charlie Bell speaks, Amazon RTO, and the lucrative side of teaching ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon needs to watch out for Charlie Bell. A founder of Amazon Web Services and the firm's "best person in the room," Bell shook the industry last September when he joined Microsoft. Bell will be overseeing a new cybersecurity division at Microsoft — but insiders at both Amazon and Microsoft wonder if he'll go more directly up against his former employer. My colleague Ashley Stewart examines the growing threat of Microsoft now that Bell is free from his noncompete purgatory. Look into the future here for Bell — and Microsoft — without Amazon's restrictions.

☆ Former Fox producer who sued Tucker Carlson alleging a 'sexist' work environment just 1 month before he was ousted has 'mixed feelings' about his departure
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former Fox producer suing Tucker Carlson said his Monday ouster left her with "mixed feelings." Abby Grossberg spoke to MSNBC this week about her ongoing lawsuits against Carlson and Fox. A former Fox News producer who is suing Tucker Carlson and other company executives for running a "sexist" work environment said Carlson's shocking ouster on Monday felt like the deliverance of "partial" justice. So, when she learned that Carlson had been ousted on Monday morning, Grossberg said she was left with "mixed emotions." Grossberg has also alleged that Fox News attorneys coerced her into making false statements in a deposition for the since-settled Dominion lawsuit.

Hong Kong CNN —A Taiwan political activist has been formally arrested on suspicion of “secession” in China, more than eight months after he was detained amid heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said they had repeatedly reached out to mainland authorities about Yang’s detention but had not received a direct response. In 2019, he became the vice chairman of the Taiwan National Party, a fringe political party advocating Taiwan independence. Handcuffed and escortedCCTV said Yang had long advocated the idea of “Taiwan independence” and founded the Taiwan National Party to push for Taiwan to become an independent, sovereign country and a member state of the United Nations. However, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council reminded Taiwan citizens to evaluate the risks before traveling to mainland China, citing the “repeated occurrence of similar cases recently,” without elaborating on the incidents.

☆ Lawyers plan to depose Tucker Carlson about 'sexist' workplace later this year amid reports he was ousted from Fox News over misogynistic messages
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Grossberg's lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court against Fox News in March, also names both Carlson and one of his top producers, Justin Wells, as defendants. Their removal from Fox News, however, doesn't mean they can escape scrutiny in the lawsuit, Grossberg's lawyer Tanvir Rahman told Insider. Grossberg's lawsuit was one factor in the decision to fire him, according to the Los Angeles Times. Grossberg's lawsuit alleges she experienced a hostile environment while working as a producer for shows hosted by Carlson and Maria Bartiromo. Fox executives derided Bartiromo with sexist terms, calling her "menopausal," "hysterical," a "diva," and a "crazy bitch," Grossberg's lawsuit claims.

☆ China, Singapore plan military drills as Beijing forges defence ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, April 24 (Reuters) - China and Singapore will hold a joint military exercise as soon as this week, their first combined drills since 2021, as Beijing deepens its defence and security ties with Southeast Asia, a region with strong existing U.S. alliances. Two years ago, China and Singapore held a combined military drill in international waters at the southern tip of the South China Sea, following the upgrade of a bilateral defence pact in 2019 to include bigger-scale exercises among their army, navy and air force. Such passages annoy China, which lays claims to nearly all of the South China Sea despite an international ruling to the contrary. Around the same time, China sent fighter-bombers to Thailand in joint air force drills code named Falcon Strike 2022. China's increased military engagement in Southeast Asia is widely expected to challenge the influence that the United States has shaped with countries including Singapore and Indonesia in coming years.

☆ Democrats warn large tech firms could evade competition policies under new trade rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

It's not the first time Democrats have raised concerns about tech provisions being included in trade agreements. The group urged Tai and Raimondo "not to put up for negotiation or discussion any digital trade text that conflicts" with the agenda set by the whole-of-government effort. "Big Tech wants to include an overly broad provision that would help large tech firms evade competition policies by claiming that such policies subject these firms to 'illegal trade discrimination,'" the Democrats wrote. "Tech companies could also weaponize these digital trade rules to undermine similar efforts by our trading partners." The letter cited a U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog post about a trade group coalition note advocating for strong digital trade provisions in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

☆ Telling Dianne Feinstein to resign is sexist and 'unprecedented,' women Democratic senators say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But Democratic women in the Senate say gender is playing a role in how her absence is being handled. But women Democratic senators told Insider at the Capitol on Wednesday that they believe sexism is at play and that the chamber's longest-serving Democrat is being held to an unfair standard because she is a woman. More recently, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was recently absent from the chamber for six weeks as he sought treatment for clinical depression. "I think it's important for Senator Feinstein to do what is what is best for her," said Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. "I just believe that it's not somebody else's assessment to make; it's her assessment to make," said Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

☆ Pelosi campaign pays Illinois man $7,500 after he sued over 'invasive and harassing' fundraising texts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Illinois man sued Nancy Pelosi's campaign for more than $31,500 over unwanted fundraising texts. And according to federal campaign finance disclosures made public on Friday, the dismissal came after Rojas received a $7,500 payment marked "Settlement" from Pelosi's congressional campaign. Rojas and Pelosi's campaign did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. A fundraising text that Rojas received from Pelosi, according to the lawsuit. Screenshot/Rojas v. Nancy Pelosi for Congress et alA full copy of the lawsuit can be found below:

☆ Taiwan president thanks fighter pilots as Chinese drills ebb
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via REUTERS/File PhotoTAIPEI, April 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday thanked fighter pilots who scrambled against China's air force during its drills around the island and pledged to keep strengthening the armed forces, as Beijing's military activities around the island ebbed. On Friday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had not spotted any Chinese military aircraft crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait in the past 24 hours. In its regular morning report on Chinese military activities in the previous 24-hour period, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had seen four Chinese military aircraft and eight Chinese warships around Taiwan. But in an accompanying map of China's activities it did not show any Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait's median line, an unofficial boundary between the two. China says it does not recognise the median line and has since August, when it staged war games after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, flown fighter jets regularly across it.

☆ The US could lose up to 900 warplanes fighting a Chinese invasion of Taiwan but would emerge victorious, says think tank
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A think tank ran war game analyses for a conflict between the US and China over Taiwan. One of the analysts told Insider the US and Taiwan would likely succeed in beating back a Chinese invasion. The Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, conducted war games last year to imagine how such a conflict would play out. The war games are designed to help envision how conflicts would play out. China conducted military drills around Taiwan following Pelosi's visit and said that further "training and war preparation" would continue, The Guardian reported.

☆ Warren Buffett gives reason for decision to sell stake in Taiwan's TSMC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Warren Buffett says geopolitical tensions were “a consideration” in the decision to sell most of Berkshire Hathaway’s shares in global chip giant TSMC, which is based in Taiwan. The 92-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” shed light on the investment call in a Tuesday interview with Japanese news agency Nikkei. He was quoted as sayiing that TSMC was a well-managed company but that Berkshire had “better places” to deploy its capital. In February, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) revealed that it had sold 86% of its shares in TSMC, which were purchased for $4.1 billion just months before. TSMC is considered a national treasure in Taiwan and supplies semiconductors to tech giants including Apple (AAPL) and Qualcomm (QCOM).

☆ Taiwan determined to safeguard freedom, democracy, President Tsai says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Ben Blanchard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Through this trip we again sent a message to the international community that Taiwan is determined to safeguard freedom and democracy which won acknowledgment and support from our democratic partners," Tsai said as she met Canadian lawmakers at her office in Taipei. We are willing to do our utmost to jointly safeguard the values of freedom and democracy with Canada and many more like-minded international partners." Despite China announcing the three days of drills had ended as scheduled on Monday, Beijing has continued military activities around Taiwan. Taiwan's defence ministry said on Wednesday morning that in the previous 24 hours it had detected 35 Chinese military aircraft and eight navy vessels around Taiwan. The aircraft crossing the median line included five Su-30 fighters at its northern end, with the other planes crossing at points in the centre and south.

☆ Ex-Fox News producer claims the company withheld damning recordings of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell that could help Dominion's defamation lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg is claiming her ex-employer withheld evidence from Dominion. Grossberg claims Fox failed to turn over audio recordings featuring Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. That line is cited in the lawsuit filed by Dominion, which is seeking $1.6 in damages for what it says was defamation. "The Trump advisor tellingly responded that there were in fact no issues with those machines," according to Grossberg's legal filing. Powell, likewise, was unable to back up some of her wilder claims, according to the filing.

☆ Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu: Military exercises suggest China is getting 'ready to launch a war against Taiwan'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Jim Sciutto | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

And no matter whether it is 2025 or 2027 or even beyond, Taiwan simply needs to get ready,” he said. The exercises appeared to mark the first time the Chinese navy has simulated strikes by aircraft carrier-based warplanes on Taiwan. And China cannot dictate how our friends want to show support to Taiwan.”Beijing conducted similar large-scale military exercises around Taiwan last August, after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. Those exercises included Chinese missile launches over the island, something that has not been seen so far in the current drills. Taiwan and China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei.

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