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☆ iPhone maker Foxconn to invest $600 million into phone and chip project in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Foxconn will invest more than $600 million in India as part of a phone manufacturing project and separately a semiconductor equipment facility, according to the government of the state of Karnataka. The phone project will create employment opportunities for 12,000 people, Patil said, while the semiconductor facility will generate employment for 1,000 people. Foxconn has also, with little success so far, tried to enter the semiconductor manufacturing area. Applied Materials was not immediately available for comment. Modi attended a semiconductor event in India last week, at which senior executives from big U.S. chip firms including Applied Materials and AMD were present.

Persons: Foxconn, B Patil, Patil, Narendra Modi, Modi, Young Liu Organizations: Materials, Vedanta, CNBC, Applied Materials, AMD Locations: Krakow, Poland, India, Karnataka, U.S, China

☆ Taylor Swift shelled out $100,000 bonuses to truckers on her Eras tour, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Taylor Swift handed out $100,000 bonuses to truckers on her tour, according to multiple reports. The singer shelled out over $55 million in bonuses to staff on the tour, People reported. The Eras tour is set to become the highest-grossing tour of all time, according to Pollstar data. Taylor Swift dished out "end of tour" bonuses to staff on her Eras tour, including about 50 truck drivers, according to multiple reports. In total, the singer handed out over $55 million in bonuses to her staff, including dancers, sound technicians, and caterers, People reported.

Persons: Taylor Swift, TMZ, Swift, Scott Swift, Taylor, Mike Scherkenbach, Insider's Juliana Kaplan, Gal, Simu Liu, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: SoFi, Entertainment, Federal Reserve Locations: Los Angeles, South America, Asia, Europe

☆ Foxconn to invest $600 million in India's Karnataka to make iPhone components, chip equipment
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Munsif Vengattil | Thomson Reuters | Munsif Vengattil Is A Reuters' India Technology Correspondent | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters was first to report the investment plans on Wednesday. The investment decisions follow a meeting between Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, Karnataka's IT minister Priyank Kharge, and Industries Minister MB Patil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also attracting investors for semiconductor manufacturing, which is his key business agenda currently. In Karnataka, Foxconn will collaborate with Applied Materials on a project for making semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and create jobs for around 1,000 people. India's Tamil Nadu state has also announced that Foxconn will invest $194 million in a new electronic components manufacturing facility that will create 6,000 jobs.

Persons: Ann Wang, Foxconn, Young Liu, Priyank Kharge, Liu, Narendra Modi, Munsif, Aditya Kalra, Himani Sarkar, Jane Merriman, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Applied Materials, Reuters, Industries, Patil, Micron, Materials, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, BENGALURU, India's Karnataka, China, Karnataka, India, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru

PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - France plans to evacuate hundreds of French and European citizens from Niger over the next 24 hours, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, days after a junta seized power in the west African country. She estimated that hundreds of French citizens and hundreds of citizens from other EU countries wanted to be evacuated. The United States, Germany, and Italy have troops in Niger on counter-insurgency and training missions. Colonna said France had talked with authorities in Niger to make sure the evacuation could proceed safely. A spokesperson for the EU Commission said EU utilities had sufficient inventories of natural uranium to mitigate any short-term supply risks.

Persons: Mohamed Bazoum, Catherine Colonna, France's, Colonna, France, DESTABILISATION, France's BFM, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russia's Wagner, Orano, Bazoum, Michel Rose, Sudip Kar, Layli, Blandine Henault, Charlotte van Campenhout, Ingrid Melander, Nellie Peyton, Christina Fincher, Alex Richardson, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Islamic, Kremlin, EU Commission, Nigerien, Regional, ECOWAS, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: France, Niger, West, Central Africa, Russia, Islamic State, al Qaeda, Sahel, Niger's, Niamey, Italy, United States, Germany, Russian, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea

☆ 32-year-old tech worker got a $54,000 pay bump without looking for a new job—here's how
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Jennifer Liu | In Jljenniferliu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

She wasn't happy in that line of work and researched what in-demand skills she could pick up to change careers. After taking a few free courses online, Chaze jumped into an analytics associate job in 2018 that paid $70,000 per year. Charlotte Chaze went from earning $28,000 to $158,000 as a tech worker in four years. She's now founder of Break Into Tech, a career resource to help others get their first tech jobs. And if a year or two later you're looking for a job, you're going to have a hard time remembering, what exactly did I do for this job?

Persons: Chaze, Charlotte Chaze, She's, It's, it's Organizations: Economic, undergrad, Towson University, University of Delaware, CNBC Locations: Philadelphia

☆ Nearly half a million spoiled ballots in Cambodia election, poll body says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Hun Manet, son of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen is seen at a polling station on the day of Cambodia's general election, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 23, 2023. REUTERS/Cindy Liu/File PhotoPHNOM PENH, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Cambodia's election commission said on Tuesday that nearly half a million ballots were spoiled in the national election last month, which critics have called a sham as all opposition parties were barred from contesting. About 440,000 ballots -- or every one in 18 -- were invalidated, the NEC said, adding the election had seen a high turnout of 85%. Authorities had threatened voters with heavy penalties if they spoiled ballots or boycotted the election or urged others to do so. Opposition figures and rights groups say Hun Sen has for years suppressed democratic institutions while cracking down on opponents and critics.

Persons: Hun Manet, Cambodia's, Hun Sen, Cindy Liu, Prak Chan Thul, Kanupriya Kapoor, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Cambodian People Party, NEC, Authorities, Thomson Locations: Phnom Penh, Cambodia, PHNOM PENH

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-The logo of Foxconn is pictured on top of a company's building in Taipei, Taiwan October 31, 2022. The facility will be separate from the current sprawling campus near Chennai where Foxconn assembles Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones and employs more than 35,000 people, the source said. "This is a major achievement for the state," Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa said in a statement, after Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and other representatives met with the state officials including its chief minister. Reuters reported last week that the Foxconn subsidiary was in talks with Tamil Nadu about the investment, with the company aiming for the plant's completion in 2024. Foxconn plans to quadruple the workforce at its iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu by late 2024 in a bid to spread its bets beyond China, Reuters reported last year.

Persons: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Foxconn, Industries TRB Rajaa, Young Liu, Liu, Foxconn's, Munsif, Yi, Mou Lee, Aditya Kalra, Jamie Freed, Himani Organizations: REUTERS, Industrial, Tamil Nadu Minister, Industries, Foxconn, Sunday, Reuters, Tamil, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, CHENNAI, Kancheepuram, Chennai, Tamil, India, Tamil Nadu, China, Bengaluru, Praveen

Companies Standard Chartered PLC FollowJuly 31 (Reuters) - China's Ant Group and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) said on Monday they will work together in green finance and global fund management, broadening their existing partnership. The deal is the first high-profile tie-up between Ant and a major foreign bank since authorities cancelled a planned mega-IPO by the fintech giant in 2020. StanChart will help Ant build "an industry-leading global liquidity and foreign exchange management structure", they said in a joint statement. They also plan to enhance collaboration in environmental, social and governance, digital innovation and inclusive finance, the statement said. Ant also hired StanChart as one of the lead arrangers and book runners for the $6.5 billion sustainability-linked syndicated loan it took out last year.

Persons: StanChart, Ant, Roxanne Liu, Selena Li, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Chartered, Standard Chartered, Thomson Locations: China

☆ U.S. will not invite sanctioned Hong Kong leader to APEC in November
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, who faces sanctions in the U.S., will not be invited to San Francisco during November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The U.S. is set to host this year's gathering of leaders of APEC, of which Hong Kong is a member. Hong Kong's top official John Lee was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2020 because of his role in implementing what Washington deems a "draconian" Hong Kong national security law when he was the city's security secretary. A State Department spokesperson, asked about the decision, said the participation of all delegations in APEC events will be "in accordance with U.S. laws and regulations and on the basis of the spirit and principles of APEC." "We will work with Hong Kong, China to ensure appropriate participation in San Francisco," the spokesperson said, adding without giving details that U.S. President Joe Biden had begun sending invitations for the event.

Persons: John Lee, Hong, Hong Kong's, Marco Rubio, Lee, Rubio, Hong Kongers, " Rubio, Joe Biden, Liu Pengyu, Biden, Xi Jinping Organizations: San, Economic Cooperation, APEC, Washington, Hong, Reuters, Republican, U.S . State Department, U.S, The Washington, State Department, U.S . Treasury Department, China's Locations: Hong Kong, U.S, San Francisco, November's Asia, United States, China, Washington

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-A smartphone with a displayed AMD logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoGANDHINAGAR, India, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) said on Friday it will invest around $400 million in India over the next five years and will build its largest design center in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Despite being a late entrant, the Modi government has been courting investments into India's nascent chip sector to establish its credentials as a chipmaking hub. "Our India teams will continue to play a pivotal role in delivering the high-performance and adaptive solutions that support AMD customers worldwide," Papermaster said. Unlike its top rival Intel, AMD outsources production of chips it designs to third-party manufacturers like Taiwan's TSMC.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mark Papermaster, Narendra Modi's, Young Liu, Sanjay Mehrotra, Modi, Papermaster, Munsif, Aditya Kalra, Sonali Paul Organizations: REUTERS, Devices, Micron, AMD, India, Nvidia Corp, Intel, South, Samsung, Applied, chipmaker Micron, Thomson Locations: GANDHINAGAR, India, Bengaluru, Gujarat, Santa Clara , California, U.S, Gandhinagar

☆ India woos U.S. chip giants as it looks to become a semiconductor superpower
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has looked to woo American semiconductor firms to invest in his country. India's chip strategyIndia's chip strategy consists of two major parts. At SemiconIndia, the American chip firms in attendance spoke about their investments in India and announced new ones, highlighting India's focus on attracting foreign companies. Last month, Micron announced plans to set up a semiconductor assembly and testing facility in the state of Gujarat in India. The chip manufacturing tie-up between Vedanta and Foxconn reportedly relied on technology from European semiconductor firm STMicroelectronics.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Anna Moneymaker, Modi, Ajit Manocha, Jefferies, Manocha, …, Mark Papermaster, Sanjay Mehrotra, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Young Liu, Foxconn, hasn't, Liu, Anil Agarwal, Pranay Kotasthane, haven't, Kotasthane Organizations: Indian, Getty Images, U.S, Micron, Cadence, Applied Materials, AMD, SemiconIndia, U.S ., Vedanta, CNBC, TV18, Takshashila Locations: U.S, Taiwan, South Korea, U.S . New Delhi, India, America, SemiconIndia, Bangalore, Gujarat, Vedanta

☆ The best way to show off your emerging A.I. skills to land a job: You don’t need ‘years of experience' yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jennifer Liu | In Jljenniferliu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The job market for tech workers remains strong, and especially so for those picking up emerging artificial intelligence skills. For comparison, India was hiring for 25,900 AI jobs and the UK was hiring for 16,825 roles involving the skill in June. But given the emerging and quickly developing nature of the tools, it can be tricky to display your expertise in a particular AI skill as a job candidate, Neave says. With that being said, Neave recommends interested job applicants build up their AI skills and stand out from the competition in three key ways:Stay on top of developments. "If you want to take it to the next level, you can fine-tune these large language models based on your proprietary business data," Neave says.

Persons: James Neave, Adzuna's, Neave, it's Organizations: Stanford, MIT Locations: U.S, India

☆ Years after #MeToo first swept the world, Taiwan races to respond
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Sarah Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

TAIPEI, July 28 (Reuters) - Six years after the #MeToo movement rose to global prominence and toppled powerful perpetrators of sexual abuse, Taiwan is racing to reform laws and provide training and support as it reckons with its own wave of complaints. The drama mirrored reality two months ago when an allegation of sexual abuse surfaced that was linked to Taiwan's ruling party. Her criticism of the then-head of the Democratic Progressive Party's women's affairs department for dismissing her complaint went viral. COMPANIES RESPOND TOOBusinesses are also responding by investigating complaints and training staff in preventing abuse. Hsieh said he hoped exposure to the movement at a young age would help his daughters develop a sense of equality.

Persons: Lai Pei, Lai, Chen Chien, jou, Tsai Ing, Chen Chao, Lee Yen, jong, Lee, Peng Yen, Liu Jung, jen, Liu, Yu Mei, Yu, Johnson Hsieh, Hsieh, Sarah Wu, John Geddie, Robert Birsel Organizations: Netflix, Facebook, Democratic Progressive, National Taiwan University, Women's Foundation, Reuters, Taiwan Bar Association, Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, Taiwan, Asia, Taipei

REUTERS/Amit DaveGANDHINAGAR, India, July 28 (Reuters) - India wants to become a trusted partner for the semiconductor industry and a chip maker for the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, as global companies including Foxconn (2317.TW) announced investment plans in the South Asian nation. "To expedite the growth of the semiconductor sector in the country, we are continuously undertaking policy reforms," said Modi, who has made chipmaking the top priority of his economic policy. Modi was speaking at the government's SemiconIndia annual conference in his home state of Gujarat which is being attended by top semiconductor industry executives. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Liu said Foxconn had yet to find another partner for its India chipmaking venture. At the event, Micron Technology (MU.O) CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said a planned $2.7 billion semiconductor testing and packaging unit in Gujarat would help create about 5,000 jobs in the state.

Persons: Mark Papermaster, Young Liu, India's, Narendra Modi, Amit Dave GANDHINAGAR, TW, Modi, Foxconn, Liu, Modi's, Sanjay Mehrotra, Munsif Vengattil, Sumit Khanna, Indranil Sarkar, Aditya Kalra, Jacqueline Wong, Muralikumar Organizations: Devices, REUTERS, Foxconn, CNBC, TV18, Vedanta, Semiconductor, Reuters, Hai Technology, Micron Technology, Thomson Locations: Gandhinagar, India, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Tamil, Taiwan, Foxconn

CHENNAI, India, July 26 (Reuters) - A Foxconn (2317.TW) subsidiary is in talks with India's Tamil Nadu state to invest up to $200 million to build a new plant for electronic components in the southern region, two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters on Wednesday. Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, and a spokesperson for Tamil Nadu's industries department declined to comment. Foxconn already has a sprawling campus near Chennai city in Tamil Nadu where it assembles Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones. Foxconn is also in talks with western Gujarat state as it eyes entry into India's semiconductor sector. Last week, Karnataka state government in south India said it held talks with FII, which had committed to invest $1.07 billion for a new plant.

Persons: Brand Cheng, Foxconn, Young Liu, Praveen, Sarah Wu, Aditya Kalra, Richard Chang Organizations: Reuters, Foxconn Industrial, Tamil, FII, Thomson Locations: CHENNAI, India, Tamil, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bengaluru, Taipei

[1/3] Visitors gather at Applied Materials and Micron Technology kiosks before the start of 'SemiconIndia 2023', India's annual semiconductor conference, in Gandhinagar, India, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Amit DaveGANDHINAGAR, India July 26 (Reuters) - Top executives from Foxconn and semiconductor firms Micron and AMD will this week attend a conference in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, as the government tries to lure investments into India's nascent chip industry. Modi will inaugurate the annual SemiconIndia conference in Gandhinagar, in western state of Gujarat, on Friday. The event comes just weeks after Foxconn backed out of a $19.5 billion chips joint venture with Vedanta, saying "the project was not moving fast enough". Which explains the skepticism of global chip giants to come here and set shop," said Arun Mampazhy, a former India manager of U.S.-based chipmaker GlobalFoundries.

Persons: Amit Dave GANDHINAGAR, Narendra Modi's, Modi, Young Liu, Sanjay Mehrotra, Mark Papermaster, Foxconn, Arun Mampazhy, Munsif, Sumit Khanna, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Materials, Micron Technology, REUTERS, Micron, AMD, Vedanta, Devices, Semiconductor, Thomson Locations: Gandhinagar, India, Taiwan, Gujarat, Bengaluru

☆ Taiwan TSMC: Plans to invest $2.9 billion in new plant as demand for AI chips soars
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong CNN —TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, says it plans to invest nearly 90 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.9 billion) to build an advanced chip plant in Taiwan, as it expands production to meet booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products. Wei told analysts the company plans to roughly double its capacity for advanced packaging capacity in 2024 compared to 2023, in order to meet “strong demand” for AI chips from its customers, which include Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (DOX). Advanced packaging in the semiconductor industry involves using high-tech methods to aggregate components from various wafers in order to create a more powerful computer chip. That’s the kind of AI underlying ChatGPT, Google (GOOGL)’s Bard, Dall-E and many of the other new AI technologies. TSMC is considered a national treasure in Taiwan, supplying semiconductors to global tech giants including Apple (AAPL) and Qualcomm (QCOM).

Persons: Hong Kong CNN — TSMC, C.C, Wei, “, TSMC, Dall Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Nvidia, AMD, CNN, TSMC, Google, Apple, Qualcomm Locations: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Miaoli County, Hsinchu, Taipei, TSMC

☆ China economy: Leaders promise more support for 'tortuous' recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —China’s top leadership has vowed to do more to support a “tortuous” economic recovery, which has lost steam after an initial burst of activity early in the year. The assurances, made by the Communist Party’s 24-member Politburo — a top decision making body — boosted stocks in China-related companies on Tuesday. Shares in China’s property developers, currently mired in the industry’s worst slump on record, have soared in response. They added at a meeting chaired by leader Xi Jinping that the current economic recovery was making “tortuous” progress. Last week, official data showed economic recovery in China continued to lose momentum in the April to June months, prompting urgent calls for more help from the central government.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, —, China’s, Xi Jinping, Stephen Innes, ”, ” Innes Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Communist, Mainland Properties, Longfor Group, Sunac China Holdings, Management, “ Investors Locations: Hong Kong, China, Hong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing

☆ The Fed has paused before. Here’s what happened next
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Elisabeth Buchwald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The Fed had a similar predicament in 2006After raising interest rates 17 consecutive times between June 2004 and June 2006, Fed officials became concerned that they could inadvertently damage the economy if they continued to hike rates. When the Fed met again in September, many officials expressed concerns that raising interest rates after a short, six-week pause would broadcast the wrong message. Lacker continued to be the sole Fed official who favored raising interest rates until his term expired at the end of the year. “It’s pretty easy to believe that the Fed will find that it didn’t raise rates enough and so choose to raise rates somewhat further before stopping and, later on, reducing rates,” he said. Fed officials then opted for a pause in the fall of 1994 and raised rates further in the winter.

Persons: Ben Bernanke, Bernanke, “, ” Michael Moskow, ”, Cathy Minehan, Jeffrey Lacker, Lacker, Jerome Powell, Liu Jie, Athanasios Orphanides, Austan Goolsbee, William English Organizations: New, New York CNN, Federal, Traders, Fed, Committee, Washington , D.C, Bloomberg, Getty, Chicago Fed, Boston Fed, Richmond Fed, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Central Bank, Food Forum, Yale University Locations: New York, Washington ,, Xinhua, Chicago

☆ The surprising list of actors who were up to play Ken in ‘Barbie’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Ryan Gosling may or may not be your ideal Ken in the new “Barbie” movie, but one of the film’s casting directors has shared who else might have gotten the role. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Allison Jones — who cast the hit film along with Lucy Bevan — talked about who else might have joined Barbie in her dream house. Like the line of dolls the movie is based on, there are multiple Barbies and Kens portrayed by a diverse cast of actors. And that meant Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, and Ben Platt were out of the running to play Ken. “Simu Liu was dying to be a Ken, God bless him,” Jones said of the actor who was eventually cast as one of the Kens.

Persons: CNN — Ryan Gosling, Barbie, Allison Jones —, Lucy Bevan —, Kens, Jones, Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, Ben Platt, Ken, “, I’m, ”, CJ Rivera, Slaven Vlasic, Evan Agostini, “ Simu Liu, ” Jones, Allan, Jonathan Groff, ’, Michael Cera, Bevan, Greta Gerwig, ” Bevan, ” Margot Robbie snagged, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae Organizations: CNN Locations: London, Dua Lipa

☆ Twitter staff are helping to remove bird logos at its HQ for the X rebrand, but one reportedly broke apart and is still there
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk has started having Twitter's iconic blue bird logo removed at the headquarters. One sign couldn't be taken down as it broke apart, leaving remnants still attached, per an NYT reporter. As Twitter rebrands to X, staff are taking down the iconic blue bird logos at its San Francisco headquarters. The Times earlier reported that work had started on detaching a ten-foot-tall bird icon in the office's cafeteria. "This is an extremely risky move because with X, Musk is essentially starting over while its competition is afoot," he added.

Persons: Elon Musk, Ryan Mac, Yu Liu, Mike Proulx, Forrester, Proulx, Mark Zuckerberg's Organizations: Twitter, San, New York Times, Times Locations: San Francisco

☆ Pro-Chinese online influence campaign promoted protests in Washington, researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A Chinese marketing firm likely organized and promoted protests in Washington last year as part of a wide-ranging pro-Beijing influence campaign, according to new research. One of the protests only attracted roughly a dozen people but it showed the scope and ambition of the pro-China efforts. The hired protesters, who included self-proclaimed musicians and actors in the Washington, DC, area, apparently had no idea they were being enlisted in a pro-China influence campaign, the Mandiant researchers said. Haixun, the Chinese firm, distributed videos of the protesters online to further the influence campaign, according to Mandiant. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said he was unaware of the details of the research.

Persons: Mandiant, ” Ryan Serabian, Liu Pengyu, ” Liu, Joe Biden, Republican Sen, Marco Rubio Organizations: CNN, China, Shanghai Haixun Technology, Embassy, Washington Post, stoke American, FBI, Republican Locations: Washington, Beijing, China, Xinjiang, DC, Shanghai, Mandiant, Russia, Marco Rubio of Florida

☆ Simu Liu Went From Business School to Hollywood
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When Simu Liu first threw himself into acting in 2012, he says his dream was to be “that one Asian guy that says one line and then gets shot.” He tailored his ambitions to fit the roles available, finding work as “Hong Kong desk cop number one” and “Asian EMT number two.” With chagrin, he recalls an independent film in which he played a Japanese mob boss who spoke in guttural gibberish: “The director didn’t know Japanese and neither do I, so he said just make it up.”

Persons: Simu Liu, didn’t, ” Locations: Hong Kong, Japanese

☆ Cambodia holds lopsided election before historic transfer of power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Prak Chan Thul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

He needs to win a National Assembly seat to become prime minister, which is likely. Analysts had expected the transition to come mid-term, giving time for Hun Manet to earn legitimacy with the public and political elite. "As long as Hun Sen is around, nobody will move against Hun Manet." [1/3]Hun Manet, son of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaks during the final Cambodian People's Party (CPP) election campaign for the upcoming general election in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 21, 2023. Some did that on Sunday, posting pictures on social media of spoiled ballots, some with writing that disparaged Hun Sen, calling him a coward.

Persons: Hun Manet, Hun Sen's, Hun Sen, I've, Gordon Conochie, Cambodia's, Cindy Liu Hun Manet, Sam Rainsy, Freshnews, Nin Sinath, Hun, Prak Chan Thul, Chantha Lach, Martin Petty, Robert Birsel, William Mallard Organizations: Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, Former Khmer Rouge, National Assembly, La Trobe University, Cambodian People's Party, REUTERS, New York University, University of Bristol, Candlelight Party, Thomson Locations: PHNOM PENH, Former, Cambodia, Phnom Penh, China, United States

☆ Cambodia holds lopsided election ahead of historic transfer of power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Prak Chan Thul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Hun Manet, 45, needs to win a National Assembly seat to become prime minister, which he is expected to do in Sunday's general election. Analysts had expected the transition to come mid-term, giving time for Hun Manet to earn legitimacy with the public and political elite. "The reality is that as long as Hun Sen is around, nobody will move against Hun Manet." Hun Manet has given few media interviews and no clues over his vision for Cambodia and its 16 million people. 'PEACE NOT WAR'[1/3]Hun Manet, son of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaks during the final Cambodian People's Party (CPP) election campaign for the upcoming general election in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 21, 2023.

Persons: Hun Sen's, Hun Sen, Hun Manet, Gordon Conochie, Cambodia's, Cindy Liu, Sam Rainsy, Conochie, Chantha Lach, Martin Petty, Robert Birsel Organizations: Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, Former Khmer Rouge, National Assembly, La Trobe University, New York University, University of Bristol, Cambodian People's Party, REUTERS, Candlelight Party, Thomson Locations: PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Phnom Penh, China, United States, Som, Bangkok

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