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Hong Kong CNN —Fang Bin, a retailer turned citizen journalist who documented the early outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, has been released after more than three years detention in China, a family member told CNN. In one video, Fang, a Wuhan resident who sold clothing, showed hospital corridors crowded with patients and their desperate relatives. Rights groups had repeatedly called for Fang’s release and information about his case and of others who were also detained after sharing information about Wuhan outbreak. Both had reported on China’s initial Covid outbreak in Wuhan in early 2020. Authorities have never confirmed how many people had been detained or prosecuted in connection with sharing information on the pandemic.

☆ Washington says Chinese airlines can increase flights to America
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The US Department of Transportation confirmed to CNN that it had issued an order permitting Chinese airlines to increase their number of weekly round-trip flights to 12. That’s up from the eight weekly round-trip flights currently allowed for Chinese carriers. Currently, three US airlines American Airlines (AAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL) fly routes between the two countries. Chinese operators Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines also serve the two markets. Chinese carriers have not been subject to the restrictions, as the relationship between Moscow and Beijing remains intact, leading to calls in the United States and Britain for bans on Chinese flights that use Russian airspace.

The rise of streaming services changed the way audiences consume both television shows and movies, and studios adjusted their business models in an attempt to respond. But they’re unlikely to get meaningful residuals, if any at all, when they create original content for streaming services as contracts stand today. With streaming services poised to become the future of television entertainment, the Guild was fighting in these negotiations for some kind of ongoing compensation from streaming services. The hunger for content by those streaming service also means that it might not take as long for the strike to start to impact production schedules. Streaming services also have a massive stockpile of older content that could keep their customers satisfied, at least temporarily, while they await new shows.

“We would like to emphasize that … our Indomie instant noodles are safe for consumption,” Taufik Wiraatmadja, a member of the board of directors at Indofoods, said in a statement issued Friday. Health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan said this week they had detected a compound called ethylene oxide in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavor noodles. Ethylene oxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is used to sterilize medical devices and spices. Indomie first launched instant noodles in 1972 with a chicken flavor. Unlike most types of instant ramen, Indomie noodles are typically eaten dry, without needing to prepare soup.

☆ 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).

☆ Living standards are still falling in Japan. That’s a recipe for more stagnation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Adjusted for inflation, wages slipped 2.6% in February, compared to the same month a year earlier, according to government data released last week. That means it’ll be tough for Ueda to hike interest rates, especially as living standards aren’t rising either. The issue of stagnant wages could improve this year, as companies heed the call to raise salaries in response to inflation. Workers in Japan have been grappling with stagnant wages, leading to a government push for businesses to hike pay. But in Japan, it’s high enough to feel uncomfortable, given stagnant wage growth, according to Angrick.

Hong Kong CNN —Elon Musk has laid off more than 6,000 people at Twitter since taking over the company, he told the BBC in a rare interview late Tuesday. It’s “not fun at all” and can sometimes be “painful,” the billionaire CEO told the British broadcaster at Twitter’s head office in San Francisco. He has since radically overhauled Twitter: firing top executives, slashing jobs and enacting new policies on how user accounts are verified or labeled. Since then, Twitter is now “roughly” breaking even and advertisers are returning to the platform, he told the BBC. Musk also pledged to revise the label applied to the British broadcaster, from “government-funded” to “publicly-funded” after the BBC objected.

☆ Alibaba unveils Tongyi Qianwen, its AI-powered answer to ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Alibaba showed off its answer to the ChatGPT craze on Tuesday, demonstrating new software that it plans to eventually roll out across all its platforms. The Chinese tech giant unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, a large language model that will be embedded in its Tmall Genie smart speakers and workplace messaging platform DingTalk. Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang speaking Tuesday as the Chinese tech giant showed off its answer to the ChatGPT craze, demonstrating new software it plans to integrate across its enterprise and consumer platforms. In draft guidelines issued Tuesday to solicit public feedback, the country’s cyberspace regulator said generative AI services would be required to undergo security reviews before they can operate. Most of those units, including its cloud services business that oversees AI projects, will be authorized to raise capital and pursue public listings.

Multiple experts identified the presence of malware on the Pinduoduo app that exploited vulnerabilities in Android operating systems. Evidence of sophisticated malware in the Pinduoduo app comes amid intense scrutiny of Chinese-developed apps like TikTok over concerns about data security. Pinduoduo has previously rejected “the speculation and accusation that Pinduoduo app is malicious.”CNN has contacted PDD multiple times over email and phone for comment, but has not received a response. Google Play is not available in China, and Android users in the country download their apps from local stores. Engineers also found their access to big data, data sheets and the log system revoked, the source said.

☆ Cash-strapped Chinese cities are cutting medical benefits for seniors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Censors removed hashtags for “Wuhan health insurance” from Weibo’s hot topics section after the demonstrations began in January. State media reported at the time that some other regions had already spent public money on mass testing. CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty ImagesCovering the shortfallChina’s health insurance scheme is a key part of its limited social safety net. To protesters, however, it looked like local governments were dipping into their individual accounts to cover the shortfalls of the collective pool. “There has to be some resolution of the financial capacity of local governments to meet current, and prospective, age-related costs,” Magnus said.

☆ China approves its first mRNA Covid-19 vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong CNN —China has approved its first Covid-19 vaccine based on mRNA technology, months after the country lifted strict pandemic measures. The vaccine targets the Omicron variant and was tested in China with over 5,500 people, it added. “This is a positive step because there is strong scientific evidence that mRNA vaccines do much better than non-MRA vaccines,” Jin Dong-yan, a professor in molecular virology at the University of Hong Kong, told CNN. Until now, China has approved only inactivated vaccines made by Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm Group, two Beijing-based drugmakers. The inactivated vaccines have been found to elicit lower levels of antibody response compared to ones using the newer messenger RNA technology.

☆ Most Asian shares reverse early losses after US Fed raises rates by a quarter point
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong CNN —Most Asia Pacific shares pared early losses on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve reaffirmed its dedication to bring down inflation. The broader Topix index was 0.3% lower, reversing some of its early morning losses. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.2% higher, while Australia’s S&P ASX 200 advanced by half a percentage point. Asian shares had opened broadly lower, tracking losses on Wall Street. The Fed raised rates by a quarter point at the conclusion of its two-day meeting, even though its historic rate hiking campaign was a contributing factor in the banking crisis.

☆ Asia Pacific shares join US gains as investors await key Fed decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Asia Pacific shares opened higher on Wednesday, tracking US gains, as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy decision later in the day. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng (HSI) index was trading 2.3% higher, leading gains in the region. The MSCI Asia Pacific index, which excludes Japanese companies, was broadly higher, rising 0.8%. On Tuesday, US stocks closed higher as shares of regional banks rebounded from record-breaking losses earlier in the month. The SPDR Regional Banking ETF (KRE), which tracks a number of small and mid-sized bank stocks, gained 5.8% for the day.

Hong Kong CNN —Google has suspended Pinduoduo, a popular Chinese budget shopping app, from its Play Store after finding malware in versions of the app. In a Tuesday statement, Google said versions of the app that are not in the Play Store have been found to contain malware. “We have suspended the Play version of the app for security concerns while we continue our investigation,” a Google spokesperson said. “Google Play Protect enforcement has been set to block installation attempts of these identified malicious apps. Users that have malicious versions of the app downloaded to their devices are warned and prompted to uninstall the app,” the spokesperson said.

A Credit Suisse Group AG office building is seen in Bern, Switzerland, on Wednesday. In October, social media chatter that the Swiss bank was on the brink of going bust sent shares on a wild ride. Credit Suisse has since embarked on a massive turnaround plan that will see it slash 9,000 full-time jobs by the end of 2025. It lost 7.3 billion Swiss francs ($7.9 billion) in 2022, compared to a loss of 8.2 billion Swiss francs ($8.9 billion) in 2008. Investors sent shares in the country’s second biggest lender crashing by as much as 30% Wednesday.

Hong Kong/Seoul CNN —South Korea says it will build an enormous facility to make computer chips in the greater Seoul area, with about $230 billion in investment from memory chip giant Samsung Electronics. “We will build the world’s largest new ‘high-tech system semiconductor cluster’ in the Seoul Metropolitan area based on large-scale private investment of almost 300 trillion Korean won,” he said. An aerial view of Samsung Electronics' chip production plant at Pyeongtaek, South Korea on September 7, 2022. The vast majority of the world’s advanced microchips are made in just two places, Taiwan and South Korea. Taiwan’s industry is larger and more dominant, something South Korea is keen to challenge.

Hong Kong/Seoul CNN —South Korea says it will build an enormous facility to make computer chips in greater Seoul, with about $230 billion in investment from private companies. “We will build the world’s largest new ‘high-tech system semiconductor cluster’ in the Seoul Metropolitan area based on large-scale private investment of almost 300 trillion Korean won,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday. “In addition, we will grow the ‘semiconductor mega cluster’ to the world’s largest in connection with the existing memory semiconductor manufacturing complexes.”The Seoul Metropolitan area includes the capital Seoul, neighboring city of Incheon and surrounding Gyeonggi province. This is a developing story. More to come.

Hong Kong/Seoul CNN —BTS agency HYBE says it has called off a takeover bid for SM Entertainment, ending weeks of corporate mudslinging that has dominated headlines in South Korea. Last week, tech giant Kakao and its entertainment unit said they had doubled down on their quest to take control of SM, the iconic K-pop music agency. Kakao offered SM shareholders 150,000 won ($115) per share, much more than HYBE’s previous offer of 120,000 won ($92) per share, which garnered only mild interest from investors. SM Entertainment said in a statement that it “welcomes” HYBE’s decision to suspend its takeover bid. Kakao and its entertainment unit will continue with their existing tender offer to SM shareholders, which will wrap up on March 26, they told CNN.

Hong Kong CNN —Europe’s biggest producer of advanced chipmaking technology has joined the United States in its escalating standoff with China. Japan has also been involved in three-way discussions with the Netherlands and the United States, a source familiar with the talks told CNN. China said Thursday it “firmly opposes” the Netherlands’ upcoming curbs, which come just months after the United States restricted sales of some semiconductor machinery to Beijing. He accused Western countries led by the United States of trying to “contain” and “suppress” China. European battlegroundThe announcement of the Netherlands’ export restrictions, the details of which are expected to be confirmed before the summer, isn’t the first time the US-China tech rivalry spilled over into Europe.

Hong Kong CNN —Police in central Japan have arrested three people for taking part in pranks at a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. We will continue to do our best to … grow the conveyor belt sushi culture that is dear to Japan globally.”According to public broadcaster NHK, police arrested a 21-year-old and two teenagers on suspicion of obstructing the restaurant’s operations. Besides Kura Sushi, two other kaiten chains — Sushiro, owned by Food & Life Companies, and Hamazushi — previously told CNN they had suffered similar disruptions. In recent weeks, some Japanese social media users have even started to question whether conveyor belt sushi restaurants have a future in the country as consumers demand more attention to cleanliness. Kura Sushi said it would use AI-operated cameras to monitor customers to see if they’re misbehaving.

☆ TSMC: Taiwanese chipmaker plans to hire 6,000 employees in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Semiconductor giant TSMC plans to add more than 6,000 jobs this year, despite a broader slowdown in demand for chips. TSMC, which stands for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, produces an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced chips. TSMC announced last year that it’s building a second semiconductor factory in Phoenix, and increasing its investment there. The average salary for a new engineer based in Taiwan with a master’s degree would be 2 million New Taiwan Dollars (about $65,400), according to TSMC. That would equate to roughly 533,004 New Taiwan Dollars ($17,426) per year.

☆ Apple supplier Foxconn is on the hunt for semiconductor and EV deals in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Taiwan’s Foxconn has been looking to expand its operations in the South Asian giant after suffering severe supply disruptions in China last year. “India is a country with a large population,” Young Liu, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in a Saturday statement. The company, best known for making Apple (AAPL)’s iPhones, is one of the world’s biggest contract makers of electronics. India has emerged as an attractive potential alternative to China for the likes of Apple. Apple devices are currently manufactured in India by Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, which are all Taiwanese companies.

Taipei/Hong Kong CNN —Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell as much as 4% on Wednesday, after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it had sold most of its holdings in the chip giant. Just months before, in November, the company held about 60 million American depository shares of TSMC worth $4.1 billion, according to an SEC filing. Berkshire Hathaway did not provide a reason for the sale and did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment. Shares in TSMC, which accounts for an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced computer chips, ended Wednesday more than 3% lower. TSMC announced last year that it’s building a second semiconductor factory in Phoenix and increasing its investment there.

New Delhi/London CNN —India’s market regulator is looking into the explosive allegations against Adani Group made by US short seller Hindenburg Research, which accused the conglomerate of “the largest con in corporate history.”The claims, published in late January, set off a crash in the company’s market value and robbed its owner Gautam Adani of his title as Asia’s richest man, as a 400-page rebuttal by the conglomerate failed to reassure investors. Adani Group did not respond to a CNN request for comment on the inquiry on Tuesday. The balance sheet of each of its independent portfolio companies is “very healthy” and “our business plan is fully funded,” the spokesperson told CNN. On Tuesday, shares of many of the listed firms controlled by the conglomerate slid again in Mumbai. Although Adani Enterprises rose 1.9%, there were 5% falls in the stocks of Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power and Adani Total.

☆ Is the iPhone's 'Made in India' era beginning as Apple breaks with China?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Diksha Madhok | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said Apple was already making between 5% and 7% of its products in India. His comments come at a time when Foxconn (HNHPF), a top Apple supplier, is looking to expand its operations in India after suffering severe supply disruptions in China. For years, Apple had relied on a vast manufacturing network in China to mass produce iPhones, iPads and other popular products. China headaches mountBut the world’s most valuable company posted shockingly weak earnings this month, partly because of its recent problems in China. According to Counterpoint’s Pathak, India accounts for 16% of the global smartphone production, while China constitutes 70%.

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