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☆ Top China official urges more secrecy in the country's energy sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

SHENZHEN, CHINA - MARCH 09: View of high commercial and residential buildings on March 9, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)A lead China official called for tighter secrecy in the energy sector to protect national interests against hostile foreign forces, echoing a broader crackdown impacting the country's investment landscape. Zhang urged the steps — which include preventing the leaks of key technologies in the energy sector — while citing the priority of national interests in the face of a "hostile" international landscape. "The energy transition has some contradictions and difficulties — these very often are the focus of foreign hostile forces that want to steal and attack. "The task of promoting carbon peak carbon neutrality is arduous," he warned.

Persons: Zhong Zhi, Zhang Jianhua, Zhang, Goldman Sachs Organizations: China's National Energy Administration, CNBC Locations: SHENZHEN, CHINA, Shenzhen, China

☆ Chinese are forking out more money for smartphones despite wider slowdown — that's good news for Apple
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese consumers are on average spending more on smartphones than ever before, according to new data, which bodes well for U.S. giant Apple in a critical market for its expensive iPhones. The average selling price of smartphones in mainland China was $450 last year and is expected to keep growing this year, market research firm Canalys said in a report last week. International Data Corporation told CNBC that the average selling price for smartphones in China was nearly $470 in the first quarter of this year, up about 5% year-on-year. The rise in ASP signals that the high-end part of the smartphone market remains resilient and that's where Apple competes. This trend is positive for Apple, which was the only vendor in the top five in China to record growth in shipments in the second quarter, Canalys said.

Persons: Canalys, Lucas Zhong, Zhong Organizations: Apple, CNBC, International Data Corporation, IDC, Apple Watch, Android Locations: China

☆ This Looks Like Earth’s Warmest Month. Hotter Ones Appear to Be in Store.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Raymond Zhong | More About Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Weeks of scorching summer heat in North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere are putting July on track to be Earth’s warmest month on record, the European Union climate monitor said on Thursday, the latest milestone in what is emerging as an extraordinary year for global temperatures. Last month, the planet experienced its hottest June since records began in 1850. July 6 was its hottest day. And the odds are rising that 2023 will end up displacing 2016 as the hottest year. At the moment, the eight warmest years on the books are the past eight.

Persons: ” Petteri Taalas, El Niño Organizations: World Meteorological Organization Locations: North America, Europe, Asia, European

☆ Warming Could Push the Atlantic Past a ‘Tipping Point’ This Century
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Raymond Zhong | More About Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The last time there was a major slowdown in the mighty network of ocean currents that shapes the climate around the North Atlantic, it seems to have plunged Europe into a deep cold for over a millennium. That was roughly 12,800 years ago, when not many people were around to experience it. A pair of researchers in Denmark this week put forth a bold answer: A sharp weakening of the currents, or even a shutdown, could be upon us by century’s end. It was a surprise even to the researchers that their analysis showed a potential collapse coming so soon, one of them, Susanne Ditlevsen, a professor of statistics at the University of Copenhagen, said in an interview. Climate scientists generally agree that the Atlantic circulation will decline this century, but there’s no consensus on whether it will stall out before 2100.

Persons: Susanne Ditlevsen Organizations: University of Copenhagen Locations: Europe, Denmark

The move, which not been reported before, is the latest in tightening scrutiny of Chinese companies' offshore listings, and comes at a time when Beijing is stepping up controls over cross-border transfer of sensitive information. The Chinese law firms acting as IPO advisors have been asked to drop such boilerplate risk disclosures, said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential. China's new offshore listing rules that came into effect on March 31 forbid any comments in the listing documents that "misrepresent or disparage laws and policies, business environment and judicial situation" of China. Representatives from the CSRC's International Cooperation Department, more than 10 Chinese law firms and other government and industry bodies attended the July 20th meeting, according to one of the people. Large domestic law firms Fangda Partners, Han Kun Law Offices，and Zhong Lun Law Firm were among the attendees, said two of the sources.

Persons: prospectuses, CSRC, Han, Zhong, Han Kun, Zhong Lun, Julie Zhu, Kane Wu, Selena Li, Sumeet Chatterjee, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: China Securities Regulatory Commission, CSRC's International Cooperation Department, Fangda Partners, Zhong Lun Law, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, United States, The China

☆ Warburg Pincus names Asia real estate chief Perlman as president
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Kane Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 20 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Warburg Pincus on Wednesday named its Asia head of real estate Jeffrey Perlman as successor to Timothy Geithner as president. Geithner, who was U.S. Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration and had headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will become the chair of the New York-based investment firm. "Now is the ideal time to put in place a plan for the next generation of leadership at the firm," Warburg CEO Chip Kaye said. Warburg Pincus has already raised more than the targeted $16 billion in its global flagship private equity fund, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Founded in 1996, Warburg has more than $83 billion in assets under management and its portfolio spans more than 250 companies.

Persons: Warburg Pincus, Jeffrey Perlman, Timothy Geithner, Geithner, Obama, Warburg, Chip Kaye, Kaye, Perlman, Pritam Biswas, Niket, Kane Wu, Arun Koyyur Organizations: Wednesday, Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New, Reuters, Ou Asset Management Co, HK, Industrial Development JSC, Thomson Locations: Asia, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, York, China, Ou, Southeast Asia, Pacific, Bengaluru, Hong Kong, Lincoln

Since the mid-20th century, the ground between the city surface and the bedrock has warmed by 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit on average, according to a new study out of Northwestern University. “All around you, you have heat sources,” said the study’s author, Alessandro F. Rotta Loria, walking with a backpack through Millennium Station, a commuter rail terminal underneath the city’s Loop district. “These are things that people don’t see, so it’s like they don’t exist.”It isn’t just Chicago. In big cities worldwide, humans’ burning of fossil fuels is raising the mercury at the surface. But heat is also pouring out of basements, parking garages, train tunnels, pipes, sewers and electrical cables and into the surrounding earth, a phenomenon that scientists have taken to calling “underground climate change.”

Persons: ”, Alessandro F, Rotta Organizations: Northwestern University . Locations: “, Chicago

☆ The Human Age Has a New Symbol. It’s a Record of Bomb Tests and Fossil Fuels.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Raymond Zhong | More About Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For almost 15 years, a panel of scholars has been chewing over a big question: Has our species transformed the planet so much that we have plunged it into a new interval of geologic time? On Tuesday, the panel announced a key part of its case for declaring that we had. The group said it had chosen a secluded lake in Ontario to represent the start of Anthropocene epoch, a potential new chapter in Earth’s 4.6-billion-year history that could soon sit alongside the Cambrian, the Jurassic and the Cretaceous in marking periods of momentous planetary change. The scientists picked Crawford Lake over 11 other candidate sites because it contained the clearest and most pronounced evidence of humankind’s influence on the global geologic record, representatives for the group said at a news briefing in Lille, France. This evidence includes sharp changes in plutonium and radiocarbon from nuclear detonations, and in fly ash from accelerated burning of fossil fuels.

Persons: Crawford Organizations: Crawford Lake Locations: Ontario, Earth’s, Lille, France

☆ China mutual funds cut fees as regulator targets $3.7 trillion sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The cuts, which the fund companies said in identical phrasing were "aimed at reducing investors' costs in managing their wealth", come after China's securities regulator on Saturday vowed to guide mutual fund fees lower. Fund management fees would be capped at 1.2% of assets and custodian fees at 0.2%, state media reported. Nevertheless, the industry collected 144.1 billion yuan in management fees in 2022, up 1.7% from a year earlier, according to TX Investment Consulting Co. FEE CUTFullGoal Fund Management Co said it would cut fees on 119 products starting Monday, while Harvest Fund Management announced cuts for 113 products. The CSRC published opinions in April last year to promote high-quality growth of the mutual fund industry.

Persons: Morningstar, Ivan Shi, China's, Warburg Pincus, Samuel Shen, Tom Westbrook, Selena Li, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jamie Freed Organizations: China Asset Management Co, Bank of Communications Schroder Fund Management, China Securities Regulatory Commission, Ben Advisors, Investment Consulting Co, Management, Harvest Fund Management, Asset Management Co, Ou Asset Management Co, Warburg, Shanghai Securities News, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, China, United States, Shanghai, China's

☆ The Crises of Heat and Smoke Share a Common Thread: Climate Change
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Raymond Zhong | Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Between the dangerous heat baking Texas and the Southeast, and the wildfire smoke filling the skies throughout the Upper Midwest and into the Mid-Atlantic, people across a huge part of the United States have been seeking relief from the outside world in recent days. The two threats this week aren’t connected directly. But a common factor is adding to their capacity to cause misery. Human-caused climate change is turning high temperatures that would once have been considered improbable into more commonplace occurrences. And it is intensifying the heat and dryness that fuel catastrophic wildfires, allowing them to burn longer and more ferociously, and to churn out more smoke.

Locations: Texas, Midwest, United States

☆ Something Was Messing With Earth’s Axis. The Answer Has to Do With Us.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Around the turn of the millennium, Earth’s spin started going off-kilter, and nobody could quite say why. For decades, scientists had been watching the average position of our planet’s rotational axis, the imaginary rod around which it turns, gently wander south, away from the geographic North Pole and toward Canada. Suddenly, though, it made a sharp turn and started heading east. Accelerated melting of the polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers had changed the way mass was distributed around the planet enough to influence its spin. Now, some of the same scientists have identified another factor that’s had the same kind of effect: colossal quantities of water pumped out of the ground for crops and households.

Persons: that’s Locations: Canada

☆ Accor plans to add more than 1,200 hotels
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 27 (Reuters) - Accor (ACCP.PA) plans to open more than 1,200 hotels in the next five years, increasing the number of its resorts by more than one-fifth, Europe's biggest hotel group said on Tuesday. Accor also raised its outlook at its capital markets day, forecasting its 2023 revenue per room (RevPAR) to grow by 15% to 20% amid reorganisation plans that were implemented in January. Accor said it plans to return around 3 billion euros to shareholders in that period via dividends and share buybacks. "We expect a positive share price performance today and we will probably upgrade our recommendation on Accor as the updated mid-term guidance is stronger than expected," said analyst Yi Zhong at AlphaValue. ($1 = 0.9153 euros)Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Gaëlle Sheehan in Gdansk; editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Accor, Sébastien Bazin, Yi Zhong, Tristan Veyet, Gaëlle Sheehan, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Europe's, Barclays, Thomson Locations: Accor, AlphaValue, Gdansk

☆ Intensifying Rains Pose Hidden Flood Risks Across the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As climate change intensifies severe rainstorms, the infrastructure protecting millions of Americans from flooding faces growing risk of failures, according to new calculations of expected precipitation in every county and locality across the contiguous United States. The calculations suggest that one in nine residents of the lower 48 states, largely in populous regions including the Mid-Atlantic and the Texas Gulf Coast, is at significant risk of downpours that deliver at least 50 percent more rain per hour than local pipes, channels and culverts might be designed to drain. “The data is startling, and it should be a wake-up call,” said Chad Berginnis, the executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, a nonprofit organization focused on flood risk. The new rain estimates, issued on Monday by the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research group in New York, carry worrying implications for homeowners, too: They indicate that 12.6 million properties nationwide face significant flood risks despite not being required by the federal government to buy flood insurance.

Persons: ”, Chad Berginnis Organizations: Texas Gulf, Association of, First Street Foundation Locations: United States, New York

Exports and factory output in the world's second-largest economy tumbled in May, as looming downturns force the United States and Europe to pare back orders for goods made in China. Some factories closed or are struggling to pay wages or severance for laid-off workers as a result, according to Chinese labour researchers. "We believe that the drop in manufacturing orders and that factory closures will continue," said Aidan Chau, researcher at Hong Kong-based rights group China Labour Bulletin (CLB). Labour unions were central to the Communist Party's proletariat beginnings but play only a marginal role in modern authoritarian China. However, some analysts say factory strikes could become a political headache for the Party.

Persons: pare, Aidan Chau, CLB, Dian, Xin Dian, Zhong Min, Xu Tianchen, Xu, Laurie Chen, Nicoco Chan, Marius Zaharia, Sam Holmes Organizations: China Labour Bulletin, Min, Goods Shenzhen Ltd . Co, Dian Cable Ltd . Co, Reuters, China's Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Human Resources, Shenzhen, China Federation of Trade Unions, Manufacturers, Workers, Security, Labour, Party, Economist Intelligence Unit, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, United States, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Guangdong province, Shenzhen, Communist, Beijing, Shanghai

☆ Here’s How Much Hotter Than Normal This June Has Been
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Elena Shao | Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

64° F June 11, 2023 62° 2022 60° 1979-2021 58° Global Daily Average Air Temperatures 56° 54° 52° 50° Jan. 1 Mar. “We’re putting heat into the system — through climate change, through the greenhouse effect — and that heat is going to manifest. NOAA last month said there was a 40 percent chance that this year’s hurricane season would be near normal. But it also assigned 30 percent probabilities to the season’s being above or below normal. There’s another factor that could also have made the world hotter recently, though it’s not clear how much.

Persons: ” Rick Spinrad, “, Spinrad, El Niño, it’s, Daniel L, Swain, Dr, ” Organizations: University of Maine, National Centers for, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, University of California Locations: Canada, United States, Siberia, Antarctica, El, Pacific, Tonga, Los Angeles

☆ It’s Called the Grand Canyon, Not the Eternal Canyon
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When I was there with the scientists, we talked about this human dent, but we also talked a lot about geology. About how mundane, ever-churning forces like plate tectonics, weather and gravity, when applied over long enough time scales, can cause colossal changes to landscapes and rocks. At any point in time, the world we see is somewhere in between being created and being destroyed. The Grand Canyon as we know it is pretty young by geologic standards, only about six million years old. You can read my full article from the canyon here.

Persons: you’re, they’re Locations: Colorado

☆ The Grand Canyon, a Cathedral to Time, Is Losing Its River
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Raymond Zhong | Elena Shao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

And yet, the Grand Canyon remains yoked to the present in one key respect. The Colorado River, whose wild energy incised the canyon over millions of years, is in crisis. Down beneath the tourist lodges and shops selling keychains and incense, past windswept arroyos and brown valleys speckled with agave, juniper and sagebrush, the rocks of the Grand Canyon seem untethered from time. The Grand Canyon is a planetary spectacle like none other — one that also happens to host a river that 40 million people rely on for water and power. At Mile 0 of the Grand Canyon, the river is running at around 7,000 cubic feet per second, rising toward 9,000 — not the lowest flows on record, but far from the highest.

Persons: windswept, Davis, John Weisheit, ”, “, Mead Hoover, Powell, Daniel Ostrowski, Victor R, Baker, . Baker, Lake Powell, Dr, Ed Keable, wouldn’t, Jack Schmidt, Schmidt, ’, Alma Wilcox, “ There’s, we’ve, Nicholas Pinter Organizations: Rockies, York Times, University of California, Utah Glen, Lake, Mead, Recreation, Hualapai, CALIF, ARIZ . Utah Glen, Lake Mead, Area, Forest Utah, Engineers, University of Arizona, of Reclamation, National Park Service, Center, Colorado River Studies, Utah State University Locations: Colorado, The Colorado, North America, Utah, Powell, Lake Mead, Arizona, . UTAH COLO, N.M, ARIZ . Utah, Mead, NEV . UTAH COLO, Glen, ARIZ, Hopi, Nevada, Lake Powell, Arizona , California , Nevada, Mexico, Davis, Little Colorado, tamarisk, gesturing

☆ Arctic Summer Could Be Practically Sea-Ice-Free by the 2030s
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first summer on record that melts practically all of the Arctic’s floating sea ice could occur as early as the 2030s, according to a new scientific study — about a decade sooner than researchers previously predicted. The peer-reviewed findings, published Tuesday, also show that this milestone of climate change could materialize even if nations manage to curb greenhouse gas emissions more decisively than they are currently doing. Earlier projections had found that stronger action to slow global warming might be enough to preserve the summer ice. The latest research suggests that, where Arctic sea ice is concerned, only steep, sharp emissions cuts might be able to reverse the effects of the warming already underway. “We are very quickly about to lose the Arctic summer sea-ice cover, basically independent of what we are doing,” said Dirk Notz, a climate scientist at the University of Hamburg in Germany and one of the new study’s five authors.

Persons: ”, Dirk Notz, “ We’ve Organizations: University of Hamburg Locations: Germany

☆ Covid Is Coming Back in China; Lockdowns Are Not
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In December, China abruptly abandoned its draconian “Zero Covid” policies, battered by a surge of infections and rising public anger against lockdowns. The Chinese health authorities have reported a rise in Covid cases since April, especially from newer subvariants that are spreading across the world. (That would be up from what he estimated at 40 million infections a week in late May. China no longer publishes regular official nationwide estimates of infections.) By comparison, after “Zero Covid” controls were set aside in December, new infections reached 37 million a day in China at their peak, according to estimates cited by Bloomberg.

☆ We may never know where the COVID pandemic originated
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

LONDONIt’s the enduring mystery of the COVID-19 pandemic: Where did the virus come from? They also mostly agree that many of the earliest known infections and deaths clustered around a wildlife market in Wuhan, China. Others suspect the pathogen somehow leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, 27 km from the market, where researchers study bat viruses. One concentration of jump zones includes a region of mountains and lakes about 175 km southeast of the Wuhan market. In late 2002, the SARS-CoV-1 virus emerged in Guangdong province, in southern China, and became the SARS pandemic of 2003.

☆ Climate Change Powered the Mediterranean’s Unusual Heat Wave
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsThe early-season heat wave that broiled parts of Algeria, Morocco, Portugal and Spain last week almost certainly would not have occurred without human-induced climate change, an international team of scientists said in an analysis issued Friday. Mainland Spain set an April record of 101.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38.8 Celsius, in the southern city of Córdoba. In Morocco, the mercury climbed to more than 106 degrees Fahrenheit in Marrakesh, according to provisional data, very likely smashing that nation’s April record as well. A three-day stretch of such scorching heat in April is already quite rare for the region in the planet’s current climate, with just a 0.25 percent chance of occurring in any given year, according to the new analysis. Because of climate change, last month’s hot spell was at least 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer on average than a similarly improbable one would have been in preindustrial times, the scientists found.

☆ This Asian MMA promotion wants to crack the US market -- without the blood and trash-talking
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Andrew Mcnicol | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Could 2023 be the year mixed-martial arts (MMA) in the United States finally returns to its pure, humble beginnings nurtured in Asia nearly 5,000 years ago? “I can’t wait for the US fans to be exposed to true martial arts. Fighting on American soil, it’s amazing to be able to headline this landmark event,” said the former longtime UFC champion, who joined One in 2018. Courtesy Aaron Pan/ONE ChampionshipWhat “true martial arts” means in new-era combat sports is certainly up for interpretation. That’s more true to the spirit of martial arts and its traditional values.

☆ Goldman Sachs cautious on Turkish bank stocks ahead of election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs said on Thursday it was "cautious" on Turkish banks heading into the May 14 election, with lenders more vulnerable than the country's other stocks to a potential post-vote rate hike following years of unorthodox monetary policy. Polls show President Tayyip Erdogan risks losing the landmark election largely due to a cost-of-living crisis that has seen inflation soar to more than 85% last year amid ultra-lose monetary policy. Turkish banks had historically been beneficiaries of higher rates, though that relationship broke down last November when the government created new rules effectively forcing banks to lend at lower rates, Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients. "In our view, banks are most likely to take a hit in an opposition win scenario," Goldman Sachs' Jolene Zhong wrote. Reporting by Karin Strohecker, editing by Dhara RanasingheOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Activist investor Carl Icahn's wealth plunged by $10 billion after a short-seller accused his company of running a 'Ponzi-like' structure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hindenburg Research released a report alleging "Ponzi-like" economic structures at Icahn Enterprises. Shares of Icahn Enterprises closed 20% lower at $40.36 on Tuesday. Activist investor Carl Icahn's wealth plunged by $10 billion on Tuesday after Hindenburg Research — a short-seller that took on one of Asia's richest men earlier this year — targeted Icahn Enterprises with a scathing report. As Icahn derives his wealth from an 89% stake in Icahn Enterprises, his fortune was hit by the rout. Insider was unable to reach Icahn Enterprises via phone outside regular business hours.

☆ Climate Change’s Fingerprints Turn Up in Parched East Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Now we must ensure that the fund is made fit for purpose,” said Harjeet Singh, head of political strategy for Climate Action Network International. There, the drought may have caused 43,000 excess deaths last year, according to estimates issued last month. Scientists know that global warming is increasing the average likelihood and severity of certain kinds of wild weather in many regions. It’s like smoking and cancer: The two are undeniably linked, but not all smokers develop cancer, and not all cancer patients were smokers. To determine the effects of global warming on individual weather episodes, climate researchers use computer simulations to compare the global climate as it really is — with billions of tons of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by humans over decades — and a hypothetical climate without any of those emissions.

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