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Unlike the chubby, fluffy image of her younger self, 22-year-old Ya Ya has appeared skinny in recent photos, with her black and white coat missing clumps of fur. But Le Le died suddenly of heart disease in early February, further fueling suspicions of mistreatment. Throughout the past weeks, Ya Ya regularly appeared as a top trending topic on Weibo, each time attracting hundreds of millions of views. Allegations of mistreatmentWhen Ya Ya and Le Le arrived at Memphis in 2003, it was a huge deal for the city. A petition by Panda Voices to bring Ya Ya and Le Le back to China on change.org has garnered 193,000 signatures.

☆ Here Are the Places Most at Risk From Record-Shattering Heat
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They found that regions covering 31 percent of Earth’s land surface experienced heat so extraordinary that, statistically, it shouldn’t have happened. These places, the study argues, are now prepared to some degree for future severe hot spells. According to the study, these include economically developed places like Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, plus the region of China around Beijing. Why this is importantIn 2021, a heat wave in the Pacific Northwest shattered local records by staggering margins. This suggests they could happen again, anywhere, though not all of them will be as off-the-charts as the recent Pacific Northwest one.

☆ Paralympics TikTok account uses 'edgy and unique content' but has been critiqued by some for lack of sensitivity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Social media is awash with memes and GIFs and, at times, ‘edginess,’ but it can be a difficult balancing act as the official Paralympics TikTok account is discovering. The account is run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the organization which organizes and manages the Paralympic Games. In the comments, the official Paralympic account replied: “This is Brad Snyder. Mixed reactionsAs a result, the videos posted on the official account have received a mixed reaction, with commentators on many of them left disbelieving that the content published there is permitted. “Looking through that whole account, I might have seen one or two [videos] where the athlete actually does something successfully.

☆ NOAA Forecasters See a Respite for California
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsWeather forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued their latest outlook for the United States, and there’s at least one piece of hopeful news for a state that has already had a wild year, weather-wise: California. But according to NOAA’s latest forecasts, temperatures for May through July are highly likely to be in line with historical averages across California and Nevada. For May, much of California could even see cooler-than-normal conditions, the agency said. This could mean the snow’s melting would be more gradual than abrupt, more beneficial to water supplies than destructive to homes and farms. “The picture is relatively optimistic compared to what it could be,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, part of the University of California, Berkeley.

[1/3] A staff member attends to visitors at an oven retailer at the China Import and Export Fair, also known as Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China April 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ellen ZhangGUANGZHOU, April 16 (Reuters) - Chinese exporters exhibiting their products at the country's largest trade fair said the weak global economy was hurting their businesses, with many freezing investments and some cutting labour costs in response. Lin said the company cannot afford to sell at lower prices, but it may look to reduce labour costs. Vicky Chen, foreign trade manager at socket producer Qinjia Electric, said she did not expect a big sales boost at the fair, which runs until May 5. "The whole global economy is fairing poorly at the moment, and the fair won't change that."

☆ China's 'Belt and Road' grew out of a lending spree. Now those loans may be its problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAt its peak, China's Belt and Road Initiative was seen as the centerpiece of Beijing's engagement with the world. According to the report, China issued 128 emergency rescue loans worth $240 billion to 22 countries — including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey, among others. 'Trying to salvage Belt and Road'Chinese efforts to revamp Belt and Road have been underway since 2020, according to one observer. "A nod to the concern that many Belt and Road projects were not economically viable to begin with. "The increased indebtedness in many Belt and Road countries is a direct consequence of Beijing's overshooting in the pre-2020 phase," said Zhong.

☆ Man gets prison time after feds discover $3.4 billion in stolen Bitcoin hidden inside a Cheetos popcorn tin and underground safe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A man convicted of stealing around 50,000 Bitcoin was sentenced Friday to a year in prison. At the it was seized, the Bitcoin was worth over $3.4 billion. Prosecutors said the crypto-currency was stolen from the Silk Road dark web marketplace. There investigators recovered more than 50,000 Bitcoin, split between "an underground floor safe and on a single-board computer that was submerged under blankets in a popcorn tin stored in a bathroom closet." A photo shared by the department shows that the crypto tin originally contained Cheetos-brand popcorn in both Flamin' Hot and Cheddar flavors.

☆ Analysis: What's behind bitcoin's latest surge?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Tom Wilson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The original and biggest cryptocurrency has been here before, its 15-year history peppered with dramatic price increases and equally vertiginous drops. Driving bitcoin's gains have been its core user base of retail investors, analysts said. In the past, too, dramatic price swings for bitcoin have been closely tied to shifts in monetary policy globally. In 2022, bitcoin plummeted over 65% as higher rates triggered the fall of a major crypto token, precipitating the closure of major hedge funds and crypto lenders. To be sure, some investors say developments to bitcoin's intrinsic characteristics are now capable of supporting its price.

☆ Warburg Pincus moves closer to buying a stake in Chinese fund Zhong Ou
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) disclosed in its 2021 annual report that its board had approved the sale of a 23.3% stake in Zhong Ou to Warbug Pincus. The planned 23.3% stake sale to Warburg Pincus was confirmed on Monday by a source familiar with the transaction. The CSRC did not say how big a stake Warburg Pincus will buy in Zhong Ou, which has more than 350 billion yuan ($51.3 billion) of assets under management (AUM). In the regulatory feedback, the CSRC asked Warburg Pincus to explain how it would support Zhong Ou's development. The regulator also requested further proof from Warburg Pincus that it's a leading global player with good international reputation and performance.

☆ Goldman Sachs: Buy stocks in these 15 emerging market countries that are set to outperform the US as earnings weaken in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Stocks in the US and emerging markets struggled in 2022 as global growth slowed. Goldman Sachs is more optimistic about emerging markets than US names in 2023. The difficult backdrop is causing some investors to consider equities in emerging markets. 15 top emerging markets in 2023Caesar Maasry, the head of emerging markets cross-asset strategy at Goldman Sachs, listed expected 12-month returns for stocks in 23 different emerging markets countries. Each country is listed in alphabetical order along with its index, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks it, and expected earnings growth and total returns by currency in the next 12 months.

REUTERS/Tingshu WangBEIJING/WUHAN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Some people in China's key cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan braved the cold and a spike in COVID-19 infections to return to regular activity on Monday, confident of a boost to the economy as more recover from infections. But Monday's one new COVID death - flat with the previous day - among China's population of 1.4 billion does not match the experience of other countries after they re-opened. Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 have probably reached 100,000, with infections at 18.6 million, it said. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13, with 3.7 million daily infections. China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

Changes continued Monday as authorities announced a deactivation of the “mobile itinerary card” health tracking function planned for the following day. But as the scrapping of parts of the zero-Covid infrastructure come apace, there are questions about how the country’s health system will handle a mass outbreak. Throughout the weekend, some businesses were closed in Beijing, and city streets were largely deserted, as residents either fell ill or feared catching the virus. Covid was “spreading rapidly” driven by highly transmissible Omicron variants in China, a top Covid-19 expert, Zhong Nanshan, said in an interview published by state media Saturday. Authorities recorded 8,626 Covid-19 cases across China on Sunday, down from the previous day’s count of 10,597 and from the high of more than 40,000 daily cases late last month.

☆ China's capital swings from anger over zero-COVID to coping with infections
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Pandemic control workers in protective suits sit in a neighbourhood that used to be under lockdown, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue, in Beijing, China December 10, 2022. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses have been forced to close as infected workers quarantine at home while many other people are deciding not to go out because of the higher risk of infection. "We can see that hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people are infected in several major cities," Zhong said. China's economy may grow 1.6% in the first quarter of 2023 from a year earlier, and 4.9% in the second, according to Capital Economics. Inbound travellers are subjected to five days of quarantine at centralised government facilities and three additional days of self-monitoring at home.

In the central city of Wuhan, where the pandemic erupted in late 2019, there were more signs of life with some areas busy with commuters on Friday. "They've relaxed the measures but still, there’s nobody about," said a taxi driver surnamed Wang, who didn't want to give his full name. But there are signs the reassuring new message has still to convince many of the country's 1.4 billion people. China's current tally of 5,235 COVID-related deaths is a tiny fraction of its population of 1.4 billion, and extremely low by global standards. Some experts have warned that toll could rise above 1.5 million if the exit is too hasty.

☆ Inside China's fight over the future of zero-COVID
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

After nearly three years, a significant loosening of zero-COVID measures has been signalled by senior government officials and public health experts. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said on Thursday that China's health system had "withstood the test" of COVID, allowing further adjustments to state policies. "You can have zero-COVID, but you can't have a healthy economy, and you can have a healthy economy, but you can't have zero-COVID." Laura Yasaitis, a public health expert at the Eurasia Group think-tank who follows China's zero-COVID policies, said fear of the virus likely varied widely across the country, as well as within cities or provinces. Officials have repeatedly said that China's health system would be unable to cope with a surge in cases, with medical resources unevenly distributed across the country.

☆ 26 Early Black Friday Deals to Shop Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

Madewell’s pre-holiday sale includes an extra 30% off sale styles and an extra 50% off select sale styles with the code SALEONSALE. The Segway Ninebot F30, a variant of the best electric scooter, is now available for $50 less than its previous best price. This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen for the Bonfire, with the sale running through Dec. 4. For Sur La Table’s Black Friday Early Deals event, select cookware is up to 60% off. Monos is offering up to 40% off sitewide during its early Black Friday sale.

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☆ 24 Early Black Friday Deals to Shop Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

By Buy Side StaffIt’s not quite Black Friday yet, but that’s not stopping many of the top retailers from unleashing holiday deals. Madewell’s pre-holiday sale includes an extra 30% off sale styles and an extra 50% off select sale styles with the code SALEONSALE. The Segway Ninebot F30, a variant of the best electric scooter, is now available for $50 less than its previous best price. This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen for the Bonfire, with the sale running through Dec. 4. For Sur La Table’s Black Friday Early Deals event, select cookware is up to 60% off.

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☆ 19 Early Black Friday Deals to Shop Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

By Buy Side StaffIt’s not quite Black Friday yet, but that’s not stopping many of the top retailers from unleashing holiday deals. It’s currently more than 50% off and close to the lowest price we’ve seen. Right now during the brand’s holiday sale, it’s more than 30% off. This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen for the Bonfire, with the sale running through Dec. 4. For Sur La Table’s Black Friday Early Deals event, select cookware is up to 60% off.

☆ Two investors opposed to debt plan call for Orpea shareholder meeting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Andreas Rinke | Christina Amann | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 9 (Reuters) - Two shareholders that together own more than 5% of France's Orpea (ORP.PA) have called for a shareholder meeting at the beleaguered care homes group as they try to rally opposition to its planned debt restructuring plan. "An unprecedented shareholder ruin is now emerging", family-owned Mat Immo Beaune and investment group Nextstone said in a letter sent to Orpea on Tuesday and reviewed by Reuters. Orpea said in June an independent audit had found evidence of financial wrongdoing, and in October warned of asset impairments and said it had requested talks with creditors. French media outlet l'Agefi on Monday reported ESG-driven fund Mirova had sold its 4% stake in Orpea. Shares in Orpea, which have lost 90% of their value this year, were down 2% at around 1100 GMT.

☆ China's super-rich see fortunes plunge as economy slows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Brenda Goh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 8 (Reuters) - China's super-rich saw their wealth tumble by the most in over two decades this year, as the Russia-Ukraine war, Beijing's zero-COVID measures and falling mainland and Hong Kong stock markets pummelled fortunes, an annual rich list said on Tuesday. The Hurun Rich list, which ranks China's wealthiest people with a minimum net worth of 5 billion yuan ($692 million), said only 1,305 people made the mark this year, down 11% from last year. "This year has seen the biggest fall in the Hurun China Rich List of the last 24 years," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of research firm Hurun Report which compiles the list. The founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, took second place, but saw his wealth fall 28% to $35 billion due to a drop in ByteDance's valuation. Tencent founder Pony Ma posted the second largest drop in wealth of $14.6 billion amid sliding tech stock prices, to take fifth place on the list.

☆ Alibaba’s Jack Ma and China’s super-rich see billions wiped off fortunes as economy slows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

China’s super-rich saw their wealth tumble by the most in over two decades this year, as the Russia-Ukraine war, Beijing’s zero-Covid measures and falling mainland and Hong Kong stock markets pummeled fortunes, according to an annual rich list. Tencent founder Pony Ma posted the second largest drop in wealth amid sliding tech stock prices. The founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, took second place, but saw his wealth fall 28% to $35 billion due to a drop in ByteDance’s valuation. Tencent (TCEHY) founder Pony Ma posted the second largest drop in wealth of $14.6 billion amid sliding tech stock prices, to take fifth place on the list. Alibaba (BABA) founder Jack Ma and his family tumbled four places to be ranked No.

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States is seeking a forfeiture order for more than $1 billion in Bitcoin that was stolen from the Silk Road online marketplace in 2012, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday. Zhong on Friday pleaded guilty to wire fraud that tricked Silk Road's processing system into releasing the funds into his accounts. The Bitcoin was at the time worth more than $3 billion, but the value of the cryptocurrency has since lost about two-thirds of its value. Silk Road was seized by the U.S. government in 2013, when officials described the underground website as a massive illegal drug- and money-laundering marketplace. The website's creator Ross Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 of seven counts of enabling illegal drug sales via bitcoin.

☆ Feds announce $3.36 billion seizure of bitcoin, the second-largest recovery of crypto so far
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Paige Tortorelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Department of Justice announced Monday that it seized about $3.36 billion in stolen bitcoin during a previously-unannounced 2021 raid on the residence of James Zhong. It follows the $3.6 billion in allegedly stolen cryptocurrency linked to the 2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex. Silk Road was launched in 2011, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut it down in 2013. IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher said Zhong used a "sophisticated scheme" to steal the bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace. In October 2022, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, suffered a $570 million hack.

☆ The Justice Department said that it seized $3.4 billion in bitcoin stolen a decade ago through the 'Silk Road' dark web
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Justice Department announced a seizure of $3.36 billion in stolen bitcoin. Defendant James Zhong pleaded guilty to wire fraud using a dark web market called the Silk Road. The DOJ's statement said that Zhong pled guilty on Friday to committing wire fraud back in September 2012. In February 2022, the department seized about $4 billion of bitcoin in the wake of a 2016 theft. Zhong had stolen the bitcoin by executing a scheme to defraud the Silk Road by creating a string of approximately nine fraud accounts on the site, the statement said.

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States is seeking the forfeiture of more than $1 billion in Bitcoin stolen from the Silk Road online marketplace, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday. By the time it was seized, the Bitcoin was worth more than $3 billion. Some of the stolen Bitcoin was found on a computer in a popcorn tin stored in a bathroom closet, IRS special agent Trevor McAleenan said in an affidavit. The U.S. government seized Silk Road in 2013, describing the underground website as a massive illegal drug and money-laundering marketplace. Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 of seven counts of enabling illegal drug sales via bitcoin.

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