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☆ Man City edge closer to treble after FA Cup final win over Man Utd
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Manchester City moved to within one victory of completing a momentous treble as they deservedly beat arch-rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final thanks to Ilkay Gundogan's record-breaking double on Saturday. City captain Gundogan scored the fastest goal in FA Cup final history with a stunning volley after 12 seconds and struck what proved to be the winner seven minutes after halftime. It is the 13th time the English league and FA Cup double has been achieved. The FA Cup is so nice." It eclipsed the previous fastest FA Cup final goal scored by Louis Saha after 25 seconds for Everton against Chelsea in 2009 and City threatened to run riot against a stunned United.

Persons: Ilkay, Gundogan, Nat Lofthouse, Bruno Fernandes, Pep Guardiola's, Alex Ferguson, Guardiola, Stefan Ortega's, Erling Haaland, David de Gea, Louis Saha, Rodri, Jack Grealish, Kevin de Bruyne, Aaron Wan, Paul Tierney, Tierney, Fernandes, Ortega, Raphael Varane volleyed, De Bruyne's, De, Alejandro Garnacho, Erik Ten, Martyn Herman, Pritha Sarkar Organizations: Manchester City, Manchester United, FA, City, Bolton Wanderers, United . United, Inter Milan, Premier League, League, Champions League, Wembley, Everton, Chelsea, United, Grealish, Inter, Thomson Locations: Manchester, City, Istanbul

☆ Hong Kong stocks enter bear market territory as China reopening optimism continues to fade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Zhang Wei | China News Service | Getty ImagesStock Chart Icon Stock chart iconThe Hang Seng Tech index has already fallen by more than 25% from its January peak. That's a stark contrast to the reopening optimism that had once driven Asia-Pacific's benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific index to a bull market. watch nowMorgan Stanley analysts said in a May 17 report that a weak reading in that manufacturing measure "has been a solid precursor to policy easing." "If growth does not accelerate sufficiently to narrow the output gap, social stability risk may rise and eventually trigger more meaningful stimulus," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in the note. The index for services activity remained in expansionary territory at 54.5, but marked a second-straight month of decline.

Persons: Zhang Wei, Morgan Stanley Organizations: China News Service, Getty, Hang, Seng China Enterprises, Analysts, China, CNBC, National Bureau, Statistics Locations: Hong, Wan Chai district, Asia, Hong Kong

☆ China launches crewed mission to its space station
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Shenzhou 16 spacecraft and its carrier rocket lift off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on May 30, 2023 in Jiuquan, China. China launched its Shenzhou-16 spacecraft crewed by three astronauts on Tuesday, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement, declaring the launch a "complete success." The spacecraft is heading to China's space station and will relieve the crew of Shenzhou-15, who have been living there since November. Tuesday's launch marks China's fifth crewed mission to its space station since it first sent astronauts in 2021. A CMSA official said China aims to launch a crewed mission to the moon by 2030, according to state media.

☆ How one family turned a job loss into an opportunity to sail the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The family decided to leave Hong Kong to return to the Netherlands, where her husband, Jeroen, is from, she said. So the couple sold their home in the Netherlands and bought a secondhand monohull boat to "live and travel the world." Lisa Terauchi-D'RozarioThe family first sailed to France, then to Spain and Portugal, before reaching Sardinia, she said. While living at sea, her family used a water maker to turn seawater into drinking water, she said. The family checked weather forecasts often but, Lisa said, they still encountered situations they were not prepared for.

☆ Southeast Asia’s worst-performing stock market is UBS’s ‘top pick’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of Move Forward Party, attends a press conference of the Thai pro-democracy parties in Bangkok. While the benchmark SET index initially rose when the results came through, but eventually gave up those early gains. In fact, Thai stocks are the worst performers in Southeast Asia this year, but Tay says Thailand is his "top pick" in the region. Thailand's SET index is down 9.22% this year, the biggest laggard in the broader Asia Pacific region. The Move Forward party has called for reforms to the monarchy, including changing its defamation law.

☆ Opinion | Can the Writers’ Strike Fix Hollywood?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A somewhat more pessimistic analysis, offered by writers like Sonny Bunch and Jessa Crispin, emphasizes that the superhero-sweatshop corporate strategy evolved because it’s giving audiences what they want. And so even if the strike is an opportunity for reconsiderations, it’s probably not a lever that can change the system as a whole. Personally I would like to see the strike lever a different Hollywood system into being. (HBO’s “Westworld,” for instance, or lately Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.”) Sometimes they play like thin imitations of the previous decade’s antihero dramas. Or they take on the character of the theatrical experience but somewhat worse — with too-big-to-fail franchises that nobody really enjoys.

☆ American jailed for spying by China rubbed shoulders with senior Chinese officials, CNN reporting shows, CNN reporting shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“He’s a very famous person, known by many overseas Chinese in the southern US,” Tang said. Reports published by Chinese-language media in Texas and China’s state media show Leung’s long-running access to senior Chinese officials. In 2014, he met with the director of Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office during a visit to Nanjing, the provincial capital. This photo shows John Leung with Wang Hua, the former director of Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. It also comes as American and Chinese officials are resuming high-level engagements since a dispute over a suspected Chinese spy balloon shattered efforts to mend ties earlier this year.

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street's 'fear gauge' is rising as US debt talks drag on
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Markets will get volatile, maybe the stock market will go down, the Treasury markets will have their own problems,” he said. But this fear of market volatility isn’t going away. A similar fight around the debt ceiling in 2011 spurred a serious bout of market volatility. Wall Street’s key measure of volatility, the VIX, reached two year highs and soared more than 35% in just one day. Wall Street typically uses the VIX, known as the market’s “fear gauge,” as a way to measure how investors feel about financial and economic uncertainties.

☆ China Sentences American Citizen to Life in Prison for Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

John Shing-wan Leung was tried in the city of Suzhou near Shanghai. Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesHONG KONG—Chinese authorities said they sentenced an American citizen to life in prison on espionage charges, in a case that could further strain relations between Beijing and Washington. John Shing-wan Leung, a 78-year-old U.S. passport holder who also holds Hong Kong permanent residency, was found guilty and sentenced on Monday following a trial in the eastern city of Suzhou near Shanghai, according to a court notice.

☆ China sentences 78-year-old U.S. citizen to life in prison on spying charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest in decades amid disputes over trade, technology, human rights and China's increasingly aggressive approach toward its territorial claims involving self-governing Taiwan and the South China Sea. Jason Lee | ReutersChina sentenced a 78-year-old United States citizen to life in prison Monday on spying charges, in a case that reflects the deterioration in ties between Beijing and Washington over recent years. Details of the charges against John Shing-Wan Leung, who holds permanent residency in Hong Kong, have not been publicly released. High-level government visits have been on hold and U.S. companies are delaying major investments amid mixed-messaging from Beijing. Now the world’s second-largest economy, China is expanding its footprint in ports, railways and other infrastructure from Europe to Southeast Asia and beyond.

☆ US citizen sentenced to life in prison for espionage - Chinese court
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, May 15 (Reuters) - A 78-year-old U.S. citizen and Hong Kong resident was on Monday convicted of espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in eastern China, a court statement said. The court added that Leung was a Hong Kong resident and a U.S. passport holder. The court gave no specifics of his alleged offence, but said: "Suzhou's National Security Bureau began investigating Leung on April 15, 2021, on suspicion of spying." Last week, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met China's top diplomat Wang Yi to try to keep open channels of communication and to stablise the relationship between the superpowers. Hong Kong and Chinese media outlets reported that Leung had once been a senior member of a Chinese patriotic group in the United States called the U.S.-China Friendship Promotion Association.

☆ China sentences 78-year-old US citizen to life in prison for espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —A 78-year-old American citizen has been sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court on spying charges. Leung was detained on April 15, 2021 by state security authorities in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, according to the brief statement, which did not provide details on his charges. Chinese authorities and state media have not previously disclosed any information on Leung’s detention or the court process that led to his conviction. In China, cases involving state security are usually handled behind closed doors. In another high-profile case, two Canadians – former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor – were detained by China for nearly three years.

☆ China Sentences a U.S. Citizen to Life in Prison for Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Chang Che | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Chinese court said it sentenced a 78-year-old American citizen to life in prison on Monday on unspecified charges of spying, the latest in a wave of espionage cases the authorities have pursued amid growing wariness of foreign influence in the country. The Intermediate People’s Court in the southeastern city of Suzhou said in a short statement that it pronounced John Shing-Wan Leung guilty of espionage and sentenced him. Mr. Leung holds a United States passport and is a permanent resident of Hong Kong, according to the statement posted on the court’s social media account. A spokesman for the United States Embassy in Beijing said the embassy was aware of the reports about the case but declined to comment because of privacy concerns. American citizens arrested in China must sign a privacy waiver to allow embassies and consulates to release information about their cases to the public.

☆ These tech stocks have never been more compelling, Goldman Sachs says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Goldman Sachs named a slew of top tech picks as earnings season begins to wind down. CNBC Pro combed through top research from Goldman to find some of the firm's favorite tech stocks exiting earnings. "Specifically, in its Q1'23 earnings report, Bumble mgmt. ZoomInfo Goldman is betting on a big second half for ZoomInfo after its robust earnings report earlier this month. Bumble "Bumble reported a solid set of results as the company continues to execute against its four strategic pillars.

☆ What might get this stock market unstuck
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Clearly the market is captive of strong, opposing and somewhat unpredictable currents, as the passengers argue over what might get stocks unstuck, and in which direction. Excluding financial stocks, for instance, the S & P 500 would be up 11% for the year. Here is the equal-weighted S & P 500 vs. the Nasdaq 100 since the end of 2021. The stock market has, coincidentally or not, carved a similar path so far this year as it did to begin 2011. The S & P 500 that year raced higher to print a 7% gain into a February high, then chopped sideways.

With a wry nod to the weekend coronation of King Charles, Goldman Sachs' currency team labelled an upgrade of its sterling recommendation from neutral to 'Long (live) Sterling' - nudging a 3-month forecast for sterling 3% stronger to 0.86 per euro. "Headwinds on sterling in 2022 - mostly natural gas prices and the relative stance of BoE policy - have turned to tailwinds." Economic surprise indexes compiled by Citi show incoming UK readouts more positive relative to expectations than at any time since October 2020. But the FTSE 250 is mostly holding its own so far in 2023 as they have both advanced 3%-4%. UK Economic Surprises surge vs rest of the westG3 Terminal RatesFTSE100 vs FTSE250The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.

☆ Tech's been hit by layoffs. But Singapore is still investing big in its talent — in tech and beyond
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Demand for individuals with specialized tech talent isn't limited to the tech sector, says Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority. "This has been a consequence of tech companies anchoring and growing their higher-value tech development and corporate functions here," he said. Tech 'powers all the big banks'In finance, technology is the engine that "powers all the big banks," said Donald MacDonald, OCBC head of group data. and deep tech," MacDonald said. Specialized tech skills

☆ Hong Kong Wants More Tourists, but Mostly ‘Good Quality’ Ones, Please
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( David Pierson | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One by one the tour buses descended on the blue collar neighborhood in Hong Kong known as To Kwa Wan — literally translated as Potato Bay — unloading throngs of travelers from mainland China outside large restaurants where a quick lunch awaited them inside. Outfitted in white, red and orange ball caps to denote which tour they belonged to, the visitors crowded the sidewalks, smoked cigarettes under a “No Smoking” sign and bumped into the glass storefront of a real estate office where Nicky Lam, a property agent, was rolling her eyes. “They’re very loud,” Ms. Lam said, complaining that some of the tourists used her office bathroom and water cooler without asking. “One tourist came in and asked for restaurant recommendations,” she added. “I stared at him and said, ‘This is a real estate office.’”

☆ The Star Wars timeline: All movies and shows in chronological order
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

These details are pulled from the official “Star Wars” resources “Ultimate Star Wars” and “Star Wars Character Encyclopedia,” as well as experts from outlets like USA Today and the AV Club. ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ (animated series)Ahsoka is Anakin's padawan in "The Clone Wars," and he lovingly calls her "Snips." ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’"Solo" shows how Han and Chewie became best friends. ‘Star Wars Rebels’Kanan Jarrus, Zeb Orrelios and Sabine Wren take on the Empire in "Star Wars Rebels." ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’Heroes attempt to find the plans to blow up the Death Star in "Rogue One."

☆ Chinese businessman Guo Wengui appeals bail denial in fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Guo Wengui, once a business associate of former U.S. President Donald Trump's adviser Steve Bannon, was arrested in March. Guo pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including securities fraud, wire fraud and concealing money laundering. The 52-year-old defendant, whose other names include Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Kwok, is a prominent critic of China's Communist Party. He left China in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown under President Xi Jinping. Bannon was arrested in a 2020 fraud case while aboard Guo's yacht.

☆ 'Return of the Jedi' missteps: Five ways the 'Star Wars' sequel messed up, from a certain point of view
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

That’s in part because those shortcomings have echoed through the years, as subsequent “Star Wars” mythology has contorted itself, sometimes messily, in order to accommodate them. Still, Episode VI ill-served some of the original trilogy’s significant characters, in ways that have been debated across the decades, yielding the kind of arguments that have become one of the “Star Wars” franchise’s most renewable resources. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in "Return of the Jedi," which was released in 1983. Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock“From a certain point of view.” Let’s stipulate that Anakin Skywalker “became” Darth Vader when he turned to the dark side. “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” will play in select theaters beginning April 28.

NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - An exiled Chinese businessman charged by U.S. prosecutors with leading a more than $1 billion fraud will remain in jail after a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday rejected a proposed $25 million bail package. Guo had also proposed 24-hour guard, and being subjected to detention with GPS monitoring at his wife's Connecticut home. He had also been a business associate of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was arrested in a 2020 fraud case while aboard Guo's yacht. In seeking bail, Guo's lawyer Stephen Cook said Guo would remain in the United States if released on bond "because the risk to his life is simply too great for him to leave." The defendant has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including securities fraud, wire fraud and concealing money laundering.

☆ Man United climb back into third with 2-0 win over Everton
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Lori Ewing | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MANCHESTER, England, April 8 (Reuters) - Manchester United's Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial secured a well-earned 2-0 victory over Everton as the hosts climbed above Newcastle United into provisional third spot in the Premier League on Saturday. "It was great football from ourselves and we were disappointed to only go in (at halftime) 1-0 up," United captain Harry Maguire told BT Sport. "The lads started on the front foot, we were aggressive, we created chance after chance after chance and I think if the score was three, four or five nobody would have any arguments." United pressed goalkeeper Jordan Pickford into duty early at a sun-drenched Old Trafford and set up camp in Everton's half for most of the game. Bruno Fernandes nearly doubled United's lead in the 67th minute but Pickford leapt to tip the ball over the crossbar.

☆ Most countries want tourists back — but Amsterdam is telling these visitors to 'stay away'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Some places are wooing visitors by waiving visa requirements and giving out air tickets. But Amsterdam has a problem with too much tourism — and now it's telling some visitors, namely British male tourists aged between 18 and 35, to "stay away" if they're traveling to the city for drugs or parties. Amsterdam's local authority launched the online campaign in Great Britain this month that aims to keep out "nuisance-causing visitors," authorities said in a news release last week. About 360,000 overnight guests from the United Kingdom visited Amsterdam in 2020, said Statista. The "Stay Away" campaign targets visitors who use online search terms like "stag party Amsterdam," "pub crawl Amsterdam" or "cheap hotel Amsterdam" by showing them warning advertisements, authorities said.

☆ Starbucks union pressures board members with billboards, posters – and a butter sculpture
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nearly 300 company-owned Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United, according to National Labor Relations Board data. Starbucks Workers United is deploying a butter sculpture, brass band, billboard and movie posters to put pressure on the coffee chain's board to accept the union. Beth Ford, chief executive officer of Land O'Lakes Inc. (L), and a butter sculpture of land o'lakes her. In the hopes of speeding up the process, just outside of Minnesota's Twin Cities, Starbucks workers will deliver a butter sculpture of Ford to Land O'Lakes' headquarters. "Community allies" will also take part, according to Starbucks Workers United.

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