Meet up with China
1. The Wagner Group purchased two high-resolution statement satellites from a Chinese language agency in 2022, permitting the Russian mercenaries to entry surveillance photos for its campaigns in Ukraine and Africa. (AFP)
2. In conferences with the Biden administration, American chip firms have pushed again on additional chip restrictions, warning that they might derail plans to construct new semiconductor factories within the US. (New York Occasions $)
3. Chinese language chip producer SMIC made $1.5 billion in income from American semiconductor-design firms in 2022—a fifth of its general gross sales—regardless of being blacklisted by the US authorities. (Wall Avenue Journal $)
- The US Commerce Division added 42 extra Chinese language firms to its export blacklist on Friday, saying they aided Russia within the battle in Ukraine. (South China Morning Submit $)
4. For Chinese language EV startup Nio, promoting one automotive means shedding $35,000. However authorities backing permits firms like Nio to face up to such losses and continue to grow. (New York Occasions $)
5. Chinese language ultra-fast-fashion firm Shein appointed a former SoftBank Group government as its vice chairman. He’s tasked with diversifying the corporate’s provide chain past China. (Wall Avenue Journal $)
6. A Hong Kong man was sentenced to 4 months in jail for importing “seditious” youngsters’s books that portrayed town’s democracy supporters as sheep defending their village from wolves. (The Straits Occasions)
Misplaced in translation
Since China softened its zero-covid insurance policies nearly a 12 months in the past, many Chinese language firms that supply PCR take a look at merchandise have been compelled to evolve. One firm, nevertheless, has made the indecipherable resolution to enter the marketplace for precooked meals.
Based on the Chinese language publication Lanjing Caijing, Shenzhen Nuclear Gene Expertise, an organization with greater than 30 testing labs throughout China, was on the heart of an issue final 12 months after it was repeatedly fined by native governments for fabricating take a look at outcomes and never adhering to technical requirements. Then in Might, the corporate integrated a subsidiary referred to as Wuhan Nuclear Agriculture Expertise, which now works on producing frozen meals based mostly on rice.
The one connection between PCR checks and precooked meals is that each have been extraordinarily fashionable companies. In recent times, the recognition of precooked meals—typically sophisticated, time-consuming dishes like grilled entire fish—has risen considerably in China amongst younger individuals who don’t prefer to cook dinner. The home market is round $58 billion now, and it’s predicted to develop to $148 billion by 2026. However individuals are additionally questioning whether or not it’s acceptable for eating places to take a shortcut by turning to precooked meals packages as a substitute of growing their very own recipes.
Yet another factor
A brand new research by Chinese language researchers analyzed the connection between a inventory fund’s efficiency and the fund supervisor’s “facial attractiveness.” And sure, the paper really features a few examples of actual supervisor faces that got low scores by a deep-learning mannequin for “facial magnificence prediction.” Yikes. Oh, and their conclusion? “Funds with facial[ly] unattractive managers outperform funds with engaging managers by over 2% each year.”
