Day: November 22, 2023

Ousted OpenAI board member on AI safety concerns

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Sam Altman returns and OpenAI board members are given the boot; US authorities foil a plot to kill Sikh separatist leader on US soil; plus, the UK’s Autumn Statement increases the tax burden. Mentioned in this podcast: US thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist on American soil Hunt cuts national insurance but taxes head to postwar high OpenAI says Sam Altman to return as chief executive under new board The FT News Briefing is produced by Persis Love, Josh Gabert-Doyon and Edwin Lane. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello,…

China’s property crisis: Shenzhen cuts down payments for second-home buyers, joining fray of cities trying to revive demand

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Authorities in Shenzhen, China’s technology hub, are reducing the down payment required from people buying a second home, joining a fray of big cities paring back restrictions in a bid to revive the flagging property market. They are also scrapping a measure that had restricted the scope of buyers who can enjoy lower down payments. The easing measures, which include lowering the down payment ratio for second houses to 40 per cent of the value of the property from as much as 80 per cent, will take effect from today,…

South China Sea: pressure mounts on Beijing in region as Marcos says Philippines will never give an inch

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In San Francisco, Marcos also held talks with United States Vice-President Kamala Harris where they discussed “some of the ways forward” on the South China Sea situation. A White House statement said they reaffirmed the US-Philippines alliance, discussed efforts to deepen security ties and repeated their pledge to uphold international rules and norms. Manila has appeared to draw closer to Washington and its allies in recent months on the back of clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea. Other Southeast Asian countries have not been as…

Mintz staff stuck in China detention despite warming ties with US

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US-China relations myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Mintz Group is struggling to secure the release of five local employees detained in China, said people familiar with the matter, eight months after a raid on the US due diligence firm’s Beijing office alarmed foreign investors in the country. In the first confirmation of the Mintz employees’ plight since their disappearance during the March raid, people familiar with the matter said they were being held by the Beijing public…

N Korea scraps military deal with South, vows to deploy weapons to border

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North Korea has escalated its pressure campaign against Seoul, declaring its immediate and complete withdrawal from the military agreement designed to reduce hostilities between the two nations. It also pledged to deploy its latest weaponry along the border with South Korea.  The latest threat comes just a day after South Korea suspended the landmark 2018 inter-Korean military agreement as a countermeasure to Pyongyang’s illegal satellite launch that violated a United Nations Security Council resolution. Rocket technology can be used for both launching satellites and missiles. For that reason, the U.N.…

US Dismisses Chinese Diplomacy on Gaza

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The White House is dismissing China’s recent diplomatic engagement in the Israel-Hamas conflict, part of Beijing’s attempt to position itself as a more credible peacemaker in the Middle East than the U.S. “We’re comfortable with our relationships. We’re comfortable with American leadership in the region. We’re comfortable that we have the ability to work through partners in the region to achieve outcomes and results that are beneficial to all of us,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with VOA Wednesday. Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has…

Japan’s clash of titans could be the boldest trade of the year

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. As Japan approaches the end of a year in which its stocks have outdone almost all their global peers, Tokyo has served up a season finale: a ding-dong between two of the country’s highest-profile financial titans and a contender for the world’s most audacious trade of 2023. The clash over the future of Shinsei Bank pits the ex-Nomura, Confucius-quoting, establishment-smashing online brokerage boss Yoshitaka Kitao, age 72, against ex-bureaucrat, convicted…

Taiwan Farmers, Candidates Feel Effects of China’s Limit on Fruit Exports

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Taipei, Taiwan —  Fruit exports are a key issue in Taiwan’s January presidential election in the aftermath of Beijing’s 2021 ban on Taiwanese pineapples. Since then, China has been limiting imports of Taiwanese fruits as cross-strait tensions have increased, in what appears to be a move to influence the farm vote in favor of the Kuomintang Party (KMT). The KMT is widely seen as pro-Beijing and thus more likely than the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to secure a reversal of the bans, even though the DPP is traditionally strong in…

US Envoy Focuses on Cyberscams During Cambodia Visit 

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia —  Cindy Dyer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for monitoring and combating trafficking, is planning to push Cambodia’s new government to ramp up its efforts to crack down on cyberscam operations that trap many trafficking victims in slavelike conditions. A recently completed visit to Phnom Penh by Dyer “will serve as an opportunity for information sharing and coordination on anti-trafficking efforts,” the State Department said last week in a release. Dyer met with a range of officials “with the objective of building a relationship with the new government for…