Tag: internal-storyline-no

The Regulatory Questions Swirling Around Meta’s Threads

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Taylor Swift re-records her way onto the charts Taylor Swift on Thursday released the re-recorded version of one of her older albums, “Speak Now,” calling the move a “form of rebellion.” The singer is on a mission to re-record the first six albums in her catalog (she has done three) after the rights to the originals were sold in a contentious deal to the superagent Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019 for north of $300 million. The investment firm Shamrock Capital Advisors bought the masters a year later for about…

White House Reportedly Weighs New A.I. Export Limits

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Will the U.S. tighten a cordon around A.I. chips? Shares in high-flying chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD were down in premarket trading today, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration is weighing new restrictions on exporting artificial intelligence-related semiconductors to China. The deliberations underscore the White House’s worries about falling behind in the race to dominate A.I. and the potential for Beijing to use the technology in military applications — and they show that it is willing to tighten the screws on trade to stay ahead. Any…

World Bank Projects Weak Global Growth Amid Rising Interest Rates

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The World Bank said on Tuesday that the global economy remained in a “precarious state” and warned of sluggish growth this year and next as rising interest rates slow consumer spending and business investment, and threaten the stability of the financial system. The bank’s tepid forecasts in its latest Global Economic Prospects report highlight the predicament that global policymakers face as they try to corral stubborn inflation by raising interest rates while grappling with the aftermath of the pandemic and continuing supply chain disruptions stemming from the war in Ukraine.…

Tiananmen Exhibit Is ‘a Symbol of Defiance’

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Good morning. It’s Friday. Today we will look at plans for a New York City memorial to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. We’ll also update you on a legal skirmish over cannabis regulation. A new exhibition is set to open in Midtown Manhattan memorializing those killed when Chinese troops opened fire on pro-democracy protesters who had gathered in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The exhibit, which will open this month, comes two years after officials in Hong Kong cracked down on commemorations of the Tiananmen Square protests. The 2,000-square-foot…

A Hungarian Town Seethes Over a Giant Chinese Battery Plant

Chin@Strategy

The small-town mayor, long a loyal foot soldier for Hungary’s governing party, recently committed what he described as “political suicide,” throwing himself in the path of an enormous $7.8 billion Chinese battery factory project promoted by his dissent-intolerant prime minister, Viktor Orban. “It is like lying in front of a steamroller,” Zoltan Timar, the mayor of Mikepercs, said of his decision to side with residents opposed to the project, which his Fidesz party championed. “I just hope it won’t roll over me too soon.” The factory, which would be the…

What to Know About the Iranian-Saudi Deal

Chin@Strategy

The announcement by Iran and Saudi Arabia that they are re-establishing diplomatic ties could lead to a major realignment in the Middle East. It also represents a geopolitical challenge for the United States and a victory for China, which brokered the talks between the two longstanding rivals. Under the agreement announced on Friday, Iran and Saudi Arabia will patch up a seven-year split by reviving a security cooperation pact, reopening embassies in each other’s countries within two months, and resuming trade, investment and cultural accords. But the rivalry between the…

Tesla Offers a New ‘Master Plan’ but Few Big Revelations

Chin@Strategy

Tesla said on Wednesday that it would build a factory in Mexico to manufacture an electric vehicle that would be significantly more affordable than any of the cars it sold now. But the company disappointed investors who were expecting it to make big announcements about new products and strategies. Shareholders and analysts had expected Tesla to reveal information that would clarify how the company would retain its crown as the world’s dominant maker of electric vehicles in the face of energetic competition from established carmakers and relatively younger Chinese manufacturers.…

Davos Worries About a ‘Polycrisis’

Chin@Strategy

Hand-wringing in Davos Andrew here. I’m attending the World Economic Forum with DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch and a team from The Times to capture the mood and behind-the-scenes action among the world leaders and the C.E.O.s who’ve made their annual pilgrimage to the Swiss Alps. Speaking of which: Davos is normally full of hand-wringing over the state of the world, but it feels especially pronounced this year. (That isn’t necessarily reflected in the crowd of corporate pop-ups on the Promenade, one of the town’s main thoroughfares, nor in the cocktail party…

Biden and Xi Break the Ice

Chin@Strategy

The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies are meeting this week in Indonesia. What they decide will go a long way toward shaping the global climate of the near future — and with it, the destiny of us all. The Group of 20 represents 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet. The main headline: China and the U.S. are back on speaking terms. The White House announced that the United States and China would resume their climate talks. The news came after a three-and-a-half hour meeting…

Can China’s leader deliver?

Chin@Strategy

The world’s most important non-change in leadership is happening right now in China. At a Communist Party congress this week, Xi Jinping, the country’s top leader for the last 10 years, is all but certain to secure another five years in the job. Xi’s recent predecessors each left office after about a decade to protect China from abuses of power like those during the chaotic Mao era. Xi is expected to cast this precedent aside, taking the country down a more authoritarian path as economic growth teeters and tensions flare…