cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44852111

Archived

China has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of ultra-wealthy individuals over the past year, driven by a robust stock market and the rapid growth of “new economy” sectors, according to the Hurun Research Institute.

The institute’s latest China Rich List recorded a total of 1,434 individuals, each with a net worth of at least 5 billion yuan (US$702 million, an increase of 340 people, or 31%, from the previous year. Collectively, their wealth reached 30 trillion yuan, marking a 42% surge compared with last year.

[...]

The Hurun list, first published in 1999, tracks billionaires across mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

“To the surprise of many, the number of people on the Hurun rich list this year has reached an all-time high, largely driven by a strong rally in the stock markets,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun. “The emergence of new faces in the technology sectors and growing exports propelled an expansion of the billionaires’ club.”

[...]

Stock market rally fuels billionaire boom

Chinese stock exchanges have seen significant gains over the past year, reflecting renewed investor optimism in industries such as electric vehicles (EVs), biotechnology, and computing. As of September 1, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange surged 54% year on year, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 36%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 42%.

[...]

I mean, if, say, you got kidnapped by someone at a young age and you were too young to form memories, then you could theoretically live an entire life falsely believing your parents are your biological parents. Especially if your birth wasn't properly documented, or from a developing country where paperwork isn't exactly being done properly.

As to why, maybe some has fertility issues or something. Maybe their original kid died and now they are just having a weird parent complex and trying to fill the void, passing off someone's kid as their own.

Reason why I'm having these thoughts because I remember running away from home once and its possible perhaps I got kidnapped and I'm misremembering about the part where my mom found me. Perhaps another sets of events happened and my brain just paved over it with less traumatic memories??? Like repressed memories? Idk, memory is kinda fragile, idk how much to trust memory.

I read about some of these stories and now I have paranoia lol.

(Sorry if this post is kinda bizzare, I just have depression and thoughts be spiraling)

Sharp rise in lobbying expenditure: tech companies spend record amounts on lobbying in the EU

Within two years, the industry has significantly increased its spending on lobbying. And this at a critical time.

Spending by the tech industry on lobbying in the EU has risen significantly over the past two years, reaching a new high. According to a study, the industry now spends €151 million annually on EU lobbying. This represents an increase of 33.6 per cent since 2023, according to the NGOs Lobbycontrol and Corporate Europe Observatory, which conducted the survey.

The two organisations have calculated lobbying expenditure for the third time, at two-year intervals. In 2001, expenditure stood at €97 million. The source for the study is the European Transparency Register. However, companies do not provide exact figures there, but rather in increments. The NGOs have therefore opted for a conservative calculation, using the lowest value of each range. Only in the lowest range of €0 to €10,000 was the midpoint, i.e. €5,000, included in the calculation.

Meta tops the list with annual spending of €10 million on EU lobbying. A total of 10 corporations are responsible for around one third of the total expenditure. Microsoft, Apple and Amazon came in second place with a sum of 7 million euros each. ‘Our analysis shows that Big Tech is investing record sums to water down European digital rules – just when these rules are more important than ever,’ criticises Felix Duffy of Lobbycontrol.

The industry now employs more lobbyists than there are members of the European Parliament: the equivalent of 890 full-time staff lobby on behalf of the tech industry. There are 720 members of the European Parliament. ‘This systematic lobbying undermines democratic digital policy,’ criticises Duffy. Instead of weakening digital rules, the EU must implement them consistently.

EU opens the door to Big Tech

In fact, the opposite is happening. The EU has introduced major digital legislation, such as the Digital Services Act, which aims to improve the fight against illegal content on platforms, the EU Regulation on Artificial Intelligence, and the Digital Markets Act, which aims to limit the market power of large corporations. Recently, however, the focus has been primarily on deregulation. In September, the European Commission announced its intention to ‘simplify’ digital regulations.

‘We must facilitate business activity in Europe without compromising our high standards for fairness and security on the internet,’ said Henna Virkkunen, EU Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. At the same time, US President Trump is trying to exert pressure to weaken the rules – threatening further tariffs if his demands are not met.

Bram Vranken of Corporate Europe Observatory takes a critical view of these developments: ‘Ursula von der Leyen's deregulation agenda opens the floodgates to Big Tech – and jeopardises years of progress in regulating harmful AI systems, protecting data privacy and curbing the monopoly power of Big Tech.’ Politicians should not bow to powerful corporate interests, he said.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Let's start with that the mod of this sub, ramos, a 2 days old user, banned me because of "Spam and scam", when I asked for sources + I said "Hi I'm Taylor Swift, nice to meet you".

Here is the mod log link
https://sh.itjust.works/modlog/1639563
photo

Even when an another user comments " Can you please stop titling all your posts "BREAKING:", its incredibly clickbaity." comment gets removed for being scam.

I wouldn't even comment on his post, if he did provide a source or something that can validate what he posts, but posting images with "BREAKING" in capitals and some photo with text on it and no source, it looks like a facebook or twitter misinformation thing.

And I ask you now PTB, YDI, YDM, BPR or CLM?

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5339675

Canada will focus on securing supplies of critical minerals when it hosts its Group of Seven partners this week at a meeting of energy and environment ministers in Toronto, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said in an interview on Tuesday.

G7 countries, except Japan, are heavily or exclusively reliant on China for a range of materials from rare earth magnets to battery metals.

...

"We will see this week many examples of us moving beyond talks to firm commitments to fund several types of tools (to secure critical minerals)," Hodgson said. The G7 meeting will be held from October 30 to October 31.

...

He said Canada intended to be a leader in securing supply chains for all of its key allies, to reduce reliance on China. Canada produces several critical metals such as nickel, copper and cobalt.

Some of the announcements expected this week from the G7 meeting will be on stockpiling of critical minerals and investments in new mining and processing operations, Hodgson said.

...

As usual, great journalism from The Guardian. ❤️

Do you have enough roughage in your diet? Is your silage keeping you regular

Ver good

Israel's strikes also wounded some 200 people,

The agency said 22 children were among those killed, as well as women and elderly,

Israel began carrying out air strikes on Tuesday after accusing Hamas of attacking Israeli troops in Gaza and violating the truce. While Israel did not say where its troops were attacked, Hamas has said its fighter had "no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah" and reaffirmed its commitment to the US-brokered ceasefire.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/51970309

Rivian’s CEO praised the Xiaomi EV’s design after a teardown.

RJ Scaringe said he’d buy the SU7 himself if he lived in China.

He called it a well-integrated, nicely executed technology platform.

Rivian’s CEO praised the Xiaomi EV’s design after a teardown.

RJ Scaringe said he’d buy the SU7 himself if he lived in China.

He called it a well-integrated, nicely executed technology platform.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/51969965

https://archive.is/U4QI8

Slovenia plans to issue up to Rmb5bn ($700mn) of “panda bonds” next year

“We want to expand the investor base,” Slovenian finance minister Klemen Boštjančič told the Financial Times during a recent visit to Beijing where he laid out plans to issue renminbi-denominated sovereign debt sold in China.

Foreign companies have increasingly turned to panda bonds, attracted by lower interest rates and a desire to diversify their currency issuance and investor base. Some sovereign borrowers including Portugal, Hungary and Egypt have also issued panda bonds in recent years

https://archive.is/U4QI8

Slovenia plans to issue up to Rmb5bn ($700mn) of “panda bonds” next year

“We want to expand the investor base,” Slovenian finance minister Klemen Boštjančič told the Financial Times during a recent visit to Beijing where he laid out plans to issue renminbi-denominated sovereign debt sold in China.

Foreign companies have increasingly turned to panda bonds, attracted by lower interest rates and a desire to diversify their currency issuance and investor base. Some sovereign borrowers including Portugal, Hungary and Egypt have also issued panda bonds in recent years

The UK government admits that building camps to hold immigrants in would be more expensive than the current arrangement that holds them in hotels during the asylum seeking process, but says that it is worth it because it will please the right-wing protesters that fearmonger about immigrants being dangerous.

Opinion time: This is a terrible idea, as:

• You should never give ground to racists.
• Hotels are designed with paying customers in mind, so they are at least bearable to stay in. These camps will be designed by people who actively hate those who will stay in them, and as has been seen time and time again, that will mean borderline inhumane living conditions.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/51968185

https://archive.is/Thofs

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico hailed a decision by China’s Gotion High-Tech Co. to build a €1.2 billion electric-car battery plant in his country.

“Our relationship with China is built on mutual respect for international law and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs,” Fico said at the ground-breaking ceremony in the southern town of Surany on Tuesday.

The new GIB EnergyX Slovakia battery factory will be the second-largest foreign direct investment in the history of the EU and euro-area member state and aims to start full-scale production in 2027.

https://archive.is/Thofs

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico hailed a decision by China’s Gotion High-Tech Co. to build a €1.2 billion electric-car battery plant in his country.

“Our relationship with China is built on mutual respect for international law and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs,” Fico said at the ground-breaking ceremony in the southern town of Surany on Tuesday.

The new GIB EnergyX Slovakia battery factory will be the second-largest foreign direct investment in the history of the EU and euro-area member state and aims to start full-scale production in 2027.