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India has signed mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with <keyword id="551085" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="customs-authorities" source="Orion">customs authorities</keyword> of seven nations and is actively pursuing negotiations for such pacts with other countries, a top official said. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the Federal Customs Service, Russia, this month signed the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) MRA to provide reciprocal benefits to accredited and trusted exporters of both signatories in the clearance of goods by the customs authorities of the importing country. "The CBIC and the Federal Customs Service, Russia signed the <keyword id="21760232" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Authorized-Economic-Operator" source="keywords">Authorized Economic Operator</keyword> (AEO) Mutual Recognition Agreement, which is a major <keyword id="20467509" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trade-facilitation" source="keywords">trade facilitation</keyword> boost for Indian importers and exporters. While this is the 7th MRA that has been signed by <keyword id="20001024" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-customs" source="keywords">Indian Customs</keyword>, negotiations are being actively pursued with many other Customs' administrations," CBIC Chairman <keyword id="159142" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Kumar-Agarwal" source="Orion">Sanjay Kumar Agarwal</keyword> said in a communication to field formation. The AEO programme enables Customs administration to identify safe and compliant exporters and importers and to provide them with better facilitation. AEO MRA is already in place for seven countries, including Korea, UAE, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

India signs customs mutual recognition agreements with seven nations; Actively pursuing more, says CBIC chief

Two more Japanese banks are set to join 10 foreign and 16 local banks in the <keyword id="880043" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tax-free" source="Orion">tax-free</keyword> <keyword id="6424024" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gift-city" source="Orion">GIFT City</keyword>, where more than 550 businesses with assets worth USD 47 billion have registered and begun operations, an official said.. This marks a significant expansion of the GIFT City's <keyword id="34510" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="financial-sector" source="Orion">financial sector</keyword>, which is expected to play a key role in India's economic growth, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) chairman K Rajaraman said here. "We also want Indian origin funds and businesses that are located in tax-free jurisdictions to return home and be part of the growing GIFT City hub," said Rajaraman, giving this update on the Ahmedabad-based city free trade zone, where ease of doing business procedures, processes and laws have become a benchmark for international standards. IFSCA is the regulatory body for the Indian special economic zones such as the GIFT City. Rajaraman said his recent delegation to Tokyo has resulted in two Japanese banks registering in the GIFT City, and more are expected as he continued discussions with potential businesses at the Singapore Fintech Festival being held 15-17 November 2023. "We are at Singapore Fintech Festival to promote the advantages of being in Tax-Free GIFT City," he underlined. He informed that 78 fund managers with 88 alternative investment funds, 82 funds with a corpus of USD 90 billion, as well as five insurance companies and two stock exchanges - GIFT CITY Nifty of National Stock Exchange and a bullion exchange are already part of the business community that the Indian government wants to establish and be part of the global financial network. "We believe a lot of India-focus business will certainly work out of GIFT City and a lot of fast growth is seen, he said, pointing out that 122 aircraft assets have been leased out tax-free city. "We have three electronic trading platforms - international trade finance solutions for bill factoring while there are insurance companies with international joint venture partners," said Rajaraman. The Singapore Fintech Festival had 650 companies from across the world.

Two Japanese banks set to start operations in GIFT City: IFSCA chief

In an era where <keyword id="19904566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="keywords">artificial intelligence</keyword> (<keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI" source="Orion">AI</keyword>) has permeated various facets of our lives, it's no surprise that its integration into the job market has become a topic of heated discussion worldwide. Many fear that AI might replace human jobs, but the reality is, if utilised effectively, it can actually propel one's career to new heights — starting with securing more <keyword id="20376375" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="job-interviews" source="keywords">job interviews</keyword>. Recent research published in the journal <keyword id="21618401" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Oxford-Economic-Papers" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Oxford Economic Papers" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Oxford Economic Papers">Oxford Economic Papers</keyword> sheds light on the significant impact of <keyword id="21618400" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-knowledge" source="keywords">AI knowledge</keyword> on <keyword id="20865698" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="job-prospects" source="keywords">job prospects</keyword> in the UK. Conducted by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the study revealed that graduates with experience in artificial intelligence are more likely to receive job interviews and command higher salaries. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The consequential AI capital" comment="subhead" text="The consequential AI capital">The consequential <keyword id="21618399" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-capital" source="keywords">AI capital</keyword></cmsannotation> The experiment involved matched pairs of applicants, each comprising one candidate with AI knowledge and another without, submitting their CVs for various job openings. Despite the CVs being largely similar, applicants with AI capital, indicated by completion of an "AI in business" module, garnered a remarkable advantage. Male applicants with AI capital received interview invitations 54% of the time, compared to 28% for those without. Similarly, female applicants with AI knowledge received interview invitations 50% of the time, as opposed to 32% without. Moreover, applicants with AI qualifications, regardless of gender, were offered jobs with wages averaging 12-13% higher than those without such credentials. This trend was particularly pronounced in larger firms, where candidates with AI capital were 36 percentage points more likely to secure interviews. “Our study clearly indicates that employers value AI knowledge and skills among job applicants. Those applicants with AI capital were significantly more likely to be invited to interview and were also more likely to have access to better paid jobs,” said lead author, Professor Nick Drydakis. He attributed this trend to the transformative effects of AI on the workforce, which has even prompted firms to prioritise candidates with AI skills to meet evolving demands. Further, he emphasised the value placed by employers on AI knowledge, highlighting its potential to enhance business operations and productivity. These findings indicate that embracing AI as an ally rather than a threat can open doors to myriad opportunities in the job market. By acquiring AI knowledge, individuals can position themselves as valuable assets to employers and navigate the changing landscape of work with confidence. The study was recently published in the journal Oxford Economic Papers and can be accessed <a href="https://academic.oup.com/oep/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/oep/gpae005/7633941">here</a>.

Having AI knowledge might increase your chances of landing job interviews, UK study finds!

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Universal basic income is quickly evolving from a fantastical idea into economic reality.</li><li>Several countries are testing it and figures like Elon Musk and MrBeast have endorsed the concept.</li></ul>Universal basic income has made <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-works-red-state-blue-state-2023-10">giant strides</a> from its origins as a utopian vision toward becoming economic reality.Basic income trials have been conducted in countries as varied as Kenya, Finland, India, and Canada. Tesla's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, YouTube star <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-youtube-cash-giveaway-universal-basic-income-ubi-givedirectly-philanthropy-2024-6">MrBeast</a>, and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich are among the high-profile champions of the concept.Yet the idea of handing out money with no strings attached strikes many people as alien, questionable, or even just plain wrong.Here's a closer look at UBI, its history, and its potential advantages and possible downsides.<h2 id="88e18507-5ec2-4678-9f7f-a7f00e3ebcb6">What is UBI?</h2>A universal basic income is generally defined as a recurring cash payment to all individuals in a population regardless of their wealth, with no restrictions on how the money is spent and no repayment expected.Experiments have been relatively small-scale, and many have targeted lower-income populations rather than everyone to keep costs down, garner political support, and maximize the payments' impact on poverty.<h2 id="2cab9877-5f1d-4124-9c0d-010624c56238">Where did the idea come from?</h2>People have proposed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-basic-income-2016-8">variations of UBI</a> since at least the 1500s, when Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives called for everyone to be given food even if they'd gambled away their money, as he believed nobody should die of hunger.American revolutionary Thomas Paine proposed a national fund in 1797 that would pay some money to citizens every year after they turned 21.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. touted the concept in 1967. The civil rights leader hailed it as a tool to redress historical racial discrimination and temper widespread poverty and unemployment in the Black community.Legendary economist and free market champion Milton Friedman defended a similar idea: a negative income tax. He said it might help the poor without distorting the market, and lessen the government's role in determining who deserves support.The list of proponents has expanded in recent years to include <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-us-politicians-stand-on-universal-basic-income-2017-9">Sen. Bernie Sanders</a> of Vermont, technocrat <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yangs-on-universal-basic-income-versus-higher-wages-2021-4">Andrew Yang</a>, OpenAI CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-sam-altman-universal-basic-income-idea-compute-gpt-7-2024-5">Sam Altman</a>, and many other high-profile individuals.<div type="image" title="Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Capitol last month." height="1333" width="2000" msid="111489364" hostid="261" sizebytes="71634"></div><h2 id="3035fc2b-8926-468e-a03e-dbe3b64d5716">What's the point of UBI?</h2>Proponents of UBI say it reduces poverty, strengthens the social safety net, promotes health and happiness, and combats the stigma around welfare.Simply giving people money can help them to afford basics like groceries, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Covering the costs of daily life has <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-jpmorgan-consumer-inflation-rates-banking-crisis-2023-4">only grown harder</a> in recent years, as food, fuel, and rent inflation has jumped to 40-year highs, and credit card, car loan, and mortgage payments have ballooned due to surging interest rates.A guaranteed income can also give people the confidence, security, and freedom to know they won't starve or be evicted if they lose their jobs or quit. They might want to start a business, stay at home to raise their children, care for relatives, invest in training or education, or manage a sickness or disability.Regular cash payments may help to relieve the stress and worry of paying bills, saving for college or retirement, or losing access to means-tested support. Basic income recipients in a Finnish trial <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finlands-basic-income-trial-people-happier-jobs-coronavirus-spain-2020-5">reported</a> higher life satisfaction, improved health, and lower levels of depression and loneliness.Making universal payments might also lessen the stigma around receiving government benefits, avoid some of the costs and mistakes of administering means-tested support, and provide a safety net for the wealthy if they run into financial trouble.As for Musk and other technologists, they <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-universal-basic-income-ubi-ai-automation-unemployment-quotes-2024-6">predict</a> that artificial intelligence will render millions of workers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-universal-basic-income-ubi-ai-inequality-2024-6">obsolete</a>, making it necessary to provide a basic income for those out of work to survive.<h2 id="40019cc1-7874-417b-9bf5-325bda2055d0">What do critics say?</h2>Critics say that UBI <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-basic-income-experiment-reasons-for-failure-2019-12">erodes the incentive to work</a>, encouraging laziness and idleness. They also warn that recipients might waste the money on shopping, vacations, gambling, liquor, cigarettes, or drugs.Other skeptics question why wealthy people should receive money they don't need, and caution that paying it for it would require higher taxes or budget cuts.Dave Ramsey has criticized the concept as "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-ubi-dave-ramsey-show-karl-marx-playbook-2024-7">straight out of the Karl Marx playbook</a>." The personal finance guru and radio host bemoaned that people build character by overcoming challenges instead of getting bailed out.It's quite possible that UBI saps work ethic. But it might also lead to higher wages, job satisfaction, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-carbon-taxes-global-gdp-sustainability-2024-6">productivity</a>, as people could afford to be more picky about employment and hold out for better pay.<h2 id="17003560-2c7a-4c26-8c48-53681f74a829">How do supporters respond?</h2>Regarding <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-people-spend-universal-basic-income-ubi-food-housing-transportation-2024-4">how the money is spent</a>, UBI fans say that's not a serious concern."The evidence from trials is that participants tend to spend most of the money received on the basic needs of everyday life," Jack Kellam, the head of operations at Autonomy, told Business Insider.Moreover, an <a target="_blank" href="https://guaranteedincome.us/">analysis</a> of 30 pilot programs in the US involving nearly 8,300 participants found more than half the cash grants went toward food and groceries, transportation, housing, utilities, healthcare, and education.<div type="image" title="mrbeast" height="5600" width="4480" msid="111489362" hostid="261" sizebytes="3465620"></div>Other experts say people's spending shouldn't be scrutinized. Douglas MacKay, an associate professor of public policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, told BI that trying to control spending is "paternalistic" and fails to treat recipients with dignity — as adults and equals who are "fully capable of governing their own lives."Moreover, there's strong evidence that poorer people don't use drugs, alcohol, or tobacco at higher rates than wealthy people, and drug addiction is often triggered by mental illnesses like depression."To the extent that UBI relieves people from misery, we should expect it would decrease 'vice' spending," Karl Widerquist, a philosophy professor at Georgetown University-Qatar and the author of several books about UBI, told BI.As for the rich getting richer and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/basic-income-gbi-ubi-low-income-americans-afford-housing-food-2024-5">question of funding</a>, Kellam said that most UBI advocates envision it alongside a more progressive tax system."Many of the wealthiest individuals would be 'net' losers in the system: though they receive payments, because they would be taxed more, they would overall be less well off," he told BI.<h2 id="7a7d8ed3-15a2-4d5e-80bb-fb75eb3b8e19">An open question</h2>Universal basic income remains a largely theoretical idea that could have significant — and unpredictable — impacts on wealth inequality, human welfare, labor markets, and entire economies.But tests and trials at different scales and across myriad countries and contexts are putting the concept through its paces, and promise to reveal whether it's an effective way to combat poverty, fight stigmas, deal with AI, and help people live healthier, happier, and more stable lives.

Universal basic income has gone from utopian vision to economic reality. Here's what you need to know about UBI.

<ul><li><keyword id="19896911" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-jio" source="keywords">Reliance Jio</keyword> and <keyword id="19896909" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airtel" source="keywords">Airtel</keyword> have reported an increase in subscribers in December 2023.</li><li>Vi has once again reported a decline in subscribers during the month.</li><li>While <keyword id="19906886" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="jio" source="keywords">Jio</keyword> has added more subscribers, Airtel’s active subscriber base has received a big boost.</li></ul> Reliance Jio and Airtel have once gained subscribers at the cost of Vi in December 2023. The two telecom operators have together added over 5 million subscribers during the final month of 2023. Vi, which is the only private telecom operator to have not rolled out 5G services in the country, lost 1.38 million subscribers in December 2023 according to data from <keyword id="19945464" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="telecom-regulatory-authority-of-india" source="keywords">Telecom Regulatory Authority of India</keyword> (TRAI). During this period, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has emerged as the biggest winner, gaining 3.99 million subscribers. Airtel on the other hand gained 1.85 million subscribers. State-owned BSNL also reported a decline of 0.15 million subscribers. With this, Jio’s subscriber base has increased to 459.81 million subscribers, followed by Airtel with 381.73 million subscribers. Vi is a distant third with 223.05 million subscribers. With this, 4.32 million subscribers were added to the total user base, taking it to 1.16 billion users. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Airtel adds more active subscribers than Jio" comment="subhead" text="Airtel adds more active subscribers than Jio">Airtel adds more active subscribers than Jio</cmsannotation> While Jio added more subscribers than Airtel, the latter added more active subscribers. Airtel added 3 million active subscribers during December 2023, while Jio added only 1.21 million active subscribers. Vi on the other hand lost 1.81 million active subscribers. Airtel’s active subscriber user base jumped to 377.54 million users, while Jio’s active subscriber base increased to 424.51 million users. Airtel’s active subscriber base stands at 98.90% of its total users, while the percentage is lower for Jio at 92.32%. Vi on the other hand has 196.68 million active users, which is 88.18% of its total users. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="MNP requests continue to grow" comment="subhead" text="MNP requests continue to grow">MNP requests continue to grow</cmsannotation> Mobile number portability (MNP) requests, which allows users to shift from one telecom operator to another, recorded 12.44 million requests during the month of December 2023. With this, the total number of MNP requests received since the introduction of this in November 2010 has reached 927.19 million. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Vi expected to rollout 5G services in six months" comment="subhead" text="Vi expected to rollout 5G services in six months">Vi expected to rollout 5G services in six months</cmsannotation> According to a report by Economic Times, Vi plans to roll out its 5G services in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword> in the coming six months after it gets funding. Vi is also expected to turn off its 3G services by FY25 and use this spectrum to offer improved 4G services. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Jio also leads in the landline segment" comment="subhead" text="Jio also leads in the landline segment">Jio also leads in the landline segment</cmsannotation> Jio added 0.24 million landline subscribers in December 2023, taking its total user base to 11.05 million users. Airtel on the other hand added 82,317 subscribers to reach 8.31 million subscribers. Vi added 9,656 subscribers to reach 0.69 million subscribers. State-run telco BSNL which ranks third lost 34,250 subscribers, taking its tally to 6.14 million subscribers. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/indian-pc-market-down-by-6-6-in-2023-hp-leads-the-market-while-acer-gains/articleshow/107906820.cms">Indian PC market down by 6.6% in 2023, HP leads the market while Acer gains</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/from-usernames-to-secret-codes-for-locked-chats-here-are-the-upcoming-whatsapp-features/articleshow/107885651.cms">From usernames to secret codes for locked chats, here are the upcoming WhatsApp features</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/iqoo-neo-9-pro-with-snapdragon-8-gen-2-launched-in-india-will-take-on-the-oneplus-12r/articleshow/107908049.cms">iQOO Neo 9 Pro with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 launched in India, will take on the OnePlus 12R</a>

Reliance Jio and Airtel add subscribers as Vi’s subscriber base continues to decline

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Moody's told staff in China to WFH before it slashed the country's credit rating. </li><li> Two employees told the FT they believed this was because the company feared retaliation.</li></ul>A US ratings agency reportedly told its employees in China to work from home the week it delivered a damning assessment of the country's economy.Moody's told its China-based staff not to come into the office shortly before it slashed the country's credit rating, per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/d488bcb8-1ac1-4551-bb8f-49fe6c990ce2">the Financial Times.</a> Two unnamed employees told the FT they believe this is because Moody's was worried it might be questioned by Chinese officials in retaliation.Workers in Beijing and Shanghai were instructed to stay home days before Moody's announced it was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-debt-crisis-moodys-bonds-evergrande-stock-market-analysis-2023-12">cutting its outlook for the country from "stable" to "negative,"</a> and staff in Hong Kong were reportedly told to avoid traveling to the Chinese mainland."They didn't give us the reason … but everyone knows why," one China-based Moody's employee told the FT. "We are afraid of government inspections.""The Chinese authorities can make trouble for you if they want to," another employee said, who said that Moody's was concerned about what regulators might do following the credit downgrade."Our commitment to maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of the ratings process is paramount and therefore, we cannot comment on internal discussions," a Moody's spokesperson said in a comment to Business Insider. It comes as Western companies operating in the country <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-apple-foxconn-west-business-tax-espionage-2023-10">face increasing pressure</a> amid rising tensions between the US and China, with the US government hitting its geopolitical rival with a series of sanctions in an attempt to cripple China's microchip industry.The offices of US firms Mintz Group, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-raids-arrests-us-business-capvision-bain-mintz-group-security-crackdown/">Bain &amp; Company, and Capvision</a> were all raided earlier this year by Chinese authorities, with some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-65061116">employees being questioned and detained</a>.American companies have also been targeted in other ways, with Chinese regulators effectively scuttling <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/business/intel-tower-semiconductor-china.html">Intel's $5.4 billion acquisition of Israeli microchip firm Tower Semiconductor</a>, and the Chinese government <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-iphone-ban-office-workers-worry-bosses-apple-huawei-2023-9">banning some officials from using Apple's iPhones</a>.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-business-risks-sanctions-detentions-us-tensions-espionage-law-2023-5">Updates to its anti-espionage laws, which were passed in April,</a> are also making it tougher for US businesses to operate in China.Despite this, many Western firms seem reluctant to leave unless they have to.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-jamie-dimon-would-cut-ties-with-china-geopolitical-tensions-2023-11">JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon</a> told the New York Times' Dealbook conference that while the Wall Street bank would pull out of China if the US government ordered it to do so, he didn't think that was likely to happen — unless China invaded Taiwan.The anxiety over operating in China comes as Xi Jinping's regime attempts to kick-start the country's stuttering economy.Moody's warned that China's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-debt-crisis-moodys-bonds-evergrande-stock-market-analysis-2023-12">stagnant growth and ongoing property crisis</a> could leave it struggling to pay its debts, and said it expected GDP to grow by just 4% in 2024 and 2025.The rating agency's analysis prompted a fierce response, with China's Ministry of Finance <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/china-credit-warning-is-well-timed-plea-action-2023-12-06/#:~:text=China%20is%20%E2%80%9Cdisappointed%E2%80%9D%20with%20the%20outlook%20decision%2C%20an%20official,and%20fiscal%20sustainability%20are%20unwarranted.&amp;text=Our%20Standards%3A%20The%20Thomson%20Reuters,are%20those%20of%20the%20author.">saying it was "disappointed</a>" by the decision and the National Development and Reform Commission <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/d488bcb8-1ac1-4551-bb8f-49fe6c990ce2">criticizing the move</a> as driven by "bias and misunderstanding of China's economic outlook".

Moody's told staff to WFH before it slashed China's credit rating as it feared authorities might retaliate: report

China's economy is turning into a big black blob.This transformation means that while the country's economy will still be significant to global business, it will no longer be the lodestar for growth. It will still advance, but much more slowly. And while those on the outside will still be able to observe the economy, it will become increasingly difficult to truly understand what's going on within.The reality of China's blob era pushed its way to the center of the global news cycle earlier this month when the Chinese government announced that it would no longer publish the unemployment rate for young people as part of its monthly jobs report. The final release for the data series — July's number — came in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-young-adults-gdp-graduates-university-economy-rate-unemployment-2023-8?op=1">at a record high of 20.5%.</a> The number had become a global shorthand for China's inability to reignite its economy since President Xi Jinping ended the country's draconian COVID-19 lockdowns. So now it's gone.The sudden disappearance of the youth-unemployment report generated headlines, but it's not a shock for longtime China watchers. Data has been disappearing from all over the country for years now. Reports detailing everything from exports to cement production — which are arguably more crucial for understanding the country's structural malaise than youth unemployment — have vanished or become corrupted to the point that they're no longer useful. This is not happening just because the economy is slowing; plenty of countries continue publishing data even though it's no longer rosy. This is happening because <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jinping-covid-lockdown-protests-economy-recession-crisis-2022-11">Xi's China is one that puts ideology</a> before economic growth.For decades, the Chinese Communist Party's primary focus was to develop the economy, and more recently, to turn the Chinese consumer into a dynamic force of global demand. That transition required major reforms in how China operated its economy — slowly opening it up and giving it a more bottom-up structure in which individuals make more choices about their livelihoods. But after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jiinping-future-tech-global-economy-semiconductors-military-failing-2022-9">years of fueling China's rise</a>, these efforts have been stopped in their tracks. Not because the reforms weren't working, but because the China they were creating is not the one Xi wants to see."I don't even know that it is possible to move to a private, domestic, demand-driven economy in China, given how it directly conflicts with the top-down manner in which the party typically manages the economy," Charlene Chu, the managing Director and senior analyst at Autonomous Research, told me. "It would take a sea change in thinking."Even as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-debt-economy-implode-stock-market-wall-street-xi-jinping-2023-6">main drivers of China's economy stumble</a>, there will be no direct support to help households power through this fragile period. Xi has been telling his people to prepare for a "struggle," to be ready to put geopolitical concerns over economic ones for the foreseeable future. This is bad news for multinational corporations — companies like Nike and Starbucks — that banked on a growing, opening China. And it's bad news for investors who've been waiting for China's growth to return to something like it was before the pandemic. The economy has been showing signs of a structural slowdown for a long time, but the strain on the system has become so great that the market can no longer ignore it. The struggles that China faces are real — economic pain, foreign-investor concerns, crumbling demographics — but in the face of these challenges, it's clear that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/president-xi-jinping-china-economy-society-history-mao-world-chaos-2021-11">Xi will not bend on his vision</a> for the sake of the country. He'd rather shut out the world.<h2>Known unknowns</h2>Transparency in China's economic data has always moved the same cycles as its politics. Now that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jinping-growing-threat-world-economy-stock-market-crash-2022-10">Xi and the CCP are openly embracing</a> some of the hardline practices of the past, data is disappearing in kind. The most worrying example of this growing secrecy comes from the real-estate sector. China's property market makes up about 30% of the country's GDP, making it the cornerstone of the economy. It's also a sector where crucial data has been vanishing since the end of last year."The National Bureau of Statistics stopped disclosing data on land sales by area after December and consumer confidence after March," Chu wrote in a recent report for clients. "It also changed how it calculates property sales and investment growth starting in March." The changes, Chu and Zhang wrote, have caused eyebrow-raising gaps between the official numbers and estimates based on an aggregate of secondary indicators. It's not just real estate: Exports make up about 18% to 24% of China's annual GDP, but Chu wrote that the Chinese Custom Bureau's official data has begun to diverge noticeably from import data from the country's trading partners. Based on the discrepancy, it's becoming clear that China is overstating how much stuff it's shipping abroad. Chu said she now uses a blend of the two datasets, and based on that average she estimates that China's 2023 exports will fall 8% compared to 2022.Over at China Beige Book, a private surveyor of the Chinese economy, analysts wrote that official numbers on assets firms use to make income — from buildings to bulldozers — "now border on useless" because of the government's constant tweaking of the calculations. J Capital Research, a China-focused investment firm, wrote in a note to clients recently that key proxies for investment, such as the amount of cement, glass, and tile being produced, have disappeared as well. These are numbers investors used to figure out the growth and scale of China's construction and industrial production. Not anymore."Withholding/recalculating data may help manage confidence issues domestically, but in our experience it can undermine it with foreign investors," Chu wrote. "So this path isn't costless, particularly with foreign investor and multinational corporation confidence also low."Foreign investors have been taking the hint, selling Chinese domestic stocks and bonds at a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/china-economy-foreign-investors-capital-flows-chinese-stocks-bonds-yuan-2023-8">rapid rate for the past few weeks</a>. But Beijing's policymakers have seen these same investors get the jitters before, only to come back with dollars in their fists ready to pounce on the next wave of growth. What makes this time different is that without accurate data, there's no way to tell when the next wave is coming — so there's no reason to get back in the water at all. <h2>Unknown Knowns</h2>Sometime in the past few months, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-2023-predictions-wrong-recession-inflation-stocks-europe-china-2023-1">Wall Street went from expecting that China</a> would experience a glorious bounce back from COVID to panicking about an all-out economic collapse. The consensus from those calling for catastrophe is that Xi should do what Western governments did during the pandemic: send checks to China's households to spur consumption and grease the wheels of the economy. That's not going to happen, even though <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-post-covid-rebound-big-bang-stimulus-xi-jinping-2023-8">leading Chinese economists</a> have called for it. Partially, this is about politics. Xi's unwillingness to send out stimulus checks to households is a sign of his government's disinclination to let go of that control. He fundamentally does not believe average people should direct the economy that much. A recent essay in the Study Times, a journal explaining Communist Party thought, argued that sending direct aid to families would not only be expensive but also result in a misallocation of investment.<div type="image" title="Xi Jinping" height="919" width="1838" msid="103170261" hostid="261"></div>"If 1000 yuan were distributed to each person, it would require about 1.4 trillion yuan, but how much could this really stimulate consumption? This would not only create a huge fiscal burden, but residents' consumption habits, structures, and willingness are also limiting its effectiveness," the essay said, according to a translation in the China-focused newsletter <a href="https://sinocism.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sinocism</a>. "Especially since the pandemic has to some extent strengthened residents' precautionary motives, making consumption more conservative, this would inevitably lead to inefficient use of valuable fiscal resources."Reaching high-income status has been the Communist Party's raison d'être for decades. It's why the government joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 and why it began welcoming more and more foreign investment in the 2000s. It's why the CCP pushed the debt-to-GDP ratio to almost 280% to fight the 2009 global recession. And it is why the<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-august-economic-data-trends-down-2017-9">government has continually opened the credit spigots</a> every time there has been an inkling of economic weakness. During those fracturable moments, state banks loaned money mostly to state-owned enterprises and the government could direct the process. That process led to an inefficient allocation of capital that kept nonperforming debt in the financial system. Victor Shih, an associate professor and the director of the 21st Century China Center at University of California San Diego, told me that it would take payments totaling 10% to 20% of China's GDP to spur the kind of consumption necessary to pull China out of the doldrums the state steered it into.This is in stark contrast to the philosophy of consumer empowerment practiced in open economies, where individuals, households, and private businesses control capital. If money is power, then handing out "helicopter money" is one version of power to the people. Xi believes power belongs in the hands of the state. Even if stimulus is the best way to push China's economy forward, the CCP is making it clear that maintaining its power is a higher priority.You needn't pour over Communist Party doctrine to see this shift from an economy-focused government to a power- and security-focused one. The signs are everywhere: in the crackdown on private-sector businesses, in the all-too-normal <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/jack-ma-isnt-back/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disappearances of high-profile billionaires</a>, and in Beijing's new anti-espionage law that some analysts worry will turn <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/17/china-foreign-business-risks-political-prisoners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regular financial due diligence</a> into a crime. Over the past year, foreign consulting firms have been raided by the authorities, and the Ministry of State Security — once a shadowy organization — has developed a presence on WeChat where citizens are encouraged to report any behavior that could be deemed anti-party. In this environment, the risk for foreigners isn't just that they break a law, it's that they don't know that they're breaking a law while they're breaking it.<h2>Unknown Unknowns</h2>By keeping everyone in the dark about the economy, Beijing may think that it is reclaiming power and mitigating social instability. What it's really doing is showing its hand. State mouthpieces can continue to give lip service to opening and reform, but Beijing's actions show that the Chinese Communist Party's priorities have shifted from economic development to maintaining a closed society where it is absolutely dominant. "Basically, the authorities are so afraid of any sign of instability," Shih said. "They believe the financial system to be so fragile, they fear any shock could cause a crisis."In part because of that fear, policymakers handle economic problems piecemeal — in order of most glaring first — without allowing for an overall correction in sectors that are failing, such as property. Over time, this only exacerbates debt problems and adds volatility to the system. While Beijing plays financial meltdown whack-a-mole, investors need to calculate risk. Without data, it's hard to know where the Chinese economy is going, but through the blur, investors can see a trajectory led by the CCP's ideological framework and weighed down by debt. In this scenario, it ultimately becomes harder, not easier, to know what's going on. And Xi's fine with that.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/linette-lopez" rel="">Linette Lopez</a> is a senior correspondent at Insider.

China is doing everything it can to conceal the true extent of its economic turmoil

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The return of F1 to Las Vegas is expected to boost the local economy by $1.3 billion.</li><li>Resorts will offer high-end experiences to wealthy fans who are expected to drive the spending.</li><li>This is the latest event in Las Vegas' transformation into a sports and entertainment hot spot.</li></ul>The summer of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-eras-tour-helped-us-economy-2023-9">Taylor Swift</a> may have ended, but Las Vegas is betting on an even bigger jackpot — the return of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/f1-drivers-weight-limit-fitness-training-diet-2023-10">Formula 1.</a>For the first time since 1982, F1 will race on Las Vegas' iconic strip, attracting wealthy fans from all over the world and creating an economic boost that's projected to be more than double the size of the city's upcoming Super Bowl.The Las Vegas Grand Prix, scheduled for November 19, is expected to be the single largest event the city has ever seen, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and research from Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst at Applied Analysis, a quantitative-analysis firm.The company estimates the race will pump $1.3 billion into the local economy. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/motor-sports/formula-1/at-over-1b-las-vegas-f1-race-projected-to-double-super-bowls-economic-impact-2717257/">2024 Super Bowl</a>, which Las Vegas is hosting for the first time, is expected to bring in about $600 million to the area. F1 fans will likely stay longer and spend more than a typical Las Vegas tourist, Aguero said."It will be the largest single economic impact for any event that we've had in southern Nevada," Aguero told Business Insider. The typical tourist spends about $800 a trip in Vegas, he said, but a typical F1 fan is expected to spend more than $3,000 during their trip.The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is projecting that visitors for the race will spend a whopping $966 million, with another $316 million spent on event operations and support costs.The LVCVA expects the race will create 7,700 jobs and bring in about $361 million in salaries and wages.<div type="image" title="An F1 car during the launch party for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix." height="1406" width="2500" msid="105298687" hostid="261" sizebytes="333542"></div>The event comes at an opportune time. Tourism slows down in the city around Thanksgiving, Aguero said, so the race could lead to the biggest November in Las Vegas history.<h2>F1 spectators can drop 6 figures or more on viewing experiences</h2>While F1 is known for attracting affluent spectators, the Las Vegas race comes with a steep price tag.Three-day, standing-room tickets for the race sold for $500 and were snapped up <a target="_blank" href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/with-las-vegas-f1-tickets-costing-thousands-who-will-fill-the-grandstands">within minutes</a>, while grandstand seats started at $2,000 each. "Heritage" tickets, which offer premium hospitality, sold for $5,000 each.The Nevada Independent reported that the average ticket price for this year's Las Vegas Grand Prix was $1,667, making it the <a target="_blank" href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/with-las-vegas-f1-tickets-costing-thousands-who-will-fill-the-grandstands">most expensive F1 race</a> in the world. This year's Miami Grand Prix was the second-most expensive, with an average ticket price of $1,113. Meanwhile, the average ticket to the Hungarian Grand Prix was just $184.<div type="image" title="Lewis Hamilton takes his F1 car for a spin in Las Vegas." height="1666" width="2500" msid="105298688" hostid="261" sizebytes="194048"></div>The local casinos and resorts aren't missing the opportunity to cater to the affluent demographic.For $11,247, the MGM Resorts' Bellagio Fountain Club is offering gourmet culinary experiences, exclusive views of the post-race podium, and an up-close view of the top finishers.Other high-roller experiences range from the Palms' $777,000 "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.palms.com/experiences/race-weekend">777 Experience</a>" — which comes with a 9,000-square-foot suite — to the Wynn Las Vegas' staggering <a target="_blank" href="https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a42287270/wynns-las-vegas-offering-dollar1-million-f1-ticket-package-for-f1-las-vegas-grand-prix/">$1 million package</a>, offering everything from a 5,800-square-foot, three-bedroom duplex with billiard and fitness rooms to a lifetime membership for privileged services.And then there's <a target="_blank" href="https://investor.caesars.com/news-releases/news-release-details/caesars-entertainment-unveils-5-million-emperor-package">Caesars Palace's Nobu Emperor Package,</a> which includes a private culinary experience with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and a luxurious 10,300-square-foot, three-bedroom living space for five days — complete with a 4,700-square-foot terrace with views of the track and a private butler — for a cool $5 million.<div type="image" title="Fans take a look at a Red Bull F1 car outside Caesars Palace, in Las Vegas." height="1667" width="2500" msid="105298689" hostid="261" sizebytes="347452"></div>These offerings are part of a broader strategy by the city's entertainment and hospitality industries to capitalize on the event, with regular room rates expected to surge to three to six times the usual rates, Aguero said.<h2>Las Vegas is becoming a sports and entertainment hot spot</h2>The Grand Prix in Las Vegas is not just a sporting event; it's a showcase of the city's prowess in delivering luxury experiences beyond gambling, especially in the sports and entertainment worlds.<div type="image" title="raiders stadium 2" height="1000" width="1500" msid="105298690" hostid="261" sizebytes="107726"></div>"That consumer that's coming in for a sporting event or that consumer that's coming in for a concert is spending more than a traditional average visitor to Las Vegas," Aguero said. "And so that is something that is phenomenal that we have seen emerging for some time."Boxing and mixed-martial arts events attract celebrities and high-end consumers to Vegas, and tickets to the local NFL games command high prices because visiting-team fans travel long distances and spend more.The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said tourists spent an all-time high of $44.9 million in 2022, and total economic output related to visitor spending reached a record $79.3 billion, a 25% increase from the previous record set in 2019.While spending on key categories like gaming, shopping, and rooms was down in 2022 compared to 2019, entertainment was the one category that saw the biggest boost.<div type="image" title="Las Vegas Visitor Spending" height="718" width="698" msid="105298691" hostid="261" sizebytes="24526"></div>Despite the record spending by tourists in 2022, the number of visitors fell from 42.5 million in 2019 to 38.8 million, the LVCVA said. However, per-trip visitor spending grew 33.4%, to a record $1,156 in 2022.<h2>Vegas' F1 race impact will have a ripple effect throughout the area</h2>While the race's economic impact will be huge in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas, Aguero noted that local governments and residents will also benefit from a huge tax windfall."This will be the single largest tax-collection event in Nevada's history by a fairly healthy margin," Aguero said. "We believe the net impact of Formula 1 will be about $87 million in tax revenue."Half of that will come from hotel room and sales taxes directly linked to the F1 race and other live entertainment events that week, he said.And so far, the cost of hosting the race appears to be minimal for the city and Clark County. Liberty Media, the American company that owns F1, recently said that they have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/las-vegas-f1-construction-costs-raise-to-400m-officials-cite-infrastructure-needs-from-residents/">spent approximately $400 million</a> on construction and infrastructure improvements on top of the <a target="_blank" href="https://news3lv.com/news/local/formula-one-libery-media-closes-purchase-las-vegas-strip-land-240-million-f1-grand-prix-race-southern-nevada-motor-sports">$240 million</a> they spent on acquiring local land.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/travel/formula-one-las-vegas-grand-prix-cec/index.html#:~:text=But%20who%20exactly%20is%20footing,to%20help%20shoulder%20the%20cost.">F1 has asked the county</a> to help pay for the infrastructure portion, which is about $40 million, but that is still up in the air.<div type="image" title="A Red Bull F1 car does burnouts on the Las Vegas Strip." height="1667" width="2500" msid="105298692" hostid="261" sizebytes="534654"></div>F1 also created the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.f1lasvegasgp.com/foundation">Las Vegas Grand Prix Foundation</a> to help area charity groups and is supporting the "Million Meals Project," which aims to provide 1 million meals to local residents in need.Economists have noted a recent surge in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-funflation-live-concerts-economy-bank-of-america-2023-10">consumer activity</a> and enthusiasm for experiences like live concerts and sporting events."As we emerged from the pandemic, our consumer research made clear it was the perfect moment for us to capitalize on pent-up travel demand," Kate Wik, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's chief marketing officer, said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://press.lvcva.com/news-releases/economic-impact-las-vegas-tourism-industry-hits-record-high-79.3-billion-2022/s/09510b4a-a9d6-4180-9aec-9cd8c385b347">press release</a>. "We're thrilled to see not only the strong rebound in visitation but also the significant impact our visitors have on our state's economy."

Formula 1's Las Vegas race is expected to drive an economic boost equal to 2 Super Bowls

<ul class="summary-list"><li>People were filmed marching through Moscow and calling for nuclear strikes on the US.</li><li>A Russia expert described what he said were telltale signs the rally was staged by the Kremlin.</li></ul>Clad in orange and black, a small crowd marched through the streets of Moscow, clutching USSR flags and neatly written signs. Two men in black jackets walked ahead of them, filming on their phones."A flight task for the Sarmat missile!" a man at the head of the crowd sang in Russian.He pumped his fist in the air, chanting: "On Washington! On Washington!" Bored faces in the crowd joined in after some delay.Every few seconds, the leader interjected with a new cheer."We will go to heaven as martyrs! They will simply croak!" he yelled, echoing the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/putin-lied-about-his-nuclear-doctrine-and-promised-russians-that-they-would-go-to-heaven">words of President Vladimir Putin</a>. He called for nuclear strikes on the US, demanding attacks on American "decision-making centers."It's unclear when the rally was held, but the videos were distributed on Russian Telegram channels on Saturday. Russian media dubbed the rally "the March on Washington," highlighting the display of pro-war sentiment in Russia.In reality, there were clear signs it was a staged affair, one Russia expert told Insider."It was obvious," said Anders Åslund, who served as an economic advisor to the Russian government when it overhauled its economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "You have one chap who goes in front and shouts, 50 people walking in a clear formation, signs cut out from the same material, all written in the same handwriting."In a city where protests always see some sort of police presence, law enforcement was notably absent in the video, said Åslund, now a senior fellow at the Stockholm Free World Forum, a think tank in Sweden.Åslund also said it was unlikely the rally was held by a rogue organization operating independently."They wouldn't even be allowed to stage a protest," he said. "The Kremlin wants to control everything — they want full control."<div type="image" title="Russia Police officers, one of them with letter &quot;Z&quot; on his uniform, a symbol of support of the military invasion in Ukraine, detains a protester during an unsanctioned anti-war protest rally at Arbat street, on September 21, 2022, in Moscow, Russia. More than 500 people in Russian cities were detained during protest rallies against the mobilization for war against Ukraine, announced by President Putin on Wednesday." height="3273" width="5104" msid="95577700" hostid="261"></div><h2>How the Kremlin is managing public war sentiment</h2>Some elements of the "March on Washington" show how the Kremlin is managing public sentiment about Russia's war in Ukraine, Åslund said.For one, he said, few people were present at the rally compared with previous demonstrations."They've done this many times outside the US Embassy, on other matters," Åslund said. "The numbers were definitely much more than this."He said that the rallygoers were most likely paid actors and that the smaller size of the crowd indicated that fewer Russians were willing to appear as though they supported aggression against the West.Most of the protesters also seemed to be doing the minimum, tepidly holding their phones or flags in the air and chanting only when prompted by the crowd leader."They were not paid much, so they did the minimum," Åslund speculated. "It was very low-budget."Even Russian pundits on state TV disapproved of the rally, with the media host Sergey Mardan calling it a "gross clown show," according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1591870621918584836">translation by the Daily Beast reporter Julia Davis</a>.Nikita Danyuk, a Russian political scientist at the Institute for Strategic Studies and Predictions, told Mardan the rally was so extreme it was "discrediting patriotic movements" in Russia and could be used as fuel for Ukrainian propaganda."I don't know who signed off on this," he said. "Honestly, when it's happening in the center of Moscow, it's done on camera, you can see it's coordinated. They've obviously received some kind of permission.""If you try doing that without coordination, specially trained people will quickly arrive and you won't be able to do anything," Danyuk added.Mardan noted that the crowd probably had to get permission from the Federal Security Service, the main successor to Russia's KGB.<h2>'The ultimate end of their imagination'</h2>Then there's the rally's message."It's the ultimate end of their imagination," Åslund said. "What's at the top of their heads — what would we like? Bomb Washington. What can we bomb them with? Sarmat."<a href="https://www.insider.com/russia-test-fired-new-icbm-threaten-the-west-amid-ukraine-war-2022-4">The Sarmat</a> is a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry dozens of nuclear payloads. Previous demonstrations in Moscow in October also featured protesters clamoring for Sarmat strikes on the US. They <a href="https://twitter.com/alexkokcharov/status/1578748091653828608">paraded a black rocket on the streets</a>, which appears to have been reused in the most recent staged rally.As for why Moscow would bother with such a low-effort act, Åslund compared it to a classic Soviet-era practice to continually churn out propaganda, even if it's unlikely to convince anyone."Nobody will listen to this," Åslund said. "They have gone back to the tactics of the Soviet Union. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Fill the space with monotony."

A former economic advisor to the Russian government breaks down the telltale signs that a recent anti-America rally in Moscow was staged by Russian authorities

Authorities in Italy have blocked chatbot ChatGPT with immediate effect in the country. With this, Italy becomes the first European country to block the advanced <keyword id="107950" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="Orion">Artificial Intelligence</keyword> software, which is capable of emulating and elaborate human conversations among other actions. <keyword id="16999384" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="italian-data-protection-authority" source="Orion">Italian data protection authority</keyword> on Friday (local time) has said that it is blocking the Microsoft backed chatbot developed by US start up <keyword id="3169059" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="openai" source="Orion">OpenAI</keyword> and will investigate whether it complied with the country's General Data Protection Regulation. A data breach affecting ChatGPT users' conversations and information on payments by subscribers to the service had been reported on March 20, the Italian watchdog said. Several countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have blocked ChatGPT, which came into existence in November 2022. The Italian Data Protection <keyword id="44771" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="authority" source="Orion">Authority</keyword> (<keyword id="12119118" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="garante" source="Orion">Garante</keyword> per la protezione dei dati personali) said it has opened an investigation against ChatGPT and the US Company OpenAI. "No way for ChatGPT to continue processing data in breach of privacy laws. The <keyword id="17005578" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="italian-sa" source="Orion">Italian SA</keyword> imposed an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of Italian users' data by OpenAI, the US-based company developing and managing the platform. An inquiry into the facts of the case was initiated as well," the Authority stated as per a release on its website. The authority said that it noted the lack of information to users and all interested parties whose data is collected by OpenAI, but above all the absence of a legal basis that justifies the mass collection and storage of personal data, for the purpose of "train" the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform. The Italian SA emphasizes in its order that the lack of whatever age verification mechanism exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness, even though the service is allegedly addressed to users aged above 13 according to OpenAI's terms of service. OpenAI is not established in the EU, however, it has designated a representative in the European Economic Area. The Italian data protection authority said that OpenAI has to notigy within 20 days of the measures implemented to comply with the order, otherwise, a fine of up to EUR 20 million or 4 per cent of the total worldwide annual turnover may be imposed. In its order, the Italian SA highlights that no information is provided to users and data subjects whose data are collected by Open AI; more importantly, there appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to 'train' the algorithms on which the platform relies. As confirmed by the tests carried out so far, the information made available by ChatGPT does not always match factual circumstances, so inaccurate personal data are processed, the Data Protection Authority of Italy said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/no-festive-cheer-for-auto-cos-in-march-pv-sales-flattish-2ws-to-see-a-slight-uptick/articleshow/99145011.cms">No festive cheer for auto cos in March: PV sales ‘flattish’, 2Ws to see a slight uptick</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/the-alpha-creators-bank-and-it-stocks-outperform-nifty50-in-the-last-11-years/articleshow/99114789.cms">The Alpha Creators: Bank and IT stocks outperform Nifty50 in the last 11 years</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/npci-introduces-interchange-fees-on-upi-transactions-done-via-prepaid-payment-instruments/articleshow/99080455.cms">Will UPI payments now attract charges? Decoding NPCI’s interchange fee on UPI transactions via prepaid payment instruments</a>

Italy bans ChatGPT, orders investigation over privacy breach

<ul class="summary-list"><li>House Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agreed to cut spending.</li><li>The threat of a default and ensuing economic crisis forced Democrats to the bargaining table.</li></ul>Many House Democrats voted to raise the debt ceiling, but a number of them want to get rid of it.On Wednesday night, House Republicans and Democrats came together to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/house-pass-mccarthy-biden-debt-ceiling-agreement-fiscal-responsibility-2023-5">avert a default</a> on the US debt and sent a hard-fought compromise bill to the Senate. A debt-ceiling breach could wreck the economic recovery from the pandemic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/will-there-be-a-recession-debt-ceiling-increase-job-losses-2023-3">put 2.6 million Americans out of a job</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-lose-retirement-savings-student-debt-loads-surge-debt-ceiling-2023-3">take $20,000 from the typical American's retirement savings</a>, and hike payments on everything from student loans to mortgages.Republicans, who control the House, used the potential economic crisis as a bargaining chip to extract policy concessions from Democrats. Still just days away from a possible default that could start June 5, House Democrats don't want to let this brinkmanship happen again. For many, that means repealing the debt ceiling."For many, many, many years, people recognized that Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass a clean debt ceiling. But this hostage-taking cannot continue," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said after the vote. "We should get rid of the debt ceiling," the Washington State congresswoman told Insider. After Republicans <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/will-congress-raise-the-debt-ceiling-mccarthy-rejects-short-term-2023-5">refused to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts</a>, even just to buy Congress time to negotiate, the Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, and President Joe Biden <a href="https://apnews.com/article/debt-ceiling-deal-food-aid-student-loans-3c284b01d95f8e193bca8d873386400e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made a deal</a> that would suspend the debt limit while capping spending, increase work requirements to receive food stamps, force student-loan payments to resume, and claw back funding for the IRS and state pandemic relief.Put in place when the US entered World War I to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-debt-ceiling-default-became-partisan-weapon-democrats-republicans-2023-5#2022-democrats-failed-to-use-their-control-of-congress-and-white-house-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling-13">check the power of the president over military spending</a>, the debt ceiling has been <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-markets-financial-institutions-and-fiscal-service/debt-limit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised 78 times</a>, one way or another, since 1960. That has allowed Congress to keep borrowing money to fund the government when it routinely spends more than it brings in through revenue.However, in the past few decades, Republicans have threatened not to raise the debt ceiling and let the US default on the debt unless Democrats agreed to their policy demands like cutting spending. To be fair, Democrats used these tactics to increase funding for various programs in 2006, but Republicans remain the only party to have held out long enough to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-debt-ceiling-default-became-partisan-weapon-democrats-republicans-2023-5#2006-biden-obama-and-other-senate-democrats-voted-against-raising-the-debt-ceiling-7">induce government shutdowns and a downgrade of the US credit rating</a>. "We need to remember that the only two times we've had this kind of hostage-taking crisis have been when Republicans have been in charge of the House with a Democrat president," Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández told Insider."We need to eliminate the possibility of taking hostages in the future," the New Mexico congresswoman went on. "We need to pass the bill to eliminate the debt-ceiling limit.""We cannot allow this to become regular operating procedure," Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland told Insider. "You can't stick up the government of the United States and shake it down for your legislative program that otherwise you couldn't pass just because you think you can plunge the whole country into economic crisis."Raskin reiterated an argument that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/debt-ceiling-solution-14th-amendment-social-security-medicare-jamie-raskin-2023-5">14th Amendment could be used to eliminate the debt ceiling</a>. "Constitutionally, we never had the power to repudiate and dishonor the debts of the United States," the former constitutional law professor said. "It allows one party faction to threaten to repudiate and nullify the debts of the country," and Section 4 of the 14th Amendment was designed "precisely to prevent that kind of manipulation," like when the South wanted to repudiate the debts Lincoln accumulated in the Civil War."It's clear that the debt-ceiling statute such as it is has outlived whatever utility it once had, and we gotta get rid of it at the first available opportunity," Raskin added."We should get rid of it," Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan agreed. "United States and Denmark are the only two countries I believe have a debt ceiling," he said, noting Denmark's many safeguards that make a default nearly impossible and cheaper borrowing rates that make US debt easier to pay down.<h2>The crisis has roused support for repeal</h2>Though opposed to the bill's provisions that would fall on welfare recipients and other aspects of the deal, Jayapal said, "The one good thing about this is I think we have more support than ever probably to get rid of the debt ceiling and give the authority to the Treasury secretary.""There's a lot more support because clearly Republicans have shown that they cannot uphold their constitutional duty and just pass the debt ceiling to implement what Congress has already negotiated past and spent," she explained.Jayapal was among 46 Democratic votes against the debt ceiling deal, <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023243" target="_blank" rel="noopener">though it passed handily </a>with 315 votes out of the House's 435, including 165 from Democrats.Rep. Dan Kildee, who voted for the bill and is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, supported ending the debt ceiling. "I would think we would have to be committed to regular order in the appropriations process, but I think this would help solve that," the Michigan Democrat told Insider."What the Republicans have proven is that the utility of the debt ceiling is dangerous in the hands of irresponsible people and has very little otherwise utility," Kildee said. "The one time that it has utility is when it threatens the global economy."Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina, who's part of the more fiscally moderate New Democrat Coalition, voted for the bill but didn't say he'd support repealing the debt ceiling. "There will be a lengthy conversation about how we can make sure that we don't go through a process like this again, because it's deeply unhealthy," he said. Correction: June 2, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misidentified the state Rep. Shri Thanedar represents. He represents Michigan, not California.

Several top House Democrats want to get rid of the debt ceiling and economic 'hostage taking'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Berkshire Hathaway faces high inflation, rising rates, and a potential recession and credit crunch.</li><li>Warren Buffett's company will weather the storm and scoop up the bargains that emerge, experts say.</li></ul>Like many US companies, Warren Buffett's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/brk-b-stock">Berkshire Hathaway</a> faces a painful mix of stubborn inflation, rising interest rates, a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/mario-gabelli-recession-banks-fed-stock-market-outlook-house-prices-2023-4">looming recession</a>, and a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/banking-crisis-credit-crunch-recession-inflation-economy-fed-hikes-sonders-2023-3">potential credit crunch</a> as banking fears linger.The famed investor's company owns a vast array of businesses including Geico, Duracell, and the BNSF Railway. It also holds multibillion-dollar stakes in Apple, Coca-Cola, and other public companies. As a result, its fortunes are closely tied to the wider US economy and the stock market.Experts say Berkshire's ample cash reserves, strong brands, and prudent management will enable it to comfortably navigate a harsh economic environment. They also expect Buffett, who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-experts-analyze-strategy-caution-deals-2020-10">took cover during the pandemic crash</a> in early 2020, to once again "be greedy when others are fearful" and scoop up bargains if asset prices tumble.<h2>Here's what eight Buffett experts told Insider about Berkshire's current outlook. Their comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity:</h2>1. David Kass, a Buffett blogger and finance professor at the University of Maryland:"Elevated inflation and rising interest rates are likely to depress operating earnings. But they may present investment opportunities for Berkshire if the equity markets decline substantially in the weeks ahead.""Berkshire's cash position equaled $129 billion at the end of last year. I would like to see Buffett put more cash to work such as <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-inflation-recession-economy-occidental-petroleum-stock-2023-3">continuing to increase his stake</a> in Occidental Petroleum at attractive prices and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-spending-stock-portfolio-purchases-buybacks-alleghany-2023-3">accelerating his buying back</a> of Berkshire shares at current or lower prices."2. Adam Schwartz, the CIO of Black Bear Value Partners:"Berkshire prepares for the worst and hopes for the best. While various macro and even micro issues can have short-term impacts, ultimately the business is on sound financial footing and can take advantage when competitors may not be in the same position.""The pandemic was an unusual event and prudence was the smarter decision. There were other outcomes that could have been more globally devastating. In the event of a 'normal' economic slowdown I'd anticipate the usual behavior of taking advantage of panic and fear."3. John Longo, a finance professor at Rutgers University and the author of "Buffett's Tips: A Guide to Financial Literacy and Life":"Berkshire is a well-diversified business so there is no doubt that they are dealing with the supply chain disruptions and increase in wholesale prices that have impacted many firms. However, several Berkshire firms tend to have pricing power, so it may be able to deal with inflation better than many other firms.""Buffett has often expounded on the virtues of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-dream-business-is-sees-candies-2019-7-1029916323">See's Candies</a> and their ability to raise prices over time. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-89-mrs-b-fortune-500-ceo-2019-12-1028763487">Nebraska Furniture Mart</a>, GEICO, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy are among the lowest cost producers in their industries, so they should be able to raise prices without losing their customer base.""Buffett understands the banking sector very well. It will be telling if he adds more assets to banking stocks, since they have been at the center of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-bank-failure-what-happened-bank-run-explained-2023-3">recent market turmoil</a>. If he adds materially, it would be a bullish sign that the regional banking crisis may be contained. If he does not add to his existing holdings in financial stocks, perhaps it suggests there is more downside to come."4. Paul Lountzis, founder and president of Lountzis Asset Management:"I'm not worried. Berkshire is greatly diversified by industry and has lots of cash to put to work.""The pandemic was a very rare event. If a recession comes on and the market capitulates (it has not really since 2008 and a bit in 2022) it may provide an environment that Buffett is more comfortable with."5. James Shanahan, senior equity analyst at Edward Jones:"Berkshire Hathaway's operating earnings growth has tracked pretty closely with earnings per share for the S&amp;P 500 (generally rising and falling with the broader economy).""Berkshire's railroad is pro-cyclical, at least with regards to consumer, industrial and energy products. In a weaker economic environment, I would expect results for manufacturing, service and retailing businesses to soften considerably. Should that happen in 2023-2024, strength in investment income and improved insurance underwriting results should lessen the income on overall operating earnings.""Rising interest rates were called out in each of the last two quarters as negatively impacting results for Clayton Homes, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, and various building products companies. Higher financing costs are likely to be driving slower sales volumes at Van Tyul Group.""It is difficult to say if Buffett took advantage of the decline in prices for bank stocks, but it seems unlikely, given that he has been steadily liquidating those positions."6. Adam Mead, founder and CEO of Mead Capital Management, and author of "The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway": "Berkshire has successfully navigated similar economic environments in the past, and to the extent there is turmoil, that can be good for Berkshire. It has some great businesses that have proven to be inflation-resistant. Think See's Candies, or its <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-switched-cherry-coke-pepsi-neighbor-don-keough-2019-11">investment in Coke</a>.""It's important to remember that the pandemic could have gone in another direction. I saw and heard genuine fear in Buffett's voice during the 2020 annual meeting. Buffett's first job is to ensure Berkshire survives. Only then does he look to thrive. I'd expect more opportunities to come Berkshire's way in the future, absent a check-wielding Fed stepping in and lending directly to more companies.""It's interesting to reflect on the past few years instead of just the recent one year or several quarters. Berkshire repurchased $65 billion of its own shares over the past five years. It's also purchased over $60 billion, net of common stocks, made acquisitions of $20 billion, and invested over $25 billion in growth capex. That's a lot of capital being put to work! "7. Darren Pollock, portfolio manager at Cheviot Value Management:"Buffett was cautious in the first half of 2020 because, having large insurance subsidiaries within Berkshire, it was important that liquidity be available for whatever liabilities arose due to Covid. Market turmoil now will be much more plain vanilla, resembling prior periods of market unrest during which Berkshire was able to capitalize on low-priced opportunities.""Shareholders who plan on holding Berkshire for years into the future should hope for a near-term bear market in stocks. This would allow for Berkshire to choose between buying back its own stock at an advantageous price, buying shares of other business at intelligent prices, or possibly buying entire companies. These three options will eventually speed up the growth in intrinsic value per share at Berkshire.""Should bargain opportunities not arise, the company still has plenty of places in which it can invest its capital internally so that it will continue to grow for a very long time. This is the base case for Berkshire but we're hoping for a turbulent market to produce investment opportunities that will allow the company to plant the seeds for a better-than-base-case future."8. Brian Gongol, longtime Buffett follower and Berkshire shareholder:"It's better to be in Berkshire's shoes during challenging times than during a boom. Tough times are when companies become susceptible to their most short-sighted stakeholders: With Silicon Valley Bank, they turned out to be panicky depositors. For other firms, they will turn out to be major lenders who suddenly get tight with credit, or shareholders who can't stomach a couple of disappointing quarters. Berkshire remains intrinsically resilient against short-sightedness; they don't need anybody else's money, and voting power remains concentrated among the ultra-long-term holders of the 'A' shares.""The onset of the pandemic really held Berkshire back from decisive action because the circumstances were just so far outside the boundaries of normal. But in the case of a normal market correction or even a recession, the elephant gun remains fully loaded.""Popular opinion will undoubtedly count them out because they haven't launched an AI startup or because it looks underwhelming to keep so much 'dry powder' on the balance sheet. But when things turn sour is exactly when Berkshire will shine. I don't want that time to come, but I sleep well knowing who's ready for it."

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