Ren Chunsheng. A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced Ren Chunsheng , a former chairman of the Shanghai Insurance Exchange, to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes. The court also fined him 1.5 million yuan ($219,300) and ordered the confiscation of illicit gains. Ren’s investigation surfaced in 2024, shortly after he stepped down from his role at the exchange. At the time, he was leading a prep...
Ren Chunsheng. A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced Ren Chunsheng , a former chairman of the Shanghai Insurance Exchange, to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes. The court also fined him 1.5 million yuan ($219,300) and ordered the confiscation of illicit gains. Ren’s investigation surfaced in 2024, shortly after he stepped down from his role at the exchange. At the time, he was leading a preparatory group for a complaint mediation center under the National Financial Regulatory Administration, China’s top financial watchdog.
A viral appearance in the swimsuit round by a male beauty pageant contestant in the Philippines has sparked a wider debate about male beauty standards and whether pageantry is ready to make room for people who do not fit its traditional ideals. RJ Perkins, 21, drew widespread attention after a video showed him strutting across an outdoor stage during the swimwear segment of Mister Pampanga, held i...
A viral appearance in the swimsuit round by a male beauty pageant contestant in the Philippines has sparked a wider debate about male beauty standards and whether pageantry is ready to make room for people who do not fit its traditional ideals. RJ Perkins, 21, drew widespread attention after a video showed him strutting across an outdoor stage during the swimwear segment of Mister Pampanga, held in the province of Pampanga, north of Manila. Unlike the chiselled bodies typically associated with...
China has given state-owned refiners the green light to export 500,000 tons of fuels to a handful of regular customers, signaling the country is effectively easing an earlier ban on shipments. The one-off quota would allow gasoline, diesel and jet-fuel cargoes to leave China next month, according to people with knowledge of the matter, providing relief to Asia’s emerging economies as the war in th...
China has given state-owned refiners the green light to export 500,000 tons of fuels to a handful of regular customers, signaling the country is effectively easing an earlier ban on shipments. The one-off quota would allow gasoline, diesel and jet-fuel cargoes to leave China next month, according to people with knowledge of the matter, providing relief to Asia’s emerging economies as the war in the Persian Gulf continues to cut off supply. They asked not to be named as the discussions are not public. The shipments, which would likely head to Vietnam, Laos and other nations, have already been loaded, they added. Read More: Iran War Splits Asia’s Diesel Market Into Haves and Have-Nots With the Iran war stretching into a third month, vital supplies of crude, fuels, food and fertilizer remain stuck on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz. China — the world’s largest oil importer and a consumer of Middle East crude — has been quick to react, implementing fuel export curbs in order to shield local customers. Domestic stockpiles of fuels such as gasoline and diesel have since climbed to seasonal highs. Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that state oil firms had begun applying for government permits to resume fuel exports. The National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees the allocation, did not respond to requests for comment.
最近，陶哲轩在 Mastodon 抛出一记重磅判断—— 数学正在从证明稀缺时代，进入证明过剩时代（from an era of proof scarcity to an era of proof abundance）！ 在AI对Erdős问题的贡献Github页面上，20多份 AI 提交的全部或部分解，正堆在「pending assessment」（待评估）那一栏。 而在此之前，这个分类常年只有1...
最近，陶哲轩在 Mastodon 抛出一记重磅判断—— 数学正在从证明稀缺时代，进入证明过剩时代（from an era of proof scarcity to an era of proof abundance）！ 在AI对Erdős问题的贡献Github页面上，20多份 AI 提交的全部或部分解，正堆在「pending assessment」（待评估）那一栏。 而在此之前，这个分类常年只有1-2份。 一夜之间，AI 正在以令人窒息的速度疯狂输出数学证明。 问题是—— 没人来得及看。 问题求解「三件套」生成、验证、消化 陶哲轩把这次的思考建立在一个简洁的框架上。 他说，数学问题求解从来不是一件事，而是三件事： Proof generation（证明生成） ：把一个猜想从「未解决」推到「有解」。 Proof verification（证明验证） ：确认这个解是对的，逻辑没有漏洞。 Proof digestion（证明消化） ：把证明读懂、讲透、提炼出方法论，让整个领域受益。 在过去的几百年里，三件事基本由同一拨人完成—— 你证了一个定理，你自然理解它，你写论文解释它。 这三个环节之间不存在「瓶颈差」。 但 AI 来了之后，情况变了。 生成环节被 LLM 大幅加速，验证环节有 Lean、Coq 等形式化工具兜底，唯独消化环节——那个需要人类大脑去理解「这个证明到底意味着什么」的环节——完全跟不上。 陶哲轩用了一个精确的工程术语来形容这种错位： impedance mismatch（阻抗失配） 。 三个环节的速度不匹配了： 证明像洪水一样涌来，但理解的堤坝还是手工砌的。 他说，想象两种社会。 食物稀缺的社会 ，最受尊敬的人是猎手和农夫——是那些「bring home the bacon」（把食物带回家）的人。 你猎回一头鹿，不管肉质如何，整个部落都会感激你，会有人主动帮你清洗、烹饪、分配。几乎任何没有毒的食物贡献都受欢迎。 食物过剩的社会 则完全不同。 想象一个 pot-luck 派对（每人带一道菜的聚餐）。如果一个陌生人闯进来，扔下一块来路不明的生肉，让大家自己去处理——没有人会高兴。 甚至超市买来的预包装食品，也只是勉强算数。 真正受欢迎的，是社区里受信任的成员精心烹制的家常菜——不仅因为好吃，更因为围绕这道菜的对话本身就是社交的一部分，也是培养下一代厨师的机会。...
Check out these facts from the Social Security Administration: "Social Security benefits represent about 31% of the income of people over age 65." And: "Among Social Security beneficiaries age 65 and older, 39% of men and 44% of women receive 50% or more of their income from Social Security." Clearly, Social Security is a vital program. Indeed, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Prioriti...
Check out these facts from the Social Security Administration: "Social Security benefits represent about 31% of the income of people over age 65." And: "Among Social Security beneficiaries age 65 and older, 39% of men and 44% of women receive 50% or more of their income from Social Security." Clearly, Social Security is a vital program. Indeed, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, as of 2022, fully 39% of adults 65 and older would be in poverty without it. Wow. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
China Vanke Co. ’s state-owned backer reported its biggest annual loss in two decades, driven largely by its investments in the embattled developer, which has been grappling with a liquidity crunch for more than two years. Shenzhen Metro Group Co. posted a 37.5 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) loss attributable to shareholders last year, according to a filing by the firm late Wednesday. It marks the co...
China Vanke Co. ’s state-owned backer reported its biggest annual loss in two decades, driven largely by its investments in the embattled developer, which has been grappling with a liquidity crunch for more than two years. Shenzhen Metro Group Co. posted a 37.5 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) loss attributable to shareholders last year, according to a filing by the firm late Wednesday. It marks the company’s biggest annual loss since at least 2006, based on its annual reports. The results highlight how Vanke’s deteriorating fundamentals are weighing on the metro operator. The developer, in which Shenzhen Metro holds a stake of about 27% stake, has turned to bond extensions in recent months to stave off default. Read More: Developer China Vanke Posts $871 Million Loss in First Quarter The steep loss was mainly due to investment losses tied to Shenzhen Metro’s long-term equity investment in Vanke, the metro operator said in a separate filing . The state-owned firm also booked impairment losses on its holding. The latest loss widened about 12% from a year earlier when Shenzhen Metro reported its first annual loss since 2010.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister & Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said the country is more resilient to an increase in fossil fuel prices thanks to its bet on renewables. But he warned that as the Iran war drags on, it may start impacting the tourism sector heading into the peak holiday season. Cuerpo said Spain has been an outlier in terms of growth and job creation among European economies and that...
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister & Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said the country is more resilient to an increase in fossil fuel prices thanks to its bet on renewables. But he warned that as the Iran war drags on, it may start impacting the tourism sector heading into the peak holiday season. Cuerpo said Spain has been an outlier in terms of growth and job creation among European economies and that in 2026, Spain will continue to outperform. Cuerpo also said Spain should retain a seat on the European Central Bank Executive Board in next year’s reshuffle, while rejecting the notion he might want the role for himself. He spoke with Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua on the sidelines of the Bloomberg CityLab event in Madrid. (Source: Bloomberg)
Austria’s Erste Group Bank AG is ready to consider bolt-on acquisitions in all of its countries as it works to integrate its largest ever acquisition in Poland. The largest lender in the European Union’s east re-branded its Polish unit over the weekend, after completing a €7 billion ($8.2 billion) purchase of a 49% stake from Banco Santander SA . While the Vienna-based bank continues integrating I...
Austria’s Erste Group Bank AG is ready to consider bolt-on acquisitions in all of its countries as it works to integrate its largest ever acquisition in Poland. The largest lender in the European Union’s east re-branded its Polish unit over the weekend, after completing a €7 billion ($8.2 billion) purchase of a 49% stake from Banco Santander SA . While the Vienna-based bank continues integrating IT systems, its finance chief said enough profit is already being generated for Erste to consider additional deals. “When it comes to domestic consolidation, we are ready anytime, anywhere,” Chief Financial Officer Stefan Doerfler told Bloomberg Television after reporting first-quarter results. “When it comes to bigger cross-border acquisitions, we are good where we are. We are now really focusing on a full integration of the Polish business.” Common equity tier 1 capital, the most common measure of bank health fell to 14.5% in the first quarter from 19.3% at year-end, after a 460-basis-point outflow to pay for the Polish deal. That’s already higher than the 14.25% management target announced with the Polish acquisition, and follows a reduced dividend and canceled share buyback last year to help fund the purchase. Erste said it will return to its regular dividend policy of paying out 40% to 50% of net income to shareholders. “We definitely have the capacity to return to previous payout ratios,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Bosek said in a statement Thursday. “We will do this to the full extent, however, only if alternative capital allocation options do not offer higher returns.” Shares fell 4.3% on Thursday in Vienna, with net income exceeding estimates only due to a one-time boost from the sale of a credit card business in Croatia. Net interest income and fee income fell short of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey.