Stay informed with free updatesSimply subscribe to myFT Digest of the Chinese economy – delivered straight to your inbox.Officials from some of China's most indebted provinces and cities met with senior state bankers in Beijing in recent days as part of intensifying efforts to renegotiate debt payments on multibillion-dollar obligations that threaten to constrain growth in the world's second-largest economy.China's local governments have accumulated massive liabilities over a decade of debt-fueled building spree. While the infrastructure drive has helped boost growth, many local governments are now grappling with billions of dollars in off-balance sheet debt, stifling their ability to deploy…
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TikTok faces uncertainty Fate is in us again. After a sudden flurry of activity in the House of Representatives this week, TikTok has become the target of a new government campaign to separate the company from its Chinese ownership or force it out of the country. TikTok is based in Los Angeles and Singapore, but is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance. This relationship raised eyebrows among American officials, who warned of the possibility of taking advantage of the application to advance the interests of the opponent. What happened this week? This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced…
Five firefighters were taken to the hospital Saturday morning after they noticed an unusual burning sensation on their faces while responding to a fire at an unpermitted cannabis operation in downtown Los Angeles.Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said there were concerns the sensation may have been caused by burning chemicals inside the two-story brick building south of the Arts District.“These were experienced firefighters, and they sensed something out of the ordinary,” he said.None of the five reported any other complaints, nor did they have difficulty breathing, Humphrey said.Callers who reported the fire along an industrial strip said it…
Hey guys, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), the TechCrunch newsletter that covers it all — or at least the bulk of it! – Noteworthy events about the field of technology. This week, Roku played tough with its customers, asking them to agree to new terms for resolving disputes. This means users can't use their Roku devices until they agree to the terms (or opt out via postal mail), which requires any customer with legal complaints against Roku to take them to the company's lawyers first. In other news, a leaked database of two-factor authentication codes for the world's tech…
Only four actors will walk away from Sunday's Oscars ceremony with an Oscar statuette, but all 20 nominees will take home a six-figure prize.For the 22nd year in a row, Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets is distributing jam-filled “Everybody Wins” goodie bags to the men and women recognized in the Oscars' top categories.This year's purse — which is not affiliated with the Academy — is worth about $180,000, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. It's filled with more than 50 gifts ranging in value from a $15 Rubik's Cube to an invitation to enjoy a $50,000 stay…
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 takes off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, on March 6, 2024.Daniel Slim | AFP | Getty ImagesThe Ministry of Justice launched a criminal investigation Alaska Airlines The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the incident in which the door panel exploded in the air occurred two months ago.The newspaper said, citing documents and people familiar with the matter, that investigators contacted the passengers, pilots and flight attendants on board Flight 1282 on January 5, bound for Ontario, California, from Portland, Oregon, as part of the plane separated in the…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.The US Department of Justice is investigating a door panel that exploded in the air, panicking passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight two months ago.“In an event like this, it is normal for the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation,” the airline said. “We are cooperating fully and do not believe we are a target of the investigation.”Since last January, Boeing has been facing a civil investigation into the accident conducted by the US Federal Aviation Administration. A preliminary report from…
Charleston, West Virginia – Democrat Kayla Young and Republican Patricia Rucker often clash over abortion rights and just about everything else in the West Virginia Legislature, but they agree on one thing: Too few of their colleagues are women, and that's hurting the state.“There are exceptions to every rule, but I think in general men see this as kind of their domain,” said Rucker, part of the GOP supermajority that passed one of the nation's strictest abortion bans while Young was the only Democratic nominee. . A woman elected to the House of Representatives – she opposed it.Nearly 130 years…
US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, US, March 7, 2024. Elizabeth Frantz | ReutersPresident Joe Biden on Saturday signed a $460 billion spending bill into law, averting a partial government shutdown that would have taken effect this weekend.This partial budget deal covers funding for six major areas of government, which include the Departments of Military and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Energy.On Friday evening, the Senate voted 75-22 to approve the package after…
Dublin — Irish voters appear to have rejected two constitutional amendments that would have removed language about women's roles in the home and expanded the definition of family.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar conceded defeat on Saturday during the early vote count. Varadkar, who pushed the vote to enshrine gender equality in the constitution by removing “very archaic language” and trying to acknowledge the realities of modern family life, said voters had dealt “two blows” to the government. “Clearly we got it wrong,” he added. “While the old adage is that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, I…