Former aide to NY governor charged with acting as an agent of China

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Good morning. At the moment we’re masking:

• Huawei’s bug-ridden AI expertise

• A US inventory market sell-off

• How China’s coastguard is policing the ocean

However first, a former adviser to New York governor Kathy Hochul has been charged with appearing as an unregistered agent for China, allegedly utilizing her place to “additional the pursuits of the Chinese language authorities”.

Linda Solar, a 41-year-old Chinese language-born American citizen who additionally labored in former governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration, is accused in a federal prison indictment of making an attempt to make her bosses’ public statements extra beneficial to the Chinese language at Beijing’s behest; of arranging visits for Chinese language officers; and sidelining diplomatic approaches to the governor’s workplace from Taiwanese representatives within the US.

She is additional accused of eradicating references to “Republic of China”, Taiwan’s official identify, from a press release made by Cuomo saluting US and Taiwanese troops, and acquiring faux letters from Hochul’s workplace inviting Chinese language authorities officers to New York, which have been allegedly fraudulently utilized by a visiting delegation to acquire US visas.

Solar was arrested yesterday and charged alongside her husband, Chris Hu, an American citizen who ran a seafood export enterprise in New York Metropolis, amongst different enterprises. They’re accused of receiving substantial financial advantages in alternate for unlawful work, together with “the facilitation of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in transactions” for Hu’s China-based enterprise actions.

Read more details from the indictment.

Right here’s what else I’m preserving tabs on at present:

• Financial information: Australia publishes second-quarter progress figures. S&P International providers PMI is due for a number of nations together with China, India, Japan and Singapore.

• Jap Financial Discussion board: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a plenary session with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Chinese language vice-president Han Zheng.

5 extra prime tales

1. Unique: China’s efforts to match US computing energy in synthetic intelligence are being hampered by bug-ridden software program. Prospects of main AI chipmaker Huawei have complained of performance issues and the issue of switching from Nvidia merchandise.

2. Large tech teams together with Nvidia led a broad US inventory market sell-off yesterday, because the S&P 500 suffered its worst day since a bout of world volatility in early August. Here’s what prompted the market drop.

3. China has stated it can open an anti-dumping probe into Canadian canola exports. The transfer came after Ottawa’s decision last week to boost tariffs on Chinese language metal and electrical autos.

4. TotalEnergies has struck a brand new take care of a inexperienced vitality division of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate and can make investments $444mn in a joint portfolio of solar energy initiatives. The French oil and fuel main has pursued collaborations with the Adani Group despite last year’s fraud allegations from US quick vendor Hindenburg Analysis.

5. The most important shake-up of Ukraine’s wartime authorities started yesterday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying a series of resignations among the many nation’s ministers was a part of an effort to “give new energy” to the nation’s establishments.

Really feel higher knowledgeable on the occasions shaping your world with our relaunched publication Newswrap. Darren Dodd, a former FT information editor, explains how the largest tales relate to international financial and enterprise developments. Sign up here to get it delivered 3 times per week.

Information in-depth

China’s coastguard has been the world’s largest for a decade, however the maritime pressure is more and more using domestic police powers to enforce Beijing’s vast maritime claims whereas intimidating its neighbours. “They’re all over the place,” stated Captain Kentaro Furuya, a professor on the Japan Coast Guard Academy and a former coastguard officer. “They’re attempting to occupy the ocean as if it have been a part of their very own land territory.”

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Mitsubishi: The boss of the buying and selling home has known as on the federal government to help Japanese companies counter growing Chinese language competitors of their conventional stronghold of south-east Asia.

• Israel-Hamas warfare: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant over a hostage take care of Hamas regardless of normal strike and mass protests.

• Housing prices: Dissatisfaction with housing prices has hit a record high throughout wealthy nations, hovering above different worries similar to healthcare and training.

Chart of the day

Hovering demand for liquefied pure fuel carriers has compelled international shipowners to show to China. However the quality of LNG ships being built at Chinese shipyards, which have restricted expertise manufacturing the advanced vessels, is “a probable concern”, stated one professional.

Take a break from the information

Stephen Bush was not impressed with the “costly particular results” and “CGI trickery” in Alien: Romulus, the brand new instalment of the epic sci-fi movie franchise. However his newest column explains why dangerous films show that profit can be a force for good within the age of expensive movie and TV.

Further contributions from Melody Abike Adebisi and Irwin Cruz