Aurelia Butler

Meta executives have voiced increased urgency in recent months around boosting the company’s “Reels” product, similar to TikTok’s short video format that has attracted many younger users. “Home”, Facebook’s main news feed tab that users will see when they open the app, will start more heavily featuring popular posts from accounts that users do not follow, including Reels and Stories, Meta said in a statement.Facebook will suggest posts to users with its machine learning ranking system and is investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to serve recommended content, it added. A new separate tab called ‘Feeds’ will offer a version of the old approach, which overwhelmingly features posts from friends, pages and groups that users actively choose to follow.Feeds in that tab will be presented chronologically, without personalized ranking, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. Meta said the feeds will not include suggested posts but will still have advertisements.The world’s biggest social media company has gone all in on algorithmic recommendations in recent months as the threat from TikTok has grown, a stark change from its 2018 plan to feature more posts from friends and family in the news feed.Its Instagram app announced tests of a more “immersive” TikTok-style viewing experience in May, while Zuckerberg told investors in April that Meta was making significant investments to support the “discovery engine” approach. Earlier this month, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox told employees there was a plan to increase fivefold the number of graphic processing units (GPUs) in its data centers by the year-end to provide extra computing power for AI. More

The remarks came a day after Ukraine asked its international creditors, including Western powers and the world’s largest investment firms, to freeze payments for two years so it could focus its dwindling resources on the war with Russia.The delay was quickly backed by major Western governments and heavyweight funds that have lent to Kyiv.”We are also talking to international financial institutions. The legal approaches could be different,” Butsa told a conference arranged by the Kyiv-based Centre of Economic Strategy think tank.”It’s a little early to talk about the mechanics, but we discussed these issues with these creditors and our thinking is going in this direction,” he said.Butsa noted that in 2022, Ukraine was on paper set to pay the International Monetary Fund more than it would receive. Arranging a new IMF program was not possible given the current circumstances, he said.”We are talking with the IMF and other partners about what the solutions might be. We need liquidity from the IMF to replace these outflows,” he said.Ukraine estimates the costs of the war combined with lower tax revenues has left a $5 billion-a-month fiscal shortfall – or 2.5% of pre-war GDP. Economists calculate that pushes the annual deficit to 25% of GDP, compared with 3.5% before the conflict. More

(Reuters) -Truckers protesting California’s new “gig worker” law blockaded the state’s third-busiest seaport for a second day on Thursday, stalling agricultural exports and threatening to worsen U.S. supply chain backups.The operator of the largest marine terminal at the Port of Oakland closed it for business on Thursday, while the three other marine terminals on the property had some on-ship labor underway, port spokesman Robert Bernardo said.Independent truck drivers have been picketing terminal gates and choking truck traffic on the port since Monday in protest of California’s new labor law formally known as AB5. Backers say AB5 aims to clamp down on labor abuses and push companies to hire drivers as employees – which would enable them to join unions and collectively bargain with employers.The law was a win for unions but is broadly opposed by big rig drivers who say it would make it more expensive for them to remain independent and push them to become company employees. Protesters and the trucking industry want California Governor Gavin Newsom to delay enforcement of the law. Some organizers say the protesters – whose rally call is “The cargo won’t flow ’til AB5 goes” – won’t stop until they get a sit-down with Newsom. In a rebuff on Thursday, the governor’s office said: “No one should be caught by surprise by the law’s requirements. The industry should focus on supporting this transition.” The eighth-busiest U.S. container seaport – a key hub for agricultural trade – was already working to clear a pandemic-fueled cargo backup before the trucker protests began. The knock-on effects of the occasionally confrontational protests are already rippling beyond trucking.”It’s not just this as a one-off,” Shawna Morris, senior vice president for U.S. Dairy Export Council and National Milk Producers Federation, said of the blockade. ADDING TORNADO TO HURRICANEDairy farmers and other food producers have struggled to get products on the water because container shipping lines prioritized more lucrative, pandemic-fueled imports from Asia to the United States. “We’ve added a tornado to the hurricane that the industry has been trying to endure for the last almost two years now,” Morris said.It also complicates matters for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which is in-high stakes U.S. West Coast port labor contract negotiations with terminal operators. The ILWU supports AB5 and said its dock worker members didn’t cross the blockade line for safety reasons.”We’re not going to put our members in harm’s way to pass through the line of truckers,” said Farless Dailey, ILWU Local 10 president. “We have dispatched 450 workers in the past three days who haven’t been able to get in to move cargo for the day, and they don’t get paid when they don’t get in,” Dailey said. When trucks and dock workers don’t move cargo, the port clogs and ships don’t move – exacerbating backups and amplifying risks for shippers who rely on the port.Oakland handles about $1.86 billion in exports per month at this time of year. Two thirds of the value of those are agricultural products, and perishables will take the biggest hit from the shutdown, said Jock O’Connell, international trade advisor at consultancy Beacon Economics. That puts at risk California’s $20 billion-plus agriculture export industry and shipments of everything from almonds and rice to milk powder and wine. The clock is also ticking for the $18 billion U.S. pork and beef export market, said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation.Fresh U.S. beef and pork producers transport products hundreds of miles to the Oakland port because it is the preferred launch point for cargo ships bound for Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, Schuele said. If port delays drag on more than a few days, the refrigerated meat may need to be frozen to prevent it from spoiling, which lowers its value while adding frozen storage costs, he said.”You don’t have a lot of time to spare,” Schuele said. More

HSBC has become the first foreign lender to install a Chinese Communist party committee in its investment banking subsidiary in the country, a move that will put pressure on western rivals operating in China to follow suit.The lender’s China investment bank, HSBC Qianhai Securities, recently established a CCP committee, according to two people familiar with the decision. The move came after HSBC lifted its stake in the joint venture, which it launched in 2015, to 90 per cent from 51 per cent in April.A CCP committee, which can be made up of several branches, is required by Chinese company law but is not yet widely enforced among foreign finance groups. It is typically formed of three or more employees who are also members of the Chinese Communist party.HSBC’s move will put pressure on other foreign banks to do the same. Some have been examining whether they are required to do so after taking full ownership of their mainland securities and brokerage operations in the past two years, said several senior people at those institutions.Seven global banks control investment banking operations in mainland China — HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Deutsche Bank — however, only HSBC has so far set up a CCP committee, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The other banks declined to comment.Executives of US banks are particularly worried about the optics of potentially exposing strategic decisions and client data to the CCP, several told the Financial Times.Thanks for reading FirstFT Asia. Enjoy your weekend. — Emily Five more stories in the news1. Biden says Pentagon does not support Pelosi visit to Taiwan President Joe Biden said the Pentagon did not support a planned visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, following reports that the Speaker of the House of Representatives was set to become the most senior US politician to visit the country in 25 years.More US politics news: Joe Biden has contracted Covid-19 and has started taking Pfizer’s antiviral pill to combat the disease, the White House announced.2. India elects first tribal group member as president India has elected a tribal woman as its president, making Droupadi Murmu the first from that historically marginalised population and the second female to serve as the country’s head of state. India’s presidency is largely ceremonial but holds some key powers, including the right to appoint the prime minister in the event of a hung parliament.3. ECB raises rates amid tumult in Italy The European Central Bank has raised interest rates by half a percentage point, pledging to prevent surging borrowing costs from sparking a eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil in Italy and the resignation of Mario Draghi. The prime minister’s decision to step down has triggered the dissolution of parliament and will push the country into snap elections in September.4. Big Tech signs up to Indonesia’s strict content law Social media companies including Meta, TikTok and Twitter have registered for a licence at the Indonesian communications ministry under which they might have to censor content and hand over users’ data. Some registered only hours before a deadline at midnight on Wednesday.5. Millions of tonnes of grain to be released from Ukraine Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have agreed a deal to export millions of tonnes of stranded grain, Turkey has announced, and will meet in Istanbul on Friday to pave the way for an end to the months-long Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.Go deeper: War-damaged infrastructure, soaring costs and Russia’s blockade are crippling agricultural revenues, Derek Brower reported from Ukraine. How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.The day aheadJanuary 6 hearing The committee investigating last year’s attacks on the US Capitol is set to hold the last in a series of public hearings. The primetime session is expected to focus on the 187 minutes when rioters entered the Capitol and before former president Donald Trump issued a statement.Related news A New York judge has ordered Rudy Giuliani to testify in front of a grand jury investigating attempts by former president Donald Trump’s supporters to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Meanwhile, new figures show fundraising for the former president slowed in the second quarter.World Court to rule on Myanmar case The International Court of Justice is set to rule on whether it has jurisdiction to hear a complaint brought by The Gambia against Myanmar for alleged genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority. (The Diplomat) Bolsonaro launches re-election campaign Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro is set to launch his presidential candidacy for the Liberal Party on Sunday, ahead of October elections. However, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is favoured to win. What else we’re readingChina reckons with its first overseas debt crisis Our analysis of the financial health of the Belt and Road Initiative — once hailed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the “project of the century” — has uncovered a mountain of non-performing loans. In several countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the project risks metastasising into a series of debt crises.

How is the jet stream connected to heatwaves across the globe? Scientists are racing to understand whether the band of fast-moving air that controls weather in the mid-latitudes is changing in a way that makes heatwaves more frequent and persistent.Go deeper: For more climate change data, sign up to our Climate Graphic: Explained newsletter, delivered every Saturday.Mystery of Berkshire Hathaway’s ‘phantom’ share surge solved In a new research paper, professors at the University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University and Cornell University said they had uncovered what they described as “phantom, non-existent trading” in the most expensive stock in the US.Financial exclusion in the UK’s gypsy and traveller community Gypsies and travellers in Britain are already marginalised, but face further problems when it comes to obtaining insurance and banking access. The FT takes a rare inside look at the traveller community to see how it is fighting to overcome financial exclusion.

Video: Fighting financial exclusion in the Gypsy and Traveller community

Why Xi changed tack in his crackdown on Didi China’s economic slowdown made president Xi Jinping’s approach to the ride-hailing group harder to maintain, but his pivot on Didi does not represent a course change away from his larger common prosperity agenda, writes Tom Mitchell.The science of criticism that actually works Is it really possible to get better at giving — and receiving — constructive criticism? There are three stages we go through when criticised: “fuck you”, “I suck” and then “let’s make it better”. Esther Bintliff looks at how to get to the third stage quicker. Chess World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has given up the crown. The 31-year-old Norwegian, world champion since 2013 and the world’s number-one player since 2011, admitted he was “not motivated to play another match”, ending a decade-long reign at the top of the game.Go deeper: Try one of Carlsen’s moves for yourself. More