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Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered to cut branch network in half – Standard Chartered is to reduce its global branch network by half to around 400 to cut long-term costs after the UK bank reported a stronger than expected first quarter profit. The Asia, Africa and Middle East-focused lender, which had as many as 1,200 branches worldwide in 2014, said today it will shrink the network to a third of that total as it also gives up office space worldwide – this move by Standard Chartered seems to be a short term move to try and please investors
Consumer behaviour
Sex sells: China farm region becomes ‘lingerie capital’ | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP – around 2013, volumes soared as younger Chinese consumers began discovering their sensuality, Lei said. Most buyers are now between 22 and 25. Initially, loose-fitting, not-too-revealing designs were favoured in China. Today, semi-transparent, “body-hugging” numbers dominate
Why are South Korea’s young men turning against Moon Jae-in and his ruling party? | South China Morning Post – Unpopular housing policies and a backlash against Moon’s perceived ‘feminist’ agenda has seen support for his Democratic Party administration collapse among Korean men in their 20s and 30s. Not so among young women, however – meaning victory for the opposition is far from guaranteed at the next presidential elections set for March 2022
As boundaries between work and home vanish, employees need a ‘right to disconnect’
Glancing at your phone quickly prompts other people to do the same | New Scientist – Such a rapid, automatic response is probably due to people mimicking each other without realising it – what scientists call the “chameleon effect”. While such mimicry is thought to have evolved in human societies to help people bond with each other, mimicking mobile phone use might have the opposite effect, says Elisabetta Palagi at the University of Pisa, Italy. “We have a need to follow the norms imposed on us by people around us, to [match] our actions with theirs in this automatic way,” she says. “But smartphones can increase social isolation through interference and disruption with real-life, ongoing activities.” – digital yawning
Economics
The panopticon of Germany’s foreign trade: New facts on the first globalisation, 1880–1913 | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal – The history of globalisation is usually told in two parts, separated not only by two world wars but also by changes in technology, institutions, and economic logic. This column reconsiders that narrative. Using detailed new evidence on Germany’s foreign trading practices from 1800 to 1913 (the ‘first’ globalisation), it finds that most growth took place along the extensive margin, while 25–30% of trade was intra-industry. If the first globalisation saw substantial heterogeneity within countries and industries, it may be time to re-think the ‘classical’ versus ‘new’ trade paradigm
Ethics
Mediatel: Mediatel News: An ill-advised alliance & cross-media measurement pinch-points – Bob Wootton on the moral bankruptcy of P&G circumventing audience privacy measures on Apple devices in China
Finance
E-Residency joins campaign against IBAN discrimination | Estonia E-Residency Blog
Media
WordPress Saves Creative Commons Search Engine From Shutting Down
Pandemic propels Thai mom with ‘nothing to lose’ into internet pornstar | Coconuts Bangkok – And when the internet sees a woman posting sexy nudes, it usually assumes she does porn. At first Fernie hated those insinuations. She felt insulted and would block anyone called her a “porn star.” But it eventually wore her down and, in the way of internet grooming, became a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy as the messages kept pouring in. “When I got them that frequently, I started to think of them as compliments,” she said with a giggle. “Then the thought of, ‘If I sell nude pics, I might as well sell porn,’ came to my mind, because they’re similar anyway.” More content related to adult entertainment here.
Security
Havana syndrome: NSA officer’s case hints at microwave attacks since 90s | Espionage | The Guardian
China’s regulator names 33 apps including Baidu, Sogou, iFlytek, Tencent for unauthorised data collection | South China Morning Post – Thirty three apps from Tencent, Baidu, Sougou and more are among the latest to receive scrutiny over user data. App makers will have to comply with new privacy regulations banning collection of data and forcing user consent
April 30, 2021 – Letters from an American – really interesting post on information warfare and the way the US body politic is looking at it
Taiwan bans recruitment for jobs in China to combat brain drain – Nikkei Asia
Technology
Toyota will showcase its hydrogen-powered Corolla at Super Taikyu event – Toyota is definitely thinking about a hydrogen future due to the limitations of lithium ion battery cars. Motorsport is where a lot of research and development happens for car and commercial vehicle manufacturers
Why has TSMC’s Nanjing expansion plan stirred up a hornets’ nest in Beijing and Taipei? | South China Morning Post – TSMC says expansion will help it address chip shortage, particularly for automotive sector. One analyst says move could stifle domestic chip development on the mainland