Alibaba and Tencent circle ‘Netflix of China’ as tech regulation looms November 27, 2020 Alibaba and Tencent are both said to have held talks over a potential takeover of the streaming service dubbed the ‘Netflix of China’. The two tech titans have been in discussions with search giant Baidu over a deal to acquire a controlling stake in iQiyi, Reuters reported. However, talks are said to have stalled after [...]
Oppo Reno 4 Pro review: An all-rounder but no killer blow November 26, 2020 Last week I reviewed two new phones, one you’ve definitely heard of, and one you almost certainly haven’t. The latter was a handset from one of the biggest manufacturers in the world, Chinese firm Vivo, which has virtually no footprint in Europe (the camera-focused X51 is its first official launch over here). This week I’m [...]
Central Bank Digital Currencies, Stablecoins and developing regulatory trends November 25, 2020 It seems that the recent Covid pandemic has triggered a number ‘digitisation’ obsessions across the globe. The Central Bank issued Digital Currencies discussions feels at times like a new pandemic and despite the significant research and guidelines seeking to establish standards for regulating and issuing such currencies. At a high level, the G20, and the [...]
Chinese business group calls for ‘new chapter’ in UK relationship November 24, 2020 The chief executive of the UK arm of the Bank of China has called for a “new chapter” in the relationship between the two nations after a year of increasing political tension. Relations between the UK and China have soured this year, with both the domestic and overseas activities of the world’s second largest economy [...]
Telecoms firms to face hefty fines under new Huawei laws November 24, 2020 UK telecoms companies will face hefty fines if they fail to comply with the ban on Huawei under a new law submitted in parliament today. In July the government announced a total ban on Huawei, ordering network providers to remove all equipment made by the controversial Chinese tech giant by 2027. Under the new legislation [...]
UK considers removing British judges from Hong Kong high court November 23, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab is considering plans to remove British judges from Hong Kong’s high court in response to the region’s freedom of speech clampdown. Raab wrote in a new Foreign Office report that he and justice secretary Robert Buckland were reviewing “whether it continues to be appropriate for British judges to sit as non-permanent judges [...]
FTSE flattens mid-afternoon November 23, 2020 Cineworld, Tui, BA owner and pub companies lead FTSE vaccine bounce
China lobby tells UK: Embrace Beijing or ‘suffer’ business backlash November 22, 2020 The UK will lose billions of pounds in private sector investment if it does not reverse its growing hostility toward China, according to a pro-Beijing business lobby. The China Chamber of Commerce in the UK – which counts Huawei, ZTE and Air China as members – warned that its members may rethink their future UK [...]
Exclusive: Liberty Steel poised to swoop for stranded Port Talbot steelworks November 20, 2020 Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel is poised to swoop for Tata’s UK steelworks at Port Talbot in Wales, City A.M. understands. Over the weekend the Indian conglomerate announced that Swedish firm SSAB was in discussions with Tata over buying its assets in the Netherlands, which would lead to the break-up of the firm’s European steel operations. [...]
Vivo X51 review: The gimbal-er’s fallacy November 19, 2020 Dongguan, located in the Guangdong province of China, is one of those places of international significance that you’ve probably never heard of. With a population of nearly 7.5m – which would comfortably make it the second largest city in the UK – it’s one of China’s many “global factories”, vast industrial zones from which companies [...]