Latest news with #Wu
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Make that another $1 million: Dueling Super PACs in Boston mayor's race rake in more cash
A separate super PAC backing Kraft remained busy, too. 'Your City, Your Future,' which has already dropped Taken together, the outside groups reported pulling in $973,101 between their newly filed reports. The contributions pushed the total raised by the two super PACs to more than $3.9 million through mid-June, with 'Your City, Your Future' — and its $3.16 million in contributions — accounting for the vast majority of that. Advertisement The 'Bold Boston' super PAC first formed in 2023, when it spent nearly $100,000 supporting a trio of Wu allies in their successful bids for city council. Advertisement It effectively re-emerged in mid-March, roughly a month after Kraft Mike Firestone has worked under Wu since she took the mayor's office in 2021. Karen Firestone has been a longtime contributor to Wu, whom she first donated to in 2013, and other state Democrats, including Governor Maura Healey, campaign finance records show. Efforts to reach Karen Firestone were not immediately successful Thursday. Spokespeople for 'Bold Boston' and Wu's campaign also didn't immediately comment. 'Bold Boston' also received $175,000 in early June from the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund Independent Expenditure PAC, whose only donation so far this year was $150,000 in March from billionaire A slate of labor-aligned groups also donated heavily to the Wu-aligned group, including the 1199 SEIU MA PAC, which gave $100,000, and the Unite Here Tip State and Local Fund, which gave $150,000. The Green Advocacy Project, a Bay Area-based 501c(4) organization that gives heavily to The group took a variety of smaller donations, too, including $10,000 from Barbara Lee, a Cambridge philanthropist who's worked for decades helping get women elected office, and $25,000 from William Lee, a partner at WilmerHale, which Super PACs are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, and, unlike candidates themselves, they can take donations directly from businesses. They are barred, however, from coordinating with any candidates or their campaigns. Advertisement The attacks 'Bold Boston' has launched against Kraft echo the arguments Wu and her allies have made on the campaign trail: that Kraft, the son of Kraft, a longtime nonprofit leader, is loaning his campaign $2 million from his own wallet. The Kraft-aligned 'Your City, Your Future' super PAC has taken $1 million from New Balance chair and billionaire Jim Davis, as well as billionaire businessman Paulson, who gave $100,000 Matt Stout can be reached at
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
AI humans in China just proved they are better influencers. It only took a duo 7 hours to rake in more than $7 million
BEIJING — Avatars generated by artificial intelligence are now able to sell more than real people can, according to a collaboration between Chinese tech company Baidu and a popular livestreamer. Luo Yonghao, one of China's earliest and most popular livestreamers, and his co-host Xiao Mu both used digital versions of themselves to interact with viewers in real time for well over six hours on Sunday on Baidu's e-commerce livestreaming platform "Youxuan", the Chinese tech company said. The session raked in 55 million yuan ($7.65 million). In comparison, Luo's first livestream attempt on Youxuan last month, which lasted just over four hours, saw fewer orders for consumer electronics, food and other key products, Baidu said. Luo said that it was his first time using virtual human technology to sell products through livestreaming. "The digital human effect has scared me ... I'm a bit dazed," he told his 1.7 million followers on social media platform Weibo, according to a CNBC translation. Luo started livestreaming in April 2020 on ByteDance's short video app Douyin, in an attempt to pay off debts racked up by his struggling smartphone company Smartisan. His "Be Friends" Douyin livestream account has nearly 24.7 million followers. Luo's and his co-host's avatars were built using Baidu's generative AI model, which learned from five years' worth of videos to mimic their jokes and style, Wu Jialu, head of research at Luo's other company, Be Friends Holding, told CNBC on Wednesday. "This is a DeepSeek moment for China's entire livestreaming and digital human industry," Wu said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. DeepSeek, China's version of OpenAI, rattled global investors in January with its claims of rivaling ChatGPT at far lower costs and using an open-source approach. AI avatars can sharply reduce costs since companies don't need to hire a large production team or a studio to livestream. The digital avatars can also stream nonstop without needing breaks. "We have always been skeptical about digital people livestreaming," Wu said, noting the company had tried out various kinds of digital humans over the years. But he said that Baidu now offers the best digital human product currently available, compared to the early days of livestreaming e-commerce five or six years ago. Livestream shopping took off in China after the pandemic forced businesses to find alternative sales channels. More people are turning to livestreaming to earn money from commissions and virtual gifts amid slower economic growth. Livestreaming generated so many sales on Douyin last year that the app surpassed traditional e-commerce company to become China's second-largest e-commerce platform — and ate into the market share of lead player Alibaba, according to a report from Worldpanel and Bain & Company last week. Both and Alibaba's Taobao also offer livestreaming sales portals. Meanwhile, other Chinese companies, including tech giant Tencent, have developed tools to create digital people that can be used as news anchors. In late 2023, several businesses started trying out virtual human livestreamers during the Singles Day shopping holiday. But analysts have cautioned that products sold via livestreams tend to have a high return rate as they are often impulse purchases. The biggest challenge for using virtual humans to livestream is no longer the technology, but compliance and platform requirements, Wu said. Digital humans need to be trained to adhere to regulations about product advertising, while major livestreaming platforms may have different rules about allowing virtual people to host the sessions, he said. For example, Douyin has rolled out restrictions on using the technology, especially if the virtual people do not interact with viewers. While Luo's next virtual human appearance hasn't been set yet, Wu said he expects it will be very soon. And in the future, he said, digital humans could easily livestream in multiple languages to reach users outside China.
Euronews
a day ago
- Business
- Euronews
Report reveals huge solar power potential of abandoned coal mines
Converting abandoned or soon-to-close coal mines into solar farms could provide enough power to meet the demands of a country the size of Germany, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis. Researchers from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) have identified 312 surface coal mines that have been shut since 2020, sprawling over 2,089 square kilometres (km²). Its Global Coal Mine Tracker (GCMT) finds that a further 3,731 km² of mine land is set to be abandoned by operators before the end of 2030 as reserves are run down. In total, that means an estimated 446 coal mines and 5,820 km² of abandoned land that could be repurposed for solar projects and generate nearly 300 GW of renewable energy. That's a huge amount - equivalent to around 15 per cent of globally installed solar capacity today. 'The legacy of coal is written into the land, but that legacy does not have to define the future,' says Cheng Cheng Wu, project manager for the Energy Transition Tracker at GEM. 'The coal mine to solar transition is underway, and this potential is ready to be unlocked in major coal producers like Australia, the US, Indonesia and India,' Wu adds. China is currently leading the pack on coal-to-solar projects. It has 90 such conversions up and running, with a capacity of 14 GW, and 46 more projects in the pipeline. The next four major coal producers above hold nearly three-quarters of the global potential for coal-to-solar transitions, the analysts found. In Europe, the report singles out Greece - which is 'exceptionally well-suited' for turning old coal mines into solar plants. An average solar potential of 4.45 kilowatts per square meter (kW/m²), a fast-approaching coal phaseout goal of 2026, and a supportive financing environment as an EU member state all make Greece ripe for this transition. In Western Macedonia in northern Greece, companies have already set to work creating solar parks in the boundaries of the former Amynteo opencast lignite mine. And the country's EU-funded national recovery plan Greece 2.0 has set aside €175 million to support more solar projects in Central Macedonia. Given the global goal of tripling renewables capacity by 2030, derelict coal mines present a sizable opportunity for the clean energy transition. But the benefits don't stop there. 'Acquiring land for global renewable energy targets has been rife with conflicts among stakeholders and decision-makers,' acknowledges Hailey Deres, researcher at GEM. Developers are busy exploring overlooked sites for panels - from roadsides to reservoirs and railway tracks - and old coal mines are a particularly fitting location. 'So repurposing degraded lands could provide salient new benefits to former coal communities across the planet,' she continues. 'Repurposing mines for solar development offers a rare chance to bring together land restoration, local job creation, and clean energy deployment in a single strategy,' adds Wu. 'With the right choices, the same ground that powered the industrial era can help power the climate solutions we now urgently need.' In total, the analysts estimate that 259,700 permanent jobs could be created at coal-to-solar transition sites, and another 317,500 temporary and construction jobs. That's more than the number of workers the coal industry is expected to shed globally by 2035. Old coal mines are often just left as a scar on the landscape, but this approach also provides an economic incentive for reclamation and cleaning up the mess left after mining. 'We've seen what happens in coal communities when companies go bankrupt, axe the workers, and leave a mess behind,' says Ryan Driskell Tate, associate director at GEM. 'But mined-out coalfields harbour huge potential for powering a clean energy future. It's already happening. We just need the right mix of incentives to put people to work building the next generation of solar in coal country.'
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘My advice to Tom Homan and ICE is to take a timeout': Boston Mayor Wu seeks more information on ICE tactics and arrests
Related : Advertisement The public records request, filed under the The information and records the city is asking for include all arrest and deportation warrants; immigration detainer and apprehension documents; the date, time, location, description of, and basis for all immigration enforcement actions; the name of all people who are arrested or detained by ICE officials, regardless of whether they are the intended target; and the detention location and any transfers of all people ICE takes into custody. Advertisement The city also asked for ICE to share any immigration violations, criminal convictions, or pending criminal charges against any person they detain and whether ICE was aware of those violations when they take a person into custody. Officials also want access to all documents related to any administrative, court, or removal proceedings for any person arrested by ICE. The City of Boston has issued its first FOIA request of ICE. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we are requesting records related to enforcement actions within our city and information on certain ICE policies. — Office of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 ( The public records request also asks for all of ICE's written policies, training and field manuals, and documents showing standard operating procedure, reflecting the city's concerns about ICE agents' use of masks, reports of federal officials damaging personal property as they take people into custody, and failing to identify themselves and possibly racially profiling people during immigration enforcement actions. Wu firmly reiterated her commitment to stand up for Boston residents at the press conference last week in which she explained how the city's plan to regularly file public records requests fits into her broader strategy to push back against the Trump administration. 'We see the actions that are taking place directly undermining trust across all interactions with city government and therefore are resulting in making our communities less safe,' Wu said. 'We do not need the federal government to tell us what safety looks like when we see it with our own eyes. And in Boston, we will stand strong for our community members and our residents.' Related : She also had a few choice words for Advertisement 'My advice to Tom Homan and ICE is to take a timeout; reassess what you are doing and how you are doing it,' Wu said. 'A little friendly advice from the safest major city in the country. We know how to keep people safe.' Niki Griswold can be reached at
The Star
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Actress Tay Ying and celebrity chef Wu Sihan hold star-studded wedding
The wedding was held at Orchard Hotel Singapore with 72 tables and about 700 guests. Photos: Tay Ying/Instagram Singaporean actress Tay Ying and celebrity chef Wu Sihan tied the knot on Father's Day on June 15. 'We had the perfect wedding thanks to so many people,' Tay, 29, wrote on social media on June 16, tagging Wu, 33, in the post. 'While we take our time to absorb everything that happened this weekend, here are some snippets of day 2 of our wedding last night.' The actress posted four photos from the ceremony, including one in which she was accompanied by her father – actor-producer Zheng Geping – and her uncle and godfather, Hong Weiwen. Hong is the younger brother of Tay's mother, actress Hong Huifang. Tay Ying also has a younger brother, singer-actor Calvert Tay, 25. The wedding was held at Orchard Hotel Singapore with 72 tables and about 700 guests. According to Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao , Tay Ying and Wu chose the venue as it was where Hong Huifang, 64, and Zheng, 61, had held their wedding 32 years ago. The star-studded affair on June 15 was attended by many current and former Singaporean artistes. The guests included Christopher Lee and his wife Fann Wong, Yvonne Lim and her family, Florence Tan, Vincent Ng, Cassandra See, Chen Xiuhuan, Xiang Yun, Aileen Tan, Jin Yinji, Huang Biren, Tang Miaoling, Cherie Lim, Chen Tianwen, Chen Hanwei, Richard Low and Lin Ruping. Also on the guest list were younger artistes such as Elvin Ng, Romeo Tan, Rebecca Lim, Chantalle Ng, Desmond Tan, Hong Ling and her husband Nick Teo, as well as Denise Camillia Tan and Xixi Lim. Tay and Wu met in 2021 at Italian bistro Supply & Demand at Esplanade Mall – where Wu is the head chef – through his cousin, a friend of Tay's. Wu proposed to Tay in March 2024, but the couple kept it under wraps for a year before announcing the engagement on social media in March. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
