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Time Is Money

Jul 23, 2023 • 5 min read

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U.S. False Flag Warning
G20 Summit

Week Recap:

Carlos Alcaraz won his first Wimbledon title, becoming the youngest men's champion in 37 years.
Shopify has announced the forthcoming launch of an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant called "Sidekick." This AI tool will be directly integrated into the Shopify platform and will be accessible to merchants via a dedicated button.
Amazon reported its largest-ever Prime Day in 2023, noting that over the event's two-day span from July 11-12, global Prime members bought over 375 million items, saving more than $2.5 billion in total. The first day marked the highest sales in the company's history.
Sony and Microsoft have entered a binding 10-year agreement ensuring the Call of Duty game series will remain available on PlayStation consoles, even after Microsoft's acquisition of game maker Activision Blizzard.
The Kerch Bridge, a significant strategic structure linking Russia to Crimea and recognized as the longest bridge in Europe, was attacked by Ukraine. The attack was executed using unmanned drones and was publicly acknowledged by Ukrainian Intelligence. This attack has impacted regional cooperation, leading to the termination of the Black Sea grain deal by Russia.
Microsoft and Meta are strengthening their AI partnership through the integration of Llama 2, Meta's large language model (LLM), on Microsoft's Azure and Windows platforms. Llama 2 is an open-sourced AI technology that allows developers/organizations to build AI-powered tools and applications and to interact with the AI.
Societe Generale (France's 3rd largest bank), also known as SocGen, has become the first company to be granted a crypto license in France. This was achieved by its crypto division, SG Forge, which was licensed on July 18 to provide a variety of services, including digital asset custody, buying, selling, and transmitting third-party crypto orders.
The US Federal Reserve has rolled out 'FedNow', an instant payment system, as of yesterday. The system is designed to facilitate immediate money transfers for banking customers at any time of day, any day of the year. At its launch, 35 banks and credit unions have adopted this service.
China's Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, has been absent from the public eye for three weeks. His last known public engagement was an international meeting on June 25th. Since then, he has missed key meetings, including those with US officials. The Chinese government, initially silent, later suggested health issues as a possible reason for his absence. Currently, Qin's exact location remains unknown.
Netflix experienced a significant surge of 6 million new subscribers from April to June after implementing new measures to curb password-sharing. As a strategy to reverse the declining subscriber numbers, Netflix began restricting the number of users per account, requiring those expelled from an account to either procure their own or join another.
New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), responsible for about 40% of all US public transit, has employed AI technology in numerous subway stations to monitor and calculate fare evasion rates.
Indonesia has launched its own national cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange, managed by the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (CFTRA), started operations on July 20th, marking a significant milestone in Indonesia's financial landscape.

U.S. False Flag Warning:

The U.S. has warned that Russia might use a "false flag" operation, deploying its own sea mines to justify attacking civilian grain vessels in the northern Black Sea. John Kirby, White House National Security Council Spokesperson, suggests Russia is using these mines to target civilian ships transporting food, while claiming Ukraine is responsible.
Russia's decision to end the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal allowing grain transportation to and from Ukraine, has escalated these actions, leading to attacks on Ukraine's food supply and infrastructure. Following these developments, Russia has targeted Ukrainian port cities, with 27 people reported injured in recent air strikes.
The U.S. is closely monitoring the situation for further "false flag" operations and has imposed sanctions on nearly 120 entities aiding Russia's access to international finance and military technologies. This conflict continues as Moscow and Kyiv navigate the ongoing war.

G20 Summit:

The G20, a forum of 20 major economies aimed at discussing policy issues and promoting international financial stability, couldn't reach a consensus on fossil fuel reduction during their recent summit in Bambolim, India.
Disagreements arose over plans to triple renewable energy capacities by 2030 and a proposal for developed nations to annually mobilise $100 billion for climate action in developing countries.
Nations with substantial fossil fuel interests, such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, South Africa, and Indonesia, leaned towards alternatives like carbon capture technology instead of an immediate shift to renewables. This scenario highlights the complexity of aligning global climate change initiatives with diverse national priorities.

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