McDonald's China, together with its four major suppliers announced the launch of an industrial park in Xiaogan city, Central China's Hubei Province on Wednesday, highlighting the importance of Chinese market in terms of supply chain for food business. With a combined investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($206 million), the park, named Hubei Smart Food Industrial Park, is a joint project with Bimbo QSR, XH Supply Chain, Tyson Foods Inc, and Zidan, according to information provided to the Global Times. The park is expected to produce 34,000 tons of meat products, 270 million buns, 30 million pastries, and 2 billion packaged products annually. It also features a 25,000-square-meter high-standard automated warehouse for frozen, refrigerated, and dry goods, reducing logistics time by 90 percent from manufacturing to arriving at the destination. Leveraging local geographical advantages, the park will become a supply hub for McDonald's in central and western China, enhancing supply efficiency and stability for its outlets there, the company said. "McDonald's has been deeply rooted in China for over 30 years, and the park is an echo of our long-term development in China," said Phyllis Cheung, CEO of McDonald's China. "Without any long-term strategy, we don't have any structural advantage in China," Cheung noted. The US food giant continues to expand its business map in China. As of the end of June in 2024, there were over 6,000 restaurants and over 200,000 employees in the market. China has become the second largest and fastest-growing market of McDonald's. In 2023, McDonald's China unveiled the ambition of operating 10,000 restaurants by 2028. To support this, McDonald's and its suppliers have invested over 12 billion yuan from between 2018 to 2023 to develop new production capacities and enhance supply chain sustainability. Observers said that the industrial park reflect foreign companies' confidence in operating in China as the country takes concrete measures in furthering reform and opening-up. China's foreign direct investment from January to May 2024 reached 412.51 billion yuan, with the number of newly-established foreign-backed companies reaching 21,764, rising by 17.4 percent year-on-year, data from China's Ministry of Commerce revealed. According to a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the majority of US companies saw improved profitability in China in 2023, and half of the survey participants put China as their first choice or within their top three investment destinations globally. Olaf Korzinovski, EVP of Volkswagen China, who is responsible for production and components, also shared his understanding of supply chains in China with the Global Times. Volkswagen has been operating in China for about 40 years. "In order to seize greater value for our customers," Volkswagen Group is stepping up pace of innovation in China, and systematically purshing forward the digitalization process, Korzinovski noted, adding the company is strengthening local capabilities with accelerated decision-making efficiency. Global Times

NEW DELHI, July 9 (Reuters) - India's beleaguered Paytm (PAYT.NS), opens new tab has secured approval from a government panel that oversees investments linked to China to invest 500 million rupees ($6 million) in a key subsidiary, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. The approval, which still has to be vetted by the finance ministry, will remove the main stumbling block to the unit, Paytm Payment Services, resuming normal business operations. Paytm Payment Services is one of the biggest remaining parts of the fintech firm's business, accounting for a quarter of consolidated revenue in the financial year ended March 2023. A separate unit, Paytm Payments Bank, was wound down this year by order of the central bank due to persistent compliance issues, triggering a meltdown in Paytm's stock. The government panel had earlier held back approval due to concerns about the 9.88% stake in Paytm held by China's Ant Group. India has intensified scrutiny of Chinese businesses since a 2020 border clash between the two countries. All in all, Paytm has been waiting for the nod from the government panel for about two years and without it, it would have had to also wind down its payment services business, which was forbidden from taking on new customers in March 2023. Once the approval has been formalised, it will be able to seek a so-called "payment aggregator" licence from the Reserve Bank of India. The sources, two of whom are government sources, declined to be identified as the decision has not been formally announced. India's foreign, home, finance and industries ministries, whose representatives sit on the panel, did not reply to emails seeking comment. A Paytm spokesperson said the company does not comment on market speculation. "We will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations under the SEBI Regulations, and will inform the exchanges when there is any new material information to share," the spokesperson said.

On July 8, Ukrainian President Zelensky, who was visiting Poland, and Polish Prime Minister Tusk signed a bilateral security agreement in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The agreement clearly states that Poland will provide support to Ukraine in air defense, energy security and reconstruction. After signing the agreement, Tusk said that the agreement includes actual bilateral commitments, not "empty promises." Previously, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other countries as well as the European Union signed similar agreements with Ukraine.

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Insurers are nervous that militant attacks or AI-generated fake images could derail the Paris Olympics, risking event cancellations and millions of dollars in claims. Insurers faced losses after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and a spate of elections this year, including in France, have driven up fears of politically-motivated violence at high-profile global events. The Olympics take place in Paris from July 26-Aug 11 and the Paralympics from Aug 28-Sept 8. German insurer Allianz (ALVG.DE), opens new tab is insurance partner for the Games. Other insurers, such as the Lloyd's of London (SOLYD.UL) market, are also providing cover. "We are all aware of the geopolitical situation the world is in," said Eike Buergel, head of Allianz's Olympic and Paralympic programme. "We are convinced that the IOC (International Olympic Committee), Paris 2024 and the national organising committees, together with the French authorities, are taking the right measures when it comes to challenges on the ground."

Companies are going to have fewer people and fewer layers. Ten years from now, the software development circuit may have fewer jobs, higher salaries, and more product-centric work. The reason behind it is the rapid development of AI, AI has approached human beings at the intelligence level, a lot of work relying on thinking ability may be handed over to AI, while emotion is still the territory of human beings, how to communicate and collaborate is the most important ability in the near future. When Indeed's chart for software development and operations jobs was released, we found that, as the chart shows, there was a peak in early 2022, but after that there was a precipitous decline.