Recently, the police released information revealing the financial dealings between "Fat Cat" and Tan. The police made it clear that in this incident, Tan did not create false appearances or conceal facts and did not defraud "Fat Cat" of their property by pretending to be in a romantic relationship, so his actions do not constitute fraud. Of concern is that "Fat Cat's" sister, Liu, is suspected of posting private conversations and transfer screenshots with Tan on multiple online platforms, leaking Tan's personal privacy, including his address and social media accounts, severely disrupting his normal life. As a result, Liu's social media accounts were banned on May 20th.

On another note, international gold prices have recently trended upwards, causing domestic jewelry prices to rise accordingly. For instance, the New York Commodity Exchange COMEX gold and silver contracts, as of the close on May 17th, saw the main gold contract price rise by 1.44%, closing at $2419.8 per ounce, nearing its previously set historical peak. Silver's main contract prices soared to $31.775 per ounce. As a result, the domestic gold prices for many well-known gold jewelry brands broke through the 742 yuan/gram mark on May 20th.

In the corporate arena, Baidu is currently making personnel adjustments, with Senior Vice President Liang Zhixiang temporarily taking over the PR role, following the departure of the former PR Vice President. Liang was already in charge of Baidu's government and public relations affairs prior to taking over.

Meanwhile, Tesla's Korean company, in line with global layoffs, has offered its Korean employees the option of voluntary resignation. In addition to the normal severance package, up to two months of additional wages are offered as compensation. It’s reported that the supercharging team has already been dissolved, and the current number of Tesla employees in Korea is around 480.

In terms of technological innovation, Neuralink, a company focused on brain-computer interface technology founded by renowned entrepreneur Musk, has been authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implant its brain chips in experiments. This approval allows Neuralink to implant its device into a second human subject's brain and proposes a fix for issues identified in earlier subjects, which involves the insertion of some wires deep into the brain.

An insider reveals that following FDA approval, Neuralink plans to implant its developed chip into the brain of a second subject sometime in June. Neuralink's ambitious goal is to implant the chip into 10 different participants this year, which will aid in studying a variety of behavioral patterns. The company also plans to submit corresponding applications to regulators in Canada and the UK in the coming months to commence similar trials in these regions.

At the same time, the eagerly anticipated TV series "Joy of Life 2" returned to screens after a five-year hiatus. However, the series seems to have been criticized by netizens for its numerous commercial interjections, and even those who paid for VIP services are not spared from the advertisements. More perplexing is that VIP users who wish to view more episodes ahead of schedule need to pay extra to upgrade to SVIP. In response to this, Tencent Video customer service explained that membership services can reduce, but not completely eliminate ads, and they recommend not purchasing SVIP services after the series updates.

Another hot topic among many netizens is whether the 520 yuan and 1314 yuan transferred through WeChat can be claimed back. A judge from Peixian Court in Jiangsu interpreted that, between lovers, if a transfer with a specific amount is made on dates with special symbolic significance, it is generally considered a gift to express affection in legal terms. However, if the amount involved is too large, exceeding the reasonable range of daily interactions, and one party requests it as a condition for promoting marriage, the court will make a comprehensive judgment based on local customs, the timing and manner of the transfer, the value, and the specific situation of both parties, and rule according to the law.

In social media, a user named "Lei Min", who once became popular for imitating tech entrepreneur Lei Jun, drew attention, but has recently changed his account name to "Minzi" and deleted all videos imitating Lei Jun. Starting from May 2nd, "Lei Min" shared several contents imitating Lei Jun, including a video set to Lei Jun's classic quote "Are you ok" as background music.

In agricultural news, the price of lychees has seen a remarkable rise this year. Affected by extreme weather conditions such as high temperatures and heavy rain, a significant amount of flower and fruit drop occurred during the lychee growing stage, leading to a substantial reduction in production in main producing areas such as Guangdong and Hainan. The purchase price at origin for the Feizixiao variety has surged to six to seven yuan per jin, which is double the price from before.

In the latest developments in technology and communications, Elon Musk, the famous entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX, announced via social media that Starlink internet service is now operational in the Republic of Fiji. Starlink can now cover over 300 islands in Fiji, making it the 99th country or region in the world to enjoy Starlink's high-speed internet services. However, Starlink soon faced new competition as AT&T and satellite supplier AST SpaceMobile announced a partnership to provide users with space-based communication services, undoubtedly challenging SpaceX and its similar partnership with T-Mobile US.

The National Press and Publication Administration recently announced the latest approvals for domestic online games in May. It is reported that a total of 96 online games have successfully passed the review, soon to offer more entertainment choices to the gaming enthusiasts.

In the automotive industry, the establishment of Beijing Era Power Battery Co., Ltd. has attracted widespread attention from the industry. The company is backed by a consortium of powerful enterprises, including the well-known Xiaomi Automobile Technology Co., Ltd and CATL. The new company plans to build an advanced smart manufacturing plant for battery cells in Beijing, further promoting the development of the automotive industry.

The housing loan market welcomes a major adjustment. In response to the latest real estate policies, the People's Bank of China announced a 0.25 percentage point cut in the interest rate for individual housing provident fund loans. Many cities, including first-tier ones such as Beijing and Shanghai, quickly implemented the new lower rate policies.

With the enduring popularity of inbound tourism, the industry is welcoming a new spring. Data shows a significant rise in overnight visitors to Beijing, and concurrently, there's a marked growth in the reservation volumes of travel groups from South Korea to China. Russian tourists are also showing increased interest in hotels in major Chinese cities. Publicly listed travel companies are intensifying their preparations to meet the forthcoming high season of tourism.

In the field of space tourism, the US company Blue Origin has once again achieved manned flight, which is the first since last year. The flight mission, named NS-25, was successfully launched with the "New Shepard" spacecraft, laying the foundation for the upcoming suborbital tourism market.

Fitness app platform Keep has announced its share repurchase plan, intending to invest no more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. The first round of the repurchase is nearing completion, with over 90% of the funds utilized, demonstrating the company's confidence in its future development.

In international collaboration in the automotive industry, there are reports that Japan and ASEAN are seeking to jointly develop a unified strategy for the auto industry. This strategy will cover the Southeast Asian region and include cooperation in various critical areas such as employee training, decarbonization in production, procurement of mineral resources, and investment in new energy fields such as biofuels.

Reports of a significant deal between Amazon and the NBA have become a focal point. Insiders reveal that the two parties have agreed on a cooperation framework, and it is expected that Amazon’s Prime Video service will stream NBA regular season and playoff games, marking a key step in Amazon’s expansion into sports streaming.

The vice-director of the industrial department at the National Development and Reform Commission, Huo Fupeng, recently stated in an interview that the NDRC, along with relevant departments, will take more practical actions to promote the quality improvement, cost reduction, and production expansion in the new energy vehicle industry, to consolidate and enhance the industry's developmental advantages. Huo Fupeng mentioned that future plans to promote the consumption of new energy vehicles will include the implementation of trade-in programs, promoting new energy vehicles in rural areas, and the promotion of electric vehicles in the public sector, to further expand the market size.

He also mentioned that they will support related companies in accelerating their R&D efforts in electrification and intelligent technology to strengthen their existing advantages and remedy any shortcomings, enhancing the overall competitiveness of the industry.

The CEO of Snap Inc., Evan Spiegel, has announced plans to increase investments in integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies into the Snapchat app. He highlighted that the company has fallen behind in the machine learning sector, and this lag is also reflected in business performance.

Meanwhile, NetEase Cloud Music’s one-stop AI music creation tool NetEase TTMusic (Tianyin) has been officially opened to all users. NetEase TTMusic can assist the entire music creation process, including lyric writing, composition, arrangement, singing, and mixing, providing productivity-level professional music creation capabilities. To celebrate this opening, NetEase Cloud Music has launched a "Magical Gift Shop" event. Participants can select keywords for gifts on the event page and generate a unique song on the NetEase TTMusic platform using those keywords.

According to the latest research by IBM's Institute for Business Value, both global and Chinese CEOs face challenges related to their workforce, corporate culture, and governance when applying and promoting generative AI. The survey involved over 3,000 CEOs from 26 industries worldwide, with 64% of global CEOs and 61% of Chinese CEOs believing that the success of generative AI depends more on employee acceptance than the technology itself. Many CEOs also noted that their push to adopt generative AI is outpacing some employees' ability to adapt.

In Taiwan, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced plans to invest 5 billion New Taiwan dollars to establish a Research and Development center. This was confirmed by Taiwan's economic department, and AMD's Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su is set to visit Taiwan in June to attend the 2024 Taipei International Computer Show and to discuss related investment matters.

Recently, an official revealed that during the assessment of Nvidia's R&D center project, there was a proposal to attract 10% of senior foreign talent; now there's a hope that AMD with at least 20% of foreign talent will join, including some senior R&D management who would be stationed in Taiwan permanently.

In finance, Sohu Corporation released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. The report shows that Sohu's total revenue reached 139 million dollars for the quarter, including 16 million dollars from brand advertising and 118 million dollars from online gaming. Although Sohu's net loss calculated by non-GAAP measures was 22 million dollars, it was better than expected. Additionally, following its previously announced repurchase plan of up to 150 million dollars of American depositary shares, Sohu had repurchased around 17 million dollars as of May 16, 2024, totaling 1,726,718 shares.

Likewise, Li Auto also released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024, showing that the company's revenue for the quarter was 25.6 billion yuan, aligned with the market expectation of 25.58 billion yuan, and a significant increase from 18.79 billion yuan in the same period last year.

In terms of stock market financing, as of May 17, the financing balance at the Shanghai Stock Exchange was 791.177 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.355 billion yuan from the previous trading day; the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's financing balance was 702.257 billion yuan, decreasing by 1.174 billion yuan. The total financing balance of both markets amounted to 1,493.434 billion yuan, a reduction of 4.529 billion yuan.

In corporate finance activity, the Chaoshan marinated food brand "Wu Zhi Lu E" recently announced an exclusive investment from Taixing Shengyin Fresh Food City Industry Fund under Shengyin Capital of 40 million yuan. This capital is primarily for the construction of its East China factory and market expansion in the region. Meanwhile, "Zhi He Bio", a synthetic biomanufacturing enterprise for fatty chemical products, completed a Pre-A round of funding worth tens of millions of yuan, which was jointly invested by technology talent funds from Changzhou High-tech Zone and several other parties.

In the automotive and transportation industry, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau automotive transportation platform "Feiniu Travel" completed a strategic financing round of tens of millions of dollars, exclusively invested by CITIC Holdings, with the funds to be mainly used for operations, development, and market expansion of its overseas platform.

The social media platform "Taqu APP" has recently undergone a comprehensive update of its IP image, introducing a new character named "Banana Friend." This character retains the brand's vitality while undergoing a visual upgrade. According to the person in charge, this update involves not only a visual change but also an enhancement in positioning and user experience. Taqu APP aims to provide a combined online and offline solution for single youths in towns and villages, assisting users in finding partners through customized matching needs.