Plus...

AnBang...

A Chinese regulator announced that it had taken disciplinary measures against the Anbang Insurance Group, a financial behemoth, for the improper sale of two investment products.

The come against a backdrop of broader worries about the country’s financial system, in addition to ones about the insurance industry.

 

The State Council, China’s cabinet, announced the dismissal of the chairman of the insurance regulatory commission, who has been the subject of a corruption investigation.

One, the Anbang Longevity No. 5 Annuity, had been presented to regulators as a long-term investment. But the commission said should have been subject to more stringent regulations on short- and medium-term investments.

The other banned investment product, Anbang Endowment Insurance, was put on the market without an actuary’s signature, the commission said.

China's Anbang Insurance Group set a record for the largest acquisition of a U.S. real estate asset by a Chinese buyer when acquired Waldorf Astoria.

Game...

Spreading...

Transport chiefs in the Spanish capital, Madrid, have launched a campaign discouraging "manspreading" - men encroaching on other seats by sitting with their legs wide apart.

The aim of the new signs was to remind male travelers of the need to maintain civic behavior and to respect the space of everyone on board the bus and or the train. Just a thought.

Reschedule...

Researchers in 2007 proposed three criteria for a behavior to be classified as academic procrastination: it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.

 Procrastination is to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay. Putting a task off is not procrastination if there are rational reasons for doing so.

PaPyrus...

Call...

Hang Up...

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean that scammers are taking a break. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a warning about a new telephone scam.

In the scam, callers posing as IRS representatives advise potential victims that two certified letters were sent to the taxpayer in the mail but were returned as undeliverable. The callers then threaten to arrest the potential victim if a payment is not immediately made through a prepaid debit card. The scammer also tells the victim that the purchase of the card is linked to the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) system: it is not.

To ensure that the potential victim doesn’t back out, the caller warns the taxpayer not to contact their tax preparer, an attorney or their local IRS office until after the tax payment is made. This should be a red flag.         Hang up and call the IRS directly (1.800.829.1040) for more information. 

Kama-Sutra...

Confusing...

     


Qatar said it has signed a $12 billion deal to buy F-15 fighter jets from the United States  just days after President Donald Trump accused the country of being a "high-level" sponsor of terrorism. The announcement came after the country's defense minister met with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Washington.

News of the sale comes amid a diplomatic crisis. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar last week and accused it of supporting terrorism and regional unrest.

Despite these allegations, Qatar is a crucial ally to Washington in the Middle East. It is home to 10,000 American troops and a major American military base that acts as the center of U.S. operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The sale appeared to be another example of the confusing series of mixed messages sent by the Trump administration, in which the White House speaks in an entirely different voice from the military and diplomatic wing of the U.S. government.  Just a thought.