(Reuters) – China has intensified efforts to clean up the internet from false news and rumours, closing more than 100,000 online accounts over the past month that misrepresented news anchors and media agencies, its cyberspace regulator said.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched a special campaign to clean up online information, focusing on social media accounts that disseminate “fake news” and impersonate state-controlled media.
The regulator said it had wiped 107,000 accounts of counterfeit news units and news anchors and 835,000 pieces of fake news information since April 6.
The cleanup comes as China and countries across the globe grapple with an onslaught of fake news coverage online, with many implementing laws to punish culprits.
News dissemination on Chinese social media, however, is already heavily controlled, with platforms like the Twitter-like Weibo favoring topic hashtags produced by state media, while censoring hashtags on issues or incidents considered sensitive by Beijing, even if they go viral.
The CAC said its review found accounts that had disguised themselves as authoritative news media by falsifying news studio scenes and imitating professional news presenters, using artificial intelligence (AI) to create anchors to mislead the public.
Fake news identified as covering hot topics such as social incidents and international current affairs, according to a statement the CAC posted on Monday on its website.
“(The CAC) will guide online platforms … to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the majority of internet users to obtain authoritative and real news,” the regulator said, adding it encouraged users to provide leads on counterfeit news and anchors.
China’s government has regularly ordered sweeping measures to scrub the internet of material and language that deems inappropriate, offensive and a threat to the public and businesses.
Recently, the CAC vowed to crack down on malicious online comments that damage the reputation of businesses and entrepreneurs.
Nascent generative AI technology like ChatGPT has introduced another layer of caution. China recently arrested a man in Gansu province for allegedly using ChatGPT to generate a fake story about a train crash.
(Reporting by Bernard Orr; additional reporting by Ethan Wang; Editing by Jamie Freed)
One document that we recommend for almost all of our estate planning clients is a Medical Durable Power of Attorney. This document allows you to select the person who will make medical decisions on your behalf, if you are incapacitated or unable to make them yourself.
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A Medical Durable Power of Attorney is an essential document, as no one can predict their incapacity.
This legal document allows you to list medical directions that you would like to follow.
It is important to choose a patient advocate that you know will follow your wishes and help ensure that you are taken care of in the manner that you would want.
You should discuss the relevant provisions with your patient advocate, and make sure that they are willing to act in the event of your incapacity.
It is also a good idea to have a backup person, in case your first patient advocate is unable to act.
When should you have a Medical Power of Attorney?
When you turn 18 or whatever age you are now.
As you are no longer a minor, you need to select who you want to be involved in healthcare decisions. This may be parents or relatives, but it should be in writing.
Powers of Attorney should be updated over time, as relationships and situations change.
If you have questions about Medical Powers of Attorney or need one updated or put in place, we can help.
Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.
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Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it’s exciting to see Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:BMW) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company’s books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Accordingly, Bayerische Motoren Werke investors that purchase the stock on or after the 12th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 16th of May.
The company’s next dividend payment will be €8.50 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of €8.50 to shareholders. Based on the last year’s worth of payments, Bayerische Motoren Werke stock has a trailing yield of around 7.9% on the current share price of €107.54. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it’s also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn’t going to kill our golden goose! As a result, readers should always check whether Bayerische Motoren Werke has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Bayerische Motoren Werke
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earns, then the dividend might become unsustainable – hardly an ideal situation. Bayerische Motoren Werke paid a comfortable 49% of its profit last year. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. The good news is that it paid out just 22% of its free cash flow in the last year.
It’s encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don’t drop precipitously.
Click here to see the company’s payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
historic-dividend
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it’s easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If a business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company can see its value fall precipitously. With that in mind, we’re encouraged by the steady growth at Bayerische Motoren Werke, with earnings per share up 6.0% on average over the last five years. Management has been reinvested more than half of the company’s earnings within the business, and the company has been able to grow earnings with this retained capital. Organizations that reinvest heavily in themselves typically get stronger over time, which can bring attractive benefits such as stronger earnings and dividends.
Another key way to measure a company’s dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Bayerische Motoren Werke has delivered 14% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. It’s encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.
The Bottom Line
Has Bayerische Motoren Werke got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Earnings per share have been growing moderately, and Bayerische Motoren Werke is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow as dividends, which is an attractive combination as it suggests the company is investing in growth. We would prefer to see earnings growing faster, but the best dividend stocks over the long term typically combine significant earnings per share growth with a low payout ratio, and Bayerische Motoren Werke is halfway there. It’s a promising combination that should mark this company worthy of closer attention.
With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. For example, we’ve found 4 warning signs for Bayerische Motoren Werke (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that deserves your attention before investing in the shares.
Generally, we wouldn’t recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here’s a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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Healthcare compliance plans are essential to ensure your practice is following the law. Your compliance plan can keep your practice out of trouble.
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A recent enforcement action highlights the need for an effective and updated compliance plan.
A physician in Arkansas has been sentenced to 102 months of prison time and to pay over $4.63 million in restitution. Following release from prison, he will have three (3) years of supervised release. He also was fined $2,200 for a special assessment.
The physician was found guilty of signing prescriptions for patients that he did not know or treat.
The physician was then found guilty of lying about his actions to the FBI. He claimed he only signed prescriptions for those he evaluated and denied receiving any kickbacks.
In response to a subpoena, he only turned over a small portion of records. He also fabricated medical records.
The Arkansas physician’s actions serve as a grave reminder that it is essential to follow your compliance plan. Once a bad act has been discovered, your compliance plan needs to be followed to repair and remedy any issues.
Your practice should have a thorough compliance plan in place and action plans in the event you find any issues.
Your staff should also be trained as to how to respond in the event of an investigation.
If you need help updating, auditing or enforcing your compliance plan, call our office today.
If you need help protecting your patient data, we can help. Contact Rickard & Associates today.
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Do you need help updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs, call us today.
The US Justice Department has requested documents from Tesla Inc. related to its Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” features, according to a regulatory filing.
“To our knowledge no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred,” Tesla said in the filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Austin, Texas-based electric vehicle maker cautioned that if the government decides to pursue an enforcement action, it could possibly have a material adverse impact on its business.
A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from the Justice Department.
Tesla is already facing multiple investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for problems with its two driver-assist systems, Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving.”
Despite their names, Tesla still says on its website that the cars can’t drive themselves. Teslas using “Full Self-Driving” can navigate roads in many cases, but experts say the system can make mistakes, which even CEO Elon Musk admits. “We’re not saying it’s quite ready to have no one behind the wheel,” CEO Musk said in October.
The systems have been under investigation by NHTSA since June of 2016 when a driver using Autopilot was killed after his Tesla went under a tractor-trailer crossing its path in Florida. A separate probe into Teslas that were using Autopilot when they crashed into emergency vehicles started in August 2021. At least 14 Teslas that have crashed into emergency vehicles while using the Autopilot system.
Including the Florida crash, NHTSA has sent investigators to 35 Tesla crashes in which automated systems are suspected of being used. Nineteen people have died in those crashes, including two motorcyclists.
“Full Self-Driving” went on sale late in 2015, and Musk has used the name ever since. It currently costs $15,000 to activate the system. That year, Musk said the company will have full autonomy in about three years.
In 2019 he promised a fleet of autonomous robotaxis by 2020, and he said in early 2022 that the cars would be autonomous that year.
Since 2021, Tesla has been beta-testing “Full Self-Driving” using owners who haven’t been trained on the system but are actively monitored by the company. Tesla said this month that 400,000 owners are participating.
Auto safety advocates and government investigators have long criticized Tesla’s monitoring system as inadequate. Three years ago the National Transportation Safety Board listed poor monitoring as a contributing factor in a 2018 fatal Tesla crash in California. The board recommended a better system, but said Tesla was not responsive.
NHTSA has noted in documents that numerous Tesla crashes have occurred in which drivers had their hands on the wheel but still weren’t paying attention. The agency has said that Autopilot is being used in areas where its capabilities are limited and that many drivers aren’t taking action to avoid crashes despite warnings from the vehicle.
In addition, the National Transportation Safety Board determined in 2020 that Tesla’s system to make sure drivers are paying attention is not adequate, and it should be limited to areas where it can operate safely.
If your electronic health record (EHR) template is set up incorrectly and leads you to be billed improperly, it could lead to prison time.
We can help you stay on top of the latest news that affects your everyday life. Subscribe to stay up to date. (To subscribe to our blog click here).
In recent years, we have heard from many of our clients that their compliance plans received less attention than normal due to the pandemic, staffing issues, and other pressing concerns.
However, compliance enforcement is ongoing and it is essential to prioritize your compliance plan.
A Delaware physician was just convicted of a $5 million fraud scheme.
The physician billed Medicare for injections that he did not perform as billed. He billed for injections that he did not own the required equipment necessary to give the injections to patients.
He has not been sentenced, but faces up to 10 years of prison time for each of the 11 counts of fraud.
If you are using an EHR template, you need to make sure that your practice has it set up correctly. If it is not, it might indicate that you are using equipment that you don’t have or performing services that you cannot actually perform.
While that doesn’t appear to be the case with the Delaware physician, we have seen issues with the template leading to inappropriate automated selections and inappropriate billing that needs to be corrected.
Simple oversight or mistakes can lead to billing errors. It is essential that you have a thorough and effective compliance plan in place to find any issues and vulnerabilities, especially as it relates to your EHR.
We help our clients perform necessary functions to avoid fines and potentially prison time.
We often recommend that healthcare entities:
Audit their billing and EHR templates,
Update their policies and procedures,
Train their employees,
and ensure that all of their compliance programs are running smoothly.
If you have questions or need help with your compliance program, auditing, or EHR templates, contact Rickard & Associates today.
We know you’re busy. Subscribe to our blog to get updates and news sent directly to your inbox!
We publish vital information on health law topics and news every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mailbox, subscribe today!
Do you need help updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs, call us today.
Rates of interest are creeping greater, and the phrase “recession” is on everybody’s lips.
However to this point, just a few monetary commentators are warning of one thing a lot worse that might abruptly change the foundations of the sport: The specter of a monetary disaster.
On Wednesday, the Financial institution of Canada is making ready to announce what’s anticipated to be one other giant hike in rates of interest, persevering with its battle in opposition to cussed inflation.
The financial institution’s governor, Tiff Macklem, has repeatedly and confidently mentioned that neither the danger of a recession nor falling home costs will cease him from getting inflation right down to its goal vary, two per cent.
Grasp poker gamers
In a enterprise that is dependent upon confidence, central bankers have to be grasp poker gamers. They can not be seen to be sweating after they have a difficult hand.
Preserving inflation down is Macklem’s clearly acknowledged precedence, but when historical past is a information, he and his US counterpart, the Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell, will seemingly be placing plans in place for an much more essential obligation — stopping their very own and the world’s monetary techniques from falling into confusion.
Doubters who want historic proof can gaze again three weeks, when the Financial institution of England dropped the whole lot to save lots of the UK bond market and pension system.
When former British prime minister Liz Truss and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng was shocked the market with new tax and borrowing, the Financial institution of England rushed in to forestall a critical monetary disaster. (Stefan Rousseau/Reuters)
For the final reader, the main points are arcane, however after disruption of the markets by the British authorities’s tax and borrowing plan, a type of personal sector insurance coverage scheme by pension plans confronted liquidation, “driving a doubtlessly self-reinforcing spiral and threatening extreme disruption of core funding markets and consequent widespread monetary instability,” in response to a letter from the Financial institution of England deputy governor Jon Cunliffe.
After the actual fact, everybody performed down the hazard. However within the speedy aftermath, because the pound was plunging, one skilled London bond dealer described the disaster as a possible “Lehman second,” reminiscent of that immediate in September 2008 when the US subprime mortgage disaster was a full-fledged banking disaster as Lehman Brothers declared chapter.
The authors of an article for the monetary companies firm Morningstar titled “Why Are Fears of a New Monetary Disaster Rising”? had been cautious to minimize the dangers. However the sudden and surprising disruption in British markets got here as a helpful reminder that central bankers have to be ready for hassle.
Disaster earlier than hitting inflation targets?
“Monetary disaster is a brand new focus,” John Canavan, lead analyst at Oxford Economics, advised Morningstar. “It does seem that rising monetary stability dangers raises the chance that the Fed might must react to monetary stability considerations earlier than its targets are reached on inflation.”
Economists who spoke to CBC Information mentioned that earlier than monetary crises occur it’s exhausting to know for certain the place and the way they may seem. However central banks say they know one after they see one.
The peril of failing to reply to an unfolding monetary disaster harks again to the Thirties, when a sudden market crash in 1929 led to a cascading collection of issues. Funding loans had been referred to as in and banks ran out of cash. Companies massive and small collapsed. One-quarter of workers had been thrown out of labor, and the Nice Despair was born.
Unemployed males march through the Nice Despair in 1935. One-quarter of everybody who wished to work was unemployed brought on by one of the vital simply remembered monetary crises. (Reuters)
“In a monetary disaster, some sectors of the monetary system are failing,” mentioned Angela Redish, an financial historian at Vancouver’s College of British Columbia. “Monetary crises nearly all the time result in recessions, however not all recessions result in monetary crises.”
A fall in bond values, or home costs, or inventory markets or forex markets don’t by themselves create a disaster, mentioned Redish. A disaster hits when these market adjustments attain extremes.
Crises are extreme in a means that damages the construction of the market, resulting in contagions in different elements of the monetary system. They shatter the religion and confidence in a system that runs on religion and confidence.
Contagious disaster
Within the current British instance, the contagion unfold from bonds to pensions to forex. In 2008 a plunge in home costs led to a failure of subprime loans making a disaster for the banks that insured them. Cash dried up as a result of nobody was keen to lend, resulting in a credit score disaster.
Crises additionally usually results in contagion to different international locations, particularly attributable to an unexpected change that catches buyers abruptly. Within the late Nineteen Nineties, a big US funding agency, Lengthy Time period Capital Administration, was shocked by monetary crises in Asia and Russia that led to a collapse of the fund’s supposedly risk-free funding technique.
Fearing a cascading impact on all the US market system, the Fed reduce rates of interest and satisfied banks to ante up with a bailout.
An elevator door closes on former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke as left his workplace for the final time in 2014. This month he shared in a Nobel Prize for his work on the Nice Despair. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Equally, after the Lehman crash, then-Federal Reserve chair, Ben Bernanke, whose work on the Nice Despair gained him a Nobel Prize this month, reduce rates of interest and flooded the market with money to keep away from a repeat of the Thirties systemic collapse.
One of many largest impacts of a monetary disaster, mentioned Laura Jones, an economist and government vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Unbiased Enterprise, is the psychological impression on individuals and companies that results in worry and uncertainty.
“Small companies are sometimes fairly an excellent shock absorber for recessions, notably these triggered by a monetary disaster,” mentioned Jones. “So in the event you take a look at 2008, small companies had been rather a lot slower to let go of workers.”
Two years of small enterprise hell
However burdened by debt and within the full information they’re unlikely to get one other bailout package deal of the type they obtained from the federal authorities through the pandemic, they could not have the ability to present the identical type of buffer. Uncertainty simply makes that tougher.
“Small companies have simply come out of two years of hell with COVID,” Jones mentioned. “They usually got here out of that to face provide chain challenges, inflation, rate of interest hikes and labor shortages.”
Others have warned that the COVID-19 bailouts didn’t result in the type of shakeout in small companies that, whereas painful for particular person enterprise house owners, is nice for the broader financial system.
WATCH | Staggering drops in residence gross sales:
New numbers present steep decline in residence gross sales in contrast with final fall
New numbers present Canada’s housing market is continuous to chill, with residence gross sales down 32 per cent this September in contrast with the identical time a 12 months in the past, and costs down 6.6 per cent.
One other long-awaited shakeout taking place proper now could be within the Canadian housing sector. As Hilliard Macbeth, an Edmonton-based monetary advisor and creator of the e-book When the Bubble Burstshas famous, most monetary crises in historical past had been preceded by an enormous surge in personal sector debt.
“Canada’s personal sector debt is over 220 per cent of GDP, one of many highest ratios on the earth,” mentioned Macbeth in an electronic mail dialog on Saturday.
It’s mortgage debt that pushes Canada and its banks into the hazard zone, he mentioned.
The Financial institution of Canada has studied whether or not Canada’s giant banks might face up to a extreme financial downturn. And their conclusion is that the banks are protected.
However Macbeth mentioned the financial institution stress take a look at report assumes financial institution losses attributable to mortgage losses can be minimal, and he fears that this time may very well be completely different if Canada and the world faces a extreme recession.
“Prior to now Canadians have normally paid their mortgage money owed with solely minimal losses,” mentioned Macbeth. “In in the present day’s state of affairs with family debt ranges and home costs a lot greater than ever earlier than, we can not know if this observe file will maintain.”
Whether or not or not the Financial institution of Canada thinks that’s seemingly, their job, like that of the Financial institution of England and the US Fed, is to be ready to try to swoop to the rescue if the worst ought to occur.
The Enterprise Council of Canada says it’s involved over the continued closure of the Nexus trusted-traveller program, which permits pre-screened vacationers expedited processing when getting into america and Canada.
CEO Goldy Hyder says it’s “deeply troubling” that the US authorities has not reopened 13 Nexus enrolment centres, in a letter to David Cohen, the American ambassador to Canada, obtained by The Canadian Press.
The 2 nations are in dispute over a long-standing request by the US Customs and Border Safety company that its brokers be afforded the identical authorized protections inside Nexus amenities in Canada that they presently have at ports of entry like airports and the Canada-US border .
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino has cited the ideas of Canadian sovereignty in explaining why US customs officers cannot have the identical authorized protections at Nexus facilities that they do at airports and the border.
Hyder says in his letter to Cohen that he fears the dispute will damage companies whose workers don’t have already got a Nexus card and he strongly urges the ambassador to suggest reopening the enrolment centres.
His feedback come on the heels of Canada’s envoy to the US saying this system is being “held hostage” by unilateral American efforts to renegotiate the preclearance settlement between america and its northern neighbour.
“There’s an try and renegotiate the phrases of a 20-year-old program unilaterally and this system is being held hostage to that effort,” Kirsten Hillman instructed a symposium on the Canada-US border hosted final week by the Future Borders Coalition.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Oct. 16, 2022.
