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Inside Brad Pitt’s Epic Dating History

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Pitt’s the one who lost his head for Paltrow on the set of 1995’s Se7en. They were the mid-90s couple, from the top of her slip dress to the ends of his frosted tips. Accepting the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for 12 Monkeys in 1996, Brad thanked Gwyneth, his “angel, the love of my life,” and he proposed that December. They even had matching haircuts at one point.

“I take the institution extremely seriously. There are no divorces in my family either—and in his either, so this is not something—we’ve been together for quite some time, so this is not a rash decision,” Gwyneth convincingly told Entertainment Tonight about their engagement. But in June 1997, they broke up.

“When two people aren’t supposed to be together, they’re not supposed to be together,” a defiant Paltrow said in 1998. Fast-forward to 2015, when she told Howard Stern, “I was such a kid, I was 22 when we met. It’s taken me until 40 to get my head out of my ass. You can’t make that decision when you’re 22 years old… I wasn’t ready, and he was too good for me.”

Moreover, her dad, Bruce Paltrow, was “devastated” when they broke up. “My father loved him like a son.” Ultimately, Paltrow said, “I definitely fell in love with him. He was so gorgeous and sweet. I mean, he was Brad Pitt!”

Chris Brown arrives in court to answer assault charges

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Mark Savage

Music correspondent

Helena Wilkinson

Correspondent at Southwark Crown Court

Chris Brown arrives at court in London

US singer Chris Brown has pleaded not guilty to a charge stemming from an alleged bottle attack at a London nightclub two years ago.

The 36-year-old is accused of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to music producer Abraham Diaw during an incident that prosecutors have described as “unprovoked”.

Brown also faces charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and having an offensive weapon. Both relate to the same incident, and were added to his indictment ahead of Friday’s hearing.

The judge adjourned arraignment on those two counts, meaning Brown did not enter a plea.

The US singer appeared at Southwark Crown Court to deny the charge of grievous bodily harm, hours after playing to thousands of fans at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Wearing an ocean blue suit and black-rimmed glasses, the musician was silent as he walked past a large group of photographers when he arrived at the court on Friday morning.

Five or six fans were outside the court to offer their support.

Brown was arrested at the five-star Lowry hotel in Salford, Greater Manchester, last month, after arriving in the UK to prepare for a string of European tour dates.

PA Media Chris Brown, pictured in front of photographers, arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Friday morningPA Media

He was held in custody for almost a week, before being released after agreeing to pay a £5m security fee to the court.

A security fee is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court. Mr Brown could be asked to forfeit the money if he breaches bail conditions.

Under those conditions, Mr Brown must live at an address in the UK while awaiting trial, and was ordered to surrender his passport to police.

However, a plan was put in place allowing him to honour his Breezy Bowl XX world tour dates by surrendering his passport but getting it back when he needs to travel to the gigs.

The first date took place in Amsterdam on 8 June, and the UK leg kicked off last weekend.

On the first night in Manchester on Sunday, he thanked fans “for coming and supporting me”.

“And thank you to the jail,” he joked, referring to his spell in custody. “It was really nice.”

Getty Images Chris Brown in a red, white and black patterned leather jacket and patterned baseball cap, singing into a microphone on stage at the Tycoon Music Festival at Little Caesars Arena on April 19, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan.Getty Images

Chris Brown pictured on stage in Detroit in April

Mr Brown is one of the biggest stars in US R&B, with two Grammy Awards, and 19 top 10 singles in the UK – including hits like Turn Up The Music, Freaky Friday, With You and Don’t Wake Me Up.

Last week, he won the prize for best male R&B/pop artist at the BET Awards in Los Angeles.

A former partner of pop star Rihanna, his latest tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of his self-titled debut album.

Outlining the case against him last month, prosecutors said the alleged victim, Abraham Diaw, was standing at the bar of Soho’s Tape nightclub on 19 February 2023 when Mr Brown launched an “unprovoked attack” in which the complainant was struck several times with a bottle.

She said: “The defendant then pursued him to a separate area of the nightclub where the victim was punched and kicked repeatedly by him and another.”

Omolulu Akinlolu, a 38-year-old American who performs under the name HoodyBaby, was charged alongside Brown and will appear with him at court on Friday.

He is facing the same first two counts as Brown but not the third (having an offensive weapon).

Majority of Republicans support same-sex marriage, new polling shows

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A majority of surveyed Republicans say they support same-sex marriage, according to new data from a trio of polling firms.

In the poll, provided exclusively to The Hill, 56 percent of Republicans say they agree that same-sex couples should have the right to marry each other, while 42 percent say they disagree.

When given a neutral option, GOP respondents are more evenly divided — with much of the support shifting to the third option: 43 percent disagree, 40 percent agree, and 17 percent say they are neutral.

Americans, overall, broadly agree that same-sex couples should have the right to marry: 72 percent of respondents agree, and 26 percent disagree.

When Americans are presented with a neutral option, 61 percent of respondents agree, 24 percent disagree, and 15 percent say they are neutral.

The June 2025 survey — conducted on behalf of Project Right Side and Centerline Liberties by polling groups Redbud Consulting, Echelon Insights and National Research — comes 10 years after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling granted the federal right to same-sex marriage.

The poll shows Republicans are split on whether they approve of the decision, with a slightly larger share saying they disapprove, at 51 percent, than approve, at 48 percent.

But given a neutral option, that trend flips: 41 percent of Republican respondents say they approve, 37 percent say they disapprove, and 22 percent say they neither approve nor disapprove.

Among Americans overall, 68 percent of those surveyed approve of the decision, and 30 percent disapprove of the decision. When given a neutral option, 63 percent approve, 22 percent disapprove, and 15 percent say they’re neutral.

The poll includes data suggesting opposition to same-sex marriage perhaps is not as fervent as it once was.

Supporters of same-sex marriage are more likely to say the issue is important to them, at 59 percent, compared with 41 percent who say the issue isn’t important to them.

This 18-point gap narrows to 6 points among opponents of same-sex marriage: 53 percent of those surveyed say it’s an important issue to them, and 47 percent say it’s not.

Respondents are also more likely to say that, throughout their lifetimes, they have become more supportive of same-sex marriage, at 31 percent, than more opposed, at 13 percent. The vast majority of respondents, at 57 percent, say their views have not changed.

The pollsters point to the latest data to suggest same-sex marriage is no longer “a divisive political issue” and is instead “an accepted social norm”— one that they say is not worth litigating on the campaign trail.

“The data is clear: engaging in efforts to roll back recent gains is not a winning political issue,” Alex Lundry, co-founder of Redbud Consulting, said in a statement about the poll.

“In fact, there is a clear pathway forward for Republicans to continue growing their coalition, finding common ground on religious liberty, and ensuring the law judges all citizens based solely on their individual merit, nothing more, nothing less,” Lundry added.

The poll was conducted May 27-June 1, 2025, and included 800 registered voters. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

A recent Gallup poll showed different results. In the May 2025 poll, GOP support for same-sex marriage fell to 41 percent — its lowest point since 2016, when 40 percent supported same-sex marriage.

The poll also showed Republicans and Democrats were more divided on the issue than at any point in the last 30 years, with 88 percent of Democrats supporting same-sex marriage.

More than 70% of Japan firms see tariff impact within expectations, Reuters poll shows

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By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) -A significant majority of Japanese firms have found the business impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs within expectations and have not found it necessary to change investment plans, a Reuters survey showed on Thursday.

The United States has imposed a 10% tariff on goods from most countries along with additional tariffs for many big trading partners including Japan, which could face a 24% tariff from July unless it can negotiate a deal.

There is also a 25% tariff on cars, a particular sore point for Japan whose economy relies heavily on automobile exports to the United States.

About 71% of respondents to Reuters’ survey said the impact of U.S. tariffs is within initial expectations, and 84% said they plan to stick to their investment plans for the current business year – typically April-March in Japan.

“After all, the Trump administration ends in four years. If we don’t carry on with our long-term investments, we’ll lose out in competition with other Asian countries,” a manager at a machinery manufacturer wrote in the poll.

The survey was conducted by Nikkei Research for Reuters from June 4-13. Nikkei Research reached out to 504 companies and 220 responded on condition of anonymity.

On Japan’s sales tax, four out of 10 respondents said they oppose any tax reduction, whereas the remainder said there should be some form of cut, the survey showed.

Cutting the tax to help the public cope with rising prices has become a major issue ahead of upper house elections scheduled for July.

A 10% tax is applied to most goods and services. The tax for food and newspapers is 8%.

The largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has proposed cutting the 8% rate on food items to zero for one year. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is opposed as sales tax revenue funds social security.

“Opposition parties are oblivious to what the sales tax is for. It is the tax that ought to be raised,” said an official at a metal and machinery maker.

With three out of 10 people aged 65 or above, Japan is the world’s most advanced ageing society.

A manager at a transportation company favoured a temporary, across-the-board sales tax cut “to fight inflation and stimulate consumption”.

About 63% of respondents said the government should not rely on bond issuance to fill revenue shortfall in the event of a sales tax cut, whereas 37% were in favour, the survey showed.

“The ageing of the population will be advancing further and social security costs will be getting bigger. We should not turn to tax cuts or government bond issuance lightly,” said a manager at a chemical company.

On the composition of the ruling coalition after the upper house elections, 32% of respondents favoured the current ruling bloc of the LDP and junior partner Komeito, while 20% wanted the Democratic Party for the People to be a third partner, the survey showed.

Last year, the LDP and Komeito lost their combined majority in the more powerful lower chamber, making it difficult for Ishiba to implement policies. The Democratic Party for the People quadrupled its lower house seats.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025

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It’s already been a tumultuous year for the U.S. semiconductor industry.

The semiconductor industry plays a sizable role in the “AI race” that the U.S. seems determined to win, which is why this context is worth paying attention to: from Intel’s appointment of Lip-Bu Tan to CEO — who wasted no time getting to work trying to revitalize the legacy company — to Joe Biden proposing sweeping new AI chip export rules on his way out of office that never came to fruition.

Here’s a look at what’s happened in the first half of 2025.

June

Intel appoints new leadership

June 18 – Intel announced four new leadership appointments that Intel says will help it move toward its goal of becoming an engineering-first company again. Intel announced a new chief revenue officer in addition to multiple high-profile engineering hires.

Intel to begin layoffs

June 17 – Intel will begin to lay off a significant chunk of its Intel Foundry staff in July. The company plans to eliminate at least 15%, and up to 20%, of workers in that business unit. These layoffs aren’t a shock: It was rumored back in April, and Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan has said he wants to flatten the organization.

Nvidia won’t report on China

June 13 – Nvidia isn’t counting on the U.S. backing off of its AI chip export restrictions anytime soon. After the company took a financial hit from the newly imposed licensing requirements on its H20 AI chips, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company will no longer include the Chinese market in future revenue and profit forecasts.

AMD acquires the team behind Untether AI

June 6 – AMD makes another acquisition — this time focused on talent. The company acqui-hired the team behind Untether AI, which develops AI inference chips, as the semiconductor giant continues to round out its AI offerings.

AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI hardware dominance

June 4 – AMD continued its shopping spree. The company acquired AI software optimization startup Brium, which helps companies retrofit AI software to work with different AI hardware. With a lot of AI software being designed with Nvidia hardware in mind, this acquisition isn’t surprising.

May

Nvidia lays out the impact of chip export restrictions

May 28 – Nvidia reported that U.S. licensing requirements on its H20 AI chips cost the company $4.5 billion in charges during Q1. The company expects these requirements to result in an $8 billion hit to Nvidia’s revenue in Q2.

AMD acquires Enosemi

May 28 – AMD kicks off its acquisition spree. The semiconductor company announced that it acquired Enosemi, a silicon photonics startup. Enosemi’s tech, which uses light photons to transmit data, is becoming an increasing area of interest for semiconductor companies.

Tensions start to flare between China and the U.S.

May 21 – China’s Commerce Secretary didn’t like the U.S.’s guidance, issued on May 13, that warned U.S. companies that using Huawei’s AI chips “anywhere in the world” was a U.S. chip export violation. The commerce secretary issued a statement that threatened legal action against anyone caught enforcing that export restriction.

Intel may be starting to offload its non-core units

May 20 – Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan seemingly got right to work on his plan to spin out Intel’s non-core business units. The semiconductor giant is reportedly looking to offload its networking and edge units, which makes chips for telecom equipment, and was responsible for $5.4 billion of the company’s 2024 revenue.

The Biden administration’s AI Diffusion rule is officially dead

May 13 – Just days before the Biden administration’s Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Rule was set to go into place, the U.S. Department of Commerce formally rescinded it. The DOC said that it plans to issue new guidance in the future, and in the meantime companies should remember that using Huawei’s Ascend AI chips anywhere in the world is a violation of U.S. export rules.

A last-minute reversal

May 7: Just a week before the “Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion” was set to go into place, the Trump administration plans on taking a different path. According to multiple media outlets, including Axios and Bloomberg, the administration won’t enforce the restrictions when they were supposed to start on May 15 and is instead working on its own framework. 

April

Anthropic doubles down on its support of chip export restrictions

April 30: Anthropic doubled down on its support for restricting U.S.-made chip exports, including some tweaks to the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, like imposing further restrictions on Tier 2 countries and dedicating resources to enforcement. An Nvidia spokesperson shot back, saying, “American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters.’” 

Planned layoffs at Intel

April 22: Ahead of its Q1 earnings call, Intel said it was planning to lay off more than 21,000 employees. The layoffs were meant to streamline management, something CEO Lip-Bu Tan has long said Intel needed to do, and help rebuild the company’s engineering focus. 

The Trump administration further restricts chip exports

April 15: Nvidia’s H20 AI chip got hit with an export licensing requirement, the company disclosed in an SEC filing. The company added it expects $5.5 billion in charges related to this new requirement in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year. The H20 is the most advanced AI chip Nvidia can still export to China in some form or fashion. TSMC and Intel reported similar expenses the same week. 

Nvidia appears to talk its way out of further chip exports

April 9: Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang was spotted attending dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, according to reports. At the time, NPR reported Huang may have been able to spare Nvidia’s H20 AI chips from export restrictions upon agreeing to invest in AI data centers in the U.S. 

An alleged agreement between Intel and TSMC

April 3: Intel and TSMC allegedly reached a tentative agreement to launch a joint chipmaking venture. This joint venture would operate Intel’s chipmaking facilities, and TSMC would have a 20% stake in the new venture. Both companies declined to comment or confirm. If this deal doesn’t come to fruition, this is likely a decent preview of potential deals in this industry to come. 

Intel spins off noncore assets, announces new initiative

April 1: CEO Lip-Bu Tan got to work right away. Just weeks after he joined Intel, the company announced that it was going to spin off noncore assets so it could focus. He also said the company would launch new products, including custom semiconductors for customers. 

March

Intel names a new CEO 

March 12:  Intel announced that industry veteran, and former board member, Lip-Bu Tan would return to the company as CEO on March 18. At the time of his appointment, Tan said Intel would be an “engineering-focused company” under his leadership. 

February

Intel’s Ohio chip plant gets delayed again

February 28: Intel was supposed to start operating its first chip fabrication plant in Ohio this year. Instead, the company slowed down construction on the plant for the second time in February. Now the $28 billion semiconductor project won’t wrap up construction until 2030 and may not even open until 2031.

Senators call for more chip export restrictions

February 3: U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo), wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Nominee-Designate Howard Lutnick urging the Trump administration to further restrict AI chip exports. The letter specifically referred to Nvidia’s H20 AI chips, which were used in the training of DeepSeek’s R1 “reasoning” model. 

January 

DeepSeek releases its open “reasoning” model

January 27: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek caused quite the stir in Silicon Valley when it released the open version of its R1 “reasoning” model. While this isn’t semiconductor news specifically, the sheer alarm in the AI and semiconductor industries DeepSeek’s release caused continues to have ripple effects on the chip industry. 

Joe Biden’s executive order on chip exports

January 13: With just a week left in office, former president Joe Biden proposed sweeping new export restrictions on U.S.-made AI chips. This order created a three-tier structure that determined how many U.S. chips can be exported to each country. Under this proposal, Tier 1 countries faced no restrictions; Tier 2 countries had a chip purchase limit for the first time; and Tier 3 countries got additional restrictions. 

Anthropic’s Dario Amodei weighs in on chip export restrictions

January 6: Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei co-wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal endorsing existing AI chip export controls and pointing to them as a reason why China’s AI market was behind the U.S.’. He also called on incoming president Donald Trump to impose further restrictions and to close loopholes that have allowed AI companies in China to still get their hands on these chips.

Manchester City fined £1m for delayed kickoffs, restarts

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Manchester City have been fined more than £1 million ($1.3m) by the Premier League for breaching the rules around delayed kickoffs and restarts nine times last season, England’s top-flight league said on Thursday.

The fine comes a year after City paid £2m ($2.56m) to the league for breaching the same game-delay rules.

The club accepted and apologised for the rule breaches, and confirmed they have reminded their players and staff of their responsibilities in complying with the rules.

“Rules relating to kick-offs and re-starts help ensure the organisation of the competition is set at the highest possible professional standard and provides certainty to fans and participating clubs,” the league said in a statement.

“It also ensures the broadcast of every Premier League match is kept to schedule.”

Fines totalling £1.08m were imposed relating to City’s home games against Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United, West Ham United and Newcastle United and their away fixtures against Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Ipswich Town.

The longest game delays were two minutes 22 seconds each for restarts against West Ham and Ipswich.

City are awaiting the verdict of 115 unrelated charges of alleged breaches of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

The charges cover a period starting from 2009 and continuing into the 2022-23 season. City have always denied any wrongdoing.

Eric Dane Seemingly Dating Janell Shirtcliff, New Girlfriend

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Eric Dane is getting McSteamy once again.

The Grey’s Anatomy alum appeared to debut a new relationship with filmmaker Janell Shirtcliff at the premiere of Prime Video’s Countdown in Los Angeles June 18.

Dane—who shared his diagnosis with ALS in April—stepped out on the red carpet hand-in-hand with Shirtcliff, who donned a red pinstripe blazer dress for their public debut.

The photographer—who has taken celeb portraits of Dua Lipa, Jenna Ortega and Kate Hudson—accessorized her look with a green handbag and aviator shades, while he kept it summer chic in a casual pair of beige trousers worn with a tee and white sweater. 

At one point on the carpet, the couple shared a laugh while looking into each other’s eyes. 

E! News has reached out to their reps for comment on the relationship, but hasn’t heard back.

Prior to his apparent romance with Shirtcliff, Dane was in a relationship with Rebecca Gayheart, whom he married in 2004. Though she filed for divorce in 2018, Gayheart—who shares kids Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, with the actor—filed to dismiss her divorce petition in March 2025, with him signing off on the move to stay legally married.

Woman, 66, charged with murder in Camden missing Rolex case

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A 69-year-old-woman has been charged with murdering another woman who was found fatally stabbed in her home in Camden, north London, on 13 June.

Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, was found by her niece and neighbours at her home in Mornington Place. The neighbour said she had been left with tape across her mouth.

Nancy Pexton, of Gloucester Place, Westminster has been charged with murder and is due to appear later at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.

The Metropolitan Police has previously said 69-year-old’s death may have been linked to the disappearance of a diamond encrusted Rolex watch that they believed was missing from the victim’s address.

Ms Abbott was a popular member of the community, according to the Met Police.

She was often seen walking her corgi dog in the Camden area where she was last spotted on 10 June, three days before her body was found.

A post-mortem examination concluded Ms Abbott died as a result of sharp force trauma.

Sports betting company DraftKings launching PAC

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DraftKings, a sports betting company, said Wednesday it filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to create a corporate political action committee (PAC).

DraftKings’s PAC will fall under the separate segregated funds (SSF) category, which means the committee can solicit contributions only from individuals associated with a connected or sponsoring organization, according to the FEC.  

“We have established this PAC to support state and federal candidates and organizations who have shown an interest in issues affecting our business,” a company spokesperson told The Hill.

DraftKings fell under scrutiny in recent years due to their alleged attempt to “obstruct or impair competition” in the sports betting industry, which is a violation of federal antitrust laws.

Bipartisan lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate their dealings after a failed 2016 merger with FanDuel. 

While the company did not directly respond to requests for comment about alleged wrongdoing, a spokesperson did share that they hope to use their newly founded PAC to improve the online gambling experience for consumers. 

“DraftKings’ ultimate goal is to build the best, most trusted, and most customer-centric destination for our players. The recent tax increase in Illinois makes it harder to provide the best service to our players while it simultaneously incentivizes more players to wager in the unregulated, illegal market,” a spokesperson told The Hill.

“Among other things, we are monitoring a range of regulatory, tax, and licensing policies around the country, including the recent tax increase in Illinois. In addition, DraftKings may prioritize issues that impact business operations, including the expansion of the legal, regulated online betting market,” they added.

Regulators’ plans for US bank leverage relief may underwhelm US Treasury market

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By Davide Barbuscia and Pete Schroeder

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury market participants hoping for a long-awaited shift in bank leverage rules may be in for a letdown if U.S. regulators choose to ease capital requirements rather than exclude U.S. government bonds from leverage calculations.

The Federal Reserve said this week it would weigh proposals to ease leverage requirements for large banks at a June 25 meeting, launching what’s likely to be a wider review of banking regulations. The agenda includes potential changes to the “supplementary leverage ratio,” a rule that mandates banks hold capital against all assets, irrespective of risk.

Regulators including the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have been considering whether to tweak the rule’s formula to reduce big banks’ burdens or provide relief for extremely safe investments, like Treasury bonds, Reuters has reported.

Currently, all banks are required to hold 3% of their capital against their leverage exposure, which is their assets and other off-balance sheet items like derivatives. The largest global banks must hold an extra 2% as well in what is known as the “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio.”

The Fed is expected to propose tweaks to that ratio in a bid to reduce the overall burden of that requirement, as opposed to broadly exempting categories of assets from the requirement, such as Treasury bonds, according to two industry officials.

However, it is possible the Fed could seek input on some exemptions, the officials said. The FDIC announced its own meeting next Thursday, where the agency will also discuss proposed changes to that ratio.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that regulators plan to reduce by up to 1.5 percentage points the enhanced ratio for the biggest banks, bringing it down to a range of 3.5% to 4.5%.

“Lowering the capital requirements instead of a Treasury carve-out from the SLR is a weaker form of regulatory easing, and in my view it doesn’t fully address the constraint dealers face during intense market stress,” said Steven Zeng, U.S. rates strategist at Deutsche Bank.

“In our view, the news is moderately underwhelming,” analysts at Wells Fargo said in a note. “We think that many market participants were anticipating a carve out of UST assets from the denominator.”

The Fed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spreads between long-term swap rates and Treasury yields tightened on Wednesday, turning more negative, even as earlier in the year they had been widening amid hopes that regulatory shifts in bank capital rules would bolster demand for Treasuries. The move likely reflected disappointment on the news that regulators plan to lower the requirements, said Zeng.