Latest news with #blackmarket
ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Should recreational cannabis be legalised?
Policy researchers say now is the time to legalise recreational cannabis to eliminate the black market and free up police to tackle other crime. Alysia Thomas-Sam reports.
Tahawul Tech
3 days ago
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
Nvidia AI chips reportedly smuggled into China
In the months following the US tightening export controls to China at least $1 billion of Advanced AI chips were reportedly smuggled into the country. Financial Times (FT) reported Nvidia's high-performance B200 AI chips are widely available in China through a thriving black market for US chips which are banned for sale in the country. The newspaper cited dozens of sales contracts, company filings and multiple people with direct knowledge of the illicit deals. FT noted the B200 processors are widely used by US heavyweights OpenAI, Google and Meta Platforms to train their latest AI systems. In May, FT explained multiple Chinese distributors were selling B200s to suppliers of data centres for use by domestic AI groups. The US and China are battling for global dominance across AI and additional technologies, which impacts Nvidia's financial performance. An Nvidia representative told Mobile World Live 'trying to cobble together data centres from smuggled products is a losing proposition, both technically and economically. Data centres require service and support, which we provide only to authorised Nvidia products.' Last week Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced it received assurances from US authorities it would be given a licence to resume sales of its H20 chip in China. It was informed of a need for a licence in April due to a perception the chips could be used in a supercomputer in China, which led to Nvidia taking a $5.5 billion hit. In the three months prior, FT reported Chinese distributors from Guangdong, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces sold the company's B200s and other restricted processors including the H100 and H200. Source: Mobile World Live Image Credit: Nvidia
Arab News
4 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
At least five arrested as Pakistan widens crackdown on illegal currency exchange, transfers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested five suspects involved in illegal currency exchange and transfer of money, the agency said on Sunday, amid a widening crackdown on black market currency traders. The development comes days after the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's powerful military-run spy agency, held a meeting in Islamabad with senior officials from currency exchange companies, amid growing concern over the rupee's depreciation, which fell to a 22-month low of Rs284.97 against the US dollar earlier this week. Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, a deputy chief of the ISI, chaired the session, according to Malik Bostan, who attended the discussion and is the chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), told Arab News. The FIA had begun raiding informal, unregulated money transfer, or 'hundi' and 'hawala,' operators and currency smuggling networks. In a statement on Sunday, the agency said it was tightening the noose around networks involved currency smuggling and had conducted major operations in the southwestern Balochistan province that border Iran and Afghanistan. 'Five suspects involved in hawala, hundi and illegal currency exchange have been arrested,' the FIA said in a statement. 'The suspects were arrested in raids in different areas of Quetta and Chaman.' Pakistan operates a multi-tiered currency market, with rates diverging between the official interbank channel, the open market, and an unregulated 'grey market' where many traders and informal hawala dealers operate. Burdened by over $58 billion in imports in the last fiscal year, Pakistan faces severe inflationary pressure whenever the dollar strengthens. The rupee has lost 2 percent of its value since January, despite Pakistan's current account recording a surplus of $2.1 billion, according to central bank data. During the raids in Balochistan, the FIA said, officials seized 684,000 Pakistani rupees, 230.5 million Iranian rials, more than 135,000 Afghanis, 700 US dollars, 200 Saudi riyals and 150 Australian dollars. 'Cheque books, hawala-hundi receipts and bank deposit slips were also recovered from the suspects,' it said. 'The accused were involved in currency exchange without a license. They could not give a satisfactory answer to the authorities regarding the recovered currency.' The agency said it was further investigating the arrested suspects.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Doctor warns of desperate and underweight 'Mounjaro zombies' who are so hooked on weight loss drug their body has started CANNIBALISING itself
An aesthetic surgeon has warned of the dark side of Mounjaro and Wegovy, claiming that increasing numbers of extremely thin women are hooked on the appetite suppressing jabs. And worryingly, Dr Ducu Botoaca, who specialises in non-surgical aesthetic procedures, claims that the 'addiction' is robbing them of of their natural good looks, and destroying their health—because the body begins to cannibalise itself. Dubbed the 'King Kong' of fat jabs, Mounjaro was originally developed as a Type 2 diabetes treatment, but due to its appetite suppressing properties, was soon being prescribed as a weight loss aid. To be eligible for the medication, people need to have a BMI of over 30, which is classed as clinically obese. For reference, a BMI of 25 to 30 is classed as overweight, is a 18 to 25 healthy weight range, and below 18 is deemed as underweight. However, Dr Ducu claims he now often sees patients who have obtained the drugs by faking their weight with online pharmacies, or even using dangerous knock-offs being sold on the black market. He told Mail Online: 'I've seen people with a healthy BMI of 23 drop to a BMI of just 17 in a matter of weeks—it's like they have aged by 15 years in just three months. 'They do not eat, and when they do they are not eating a healthy balanced diet with the vitamins and minerals that their body needs to function. 'They are suffering from mood swings, hair loss, chronically dry skin… their collagen levels and muscle mass is being obliterated.' Dr Ducu's main concern is that many people write off these symptoms as typical side effects of the jab—but they are actually suffering from malnutrition, and because they are not under medical supervision, they are totally unaware of the danger they are placing themselves in. 'A doctor would tell them that the maximum amount of weight you can lose healthily is less than five percent of your body mass, and when you are losing weight, this figure changes every month. 'People are chasing big losses on the scale. 'Most people measure themselves almost daily, seeing the numbers go down is instant gratification—but it's going to make them very, very sick.' But that's not the only element of weight loss medication that people have got hooked on. He added: 'From my experience, it's women aged between 30 and 45 who are dependent on these jabs. 'They don't realise that they look malnourished—like zombies—and they continue taking it just because they have a crazy fear of rebounding and looking like they looked before. 'Some of these people might have once been overweight, but some of them didn't need the medication at all.' Not everyone hooked on weight loss jabs are using legitimate products, and Dr Ducu is aware of several dangerous and unregulated alternatives being used by people who are unable to get Mounjaro. He said: 'These alternatives, often sold as compounded peptides, are typically manufactured in unregulated facilities that are not approved by the FDA or MHRA. 'While not sourced from licensed pharmacies and lacking official approval, they are still widely used despite being part of an unofficial or grey market.' Regardless of what drug the weight loss jab addicts are using, they are all at risk of succumbing to the same health risks—which he has seen first hand. Dr Ducu offers health screenings at his Central London clinic, and he and his team have noticed that many of the jab addicts' bodies are beginning to 'cannibalise' themselves. 'My colleague, who is a GP, noticed that in some patients there was an increase in thyroid hormones, and she thinks that this is a sign of accelerated metabolism because the body has started to basically eat itself.' Rapid weight loss due to under-eating is known to lead to muscle wasting, as the body metabolises muscle for energy along with fat—but Dr Docu has seen further worrying signs. 'X-rays and blood work reveal low levels of calcium, worryingly low levels of Vitamin D as the body begins to use the resources available to it to stay alive.' The explosion of weight loss jabs hasn't just changed the face of Dr Ducu's clients, it's transformed his day to day business. He estimates that now '80 per cent of my business is revision work for people after they have lost a lot of weight.' Dr Ducu added: 'They come in and obviously they're depressed and have very low self-esteem. They have hair loss, their nails are breaking, their skin is dry, they look ten or fifteen years older than when they lost weight. 'It takes time to rebuild all of that, and you have to work also with the psychological factor, their fear of regaining weight and 'rebounding' to their former size. 'Because in clothes, they think they look good, but when they are naked, it is a different story.' Dr Ducu added that it's normally one of two areas which have made people realise that they need to start regaining some of their lost pounds. 'Wanting to improve their bum and their face—the things they see the most—are what usually convinces them that they need to start eating again. 'Once they see even a small improvement, or notice that they aren't losing as much hair, they are usually much more willing to take our advice and start living healthier.'
CTV News
7 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Nvidia AI chips worth US$1 billion entered China despite U.S. curbs, FT reports
CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury) Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence chips worth at least US$1 billion were smuggled to China in the three months after Washington tightened chip export controls, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The AI chip designer's high-end B200 processors, banned for sale in China, is widely available on a thriving Chinese black market for U.S. chips, the report said, citing sales contracts, company filings and multiple people with direct knowledge of the deals. Nvidia told Reuters that building data centres with smuggled products is inefficient both technically and financially, as the company only offers service and support for authorized products. The U.S. Department of Commerce, White House and Thai government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the FT report. In May, multiple Chinese distributors started selling B200s to suppliers of data centres that serve Chinese AI groups, according to the report. The U.S. and China are battling for global dominance in AI and other cutting-edge technologies, triggering a tightrope walk for companies such as Nvidia between the world's two largest economies. Nvidia last week said it would be allowed to resume sales to China after the Trump administration reversed an export restriction on the sales of chips such as H20. The curbs were imposed in April. In the three months before that, Chinese distributors from Guangdong, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces sold Nvidia's B200s, as well as other restricted processors such as the H100 and H200, according to the report. Southeast Asian countries have become markets where Chinese groups obtained restricted chips, the report said, citing industry experts. The U.S. Commerce Department is discussing adding more export controls on advanced AI products to countries such as Thailand as soon as September, the report said. --- Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur
