Good morning. Ant Group, the financial-technology company associated with billionaire Jack Ma, was fined close to $1 billion by China’s financial regulators, taking the company closer to the end of its long-running business overhaul.

Ant and its subsidiaries were fined a total of 7.123 billion yuan, equivalent to $982 million, a sum that regulators said included the confiscation of illegal income, according to statements released by China’s securities regulator and the country’s central bank Friday.

• Broad crackdown: The fine is the latest in a string of large penalties that have been imposed on China’s internet giants since the government’s broad regulatory crackdown began in late 2020.
   
• Governance, money laundering problems: Regulators said Ant violated laws and regulations when it conducted banking and insurance activities and engaged in payment and settlement businesses in past years. They said there were also problems with the company’s corporate governance, investor protections and fulfillment of obligations to prevent money laundering.
   
• "Rectification" nearly finished: Ant said Friday that it has been “conducting business rectification proactively since 2020” under the guidance of regulators and that the work has now been completed.

Binance unravels as executives flee and layoffs proliferate.

Binance is in retreat, as the pressure from federal investigations builds.

The firm’s general counsel, chief strategy officer, head of investigations and a senior vice president for compliance, among others, departed in recent weeks, a sign of the turmoil rattling the largest crypto exchange.

Inside Binance, executives have grown worried the Justice Department will file charges against the firm and founder Changpeng Zhao.

• The Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank found no evidence of undue influence by China’s Communist Party in its decision-making, according to an internal review released Friday.
   
• Twitter sued Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the law firm it hired under previous management to enforce Elon Musk’s agreement to acquire the company, accusing it of improperly obtaining a $90 million payout as the deal-closing loomed.
   
• Finance chiefs generally welcome recent international guidelines for corporate sustainability disclosures, but some are still waiting to see how other sets of requirements develop as they plan their strategies.

Business insurance roiled by climate, inflation.

Business insurance has been roiled by severe weather and inflation, the same forces disrupting home insurance markets in catastrophe-prone areas of the U.S., with companies facing tougher conditions as they try to insure their properties against disaster.

The problem of how—or even if—properties can be insured in areas at risk of wildfires, hurricanes and other damaging weather has come to the fore as several insurance companies have in recent weeks stopped writing new home insurance policies in California and elsewhere. The U.S. Treasury Department last month warned that climate risk poses a major challenge to the insurance industry.

Yellen trip aids fragile effort by U.S., China to keep talking.

The U.S. and China cleared the latest hurdle in a tentative effort to rebuild high-level dialogue, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s Beijing trip yielding some progress—though deeply entrenched tensions will test whether the fragile momentum can be sustained.

Both governments gave positive assessments of the two days of meetings, agreeing to further talks, while acknowledging sharp disagreements, especially over U.S. restrictions on technology exports to China. Before leaving Beijing on Sunday, Yellen said she told Chinese officials that such U.S. moves are narrowly focused and done to protect national security. Outside of that, she said, the world’s two biggest economies have wide scope to interact.

• Deflation Looms in China as Rebound Loses Steam

• China’s decision this week to restrict the export of two minerals used in semiconductors, solar panels and missile systems was more than a trade salvo. It was a reminder of its dominant hold over the world’s mineral resources—and a warning of its willingness to use them in its escalating rivalry with the U.S.
   
• The Kremlin’s push to take control of the mercenary group Wagner is triggering security fears in parts of the Middle East and Africa.
   
• Taiwan has a big national-security risk: It imports 97% of its energy.
   
• Record immigration to affluent countries is sparking bigger backlashes across the world, boosting populist parties and putting pressure on governments to tighten policies to stem the migration wave.
   
• Getting inflation down to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target will prove difficult if the economy keeps chugging along.
   
• At least one person has been killed and more are missing as heavy rain and flash flooding overwhelmed parts of New York state, authorities said.

• Companies are drowning in too much AI.
   
• AT&T, Verizon and other telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the U.S., under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead, a Wall Street Journal investigation found.
   
• China’s increasing political clout in the Middle East is fueling a push to develop more economic ties. A key part of that: billions of dollars being invested in Chinese businesses.
   
• A handful of conferences and events have pulled out of Florida, citing concerns over state policies that organizers describe as hostile to LGBT people and minorities.
   
• Shein is taking on Amazon in the business of selling everything.
   
• The White House cautioned that talks with Russia on potential prisoner swaps for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich hadn’t yet yielded “a pathway to a resolution,” marking 100 days since his detention in Russia.

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