CHINA
Steel company defaults
A steel company has defaulted on an 852 million yuan (US$130.79 million) bond payment, days after its chairman was found dead in an apparent suicide. Dongbei Special Steel Group Co said on Monday it was unable to pay the interest or principal due on a one-year bond, while another 1.01 billion yuan on a shorter-term bill due next week was also “uncertain.” The company said last week that chairman Yang Hua (楊華) had been found hanged at his residence in a case now under investigation.
SRI LANKA
Police genitals gnawed
A police officer was in a critical condition on Monday after a man he was trying to arrest over a drunken brawl bit his genitals. The unidentified sub-inspector was trying to break up the fight at a coastal resort 70km south of Colombo on Sunday night when the man bit him ferociously through his khaki trousers. “The officer is in intensive care. He underwent emergency surgery to re-attach a part that was bitten off,” a senior officer in the area told reporters. “The suspect had been intoxicated at the time, but he is now in custody and will be charged for causing grievous hurt to a police officer.”
CHINA
Mattel falls victim to scam
The e-mail looked like a routine request by Mattel Inc’s chief executive officer for a new vendor payment to the nation. It was actually a US$3 million scam. The toy company realized it had made a mistake hours after wiring over the money, but they were told by authorities that it was too late. The money was already in the nation. Mattel’s millions were swept up in a tide of dirty money that passes through the nation and that Western police are only beginning to understand.
THAILAND
Constitution unveiled
The nation’s proposed new constitution was unveiled to the public at precisely 1:39pm yesterday, a time its drafters believe will bring good luck to a highly controversial charter that has been criticized as undemocratic. The proposed constitution is to be put to a referendum in August, followed by elections that junta chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has promised for next year. Critics said the charter reserves too much power for the military that toppled an elected government and suspended democracy with its May 2014 coup. Politicians from both sides of the nation’s political divide have shown rare unity in opposing earlier versions of the draft, which contained proposals for an appointed senate and a vaguely worded clause that suggests the prime minister does not need to be an elected official.
CHINA
Dissident’s family accused
The detained relatives of an outspoken dissident living abroad committed arson, according to police, after being held in what is widely seen as a crackdown following the publication of a letter condemning President Xi Jinping (習近平). Authorities in Sichuan Province said on a verified social media account that Germany-based reporter Chang Ping’s (長平) father and two younger brothers were being investigated for causing a forest fire after lighting incense as part of an ancestor worship ceremony. “The Xichong Public Security Bureau has opened an investigation in accordance with the law into Zhang and his two sons,” said the statement posted on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. Zhang, who was only referred to by his surname, was identified as Chang’s father.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese