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.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to