report in Dawn, September 5th, 2017 KARACHI: The killing in recent months of a Chinese man and a woman at the hands of suspected militants in Balochistan has put Beijing in a quandary. That’s because the two were not in Quetta to teach mandarin but to do something with which the Chinese are unlikely to be associated: preach Christianity. The militant Islamic State (IS) group announced on June 8 that Meng Lisi and Li Xinheng,…
Posts published in September 2017
By Zheng Yangpeng in in South China Morning Post, Sept 5, 2017 A social housing policy which is literally tearing down barriers between Beijing’s haves and have-nots is causing outrage among the city’s well-heeled residents. The rule, which bars property developers from building walls and fences that segregate a community, is forcing some of the city’s wealthy homeowners to share their facilities and outdoor spaces with their less affluent neighbours. Last week, Beijing’s housing commission…
By He Huifeng in South China Morning Post, Sept 5, 2017 Steve Guo and his wife, who own a new, four-bedroom flat in Shenzhen that cost 12 million yuan (HK$14.2 million), are expecting their second baby early next year. They prepaid 60,000 yuan last month for a month of post-partum care, adding it to a pile of bills for services and goods ranging from an Italian recliner to German milk powder. Their average monthly expenses…
by Asif Showkat Kallol in Dhaka Tribune, September 05, 2017 The government is planning to hold the next general election on December next year. Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the revelation while talking to reporters at the Secretariat after a meeting with his ministry officials. “The way the Election Commission has been planning things, hopefully, the national election will be held by December next year. The Election Commission does not have much left to do,…
report in Dhaka Tribune, September 05, 2017 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has detained two suspected militants from Elenga area under Kalihati upazila of Tangail district. The detainees are Masud his brother and Khokon. Khokon was a student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. RAB’s Tangail 12 Company Commander Beena Rani Das said: “Acting on a tip-off, we conducted a raid and arrested them from Musundipur early Tuesday. “We have recovered a drone, some electronics devices and…
by Tariq Butt in The News, September 5, 2017 ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s planned visits to China and Russia in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement of his South Asia strategy have assumed added importance due to the Xiamen Declaration of BRICS relating to certain terrorist outfits. The terrorist organizations listed in the statement of BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are proscribed in Pakistan and are, therefore,…
Report in Dawn, September 05, 2017 XIAMEN: The leaders of the five emerging market BRICS powers have for the first time named militant groups allegedly based in Pakistan as a regional security concern and called for their patrons to be held to account. India welcomed the move — which participated at a summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen — as an important step forward in the fight against militant attacks. Brazil, Russia, India, China…
By Irfan Ghauri in The Express Tribune, Sept 2, 2017 ISLAMABAD: The six men accused of facilitating slain Afghan Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansoor acquire a Pakistani identity have been bailed out, according to the interior ministry records. Mullah Mansoor, along with another man, was killed when a taxicab he was travelling in was targeted by a remotely-piloted American aircraft near Nushki district in Balochistan in May 2016. A Pakistani passport and computerised national identity…
by Stephen Chen in South China Morning Post, Sept 3, 2017 at 8:58pm Police in northwestern China have reportedly launched a formal investigation into a local government official accused of flooding and destroying an entire village to build his own hydropower station. The decision was made late last month, 10 years after the construction of the dam in Shanyang county, Shaanxi province, Huashang Daily reported on Sunday. Liu Minghou, director of Shanyang county’s liaison office…
by Jun Mai in South China Morning Post, Sept 2, 2017 at 11.28pm The mayor of a southern Chinese boom town has come under investigation for corruption just six months into the job. Guangdong’s anti-graft watchdog said on Saturday that Zhuhai mayor Li Zezhong, 47, was suspected of serious violations of Communist Party discipline and was under an internal investigation. The watchdog’s brief online statement gave no further details of the case. “Serious violations of…
by Stephen Chen in South China Morning Post, Sept 3, 2017 at 9.04pm Eight “blood agents” have been sentenced to up to 18 months in jail by a court in Nanning, Guangxi, the local authorities announced on Sunday. The men and women were found guilty of profiting from the underground blood trade, according to the report posted on social media platform Weibo. They distributed cards with phone numbers in the city’s hospitals and targeted patients…