Month: January 2024

Evergrande ordered to be wound up by court in Hong Kong

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A Hong Kong court has ordered China Evergrande to be wound up, in a ruling that opens a new and unpredictable phase in the collapse of the world’s most indebted property developer. Hong Kong High Court Judge Linda Chan issued the liquidation order on Monday after the developer was unable to come up with a restructuring plan that would satisfy international creditors, despite months of negotiations. “It would be a…

Kim Jong Un boosts underwater nuclear threat, urges fast submarine build

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North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test-firing of submarine-launched cruise missiles and ordered officials to expedite the North’s nuclear submarine development, state media reported on Monday.   “In the morning of January 28, Kim Jong Un guided the test-fire of the newly-developed submarine-launched strategic cruise missile ‘Pulhwasal-3-31’,” said the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Sunday that it detected North Korea launching several cruise missiles around 8 a.m., near Sinpo, where the North’s submarine facilities are located. Submarine-launched weapons can be…

Real Estate Giant China Evergrande Will Be Liquidated

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Months after China Evergrande ran out of cash and defaulted in 2021, investors around the world scooped up the property developer’s discounted I.O.U.’s, betting that the Chinese government would eventually step in to bail it out. On Monday it became clear just how misguided that bet was. After two years in limbo, Evergrande was ordered by a court in Hong Kong to liquidate, a move that will set off a race by lawyers to find and grab anything belonging to Evergrande that can be sold. The order is also likely…

Evergrande ordered to liquidate as Hong Kong High Court approves creditors’ bid to wind up world’s most indebted property developer

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China Evergrande Group will be liquidated, after a Hong Kong High Court approved a petition by creditors to wind up the world’s most indebted property developer, making history as the first court-ordered liquidation. Justice Linda Chan granted the winding-up order on Monday morning. The company can still appeal against the order. The provisional liquidator of the company will be named at a 2:30pm hearing today. “The hearing has lasted for one and a half years, and the company still has not been able to bring forward a concrete restructuring proposal”…

Pakistan battles rising terror threat in Afghan border regions

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. For the past two years, Pakistani labourer Nadir Gul has been unable to return to his native Kurram district, on the country’s northern border. The region, just 100km from Kabul, has been riven by terrorist violence since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. “Close family members have died and I couldn’t go home for their funerals,” said Gul, a father of six, who lives with his family in a one-room…

A tree that makes a rare anticancer compound is near extinction. Chinese scientists may have an answer

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Paclitaxel – sold under the brand name Taxol – is a well-known anticancer compound. First discovered in the Pacific yew tree in 1962, paclitaxel is an FDA-approved anticancer drug used to treat breast, ovarian and lung cancer. The drug disturbs the division of cancer cells and in turn blocks cell cycle progression. But despite the success of paclitaxel in clinical applications, it is extremely difficult to obtain. It makes up only about 0.004 per cent of the tree’s bark. The scarcity means that treating a patient with ovarian cancer, for…

Biden says Iran-backed militants killed 3 US troops in drone attack

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Middle Eastern politics & society myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Three US service members have been killed by a drone attack on a military base carried out by “radical Iran-backed militant groups” in north-eastern Jordan, the White House said on Sunday. The deaths mark the first time US troops have been killed in an attack in the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza in October. President Joe Biden said the US would “hold all…

US, China to Resume Stalled Fentanyl Talks in Beijing

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Washington —  U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Beijing Tuesday for their first talks in years to stem the production of ingredients for the drug fentanyl, senior Biden administration officials said. The meeting of the counternarcotics working group comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged during a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in November to clamp down on the trade. “For years bilateral cooperation between the United States and the People’s Republic of China on counternarcotics has been suspended which has hindered our progress,” a U.S. official said.…

Thailand, China Sign Mutual Visa Exemption Deal

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Bangkok, Thailand —  Thailand and China on Sunday signed off on a visa waiver agreement at talks between their foreign ministers as the two countries look to boost ties. The deal inked by Thai foreign minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi allows people from the two nations to travel to one another’s country visa-free from March 1. Thai officials hope the deal will encourage more Chinese to come and boost the kingdom’s vital tourism sector, which has struggled to bounce back from the pandemic. “This agreement is…

North Korea’s Kim Oversaw Test of Cruise Missiles Launched From Submarine: State Media

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Seoul, South Korea —  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test launch of a new strategic cruise missile from a submarine, state media said Monday, the latest tension-raising move by the nuclear-armed state. The two Pulhwasal-3-31 missiles “flew in the sky above the East Sea… to hit the island target” on Sunday, state-run news agency KCNA reported, adding that Kim Jong Un had “guided” the launch. The Pulhwasal-3-31 is a new generation of strategic cruise missile that Pyongyang said it had only tested for the first time on…