Latest news with #Sina
Mint
27-05-2025
- Mint
62-year-old Chinese woman dies after being forced to visit bank in a wheelchair, ignites outrage
The Agricultural Bank of China is under scrutiny after a gravely ill elderly woman, identified as Peng, 62, died outside a branch in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, on May 14. She had been instructed to withdraw money in person. Peng was brought to the bank by her daughter and son-in-law to withdraw 50,000 yuan (approximately US$7,000) for medical treatment. Peng had long battled diabetes and was recently hospitalised after fracturing her leg in a fall, according to Dahe News. Earlier that afternoon, Peng's daughter visited the bank with her mother's identification card and deposit book. However, after multiple failed attempts to enter the correct password, the transaction was blocked. Despite explaining her mother's medical condition, the bank clerk insisted that Peng had to be physically present to proceed. The daughter then contacted her sister, who, along with her husband, brought Peng to the bank in a wheelchair. Despite waiting for an hour, they were still unable to withdraw the funds. Peng, reportedly semi-conscious with her head tilted to one side, was unable to meet the face recognition requirements, which involved movements such as nodding and blinking. Later, her daughters took her outside for fresh air, but tragically, she died at the bank's entrance. Authorities are currently investigating the case, with officials stating that Peng's death was due to a 'sudden outbreak of illness.' An anonymous bank employee told the news portal Sina that Peng's family had not informed the staff about her medical condition. When Peng arrived at the bank and had difficulty complying with the procedures, employees suggested that her daughters take her home to rest, but the family declined. Local police authorities announced that they would release their investigation findings soon. On May 16, Peng's nephew announced that the family had reached an agreement with the bank to settle the issue. The bank agreed to cover Peng's funeral expenses and provide the family with 100,000 yuan (approximately US$14,000) as 'consolation money'. 'The agreement is signed between the bank and my cousin [Peng's daughter]. We will not pursue the matter any further. We are preparing to return to our rural hometown," the nephew stated. This incident has led to heated online discussions regarding the bank's actions. 'Why did not the bank release its surveillance footage to the public? I am sure it has high-quality cameras installed. Instead of sharing the footage, it chose to offer 100,000 yuan to settle the issue. Does this indicate a guilty conscience?' one online user mentioned.
Mint
27-05-2025
- Mint
62-year-old woman dies after forced to visit bank in a wheelchair, ignites outrage
The Agricultural Bank of China is being scrutinised after a gravely ill elderly woman, identified as Peng, 62, died outside a branch on May 14 at the branch in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, following instructions to withdraw money in person. She was brought to the bank by her daughter and son-in-law to withdraw 50,000 yuan (approximately US$7,000) for her medical treatment. Peng had long battled diabetes and was recently hospitalised after fracturing her leg in a fall, according to Dahe News. Peng's daughter visited the bank that afternoon carrying her mother's identification card and deposit book. However, after multiple failed attempts to enter the correct password, the transaction was blocked. Despite explaining her mother's medical condition, the bank clerk maintained that Peng had to be physically present to proceed. The daughter then contacted her sister, who, along with her husband, brought Peng to the bank in a wheelchair. Despite waiting for an hour, they were still unable to withdraw the funds. Peng, reportedly semi-conscious with her head tilted to one side, was unable to meet the face recognition requirements, which involved movements such as nodding and blinking. Later, her daughters took her outside for fresh air, but tragically, she died at the bank's entrance. Authorities are currently investigating the case, with officials stating that Peng's death was due to a 'sudden outbreak of illness.' An anonymous bank employee told the news portal Sina that Peng's family had not informed staff about her medical condition. When Peng arrived at the bank and had difficulty complying with the procedures, employees suggested that her daughters take her home to rest, but the family declined. Local police authorities announced that they would release their investigation findings soon. On May 16, Peng's nephew announced that the family had come to an agreement with the bank to settle the issue. The bank agreed to cover Peng's funeral expenses and provide the family with 100,000 yuan (approximately US$14,000) as 'consolation money'. 'The agreement is signed between the bank and my cousin [Peng's daughter]. We will not pursue the matter any further. We are preparing to return to our rural hometown," the newphew stated. This incident has led to heated online discussions regarding the bank's actions. 'Why did not the bank release its surveillance footage to the public? I am sure it has high-quality cameras installed. Instead of sharing the footage, it chose to offer 100,000 yuan to settle the issue. Does this indicate a guilty conscience?' one online user mentioned. On the other hand, another person questioned Peng's family, asking, 'Could it be that her daughters were complicating matters at the bank by bringing their mother despite her health condition?'
Independent Singapore
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Independent Singapore
Zhang Ziyi seen in a wheelchair after falling on stage at film awards
Zhang Ziyi removed a fan from her fanclub group chat after he posted an offensive post. Picture: Instagram CHINA: Zhang Ziyi, a famous Chinese actress, recently had a fall at a movie awards show in China. According to VnExpress, she tripped over some electric wire and took a tumble right on stage. She ended up needing a wheelchair to get around afterwards. Photo: Instagram screengrab/zhangziyi_official By Tuesday, the incident blew up online and became one of the most talked-about things on Weibo, which is like the Chinese version of Twitter. The actress was dressed in a long black gown and 15-centimetre-high heels, and she lost her balance and stumbled while coming down from the stage. According to Sina, fellow celebrities Jackie Chan and Wang Yibo who were in front of her then rushed back to assist her up. Spotted at high-speed train station A few days after the awards show, a netizen posted the video online, saying that he ran into Zhang Ziyi at the high-speed railway station. In addition, the netizen said that the actress was sitting in a wheelchair and being pushed by staff. The netizen said it seems that the actress fell hard. In the footage, Zhang wears loose black attire, a face mask, and sunglasses. According to The Epoch Times , even though you could tell Zhang was pretty worn out, she seems calm and doesn't show any signs of being upset or in pain. She is keeping it together, all things considered. Nothing serious Zhang's manager, Ji Lingling, chatted with Hongxing News and gave everyone a bit of a sigh of relief. Basically, she said Zhang went to the hospital for an X-ray, and the good news is that it doesn't seem like anything serious is broken or anything. Once the news got out, social media just blew up with messages from fans. Everyone who loves the 46-year-old actress was sending their well wishes and saying they were worried about her. They talked about how female celebrities face dangers when wearing high heels during public appearances. One wrote that she herself cannot even stand in heels that high, let alone walk. Another netizen wrote to Zhang, asking her to give caution given her age. Zhang Ziyi is a huge star in Chinese movies, and she's been a familiar face on the big screen for over two decades now. Making a lasting impression Movies like Crouching Tiger , House of Flying Daggers , and Memoirs of a Geisha – they weren't just regular films. They were massive! They're the reason a lot of people around the world went, 'Wow, who is that actress?' Zhang Ziyi really made a name for herself globally with those roles. She definitely left a lasting impression. She, however, hasn't worked on any globally recognised projects in recent years. Back in 2023, Zhang got divorced from singer Wang Feng. They had two kids together, and it seems like the children are currently living with Zhang. Zhang Ziyi (or 章子怡 in Chinese), a really famous and well-respected actress and model from China, was born in Beijing on February 9, 1979. She gained international recognition for her versatility and beauty, becoming one of the 'Four Dan Actresses' of China. Her very first acting gig was in a TV movie called Touching Starlight back in 1996. But her big break on the movie scene came a few years later, in 1999, with the film The Road Home , directed by Zhang Yimou. In 2000, Zhang excelled in the role for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards. She has been consistently ranked among the top celebrities in the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2005, who called her 'China's gift to Hollywood.'
NDTV
01-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Epicenter Of Iranian Port Blast Tied To Charity With Links To Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei
Dubai: The explosion that rocked an Iranian port, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 1,000 others, had its epicenter at a facility ultimately owned by a charitable foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office. That foundation, known as Bonyad Mostazafan, faces American sanctions over it helping the 86-year-old Khamenei "to enrich his office, reward his political allies and persecute the regime's enemies," the U.S. Treasury has said. Its top personnel also have direct ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Tehran's ballistic missile arsenal and operations abroad targeting the Islamic Republic's enemies. Those associations come as authorities still haven't offered a cause for the blast Saturday at the Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas. The port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles - something denied by authorities though local reports now increasingly point toward a mysterious, highly explosive cargo being delivered there. "It's known that Iran has been doing all kinds of sanctions busting and so on in order to supply their weapons program," said Andrea Sella, a professor of chemistry at the University College London. "The surprising thing is the fact that this cargo, given that it's a highly energetic material ... was sitting right in the middle of the port warehousing area." He added: "That strikes me as nuts." Bonyads Hold Vast Economic Power In Iran A bonyad, the Farsi word for "foundation," wields tremendous power in Iran. The bonyads take their root in foundations set up by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during his rule. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini set up the bonyads to manage those assets, as well as companies seized from supporters of the shah and religious minorities, like the Baha'i and Jews. Bonyad Mostazafan, or the "Foundation of the Oppressed," is believed to be the largest in the country by assets, with a 2008 U.S. Congressional Research Service report suggesting it represented 10% of Iran's entire gross domestic product at the time. The Treasury in 2020 put its worth into the billions of dollars. Its network includes interests in mining, railroads, energy, steel and shipping through its Sina Port and Marine Services Development Co. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show the epicenter of Saturday's explosion struck just next to Sina's terminal at the port, shredding the facility and the containers stacked nearby. Late Sunday, Iran's semiofficial ILNA news agency quoted Saeed Jafari, the CEO of Sina, as saying there had been false statements about the cargo that detonated, which he called "very dangerous." "The incident happened following a false statement about the dangerous goods and delivering it without documents and tags," Jafari said. He didn't elaborate and access to the site has been restricted by authorities since the blast. Mostazafan Has Direct Ties To The Guard, Security Forces Since its creation, Bonyard Mostazafan has been linked to the Guard. Its current president, Hossein Dehghan, reached the rank of general in the Guard and serves as a military adviser to Khamenei. Other leaders in the foundation's history have had direct and indirect ties back to the Guard. The U.S. Treasury separately describes the foundation as having business relationships or cash transactions with the country's police, the Defense Ministry and the Guard as well. "Mostazafan has de-facto been functioning as the IRGC's 'money box,' whereby its financial assets and resources are made available to senior IRGC commanders, not least to fund terrorist activities," alleges United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based pressure group, using an acronym for the Guard. In sanctioning Bonyad Mostazafan in 2020, the first Trump administration described the foundation as being used by Khamenei to "line the pockets of his allies." "Despite its outsized influence in the Iranian economy, Bonyad Mostazafan operates outside of government oversight and, due to a 1993 decree by the Supreme Leader, is exempt from paying taxes on its multibillion-dollar earnings," the U.S. Treasury said. The foundation says its affiliated companies pay taxes. US Issues Sanctions Over China-To-Iran Chemical Shipments On Tuesday, the Treasury issued new sanctions on China and Iran over the transshipment of sodium perchlorate and dioctyl sebacate to the Islamic Republic. Sodium perchlorate is used to produce ammonium perchlorate, a key ingredient to make solid fuel for ballistic missiles. The Treasury identified one individual from an Iranian firm as being linked to the Guard. The Financial Times in January first reported that two loads of sodium perchlorate were coming to Iran from China. Tracking data showed that one of the ships identified as carrying the load was near Shahid Rajaei in recent weeks. The private security firm Ambrey separately said that the port received the sodium perchlorate, which is described as a white, sand-like solid. Iranian Defense Ministry spokesperson Gen. Reza Talaeinik denied earlier this week that missile fuel had been imported through the port. Iranian Cabinet spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani separately described the explosion Wednesday as coming from "human error, probably." However, no official in Iran has offered any explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. A reddish cloud could be seen in surveillance camera footage before the blast Saturday. That suggests a chemical compound like ammonia being involved in the blast, like the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in which ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded. That cloud also resembled one seen in footage from a 1988 massive explosion in Nevada at the PEPCON plant that killed two people and injured hundreds. PEPCON, or the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada, made rocket fuel for NASA and had accumulated ammonium perchlorate that went unused after the Challenger disaster, leading to the blast. Similar reddish smoke could be seen just before a 2013 explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant filled with ammonium nitrate that killed 15 people. Sella, the chemistry professor, said the reddish cloud likely was nitrogen dioxide, which can be produced when burning ammonium perchlorate or ammonium nitrate. However, the reports about the missile fuel shipment suggests it was ammonium perchlorate, he said.
Politico
01-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
Epicenter of explosion at Iranian port tied to charity overseen by its supreme leader
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The explosion that rocked an Iranian port, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 1,000 others, had its epicenter at a facility ultimately owned by a charitable foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office. That foundation, known as Bonyad Mostazafan, faces American sanctions over it helping the 86-year-old Khamenei 'to enrich his office, reward his political allies and persecute the regime's enemies,' the U.S. Treasury has said. Its top personnel also have direct ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Tehran's ballistic missile arsenal and operations abroad targeting the Islamic Republic's enemies. Those associations come as authorities still haven't offered a cause for the blast Saturday at the Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas. The port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles — something denied by authorities though local reports now increasingly point toward a mysterious, highly explosive cargo being delivered there. 'It's known that Iran has been doing all kinds of sanctions busting and so on in order to supply their weapons program,' said Andrea Sella, a professor of chemistry at the University College London. 'The surprising thing is the fact that this cargo, given that it's a highly energetic material ... was sitting right in the middle of the port warehousing area.' He added: 'That strikes me as nuts.' A bonyad, the Farsi word for 'foundation,' wields tremendous power in Iran. The bonyads take their root in foundations set up by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during his rule. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini set up the bonyads to manage those assets, as well as companies seized from supporters of the shah and religious minorities, like the Baha'i and Jews. Bonyad Mostazafan, or the 'Foundation of the Oppressed,' is believed to be the largest in the country by assets, with a 2008 U.S. Congressional Research Service report suggesting it represented 10% of Iran's entire gross domestic product at the time. The Treasury in 2020 put its worth into the billions of dollars. Its network includes interests in mining, railroads, energy, steel and shipping through its Sina Port and Marine Services Development Co. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show the epicenter of Saturday's explosion struck just next to Sina's terminal at the port, shredding the facility and the containers stacked nearby. Late Sunday, Iran's semiofficial ILNA news agency quoted Saeed Jafari, the CEO of Sina, as saying there had been false statements about the cargo that detonated, which he called 'very dangerous.' 'The incident happened following a false statement about the dangerous goods and delivering it without documents and tags,' Jafari said. He didn't elaborate and access to the site has been restricted by authorities since the blast. Since its creation, Bonyard Mostazafan has been linked to the Guard. Its current president, Hossein Dehghan, reached the rank of general in the Guard and serves as a military adviser to Khamenei. Other leaders in the foundation's history have had direct and indirect ties back to the Guard. The U.S. Treasury separately describes the foundation as having business relationships or cash transactions with the country's police, the Defense Ministry and the Guard as well. 'Mostazafan has de-facto been functioning as the IRGC's 'money box,' whereby its financial assets and resources are made available to senior IRGC commanders, not least to fund terrorist activities,' alleges United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based pressure group, using an acronym for the Guard. In sanctioning Bonyad Mostazafan in 2020, the first Trump administration described the foundation as being used by Khamenei to 'line the pockets of his allies.' 'Despite its outsized influence in the Iranian economy, Bonyad Mostazafan operates outside of government oversight and, due to a 1993 decree by the Supreme Leader, is exempt from paying taxes on its multibillion-dollar earnings,' the U.S. Treasury said. The foundation says its affiliated companies pay taxes. On Tuesday, the Treasury issued new sanctions on China and Iran over the transshipment of sodium perchlorate and dioctyl sebacate to the Islamic Republic. Sodium perchlorate is used to produce ammonium perchlorate, a key ingredient to make solid fuel for ballistic missiles. The Treasury identified one individual from an Iranian firm as being linked to the Guard. The Financial Times in January first reported that two loads of sodium perchlorate were coming to Iran from China. Tracking data showed that one of the ships identified as carrying the load was near Shahid Rajaei in recent weeks. The private security firm Ambrey separately said that the port received the sodium perchlorate, which is described as a white, sand-like solid. Iranian Defense Ministry spokesperson Gen. Reza Talaeinik denied earlier this week that missile fuel had been imported through the port. Iranian Cabinet spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani separately described the explosion Wednesday as coming from 'human error, probably.' However, no official in Iran has offered any explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. A reddish cloud could be seen in surveillance camera footage before the blast Saturday. That suggests a chemical compound like ammonia being involved in the blast, like the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in which ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded. That cloud also resembled one seen in footage from a 1988 massive explosion in Nevada at the PEPCON plant that killed two people and injured hundreds. PEPCON, or the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada, made rocket fuel for NASA and had accumulated ammonium perchlorate that went unused after the Challenger disaster, leading to the blast. Similar reddish smoke could be seen just before a 2013 explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant filled with ammonium nitrate that killed 15 people. Sella, the chemistry professor, said the reddish cloud likely was nitrogen dioxide, which can be produced when burning ammonium perchlorate or ammonium nitrate. However, the reports about the missile fuel shipment suggests it was ammonium perchlorate, he said.
