Twenty-five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the year, compared with 50 in all of 2020
Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesday expelled an Antigua-registered ship that entered the island's territory without declaring a radioactive cargo bound for China.
Tesla said sorry and back-pedalled on its “no compromise” attitude towards what it called “unreasonable” customer grievance, as it succumbed to pressure on social media by some of its most important buyers and local authorities in the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. The apology, issued late on Tuesday night, came a day after a protest at the Shanghai Auto Show, where a woman wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “brake malfunction” and a Tesla logo jumped on top of the carmaker’s vehicle. She was eventually dragged away by security guards. “We are deeply sorry for the delay in resolving the owner’s issue,” Tesla said on its official account on the Weibo microblog site. “We always try our best to actively communicate with our [customers], look for solutions and we will fulfil our responsibility.”Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. The about-turn in Tesla’s public relations management underscores the importance of China’s market to the carmaker’s sales, and its stock price. Tesla delivered a record 184,800 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, buoyed by rising demand in China, where the carmaker sold 68,982 vehicles, or 37.3 per cent of global deliveries in the same period. “Users’ complaints about the quality of its Chinese-made cars are sounding an alarm at Tesla,” said Eric Han, a senior manager with the business advisory firm Shanghai Suolei. “It is not enough to knock down Tesla’s sales, but it does damage its image.” For now, Tesla remains the runaway winner in delivering premium electric vehicles in China, priced more than 300,000 yuan (US$46,160) in the mainland’s premium EV segment. Gigafactory 3 delivered 35,478 vehicles in March, more than double the 17,259 electric cars delivered by Tesla’s three New York-listed Chinese competitors NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto. Monday’s protest at the premier trade show of the world’s largest vehicle market was not Tesla’s first run-in against Chinese public opinion. The carmaker was named last December by the online technology media PingWest, which cited unnamed former and current employees in describing its US$2 billion factory a “Giga-sweatshop,” along with claims that Tesla had used substandard components in its locally assembled Model 3 vehicles. Tesla denied the accusations and said it would sue PingWest. Tesla’s executives were hauled before five ministry-level authorities in February, and grilled about the quality of its Shanghai-made Model 3s. The carmaker, which delivered 140,000 Model 3s last year, pledged to “make rectifications,” according to media reports. In the same month, Tesla apologised to China’s State Grid – the state-owned utility – for “misleading consumers” in a war of words over what damaged the inverters on a batch of Model 3 vehicles. Another Chinese Tesla challenger? Geely launches its first electric car Monday’s protest stunt at the Shanghai Auto Show quickly snowballed, as video clips of the yelling woman on the roof of a Model 3 quickly went viral. It did not take long for China’s state media to weigh in on Tesla, after the carmaker maintained on Monday that it would “not compromise” on “unreasonable” customer complaints. “Who gave Tesla the courage to not compromise?” asked a headline on an article published on Tuesday morning by Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government’s mouthpiece media. Changanjian, the social media account operated by China’s top law enforcement agency, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, beseeched Tesla to “respect Chinese consumers and comply with local laws and regulations.” “Where is Tesla’s responsibility, if the pioneering carmaker cannot provide safe products and cannot provide solutions to users when issues emerge?” according to the blog. Tesla Shanghai’s vice-president Tao Lin, who heads the carmaker’s communications and government affairs, was absent at an April 21 panel discussion about supply chains at the 2021 Boao Forum for Asia conference in Hainan, in which she was originally scheduled to speak. In its response, Tesla said it “respects and firmly complies with decisions of the relevant government departments, respects consumers, abides by laws and regulations, and actively cooperates with all investigations by government authorities,” according to the carmaker’s statement. “Tesla, as always, is grateful for the trust and tolerance given by our consumers, netizens and media friends, and listens attentively to suggestions as well as criticisms.” Additional reporting from Orange Wang at the 2021 Boao Forum for Asia in HainanMore from South China Morning Post:Tesla protest at Shanghai Auto Show 2021 ends with woman dragged off by security after climbing onto car and shoutingTesla drops lawsuit against former engineer, ending theft allegations that dragged in Chinese competitor XpengChinese Tesla rival NIO targets Europe with its smart EVs as it takes a first step towards going globalTesla, recharge: can China’s EV brands dethrone Elon Musk? Start-ups Li Auto, Nio and Xpeng are going global with cheaper electric cars for allTesla’s Chinese rival Xpeng ups the self-driving game with world’s first mass-produced LiDAR in P5 sedan, defying Elon MuskThis article Tesla says sorry to Chinese buyers in U-turn to its ‘no compromise’ on ‘unreasonable’ customer grievances as pressure mounts on social media and state press first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
Kwa Kim Li, a cousin of PM Lee, faces complaints on her conduct in the preparation of the late Lee Kuan Yew's will.
A 90-year-old Hong Kong woman has been conned out of US$32million by fraudsters posing as Chinese officials, police said, in the city's biggest recorded phone scam.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, stressing that millions of lives were at stake from fresh fighting the separatist conflict.
A Mrs World winner facing criminal charges after an on-stage fracas at a Sri Lankan beauty pageant has relinquished her title, organisers said Wednesday.
The Arab League, United Nations, European Union and the African Union on Tuesday demanded an immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Libya.
Gather your family or friends, fire up the barbecue, and relive the good ol’ days when COVID-19 wasn’t even heard of and chalet staycations were all the rage. Don’t get me wrong, hotels are a great option for a local getaway but sometimes all you […] The post Affordable Chalet Staycations From $120 A Night appeared first on SingSaver Blog - We Compare, You Save.
At least 49 passengers on a flight from New Delhi to Hong Kong have tested positive for coronavirus, authorities said, as the financial hub introduced an emergency ban on all flights from India in a crackdown over a new wave of cases.All of the passengers who tested positive flew into Hong Kong on a flight run by Indian operator Vistara on April 4.
Australia on Wednesday announced it would revoke a state government's deal to join China's Belt and Road Initiative, saying it was inconsistent with the nation's foreign policy.
A police manhunt is under way for a gang of attackers who assaulted two men with bamboo poles on a Hong Kong street in the early hours of Wednesday. A video circulating online shows several assailants beating the two victims with one- to two-metre-long poles as they lay in the road, trying to shield themselves from the blows with their arms. The footage also captured the aftermath of the attack, showing one of the victims lying on the ground with his face covered in blood when police arrived.Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Five students among 22 arrested following illegal drugs and liquor seizure Officers were called to Yee Kuk Street in Sham Shui Po after receiving a report of fighting from a passer-by at 1.41am. One of the victims, a 37-year-old man, suffered injuries to his forehead, right forearm and right knee. According to police, the other man, aged 36, was his colleague, and was experiencing pain all over his body after the attack. The pair were taken to Caritas Medical Centre in the same district for treatment. Officers combed the area, but no arrests were made. Police are searching for eight to 10 men in connection with the attack, according to the force. Elderly man dies in hospital after being rescued from burning flat in Sham Shui Po A police source said the two victims had been heading home after a night of heavy drinking at the time of the attack. “We believe they had had a dispute with the others while on the way home, and then they were assaulted,” the source said. The bamboo poles used in the attack were recovered at the scene, and officers have checked surveillance camera footage from the area to gather evidence. Detectives from the Sham Shui Po criminal investigation unit are handling the case. In 2020, police dealt with 3,514 reports of serious assault across the city. There were 3,902 cases the previous year. This article Hong Kong police seek gang of assailants who attacked pair with bamboo poles in Sham Shui Po first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday thanked well-wishers for their messages of support after the death of her husband, Prince Philip, as she turned 95 and spent her first birthday without him in more than seven decades.
Some applauded her friend for censoring bum and exposed skin. This article, Beauty influencer sorry for ‘dragging’ Islamic evangelist in sexy photo-op, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had hoped a fight over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed would result in an easy win -- placating the ultra-conservative quarters at home while being hailed as a defender of Islam abroad.
The United States said Monday it was reimposing sanctions on nine state-owned companies in Belarus after strongman Alexander Lukashenko ignored warnings to release political prisoners rounded up from democracy protests.
A man who tried to force a sexual act on his seven-year-old stepdaughter was sentenced to eight years and six months' jail and 12 strokes of the cane on Wednesday (21 April).
At least 53 passengers on a flight from New Delhi to Hong Kong have tested positive for coronavirus, authorities said Tuesday, as the Chinese financial hub introduced an emergency ban on arrivals from India over a new wave of cases.
SpaceX is preparing to carry four astronauts to a crowded International Space Station on Thursday, in the second routine mission since the United States resumed crewed space flight, and the first with a European.
The European Union does not want to see the strategic rivalry between China and the United States develop into a cold war and will seek to cooperate with all parties in the Indo-Pacific region, a senior Brussels official said on Tuesday. On Monday the EU adopted its first joint strategy for the Indo-Pacific, which said that while it was committed to closer cooperation with the US, it also acknowledged the need to engage and work with China on many matters of common interests.Gunnar Wiegand, the managing director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic and defence department, told an online conference that the bloc was adopting a “European approach” to the region and was looking after its own interests.He said Europe had learned many lessons from the Cold War – where many of its members found themselves on different sides of the Iron Curtain – and said: “We certainly have no interest as Europeans to see the world falling back into anything like a cold war [or] a hot war. So we will always promote cooperation over confrontation.” Life after Merkel: Germany’s ties with China head into the unknown He also said many others in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Association of Southeast Asian States, also want to avoid having to take sides.The EU recently introduced sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in Xinjiang – prompting retaliatory measures from Beijing and increasing the uncertainty about whether the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment would be approved by the European Council and Parliament.Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. But Wiegand said this issue was separate from the EU’s Indo-Pacific policy, adding that the deal was in the interests of European companies with interests in China and would leave them better placed to compete with US and Chinese businesses. “I’m not optimistic. I’m not pessimistic. When the right time comes, everybody will have to take their own decisions and responsibility,” he said. Wiegand identified climate change as the key area where the EU wanted to cooperate with China, citing its role as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and in tackling plastic waste. He added that Europe hoped for broad-based cooperation with partners in the region on other policy areas, including health and research. EU drops plans to punish China over Hong Kong electoral reform The EU document also implied there would be a greater European naval presence in the region, including the disputed South China Sea, with France, Germany and the Netherlands planning to send or considering sending warships there. Wiegand said the security of maritime supply routes was a vital strategic interest for Europe.More from South China Morning Post:China’s defence minister on Europe mission as US tries to rally NatoWhy US and China’s push to set up rival power blocs are likely to failPhilippine defence officials deny threat to withdraw support from Rodrigo Duterte over South China Sea row with BeijingMerkel backs Xi on need to avoid new cold war, but presses China on human rights, transparencyChina likely to respond in kind to EU sanctions on Xinjiang, observers sayThis article Europe ‘doesn’t want to see a new cold war between China and US’ first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
Moscow's military build-up on the border with Ukraine is even bigger than in 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday, describing the deployment as "very seriously concerning."
