The short biography and a recent photo of Li Zhongkai posted online in October along with a number of other officials in Yunnan who had been promoted has gone viral after many internet users argued that he looked to be in his fifties or sixties.

However, that biography states he was born in August 1980, which would mean he celebrated his 38th birthday earlier this year.

Some speculated that he had faked his age to advance his career but others more charitably suggested that the strains of the job had caused him to age prematurely.

Li, the party head in Wanbi town, told state-owned news portal Thepaper.cn on Friday: “I totally didn’t see it coming. [I am] really surprised. My hair has turned grey for a while.”

Some people believe the practice of officials lying about their age to advance their careers is commonplace in some rural areas, and some cadres caught doing so have been dismissed from their posts.

The local government of Dayao county insisted the information about his age was accurate.

“He faces a lot of pressure working to eliminate poverty in the villages,” an unnamed official in Dayao county told Thepaper.

“His workload is heavy, like other village officials.”

“All of the town or village officials are the same,” said Li. “We work long hours and have an irregular diet.”

Li, who has been promoted to become deputy head of the local branch of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, told the news portal he has been responsible for lifting villagers out of poverty since 2015.

The remote mountainous area where he works is one of the poorest in the province.

Chuxiong, the region that includes Dayao county, had a GDP of 722 billion yuan (US$10.4 billion) in the first nine months this year.

This is a fifth of the total for Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province, according to the statistics authorities.

But at least Li’s work appears to be paying off. According to the local government one-third of households in Wanbi lived below the poverty line before Li took the job, but that number has since fallen to 12 per cent.

Ms Martine Taccia posted a video on Facebook of two stray dogs enjoying the warmth provided by the rugs at the store in Catania.

“A good initiative to shelter the strays while it’s raining outside,” she wrote in Italian in the post on Nov 11.

“My reaction was pure amazement,” Ms Taccia told animal news website The Dodo. “It’s not a common thing.”

The video has garnered more than 900,000 views.

She added that the dogs are fed and pampered daily by Ikea employees and customers, some of whom have even adopted some of the strays.

Another customer, Ms Beppe Liotta, told The Dodo: “I felt great happiness at seeing dogs crouched in the exhibition space at the entrance of the Ikea.”

Many others have shared photos of the dogs at the store on social media.

This is not the first time the Swedish furniture retailer has been associated with animal welfare.

In 2014, Ikea partnered animal welfare groups in a project called Home For Hope, where standing displays of dogs were placed among the store’s furniture to attract potential adopters. Ikea outlets that took part in the campaign included those in the United States and Singapore.

He was seen entering the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters at 9.22am on Monday (Nov 19) and left about four hours later at 1.15 pm accompanied by police.

Najib has been to the MACC head office several times previously to assist in the investigation into several cases, the last time being on Nov 8.

Najib is already facing close to 40 court charges of corruption, money laundering and power abuse.

His wife Rosmah Mansor has already been charged with two counts of corruption over the project, said to be worth RM1.25 billion (S$410 million).

Rosmah is said to have committed the offence between March and April 2016.

She has been accused of soliciting for herself a RM187.5 million bribe from Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, through her former aide Rizal Mansor.

The money was to be the reward for helping Jepak Holdings obtain a project, through direct negotiations with the Education Ministry, for installing solar hybrid systems and for maintenance and operation of diesel generators for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

It is not known what caused this to happen on the Boeing 777-300ER plane.

According to FlightRadar24, Flight SQ336 bound for Paris had climbed to 24,000 feet and was over Malaysia when it turned back towards Singapore.

Oxygen masks were deployed and the aircraft descended to 6,000 feet, The Straits Times understands.

The aircraft had to circle for about an hour to dump fuel before it could land.

Confirming the incident, an SIA spokesman said there were 234 passengers and 17 crew on board the aircraft. No injuries were reported.

At Changi Airport, emergency vehicles were standing by to receive the flight. The plane touched down at around 2.30am.

Following an aircraft change, the flight departed Singapore at 6am and is scheduled to arrive in Paris at 12.17pm (Paris time), SIA said.

SQ336 was originally scheduled to arrive in Paris at 7.15am (Paris Time).

A passenger who posted photos taken inside the plane on Twitter said they had been transferred to the SIA flight after an Air France service they were booked on was cancelled due to technical issues.

Company executives and local officials – including municipal committee members of the governing Communist Party of China – often mentioned their cities’ high GDP growth rate, their businesses’ advanced technologies, their high rankings among the leading players in areas they excel, and the fact that they are “the first” in such and such area.

It seems that individually those cities and companies are competing among themselves for dominance and recognition, both on the domestic and international grounds. But collectively, they are among the small and large engines that are powering the Chinese economy, which has now become the second largest in the world. Without contributions from those cities and businesses, China as a whole would not have achieved the kind of growth and wealth it has enjoyed over the past decades.

The trip, which covered the cities of Hangzhou and Jining, was organised by the state-run English-language newspaper China Daily. Twenty journalists from Asia, Europe and Africa were invited.

Hangzhou and Jining are both proud of their history and culture that date back several millennia. In the present days, both are focusing on digital and data industries, which have become the main driving force behind their economic growth.

In Hangzhou, city officials do not forget to tell visiting journalists that when merchant traveller Marco Polo went there in the 13th century, he called it the “best city on earth”.

The capital of eastern Zhejiang province in the Yangtze River delta, Hangzhou was the capital of the Song Dynasty and is home to two Unesco World Heritage Sites – West Lake and Grand Canal. The city hosted the G20 Summit in 2016 and will hold the next Asian Games in 2022.

Portraying itself as an “innovative city”, Hangzhou houses the headquarters of global e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, digital solutions provider New H3C Group, and start-up hub Dream Town.

Dream Town, initiated in 2014 and acting as an incubator for startup ventures, has attracted over 10,000 tech hopefuls and entrepreneurs, including many non-Chinese. It offers successful applicants free office space, cash subsidies and training. And the startup hub now is already home to hundreds of small businesses in such areas as e-commerce, mobile gaming, Internet of things (IoT), virtual reality and car networking.

Thanks to its location near the sea, Hangzhou is also a key point in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which the Chinese government is promoting as the “21st-Century Silk Road” linking countries in Europe, Asia and Africa in terms of trade and investment.

Jining, a major city in Shandong province, is renowned as the hometown of ancient philosophers Confucius and Mencius. Also, it is regarded as a crucible of Chinese civilisation and Confucian culture.

At present, industrial parks have sprung up in Jining, which is home to many production centres for engineering machinery, biotechnology and textile materials. The city has attracted investments from top global companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Siemens while cradling home-grown companies that are expanding overseas.

Prominent among these ambitious Chinese firms are luxury garment company Shandong Ruyi, papermaking company Sun Paper Group, and machine-maker Yonghua Machinery.

Ruyi, claiming to be the “Chinese Louis Vuitton”, started acquiring world-famous fashion brands in Japan, France and the United Kingdom since 2010 including Bally, Durban, Lycra and Cerruti 1881. Last year, it was ranked 16th among Deloitte’s top 100 luxury groups and aims to become one of the top-10 globally-known fashion groups with annual sales of 100 billion yuan (Bt500 billion), according to a company executive.

At Yonghua Machinery, a spokesperson said the company has a technology that allows the production of metal parts for “intelligent equipment” with extremely high precision. “We are the second best in the world, after Germany. Now our technology is equal with Japan’s,” she told the visiting journalists.

Sun Paper claims to be the largest papermaking company in China and among the world’s top 20. The company, which hires more than 10,000 employees, has an annual production capacity of 7.5 million tonnes of pulp and paper. Its myriad products range from tissue paper and baby napkins to printing paper and packages. Not surprisingly, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of paper products.

Jining also houses Huawei Big Data Centre, one of more than 30 cloud computing service stations the Chinese technology giant sets up around China. The centre covers an area of 24,000 square metres for over 1,000 cloud server cabinets, with a storage capacity of 700 petabytes (about 700 million gigabytes).

“This data centre is like the brains for the city,” Zhang Tongzhong, project manager of Huawei Technologies, said proudly at the Jining data centre.

The survey is done in 137 countries. Japan is ranked 10 globally and thus highest in Asia in terms of the judicial freedom. It is followed by Singapore (19) and Malaysia (33).

India is ranked 41 in terms of judicial independence. The country has seen some conflicts in terms of the judiciary being biased owing to political affiliation.  It is followed by China ranked 45 and Indonesia ranked 50.

Thailand is ranked 61 globally. Analysts say the country needs judicial reforms to contribute to the improvement of judicial improvement and better and partial accessibility. Thai “judiciary needs sufficiently to be empowered and independent to play that constitutional role, while showing both sufficient integrity to avoid corruption and sufficient restraint not to overreach into the political realm”.

South Korea is ranked 63 followed closely by Brunei ranked 64 and Laos (69).

Judiciary in Pakistan has always been in turmoil for not only lacking independence but also ‘abetting the consolidation of illegal powers’.  The government has made significant efforts to keep the judiciary week and under control. The other two South Asian countries Sri Lanka and Nepal are ranked 72 and 88 respectively.  Nepal is followed by Vietnam (89) and Bangladesh (93).

The judiciary in Philippines has been termed to be ‘under attack’. The United Nations Rapporteur recently stated that there was a “worrisome deterioration of the rule of law and that the independence of justice in the Philippines is under attack”.  It is ranked 105 followed by Mongolia at 113.

Judiciary in Cambodia is the least independent from government influences and the corruption in the judiciary is stated to be endemic. The rights groups have always criticised the government for undermining the independence of courts.

The Silent Mentor programme was introduced by Professor Dr Chin Kin Fah, chairman and founding director of the Academy for Silent Mentor in Malaysia, on March 23, 2012. This programme encourages donors to donate their bodies after death.

Donors have selflessly donated their bodies for the advancement of medical research, education and training, motivated by love for mankind.

The technology of rapid freezing, followed by a surgical dissection model that is comparable to operating on a live human being, provides an opportunity for realistic surgical training without risk to the patient.

The Silent Mentor programme is not solely a medical programme as it is underpinned by empathy teaching. This benefits the participants, primarily medical students, in learning soft skills in a holistic environment. It also supports their quest to be better doctors of tomorrow.

On July 29, I attended an Appreciation and Initiation ceremony for my beloved late sister, Jaclyn Lim Chooi Li, who had signed up to be an i.Silent Mentor. On that day, it had been exactly 383 days since my sixth sister left the family to mourn our loss. It was surreal yet profoundly emotional to be able to see her physical body again. Her body had undergone embalmment for a period of one year and was undergoing deep freezing for treatment.

Since she left us, not a day goes by without all of us missing her deeply. She will always be cherished by her loved ones who include her mum, remaining six sisters, her son Bryan and all her nieces and nephews who regarded her as their “coolest aunt”.

Jaclyn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. After intense treatment, including mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation, she recovered and was in remission for eight years.

Unfortunately, life continues to throw us “curveballs” when we least expect it. She suffered a relapse with bone cancer, followed by the devastating news that the cancer had metastasised to her liver, and then stomach and lungs. We lost her on July 10 last year despite her courageous battle against the disease with numerous surgeries and aggressive chemotherapy sessions for the six months before that.

Being a generous and compassionate person, Jaclyn had pledged to be an organ donor while she was alive. However, as a cancer survivor, her desire to be an organ donor could no longer be fulfilled. As such, when Prof Dr Chin approached her to participate in the Silent Mentor programme, she did not hesitate to sign up. She realised this was an alternative way for her to continue to do good with her life and body.

Regardless of the race or religious beliefs of Silent Mentors, the teachers, all students and the Academy for Silent Mentor pay them the utmost gratitude, respect and love. Not only do the Silent Mentors pledge to donate their bodies, they also share their life stories that become a teaching tool for liberal arts and humanities educational programmes.

Upon signing the pledge on the Pledge Stone, they reaffirm the core values of an i.Silent Mentor: truth, goodness and beauty.

It was on the long train journey along the scenic East coast of Scotland that Prof Dr Chin felt the grace of God descend upon him. He was travelling back from an interview for admission into the medical school at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. At that precise moment, he realised he was on the path to becoming a doctor to look after the living. However, never did he imagine that he would also care for the dead.

UTAR’s MBBS students, who organised the Appreciation and Initiation ceremony, shared their thoughts regarding Jaclyn and the Silent Mentor programme:

> “What makes the programme unique is the character portrayed by the Silent Mentor. Compassion, empathy, love, self-sacrifice and the caring heart were the qualities the Silent Mentor has shown to his or her family members, relatives, friends and the public throughout their lifetime.”

> “Medical students can learn a lot from the Silent Mentor through their life history and the qualities they possess that (also) reflect the character of a good medical doctor.”

> “Donating our bodies is most joyful. Learning that our families and loved ones would always be proud of who we were, we never really die.”

> “The action of donating our bodies is subtle but never silent. It preaches to the children to be selfless; it reminds the living to be dauntless; and it teaches the students to be humble.”

> “While we live, our body is of use to us. After we have passed away, it can be of even greater use by teaching doctors to save lives.”

> “Silent Mentors may not speak anymore, but their words will always resound.”

Hearing the above words from the medical students themselves, made me feel extremely proud of Jaclyn. We will always remember her for her selflessness, generosity and courage. She is clearly an unsung hero.

“Expectations are low and probably won’t be fulfilled anyway.” That was the brutal if prescient pre-summit prediction of William Reinsch, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The two-day gathering in Papua New Guinea was almost five years in the making, cost untold millions of US dollars and required the deployment of at least one battleship and three cruise liners.

And after all that, leaders came away with little more than three family photos and a loud shirt unlikely to be worn again.

The grouping was born three decades ago as a way of promoting trade liberalisation. But that cause has fallen out of vogue and Port Moresby was little more than a different venue for another China-US bunfight.

For the first time ever, the leaders failed to produce a joint summit declaration — usually a technocratic exercise in fudging differences, overstating agreement and promising great things to come.

It is a heartbreaking result for host Papua New Guinea, which was making its debut on the international stage — at no insignificant cost.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s government — not much larger than a municipal authority in most developed countries — visibly struggled with hosting such an enormous enterprise.

It dealt with more than 21 delegations, each numbering in the dozens if not hundreds who needed to be fed, housed and watered and ferried round a city not exactly designed for armour plated motorcades.

Papua New Guinea officials forgot to provide lighting for a leaders’ photo opportunity, outside, at night and at another they put their own flag upside down.

– ‘Big show’ –

They also suffered enormous pressure from much more powerful countries. Chinese officials on one occasion reportedly demanded that hundreds of red flags for Xi Jinping’s state visit be kept up.

In another instance, the police had to be called to prevent officials from Beijing storming the foreign minister’s office. China denies the incident.

But the summit’s failure was hardly the fault of rookie stagecraft. Skipping the leaders’ scheduled coffee break on the last day wasn’t going to provide enough time to sort through the defining strategic rivalry of our time.

“I feel sorry for Papua New Guinea, this was their big show’ said Euan Graham, executive director of La Trobe Asia, describing a diplomatic minnow caught in the crossfire of the world’s two largest economic and military powers.

Papua New Guinea did benefit from the rivalry and chequebook diplomacy of the two powers, winning new investments in energy, electricity and infrastructure.

O’Neill, like other small power leaders, also got images of himself mixing with global big hitters. That will elevate his stature at home and may help when election time comes round.

Executive director of the APEC secretariat, Alan Bollard said the organisation was about more than the annual shindig.

“APEC is more than just a leaders’ meeting, but a place for economies to incubate ideas throughout the year,” he told AFP.

US officials hope that next year will bring Trump’s return, but it may matter little if protectionist and nationalistic trends persist and the United States and China continue butting heads.

“APEC’s founding vision was already fraying,” said Graham. “But the failure to agree a communique is a final death knell for a pan-Asia-Pacific trade framework.”