logo
Former CNOOC executive sentenced to 14 years for corruption, Chinese state media reports

Former CNOOC executive sentenced to 14 years for corruption, Chinese state media reports

Reuters16 hours ago
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Former deputy Party secretary and general manager of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Li Yong, was sentenced on Tuesday to 14 years in prison for corruption, state media CCTV reported.
Li, who retired in December 2023, and was found to have illegally accepted property worth more than 67.94 million yuan ($9.45 million), either directly or through others, according to the report.
Another retired senior executive at CNOOC, Guangyu Yuan, was expelled from the Communist Party and placed under investigation for serious violations of Party discipline and the law, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on July 31.
($1 = 7.1864 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

WhatsApp says it removed 6.8m accounts linked to scams
WhatsApp says it removed 6.8m accounts linked to scams

BBC News

time3 minutes ago

  • BBC News

WhatsApp says it removed 6.8m accounts linked to scams

WhatsApp says it has taken down 6.8 million accounts linked to scammers targeting people around the world in the first half of this were tied to scam centres run by organised criminals in South East Asia, who often used forced labour in their operations, the Meta-owned messaging platform made the announcement as it rolled out new anti-scam measures to alert users to potential fraudulent activity, such as when a user is added to a group chat by someone not in their contacts crackdown targets an increasingly common tactic in which criminals hijack WhatsApp accounts or add users to group chats promoting fake investment schemes and other scams. WhatsApp said that it "proactively detected and took down accounts before scam centres were able to operationalise them."In one case, it worked with its owner Meta and ChatGPT-developer OpenAI to disrupt scams linked to a Cambodian criminal group that offered cash for likes on social media posts to promote a fake rent-a-scooter pyramid said scammers had used ChatGPT to create the instructions issued to potential fraudsters would first contact potential targets with a text message before moving the conversation to social media or private messaging apps, said scams were usually completed on payment or cryptocurrency platforms, it added."There is always a catch and it should be a red flag for everyone: you have to pay upfront to get promised returns or earnings."Scam centres that cheat people out of billions of dollars are known to operate from South East Asian countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and centres are also known to recruit people who are then forced to carry out the in the region have urged people to be wary of potential fraud and use anti-scam measures such as WhatsApp's two-step verification feature to help protect their accounts from being Singapore, for example, users have also been told by police to be wary of any unusual requests they receive on messaging apps.

China's cyber-abuse scandal: is the government unwilling to crack down on exploitation of women online?
China's cyber-abuse scandal: is the government unwilling to crack down on exploitation of women online?

The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

China's cyber-abuse scandal: is the government unwilling to crack down on exploitation of women online?

When Ming* found a hidden camera in her bedroom, she prayed for a reasonable explanation, wondering whether her boyfriend had placed it there to record memories of their 'happy life' together. But hope quickly turned to horror. Ming's boyfriend had been secretly taking sexually exploitative photos of not just Ming and her female friends, but also of other women in other locations, then using AI technology to generate pornographic images of them. After Ming confronted him, he 'begged for mercy' but became angry when she refused to forgive him, Ming reportedly told Chinese news outlet Jimu News. Ming is just one of many women in China who have been covertly photographed or filmed – both in private and public spaces, including toilets – by voyeurs who have then circulated or sold the images online without consent. The sexually explicit pictures – often taken using pinhole cameras hidden in ordinary objects – are then shared online in massive groups. The scandal has left China reeling and raised questions about the government's ability – and willingness – to crack down on such behaviour. One such group on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, is named 'MaskPark tree hole forum' and reportedly had more than 100,000 mostly male members. 'The MaskPark incident exposes the extreme vulnerability of Chinese women in digital spaces,' Li Maizi, a prominent Chinese feminist now based in New York, told the Guardian. 'What's even more insidious and shocking is the prevalence of perpetrators known to the victims: partners, boyfriends, even fathers committing sexual violence against underage girls.' The scandal has sparked fury on Chinese social media and triggered discussions on the challenges of combating online harassment in the country. Although Chinese regulators have the power to clamp down on sexual harassment and abuse online, the system is currently focused on restricting the flow of information deemed politically sensitive, says Eric Liu, a former content moderator at the Chinese social platform Weibo who is now a US-based editor at China Digital Times. Since the scandal broke, Liu has seen 'large-scale' censorship of the MaskPark incident on the Chinese internet, where posts seen as having a social impact – including feminist content – are often scrubbed by censors. 'If the Chinese government wanted to shut down the groups, they definitely could,' Liu says, referring to previous cases of Chinese authorities infiltrating online spaces overseas. 'The scale of [MaskPark] is massive. I can't think of a similar incident of this scale in recent years. But Liu says he is not surprised. 'There's always been this type of content on the Chinese internet.' In China, those who are found guilty of distributing pornographic content can be sentenced to up to two years in prison, while people who take photos without the subject's consent can be detained for up to 10 days and fined. The country also has regulations protecting people against sexual harassment, domestic violence and cyber-abuse. But advocates say the current legal framework is insufficient. Often the burden falls on victims to gather evidence to build their cases, which can be difficult to do for crimes that take place online, according to Xirui*, a Chinese lawyer in Beijing who specialises in cases of gender-based harm. 'The behaviour itself also needs to meet certain elements of the crime, such as a specified number of clicks and subjective motives,' Xirui says. 'There's also the problem of the statute of limitations, which is only six months for public security cases. Once that's exceeded, the police will not file the case.' The Guardian contacted China's ministry of foreign affairs for comment. Beyond the legal hurdles, victims of crimes of a sexual nature often grapple with shame, which prevents many from speaking out. 'I've seen similar cases where landlords install cameras to spy on female tenants. This type of situation is generally treated as a privacy violation, subject to administrative detention, with victims seeking civil compensations,' Xirui says. To tackle the problem, the government could implement more specialised legislation, improve gender-based training of law enforcement officials and encourage courts to issue guidance that includes examples of relevant cases, the lawyer says. For Li, the recent incident reveals a widespread tolerance and lack of meaningful law enforcement on the issue in China. Rather than tackling the proliferation of sexist and abusive content online, authorities appear more focused on detaining female writers of homoerotic fiction and censoring victims of digital abuse, she says. 'With the rise of deepfake technologies and rapid online circulation of surreptitiously filmed content, women's bodies are being digitally exploited at an unprecedented scale,' Li says. 'But I believe if authorities are truly willing, and invest the necessary resources, it's entirely possible to trace and prosecute these crimes. We need to hold the Chinese government accountable.' * Names have been changed Additional research by Lillian Yang and Jason Tzu Kuan Lu

Tennessee man who was executed while defibrilator was still active was ‘hurting so bad'
Tennessee man who was executed while defibrilator was still active was ‘hurting so bad'

The Independent

time5 hours ago

  • The Independent

Tennessee man who was executed while defibrilator was still active was ‘hurting so bad'

An inmate executed by the state of Tennessee reportedly cried out in pain shortly after the lethal injection began, with witnesses claiming he was "hurting so bad" despite an implanted defibrillator remaining active. Byron Black's death has sparked controversy, as he was put to death amid uncertainty over whether the device would shock his heart as the lethal chemicals took effect. Prison officials confirmed Black died at 10:43 a.m., approximately 10 minutes after the execution commenced. Asked for any last words, he replied, "No sir." As the process began, Black was observed looking around the room, lifting his head off the gurney multiple times, sighing and breathing heavily. All seven media witnesses present agreed he appeared to be in discomfort. A spiritual advisor prayed and sang over Black throughout the execution, at one point touching his face. "Oh, it's hurting so bad," Black was heard to say, restrained to the gurney with an IV line in his arm. The advisor responded, "I'm so sorry. Just listen to my voice." The execution proceeded despite a protracted legal battle over whether officials should have deactivated his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Black, 69, was in a wheelchair and suffered from numerous severe health conditions, including dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, and congestive heart failure, according to his attorneys. A trial court judge had initially agreed with Black's legal team that the defibrillator should be deactivated to prevent unnecessary pain and prolonging the execution. However, Tennessee's Supreme Court overturned this decision, stating the lower court lacked authority. The state had argued that the lethal injection would not cause the defibrillator to shock him, or that he would not feel it if it did. Black's attorney, Kelley Henry, condemned the execution, stating: "Today, the state of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in a violation of the laws of our country simply because they could." Ms Henry expressed particular concern over Black's head movement and complaints of pain, noting that the massive dose of pentobarbital used in lethal injections is intended to induce rapid unconsciousness. "The fact that he was able to raise his head several times and express pain tells you that the pentobarbital was not acting the way the state's experts claim it acts," she added. Prison officials have not commented on the witnesses' observations or Black's complaints of pain. Ms Henry confirmed that Black's defence team would meticulously review autopsy results, EKG data, and information from the defibrillator to ascertain the precise events during the execution. Black was convicted for the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Prosecutors alleged he acted in a jealous rage, having been on work-release at the time, serving a sentence for shooting Ms Clay's estranged husband. Linette Bell, Angela Clay's sister, stated after the execution: "His family is now going through the same thing we went through 37 years ago. I can't say I'm sorry because we never got an apology." Black's legal team had previously made unsuccessful attempts to secure a new hearing regarding his intellectual disability, which they contend he has exhibited since childhood. Individuals with intellectual disabilities are constitutionally barred from execution in the US. His attorneys argued that a delay in an earlier attempt to raise this claim would have spared him under a 2021 state law, which denies hearings to death row inmates who have already had a similar request ruled upon "on the merits." Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk's attempt to secure a new hearing for Black was denied, despite an expert who had previously determined Black did not meet the criteria for "mental retardation" in 2004, now concluding he met the new law's criteria for an intellectual disability diagnosis. The non-profit Death Penalty Information Centre and Black's attorneys have stated they are unaware of any other cases involving similar claims regarding implanted defibrillators or pacemakers during executions. The legal case also served as a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of healthcare ethics. This marks Tennessee's second execution since May, following a five-year hiatus due to Covid-19 and state corrections officials' missteps. So far this year, 28 individuals have been executed by court order in the US, surpassing the 25 carried out last year and in 2018, and representing the highest total since 2015.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store