iPhone maker Foxconn beneath investigation, says Chinese language state media

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Good morning. China has launched an investigation into Apple iPhone maker Foxconn over tax and land use, Chinese language state media has reported.

The International Instances, citing nameless sources, mentioned tax authorities inspected Foxconn’s websites within the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu and pure sources officers had inspected websites in Henan and Hubei. Foxconn, China’s largest personal employer and exporter, mentioned it could co-operate with the investigation.

The International Instances article quoted an skilled saying “Taiwan-funded enterprises, together with Foxconn . . . also needs to assume corresponding social obligations and play a optimistic position in selling the peaceable growth of cross-strait relations”.

Foxconn founder Terry Gou is operating as an impartial candidate in Taiwan’s presidential elections in January, a contest that may have a big affect on Taiwan’s relationship with China and tensions within the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing has prior to now focused native subsidiaries of Taiwanese firms with regulatory probes and political stress at delicate or tense occasions. Right here’s extra on the investigation into Foxconn.

Israel-Hamas warfare updates:

• Washington’s warning: American troops within the Center East face the danger of a “important escalation” of assaults towards them, US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin has warned. Austin mentioned Washington was sending extra air defences to the Center East because the Israel-Hamas warfare threatens to broaden right into a regional battle.

• Benjamin Netanyahu received’t make an apology: Israel’s prime minister has conspicuously prevented shouldering blame for miscalculations that led to October 7 assault.

• Water scarcity in Gaza: With most provides minimize off by the Israeli siege, securing water has grow to be an enormous problem for Palestinian households.

• Israelis queue to purchase weapons: Firearms gross sales have surged amongst Jewish Israelis because the lethal October 7 assaults shattered the nation’s sense of safety.

Right here’s what else I’m retaining tabs on as we speak:

• EU assembly: When EU overseas ministers convene on Monday, Ukraine is not going to be the primary merchandise on the agenda for the primary time since February 2022, displaced by the battle between Israel and Hamas.

• China: Monetary markets are closed for the Chung Yeung Pageant.

5 extra prime tales

1. Beijing has launched a assessment of punitive tariffs that have been positioned on Australian wine in 2020 within the newest signal of thawing relations between the 2 international locations. The transfer comes forward of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s go to to China subsequent month — the primary by an Australian chief in seven years — following a interval of rigidity between Beijing and Canberra.

2. Personal fairness corporations are going through the worst yr in a decade for exiting investments. Buyout corporations generated $584bn from promoting portfolio firms within the first 9 months of the yr, greater than $100bn shy of what the business raised throughout the identical interval final yr. The figures underline the challenges confronting personal fairness corporations amid warnings {that a} golden age for the buyout business has ended.

3. Two feminine Iranian journalists have been discovered responsible of collaborating with the US and handed lengthy jail sentences. Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi coated the loss of life of Mahsa Amini final yr in police custody, which triggered months of protests towards the regime. Ahmad Zeidabadi, a pro-reform analyst, mentioned the claims made by conservative media in regards to the two girls’s US hyperlinks had merited a warning at worst.

4. Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has returned from exile in a bid to regain energy. Sharif hopes to unite the opposition to his jailed rival Imran Khan forward of elections that are anticipated early subsequent yr. However analysts mentioned his bid for energy confronted main challenges, notably the fallout from a fragile financial system. Farhan Bokhari experiences from Islamabad on Sharif’s return.

5. Switzerland’s rightwing populists have been set to attain one in every of their strongest performances in parliamentary elections on Sunday. The hardline conservative Swiss Peoples’ social gathering was projected to safe 29.1 per cent of the vote in elections to the Nationwide Council, the decrease home of parliament, as voters deserted inexperienced politics amid fears over immigration and rising vitality prices.

The Massive Learn

For Xi Jinping, final week’s discussion board to rejoice the tenth anniversary of his Belt and Street Initiative was an opportunity to additional embed China’s affect throughout the creating world. But over the course of a decade, critics have questioned whether or not China’s $1tn initiative to finance and construct infrastructure in principally poorer international locations has been definitely worth the super price and whether or not it will possibly proceed to function because it has in years to come back.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Bills fraud: The Citi sandwich case reveals why some rule-benders get much more sympathy than others, writes Pilita Clark.

• Opinion: Tom Fletcher, former UK Ambassador to Lebanon, highlights 4 challenges for diplomacy on Israel and Gaza.

• Tesla’s Cybertruck: The hotly anticipated car is a “nightmare” to make, however when it arrives will take Tesla into probably the most profitable a part of the North American automobile market.

Chart of the day

US funding teams are urging the Biden administration to refine proposed limits on funding in China, arguing that the curbs put them at an obstacle. The lobbying effort comes as overseas funding in China has dipped to its lowest stage within the final decade as buyers are unnerved by the nation’s crackdown on tech and an growing tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Take a break from the information

Excessive up within the mountains of India’s japanese Nagaland, one small village is giving up its searching traditions to deal with conservation. “You’ll be able to’t lecture individuals,” says native conservationist Nuklu Phom. “However local weather change is drying up our wells and inflicting our crops to fail, so individuals listened to my message.”