China's Evergrande says deal reached to avoid default on key bond - The Straits Times

SHANGHAI (AFP, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - Embattled Chinese housing giant Evergrande said Wednesday (Sept 22) it had agreed a deal with domestic bondholders that should allow the conglomerate to avoid default on one of its interest payments. 

In a statement to the Shenzhen stock exchange, Evergrande’s property unit Hengda said it had negotiated a plan to pay interest worth 232 million yuan (S$48.48 million) for its  5.8 per cent 2025 onshore bond. There was no mention of its repayments on interest for an offshore bond.

Hengda said investors “who bought and held the bonds” before September 22, 2021 “are entitled to interest paid this time”.

Evergrande, with over US$300 billion (S$405 billion) in liabilities, is in the throes of a liquidity crisis that has left it racing to raise funds to pay its many lenders and suppliers. It has a bond interest payment of US$83.5 million due on Thursday.

China stocks opened sharply lower on their return from a public holiday on Wednesday, playing catch-up with global markets which were roiled at the start of the week by fears of a messy collapse of  Evergrande. 

Both the CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index lost more than 1 per cent in opening deals on Wednesday. The CSI300 Real Estate index started nearly 2 per cent lower, but recouped losses in early trading. The CSI300 Banking Index fell nearly 3 per cent. 

Evergrande’s Hong Kong-listed shares tumbled over 10 per cent during the first two days of the week, when mainland markets were closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Fears of spillover effect knocked property and banking shares. 

The Hong Kong market was shut on Wednesday for a public holiday.

Singapore shares also opened weaker on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) slipping 0.6 per cent as at 9.02am. 

China’s central bank also increased its injection of short-term cash into the financial system on Wednesday. 
 The People’s Bank of China injected 120 billion yuan   into the banking system through reverse repurchase agreements, exceeding the 30 billion yuan of maturities on Wednesday. 

“The PBOC kept its net injection against a possible market plunge,” said Zhaopeng Xing, senior China strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “This will soothe the tightness and keep liquidity loose. Next week will see big fiscal spending flows, which will solve the quarter-end liquidity issue.” 

Evergrande is so deeply intertwined with China’s broader economy – from retail investors to infrastructure-related firms that are a gauge for global commodities demand – that fears over contagion have kept financial markets on tenterhooks. “There’s been a fair bit of concern about the possibility of contagion,” analysts at New York-based Bespoke wrote in a research note on Tuesday. 

“But so far that concern isn’t showing up in parts of the credit markets that have served well as red flags for broader credit crunches in the past.” 

The developer has not indicated whether it will be able to pay US$83.5 million in interest due on its March 2022 bond on Thursday. It has another US$47.5 million payment due on Sept 29 for March 2024 notes. 

Both bonds would default if  Evergrande fails to settle the interest within 30 days of the scheduled payment dates.

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2021-09-22 02:58:51Z
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Gabby Petito autopsy: Coroner identifies body as hers, calls death a homicide - Yahoo Singapore News

A coroner in Wyoming confirmed Tuesday that the body found near Grand Teton National Park was that of Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old who was reported missing after her fiancé returned home from a cross-country road trip without her. 

The FBI initially ruled her death a homicide.

Teton County Coroner Brent Blue, who conducted a preliminary autopsy on Petito's body, said that his “initial determination” is that the manner of death was homicide.

The official cause of death is “pending final autopsy results,” the FBI said in a statement.

Brian Laundrie, Petito’s 23-year-old fiancé, was called a person of interest by police in North Port, Fla., where he and Petito lived with Laundrie’s parents before embarking on their trip. Laundrie was last seen on Sept. 14, when he told his parents he was going to a nearby nature reserve to meditate. His parents reported him missing three days later.

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie. (Via Facebook)

The FBI executed a search warrant at their home Monday, a day after a body matching Petito’s description was found in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Authorities resumed their search for Laundrie in the 24,565-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County on Tuesday.

Petito and Laundrie had spent months visiting national parks in their converted 2012 Ford Transit van, documenting the trip on social media.

Petito’s family, which lives on Long Island, said they lost contact with her in late August and reported her missing on Sept. 11 — 10 days after Laundrie returned home to Florida in the van without her.

Police seized the van and named Laundrie a person of interest after he declined to share “any helpful details.”

Petito’s parents have issued pleas for the Laundrie family to cooperate with authorities.

“We understand that you are going through a difficult time and that your instinct is strong to protect your son,” the Petito family said in a letter to the Laundries last week. “We ask you to put yourself in our shoes. We haven’t been able to sleep or eat and our lives are falling apart.”

FBI agents remove evidence from the family home of Brian Laundrie in North Port, Fla., on Monday. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Steven Bertolino, a lawyer for the Laundrie family, had scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon but canceled it after speaking to the FBI, he said.

Last week, police in Moab, Utah, released body camera footage of officers pulling the young couple’s van over near Arches National Park on Aug. 12 following a report of a “domestic problem” between the pair outside a natural food store.

The video showed Laundrie with scratches on his face and a visibly distraught Petito wiping away tears while telling one officer that the couple had been fighting and were struggling with “personal issues.”

“I’m sorry,” Petito told the officer. “We’ve just been fighting this morning. Some personal issues.”

After questioning the couple separately for more than an hour, officers concluded that Petito had been the aggressor in the incident, but neither Laundrie nor Petito wanted to press charges.

“I do not believe the situation escalated to the level of a domestic assault as much as that of a mental health crisis,” the officers concluded in their report.

They instead decided to separate the couple for the night. Laundrie was taken to a motel and Petito was allowed to stay in the van. The pair reunited soon after and continued on their trip.

According to audio from a 911 call released Monday, a witness told police that he saw Laundrie slap Petito multiple times in the parking lot of the natural food store. But the information was reportedly not shared with the officers who pulled the van over.

The case has garnered widespread national media attention — as well as criticism of news outlets for not covering similar cases involving people of color.

Gabby Petito. (Via Facebook)

It has also drawn intense interest on social media, with online sleuths scouring the couple’s posts on Instagram for potential clues.

Before her body was found, Petito’s Instagram posts had been filled with comments hoping she would be found safe. 

And the most recent post on Laundrie’s Instagram account page — which remains active — was flooded with thousands of comments, many with a similar question: “Where’s Gabby?”

____

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2021-09-22 01:52:30Z
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President Joe Biden says US does not seek 'new Cold War', in reference to China - The Straits Times

UNITED NATIONS (REUTERS) - US President Joe Biden mapped out a new era of vigorous competition without a new Cold War despite China’s ascendance during his first UN address on Tuesday (Sept 21), promising military restraint and a robust fight against climate change.

The United States will help resolve crises from Iran to the Korean Peninsula to Ethiopia, Mr Biden told the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York.

The world faces a “decisive decade", Mr Biden said, one in which leaders must work together to combat a raging coronavirus pandemic, global climate change and cyber threats.

He said the US will double its financial commitment on climate aid and spend US$10 billion (S$14 billion) to fight hunger.

Mr Biden did not ever say the words “ China” or “Beijing”, but sprinkled implicit references to America’s increasingly powerful competitor throughout his speech, as the two nations butt heads in the Indo-Pacific and on trade and human rights issues.

He said the US will compete vigorously, both economically and to push democratic systems and rule of law.

“We’ll stand up for our allies and our friends and oppose attempts by stronger countries to dominate weaker ones, whether through changes to territory by force, economic coercion, technical exploitation or disinformation. But we’re not seeking - I’ll say it again – we are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs,” Mr Biden said.

He came to the UN facing criticism at home and abroad for a chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan that left some Americans and Afghan allies still in that country and struggling to get out.

‘A new era’

His vow for allied unity is being tested by a three-way agreement among the US, Australia and Britain that undermined a French submarine deal and left France feeling stabbed in the back.

“We’ve ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan and as we close this era of relentless war, we’re opening a new era of relentless diplomacy,” Mr Biden said.

He vowed to defend vital US national interests, but said that “the mission must be clear and achievable”, and the American military “must not be used as the answer to every problem we see around the world”.

Mr Biden, a Democrat, hoped to present a compelling case that the US remains a reliable ally to its partners around the world after four years of “America First” policies pursued by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

Overcoming global challenges “will hinge on our ability to recognise our common humanity", Mr Biden said.

He added that he remains committed to peacefully resolving a dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme.

He vowed to defend US ally Israel, saying a two-state solution with the Palestinians is still needed but a distant goal.

He also said the US wants “sustained diplomacy” to resolve the crisis surrounding North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. North Korea has rejected US overtures to engage in talks.

Discussing oppression of racial, ethnic and religious minorities, Mr Biden singled out China’s Xinjiang region.

In response to Mr Biden’s reference to Xinjiang, China’s mission to the United Nations, told Reuters: “It’s completely groundless. We totally reject. The US should pay more attention to its own human rights problems.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who begins a second five-year term at the helm of the world body on Jan 1, warned earlier of the dangers of the growing gap between China and the US, the world’s largest economies.

“I fear our world is creeping towards two different sets of economic, trade, financial and technology rules, two divergent approaches in the development of artificial intelligence – and ultimately two different military and geopolitical strategies,” Mr Guterres said.

“This is a recipe for trouble. It would be far less predictable than the Cold War,” he added.

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2021-09-21 14:39:17Z
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Canada election: Trudeau stays in power but Liberals fall short of majority - Yahoo Singapore News

Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party has narrowly won Canada's election, but it failed to secure a majority of seats.

This is Mr Trudeau's third federal election win, but his critics say the poll was a waste of time.

The Liberals are projected to win 158 seats, short of the 170 seats needed for the majority Mr Trudeau was seeking with his early election call.

The Conservatives have held onto their main opposition status and are expected to win about 122 seats.

"There are still votes to be counted but what we've seen tonight is millions of Canadians have chosen a progressive plan," Mr Trudeau told supporters in Montreal in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"You elected a government that will fight for you and deliver for you," he said.

A failed gamble for Trudeau

The election, which took place during a fourth pandemic wave in Canada, was the most expensive in the country's history, costing some C$600m ($470m; £344m).

The projected results suggest a parliament strikingly similar to the one elected just two years ago in 2019.

The snap election call, sending Canadians to the polls for the second time in two years, was widely seen as a bid by Mr Trudeau to secure a majority government and he struggled to explain why a campaign was necessary. Conservative leader Erin O'Toole suggested it was a waste of time and money.

"Canadians sent him back with another minority at a cost of $600m and deeper divisions in our great country", he told reporters.

Mr Trudeau maintained that the election gave the incoming government a clear mandate in moving forward.

But over the course of the campaign, he struggled to convince voters of the need for an election, which also coincided with rising Covid-19 case loads due to the Delta variant.

Separately he was also heckled by anti-vaccine protesters on the campaign trail, with some shouting they would refuse the Covid jab.

Trudeau and his wife share a kiss

While questions will inevitably be raised about Mr Trudeau's political future, Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez told journalists early in the evening that no matter the outcome, he had "100% confidence" in him as Liberal Party leader.

"And all the members of the party do as well," he said.

How did other candidates do?

The country's left-wing New Democrats (NDP), which ran on a "tax the ultra-rich" message with leader Jagmeet Singh trying to tap into progressive voters frustrated with the Liberals, looks to have picked up a small number of seats.

Vote counts will continue to trickle in over the coming days as elections officials tally the roughly one million mail-in ballots cast this election, and current seat tallies are still to be finalised.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole speaks from Oshawa, Ontario

For the Conservatives, the result is a disappointment for new party leader Erin O'Toole, who ran on a centrist message in a bid to expand the party's base of support.

Like in 2019, the party is projected to have won the popular vote. But the first-past-the-post system - awarding victory to the candidate with most votes in any given constituency - means that has not translated to seats won.

Speaking to party faithful in Oshawa, Ontario, a defiant Mr O'Toole pitched his vision for a bigger Conservative tent, saying: "Our party needed the courage to change because Canada has changed."

He urged supporters not to waiver from the commitment to grow the party's base, acknowledging that "clearly there is more work for us to do" in setting the stage for a better showing in the next campaign.

Conservative strategist Jason Lietaer told journalists at party headquarters that there's reason to keep Mr O'Toole on as leader despite his failure to secure them a victory.

"He's gone from unknown to contender in just a few weeks," Mr Lietaer said. "O'Toole was a huge underdog. To be within a few points is something we're all proud of."

Jagmeet Singh speaks alongside his pregnant wife

How will Canada govern now?

While minority governments are common in Canada, coalitions are extremely rare and Mr Trudeau will need to compromise with opposition parties to pass legislation.

The NDP are likely to be kingmakers in this new parliament, and could help the Liberals to survive key confidence votes and get their policies through.

Mr Singh, the NDP leader, speaking in Burnaby, British Columbia, noted he had secured concessions from Mr Trudeau in the last parliament.

He said he had a laundry list of priorities this time around, and vowed to push for action on climate change, affordable housing, and healthcare.

"You can be sure if we work together we can build a better society," he said.

Infographic showing seats by party in the new Canadian parliament: Liberal 158; Conservative 119; Bloc Quebecois 34; New Democratic 25; Green 2.

The night saw setbacks for both the Green Party and the People's Party of Canada (PPC).

New Green leader Annamie Paul was badly defeated in her efforts to secure a seat in Toronto, after she struggled with internal party divisions that threatened her leadership.

"I am disappointed - it is hard to lose, no one likes to lose," Ms Paul said as she thanked supporters.

Still, the party is still projected to send at least two members of parliament to Ottawa.

The PPC failed to secure any seats despite a late surge as its populist leader tapped into a vein of anger among some Canadians over vaccine mandates and lockdown measures, but did increase its overall vote share.

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2021-09-21 13:48:26Z
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Macron and Modi vow to 'act jointly' after subs dispute - CNA

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (Sep 21) vowed to "act jointly" in the Indo-Pacific region, as a row intensified with Australia and the US over a ditched submarine contract.

Macron's telephone talks with Modi were timed conspicuously as French anger appears undiminished after Australia pulled out of a submarine contract in favour of US submarines as part of an alliance with Washington and the UK.

US officials have said US President Joe Biden is seeking a phone call with Macron in the coming days to ease tensions but this has yet to materialise, with Macron taking the unprecedented step of recalling France's ambassadors to Australia and the United States.

The French presidency said both leaders agreed they would "act jointly in an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific area".

Macron assured Modi of France's continued "commitment to the strengthening of India's strategic autonomy, including its industry and technology base, as part of a close relationship based on trust and mutual respect".

The statement from Macron's office said France and India's shared approach would be aimed at promoting "regional stability and the rule of law, while ruling out any form of hegemony".

The new three-way strategic alliance, AUKUS, is widely seen as seeking to counter the rising power of China in the area.

Paris has in the last years sought to tighten ties with India: In 2016 the two sides signed a multi-billion dollar deal for 36 French Rafale fighter jets for New Delhi.

While the agreement is under investigation in France for kickback allegations, it is viewed as a commercial and diplomatic success for Paris.

Indian media have in recent days speculated that Australia's cancellation of the submarine deal could spark French-Indian talks about a submarines agreement of their own, possibly involving a transfer of technology.

During a September 2020 visit to New Delh, French Defence Minister Florence Parly discussed the idea that the Rafale deal could lead to sales of other weaponry including submarines, according to a French defence ministry source.

"The Indian air force is completely satisfied with these planes, and that means were are well-placed for the future," the source said.

Possible coming arms sales, apart from the submarines, discussed in New Delhi included helicopters, ammunition and fighter jet turbines, the source said.

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2021-09-21 13:26:28Z
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Australian documents showed French submarine project was at risk for years - Yahoo Singapore News

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -France should not have been surprised that Australia cancelled a submarine contract, as major concerns about delays, cost overruns and suitability had been aired officially and publicly for years, Australian politicians said.

Paris has recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington, saying it was blindsided by Canberra's decision to build nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and Britain rather than stick with its contract for French diesel submarines.

Yet as early as September 2018, an independent oversight board led by a former U.S. Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter had advised Australia to look at alternatives, and questioned whether the project was in the national interest, a 2020 public report from the country's Auditor-General shows.

Australian parliamentary hearings and reports on the project, first priced at $40 billion and more recently at $60 billion, even before construction had begun, also showed problems emerging. In June the defence secretary told parliament "contingency planning" for the programme was under way.

"They would have to have their eyes shut not to realise the danger they were facing," said Rex Patrick, an independent senator for South Australia, referring to France.

Government ministers said this week Canberra had been "up front" with Paris about the problems.

A French lawmaker also raised questions in parliament in June about Australian concerns over delays, and whether Australia might be considering submarine alternatives, French parliamentary records show.

"We chose not to go through a gate in a contract," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters when he arrived in New York on Monday. "The contract was set up that way, and we chose not to go through it because we believed to do so would ultimately not be in Australia's interests."

French officials deny that the contract had been plagued with problems for years, saying that at each stage difficulties had been resolved and that they had expected that the contract for the detailed design phase would be signed in September.

France's Armed Forces Ministry spokesman Herve Grandjean made that point clear on Tuesday.

"On the same day as the #AUKUS announcement, the Australians wrote to France to say that they were satisfied with the submarine's achievable performance and with the progress of the program. In short: forward to launching the next phase of the contract," he said on Twitter.

The Australian and French defence and foreign ministers had "underlined the importance" of the deal, according to a joint statement on Aug. 30.

French officials have not disputed that there were difficulties, like with any big contract, but say there was 18 months of "subterfuge" and "trickery" by Australian authorities who concealed the rival deal with Britain and the United States.

They said that at no point did Canberra suggest to Paris to offer an alternative programme with nuclear propulsion despite French officials bringing the subject over the past few months.

An official from the French Embassy in Canberra said an intergovernmental agreement should have allowed for confidential discussions between ministers about changes to political or strategic circumstances.

"No warning, no proposals for discussion were offered," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

OFF-RAMPS AND GATES

The deal was first announced in 2016. A pre-design review was delayed in 2018 because the "work provided to Defence by Naval Group did not meet Defence's requirements", the Australian audit said, citing lack of design detail, operational requirements and 63 studies not completed.

The contract between Australia and Naval Group, majority owned by the French government, was signed 16 months late in February 2019.

It included contractual off-ramps in which Australia could pay to exit the project, and established "control gates" whereby Naval Group must meet criteria before progressing to the next phase. The defence department considered these "hold points" for assessing the project's risk, the Auditor-General said.

In September 2019, with A$446 million ($325 million) already spent in France, the defence department told the auditor it had examined extending the life of Australia's Collins-class submarine fleet "and the time this would allow to develop a new acquisition strategy".

The 2020 Auditor-General's report examining the submarine deal - the Department of Defence's biggest ever - found the department had been "frank and timely" in communicating concerns with Naval Group.

Naval Group said in a statement to Reuters that it was aware of public discussion, but that official declarations were supportive of the submarine programme. It said Morrison was "very clear that the decision was not a result of difficulties with the Future Submarine Program or Naval Group".

"Naval Group delivered on its commitments to the Commonwealth of Australia as acknowledged by the letter for termination 'for convenience' we received," the statement said.

REVIEW PANEL

According to the Auditor-General's report, the most recent major milestone in the French contract - a preliminary design review - was in January 2021.

An industry source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Naval Group Australia provided material to Defence in "late January or February", but that Australia did not consider it to meet requirements.

Morrison's office created a panel in January to advise an inner circle of his Cabinet on how to proceed with the programme, contract notices and parliament records show.

In June, senators, including Patrick, asked panel chairman William Hilarides, a former vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, if it had advised the government to cancel the French contract.

Hilarides, who had overseen ship and submarine construction for the U.S. Navy, said the panel's advice was confidential.

The former head of BAE Systems Submarines, Murray Easton, who had turned around a delayed British nuclear submarine programme, joined the panel in February, contract notices show.

It met by videoconference 10 times by June, including confidential briefings for its U.S. members at the Australian embassy in Washington, the parliament was told.

Easton and Hilarides did not respond to requests for comment.

($1 = 1.3755 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Alison Williams)

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2021-09-21 09:19:01Z
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Canada's Trudeau wins another minority in election, claims 'clear mandate' - CNA

The Conservatives looked on track to win the popular vote, attracting 34 per cent support to the Liberals' 32 per cent, but Liberal support is centered around urban and suburban areas where there are more seats.

"Our support has grown, it's grown across the country, but clearly there is more work for us to do to earn the trust of Canadians," O'Toole told supporters, while suggesting that he planned to stay on as leader. "My family and I are resolutely committed to continuing this journey for Canada."

Polls reported results much more slowly than usual, with some stations forced to limit occupancy due to COVID-19 restrictions. Long lines forced some electors to wait hours to vote in southern Ontario, a critical battleground.

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its US counterpart in Asian trading on Tuesday, in part as a projected election win for Trudeau's Liberal party reassured investors that economic support would continue.

STATUS QUO

Trudeau, 49, a charismatic progressive and son of former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, swept to power in 2015. But the Liberals dropped to a minority in 2019 after Trudeau was damaged in part by disclosures that he had worn blackface years ago.

Amid a fourth wave of COVID-19, Trudeau backed vaccine mandates while O'Toole, 48, opposed them, preferring a combination of voluntary vaccinations and rapid testing to stop the spread of the virus.

Trudeau had said he needed a new mandate to ensure Canadians approve of his plan for getting the country past the coronavirus pandemic. The Liberals, whose fiscal policy supports for the pandemic exceed 23 per cent of GDP, plan billions in new spending to support economic recovery if re-elected.

Cambridge Global Payments Chief Strategist Karl Schamotta said the election result "essentially preserves the status quo and ensures that the fiscal spending plans that have supported the economy for the last year and half are likely to continue."

A delay in counting mail-in votes could further hold up results in tight races.

Elections Canada will not start counting roughly 800,000 mail-in ballots until Tuesday, after it is able to verify them against in-person votes. Those could help to determine the outcome in at least two Atlantic districts and many more across Canada.

A second minority government will mean Trudeau's Liberals will have to rely again on opposition parties, such as the left-leaning New Democratic Party, to pass legislation.

"A win's a win, and time in office and power is when you get to make change," said John Duffy, a former Liberal adviser.

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2021-09-21 03:12:00Z
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