Chinese e-tycoon Jack Ma ends silence with online video
Beijing: China's highest-profile entrepreneur, e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma, appeared on Wednesday in a video posted online, ending a 2 1/2-month disappearance from public view that prompted speculation about his status and his business empire's future.
In the 50-second video, Ma congratulated teachers supported by his charitable foundation and made no mention of his absence from public view and scrutiny of his Alibaba Group and Ant Group by regulators.
The video appeared on Chinese business news and other websites.
Normally voluble and press-friendly, Ma was last seen in public after criticising financial regulators in an October 24 speech at a Shanghai conference. Days later, regulators suspended Ant's planned multibillion-dollar stock market debut.
That prompted speculation on the internet about whether Ma, China's biggest global business celebrity and a symbol of its tech boom, had been detained or might face legal trouble.
Some people suggested the ruling Communist Party was making an example of Ma to show entrepreneurs couldn't defy regulators. But finance experts said President Xi Jinping's government already was uneasy about Alibaba's dominance in retailing and Ant's potential financial risks before Ma's speech.
Anti-monopoly regulators warned executives of Alibaba and five other tech giants in December not to use their dominance to block new competitors from entering their markets. The central bank and other regulators have ordered Ant to overhaul its business before its market debut can go ahead.
Ma, who used to be an English teacher and founder of #Alibaba, also gives wishes to village teachers via a video on Wednesday, saying usually the activity is held in Sanya in southern Hainan but this year, due to #Covid19 it has to be done via video conference. pic.twitter.com/yfi7oPB5Sb
— Qingqing_Chen (@qingqingparis) January 20, 2021
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Trump says heavy bombing of Iran will continue ‘as long as necessary’
Washington/Tehran: US President Donald Trump has said that heavy bombing of Iran will continue “as long as necessary,” even as Iranian media insist that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains alive and in command.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump referred to the alleged killing of Khamenei and called on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and police to join what he described as “Iranian patriots” in changing the government.
He said “that process should soon be starting” and claimed that Iran had been “very much destroyed and even, obliterated” in just one day.
“The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!” he added.
However, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim and Mehr news agencies have reported that Khamenei is “steadfast and firm in commanding the field,” rejecting claims about his death.
