Chinese data challenges US-Iran war claims; bamboo vs desertification: SCMP’s 7 highlights

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.1. Chinese satellite imagery analysis challenges US-Iran war claimsThe launch of American and Israeli air strikes against Iran on February 28 triggered an armed conflict that has escalated throughout the region. Photo: EPAChinese scientists have used detailed satellite imagery analysis to examine damage to US military bases in the Middle East, uncovering discrepancies in both Washington and Tehran’s claims over the scale of the conflict.2. China plans to strengthen Great Green Wall with fastest-growing plant: bambooResearchers are working on ways to use bamboo, one of the most resilient and sustainable materials on the planet, in the fight against desertification in China’s arid north.3. US sanctions mainland China, Hong Kong firms over Iranian oil shipmentsThe United States on Wednesday sanctioned a group of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong shipping companies accused of operating vessels that transported Iranian oil to China, extending Washington’s economic campaign against Tehran alongside its naval blockade.4. All went wrong: A380 flight to China becomes 10-hour ordealEmirates Flight EK302 from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, stranded on the tarmac at Hangzhou airport last week. Photo: mrjjxw.comWhen an Emirates Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner, touched down at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport last week – a novelty for the city’s planespotters, mostly accustomed to seeing smaller narrowbody jets – everything that could go wrong, did.5. Woman rejects links to Singapore ex-minister Faishal’s resignationA Singapore fitness instructor identified as allegedly linked to former acting minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs Faishal Ibrahim’s resignation has denied rumours that she was the woman with whom he had inappropriate interactions.6. Internet personality ‘Mr Ho’ dies at 79, week after receiving jail termHo Huen leaves Tuen Mun Court in October last year. Photo: Karma LoA Hong Kong man known on the internet as “Mr Ho” has died, a week after receiving a two-month prison sentence for stabbing his wife. A source told the China-morning-post" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12558" data-entity-type="organization">South China Morning Post on Tuesday that Ho Huen, 79, had died in a public hospital a day earlier.7. Debt honoured: China repays family for wartime grain loan 8 decades laterIn 1947, a Chinese villager lent his entire 850kg grain supply to the army, receiving a handwritten receipt as an official IOU. Photo: CCTVA wartime grain loan certificate discovered within an old family home in eastern China has been donated to local authorities nearly eight decades later, illuminating a villager’s remarkable faith in the troops.Further Reading