BEIJING // Chinese state media say police have detained a monk and his nephew in the southwestern province of Sichuan and accused them of instigating the self-immolations of eight ethnic Tibetans.
The official Xinhua News Agency on Sunday cited a police statement saying that 40-year-old monk Lorang Konchok from the Kirti Monastery confessed that he acted on the instructions of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and his followers.
The Tibetan government-in-exile denied any involvement by it or the Dalai Lama.
Activists say more than 90 ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest authoritarian Chinese rule.
Chinese officials have attempted to blame the acts on the Dalai Lama, while activists say they are home-grown protests against oppression. The Dalai Lama has said he opposes all violence.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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