A Chinese man who was hoping to get married has been publicly rejected by his girlfriend after the latter yelled at him for not having a proper toilet in his home.

As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, the moment of rejection was also captured by many passers-by who stopped to watch the couple on a busy street in Nanning, China.

In the videos, the woman can be heard shouting: “Your family doesn’t even have a toilet, not even a place to take a bath. You ask me to marry you? You are so funny!”

Needless to say, the videos have since gone viral.

Citing local newspapers, South China Morning Post reported that after being yelled at, the man left the scene without saying a word.

Read also: Man’s proposal falls flat when his parachute gets stuck in tree…and it gets worse

Netizens were quick to reference two rising issues in Chinese society – the high cost of living in large cities, and the increasing gender imbalance which makes finding a wife difficult.

Recently, it was estimated that up to 30 million men of marriage age will have trouble finding wives in the next three decades.

For years, experts have blamed the stark gender imbalance on the one-child policy implemented in 1979.

While some netizens left comments chiding the woman, many also sympathised with her, Sohu reported.

One netizen by the username of Fan Zhengzheng said: “Many people are saying this woman is materialistic. But is what she says really wrong? She’s obviously in a very helpless position”.

ljessica@sph.com.sg

Thailand’s military government plans to spend about 406 billion baht (S$16.4 billion) on airport development nationwide over the next 10 years to handle increasing passengers, a senior official said on Monday.

The plan, aimed at making Thailand a regional aviation hub, would enable Thailand to receive 277 million passengers a year over the next decade from about 130 million currently, Kobsak Pootrakul, vice minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, told reporters.

The junta has ramped up investment in a bid to spur growth in Southeast Asia’s second’s largest economy, which has lagged regional peers since the army sized power in May 2014.

Tourism receipts account for about 10 per cent of Thailand’s economic output and have been a rare bright spot.

The number of foreign tourists was a record 32.6 million last year and the government is expecting 34-35 million travellers this year.

North Korea said Monday it would expel Malaysia’s ambassador in a tit-for-tat move after Pyongyang’s envoy left the Southeast Asian nation in an increasingly bitter row over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

“The Foreign Ministry of the DPRK (North Korea) notifies that the Malaysian ambassador to the DPRK is labelled as a persona non grata… and demanded that the ambassador leave the DPRK,” state news agency KCNA said, giving a 48-hour deadline.

Malaysia had earlier recalled its envoy to Pyongyang for consultations as the two countries traded barbs over an investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader’s half-brother last month.

Read also: Malaysia PM not waiting for apology as N. Korea envoy expelled

China’s third most powerful leader said on Monday that Beijing had the right to”step in” to Hong Kong’s leadership contest, according to local politicians who met him, in remarks fuelling fears of meddling from Communist Party leaders.

The comments by Zhang Dejiang, the head of China’s parliament and its leading official on Hong Kong issues, came after other officials played down rumours that Beijing was interfering in a race pitting China’s preferred candidate against a more popular figure.

Under laws governing the former British colony since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, autonomous Hong Kong has the right to choose its chief executive via a 1,200-strong election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists.

The committee is due to vote at the end of this month to decide between two former officials and a retired judge to lead the freewheeling city of 7.3 million people.

But the independence of the election has been questioned, with several election committee members telling media they had received phone calls from people with ties to the Chinese government trying to influence their votes.

The head of Beijing’s representative office in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, said over the weekend that allegations of intervention were only rumours.

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People’s Congress, said it was important for the election to proceed smoothly and stressed the significance of the chief executive’s role as a link between Beijing and the Asian financial hub, according to the convener of the Hong Kong delegation to the congress, Maria Tam. “It is a very important role, so the central government has the right to step in,” Tam told reporters in her summary of Zhang’s comments.

Zhang also warned the delegation during the annual parliamentary meetings in Beijing that Hong Kong should not allow politics to dominate life in the city.

He added that it was unfortunate that “street politics” had become a part of everyday life in Hong Kong while the neighbouring Shenzhen city was catching up economically. “It is quite possible that Shenzhen can overtake Hong Kong in two years,” Tam cited Zhang saying.

Calls to the central government’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office seeking comment went unanswered. China’s Foreign Ministry, the only department which regularly answers questions from foreign reporters, declined to comment.

Hong Kong returned to China under a “one country, two systems” formula that allows freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland. China bristles at dissent, however, especially over issues such as demands for universal suffrage.

This month’s election is the first since mass pro-democracy street protests rocked Hong Kong in late 2014.

“EXTRAORDINARY AND OUTSTANDING”

Beijing’s support means former Hong Kong civil service head Carrie Lam is tipped as the favourite in the contest despite losing popularity polls to an ex-colleague, former Financial Secretary John Tsang.

Tsang had previously rejected speculation that Beijing did not trust him despite his almost decade-long tenure as financial secretary.

But during the meeting Zhang stressed “many times” that the next chief executive needs to be “extraordinary, outstanding”and have Beijing’s trust, said Hong Kong delegate and election committee member Michael Tien. “The implication is that being a secretary for 10 years doesn’t necessarily mean the person is qualified as a chief executive,” Tien said.

Tien added some committee members expected the Beijing leadership to make its final preference known closer to the election.

The central government is legally required to officially appoint the winner of the committee’s election.

Another delegate, the former head of Hong Kong’s legislature, Rita Fan, denied that Beijing was intervening in the race, adding it had the right to voice its opinions. “As a stakeholder, the central government has a right to express its views, and it hopes people can take its opinions into consideration,” Fan said.

But critics say Zhang’s comments just weeks before the polls would further undermine the “one country, two systems”principle, which has come under strain, especially since the shadowy detention of five Hong Kong booksellers in late 2015. “The central government might as well just tell us directly who to vote for and we all become rubber stamps,” said pro-democracy legislator and election committee member Lam Cheuk-ting.

China called for restraint Monday after North Korea test-launched four ballistic missiles, criticising the move but also suggesting that South Korea and the United States were partly to blame.

“China is opposed to the DPRK’s launches in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing, using the initials of the North’s formal name.

“Under current circumstances, relevant parties should exercise restraint and avoid anything that would provoke each other or heighten regional tensions.”

South Korea and the US last week began annual joint military exercises that always infuriate Pyongyang.

Read also: N Korea fires four ballistic missiles into sea near Japan: Shinzo Abe

Geng said that last Friday China’s top envoy on North Korea nuclear issues Wu Dawei had called his counterparts in Washington and Seoul.

Wu warned both countries that “the large-scale joint military exercise between the US and South Korea is not helping with the settlement of the Korean peninsula issue. On the contrary, it may widen divisions and complicate the issue,” Geng said.

The launch comes at a sensitive time as China’s political elite gather in Beijing for the country’s annual legislative meeting.

China, North Korea’s sole major ally and main trade partner, has come under pressure to do more to rein in Pyongyang.

Last month it announced a suspension of coal imports from the North following an earlier rocket launch and the assassination in Malaysia of the brother of the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un.

The halt infuriated Pyongyang and its state media carried unusual criticism of Beijing for “dancing to the tune of the US.” Last week North Korea’s vice foreign minister Ri Kil-Song visited Beijing for discussions.

North Korea’s expelled ambassador fired a final salvo at Malaysia Monday over its probe into the assassination of the half-brother of Pyongyang’s leader, describing the investigation as biased.

Speaking at Kuala Lumpur International Airport before his flight was due to leave, ambassador Kang Chol disparaged what he called a “pretargeted investigation by the Malaysian police”.

The murder of Kim Jong-Nam with VX nerve agent at the same airport last month sparked an acrimonious dispute between the two countries.

North Korea has not acknowledged the dead man’s identity but has repeatedly criticised the murder investigation and autopsy, accusing Malaysia of conniving with its enemies.

“They have conducted the autopsy without the consent and attendance of the DPRK ( North Korea) embassy and later arrested a DPRK citizen without any clear evidence showing his involvement in the incident,” ambassador Kang said.

South Korea has blamed the North for the murder, citing what it says was a standing order from leader Kim Jong-Un to kill his exiled half-brother who may have been seen as a potential rival.

Before the ambassador left for the airport, police armed with assault rifles had cordoned off the entrance to North Korea’s embassy, with police vehicles and motorcycle outriders parked nearby.

Kang departed in a black chauffeured Jaguar – the North Korean flag denoting an ambassador now removed from its bonnet. He checked in a Philips TV, three suitcases and four boxes vacuum-wrapped and stamped with the words, DPRK Pyongyang.

Senior government officials told AFP he was expected to leave at 18.25 (1025 GMT) on flight MH360 for Beijing, shortly after the deadline for his expulsion at 1800.

Malaysia declared Kang persona non grata on Saturday and gave him 48 hours to leave the country after he failed to apologise for his criticism of the investigation.

The diplomatic dispute erupted last month when police rejected North Korean diplomats’ demands to hand over Kim’s body.

Kang then claimed the investigation was politically motivated and said Kuala Lumpur was conspiring with “hostile forces” – a reference to the North’s arch-rival, Seoul.

Malaysia summoned Kang for a dressing-down, with Najib saying the ambassador’s statement was “diplomatically rude”.

Malaysia has also recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and cancelled a rare visa-free travel deal with North Korea. It ordered the ambassador expelled after he failed to present himself at the foreign ministry when summoned on Saturday.

The foreign ministry has said the expulsion is “part of the process by the Malaysian government to review its relations” with North Korea.

The row also extended to sport, with Malaysia football authorities banning the national team from playing an Asian Cup qualifying match in Pyongyang – citing security threats in the wake of the expulsion.

Police are seeking seven North Korean suspects in their probe, four of whom left Malaysia on the day of the murder. But on Friday they released the only North Korean they had arrested for lack of evidence.

After Ri Jong-Chol was deported, he claimed police offered him a comfortable life in Malaysia for a false confession, saying the investigation was “a conspiracy to impair the dignity of the Republic ( North Korea)”.

Two women – one Vietnamese and one Indonesian – have been charged with the actual murder. Airport CCTV footage shows them approaching the heavyset 45-year-old and apparently smearing his face with a cloth.

Police say he suffered a seizure and died less than 20 minutes later. Swabs of the dead man’s face revealed traces of the VX nerve agent.

Indian police said Monday they had found 19 aborted female foetuses dumped in a sewer in the western state of Maharashtra, highlighting the country’s problem of female foeticide.

Prenatal sex tests are illegal in India, a policy designed to stop unborn girls being aborted by parents desperate for a boy.

But the tests are still thought to be common, particularly in poor rural areas, and sex ratios are skewed towards males across India.

“We have recovered 19 foetuses and are trying to arrest the doctor, who is absconding,” Dattatray Shinde, a police superintendent in Maharasthra’s Sangli district, told AFP.

He said the foetuses were found late Sunday wrapped in blue plastic bags in a sewer next to a clinic run by doctor Babasaheb Khidrapure in the village of Mhaisal.

Officers made the discovery after a 26-year-old woman died during a failed abortion attempt at the surgery, Shinde said.

“We have arrested the victim’s husband Praveen Jamdade for pressuring her into an abortion,” he said.

Parents and doctors can be jailed for up to five years for requesting or conducting a pre-natal sex test.

A 2011 study in the British medical journal The Lancet found that up to 12 million girls had been aborted in the last three decades in India.

India had 940 females for every 1,000 males, according to the last official census published in 2011, up from 933 in 2001.

In Sangli, where the feotuses were found, there are just 867 girls per 1000 boys, the figures show.

Women in India can face pressure to produce male children, who are seen as breadwinners. Girls are often viewed as a financial burden as they require hefty marriage dowries.