An artist in Guangzhou City of south China’s Guangdong Province carved 100 chickens on eggshells to mark the Chinese Year of the Rooster.

Sun Kaifu, the artist, was born in the Year of the Rooster. The year 2017 sees the fifth round of his zodiac so he spent six months creating his artworks of carving the paintings of 100 chickens on eggshells.

Sun used to be an enterprise senior manager, but he never gave up his dream of becoming an artist. The idea of eggshell carving hit him ten years ago while he was watching TV.

“After I saw on TV artists with special crafts changed ordinary eggshells into artworks for collection, I became obsessed with eggshell carving,” said Sun.

Sun also combined his eggshell-carving art with other artistic genres such as traditional Chinese painting.

“I carved the 100 chickens in a way of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting, because in this way, the chickens look natural and chic, with a visual effect of ink-and-wash painting,” said the artist.

Seoul, Feb 1, 2017 (AFP) – Former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, one of the world’s most recognised South Koreans, announced Wednesday he will not stand for the presidency of his country.

Ban returned home last month after a decade in New York and was widely expected to run in elections due this year, but his putative candidacy ran into a series of stumbles.

“I will withdraw from politics,” he told reporters at a press conference.

“I’m sorry for disappointing many people.”

Read also: US wants S Korea to arrest brother of former UN chief Ban

Although he never officially declared he was running, the former UN chief embarked on a series of public appearances and was widely expected to join the ruling Saenuri party of impeached President Park Geun-Hye, or an emerging conservative breakaway for the upcoming presidential elections.

But he struggled to secure party backing in South Korea’s highly partisan political system, corruption allegations were made against some of his relatives, and pictures of him trying to put two banknotes into a ticket machine at once made him appear out of touch.

Read also: Ban faces rocky road to S. Korean presidency

“My pure patriotism and aspirations have fallen victim to slander that was close to personality slaughter,” he said Wednesday, before bowing briefly, shuffling his papers and leaving the stage.

His support in public opinion polls rapidly declined from 20.3 per cent when he returned to 13.1 per cent before his announcement.

A career diplomat, Ban never joined any South Korean political party, resident Roh Moo-Hyun from 2004 to 2006.

HONG KONG – Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua’s reported abduction from Hong Kong by mainland security agents has shone a spotlight on the business dealings and political connections of the financier some local media have dubbed China’s J.P. Morgan.

Xiao went from a poor family to become one of China’s richest men, founding the Beijing-based Tomorrow Group which describes itself as one of the first companies to deal with equities investments domestically.

He has said he takes inspiration from US business magnate Warren Buffet.

“He trusted his management, which is my ideal style,” Xiao said of Buffet in a 2013 interview with China-based website “21st Century Business Herald”, published on China’s Sina news portal.

“But given our country’s environment, we are still a long way from realising this process.”

There is speculation Xiao has fallen foul of China’s high-profile anti-corruption drive, which some critics say has been used to target President Xi Jinping’s political opponents.

Overseas Chinese-language news site Bowen Press reported Xiao could China’s People’s Daily describes Xiao as coming from a “peasant  family” in the northern mainland Chinese province of Shandong, developing into a child prodigy and attending Peking University at 15 to study law.

According to the Hurun Report, which ranks China’s wealthy, Xiao is now worth almost $6 billion and oversees an empire reported to cover a range of areas, including financial institutions, insurance and property.

He is said to have business connections with China’s political elite but in 2014 denied a report in the New York Times that he had earned establishment backing after authorities cracked down on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

During that time he was head of Peking University’s official student union and the Times reported he had sided with administrators and tried to defuse the rallies.

A response to the article at the time from Xiao’s spokeswoman said his business was built “from scratch” and its success was due to hard work.

During the Tiananmen protests Xiao had tried to ensure students’.

The spokeswoman also denied Tomorrow Group had any links to a deal in which the Times said a company Xiao had co-founded had paid $2.4 million to buy shares in an investment firm held by the sister and brother-in-law of President Xi.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post has reported that Xiao has mainly lived outside China since 2007, after financial irregularities were discovered during the listing process of a company part-owned by Tomorrow Group.

He is said to have been staying long-term at Hong Kong’s harbour-front Four Seasons hotel, which has become a favourite haven for Chinese tycoons who have left the mainland, according to some reports.

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council is to issue an edict, or fatwa, declaring the spreading of fake news un-Islamic, the organisation’s chairman said on Wednesday.

Indonesia has one of the world’s highest number of Facebook and Twitter users, and the biggest Muslim population, and concern is growing that fake news is fuelling religious and ethnic tension.

“We will issue it as soon as possible, because the situation is worrying,” said Maaruf Amin, chairman of the Indonesia Ulema Council.

“Hopefully, at least Muslims won’t be involved anymore in hoaxes.”

The council is not a government or lawmaking body and its fatwas are not legally binding.

The edict is expected before a hotly contested election on Feb. 15 for governor of the capital, Jakarta, with an ethnic Chinese, Christian incumbent running against two Muslim candidates.

Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or Ahok as he is known, has been embroiled in a blasphemy trial in which he stands accused of insulting the Quran.

The case arose from an incorrectly subtitled video, which went viral on social media late last year, of comments that Purnama made about his opponents’ use of the Islamic holy book in political campaigning.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims led by a hardline group have twice descended on Jakarta to protest against Purnama and call for his jailing, leading to questions in the world’s third largest democracy on the protection of the rights of minorities.

President Joko Widodo has repeatedly urged social media users to refrain from spreading fake news and the government has invited executives from social media giant Facebook for talks this month to help combat the problem.

The council, with representatives from the country’s main moderate and conservative Muslim groups, frequently issues such edicts but they usually have little immediate impact.

The council last year issued a fatwa against clearing land for plantations by burning vegetation, in an effort to prevent smoke pollution that blankets Southeast Asia almost every year.

HONG KONG – The mystery over the reported abduction from Hong Kong of a Chinese billionaire deepened Wednesday after a newspaper advert appeared in his name pledging loyalty to China, in a case that has heightened fears over Beijing’s meddling.

The whereabouts of financier Xiao Jianhua – one of China’s richest men – are unclear after reports in overseas Chinese-language media that he was taken from Hong Kong by mainland security agents last week.

The reports suggested Xiao’s disappearance was part of China’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, which some critics believe has been used to target President Xi Jinping’s political opponents.

A front-page advert in Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao, attributed to Xiao, said Wednesday he had “always loved the (ruling Communist) party and the country” and would soon meet with media.

Read also: Missing Chinese tycoon rose from rags to riches

“I personally believe the Chinese government is civilised and has rule of law,” the advert read.

“I have not been kidnapped.” Xiao, who said in the statement he was a Canadian citizen, insisted he was being treated for an illness overseas, repeating a denial he had been abducted published on his company’s WeChat account Monday.

The founder of Beijing-based Tomorrow Group, Xiao was previously reported to have denied allegations he fled to Hong Kong in 2014 to escape the corruption crackdown.

He is said to have acted as a broker for the Chinese leadership, including for Xi’s family.

But overseas Chinese-language news site Bowen Press said Xiao could also have been connected to an “anti-Xi coalition”.

It is illegal for mainland agents to operate in semi-autonomous Hong Kong, but the disappearance of five booksellers known for publishing salacious titles about Beijing’s leadership in 2015 prompted widespread criticism China had overstepped that line.

One of the men, Lee Bo, vanished from Hong Kong, triggering international condemnation and local protests.

Read also: Chinese billionaire abducted by security agents in Hong Kong: Reports

Lee always insisted he had gone over the border voluntarily.

The South China Morning Post, citing a source close to Xiao, reported Wednesday he was currently in mainland China, was not receiving medical treatment and was only in contact with his family.

Hong Kong’s security bureau said the government “will not allow non-Hong Kong law enforcement officers to take law enforcement actions in Hong Kong”.

But James To of the Democratic Party said there was a “credible suspicion” Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous “one country, two systems” deal had been breached.

“After the Lee Bo fiasco people are very concerned about whether Hong Kong residents or people lawfully staying in Hong Kong will be protected,” To told AFP.

The Financial Times reported Xiao had been led away by Chinese public security agents from an apartment at the Four Seasons hotel.

Other reports in local media said Xiao had been staying at the hotel long-term, protected by female bodyguards.

The hotel said there was an “active police investigation” Wednesday.

Hong Kong police said they had received a request for assistance over a “mainland citizen” on Saturday, but that a family member had later retracted it.

They said the person it referred to had crossed a border control point between Hong Kong and China on Friday.

The Canadian consulate said it was aware of the reports and that officials were “in contact” with authorities.

Xiao added in the Ming Pao statement that he was a permanent resident of Hong Kong, as well as holding a diplomatic passport.

Hong Kong-based analyst Willy Lam said Xiao may have been targeted because he knew too many “potentially embarrassing details” about financial actions involving major political clans.

China’s anti-corruption drive was launched after Xi Jinping took power in 2012 and has brought down government officials and corporate executives.

Billionaire Guo Guangchang, chairman of one of the country’s biggest private-sector conglomerates Fosun, vanished from public view in late 2015 in connection with an investigation by authorities, and then re-emerged.

In 2016 the chairman of one of China’s most prominent fashion firms also disappeared, returning to work a week later amid speculation he had been caught up in the anti-corruption campaign.