Tsinghua Unigroup, a Chinese state-backed chip maker, said that it received court notice that one of its creditors had initiated bankruptcy proceedings for the group, The Epoch Times reported. Tsinghua Unigroup is a commercial arm of China’s Tsinghua University and an integral part of Chinese Leader Xi Jinping’s semiconductor self-reliance dream. One of its creditors had requested the court to initiate bankruptcy and reorganization proceedings due to Tsinghua Unigroup’s failure to repay debts and its glaring insolvency. The company is a key member of China’s microchip national team.

Indian farmers, protesting against new agriculture laws they say threaten their livelihoods, started a sit-in near parliament in the capital, renewing a push for a repeal of the laws, Reuters reported. In the longest-running growers' protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, tens of thousands of farmers have camped out on major highways leading to New Delhi for more than seven months.

The Olympics have long been an almost ideal forum for companies looking to promote themselves, with plenty of opportunities for brands to nestle ads among the pageantry and feel-good stories about athletes overcoming adversity — all for less than the price of a Super Bowl commercial, the New York Times reported. But now, as roughly 11,000 competitors from more than 200 countries convene in Tokyo as the coronavirus pandemic lingers, Olympic advertisers are feeling anxious about the more than $1 billion they have spent to run ads on NBC and its Peacock streaming platform.

The Biden administration’s business advisory on Hong Kong has generated more heat and light than appears justified by its contents, according to a Bloomberg Opinion. The fireworks may be a sign that the U.S. and China are content to let hostilities play out as diplomatic theater, and are reluctant to raise confrontation to a level that would meaningfully challenge the functioning of a key global financial center.

Asian stock markets were mixed after Wall Street rebounded and Japanese exports surged as investors tried to figure out how rising coronavirus infections will affect the global economy, the Associated Press reported. Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney advanced, while Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Overnight, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 1.5%, recovering much of the previous day’s loss. Japan’s government reported that June exports jumped 48.5% over a year earlier, beating forecasts.

The daughter of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said her father left behind mountains of debt because he gave away the family fortune to various organizations, including women's groups, before he died last year, UPI reported. Jung Chul-seung, the family's legal counsel, said that the statement from the woman, who remains unidentified, was part of a recent conversation, Dong-A Ilbo and Asia Business reported.

More than 1.5 million children worldwide saw a parent, custodial grandparent or other relative who cared for them die from COVID-19, according to a study published by the Lancet, UPI reported. Of these children, more than 1 million experienced one or both parents dying during the first 14 months of the pandemic, and another 500,000 experienced the death of a grandparent caregiver living in their own home, the data showed.

The promise of Chinese cars landing on U.S. soil is, yet again, broken, CNET reported. Automotive News reported Monday that HAAH Automotive Holdings, a big player hoping to export Chinese cars to the U.S., has filed for bankruptcy after a seven-year-long journey. The U.S. will not see the planned Vantas or T-GO brands HAAH wanted to launch in the U.S. The cars from both brands were to come from China’s Chery Automobile Company. HAAH first aimed to simply import the cars through a Chery joint venture, then pivoted last year to say it would actually build the cars in the U.S.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Thailand in the first half of 2020, forcing the government to impose lockdowns and travel bans that effectively killed the crucial tourism industry, many economists foresaw a contraction of 10% or more for the year, the Asia Times reported. But Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank just 6.1% in 2020, painful but not as bad as expected with the loss of the kingdom’s US$60 billion tourism industry, which normally accounts for around 18% of GDP.