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.

A year ago, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. entered bankruptcy, its car rental business having fallen victim to COVID-related lockdowns, Bloomberg Opinion reported. Now, in a dramatic resurrection, not only has it emerged from protection, but institutional investors have bid up the stock to take control of the venerable company — so much so that Hertz was able to cover its debt in full and supply a handsome payout to shareholders who stuck with it through the bad times. Indeed, it was one of the first meme stocks, with loyalists buying it even as its fortunes tanked.

China's No. 2 mobile chip developer Unisoc is searching for new anchor investors at a high valuation as it tries to distance itself from its troubled parent Tsinghua Unigroup and pave the way for a long-awaited initial public offering, Asia Nikkei reported. Unisoc is hoping to find buyers willing to pay 20 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) for Tsinghua's 35.2% stake, according to people familiar with the discussions. Tsinghua is under pressure to sell after missing a string of bond repayments since last November.

More Japanese companies have decided against sending executives to Friday’s opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics as concerns about holding the games during the pandemic grow, Bloomberg reported. Senior officials from Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC Corp. will skip the event given that organizers decided to hold the games without spectators, spokespeople for the technology giants said Tuesday, a day after Toyota Motor Corp. announced its top executive wouldn’t attend.

Global stock markets swooned Monday, with the Dow slumping more than 700 points, as investors are growing increasingly anxious about a delta-led resurgence in coronavirus cases and its potential to derail the economic recovery, The Washington Post reported. Oil prices also fell sharply. The delta variant is now the dominant strain worldwide and surging rapidly, even in countries with high vaccination rates. New coronavirus infections in the U.S. rose nearly 70 percent in a single week, officials reported Friday, and nearly every state has reported an increase in cases.

Tsinghua Unigroup, a would-be microchip champion, is facing bankruptcy, a setback in China’s quest for semiconductor self-reliance, the New York Times reported. In 2015, an obscure company run by a real estate mogul woke up the world to China’s ambitions in semiconductors, the foundational technology that powers computing. Laden with state funding and political backing, the company made jaws drop with a $23 billion bid to buy American chip-maker Micron. Six years on, China’s would-be microchip champion looks more like a national disappointment.

The recovery as a percentage of gross nonperforming assets moderated to 12.8 percent in 2020-21 from 15.8 percent in the previous fiscal year against the backdrop of the pandemic, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad informed India’s Parliament on Monday, the Business Standard reported. As per Reserve Bank of India data on global operations, he said, scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) have recovered an amount of Rs 4,18,687 crore during the last three financial years.