In a televised statement on Monday at Lido Hotel in Beijing, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which has now been missing for 18 days, likely "ended in the southern Indian Ocean." After his statement, family and friends of MH370 passengers were reportedly notified by text that "none of those on board have survived."
Bloomberg continues to lose longtime reporters because it values financial services over journalism. On Monday, Bloomberg News editor Ben Richardson, based in Hong Kong, resigned after 13 years with the company over the mishandling of an investigative piece -- it was unceremoniously spiked -- about a Chinese entrepreneur's financial ties with Communist Party leaders and their families.
China's obsession with Transformers is evident in box office revenue, filming location (Transformers: Age of Extinction has scenes from Wulong county in Chongqing), and this massive Optimus Prime in Kunming. We can now add another chapter to the legend, thanks to "repairmen" in Jinan, Shandong province.
Top of the week to ya. Chris Evans of Captain America fame is in Sanlitun, so go to the Village if you'd like a glimpse of him (or something?). Or rather, links.
Communist Party cadres throw down rapper-level cash on luxury brands, especially in the name of "gifts of guanxi," but a shrinkage in the gift market has affected some key industries in the domestic policy game, like Moutai, which has seen sales plummet over the last year. Luxury darlings Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Cartier also have all seen a slump in demand.
Hope you're enjoying Beijing vs. Xinjiang over links (China's March Madness?); also, the Bookworm Literary Festival's closing party is tonight at the Bookworm, more or less happening now. Admission is free, so go make an appearance.
The Xinjiang Guang Hui Flying Tigers are flying high. Riding the phenomenal success of their imported stars, Americans Lester Hudson and James Singleton and a Taiwanese player named Yang Jinmin, the support of China national team players such as the Uyghur point guard Shiralijan (Xi-re-li-jiang) and the Han center Tang Zhengdong, they're back in the Chinese Basketball Association finals for the fourth time in six years -- but the first since 2011, when Quicy Douby took them within two wins of a championship.
We just discovered this pretty neat Twitter tool that lets you find the first tweet of any user. It’s easy to use: just put in a username, then voila – get taken back in time to a day when Twitter wasn’t blocked in China. It got me thinking: who here were among the earliest Twitter adopters?
A new exhibition at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, curated by Karen Archery and Robin Peckham, is exploring the character of new art whose concepts, ideas, dissemination and reception are defined by a post-Internet world.
Titled “Art Post-Internet,” the collection includes works by artists based in New York, London and Berlin.
Believe it or not, a 37-year-old point guard from Coney Island, New York who played 13 years in the NBA is putting the city of Beijing on his back.
With one CBA championship on his resume -- and a statue outside MasterCard Center -- Stephon Marbury already is a Chinese basketball living legend. So what happens if he wins another, all while averaging 28 points per game this postseason on a bum knee?
![Why Did These Ducks — All 5,000 Of Them — Cross The Road? [UPDATE]](http://beijingcream.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ducks-galore-4-120x80.jpg "Why Did These Ducks — All 5,000 Of Them — Cross The Road? [UPDATE]")
