"Hundreds of residents displaced by huge explosions last week in the Chinese port of Tianjin demanded compensation on Monday, as authorities worked to complete a sweep of the blast site for dangerous chemicals. The death toll from the two blasts last on Wednesday rose to 114, officials said. More than 700 people were injured and 70 are missing, most of them fire fighters, the official Xinhua news agency said. The explosions sent fireballs high into the sky and hurled flaming debris across the world's 10th-largest port, burning out buildings and shattering windows kilometers away. Xinhua said there had been another small explosion on Monday," Reuters reports.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "For much of 2014, Mr. Ling was living under an alias in a mansion in a gated community in Loomis, Calif., near Sacramento, with Mr. Yuan's ex-wife, neighbors said. The couple hasn't been seen there since around October. Mr. Ling is now the focus of political intrigue that could overshadow a visit to the U.S. in September by China's leader, Xi Jinping.Diplomats and analysts said Mr. Ling might have had access through this brother to sensitive information about Chinese leaders. If he sought political asylum, Mr. Ling would be the most significant Chinese defector in decades. It isn't clear why Mr. Ling, 55 years old, moved to the U.S. in 2013 or 2014. He lost touch with many friends in China around last fall, a family acquaintance said, but later reassured friends he was safe in the U.S."

The New York Times writes, "China on Monday dismissed a warning issued by the Obama administration about the presence of Chinese government agents operating secretly in the United States and accused Washington of undermining Beijing's crackdown on corruption, according to the state news media. The diplomatic warning from Washington had alleged that Chinese security agents were working in the United States covertly to pressure Chinese suspected of economic crimes into returning home. That would constitute a violation of American law, which requires foreign agents to first obtain permission from the attorney general. The agents are operating covertly in the United States as part of Operation Fox Hunt, the Chinese government's global campaign to repatriate Chinese fugitives and recover allegedly ill-gotten gains, American officials said."