China ‘testing us’ across the region, Biden tells leaders at Quad summit

US president is recorded on hot mic singling out Beijing, saying it ‘continues to behave aggressively’ in areas including the South China Sea

Joe Biden has been recorded on a hot mic telling the leaders of Australia, India and Japan that an aggressive China is “testing us”, in remarks at a Quad summit that risked undercutting the group’s declaration that carefully avoided referring to Beijing by name.

The comments came as Biden opened a farewell summit in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.

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Von der Leyen tightens grip on EU but trouble looms | Jennifer Rankin

Despite cementing control, the EU commission’s president faces a daunting second term amid the rise of the far right

Ursula von der Leyen was leaving nothing to chance. At a private meeting with members of the European parliament in Strasbourg last Tuesday, she chose not to reveal who would get what job in her incoming European Commission, due to take office at the end of the year.

Then immediately afterwards, during a brisk 21-minute press conference, she announced every single name, leaving MEPs fuming. “That’s not how it should be done,” said one.

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Putin regime will collapse without warning, says freed gulag dissident

Vladimir Kara-Murza and his wife, Evgenia, speak of his time in a Siberian jail and why the truth about Russia will come out

The last time I met Evgenia Kara-Murza, it was a grim day in early March. The timing couldn’t have been worse. As we spoke, Alexei Navalny’s coffin was being lowered into the frozen ground in a Moscow cemetery. Meanwhile Evgenia’s husband, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was still incarcerated in a Siberian prison cell almost identical to the one in the Arctic Circle in which Navalny had been found dead, presumed murdered.

The parallels were eerie. Because Vladimir, a journalist turned political activist, was not just also loathed and feared by the Kremlin and imprisoned on spurious charges, he’d also been poisoned – twice – targeted by the same FSB (Federal Security Service) unit that had poisoned Navalny.

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Coalition’s nuclear power plan is ‘economic insanity’, Jim Chalmers says on eve of major Dutton speech

‘It will cost more, it will push prices up, it will take longer,’ treasurer says of opposition leader’s ‘fantasy’

Coalition plans to build seven nuclear power plants are “economic insanity”, Jim Chalmers has said, in the lead-up to a speech by Peter Dutton that is expected to provide new details of the policy.

The federal opposition has outlined plans to build seven nuclear reactors across five states, should it win the next election, with the first to be built by 2035 to 2037 at the earliest.

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Mohammed Al Fayed: CPS did not prosecute Harrods owner twice – BBC.com

  1. Mohammed Al Fayed: CPS did not prosecute Harrods owner twice  BBC.com
  2. ‘Remorseless, ruthless, racist’: my battle to expose Mohamed Al Fayed  The Guardian
  3. Fulham investigate amid Al Fayed rape allegations  ESPN
  4. Mohamed Fayed sexually assaulted me in front of his children, says survivor  The Telegraph
  5. Late Mohamed Al-Fayed Was a ‘Monster,’ Says Lawyer as Survivor Outlines Alleged Abuse  PEOPLE
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Israeli military shuts down Al Jazeera bureau in West Bank raid

Qatari broadcaster has been ordered to close office for 45 days, months after being banned from operating in Israel

Israeli forces raided the office of Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order, the Qatari broadcaster said, with footage showing heavily armed and masked troops entering the premises in Ramallah.

“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, the network reported, citing the conversation which was broadcast live. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment,” the soldier said.

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‘Astounding’ lack of menopause education for Australia’s medical students must be remedied, Mark Butler says

Federal health minister also calls for prosecution of shopkeepers caught illegally selling vapes

The federal health minister, Mark Butler, says he is “astounded” that medical students can spend as little as one hour learning about menopause and has signalled that the government is likely to take action after a damning parliamentary inquiry.

On Sunday Butler told the ABC’s Insiders that several inquiries had told a “shameful story” about women’s treatment in Australia’s health system, saying there was more to do after Labor’s “modest investments” in women’s health.

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Experts: ‘There’s no possibility of animal fat’.. – Greatandhra

  1. Experts: 'There's no possibility of animal fat'..  Greatandhra
  2. "Chandrababu Naidu Habitual Liar": Jagan Reddy Writes To PM Amid Laddoo Row  NDTV
  3. Tirupati Laddu row: Jagan writes to PM Modi, says Naidu's claims ‘nothing short of crime’  Hindustan Times
  4. Tirupati controversy: Laddoo with ingredient for political fighting  The Economic Times
  5. Tirupati Laddu row: Andhra Dy CM Pawan Kalyan to undergo 11-day penance initiation: ‘Time has come to restore Dharma’  Mint
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Israel strikes targets in Lebanon as Hezbollah launches deepest rocket attacks since start of Gaza war

Israeli military says its jets targeted hundreds of Hezbollah sites, while Hezbollah says it launched dozens of missiles at an airbase in northern Israel

The Israeli military says it has launched airstrikes on hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah launched its deepest rocket attacks into Israel since the start of the Gaza war, prompting a UN official to warn of “imminent catastrophe” in the region.

Fighting reached its most intense yet overnight, with Israel launching a wave of attacks that it said targeted Hezbollah missile launchers across Lebanon’s south. At least one person was killed and another injured in the strikes, the Lebanese ministry of health said.

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Germany’s far-right AfD on track for another state election win – Yahoo! Voices

  1. Germany's far-right AfD on track for another state election win  Yahoo! Voices
  2. Germany’s Scholz risks Biden’s fate  POLITICO Europe
  3. Immigrants in eastern Germany ask: Leave or stay?  DW (English)
  4. German Chancellor Scholz Exposed in Regional Vote: What to Watch  Bloomberg
  5. Brandenburg election: Welcome Culture sours to Auf Wiedersehen  BBC.com
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Australian demand for overdose drug naloxone more than doubles after spike in synthetic opioid deaths

Take Home Naloxone program, which allows access without a prescription, sees rise in use after multiple reports of people who unknowingly used laced drugs and died

Demand for a life-saving opioid overdose drug has doubled in one year as a “whole new cohort” of stimulant and hallucinogenic users, fearful of taking lethally laced narcotics, have rushed to get the medication.

Prior to a recent spike in overdose deaths, regular users of illicit opioids were the predominant users of naloxone, which can rapidly reverse an overdose.

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Biden tells Quad leaders that Beijing is testing region at turbulent moment for Chinese economy – The Associated Press

  1. Biden tells Quad leaders that Beijing is testing region at turbulent moment for Chinese economy  The Associated Press
  2. China ‘Testing Us All,’ Biden Tells Indo-Pacific Leaders’ Summit  Bloomberg
  3. ‘China testing us all’: Joe Biden caught on mic telling QUAD leaders  Hindustan Times
  4. Biden says China's aggressive behaviour continues in S.China Sea, Taiwan Strait  Bangkok Post
  5. China ‘testing us’ across the region, Biden tells leaders at Quad summit  The Guardian US
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New center-right government in France announced 2 months after divisive elections – NPR

  1. New center-right government in France announced 2 months after divisive elections  NPR
  2. France’s new government under pressure as opponents threaten no-confidence vote  The Guardian
  3. Macron Appoints Armand as France’s New Finance Minister  Bloomberg
  4. France names a new government, seeking to end turmoil from July’s election  The Washington Post
  5. France's new government under pressure on multiple fronts  FRANCE 24 English
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Beleaguered Secret Service faces new challenge of protecting world leaders at UN General Assembly – The Independent

  1. Beleaguered Secret Service faces new challenge of protecting world leaders at UN General Assembly  The Independent
  2. Is the UN past the point of no return? World leaders debate in New York next week  CNN
  3. U.N. Meets Amid a Backdrop of Growing Chaos and Violence  The New York Times
  4. NYC traffic season is here: See 2024 Gridlock Alert days and UNGA closures  NBC New York
  5. Secret Service’s next challenge: Keeping scores of world leaders safe at the UN General Assembly  POLITICO
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