Category Archives: World News

China charges 28 people over restaurant attack on group of women

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Incident in Tangshan sparked outrage over gender-based violence when video went viral

Chinese authorities said they had charged 28 people and were investigating 15 officials including police for corruption more than two months after a shocking incident in which a group of men assaulted four women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, north-east China.

The men carried out the assault after the women rejected their apparent sexual advances on 10 June. CCTV footage circulated online showed a man placing his hand on a woman’s back as she shared a meal with two companions. After the woman pushed him away, the man struck her before others dragged her outside and dealt a barrage of blows as she lay on the ground. Another woman was knocked to the floor.

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Israeli rock star praises ‘brother’ settlers as he recants past views in move to right

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Ex-peace figure Aviv Geffen sparks controversy with public repentance at concert in occupied West Bank

The Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen, once a symbol of the country’s peace movement, has sparked controversy by apologising for his past views during a concert at a fervently nationalistic settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The public repentance on Thursday at the Beit El settlement can be seen as a cultural milestone in Israel’s move further to the right and another nail in the coffin of the more peace-oriented legacy of the assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, with whom Geffen had been associated.

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Penny Wong visits PNG and Timor-Leste as expert warns neighbours are ‘playing the China card’

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Foreign affairs minister met PNG leaders on Monday in Port Moresby and will continue to Timor-Leste on Wednesday

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says Australian aid in the Pacific comes with “no strings attached”, in a veiled reference to China’s expanding power in the region.

Visiting Port Moresby on Monday, Wong said Australia wanted the “closest possible relationship” with Papua New Guinea and would work with, and listen to, its government and people.

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El Alto: graphic novel depicts Bolivia city’s future as Indigenous and robotic

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Altopía imagines the bustling working-class city that overlooks neighbouring La Paz in 2053 – with coca-chewing cyborgs and minibuses with legs

Travellers flying into the Bolivian capital of La Paz land in El Alto: a working-class, Indigenous city of countless terracotta houses. Most visitors pay it little attention as the taxi whisks them down to La Paz.

But this one-time satellite city has now outgrown the political capital – and many see it as a symbol of the country’s future.

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Weather tracker: Atlantic hurricane season may finally be starting to stir

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Lack of activity has confounded forecasts so far but a cluster of thunderstorms could change that

The Atlantic hurricane season has so far confounded forecasts of an active year, with only three named storms so far, none of which were hurricane strength. In fact, until now this August joins 1997 and 1961 in having no named storms.

However, there are three months left of the season and activity is starting to stir in the tropics. A cluster of thunderstorms in the central Atlantic has the potential to organise sufficiently to become the first named storm since Colin in early July. Should this occur, it may move westwards and approach the Leeward Islands, bringing the threat of heavy rainfall towards the end of this week, but there is little suggestion it will develop into a significant storm at this stage.

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British Museum receives major bequest of Chinese porcelain and jades

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Sir Joseph Hotung’s gift is ‘one of the most generous ever received’ by museum

An outstanding collection of Chinese porcelain and jades has been left to the British Museum in “one of the most significant bequests” of its history.

The artworks come from the collections of Sir Joseph Hotung, a businessman, philanthropist and art collector, who died last year.

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India accuses China of ‘militarisation of the Taiwan Strait’ as row over navy vessel grows

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Accusation is reportedly the first time the Indian government has used the descriptor and comes as tensions rise over Sri Lanka port visit

India has accused China of “militarisation of the Taiwan Strait”, in an escalating war of words triggered by a Chinese military ship docking in a controversial Sri Lankan port.

The accusation, referenced in a statement by the Indian high commission in Sri Lanka on Sunday, is reportedly the first time the Indian government has used the descriptor, and is a rare intervention on the cross-straits issues as India contends with tensions on its own border with China.

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D-day tribute or theme park? Battle rages over Normandy plan

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Critics say €90m project would reduce allied landing to a money-spinning tourist attraction

A row has erupted in France over plans for a new D-day attraction near the landing beaches, which critics have likened to a Disney-style theme park.

The multimillion-euro project to retell the story of le débarquement of 6 June 1944 and the subsequent Battle of Normandy in a hi-tech 45-minute “immersive show” has sparked a furious war of words, with opponents describing it as disrespectful to those who died and their families.

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Playing music in childhood linked to a sharper mind in old age, study suggests

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Researchers find link between learning instrument while young and improved thinking skills later in life

The ageing rocker clinging on to their youth may be a figure of mockery, but research suggests they should be envied for their sharpness of mind.

Researchers have found a link between learning a musical instrument in youth and improved thinking skills in old age. People with more experience of playing a musical instrument showed greater lifetime improvement on a test of cognitive ability than those with less or no experience, a paper from the University of Edinburgh has said.

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Irish farmers say they will be forced to cull cows to meet climate targets

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Government plan to cut agriculture emissions by 25% by 2030 will drive many farms into bankruptcy, say critics

Donald Scully gazes at his herd of 208 cows munching grass and clover in a verdant field, as a light breeze ruffles the stillness.

“There is an enjoyment for me to come out and look and see how healthy and happy these cows are,” says Scully, 47, a third-generation dairy farmer. “Every single cow has her own personality, they’re all individuals.”

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Better late than never: Gibraltar ‘becomes’ city after 180-year delay

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Research to update record of cities in UK and overseas territories reveals Gibraltar was awarded status in 1842 but omitted from list

Residents of Gibraltar smarting at missing out on gaining city status in a recent competition have been handed an unexpected surprise: it has been one for the last 180 years.

Gibraltar was among 39 places across the UK and British overseas territories vying to win city status as part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations in a competition last year, up against sites ranging from Alcester to Wrexham, via the Cayman Islands.

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Reports EU set to suspend visa travel agreement with Russia – as it happened

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Plan to freeze 2007 deal will make it harder and more expensive for Russians to get Schengen-area documents, FT reports

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree allowing Ukrainian passport holders who have entered Russia since Moscow’s offensive to live and work in the country indefinitely.

Until now, Ukrainians could stay in Russia only for a maximum of 90 days within a 180-day period. To stay longer or to work, special authorisation or a work permit was required.

In mid-August, we closed our offices and ceased all Russian operations.

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EU foreign ministers expected to suspend Russian tourist visa facilitation

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Move comes as EU official says it is ‘inappropriate for Russian tourists to stroll in our cities’

The EU’s foreign ministers are expected to approve suspending the bloc’s visa facilitation agreement with Moscow next week, as Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

The EU move, aimed at reducing the number of visas issued to Russian nationals after pressure from eastern member states, falls short of an outright ban but would make getting travel documents significantly more complicated and expensive.

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‘People are getting sick’: destitution in flood-hit Pakistan

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With their homes destroyed by worst flooding in living memory, people in Jaffarabad appeal for help

In the midst of swamps of flood water, hundreds of people who fled one of the worst-hit districts of Pakistan pitched tents on the only high ground they could find – on the raised banks of the Saifullah Magsi canal.

They had left the Jaffarabad region of Pakistan’s impoverished Balochistan province as a monsoon deluge that authorities say has claimed more than 1,000 lives since June swept away their homes and livelihoods. The Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, visiting Jaffarabad on Sunday, was told that at least 75% of Balochistan, which covers half of Pakistan’s land area, was partially or completely affected by flooding.

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Leïla Slimani: ‘Attack on Salman Rushdie shows why we must not censor ourselves’

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The bestselling author fears she too could be a target but says terrorists cannot be allowed to win

The bestselling author Leïla Slimani says the knife attack on Salman Rushdie has left her and other writers afraid, but that they have a “duty” to keep making public appearances and resist censoring themselves, despite the dangers.

The French-Moroccan writer, whose novels include Adèle, Lullaby and The Country of Others and is Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of French language and culture, said defending her freedom as a writer “feels even more important than before” and was an act of resistance.

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Point of no return: crunch time as China tries to fend off property crash

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With the global economy also at a crossroads, Beijing’s leadership faces a perilous test of nerve on its lending crackdown and zero-Covid strategy

China has reached a point of no return in its battle to contain what could be the biggest property crash the world has ever seen, experts believe, creating a perilous moment for the country’s Communist leadership and the global economy.

As western countries stand on the edge of a potentially ruinous recession in the coming year, China is also facing a slump thanks to “total collapse” of confidence among ordinary people in the once-buoyant housing market, the continued ravages of Beijing’s draconian zero-Covid strategy and an extreme heatwave that is affecting the supply of power and food.

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Amazon activists mourn death of ‘man of the hole’, last of his tribe

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Man resisted all attempts to contact him, laying traps and firing arrows at anyone who came too close

An unidentified and charismatic Indigenous man thought to have been the last of his tribe has died in the Brazilian Amazon, causing consternation among activists lamenting the loss of another ethnic language and culture.

The solitary and mysterious man was known only as the Índio do Buraco, or the “Indigenous man of the hole”, because he spent much of his existence hiding or sheltering in pits he dug in the ground.

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Greek ‘Watergate’ phone-tapping scandal puts added pressure on PM

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Embattled leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is facing calls to resign after state intelligence monitored opposition party

For much of last week thunderstorms and torrential rain swept Athens, marking a dramatic end to a summer otherwise electrified by talk of spyware, cyber-mercenaries, espionage and eavesdropping.

As the sun re-emerged on Friday, it was to a highly charged mood as Greece’s prematurely reconvened parliament debated a phone-tapping scandal whose exposure of practices last associated with military rule has shocked the nation and been met with stunned disbelief at the heart of the EU.

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Families flee as India demolishes 100-metre towers outside Delhi

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Court-ordered demolition of 850 flats seen as stern warning to developers amid rampant illegal construction

Indian authorities have demolished two illegally constructed skyscrapers in a wide plume of dust debris outside Delhi, razing the tallest structures ever pulled down in the country in less than 10 seconds.

Crowds watching the collapse from rooftops on nearby high-rise buildings cheered and clapped as the 103 metre (338ft) tall towers collapsed during a controlled demolition.

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