Author's journey inside ISIS: They're 'more dangerous than people realize'
December 22, 2014 -- Updated 0855 GMT (1655 HKT)
Juergen Todenhoefer's journey was a tough one: dangerous, but also eye-opening. The author traveled deep into ISIS territory -- the area they now call their "caliphate" -- visiting Raqqa and Deir Ezzor in Syria, as well as Mosul in Iraq.
Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, was taken by ISIS in a Blitzkrieg-like sweep in June.
Todenhoefer managed to visit the Mosque there where the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi, gave his only ever public address.
And he saw the realities of daily life under ISIS, with all shops having to close for prayers in the middle of the day.
"There is an awful sense of normalcy in Mosul," Todenhoefer said in an exclusive interview with CNN.
China pledges medical care for HIV-positive boy shunned by village
Beijing vows that eight-year-old threatened with expulsion from Sichuan village will receive a living allowance and an education
China’s health ministry has promised to provide medical care and a living allowance for an eight-year-old HIV-positive boy targeted by villagers for expulsion, state media have reported.
In a case that drew widespread condemnation, about 200 residents – including the child’s grandfather – signed a petition last week to expel him from their village in the south-western province of Sichuan to “protect villagers’ health”, triggering anger online at perceived prejudice and ignorance in the countryside.
Beijing has pledged to ensure the boy, nicknamed Kunkun by the media, receives an education after reports that he was being denied admission into local schools, the China Daily said on Monday.
Sydney siege: Muslim bride Manal Kassem interrupts her wedding day to lay down bouquet in tribute to killed hostages
Brad Pitt 'Keeper of the German Language'
We may know him best as the devilishly handsome provocateur of films such as "Ocean's Eleven" but Brad Pitt may be about to receive a somewhat more salubrious title - the "Keeper of the German Language" for 2014.
When it comes to life away from the silver screen, Hollywood star Brad Pitt usually plays second fiddle to his wife Angelina Jolie, who is well known for her humanitarian work for the UNHCR. But Pitt may well soon be adding a new and noble feather to his cap (which we can only assume is of the Bavarian felt variety) with his nomination for 2014's "Keeper of the German Language" title.
The annual award - run through the German language publication "Deutsche Sprachwelt" - is awarded for outstanding services to the German language, and is voted by the public.
The American actor is of German ancestry, speaks the language and is a regular to the country, including during the filming of Quentin Tarantino's 2009 alternative war flick "Inglourious Basterds" shot in Potsdam's historic Babelsberg Studios, and in which Pitt plays a ruthless Nazi hunter.
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin taking on Disneyland
Philip Wen
China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Wuhan: Wang Jianlin's childhood was unlikely to have been lit up by the likes of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, as he was brought up in the 1950s by his father, a Red Army veteran, in an industrial region of China's western Sichuan province.
Now one of China's richest and most influential billionaires, the property mogul is determined to take on Disney in his own backyard, opening up rival Chinese-themed attractions in direct competition against the Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai (which opens next year).
"In the past 200 years, lots of [Chinese] people had this mindset that the West is always better," Mr Wang said. "The reason I'm spending 50 billion yuan ($9.8 billion) in Guangzhou is simply to compete against Hong Kong [Disneyland].
ASIA PACIFIC
Chinese Annoyance With North Korea Bubbles to the Surface
By
BEIJING — When a retired Chinese general with impeccable Communist Party credentials recently wrote a scathing account of North Korea as a recalcitrant ally headed for collapse and unworthy of support, he exposed a roiling debate in China about how to deal with the country’s young leader, Kim Jong-un.
For decades China has stood by North Korea, and though at times the relationship has soured, it has rarely reached such a low point, Chinese analysts say. The fact that the commentary by Lt. Gen. Wang Hongguang, a former deputy commander of an important military region, was published in a state-run newspaper this month and then posted on an official People’s Liberation Army website attested to how much the relationship had deteriorated, the analysts say.
“China has cleaned up the D.P.R.K.'s mess too many times,” General Wang wrote in The Global Times, using the initials of North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “But it doesn’t have to do that in the future.”
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