Six In The Morning Tuesday August 25

Business

Europe shares jump despite further massive falls in China

Shares in London and elsewhere in Europe jumped in morning trading, despite another night of steep falls for the Chinese stock market.

The FTSE 100 was up almost 2% at 6,003.72, while Germany's Dax and Paris Cac were both up more than 3%.

The gains came after Chinese stocks continued their run of big losses.

The main Shanghai Composite index closed down 7.6% at 2,964.97 points. Japan also saw more sharp falls and Tokyo's Nikkei index was 4% lower.

On other European markets, Lisbon, Madrid and Milan were all up 3% by mid-morning and Moscow up by 2%.

Follow our live coverage of global markets.

The global sell-off has been driven by fears that China's slowing growth means less business for everyone else.

Saudi Arabia executes 'a person every two days' as rate of beheadings soars under King Salman

Those killed include children and people with mental disabilities

ADAM WITHNALL 

 

 

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Saudi Arabia has executed at least 175 people in the past year, at a rate of one every two days, according to a report by Amnesty International.

The kingdom killed 102 convicted criminals in the first six months of 2015 alone, putting it on course to beat its 1995 record number for the calendar year of 192. Those killed included children under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, and people suspected of having mental disabilities.

Amnesty, which alongside the AFP news agency keeps a record of the number of people the Saudi government kills, said the execution rate suddenly surged in August last year and continued to rise under the new King Salman from January.

Meet the Palestinian engineer who may have solved Gaza’s water crisis

Abou Assi        

Majdi Fathi

Each year, Gaza’s population uses 180 million cubic metres of water but only has capacity for 60 million cubic metres of water usage per year. Running out of water is a constant fear for Gazans.

And if UN projections are correct, Gazans will only be using more in the future: the international organisation has estimated that five years from now, Gazans will be using 260 million cubic metres of water a year as their population swells by an extra 500,000. This fast-approaching crisis pushed one Gazan engineer to experiment with nanotechnology to find a long-term, sustainable solution to Gaza’s water shortage.


“The lack of water has us all worried”
To understand the context of the crisis, we first spoke to our Observer Majdi Fathi, a photographer who lives in Gaza. He described the daily struggles of living in a place with a shortage of potable water. 

South and North Korea end dangerous military standoff

Pyongyang and Seoul have reached a tentative diplomatic breakthrough after weeks of border tensions. While both sides softened their stance on recent provocative incidents, several key issues remain unresolved.

The two Koreas came to an agreement after a grueling weekend of negotiations that began in the border village of Panmunjom. Pyongyang lifted the "semi-war" state declared last week by leader Kim Jong Un. Seoul silenced its propaganda speakers at midday local time (0300 GMT).

South Korea had started up loudspeakers placed along the border earlier this month to send out loud propaganda broadcasts towards the North. The speakers had not been used in more than 10 years.

The North expressed regret that two Seoul soldiers were maimed in mine blasts in early August, although its leaders refused to explicitly accept their country had anything to do with the explosions.

Syrian rebels: Turkey tipped al Qaida group to U.S.-trained fighters

BY MITCHELL PROTHERO

mprothero@mcclatchydc.com

GAZIANTEP, TURKEY  The kidnapping of a group of U.S.-trained moderate Syrians moments after they entered Syria last month to confront the Islamic State was orchestrated by Turkish intelligence, multiple rebel sources have told McClatchy.

The rebels say that the tipoff to al Qaida’s Nusra Front enabled Nusra to snatch many of the 54 graduates of the $500 million program on July 29 as soon as they entered Syria, dealing a humiliating blow to the Obama administration’s plans for confronting the Islamic State.

Rebels familiar with the events said they believe the arrival plans were leaked because Turkish officials were worried that while the group’s intended target was the Islamic State, the U.S.-trained Syrians would form a vanguard for attacking Islamist fighters that Turkey is close to, including Nusra and another major Islamist force, Ahrar al Sham.

'Eyes On China' Instagram Project Reveals What Life Is Like Behind China's Great Firewall

"If it was easy, the project wouldn't be so interesting."

Alexandra MaEditorial Fellow, The Huffington Post

Every year, travelers from across the globe flock to China to visit the country's renowned monuments and historical landmarks. But Kevin Frayer and Frederic Dufour, two Beijing-based photographers, have made it their mission to tell the world about another fascinating aspect of the country -- its diversity. 

Frayer and Dufour started an Instagram feed in June in an effort to show China from as many angles as possible. The Eyes On China Project features images shot by more than 20 foreign and Chinese photographers across the country. The subject of the photos range from atransexual woman in Guangzhou preparing to meet the press, to students in Shanghai undertaking military training and soccer fans in Beijing cheering on their team.