Mainland Chinese shares stop trading after 7% plunge
TRADING ON
mainland Chinese markets has been halted for the day after shares fell more than 7% for the second time this week.
mainland Chinese markets has been halted for the day after shares fell more than 7% for the second time this week.
The "circuit-breaker" rule, designed to stem volatility, was triggered in the first 30 minutes of trading, making it China's shortestTRADING DAY on record.
on record.
The slump prompted renewed panic on global markets, with European share indexes falling more than 2%.
Investors are nervous after the central bank moved to weaken the yuan.
This indicates that Beijing is looking to boost exports, as China's economy may be slowing more than expected.
What are China's 'circuit-breakers'?
- The measures were announced in December after a summer of dramatic market losses - used for the first time time on Monday and again on Thursday
- They automatically stopTRADING IN STOCK
- Supposedly introduced to limit panic buying and selling - which is more likely in small investor-dominated markets like China's - but critics say they only add to selling pressure the next day
Hong Kong bookshops pull politically sensitive titles after publishers vanish
Suspected abduction of five booksellers prompts fears of mounting self-censorship in face of mainland crackdown on ‘salacious’ publications
One of Hong Kong’s leading international bookshop chains has removed politically sensitive books from its shelves in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of five of the city’s booksellers, stoking fears over mounting self-censorship in the former British colony.
Page One, a major Singapore chain, with outlets in both Hong Kong and mainland China, has decided to stop selling all politically sensitive books in Chinese – known locally as “jinshu”, or “forbidden books” – in its Hong Kong shops, as the mystery over the whereabouts of the five vanished men deepens.
The chain, which specialises in graphic design and visual art volumes, had been limiting the number of political books it sold ever since clinching a deal a few years ago with authorities to expand its operations in the mainland – where no Chinese-language “sensitive” political books published in Hong Kong are allowed for distribution.
Charlie Hebdo attack one year on: How the world reacted in cartoons
Publications around the globe published tributes after the massacre at the magazine's offices on 7 January 2015
On Wednesday 7 January 2015 two masked gunmen opened fire in the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 and bringing terror deep into the heart of Europe.
Their massacre of the magazine’s editor Stephane Charbonnier, along with four cartoonists, three editorial staff, a bodyguard and a guest was widely seen as an attack on the freedom of speech.
It is thought that controversial caricatures of the prophet Mohamed published in the magazine were the motivation for gunmen’s deadly actions.
Terror Expert Charles Lister: 'Islamic State Is a Convenient Obsession'
Interview Conducted by Samiha Shafy
British-American terror expert Charles Lister believes that al-Qaida ally Jabhat al-Nusra is more dangerous than Islamic State. In an interview, he warns that most Syrian rebel groups will abort the peace process should Bashar Assad remain in power.
SPIEGEL: A surprising conclusion in your new book* is that while Islamic State (IS) and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad are obvious obstacles to ending the Syrian war, in your view the biggest problem is Jabhat al-Nusra, which is allied with al-Qaida. Why is that?
Charles Lister: In the West, the threat posed by IS has become an understandable, but convenient obsession. However, Jabhat al-Nusra has embedded itself so successfully within the Syrian opposition -- within the revolution for a long time -- that in my view it has become an actor that will be much more difficult to uproot from Syria than IS. Islamic State is all about imposing its will on people, whereas al-Nusra has for the last five years been embedding itself in popular movements, sharing power in villages and cities, and giving to people rather than forcing them to do things. That has lent it a power IS just doesn't have. The reason I call IS a convenient obsession is that I don't think anybody in the West knows what to do about Jabhat al-Nusra. There was a period of time where it was relatively clear that al-Nusra had a foreign attack wing that was plotting attacks in the West. They have never let go of their foreign vision, they have explicitly said they want to establish Islamic emirates in Syria, and they belong to an organization, al-Qaida, whose avowed goal is to attack and destroy the West. Not to establish an "Islamic State" and gradually expand it like IS, but explicitly to destroy the West.
South China Sea dispute: Vietnamese subs deployed as deterrent to China
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Bangkok: The first of Vietnam's new advanced Kilo-class submarines have begun patrolling disputed waters of the South China Sea, as deterrents to China's 10 times-bigger navy, Vietnamese officials and diplomatic sources say.
Vietnam is also expanding use of its strategically important Cam Ranh Bay deep-water harbour, where six of the submarines will be based by 2017.
The arrival of the submarines from Russia is a key part of Vietnam's biggest arms build-up since the height of the Vietnam War, which could significantly change the balance of power in the flashpoint South China Sea, analysts say.
As concern has increased about China's aggressive claims to almost all of the disputed water, Vietnam has been spending billions of dollars developing a submarine fleet, shore-based artillery and missile systems, multirole jet fighters and fast-attack ships, most of which have being bought from Russia and India.
Who was behind the attack on the Saudi embassy in Iran?
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has disputed accusations that his government was responsible for Saturday night's attacks on Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran, following the beheading of a prominent Shiite cleric by the Saudi government.
DUBAI — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday Saudi Arabia could not hide its "crime" of executing a Shi'ite cleric by cutting ties with Tehran, but Iranian authorities disowned an attack on the Saudi embassy in Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan broke all ties with Iran and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations on Monday after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran on Tuesday.
An angry mob broke into the embassy on Saturday night and started fires following protests against the kingdom's execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent critic of Saudi policy, and three other Shi'ite Muslims as well as 43 Sunni al Qaeda jihadists.
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