Beijing defiant ahead of court ruling on its claims in South China Sea
Global Times, a nationalist Communist party tabloid, warns ‘provocateurs are doomed to fail’ in hours before verdict is handed down
Beijing has unleashed a final salvo of defiance, propaganda and bravado with hours to go until a landmark court ruling that could deal a major blow to its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
More than three years after the Philippines asked the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague to dismiss many of China’s sweeping claims in the resource-rich region, the court is set to announce its decision at around 11am Tuesday CEST (10am BST).
China has refused to recognise the five-judge court’s authority and on Tuesday morning the country’s Communist party-controlled press lashed out at what it claimed was a United States-sponsored conspiracy to stifle its rise.Rif Aleppo: the decisive battlefield in the Syrian civil war
Some Syrian army commanders say al-Nusra Front is becoming a more formidable force than Isis, writes Robert Fisk
Syria’s al-Nusra Front rebels are proving themselves tougher and far more tactically minded fighters than the Isis hordes who swept across Syria and Iraq two years ago to create an “Islamic State” in the two great Arab nations. In the countryside around Aleppo – the “rif” district in Arabic – Nusra has inflicted unexpected casualties on Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces and their Afghan and Iraqi allies who are fighting alongside them south of Syria’s largest city.
You cannot sleep many nights in Aleppo. The tank and artillery fire across the city has now reached battlefield proportions. Two years ago, the government-held western sector of the city was surrounded by Nusra and Isis. Now the rebels themselves are virtually besieged by Major General Suheil al-Hassan who has been battling for three weeks to cut their last military supply route to Turkey. With his tanks now less than half a mile from the Castello Road, and thus able to cut the highway with concentrated artillery fire, his “Tiger” Brigade has fought off a brutal suicide bombing attack by both Isis and Nusra forces around a village called Malah.
South Sudan: 'We’re hiding indoors and don't know how we'll survive'
OBSERVERS
UPDATE: President Salva Kiir called for a ceasefire to start at 6 pm on Monday. A previous ceasefire over the weekend had not held for long; it remains to be seen whether this one fares any better.
Since Friday, the capital of South Sudan has been paralyzed by heavy fighting between troops loyal to the president Salva Kiir, and those who support the vice president Riek Machar. Our Observers in Juba tell us that the city’s population is suffering greatly, with hundreds displaced and many more shuttered in their homes and running out of food and water.
The two rival factions had concluded a peace deal last August. Under this agreement, they were supposed to rapidly integrate their forces, but the implementation process was going more slowly than expected before fighting broke out between rival soldiers on Friday. Both leaders have publicly called for calm, to no avail.
Mysterious banners urging COAS to take over put up across country
SAHER BALOCH | IKRAM JUNAIDI | WASEEM AHMAD SHAH
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/PESHAWAR: A little-known political party of Punjab put up banners in 13 cities across the country on Monday with its leaders urging Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif to impose martial law and form a government of technocrats.
The banners have been put up in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Hyderabad, etc, by the Move on Pakistan party and unlike its earlier campaign requesting the army chief to reconsider his retirement plan due in November the message is quite ominous this time around.
A banner hanging at a traffic intersection on the thoroughfare between Chief Minister House and the Rangers headquarters in Karachi reads: Janay ki baatain hui puraani, Khuda k liye ab ajao (Talks of leaving are now old; for God’s sake now come).
Venezuela takes over suspended Kimberly-Clark factory
Government seizes plant after Kimberly-Clark halts operations because of the country's worsening economy situation.
Venezuela's government says it is taking over and reactivating a factory belonging to the US company Kimberly-Clark, after the consumer products giant announced last week that it was suspending operations because of the country's deteriorating economic situation.
Speaking on state television on Monday, Venezuelan Labour Minister Oswaldo Vera said President Nicolas Maduro had ordered the seizure of the plant at the request of its 1,200 workers.
He said the government would supply the raw materials the plant needed to operate.
Kimberly-Clark, which manufacturers a series of products, including facial tissues, toilet paper and nappies, announced on Saturday that it was halting production in Venezuela's northern Aragua region because of a lack of hard currency and raw materials.
Survey: Europeans fear refugees raise terror threat
In the minds of Europeans, the "refugee crisis and threat of terrorism are very much related," a survey said. In Germany, 56 percent of pro-AfD respondents held negative views of Muslims already living in Europe.
The Washington-based Pew Research Center published a survey on Monday that found roughly half of Europeans fear the arrival of refugees raises the threat of terrorism in their country.
At least half of the public in eight out of the 10 countries, representing 80 percent of Europe's population, believe that "incoming refugees increase the likelihood of terrorism in their country," said the survey.
Hungary and Poland had the strongest views from respondents, with 76 and 71 percent respectively. In Germany, 61 percent of respondents shared the view, while 52 percent voiced the same fears in the UK.
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