Maldives election: Voting begins in controversial poll
The Maldives has started to vote in a heavily-criticised election that will be closely watched by India and China.
The Indian Ocean archipelago is best-known overseas for its clear waters and high-end resorts but its government stands accused of crushing dissent.
President Abdulla Yameen has embraced China, while his opponent, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, is seen as leaning towards India and the West.
The European Union and US have voiced concerns about the election.
Both have threatened to impose targeted sanctions if the democratic situation does not improve.
Police raided opposition headquarters on the eve of the vote, according to local reports.
Controversial high-speed rail station opens in Hong Kong
Gazans recycle bomb wreckage to beat the blockade
Rubble left after Israeli airstrikes is being used to repair roads and rebuild houses in coastal enclave
Palestinians in Gaza have developed an industry that recycles twisted steel bars and smashed-up concrete from bombed structures as a way to rebuild the coastal enclave.
In a trapped society living under persistent attack, the reuse of materials has become a vital part of a construction sector flailing under the strain of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that severely restricts imports.
Across the territory, among the dust and wreckage of buildings flattened in Israeli airstrikes, workers can be seen collecting chunks of walls and floors with diggers, and driving them off to be crushed. At one bombsite in Gaza City, Abu Mohammed sat drinking bitter coffee under a plastic tarpaulin attached to a shipping container that is his temporary office. A few metres away lay a slumped ruin that was built to be a public library but was later abandoned and used by Gaza’s rulers, Hamas, for public parades.Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis says she was sexually assaulted in music executive’s office
Man forced himself on top of her ‘so quickly’ that she froze, writer says
Patti Davis, the author and daughter of President Ronald Reagan, came forward on Friday with an account about being sexually assaulted decades ago, adding her voice to those of women defending Christine Blasey Ford.
In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, Ms Davis said she was at a prominent music executive’s office about 40 years ago when he crossed the room and forced himself on top of her “so quickly” that she froze.
“I lay there as he pushed himself inside me,” Ms Davis wrote. “The leather couch stuck to my skin, made noises beneath me. His breath smelled like coffee and stale bread. He didn’t use a condom.”
Far-Right PopulismHow the Alternative for Germany Has Transformed the Country
Founded only five years ago, the Alternative for Germany has grown from a marginal party to a game-changer in federal and state politics -- and become ever more radical. Is it a testament to the strength of German democracy, or a threat to it? By DER SPIEGEL Staff
For three hours every month, they set up shop right next to the flower stand. There are only four people, a table and an umbrella from which a blue T-shirt hangs. It's emblazoned with the party's logo and the words, "Nobody's perfect, but Brandenburgers come pretty damn close." Here, at the weekly farmers market in Woltersdorf, a 40-minute drive by car from Berlin, Kathi Muxel, the district chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the Oder-Spree region, says: "We're the only ones who come here, even if there's no upcoming election. People appreciate that."
JAXA confirms tiny robots from Hayabusa2 landed on asteroid
KYODO, AFP-JIJI
A pair of tiny robots released by the Hayabusa2 space probe touched down Saturday on an asteroid 300 million km from Earth, JAXA said.
The cylinder-shaped Minerva-II1 explorers will take photos and temperature readings on the asteroid Ryugu before the main probe lands, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
Measuring just 18 cm by 7 cm and weighing roughly 1 kg, the two explorers will travel across Ryugu’s surface by hopping because its gravity is so weak that rolling along the surface is too difficult. If they succeed, the explorers will have conducted the world’s first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid’s surface.
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