Clues to scale of Xinjiang labour operation emerge as China defends camps
The Chinese Communist party government has defended its system of internment camps for Uighur and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, in a white paper that also revealed some details of the breadth of its labour program.
In the document published on Thursday, Beijing called them “vocational training centres” , saying: “Through its proactive labor and employment policies, Xinjiang has continuously improved the people’s material and cultural lives, and guaranteed and developed their human rights in every field.”
Figures included in the report hinted at the scope of the program. It said an average of 1.29 million workers, including 415,400 from southern Xinjiang, had gone through “vocational training” ever year between 2014 and 2019, although it didn’t clarify if – or how many times – people had gone through the camps.
Trump offered to pardon Assange if he gave source for DNC emails leak, lawyer says
President has in the past denied floating any pardon for Wikileaks boss
A lawyer for Julian Assange says representatives for Donald Trump offered the Wikileaks founder a pardon if he disclosed the source of a hack of Democratic email servers during the 2016 election.
That is what Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson told a London court on Friday, saying she witnessed a meeting in which former Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Charles Johnson, then Trump campaign associate, suggested the two sides trade the name of the hacking source for a possible pardon.
"The proposal put forward by Congressman Rohrabacher was that Mr. Assange identify the source for the 2016 election publications in return for some form of pardon," Robinson told the UK court in a witness statement.
Israel's second coronavirus lockdown sows division
For some, it's almost a deja-vu that is reminiscent of the lockdown imposed during the Passover holiday last April. Now, the country has entered nationwide curfew for the second time.
"I have to leave my mother who is 90 years old alone. We won't go to her place for the New Year. She will stay with her caretaker and we will stay home", says shopper Yael Turgeman, referring to the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which is usually celebrated with family and friends.
Libya's Haftar agrees to lift oil blockade with conditions
Eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar said on Friday his forces would let oil production resume after an eight-month blockade and a senior politician in Tripoli said a committee would be formed to ensure fair distribution of revenues.
However, National Oil Corporation (NOC), which operates Libya's energy sector, said overnight it would not lift force majeure on exports until oil facilities were demilitarised.
The blockade by eastern forces has cost Libya $9 billion in lost revenue so far this year, the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya said this week. The stoppage has become a big obstacle to new efforts to seek a path forwards in peace talks after Haftar's assault on Tripoli collapsed in June.
Once a homeless street vendor, 18-year-old cricketer Yashasvi Jaiswal has now been signed in a $327,000 deal
Updated 1342 GMT (2142 HKT) September 18, 2020
A typical young adult, donned in a pink and purple club jersey, with long limbs and a sprouting mustache, Yashasvi Jaiswal quickly runs his fingers through his hair. The words of wisdom that follow belie his 18 years.
Brexit: Amal Clooney quits government envoy role over law break plan
Amal Clooney has quit her role as the UK's envoy on press freedom "in dismay" at the government's willingness to break international law over Brexit.
The human rights lawyer said it was "lamentable" for Boris Johnson to be contemplating overriding the Brexit agreement he signed last year.
She could not tell others to honour legal obligations when the UK "declares it does not intend to do so itself".
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