China-Taiwan tensions: Xi Jinping says 'reunification' must be fulfilled
China's President Xi Jinping has said that "reunification" with Taiwan "must be fulfilled", as heightened tensions over the island continue.
Mr Xi said unification should be achieved peacefully, but warned that the Chinese people had a "glorious tradition" of opposing separatism.
In response, Taiwan said its future lay in the hands of its people.
Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state, while China views it as a breakaway province.
Fossil fuel companies paying top law firms millions to ‘dodge responsibility’
The world’s biggest corporate law firms have been making millions of dollars representing fossil fuel companies but, as the climate crisis intensifies, this work is coming under increasing scrutiny.
Over the last five years, the 100 top ranked law firms in the US facilitated $1.36tn of fossil fuel transactions, represented fossil fuel clients in 358 legal cases and received $35m in compensation for their work to assist fossil fuel industry lobbying, according to a “climate scorecard” published in August.
Havana Syndrome: Berlin police probe new cases at US embassy in Germany
German police are currently probing a number of cases of so-called “Havana syndrome” at the US Embassy in Berlin, a mysterious set of symptoms believed to have affected 200 US diplomats, officials and family members worldwide.
Since August, police have been investigating the series of cases, calling it an “alleged sonic weapon attack on employees of the US Embassy” in response to a report by news magazine Der Spiegel.
Havana syndrome first came to public attention in 2016 after dozens of diplomats at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, complained of a similar ailment.
US and Taliban set for talks in Doha
The weekend summit in Qatar will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A high-level US delegation will hold talks with Taliban representatives this weekend, the State Department said Friday.
The two sides have remained in contact since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August, but these will be the first in-person diplomatic talks.
What will the US and Taliban discuss?
The US delegation will reportedly include representatives from the State Department, USAID and the intelligence community.
'A question of life and death': Militia-backed candidates play big role in Iraq polls
Iraq goes to the polls in parliamentary elections on Sunday, two years after anger at the war-scarred country’s political class came surging out in mass protests. Now the collection of Shia militias created to fight the Islamic State (IS) group in 2014 are wielding more and more political power. FRANCE 24 reports on the Right’s Movement, a party connected to the Hezbollah Brigades, as it campaigns in Baghdad.
Armed groups are not allowed to enter politics, according to Iraqi law. But candidates linked to militias are playing a prominent role in the country’s October 10 legislative elections – getting around the law by setting up political parties such as the Rights Movement, led by Hussein Moanes, a former spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades.
“Mr Hussein was a part of the political program of the Iraq Hezbollah Brigades, but he resigned seven or eight months ago,” said Hassan El Temimi, a candidates for Moanes’ party. “The Rights Movement is a new party, our work is within the frame of the Popular Mobilisation Forces,” he added, referring to the paramilitary groups formed in 2014 to fight the IS group.
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