SANJIAZI, China (AFP) – by Tom HANCOCK It was the language of China’s last imperial dynasty which ruled a vast kingdom for nearly three centuries. But 71-year-old Ji Jinlu is among only a handful of native Manchu speakers left. Traders and farmers from what are now the borders of China and Korea, the Manchus took advantage of a crumbling Ming state and swept south in the 1600s to establish their own Qing Dynasty. Manchu became the court […]
International
Britons already feeling pinch from Brexit
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) by Julien MIVIELLE Holidays abroad are already more expensive and supermarket food prices will rise — Britons are feeling the pinch from Brexit, analysts say. Britain voted last week to quit the European Union, despite the government’s warnings of a potential recession and hefty price hikes for consumers. Since the shock vote outcome, perhaps the most dramatic fallout has been the collapse in the pound. The value of sterling has tumbled since […]
China party journal editor hangs himself
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The deputy editor of the Chinese Communist party’s top theoretical journal has committed suicide, reports said, sending speculation swirling over political infighting, freedom of thought and corruption. Zhu Tiezhi, 56, a well-known essayist on party theories and the deputy editor-in-chief of Qiushi — ‘Seeking Truth’ — hanged himself in the magazine’s garage, Chinese media said. Citing an unnamed friend, Chinese media group Caixin said he had been depressed by ideological disputes […]
Rains or not, India faces drinking water crisis
by Trudy HARRIS GANGNAULI, India (AFP) — As large swathes of drought-devastated India desperately wait for the monsoon rains to arrive, one village in the dry, hot north is flush with water. But this farming area’s bountiful water supplies are feared contaminated with heavy metals, underscoring the profound challenges facing the world’s second most populous nation. From toxic pollution of rivers and lakes to contamination of groundwater supplies, together with chronic shortages in drought-hit districts, […]
EgyptAir black box flight recorder ‘has been repaired’
by Mona SALEM CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — One of the two black box flight recorders from the EgyptAir plane that plunged into the Mediterranean last month has been repaired, Egypt’s investigation commission said Tuesday, prompting hopes it could provide clues on why the aircraft went down. The two black box recorders were found two weeks ago, but were too damaged to extract information on what caused the passenger jet to go down. They were sent […]
Cameron seeks to calm turbulent Britain after Brexit vote
by Katherine HADDON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — EU leaders attempted to rescue the European project and Prime Minister David Cameron sought to calm fears over Britain’s vote to leave the bloc as ratings agencies downgraded the country. Britain has been pitched into uncertainty by Thursday’s referendum result, with Cameron announcing his resignation, the economy facing a string of shocks and Scotland making a fresh threat to break away. US Secretary of State John Kerry, […]
World must focus on poorest children: UNICEF
UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — The world must focus more on helping the poorest children to build on progress achieved in health and education over the past 25 years, UNICEF said Tuesday. In its annual “State of the World’s Children” report, the UN children’s agency took stock of important gains such as a 53 percent drop in infant mortality since 1990 and a dramatic reduction in extreme poverty. But without a sharper focus on […]
UK Labor leader clings to power, blasts ‘manoeuvring’
by Michael THURSTON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned Monday “internal manoeuvring” after more than half his top team resigned in barely 24 hours, but insisted he would not go himself despite a rising tide of criticism of his role in the Brexit crisis. Twenty members of the Labour leader’s shadow cabinet have so far resigned in a rolling series of departures triggered by Corbyn’s weekend sacking of his foreign […]
Cameron: Brexit vote must be respected, future PM will conduct it
(Reuters) — British Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament on Monday (June 27) that the public vote to leave the European Union must be respected as he laid out the groundwork for his successor to trigger the country’s exit from the EU. A petition on the UK Parliament website, which has been signed by more than 3.7 million people, calls for a second referendum on the UK’s relationship with the EU but Cameron rejected […]
China’s re-entry module of Long March-7 lands on Inner Mongolia region
(Courtesy CCTV) — The scaled-down version of the re-entry module of the Long March-7 carrier rocket landed on Sunday afternoon in a desert in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, close to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. China blasted off its new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 from the Wenchang space launch center in south China’s Hainan province on Saturday. The re-entry module took a fresh new way to return by swirling slowly at a […]
Clinton swipes at Trump over Brexit
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Democrat Hillary Clinton on Sunday took a swipe at Republican rival Donald Trump’s stance on Brexit, saying that “bombastic comments” do more harm than good during such times. Trump has hailed Britain’s vote to leave the European Union as “fantastic,” telling reporters during a visit to Scotland on Friday that he thinks the Brexit is “a great thing.” Clinton, who was speaking to the US Conference of Mayors, did not […]
U.S. national security adviser sees few immediate Brexit concerns
U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice said on Sunday (June 26) that there are “relatively few” immediate security concerns stemming from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, but the United States will work to ensure continued U.S.-UK cooperation on counter-terrorism and other security issues. Rice, in a forum at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, said that the United States and Britain will remain close allies. She also added that the need for […]