West calls Russia’s ‘election was an election without choice’ but China, India back Putin
Arriving in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers roundly dismissed the election result as a sham ahead of agreeing sanctions on individuals linked to the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
China’s military and state media rap US following explosive report on SpaceX spy satellite plans
Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge, a magazine overseen by the ruling Communist Party, was quoted in an interview as saying the SpaceX satellite project posed “a challenge to global security and stability”.
Drink-and-Drive: How Kenya’s ex-president signed away standard gauge railway deal with China without reading it
The SGR contract left no room for rescheduling of the loan of approximately Ksh400 billion ($3.8 billion). The government, it now emerges, had to sit down with unwilling Chinese government to insert a clause in the agreement that now allows for rescheduling of repayment or renegotiating the loan without ceding sovereignty.
No man, No cry: Chinese women eschew hunt for husbands, prefer ‘singledom’ as economy stutters
China’s single population aged over 15 hit a record 239 million in 2021, according to official data. Marriage registrations rebounded slightly last year due to a pandemic backlog after reaching historic lows in 2022. A 2021 Communist Youth League survey of some 2,900 unmarried urban young people found that 44 per cent of women do not plan to marry.
China unveils plan to drive economic growth above 5 per cent annually, IMF forecasts 3.5 per cent shrink
China started the year with a stock market rout and deflation at levels unseen since the global financial crisis of 2008-09. The property crisis and local government debt woes persisted, increasing pressure on China’s leaders to come up with new economic policies.
Report: World has entered era of instability as Africa becomes key market for new arms exporters
The combination of Russia’s war on Ukraine and rising tensions between China and Western countries have been principal drivers of military spending. Global defence spending is up 9 per cent to a record $2.2 trillion from the previous year and poised to rise further in 2024, based on already announced spending commitments.
Iran-made Shahed-136 is the ‘loitering munition’ of choice Houthis use to attack merchant ships
The Shahed-136 , which has been extensively used by Russian forces in Ukraine, can be fired from truck-mounted containers at a slightly upward angle. A small rocket booster helps propel the drone into the air before being jettisoned. Its main piston engine then takes over to power the flight.
How Houthi militants in Yemen attack ships in one of world’s busiest maritime trade routes
Houthi attacks have targeted ships in the southern Red Sea and the neighbouring Gulf of Aden, which are joined by the Bab al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.
Chinese hackers determined to ‘wreak havoc’ on US critical infrastructure, FBI director warns
China has called those accusations groundless even as multiple criminal indictments have laid out detailed evidence.
China warns Iran to rein in Houthi attacks in Red Sea or risk business relations with Beijing
Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said. The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and...