World

Donning a blue apron, Russian President Vladimir Putin poured batter into a pan and tossed it.

He was cooking with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and the pair were making a traditional Russian pancake called a blini.

The culinary showmanship reflected a larger trend: Russia and China are developing a closer, albeit uneasy friendship.

Before last week's blini-making, the two leaders had just discussed military and economic cooperation on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, an annual event held in this far-eastern Russian city.

"The president and I agree that since the beginning of this year, Russian-Chinese relations have been showing dynamic growth," Xi said. He announced that ties with his "close friend" Putin had "entered a new era of rapid development and are reaching a higher level."

It was the third Xi-Putin meeting in four months, and the first time the Chinese president had attended the event in Vladivostok, which started in 2015 and encourages foreign investment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 12Valery Sharifulin / AP

The growing rapport between the two countries has accelerated under President Donald Trump, whose policies have put greater pressure on both countries, according to Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

Ties between the countries have been strengthening for a while, but the "Trump administration and domestic political fight in the U.S. just brings confrontation to a new level, and increased Sino-Russian cooperation is [the] result,” he said.

Russia and China’s increased cooperation is “driven by U.S. pressure against both of them at the same time,” Gabuev said.

The latest evidence of this pressure came on Monday when the Trump administration announced a new round of tariffs on China, slapping a 10 percent tax on a $200 billion list of Chinese imports ranging from consumer goods to manufacturing materials. The move marked an escalation in ongoing Beijing-Washington. trade tensions that began over the summer when the administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum from China, the world's second-largest economy.

In Russia, sanctions are continuing to bite after they were imposed by Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama, over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and under the current administration over meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and for using a chemical weapon against an ex-spy in Britain.

Meanwhile, trade between Russia and China reached $87 billion in 2017, up from $64.2 billion in 2015. Putin said in Vladivostok that this figure is expected to top $100 billion for 2018, and that both sides want to increase the use of their national currencies in lieu of the U.S.dollar.

Both Xi and Putin took the opportunity in Vladivostok to criticize protectionism, comments widely interpreted as an oblique reference to Trump's policies.

"Putin and Xi are on the same page when it comes to the fundamental concept of a desirable world order," Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, wrote in an opinion piece in China Daily, a Chinese state-run newspaper.

Their shared ideals include "several independent power centers instead of a single-nation hegemony; protection of state sovereignty from foreign political and ideological influence; and full equality among peers, including the United States," he wrote last week.

China and Russia, however, are far from jumping into a formal alliance.

China has greater bargaining power and is not willing or able to compensate Russia's economic loses due to Western sanctions, Zach Witlin, an analyst at Eurasia Group, told NBC News. China generally takes a view that Russia's geopolitical problems are its own to deal with, he added.

"All of this is balanced against the fact that Russia and China have limits to what they are willing to cooperate on and how deeply that cooperation is likely to develop," he said.

Notably, although Xi and Putin generated plenty of buzz for their so-called pancake diplomacy, it was actually the second time this year that the two leaders were shown cooking together.

Both Xi and Putin took the opportunity in Vladivostok to criticize protectionism, comments widely interpreted as an oblique reference to Trump's policies.

"Putin and Xi are on the same page when it comes to the fundamental concept of a desirable world order," Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, wrote in an opinion piece in China Daily, a Chinese state-run newspaper.

Their shared ideals include "several independent power centers instead of a single-nation hegemony; protection of state sovereignty from foreign political and ideological influence; and full equality among peers, including the United States," he wrote last week.

China and Russia, however, are far from jumping into a formal alliance.

China has greater bargaining power and is not willing or able to compensate Russia's economic loses due to Western sanctions, Zach Witlin, an analyst at Eurasia Group, told NBC News. China generally takes a view that Russia's geopolitical problems are its own to deal with, he added.

"All of this is balanced against the fact that Russia and China have limits to what they are willing to cooperate on and how deeply that cooperation is likely to develop," he said.

Notably, although Xi and Putin generated plenty of buzz for their so-called pancake diplomacy, it was actually the second time this year that the two leaders were shown cooking together.

Chinese tourists posing for photos in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 13.Dimitry Solovyov / NBC News

In June, the two leaders met in the Chinese city of Qingdao at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a political, economic and security alliance among Eurasian nations.

On the same weekend Trump was criticizing his allies at the Group of Seven leading industrial nations, Chinese state media released footage of Putin making several Chinese dishes, including "baozi," a type of filled bun, and a crepe-like dish called "jianbing," in nearby Tianjin.

It had been known as the Group of Eight before Russia was suspended in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea.

A fire has gutted the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, the oldest scientific institution in the country. Most of the 20 million items it contained, including the oldest human remains ever found in the Americas, are believed to have been destroyed.

The cause of the blaze is not known. No injuries have been reported. The museum, located in a building that once served as the residence for the Portuguese royal family, celebrated its 200th anniversary this year.

The fire started on Sunday evening, after the facility had closed for the day.

Brazil's President Michel Temer said in a tweet that it was a "sad day for all Brazilians" as "200 years of work, research and knowledge were lost".

Roberto Robadey, a spokesman for the Rio fire department, is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the hydrants closest to the museum were not working and that firefighters had to get water from a nearby lake.

By Monday morning the fire was under control and some of the museum's pieces had been rescued, he added.

Source : BBC

A powerful storm which killed dozens of people in the Philippines is now making its way across southern China.

Typhoon Mangkhut is one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in decades.

Two people have been killed in the Chinese province of Guangdong, according to state media - more than 2.5 million people have been evacuated in Guangdong and on Hainan island.

In Hong Kong, the storm wrecked buildings and shut down the city.

The typhoon is now moving inland, and is expected to hit the Chinese regions of Guizhou, Chongqing and Yunnan later in the day.

In the Philippines, 33 miners have been confirmed dead and at least 29 are missing after a landslide hit a mining site in Itogon in Benguet province, according to local reports.

Search and rescue missions are continuing, and there are fears the death toll could rise above 100, said Itogon's mayor, Victorio Palangdan.

In Hong Kong, which was hit hard over the weekend, videos on social media showed apartments swaying in the wind, scaffolding crashing to the ground and commercial buildings with windows shattered.

Transport services have also been suspended, with flights cancelled, trains stopped and major roads closed.

Mangkhut is expected to gradually weaken into a tropical depression by Tuesday as it continues to move inland.

Source : BBC

A court in Myanmar has sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison for violating a state secrets act while investigating violence against the Rohingya minority.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, nationals of Myanmar, were arrested while carrying official documents which had just been given to them by police officers. They have maintained their innocence, saying they were set up by police. The case has been widely seen as a test of press freedom in Myanmar.

"I have no fear," Wa Lone, one of the two journalists, said after the verdict. "I have not done anything wrong. I believe in justice, democracy and freedom."

"Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and press freedom anywhere," Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler said.

The two men, who both have families with young children, have been in prison since their arrest in December 2017. Both of the journalists are Myanmar citizens who were working for the international news agency. 


Source : BBC

The two sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have been arrested for alleged stock market manipulation.

Alaa and Gamal Mubarak are accused of breaking stock market and central bank rules, state news agency Mena reported.

The case against them began in 2012, after their father was deposed the year before. The pair had been out on bail for the past three years.

The brothers - who deny any wrongdoing - will appear in court on 20 October.

The Cairo court also ordered the arrest of three others, and the defendants collectively face charges of embezzling 2bn Egyptian pound ($115m; £88m).

Both Alaa, 57, and Gamal, 54, are charged with embezzling at least 494m Egyptian pound after they decided to sell the National Bank of Egypt for profit.

Source : BBC

There were renewed far-Right protests in Germany on Thursday night as violent attacks against migrants spread across the east of the country.

Around 800 protestors gathered in Chemnitz, the scene of neo-Nazi riots earlier in the week following the suspected killing of a man by two immigrants.

Protestors faced off against police outside a political meeting where regional officials sought to calm residents but the situation appeared peaceful as night fell.

Hundreds of miles to the north, a Syrian man was seriously injured after he was attacked and beaten with an iron chain by three Germans in a sign the violence is spreading.

In Chemnitz, regional officials were booked and jeered as they tried to reassure locals at a restive town hall meeting.

Michael Kretschmer, the regional prime minister of Saxony state, struggled to make himself heard above catcalls as he called on people to remain calm and respect the law.

“I had tears in my eyes when I heard today that a Chinese woman who has lived here for 13 years had water thrown over her, and felt it was a message for her to leave,” he said.

Outside the protestors chanted “We are the people” and held aloft banners saying Chemnitz must not become an “African colony”.

Violent protests over the killing of Daniel Hillig, a German-Cuban man, in Chemnitz at the weekend have shaken Germany.

An Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested on suspicion of the stabbing on Sunday night.A prison officer admitted yesterday he was responsible for leaking an arrest warrant for one of the men to far-Right groups who shared it on social media.Authorities said the officer had been suspended pending a full inquiry.

Source : Telegraph

US President Donald Trump has instructed staff to move forward with the next round of tariffs on Chinese goods, US media have reported. The tariffs are expected to apply to about $200bn worth of imports from China, including electronic parts and consumer goods such as handbags.

It remains unclear when the new import taxes - which could be as high as 25% - will go into effect. Officials are reportedly still working on the final list of products.

President Trump ordered his staff to start preparing the tariffs this summer, escalating a dispute over what the US says are China's unfair trade practices, such as state subsidies. The new duties would add to tariffs the US has already imposed on $50bn in Chinese goods as part of that dispute, as well as tariffs that China levied on $50bn in US goods in retaliation.

Friday's news reports that Trump has ordered the US to proceed with further tariffs quoted administration sources. There has so far been no formal announcement.

Source : BBC

The United States is ending all funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, the US State Department says. It described the organisation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), as "irredeemably flawed".

The US administration has "carefully reviewed" the issue and "will not make additional contributions to Unrwa," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later said the move was an "assault" against his people.

"Such a punishment will not succeed to change the fact that the United States no longer has a role in the region and that it is not a part of the solution," Nabil Abu Rudeina told Reuters news agency.

He added that the decision was "a defiance of UN resolutions". A spokesman for Unrwa, Chris Gunness, defended the agency in a series of tweets.

"We reject in the strongest possible terms the criticism that Unrwa's schools, health centres, and emergency assistance programs are 'irredeemably flawed'," he wrote.

Source : BBC

Japan's northern island of Hokkaido has been hit by a powerful earthquake, triggering landslides that engulfed houses.

At least eight people have been killed and about 40 are missing, say local media reports.

The magnitude 6.7 quake cut power to around three million homes after a thermal power plant was damaged.The earthquake comes on the heels of a deadly typhoon lashing the west of Japan over the past few days.

Jebi, the strongest typhoon to hit the country in 25 years, killed at least 10 people and caused widespread damage and disruption. The tremor struck 62km (39 miles) south-east of the regional capital Sapporo in the early hours of the morning.

It posed no tsunami risk, the country's meteorological agency said. A nuclear plant - which was not operational - had to switch to its back-up power supply to keep spent fuel cool. Local residents and travellers in the region have shared their shock about the quake on social media.They also write about long lines at food stores as people stock up on supplies amid fears of more tremors.

Source : BBC

A UN report has said top military figures in Myanmar must be investigated for genocide in Rakhine state and crimes against humanity in other areas.

The report, based on hundreds of interviews, is the strongest condemnation from the UN so far of violence against Rohingya Muslims. It says the army's tactics are "grossly disproportionate to actual security threats". Myanmar rejected the report.

At least 700,000 Rohingya fled violence in the country in the past 12 months. The report names six senior military figures it believes should go on trial and sharply criticises Myanmar's de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, for failing to intervene to stop attacks.

It calls for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The government has consistently said its operations targeted militant or insurgent threats but the report says the crimes documented are "shocking for the level of denial, normalcy and impunity that is attached to them".

"Military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages," the report says. The UN mission did not have access to Myanmar for its report but says it relied on such sources as eyewitness interviews, satellite imagery, photographs and videos.

Source : BBC

In a historic decision, India's Supreme Court has ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence.

The ruling overturns a 2013 judgement that upheld a colonial-era law, known as section 377, under which gay sex is categorised as an "unnatural offence".

The court has now ruled discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a fundamental violation of rights.

Campaigners outside the court cheered and some broke down in tears as the ruling was handed down.

Although public opinion in India's biggest cities has been in favour of scrapping the law, there remains strong opposition among religious groups and in conservative rural communities.

A joyful reaction to the ruling at an NGO in Mumba/EPA

But this ruling, from the top court, is now the final say in the matter and cannot be challenged. As such, it represents a huge victory for India's LGBT community.

What have the judges said?Thursday's ruling was delivered by a five-judge bench headed by India's outgoing chief justice Dipak Misra and was unanimous.

Reading out the judgement, he said: "Criminalising carnal intercourse is irrational, arbitrary and manifestly unconstitutional."

Another judge, Indu Malhotra, said she believed "history owes an apology" to LGBT people for ostracising them.

Justice DY Chandrachud said the state had no right to control the private lives of LGBT community members and that the denial of the right to sexual orientation was the same as denying the right to privacy.

The ruling effectively allows gay sex among consenting adults in private.

What is section 377?It is a 157-year-old colonial-era law which criminalises certain sexual acts as "unnatural offences" that are punishable by a 10-year jail term. 

The ruling represents a victory after years of court battle/EPA

The law punishes, in its own words, "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal".

While the statute criminalises all anal and oral sex, it has largely affected same-sex relationships.

Human rights groups say police have used the statute to harass and abuse members of the LGBT community. 

'Recognising everyone's right to love'Geeta Pandey, BBC News, Delhi Even though it was rarely invoked when it involved consenting adults, section 377 could be - and was sometimes - used as a tool for harassment. It is not surprising then that campaigners are describing the verdict as a "new dawn for personal liberty".

But in a largely conservative India, where leaders of all religions have consistently opposed gay sex, it will still be a while before attitudes change and the community finds full acceptance.

But laws almost always play an important role in changing mindsets, and by recognising the community's right to love, the Supreme Court has restored the dignity denied to them for a very long time.

What else was said in the ruling?The court said other aspects of section 377 dealing with unnatural sex with animals and children would remain in force.

The judges also explicitly said that they only ruled on the constitutional validity of section 377 and were not looking at it in terms of other rights such as those related to marriage or inheritance.

It remains too early to say what this will translate to in the longer term.

Source: BBC

The leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Afghanistan was killed in an air strike on Saturday, Afghan officials say. Abu Saad Erhabi and 10 other members are said to have died in an operation in the eastern province of Nangarhar, near the border with Pakistan.

He is the fourth Afghan leader of the group to be killed in recent years. The IS affiliate has been active there since 2014, claiming a number of deadly recent attacks. It is sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan after a historic name for Afghanistan and surrounding areas.

The National Directorate of Security in Kabul said the strikes that killed Erhabi were part of a joint air and ground operation conducted alongside US-led coalition forces. US officials did not confirm his death but said they had conducted a strike in the area targeting "a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation". The previous leader of Islamic State Khorasan, Abu Sayed, was killed in a US strike on the group's headquarters in Kunar province in July 2017.

The group has been blamed for a number of attacks in Afghanistan this year - including a suicide bombing at a Kabul education centre that killed dozens of people. The group has not commented on the reports of Erhabi's death.

Source : BBC