When Xi Jinping took power in 2012, some observers predicted he would be the most liberal Communist Party leader in China's history, based on his low-key profile, family backstory and perhaps a degree of misguided hope.. - Systematic, low profile - Nowadays, the cave Xi slept in is a domestic tourist draw, used to emphasise traits such as his concern for China's poorest.
President Xi Jinping has embarked on a "final round of purges" ahead of a major Chinese Communist Party congress, wielding his long-running anti-corruption campaign to cement his grasp on power, analysts say.. "This final round of purges, masquerading as an anti-corruption campaign, will ensure that Xi will have tighter if not absolute control over personnel and policy issues (at the Congress)," said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Murong Xuecun was one of the brightest stars of China's literary scene, his novels offering searing critiques of contemporary social issues that few other writers dared to imitate. . As Xi prepares to secure a norm-breaking third term at October's party congress, Murong likens the current situation to the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong -- Communist China's founder -- when fervent mass campaigns mobilised against imaginary social threats.
US President Joe Biden said Thursday the world risks nuclear "Armageddon" for the first time since the Cold War and that he is trying to find Russian President Vladimir Putin's "off-ramp" in the Ukraine conflict.. "We're trying to figure out what is Putin's off-ramp," Biden said.
Weeping, grief-stricken families gathered Friday outside a Thai nursery where an ex-policeman murdered nearly two dozen children in one of the kingdom's worst mass killings.. Outside the nursery -- a low building in a local government complex fronted by a lawn -- scores of people gathered on Friday to mourn and pay their respects.
US President Joe Biden said Thursday the world risks nuclear "Armageddon" for the first time since the Cold War and that he is trying to find Russian President Vladimir Putin's "off-ramp" in the Ukraine conflict.. "I'm trying to figure out what is Putin's off-ramp," Biden said.
Relatives of imprisoned or recently released activists in the Middle East, including in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, urged the United States this week to use its influence to secure progress on human rights in those countries.. In September, in front of the United Nations General Assembly, Biden assured that "the United States will always promote human rights... around the world," and that "the future will be won by those countries that unleash the full potential of their populations."
US President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of Americans convicted of marijuana possession Thursday in a major new step towards destigmatizing the drug -- and fulfilling a promise to his supporters a month before midterm elections.. "I am announcing a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana," Biden said.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be unveiled Friday, with experts speculating it could go to critics of Vladimir Putin, climate activists or even no prize at all amid the war in Ukraine.. Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg has been seen as a potential Nobel laureate for several years despite her young age, and could take home the prize with her movement "Fridays for Future", British naturalist David Attenborough or other environmentalists.
A US federal judge blocked the enforcement of New York's new gun law Thursday, undermining for the second time this year the state's efforts to control a key factor in rising homicides.. Judge Glenn Suddaby apparently agreed, awarding the gun rights advocates a stay, or temporary block, on the new law while their lawsuit over it proceeds.
