Cruz, who lost against Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, criticized China for trying to dictate who he ca and cannot meet [Xinhua]
China on Monday strongly protested a meeting between a senior US lawmaker and Taiwan’s president transiting though the US.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen on Sunday after she transited in Houston on her way to Central America.
Zuma’s ANC rejected calls by the opposition to remove the president in November’s no confidence vote [Image: GCIS]
An embattled President Jacob Zuma, who has faced challenges to his leadership both within and outside his party, on Sunday called for the African National Congress to unite as it moves forward to lead South Africa.
“Our people have told us that we come across as too busy fighting one another and do not pay sufficient attention to their needs,” Zuma told thousands of supporters attending a conference to celebrate the ANC’s 105th birthday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been urging Russia to agree to resolve the Kuril islands dispute, but Moscow wants a peace treaty signed first [Xinhua]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that joint economic activity between Tokyo and Moscow on the disputed South Kurils Islands will help both countries reach a peace treaty, reported Russian state agency TASS on Sunday.
China has a serious pollution and poor air quality problem which authorities acknowledged will be one of the biggest challenges in the new five-year plan [Xinhua]
Beijing will be adding an environmental police force to its security ranks this year, its mayor said on Saturday, in a bid to bring down toxic pollution levels that continue to plague the city every winter.
In recent weeks, the Chinese capital has been under a red alert heavy smog warning.
China’s color code alerts include red – as the most dangerous and lethal, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Xi believes that the Communist Party leadership should lead the fight against corruption on all levels [Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made fighting corruption a cornerstone of hus leadership legacy, but on Friday he announced that measures taken by the state in this regard must be more intrusive.
During his speech to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the ruling party’s anti-graft monitor, Xi said that there needed to be more systematic and systemic efforts to root out deeply-ingrained corruption.
With water sources drying up in Zimbabwe, access to clean water has become more important as communicable diseases like typhoid threaten many communities in Africa [Xinhua]
South Africa has on Friday issued a health warning against typhoid fever, following an outbreak of the disease in neighboring Zimbabwe.
The country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said it hoped to raise awareness of the highly contagious disease among travelers and medical professionals.
The NICD, however, said a typhoid outbreak in South Africa is not anticipated.
Relatives of prisoners wait to hear news of survivors at the Agricultural Penitentiary of Monte Cristo in Boa Vista, Roraima state [Xinhua]
In the second violence of its kind in less than a week, 33 inmates were killed following a riot at a maximum security prison in the northern Brazilian state of Roraima Friday.
Rescuers work at the site of Xingyu Colliery in Dengfeng, central China’s Henan Province. The death toll from a gas outburst at Xingyu Colliery Wednesday has risen to 12, local authorities said Friday [Xinhua]
The death toll from a gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s Henan Province Wednesday rose to 12 people, authorities told local media on Friday.
Yesterday, there had been five confirmed deaths and six people trapped underground; however, authorities found the bodies of seven trapped miners in the Xingyu Colliery in Dengfeng early Friday morning.
The devaluation of the ruble due to low oil prices and sanctions in the past two years made life much harder for average Russians [Xinhua]
Higher oil prices have benefited the ruble currency against a basket of currencies including the US dollar and the euro.
At press time, the US dollar had fallen 1.37 per cent to reach 59.53 rubles, the lowest rate in 18 months.
Russia is one of the world’s biggest exporters of oil, but when prices per barrel fell from more than $110 in mid-2014 to $27 a year ago, its economy took a tumble – and the ruble with it.
On Wednesday, the Liaoning led other naval vessels in live fire testing of new weapons in the South China Sea [Xinhua]
China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier successfully conducted drills in the South China Sea this week the navy said.
The ship is China’s sole aircraft carrier, and was accompanied by warships as it passed through the disputed Miyako Strait.
On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said that the Liaoning was also conducting weapons tests with the other vessels fron the navy.
