Ukrainian Counteroffensive Pierces Main Russian Defensive Line in Southeast (www.wsj.com)
PAYWALL...
Rural areas sacrificed for Xi Jinping’s new city, satellite imagery shows (www.washingtonpost.com)
Satellite imagery and firsthand accounts show the damage wrought when Chinese authorities opened floodgates and dams this month, sacrificing whole villages to spare politically important cities....
Johannesburg building fire kills at least 73 people, many believed to be homeless (www.cbc.ca)
Rwanda, Cameroon make major changes in their military positions after Gabon coup (www.africanews.com)
Rwanda and Cameroon have unveiled significant shifts in their security forces, impacting senior military personnel....
Gabon election results were a ‘smokescreen’ for soldiers to oust unpopular president, analysts say (apnews.com)
The ouster of Gabon’s president by mutinous soldiers appears to have been well organized and capitalized on the population’s grievances against the government as an excuse to seize power, analysts said....
Modi-linked Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest (www.theguardian.com)
Offshore records suggest associates of wealthy Indian family spent years acquiring stock during rise of founder to be worth $120bn
Antoinette Sandbach: Ex-MP asks to be removed from slavery research (www.bbc.co.uk)
A former Conservative MP has asked to be removed from an award-winning academic’s research presented in a TEDx Talk that connects her to a slave-owning ancestor
China's Xi likely to skip G20 summit in India (www.reuters.com)
Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip a summit of G20 leaders in India next week, sources familiar with the matter in India and China told Reuters....
HS: International film crew leave €1m bill unpaid in Finnish Lapland (yle.fi)
Ukraine investigates corruption in medical exemptions from military duty (www.aljazeera.com)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called out what he described as systematic corruption in the country’s medical exemptions from service in the armed forces, saying the system was subject to widespread bribe-taking and the flight of people overseas....
Workers stage Japan's first strike in decades over department store sale (www.reuters.com)
Workers at a major Tokyo department store went on strike on Thursday after talks with management over the planned sale of their company broke down, marking the first major walk-out the country has seen in decades....
China issues highest typhoon warning as Saola moves towards Hong Kong (www.reuters.com)
China issued the highest typhoon warning on Thursday as Typhoon Saola, packing winds of more than 200 kph (125 mph), headed towards the southeastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in nearby Guangdong province....
Malaysia rejects new China map claiming entire South China Sea (www.aljazeera.com)
Malaysia has rejected the latest edition of the ‘standard map of China’ that lays claim to almost the entire South China Sea, including areas lying off the coast of Malaysian Borneo....
After fleeing the war at home, refugees from Myanmar are now trapped in India’s conflict (myanmar-now.org)
Trump, Under Oath, Says He Averted ‘Nuclear Holocaust’ (www.nytimes.com)
He survived sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America. Now he wants justice (www.theguardian.com)
Ron Hunter was repeatedly assaulted and sex-trafficked as a child. At 63, he’s telling his story – to protect others and heal himself
Germany agrees corporate tax cuts to 'stimulate' economy – DW – 08/29/2023 (www.dw.com)
At least 38 people have died in a fire in a building in South Africa's biggest city, authorities say (apnews.com)
Vietnam, Philippines and Brunei to join cross-border QR payment scheme (asia.nikkei.com)
Saudi Arabia reportedly sentences man to death for criticizing government on social media (www.cbsnews.com)
Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death a government critic who denounced alleged corruption and human rights abuses on social media, his brother and others familiar with the case told AFP on Monday....
Japanese ministers eat Fukushima fish to show it's safe after nuclear plant wastewater is discharged (apnews.com)
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and three Cabinet ministers ate Fukushima fish sashimi at a lunch meeting Wednesday, in an apparent effort to show that fish is safe following the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that began last week....
Gabon officers declare military coup, President Ali Bongo detained (www.reuters.com)
Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, placing President Ali Bongo under house arrest and naming a new leader after the Central African state’s election body announced Bongo had won a third term....
New study gave $7,500 to 50 unhoused people (fediscience.org)
“They did not spend more money on alcohol or drugs, contrary to what people believe, and instead they spent the money on rent, food, housing, transit, furniture, a used car, clothes. It’s entirely the opposite of what people think they’re going to do with the money.”
China map: India lodges 'strong protest' over territory claims (www.bbc.com)
India says it has lodged a “strong protest” with China over a new map that lays claim to its territory....