Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 245

Two-year jail for India's Congress leader for defamation

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison by a local court in a criminal defamation case. Mr Gandhi was convicted by the court in Gujarat state for his 2019 comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname during an election rally. He will not go to jail immediately - he has been given bail for 30 days and can file an appeal against the order. The

Opinion: It's Time to Decouple from China—Completely

Before reality TV really took off, American movie-goers got a glimpse of what life inside a TV program might look like. "The Truman Show," starring Jim Carrey, centered on a man living inside an artificially constructed reality. Nothing about his world was authentic: His family and friends were actors. He was essentially confined to his small "town" on a soundstage. His attempts to understand

Xi and Putin Bind China and Russia’s Economies Further, Despite War in Ukraine

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, declared an enduring economic partnership on Tuesday, promising to bring more Russian energy to China and more Chinese companies to Russia as the two leaders sought to insulate their countries from Western sanctions and other consequences of the war in Ukraine.The economic pledges, trumpeted by the leaders on the second day

Sandstorms blanket Beijing and northern China as air pollution soars off the charts

A severe sandstorm has swept across Beijing and several northern provinces in China, blanketing the region in thick clouds of orange dust and sending air pollution soaring to hazardous levels, state weather authorities said on Wednesday.Dense clouds enveloped the Chinese capital where the air quality index of PM10 – particles of pollution that are less than 10 micrometers in diameter and can

How Xi and Putin’s new friendship could test the US

As two autocrats traded tributes over a feast of quail, venison, Siberian white salmon and pomegranate sorbet, China and Russia seemed to conjure the anti-Western compact the US has long feared. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit this week to his friend, President Vladimir Putin, came at a critical moment of Russia’s quagmire war in Ukraine and of Beijing’s emergence as a great power

Putin: China plan could end war, but Ukraine and West not ready for peace

China's peace plan for Ukraine could be used as a basis to end the war, Vladimir Putin has said. But Mr Putin said the plan could be put forward only when they are ready "in the West and Kyiv". The Russian leader met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday in Moscow to discuss the conflict, and relations between the two countries.China's plan, published last month, does not explicitly call for

Beijing’s population falls for first time since 2003 as China battles low birthrate

Beijing’s population has declined for the first time in almost two decades, new population figures have revealed. In 2022 there were more deaths than births in the Chinese capital, home to more than 21 million people, resulting in a natural population growth of minus 0.05 per 1,000 people. It is the first time the population has gone backwards since 2003.The report by Beijing authorities said the

Putin and Xi pose as peacemakers while Moscow’s war in Ukraine rages on

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin posed as peacebrokers during a friendly visit in Moscow on Tuesday, again touting a supposed plan to end Russia’s raging war in Ukraine that has been panned by the United States as a one-sided attempt to hand the Kremlin leader cover as he presses on with his invasion.Putin on Tuesday backed the Chinese leader’s proposal for a “peaceful settlement in Ukraine,” in a

Japanese and Chinese leaders visit opposing capitals in Ukraine war

If ever you needed a demonstration of how the war in Ukraine is echoing in Asia, the schedule of the Japanese and Chinese leaders offers a prime example. Both are on strategic foreign visits on opposing sides of the conflict. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in Kyiv where he is promising unwavering support to Ukraine's president, with talk of reconstruction and humanitarian aid.China's Xi

Opinion: The long and tense history of American journalists trying to understand China

In the summer of 1973, just one year after then-US President Richard Nixon’s historic trip, I made my first visit to China. One of the places I was taken to was the Wusan People’s Commune outside Shenyang in northeast China. There, I met model Maoist peasant Yu Kexin and ate lunch at his modest home. It was the highlight of my visit.In 1993, as CNN’s Beijing bureau chief, I decided to retrace