His creative writing leads me to retell the time I invented an entire fish festival

Chinese president is behind patriarchal turn in politics with activists silenced for ‘promoting gender antagonism’ Addressing dignitaries gathered in Beijing on Monday, Xi Jinping praised the “historic achievements” of women’s rights in China. In the past 30 years, the Chinese president said, maternal mortality rates had dropped by nearly 80%, and women were now participating in the project of national governance with “unprecedented confidence and vigour”. Xi was speaking at the global women’s summit, an event on Monday and Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the historic UN’s world conference on women, which took place in Beijing. It was there in 1995 that Hillary Clinton, the then US first lady, delivered her “women’s rights are human rights” speech, lines now often quoted by people in China advocating for women’s rights. Continue reading...

Proposal for international body to oversee Gaza for up to five years counters UN-backed plan for faster transition to Palestinian rule The White House is backing a plan under which the former British prime minister Tony Blair would head a temporary administration of the Gaza Strip, initially without the direct involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to reports in the Israeli media. Under the proposal, Blair would head a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority, Gita, which would have a mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for as long as five years. Continue reading...

* Five charges of rape and one charge of sexual assault * Due to appear in magistrates court next month Former Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The allegations relate to three separate women who reported incidents between 2021 and 2022. Partey will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on 5 August. Continue reading...