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The grand folk music and dance performance Xinjiang Is a Wonderful Place was staged at Katara Opera House on January 31, 2024. Through a variety of artistic forms, the performance showcased the diverse and splendid regional culture of Xinjiang and the interactions, exchanges and integration among its ethnic groups, presenting a comprehensive picture of a beautiful Xinjiang with openness, development and happiness. By watching the performance, the audience witnessed the scene of unity and common development among the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, China.China is a unified multi-ethnic country. The Chinese nation is a pluralistic yet integrated family formed by the close bonds of all ethnic groups. Ethnic unity is the lifeline of the people of all ethnic groups in China. The scene of unity and common development among all ethnic groups in Xinjiang is a vivid microcosm of China’s governance on a multi-ethnic country.To promote ethnic unity and progress in China, further foster a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, advance the forging of the Chinese nation as a community, and enable all ethnic groups to work together toward socialist modernization, the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, adopted The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress on March 12, 2026. The law officially came into force on July 1, 2026.The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always attached great importance to its work on ethnic affairs. President Xi Jinping noted that people of all ethnic groups should understand, respect, tolerate, appreciate, learn from and help one another, and stay closely united “like the seeds of a pomegranate that stick together”.Integration and cohesion, as well as pluralism in unity are characteristics of both pomegranate seeds and the Chinese nation. President Xi has repeatedly used the metaphor of “pomegranate seeds” when communicating with people from ethnic minority groups. It has become a well-known phrase and has become deeply embedded in the values of the Chinese people.Today, the concept of “all ethnic groups stay closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate that stick together” has been turned into concrete provisions of national law in The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. This law further promotes extensive interactions, exchanges and integration among all ethnic groups, and encourages them to work together in solidarity and strive for common prosperity and development.This law upholds the principle of equality among all ethnics. Grounded in China’s basic reality as a multi-ethnic country, it upholds the core principle that “all ethnic groups are equal”, protects the legitimate rights and interests of people of all ethnic groups in accordance with the law, so as to safeguard and consolidate ethnic relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony.This law promotes cultural exchanges and integration among ethnic groups. It respects and protects the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities, encouraging people of all ethnic groups to appreciate one another’s fine traditional cultures, promoting extensive interactions, exchanges and integration among ethnic groups through all-round mutual integration, so as to advance joint efforts for solidarity, prosperity and development.This law incorporates ethnic unity and progress into the entire process of social development. It calls for the coordinated planning of economic and social development and the allocation of public resources, incorporates the requirement to foster a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation into the entire process of urban planning, construction, governance and public services, and promotes interactions, exchanges and integration among ethnic groups through education, culture, sports, tourism, the internet and other areas.This law provides safeguards for common prosperity among all ethnic groups. It sets out provisions aimed at promoting common prosperity and development, thereby accelerating high-quality development in areas with large ethnic minority populations, advancing common prosperity among all ethnic groups, and enabling all ethnic groups to move together toward socialist modernization.Through generations of extensive interactions, exchanges and integration, the people of all ethnic groups in China have jointly created rich and diverse Chinese civilisation and forged a community with a shared future. Now, all ethnic groups enjoy relations characterized by equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony in China. Strengthening the rule of law helps better protect the legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic groups and promote ethnic unity. The formation and development of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation reflects the aspirations of the people, the irresistible trend of the times and an inevitable historical course.Ethnic unity is the foundation of social stability and the cornerstone for development and prosperity for all countries. Promoting ethnic unity and progress is an important task of state governance all around the world. This law provides Chinese wisdom and a Chinese solution for the international community, particularly countries of the Global South, in safeguarding and advancing the rights of ethnic minorities and promoting ethnic unity and progress. China stands ready to engage in exchanges and mutual learning with Qatar in the field of ethnic unity and progress, working together to safeguard long-term national stability and lasting peace. Related Story Source link
At least six people have died following storms and flooding that swept through the US State of Indiana over the past several days.Hundreds of people were evacuated, while rescue teams continue their operations as water levels rise in several areas.Indiana Governor Mike Braun confirmed that US President Donald Trump intends to approve the state’s request for federal resources to help respond to the flooding.Authorities rescued 95 people as floodwaters rose along the White River, while more than 350 people were evacuated in Delaware County. Rescue operations and efforts to check on residents’ safety are continuing in other areas.Marion County Emergency Management Director Jacob Spence said this type of flooding occurs only once in a lifetime, describing the event as unprecedented and noting that new records had been set.The six deaths occurred across Delaware, Jennings, Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties and included a four-year-old child, three women, and two men, according to the state’s Emergency Operations Center.The state experienced heavy rainfall over the past week, causing water levels in rivers and streams to rise to record levels. More than 12 counties have declared local disaster emergencies. Related Story Source link
At a flattened apartment block known as Los Cocos in northern Venezuela, civilians toiled with little support to pull the living and the dead from the rubble. In neighbouring Colombia, when residential towers in Cali collapsed, officials poured in to help. Devastating earthquakes weeks apart in Venezuela and Colombia have exposed sharply different government capacities to respond to disaster, according to witnesses in both countries, aid workers and a security firm. In Venezuela, civilians led rescue efforts after two back-to-back quakes in late June, finding survivors and victims as confusion, lack of equipment and delayed orders stymied the official response. In Colombia, civilian volunteers were also vital in the first hours after Monday’s quake. But at least a dozen official entities were soon on the ground, coordinating the response in the hardest-hit cities, leading to hundreds of rescues in the crucial 72-hour window after the disaster. Venezuela’s twin 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes, which struck especially hard in coastal La Guaira, led to a national death toll currently standing at 6,300 people. The Colombia quake, which had a similar magnitude and was felt in neighbouring countries, killed at least 285 people, with some 380 still missing. To be sure, magnitude is not the only factor determining the damage an earthquake will wreak. In Venezuela, soil instability and the shallowness of the tremors likely contributed to their toll, while the Colombia quake struck much deeper. However, Venezuela has been battered by shortages, hyperinflation and brain drain for years. The government blames sanctions by the US and other countries, while critics say corruption has sapped state coffers as mismanagement and underinvestment have cratered the country’s top industry, oil. Venezuela’s interim government has vehemently denied any problems in its response. “We did not wait one, two or three days. We acted immediately,” interim President Delcy Rodriguez told reporters in early July. She said 4,000 officials had been deployed the first day, rising to 14,000 the next, and lashed out at what she called a “media narrative” of a chaotic response. In La Guaira, most buildings of a landmark 1,100-unit social housing block named after late President Hugo Chavez collapsed in the June quakes. Families, neighbours and some local officials spent weeks digging through rubble with bare hands, buckets, and sticks, helped by international rescue teams and a small contingent of Venezuelan federal officials. Volunteers arriving from other states provided generators, food, water and other supplies. Locals carried bodies out on old mattresses and other bits of debris until one or two forensic specialists appeared several days afterward with body bags. Locals called for heavy machinery and more official presence at the site, known colloquially as Los Cocos. A month later, two cranes were operating along with other heavy machinery to remove rubble. Civil protection officials who had tunneled six stories into the rubble needed multiple body bags to contain decaying remains, which they removed with soldiers’ aid. An army sergeant whose unit was finding and removing bodies said some of the equipment was broken and they were approaching those still searching for family members to assess who needed help. Things played out differently at Cali’s Torres del Limonar, a five-story residential block in a quiet southern neighbourhood of Colombia’s third-largest city.Neighbours and volunteers who pulled some 20 people from the rubble in the first hours were quickly backed up by local firefighters and then joined by more than a dozen official entities, including police and navy rescuers and search and rescue officials from other cities. Within two days the site was strictly organised, with volunteers allowed only certain jobs in an effort to avoid overcrowding and let rescuers listen for survivors. A constant rotation of dump trucks removed rubble in the shadow of two cranes. Related Story Source link
Bangladesh bowled Australia out for 198 in the first innings before making 426, taking a 228-run lead. Tanzid Hasan scored his maiden Test century, while Mehidy…
British cyclist Finlay Tarling, 19, was reportedly involved in a head-on collision during the Tour of Portugal. (X/@NSNCyclingTeam) Finlay Tarling’s NSN cycling team withdrew from the Tour of Portugal on Saturday, the day after the death of the 19-year-old British rider in an accident during the race.Tarling, the younger brother of Ineos rider Josh, was reportedly involved in a head-on collision with a vehicle, travelling in the opposite direction, which was not connected to the event on Friday.”Following Fin Tarling’s tragic passing, the NSN Development Team has withdrawn from the remaining Volta a Portugal stages,” NSN said in a statement Saturday.”With the full support of Fin’s parents, the World Tour team will race on at Czech Tour and the Arctic Race of Norway.”We will continue to hold Fin in our hearts as we race in his honour, doing what he loved most.”Friday’s eighth stage was suspended with about 20 kilometres remaining and the podium ceremony was cancelled as a “sign of respect and mourning”, organisers said.The race resumed on Saturday with leader Alex Guerin wearing a black jersey and riders wearing black armbands on the penultimate stage.”The ninth stage of the Volta a Portugal set off in an atmosphere of mourning,” said organisers on social media.”Before the symbolic start, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Finlay Tarling.”Organisers said sponsors had cancelled planned activities this weekend out of respect.”The race continues. There will be a sporting competition but not a party,” they said in a statement.”This Saturday, the Tour cycles for Finlay.”On Friday, a spokesman for Portugal’s National Republican Guard (GNR), Tiago Machado, said there had been a collision between a cyclist and a light vehicle towards the back of the peloton.”We do not yet know exactly the circumstances in which it unfolded. We will investigate,” he told reporters. Source link
Audrey Werro’s thrilling European 800m victory over Keely Hodgkinson sets up a lively track rivalry that should thrive for seasons to come, with the added goal of breaking an elusive world record.Before Werro outgunned Hodgkinson for continental gold in Birmingham in a championship record of 1min 54.81sec on Friday, the pair had last met at the Stockholm Diamond League in June.The Swiss athlete had then also outpaced Hodgkinson, timing 1:53.98 for the victory to become the first woman to dip under 1:54 since 1983.That was the year that Jarmila Kratochvilova of then-Czechoslovakia ran the two-lap race in 1:53.28.It remains the oldest world record in track and field, albeit one that is highly contested having come during a period when systemic doping of athletes was prevalent. Kratochvilova, however, never failed a doping test.Werro is just 22 and Hodgkinson 24, meaning the pair – injuries and form notwithstanding – could realistically be looking at a decade of rivalry ahead of them.Throw 26-year-old Femke Broeders-Bol, the twice world 400m hurdles champion who has transitioned to the 800m and remarkably won bronze in Birmingham, into the mix and it makes for a heady concoction.”We are both young, so we will have a great rivalry for years to come,” said Olympic champion Hodgkinson of herself and Werro.”We can keep challenging each other. And Femke is not much older and still learning the 800m, so it is going to be a competitive distance for years to come.”Hodkinson added: “There have been so many rivalries over the last couple of years. I have only been in this game for five years, hopefully I’ve got another 10 in me.”There will always be competitors coming along and you don’t know when someone is going to have a breakthrough.” Faster and fasterWerro, who has only been a full-time professional athlete for one year, was in no doubt about what lay ahead for her.”I hope to be faster and faster next year,” she insisted.Werro was clipped in her semi-final on Thursday and only made the final on a successful appeal, not ideal for championship racing.”I’m glad I had a second chance and I just took it,” she said.”In the last 100 metres I was just thinking about all those hard training sessions I’ve done over the last few weeks.”Out of the corner of my eye I could see something happening behind, so I knew I couldn’t let anything go.”The world championships in Beijing are next year, dollowed by the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.But Werro said she was content to take a minute to just bask in continental glory.”I’m just happy to have won my first senior European medal. I’m just going to enjoy this moment.” Embrace the lacticHodgkinson acknowledged that it had been a “fantastic race”.”I gave it my all,” she said. “Going into that last 100m I really thought I could catch her but sometimes you just don’t have enough and that was the case.”We have more Diamond League meetings to come this season and the Ultimate Champs so hope I can get back to winning ways.”In an astonishing run for bronze, Broeders-Bol equalled the Dutch national record of 1:55.54 set by Ellen van Langen in 1991.”It was such a cool race and I really gave it my utmost to make sure I would get that medal,” she said.”To come away with a medal, racing against some of the best of the world, is amazing.”It is really great to see the progress I’m making. I still feel I have a lot to learn for the 800m, I need to embrace the lactic a little more.”All eyes will now turn to the August 21 Diamond League meet in Lausanne where wavelight technology and highly efficient pacemakers will be utilised to maximise times.On the fast track in Switzerland, Werro will bask in the limelight of home support and get her head down in pursuit of a 43-year-old record.More opportunities come at meets in Silesia, Zurich and Brussels before the Ultimate Championships in Budapest in September. Related Story Source link
A former champion at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters was knocked out on Friday by a South American clay-courter while the tournament’s 2022 finalist survived into the second round.With 64 seeds in the men’s and women’s draw of the last major warm-up prior to the August 30 US Open only going into action from Saturday, interest focused on the fate of 2017 winner Grigor Dimitrov and 2022 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas.The popular Dimitrov was unable to hold onto a 4-1 lead in the third set against Argentine Sebastian Baez, exiting in the first round 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 as he lost the last five games of the encounter.The 35-year-old Dimitrov, his ranking down to 138 and playing on a wild card, was bidding for his first Cincinnati victory in five years.Baez goes on to next play American Learner Tien, a semi-finalist this week in Montreal.Tsitsipas, a one-time world number three now standing 49th after a months-long slump in form, got past Valentin Royer of France 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 after struggling somewhat to close out the victory, which sent him into a match with second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.The Greek led a set and 5-2 but was broken as he served for victory, with Royer saving two match points on the way to 5-all.Tsitsipas managed a late break two games later on his sixth match point to advance in two hours.”I’m trying to come to the net as much as possible,” Tsitsipas said. “Whenever a ball is short I try to capture it inside the baseline. That’s where I shined the most.”I felt confidence running through my veins. My offensive strategy helped me today, my composure was excellent.”Tsitsipas admitted he was tested at the end as he tried to close out against Royer, and found himself stalling as he missed conversion on winning chances.”It was nerve-wracking at the end with those match points I was not able to capture,” the Greek said. “It would have been easy to get tight.”I had to remind myself to stay loose and play aggressive. If I was going to miss, at least I knew I had done the right thing.”Tsitsipas, now several months into his coaching split with his father, has lifted his ranking to 49th after coming through qualifying at the Montreal Masters, where he lost in the second round. Venus skid hits 14Hubert Hurkacz, a 2023 semi-finalist, advanced 6-2, 6-4 over qualifying lucky loser Sho Shimabukuro while Italian Matteo Berrettini defeated Thomas Droguet 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, playing only his second match since Wimbledon due to injury.In the WTA draw, Colombian Emilia Arango handed Venus Williams a 14th straight loss dating to July of last year, defeating the fading seven-time Grand Slam champion who is currently ranked 615th in 66 minutes by 6-2, 6-2.The 46-year-old Williams was given a wild card entry at an event where she reached a semi-final a dozen years ago. She has played and lost 11 times this season while competing on organiser free entries.Czech Sara Bejlek allowed compatriot and 2016 titleholder Karolina Pliskova only two games in a first-round 6-0, 6-2 rout. Related Story Source link
Afghan journalist Zahra Joya poses for a photograph following an interview with AFP in London on August 14, 2026. Afghanistan’s women are “fighting alone” against discrimination…
Scottie Scheffler of the United States lines up a putt on the ninth green during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC…
Veteran Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin never planned to flee to France.”I stayed in Russia for as long as I could,” the anti-war politician told AFP from a hotel in the suburbs of Paris.”I tried, until the very last moment, not to cross any red lines, but apparently the red lines have shifted.”Nadezhdin, 63, is an unlikely rebel. Critics long described him as a token member of Russia’s liberal opposition.He knows Vladimir Putin personally, and the two repeatedly had tea together when Putin came to power a quarter of a century ago. He worked with Sergei Kiriyenko, now Putin’s powerful first deputy chief of staff, and for many years took part in political propaganda shows on Russian television.But after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, even the faintest semblance of pluralism has disappeared. Criticism of the war was outlawed, and top Kremlin critics ended up in exile, prison or dead.Nadezhdin hoped he might be safe as long as he played by the rules. But his calls for peace and tame criticism of the “special military operation”, now in its fifth year, proved too much.Nadezhdin, known for his affable demeanour, attempted to run for president in 2024. But he was barred after he became a magnet for anti-war sentiment, with images of long lines of his supporters published around the world.In July he learned that any further attempt to challenge the Kremlin could land him in jail. He tried to stand in tightly controlled parliamentary polls in September, but was declared a “foreign agent”, a label used to stifle dissent.”If in 2024 I could get away with criticising Putin and the war, now I can’t anymore,” he told AFP.He packed his bags and left through Kazakhstan on July 22 after being summoned for questioning by investigators. He feared that authorities were preparing to launch a criminal case against him. With a history of heart disease, he figured he might not get out of jail alive.Soon after Nadezhdin fled, Russia’s only anti-war party, Yabloko, was barred from contesting the polls too.Demand for change is “enormous”, he said, pointing to his conversations with Russians before his campaign was cut short.”I met with hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of young people. They say they want peace, and they all say they want a return to normal life,” he said.”I think that’s why they didn’t let me and Yabloko run,” he added. “Putin thinks that everyone supports him and that the Russian army is about to win.”Former president Dmitry Medvedev this week called anti-war youths “morons” with “brain problems”.Russians are increasingly feeling the consequences of the fighting, as Kyiv seeks to bring the war back to Russia and cripple its economy with strikes on oil refineries and logistics infrastructure.”Every day Ukrainian drones fly overhead and people die,” Nadezhdin said. “Children die. There are problems with gasoline. The internet isn’t working. Prices are rising.””Go to the cemetery of any Russian city. You can see right away just how many men have been killed.”Assessing opposition to the war is challenging due to censorship.According to a July survey by the Levada Center polling organisation, which is on Moscow’s list of foreign agents, 62 % of people back peace talks with Ukraine, while 28 % are in favour of continuing the fighting.Nadezhdin, who worked in the government in the 1990s and was also a lawmaker in parliament, said Russian elites are frustrated but too afraid to act.”They all toe the line, and they keep telling me: ‘Boris, you get it, don’t you? One step in the wrong direction, and we’re finished.'”While 73-year-old Putin’s popularity has taken a hit, observers say his grip on power remains firm.Nadezhdin said further escalation could further hurt Putin’s popularity.”Over five years of war, Russian voters have come to understand very well the true cost of these supposedly great victories.”He said he had no regrets about cooperating with the authorities in the past.”I would have made a good European politician,” he said with a smile. “A politician in Europe is someone who knows how to seek compromises, find common ground, understand the public mood, and adapt to it.”Nadezhdin said diplomats from several countries had offered help, but he chose to come to France.The father of four still does not know where he will live or how he will earn a living. His elderly parents and children remain in Russia and he dreads uprooting his family.”I don’t have a clear idea of my plans for the next few weeks or months,” said Nadezhdin, a physicist by training.”But I’ll do my best to make it through until the day I can return to Russia.” Source link