For six days last week, thousands of people protested in the streets in Jinshan, a Shanghai suburb. They believe the government plans to build a chemical plant making paraxylene, or PX, a material used in polyester clothing and plastic bottles. Jinshan’s protests attracted thousands more people every day. They appeared to be tolerated by the authorities until they moved to ...

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi has “retired”  the army’s chief of staff, the most senior officer removed since rebel fighters  overran large parts of the country last year, his spokesman has said. General Babaker Zebari “has been retired” on Abbadi’s orders, Saad  al-Hadithi told the AFP news agency on Monday, without providing further details. Military sources say a Kurdish general ...

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged voters to soundly reject austerity proposals by the troubled country’s lenders, as thousands of his supporters rallied in the capital, Athens. “We ask you to reject it with all the might of your soul, with the greatest margin possible,” he said on Monday. “The greater the participation and the rejection of this deal, ...

At least 30 people have been killed in a military transport plane crash in a residential area of the Indonesian city of Medan, officials say. Local TV reported that the Hercules crashed into two houses and a car and burst into flames. Military spokesman Fuad Basya told the BBC that the plane came down soon after take-off and that there ...

In the ongoing debate over the significance of the Confederate flag in the United States, Indian American Nikki Haley has emerged as a civil rights champion. Haley has come a long way, from being unable to qualify to become either the white or the black pageant queen and facing ethnic slurs from her own party when standing for elections, to ...

Last year he visited Athens, this year Brussels. The European Union is China’s largest trading partner and Premier Li Keqiang comes twice a year. On this occasion, he started in Brussels with the annual China-EU summit with official visits to Belgium and France tacked on. The timing could be better. At the European Commission, his host President Jean Claude Juncker ...

The new playing condition in ODI cricket, announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC), would give Bangladesh some edge, according to Bangladesh captain for limited overs cricket, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. The captain said the abolishment of the batting powerplay between overs 15-40 would come as good for his side as Bangladesh historically didn’t do in this period. Bangladesh are used ...

Spanish giants Real Madrid’s Portuguese international striker Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted he is happy at the star-studded club, despite its failure to win a major trophy season last season. It was the first time Ronaldo spoke to the press since the controversy surrounding his 30th birthday party the same day that Real Madrid lost 0-4 to city rivals Atletico Madrid ...

Chile qualified for the Copa América final on Monday after two goals from Eduardo Vargas gave them a 2-1 win over Peru in an action-packed semi-final marked by another controversial refereeing decision. Peru had to play with 10 men for most of the match after Carlos Zambrano, who was yellow carded in the seventh minute, was harshly sent off for ...

Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq has been roped in the absence of his compatriot Shoaib Malik in the Barbados Tridents squad for the team’s remaining games in the 2015 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Malik has reportedly been recalled by Pakistan for their ODI series against Sri Lanka, although no official announcement has been made in this regard. CPL director Tom Moody ...