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Reuters  —  Teatime revels in China now include hugs with lion cubs in a four-course afternoon set offered by a restaurant in the northern province of Shanxi, drawing widespread attention online and fueling concern for the animals’ welfare. Customers cradled the lion cubs as if they were babies in pictures and video clips posted online on China’s Wechat and Weibo platforms. The Wanhui restaurant in Taiyuan city features llamas, turtles and deer in addition to the cubs on its page on Douyin, China’s counterpart to social media app TikTok. Wanhui, which opened in June, sells about 20 tickets a day…

CNN  —  New developments Tuesday reinforced the idea that President Donald Trump has significantly shifted his view of the Ukraine war. But his short time horizons and lack of specificity on what exactly he will do for Ukraine, which are hallmarks of his leadership, mean the most critical factor preventing an end to the conflict will remain unchanged. There is little reason to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin will change his own calculations on a war he sees as a historic imperative and that may be existential for him politically. Still, some things have undeniably changed. Worst-case scenarios for…

BEIJING (AP) — A Japanese business person was sentenced Wednesday to three and a half years in prison in China on espionage charges, according to the Japanese embassy in Beijing.The embassy did not identify the man, who has been detained since March 2023. Japan’s Kyodo News Agency described him as a man in his 60s and an employee of Astellas Pharma Inc., a major Japanese pharmaceutical company.The man was charged with espionage in August and his first hearing was held in November but no details were released.The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court did not immediately make an announcement after…

AP  —  Police in Thailand arrested a woman Tuesday who allegedly enticed a string of Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then pressured them into making large payments to cover up their intimacy. The possible violation of the celibacy rule for monks has rocked Buddhist institutions and gripped public attention in Thailand in recent weeks. At least nine abbots and senior monks involved in the scandal have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said. Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province north of the capital…

CNN  —  The United States has launched an investigation into “unfair” trading practices by Brazil, escalating President Donald Trump’s spat with the world’s 10th-largest economy over issues including the criminal case against its former President Jair Bolsonaro. The investigation will focus on digital trade and electronic payment services, preferential tariffs, and anti-corruption interference, as well as intellectual property protection, to determine whether there are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict” American commerce, according to a statement by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). It will also look into ethanol market access and illegal deforestation. “At President Trump’s direction, I…

You may say I’m a dreamerBut I’m not the only oneI hope someday you’ll join usAnd the world will be as oneJohn Lennon Humanity may have lucked out. China speed, dodgy data and the Houthis may just have derailed the 21st Century Thucydides trap. Meme: imgflip While Athens and Sparta careened unstoppably towards the Peloponnesian war, each powerless to arrest rising tensions, today’s Sparta should consider itself lucky: It cannot win the 21st Century Peloponnesian War and, as such, will not press for one. The most consequential military development of the past few years – and there have been legion…

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in Asia traded mixed on Wednesday after an update on U.S. inflation pulled most Wall Street stocks lower, though gains for Nvidia pushed the Nasdaq to another record. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% lower, to 39,663.40. Investors are focusing on the potential impact of an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday that is expected to lead to tax cuts and higher spending as lawmakers try to restore the waning popularity of the ruling Liberal Democrats.Worries over a deterioration in Japan’s fiscal health have pushed yields of long-term Japanese government bonds to…

MBALE, Uganda (AP) — Wilson Watira offered his hand when he met his political rival at a funeral, gesturing for a proper handshake. The man didn’t want contact, instead folding a piece of paper that he aimed at Watira. “He looked at me and picked that piece of paper of the program. He folded it and greeted me,” Watira said. “He’s just afraid of me simply because I am not afraid of him.”Watira, who seeks a seat in Uganda’s Parliament, remembered the recent event as a vivid example of the rampant fear of witchcraft as politicians seeking office try to…

People shop for groceries at a store in New York City, U.S., July 15, 2025. Jeenah Moon | Reuters Expectations are a funny thing. When we say that something meets expectations, we tend to mean it in a positive way, suggesting that a hurdle has been cleared or the result is welcome.But what happens when we expect something bad, and the outcome meets expectations?The U.S. consumer price index in June, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday, matched the Dow Jones consensus estimate. And there was even a pleasant surprise: Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy…

Facebook Tweet Email Link A stolen private plane caused a temporary shutdown of the airspace over Vancouver International Airport, one the busiest in Canada, on Tuesday. The Cessna 172 took off from Victoria International Airport, where it is used for flight training, and flew north about 40 miles to Vancouver and started circling. “We do have an aircraft that has been hijacked and is in the vicinity of the airport,” a tower controller warned other planes in a recording from the website LiveATC.net. “Just in case anything starts heading toward your you have the ability to move at your discretion.”…