Vladimir Putin loves a really long table. Images of his meetings are famous, with the Russian leader at one end and the person he is speaking to so far away that you wonder if it is hard for them to hear one another. It was not like that when he met China’s top foreign policyRead more
The BBC will not be put off from reporting without fear or favour, its Director-General Tim Davie has said in an email to staff in India. It follows searches at BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai by tax officials. Mr Davie thanked staff for their courage and said nothing was more important than reporting impartially.Read more
A metal sphere that washed up on a beach in Japan, perplexing locals and setting off widespread speculation, has been removed, according to local media. Pictures showed a heavy lifting machine picking up the huge sphere. Local officials in Hamamatsu said that it will be stored “for a certain period of time” then “disposed of”.Read more
Just how low became painfully evident when a day before his departure, an apparent Chinese spy balloon over the state of Montana roiled the tensions he was trying to address. Eventually, the Chinese foreign ministry claimed the unmanned airship was used for weather research and had blown off course. The accompanying expression of regret suggestedRead more
The US has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America. The Department of Defence confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters. China’s foreign ministry later expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US’s use of force to attack civilianRead more