Guangzhou (AFP) – Surrounded by racks of colourful dresses and blazers in China’s manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao is on a mission to promote body positivity. She is part of a small but growing number of women in China challenging restrictive beauty standards, including thinness, pale skin and childlike features.
South China Sea (AFP) – The Philippines said the China Coast Guard fired water cannon and “sideswiped” a government vessel during a maritime patrol near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, after Beijing said it had “exercised control” over the ship.
Seoul (AFP) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing calls to resign after his short-lived attempt to impose martial law was voted down by lawmakers. Yoon’s actions have brought thousands of people to the streets in protest.
Seoul (AFP) – South Koreans gather at Seou’s downtown Gwanghwamun in a protest to demand the resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he abandoned a short-lived attempt at martial law that plunged the country into its deepest turmoil in its modern democratic history and caught its close allies around the world off guard. IMAGES
Majuro (Marshall Islands) (AFP) – China vows to defend its “national sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” as Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te visits the Marshall Islands on a tour of Pacific nations.
Tal Tamr (AFP) – Syria’s rebel groups that have taken Aleppo and surrounding zones “spread very quickly and very thin” and are likely to face serious difficulties in governing the areas they have captured, Dr Rim Turkmani, Director of the Syria Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics, tells AFP. She also says that President Bashar al-Assad is likely to “continue to rely on Iran and Russia”, even if his ability to do so is “limited” partly due to Iran being weakened by wider regional conflict with Israel.
Luanda (AFP) – US President Joe Biden lands in Angola for the first and only visit to sub-Saharan Africa of his presidency, which is focused on a multinational project to rehabilitate a railway line ferrying minerals from inland countries to the Angolan port of Lobito for export. In anticipation of his trip, the Angolan government declared December 3 and 4 public holidays and deployed heavy security across the capital, Luanda, a city of around 9.5 million people.
Paris (AFP) – “Some people are getting ready to play Russian roulette with France’s destiny,” warns France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau at the National Assembly as the country heads into a new political crisis. Two no-confidence motions against the current government have been tabled by both the left and far right, with one of them expected to pass.
United States (AFP) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te arrived in the United States for a week-long tour in the Pacific that he said would usher in a new era of democracy, but that has sparked fury in Beijing.
Murak (Syria) (AFP) – Images show Syrian rebel forces pushing into Hama province where regime army tanks, artillery and other equipment lie abandoned on the side of roads. A war monitor reported that the army had pulled out of Syria’s fourth largest city Hama, as Jihadist-led rebels seized Aleppo’s airport and dozens of nearby towns on Saturday after overrunning most of Syria’s second city.
Bucharest (AFP) – Romanians vote in parliamentary elections to elect a new parliament, with the far right tipped to win, potentially heralding a shift in the foreign policy of the NATO country bordering Ukraine. The parliamentary poll comes at a time of political turmoil, sparked when a top court ordered a recount of the first round of the separate presidential election on November 24. The presidential ballot was won by Calin Georgescu, a little-known far-right admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A run-off in that poll is slated for December 8.
(AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that an invitation to join the NATO military alliance is necessary for his country’s survival during a press conference with the European Council’s new chief, Antonio Costa.
