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Imagine, for a moment, that you lived in ancient China, with a rival state threatening your people’s very existence. In the quest for any advantage, one strategy might involve performing a ceremony to invoke assistance from the ancestors.
However, life and politics are not static; old rivals can transform into close allies. This transformation raises an intriguing question: do ancient war ceremonies simply fade away when they lose relevance? A recent discovery in China indicates that, at least…

AdvertisementTaiwanChinaPoliticsTaiwan’s opposition TPP launches historic first trip to mainland ChinaThe party aims to build goodwill and promote dialogue while supporting cross-strait peace, delegation leader says
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenLawrence Chungin TaipeiPublished: 9:00am, 15 Jul 2026The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has sent its first formal delegation to mainland China since the party’s founding, seeking to maintain cross-strait peace through dialogue amid heightened tensions with Beijing.The nine-member delegation from the island’s smaller opposition party left for Shanghai on Tuesday for a four-day visit focused on youth exchanges, urban governance, artificial intelligence (AI), technological innovation and entrepreneurship.“The trip aims to build goodwill and mutual trust through pragmatic engagement, reduce misunderstandings across the Taiwan Strait and explore a more stable and sustainable model for exchanges,” the TPP said.
The delegation is led by Lee Wei-hwa, chairman of ..

“He was punching me”: Ria Jalesa accuses Beyoncé’s nephew Julez Smith of hotel assault, says she was left with bruises (Image via Getty) Twitch streamer and content creator Ria Jalesa has publicly accused Julez Smith, the son of Solange Knowles and nephew of Beyoncé, of physically assaulting her during an encounter at a hotel. Speaking during a recent livestream, Ria described an alleged incident that she said left her with bruises and scratches across her body. She also claimed Smith later threatened her and pointed a firearm at her. The allegations gained attention after Instagram account Livebitez shared clips from her livestream on July 12. As of now, Julez Smith has not publicly responded to the claims, and the allegations remain unverified.Ria Jalesa says Julez Smith became angry after hotel encounter and allegedly assaulted herDuring the livestream, Ria Jalesa said she met Julez Smith for what she described as a casual meetup at a hotel. According to her account, the situation c..

The council decided to sell the site to UKIM on Feb 10 even though Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) is a sitting tenant LONDON: Peterborough city council argued at the high court here on Monday that its decision to sell a complex housing a Hindu temple to a Muslim association to redevelop it as a mosque and Islamic centre was “not unlawful”.Catherine Rowlands, representing the council, said the fact the Hindu community would lose the only temple they had in a 35-mile radius did not make the decision to sell the New England Complex to the UK Islamic Mission (UKIM) — who plan to build Masjid Khadijah there — illegal, nor was it a breach of public sector equality duty.“Protected characteristics (eg Hindu faith) need to be taken into consideration when reaching a decision, but do not dictate a decision,” Rowlands said, pointing out the Hindus were protected by tenancy rights until the site was redeveloped, at which point they would be evicted.“It is the council’s position that the Hindu community ..

One Indian crew member was killed and eight others were wounded when two Emirati oil tankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday, in the latest escalation in the strategic waterway.
The ‌ministry said the tankers, the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were targeted in the southern lane of the strait while in Omani territorial waters. The dead crew member was aboard the Mombasa, it said.
Of the eight wounded, four were…

Facing anti-corruption policies and profit squeezing at home, Chinese innovative medical device companies are accelerating their push into the European market despite mounting cross-border trade protectionism.
Government-backed hospital purchases of medical devices in China fell about 12 per cent year on year in the first five months of 2026, partly weighed down by “a new anti-corruption probe into hospitals”, dragging on the revenue of major Chinese medical device makers in the first half, said…

'Write in such a way that you can be readily understood' In 1962, a team of structural engineers faced a serious problem at the newly built international terminal of an American airport. The signs guiding passengers to baggage claim, exits, and customs were filled with complicated official language. Tourists got lost, children became separated from their parents, and elderly travelers struggled to understand the technical words. The solution came when a graphic designer removed the unnecessary complexity, replacing long written instructions with simple universal symbols and clear language. Almost immediately, the confusion disappeared.When information is removed from its complicated layers, it becomes available to everyone. This is the basic idea behind an important rule of public communication: “Write in such a way as that you can be readily understood by both the young and the old, by men as well as women, even by children.”The message challenges the belief that intelligenc..

'An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep' In May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, facing destruction from the advancing German army. By every visible measure of military equipment, battlefield position, and numbers, the Allied forces were defeated. Yet, the later rescue effort involving hundreds of civilian boats and the refusal to surrender turned a possible disaster into one of history’s greatest evacuations. The soldiers on the beach did not suddenly receive better weapons or stronger forces. The change came from leadership that united their purpose.This turning point is the central idea behind a famous saying: “An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.”The quote challenges the common belief that success depends only on talent or collective strength. Instead, it suggests that a group’s true ability is either limited or multiplied by the quality of its lead..

The universe teems with planets, yet their origins and evolution remain among science’s most enduring mysteries.
Theoretical astrophysicist Shigeru Ida of the Institute of Science Tokyo has spent more than four decades in this field – and is now bringing his expertise to China.
Ida, a former president of the Astronomical Society of Japan, has led the Japanese Society for Origins of Life and Astrobiology since 2025, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential planetary…

A man in southwestern China has been detained after he skydived from the top of a high-rise building in a residential community.
According to a statement by the police authority of Chenghua district in Sichuan province, the 23-year-old man, surnamed Ren, skydived from the top of a tall residential building at 11pm on June 30 in an effort to boost traffic to his social media account.
He shared the footage of his extreme sport activity online the next day, the Qilu Evening News reported.
The video…