Category: BBC

Li Hang (pictured) and Liang Wenbo have to pay £43,000 costs each as well as their lifetime bans Chinese players Liang Wenbo and Li Hang have been handed lifetime bans for their involvement in snooker’s biggest match-fixing scandal. Eight other players, all from China, have received bans ranging from 20 months to five years and four months from the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). The allegations include manipulating games, approaching players to cheat, betting on snooker and fixing matches. Yan Bingtao, the 2021 Masters champion, has been banned…

In a now-removed Weibo post, a writer who scripts for comedy shows said a company that had approached her last year sent her a long list of taboo topics. It included senior Party leaders, officials, extra-marital affairs, homosexuality, gambling, poverty and the pandemic. Then there were a series of meetings to discuss the potential impact of the jokes – how sensitive was it? Who might it offend ? The scripts were then submitted to relevant departments, but officials wouldn’t say much, or even make clear suggestions. BBC

Hong Kong was previously the only Chinese city where these commemorations were allowed, under the city’s semi-autonomous economic, political and legal set up – known as “one country, two systems” – established when the city handed over to China by the UK in 1997. BBC

On the first of two days of talks in Cape Town, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the gathering must “send out a strong message that the world is multipolar, that it is rebalancing and that old ways cannot address new situations”. BBC

The Pentagon has released unclassified video of what it is calling an “unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvre” by a Chinese military jet. According to the US military, the clip shows the Chinese pilot crossing within 121 metres (400ft) of the nose on a US Air Force RC-135 surveillance plane in the South China Sea. BBC

“The unknown fate of Abuduwaili Abudureheman is deeply worrying, given the background of crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs by the Chinese government in Xinjiang, and its ongoing pursuit of Uyghurs who have travelled overseas,” said Alkan Akad, an Amnesty researcher. BBC

Designed to compete with large jumbo jets from Europe’s Airbus and the US airplane maker Boeing, the C919 can carry many more passengers and has a much longer range than its little brother, the ARJ21 – China’s first domestic jet, in service since 2016. BBC

But China could catch up, according to analysts, as AI solutions take years to be perfected. Chinese internet companies “are arguably more advanced than US internet companies, depending on how you’re measuring advancement,” Kendra Schaefer, head of tech policy research at Trivium China tells the BBC. BBC

They called for “de-risking”- a policy that Ms von der Leyen, who is attending the summit, has championed. This is a more moderate version of the US’ idea of “decoupling” from China, where they would talk tougher in diplomacy, diversify trade sources, and protect trade and technology. BBC

But even as news outlets scrambled to confirm it, there were confusing signals from Ukrainian officials on whether the Ukrainian leader was coming. It was a sign that, while his visit was reportedly mooted weeks ago in chats between Mr Zelensky and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, the final decision was made abruptly. BBC