Category World News

During the trade truce between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea, experts debated which leader prevailed.

There is hardly any disagreement about the shifting power balance between the leaders, though.

Xi and the US president had a much stronger bargaining position at their previous face-to-face meeting in 2019 and he left with some uncommon concessions, such as a partial rollback of technology-related export controls.

The Chinese leader appeared to emphasize their equality while Trump and Xi exchanged handshakes and niceties on the APEC summit’s side, drawing inspiration from two ship captains.

We should maintain the right course in the face of the current conditions, navigate through the challenging landscape, and ensure the giant ship’s forward momentum, according to Xi.

China believes it is “far, far closer to a peer now,” according to Dexter Roberts, a senior non-resident at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

He told Al Jazeera, “I believe that China has definitely increased its stature while the US has definitely decreased.”

Beijing has strengthened the Chinese economy to better withstand US pressure and put additional pressure on it against Washington since Trump started his first trade war with China in 2018.

Beijing announced that businesses anywhere in the world would need approval to export goods containing even trace amounts of its rare-earth metals shortly after the Trump administration dramatically expanded the scope of its export blacklist to include thousands of Chinese subsidiaries last month.

Beijing’s willingness to use its effective stranglehold on the crucial minerals to defend its interests, which are essential for everything from smartphones to electric cars and fighter jets.

The restrictions had raised the possibility of a catastrophic disruption to global supply chains because China had a controlling interest in 90% of rare earth mining and 90% of separation and processing.

According to Gabriel Wildau, senior vice president at global business advisory firm Teneo, “Beijing’s ability to use export controls on rare earths as leverage has been decisive in shifting the balance of negotiating leverage.”

According to Wildau, “Beijing’s leverage over global supply chains will serve as a restraint on other governments that are considering imposing tariffs, export controls, or other coercive measures against China,” adding that it was unclear whether China “intends to go on the offensive.”

Prior to the summit, China had also significantly reduced its dependence on US agricultural products, particularly soya beans, which had also grown stronger.

Due to tit-for-trade disputes between Washington and Beijing, China had already been able to more than halve the share of American beans imported by turning to Brazil and Argentina by the end of May, when it stopped purchasing them.

Farmers in states across the midwestern US, including Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana, were negatively impacted by China’s effective embargo, making them a political liability ahead of the midterm elections in 2026.

The Atlantic Council fellow Roberts claimed that China had figured out how to manipulate Trump’s “transactional nature and proclivity.”

According to Roberts, “I believe they figured out that Trump actually has some things in mind.”

And I believe that the US president gains legitimacy from negotiation, and that China is willing to do so if cooperating with the US is what they want.

He continued, “I believe they played this all very well to their advantage.”

The agreement largely restores the two countries’ relations to the status quo that existed prior to Trump’s crippling “liberation day” tariffs in April, while China is scheduled to resume purchases of US soybeans and postpone planned export controls on five of its 12 rare earths under the truce.

China benefits from a 20% to 10% reduction in his fentanyl-linked tariff, which is the only major concession that precedes Trump’s April trade war.

While China has bolstered its position over the past ten years, it was difficult to predict whether either superpower would have a clear advantage in their heated strategic conflict, according to Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

The US was able to control technology more effectively the last time. The People’s Republic of China, or PRC, was then discovered a way to control rare earths, Chong told Al Jazeera.

“In the future, the US will change and discover something new. That is how things operate.

Some analysts in China are much less equivocal.

The power balance between China and the US has changed since Trump’s first term, according to Wang Wen, dean of the Renmin University of China in Beijing, and his trade war may now be deemed a failure.

Wang told Al Jazeera, “The US has to learn respect because of China’s strength.”

Abubakr Ahmed was prepared to perish from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), despite his tireless fighting.

El-Fasher was a member of the “popular resistance,” a neighborhood organization that helped the army and allies fight back against the RSF, their adversary during the two-and-a-half-year civil war, for 550 days.

Up until its fall on October 26, the besieged city served as the last army stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region.

In an effort to stop a bloodbath, the army surrendered and negotiated the safe exit of its troops, according to Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

However, their withdrawal left 250,000 people, mostly beleaguered and starving, without access to the RSF.

Ahmad recalls “shooting” his way out of town with a small group of underage men. After a nearby car was destroyed by a rocket-propelled grenade, shrapnel struck Ahmed in the abdomen during the final clashes.

He was able to escape, unlike many others.

After fleeing El-Fasher, Ahmed, 29, told Al Jazeera, “The RSF killed civilians and left their bodies in the streets.”

They were not shown mercy, they were killed. ”

Exodus in large numbers

According to the local monitor Sudan’s Doctors’ Network, the RSF killed at least 1,500 people in the first three days after capturing El-Fasher. The World Health Organization has also verified the murders of 460 patients and their companions at the nearby al-Saud hospital.

Sanad, Al Jazeera’s own verification unit, verified a number of videos that showed RSF soldiers executing rows of unarmed young men while standing over a pile of dead bodies.

More than 33,000 people have already fled as a result of the mass murder, many of whom have already departed from Tawila and Tine, which are located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) away.

Most people are still hid from RSF gunmen in El-Fasher, though.

People are still making the long, tiring journey through the open desert, likely without food or water, to safety.

Mohammed, a survivor, claimed he arrived in Tawila on October 28 and that he anticipates seeing tens of thousands of newcomers soon.

Mohammed is a member of one of the sedentary “non-Arab” tribes, like most people from El-Fasher, which has historically been targeted by the nomadic “Arab” tribes that make up the majority of the RSF.

The RSF has terrified the majority of people, so they choose to stay in El-Fasher. They don’t trust the RSF because they are aware that they will face persecution, Mohammed said.

The non-Arabs will reside in another place, while the Arabs will reside in another. Unfortunately, that is the way it is right now, he continued.

Rwandan echoes

Mohamad Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the head of the RSS, stated in a speech on Wednesday that he would investigate reports of “abuses” occurring.

However, survivors claim that the killing in El-Fasher appears to be a deliberate attempt to eradicate the non-Arab population.

In a report released on October 28th, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which analyzes the fighting in Darfur, claimed there was clear evidence that the RSF was killing people as they attempted to flee.

According to the HRL report, the scale of these mass killings cannot currently be determined from satellite imagery alone, and it is likely that any estimates of the total number of RSF victims’ deaths are underestimated.

The United Nations Children’s Foundation (UNICEF) representative for Sudan, Sheldon Yett, described the scenes in El-Fasher as “killing fields.”

There are echoes of this here because I was in Rwanda during the genocide. What frightens me is the kind of slaughter we are witnessing, as well as the pride the perpetrators have in killing innocent people in El-Fasher, Yett told Al Jazeera.

He added that UNICEF has lost communication with many of the local relief workers and initiatives they are supporting on the ground, including those that oversee community kitchens, which are crucial for reducing hunger in Sudan.

Many of them are in immediate danger, he claimed.

Local relief workers in Sudan have a history of being targeted by the RSF because they frequently accuse them of “collaborating” with the army.

We have had trouble contacting many of the people we rely on to provide services to people because of the precarious nature of many of our national partners [in El-Fasher].

They are not dead, they simply are. But many are hiding and moving, he continued.

condemnation in a loud manner

The UN, the US, and the European Union all issued condemnations of the atrocities committed in El-Fasher in response to news reports and videos.

They all demanded that the RSF follow international law and “protect civilians.”

However, survivors and analysts claim that the international community should have used its diplomatic leverage to stop atrocities from ever occurring.

The RSF attempted to take control of El-Fasher for a long time, and it did so right away. If El-Fasher were to succeed, we would know what would happen, according to Manchester University PhD candidate Hamid Khalafallah.

The international community has shown no sign of being proactive in protecting civilians, he told Al Jazeera, especially from multilateral organizations like the UN and Western powers.

According to Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch’s Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division, the RSF regularly commits mass atrocities after seizing or invading new territory, as it did in El-Geniena and Aradamata in West Darfur.

He argued that diplomats had failed to put an end to the practice of impunity by denying support to RSF leader Hemedti, possibly out of fear that it would stifle ceasefire talks.

According to Gallopin, this persistent impunity has made the RSF comfortable enough to film their own crimes in El-Fasher.

Diplomats are focused on achieving a elusive ceasefire, and they disregard any measures they take to protect civilians or prosecute those who violate it, he told Al Jazeera.

Mexican homes and streets have been decorated with marigold flowers, candles, and sugar skulls this week.

Mexicans are gearing up for the country’s most significant holiday, El Dia de los Muertos, which kicks off this weekend.

In honor of their deceased relatives, Mexican families will gather in homes and cemeteries. The day is full of lively parades and rituals, including hot chocolate and Mexican street food, as well as elaborate altar decorations and desserts.

It’s a celebration of life, not death.

El Dia de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead, is a celebration of the lives of those who have passed rather than mourning or grieving.

The living and the dead are said to have had a connection during this time. Traditional rituals, such as offering certain food items and putting marigold flowers on altars, are believed to assist spirits in visiting the dead.

People wear colorful skeleton costumes as well to honor the dead.

Indigenous roots are present in The Day of the Dead.

The ancient Aztec belief that death is a continuation of life is the inspiration for the festival. There are descendants of the Aztecs today, primarily in Mexico.

The Aztecs, who lived in central Mexico from the 14th to the 16th centuries, held month-long celebrations for the deceased.

In these celebrations, they also paid tribute to Mictecacihuatl, the goddess of the underworld, and made offerings of food and items for her.

All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2 were the two Catholic holidays that the Spanish colonists introduced to Mexico in 1519.

These two days eventually became the Day of the Dead.

Families build altars for the deceased.

In their homes and in cemeteries, families place altars containing offerings for deceased loved ones and ancestors, which are known as “ofrendas.”

The steps to heaven are represented by two levels of heaven and earth, three levels of purgatory, and seven levels of earth signification.

The altars also have items made of the four elements: water to quench visitors’ thirst, fire to guide the spirits, earth, which is represented by food and special items for the deceased, and air, which is represented by vibrant paper designs. Salt, which is thought to aid souls on their way to the afterlife, is also present in some altars.

Additionally, these altars have marigold flowers, marigolds, and other images of the deceased, as well as their favorite foods, candles, and marigolds, which are thought to help spirits return from the cemetery to their families’ homes.

Additionally, the altars have “calaveras” (skulls), which are written in tongue-in-cheek about the deceased loved ones. These poems describe interesting behavior and funny tales that occurred during the lives of the deceased.

Skulls, a symbol of the perpetual nature of life and death, are a common sight on the Day of the Dead. The edible and decorative skull models made of sugar, clay, or papier-mache, or “calavera de azucar,” are used to decorate altars.

The “bread of the dead,” or “pan de muerto,” is a circular loaf of bread decorated with bone-shaped designs, is another popular food item during the festival. The bread is typically decorated with sugar to represent the sorrowful tears that loved ones have shed.

On both days of the festival, the bread is baked and consumed, and it is also offered at the altars.

Users can also create virtual altars on websites like MiAltar. These can be shared through the website.

La Catrina presides over parades.

La Catrina, who is tall and skeletal, can be seen all over the festival.

Political cartoonist and lithographer Jose Guadalupe Posada made her a character in the early 1900s.

A fashionable French hat and feathers are on La Catrina. Posada’s writings were a counterpoint to the Mexicans’ desire to imitate the elite of Europe.

Posada’s famous saying, “We are all skeletons,” makes reference to how we are all the same in the absence of expensive clothing, jewelry, and other accessories.

In a 1947 mural, Diego Rivera named Posada after her in the Latin word “the rich” (the rich) and added her name.

Day of the Dead is a daylong event that goes on for more than one day.

November 1 and November 2 are the main days of the holiday. However, some countries start their celebrations on October 27, which also includes their deceased pets. The following days are dedicated to creating altars.

The Philippines, which was colonized by Spain in 1565, are also celebrated throughout Latin America, including in Spain, some areas of the country with large Mexican-American populations, and in Mexico, where the Day of the Dead is celebrated.

The month of November is typically dedicated to “angelitos” (little angels), which are typically referred to as “angelitos” (little angels). Toys and balloons are adorn their graves.