According to state media reports, Xi Jinping, the president of China, has made a remarkably rare trip to Tibet to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of Chinese rule in the region’s tumultuous Himalayan territory.
Xi was met by about 20 000 officials and locals from “all ethnic groups and all walks of life,” according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, who was based in Lhasa, Tibet’s regional capital.
Xi in Lhasa advocated the creation of a “modern socialist” Tibet that was “united, prosperous, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful,” according to Xinhua.
According to Xi, the need to “guid Tibetan Buddhism in adapting itself to socialist society” was underlined by the state broadcaster CCTV.
Tibet has traditionally been a part of its territory, according to China, but many Tibetans claim that they were essentially independent there for the most part during their own Buddhist theocracy.
A grand rally commemorating the 60th anniversary of the #Xizang Autonomous Region’s founding took place in Lhasa on Thursday morning. 26 marching contingents and floats marched in a large parade before moving on to festive music. The first image is… twitter.com/qi2yNt09Wv
Tibet was taken over by communist forces in 1951, and Mao Zedong’s one-party government established the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965.
Following years of political repression, a significant amount of Han Chinese population migration has taken place in the high-altitude region in recent years.
Journalists and foreigners are largely barred from Tibet.
China also insists that the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s highest-ranking spiritual leader, be reincarnated and lives in self-imposed exile in neighboring India after escaping Chinese rule in 1959.
Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, made a rare trip to India this week, where Beijing and New Delhi pledged to repair ties that had been harmed by a deadly border clash in 2020 that involved troops from both countries.
Tibet has a strategic relationship with India, but Beijing’s most recent megahydropower project in the Tibetan plateau has also stifled India downstream.
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Mike Henson
Rugby Union News Reporter for BBC Sport
England vs. the United States: Women’s Rugby World Cup
Stadium of Light, Sunderland Date: Friday, August 22 Kick-off: 19:30 BST
After representing the United States at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, Ilona Maher claims she is considering accepting a job offer in professional wrestling.
The 29-year-old social media sensation has nearly nine million followers on her Instagram, TikTok, and X channels. She has previously appeared on Dancing with the Stars and won the prestigious Espy award from US broadcaster ESPN.
She joked that her ring name would be “Maher-vellous” and claimed that she had been approached by the WWE before.
“I’m not sure if I want to wrestle,” he said. There is a lot of money in it, so I should think about it.
Maher claims that if she did, she would do so with the intention of becoming a Hollywood actress.
“I’d love to work in the scripted and acting industries. I’d love to see a progression involving Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and John Cena,” she continued.
“Seeing my body type on a screen would be exciting. Let’s avoid going too crazy; I’ll start small, probably like a hot assassin or something.
I won’t be appearing in a romantic comedy at the moment.
Since leaving WWE, Johnson has appeared in the Fast and Furious franchise and Disney’s blockbuster Moana, and Cena has made a cameo in the Barbie 2023 film.
Maher wouldn’t be the first sports star to make an appearance in the WWE.
Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, and Tyson Fury all made cameos, while Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey, two Olympic medal winners, continue to play key roles in the promotion.
Maher insists she is still a rugby player in her place despite her phenomenal success on social media and a number of exciting new ventures, despite being chosen outside center for Friday night’s World Cup opener against England in Sunderland.
She signed with Bristol Bears for Premiership Women’s Rugby on a three-month contract in January after earning a bronze medal with the US sevens team at Paris 2024 to help her get used to the 15-a-side game.
After the switch to Ashton Gate to accommodate more spectators, her team’s social media footprint increased significantly, and she received a new attendance record for the league of 9,240 in her debut game against Gloucester-Hartpury.
“I’m a rugby player first, but so many times people forget,” Maher continued.
I use social media because I have to because playing women’s rugby is not a viable sport, and I won’t be making money doing it.
When people forget that, it irritates me at times. Are you going to watch the Instagrammer play, one comment said?
I was like, “No, I won a bronze medal, I’ve attended two Olympics, I’m a good rugby player who enjoys the sport.”
Getty Images
On Friday, the US will face runaway world number one England and England, who are unbeaten in the tournament.
Maher believes that her and her team-mates can compete with the hosts because there is no expectation.
I’m entering it with the mindset that there is nothing to lose and that there is something to gain. Here’s a chance for us to have fun.
That is having something to lose, according to the Red Roses, who have not lost a game in over 1, 000 days. We don’t, in my opinion.
They’ll be very difficult opponents, they say. We would have to be on our A-game every single minute to defeat them.
“But all I’m up to is playing in front of 40 000 people. Regardless of whether we win or lose, I want to be able to say that I enjoyed it.
At the Royal Foundation Forum in February 2018 there were tensions hidden behind the scenes. Getty Images)
As the “Fab Four” made their first joint appearance together in February, all eyes were on them, but Meghan and Kate had already strained ties in the background.
00 on August 21, 2025
When Meghan Markle stepped onto the stage at the royal foundation forum alongside her future husband Prince Harry, Prince William and Princess Kate in February 2018, it seemed to mark an exciting new chapter for the Firm.
The “Fab Four” made their first joint appearance together since Harry and Meghan’s engagement announcement, according to enthusiastic fans who predicted a bright future for the monarchy.
However, tensions were roiling beneath the smiles.
Meghan Markle’s brutal silence questioned as Harry leaves secret letter at royal event
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It was Prince Harry who lifted the lid on behind-the-scenes difficulties, describing an “awkward moment” that he said highlighted a cultural clash between Meghan and Kate.
He stated, “Meg requested the use of Kate’s lip gloss. a custom made in America. Kate contacted Meg for assistance because she was concerned about missing some.
Kate unceremoniously slipped into her handbag and pulled out a small tube. Meghan applied some to her lips after pressing it on her finger. Kate grinned profusely. Possible a minor clash of styles? Something we ought to have gotten laughs at right away. But it left a little mark. “
(PA)
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However, it wasn’t by any means the only awkward moment that day, in the opinion of a royal author. Harry is said to have whispered a comment at one point to make an awkward impression of Meghan after she reportedly caused a hostile atmosphere with some of her remarks.
Tom Bower claimed that the Duke’s interjection during Meghan’s speech was much more significant than initially believed in his book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the Windsor Wars.
While the four all laughed at Prince Harry’s comment, the author believes it was the royal’s way of reminding his fiancée at the time not to get ahead of herself.
Meghan was elating how significant it was to work with empowered women until Harry intervened to remind her that a wedding was also in the works.
There is no better time to continue highlighting women’s empowerment and support than with campaigns like MeToo and TimesUp, she told the audience.
(PA)
&, quot, ‘We can multitask, ‘ Meghan replied to the unexpected interruption. " quot ,
“>
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However, as Bower noted, the Foundation’s royal patrons only have a small impact on its actual activities because they are their own.
The Foundation’s executives, an unimpressive group criticized for moving the royals ineffectively like chess pieces, “executed that power,” according to Bower.
Meghan’s arrival as a natural recruit for the Foundation’s philanthropic work disturbed the executives’ habits, while William, Kate, and Harry had grown used to their erratic behavior. Her feminism also upset their ingrained conservatism”.
She had not been invited to re-invent the customs of the Royal Family, he continued.
Harry snagged William’s rictus grin while Meghan was speaking, and Harry muttered, “Wedding first,” Harry muttered loudly.
(PA)
In an ITV interview with Tom Bradby in January 2023, Harry claimed Kate and William didn’t get on with Meghan "from the get-go". Asked why the relationship got off on a bad note, Harry said there were "lots of different reasons".
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She had been ensnared by her vision of a contemporary monarchy, Bower claimed. Instead of accepting the reality of standing on the edge, she imagined being in the center. William made an effort to bring the four back together as the discomfort became clear.
He remarked that the Four should “not reinvent the wheel,” but that The Crown should be “relevant to their generation” (he volunteered).
(AFP/ Getty Images)
5 out of 5
He went on: “I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get into a relationship with someone like Meghan, who had, you know, a very successful career. I was initially guilty of stereotyping a lot, and there was a lot of it.
Harry continues, “American actress,” despite what he meant when he said that. “That was playing out in the British press at the time as well. I had that in the back of my mind, and some of the things that my brother and sister-in-law – some of the way that they were acting or behaving definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really sort of, you know, introducing or welcoming her in”.
As Tareq Abu Youssef tries to work out in his gym on makeshift bodybuilding equipment in Al-Mawasi, Gaza Strip, sweat seeps down his face, each movement taking longer than it should.
The 23-year-old Palestinian deliberately keeps his training sessions minimal, a painful reduction from the intensive routines he once loved – but in a territory where nearly everyone is starving, maintaining muscle mass has become an act of survival and resistance.
Since March, Abu Youssef said, “I have dropped 14 kilograms, from 72 kg to 58 (159lb) since then,” referring to when Israel tightened its siege by imposing strict food restrictions and closing border crossings. Working out for bodybuilders like us is one of the few ways to maintain normalcy in Gaza, he says to Al Jazeera, “but if eating has become an abnormality.”
His story reflects a broader humanitarian catastrophe: Across Gaza’s 365 square kilometres, 2.1 million Palestinians face what aid agencies describe as deliberate, weaponised hunger.
Nearly everyone in northern Gaza is experiencing “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Doctors Without Borders, known by its moniker “MSF,” has documented severe acute malnutrition cases in the Strip, describing the situation as “man-made” and purposefully imposed. The World Food Programme warns that without immediate intervention, famine will spread across all of Gaza, while millions of tonnes of aid are parked at Israel-locked border crossings.
Distribution of food and other essential items remains nearly impossible despite Israeli’s stringently restricted crossings and ongoing military operations.
Abu Youssef feels the devastating muscle loss that accounts for the physical decline of an entire population as he takes extended rest breaks between machines, which are now five times longer than before the famine started in Gaza.
“Starvation has completely affected my ability to practice my favourite sport of bodybuilding”, Abu Youssef says in a tent gym in al-Mawasi, located in Gaza’s overcrowded southern “safe zone”. “I now go for one day, sometimes two, once a week to train.” It lasted five to six days prior to the war. I’ve also reduced my training time to less than half an hour, which is less than half the required time”.
Abu Youssef now only manages 40 kg (90lb), which is devastating for any athlete given that such physical decline is becoming the norm across an entire society. He once benchpressed 90-100 kg (200-220lb).
[Mohamed Solaimane/Al Jazeera] Tareq Abu Yousef works out in the tent gym, but he struggles to lift less than half the weight he did before the man-made famine in Gaza.
A gym among the refugees
The temporary housing facility inside a tent in al-Mawasi, where about one million Palestinians who have fled from their homes are living in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. Coach Adly al-Assar has used equipment from his destroyed gym in Khan Younis to construct an unlikely sanctuary amid sprawling refugee camps.
Al-Assar, a 55-year-old international powerlifting champion who won six gold medals at Arab championships in 2020-2021, managed to rescue just 10 pieces of equipment from the more than 30 destroyed when Israeli forces bombed his original facility. The tent gym, which is spread out over two uneven levels of ground, surrounded by refugee tents and sparse trees, is only 60 square meters (650 square feet).
According to al-Assar, “everything changed” during this imposed famine, with his own body weight dropping from 78 kg to 67 kg. “Athletes lost 10-15 kilograms and lost their ability to lift weights. My shoulder muscle was 40 centimeters old, but it’s now less than 35, and all other muscles have lost the same amount.
His gym used to house over 200 athletes of all ages every day before the current crisis. Now, barely 10 percent can manage to train, and only once or twice weekly.
Ali al-Azraq, 20, who had fled central Gaza during the early days of the war, is one of those regular visitors to his dorm. His weight dropped from 79 kg to 68 kg, almost entirely muscle-loss. His bench press capacity dropped from 100kg to just 30kg, back lifts from 150kg to 60kg, and shoulder work from 45kg to barely 15kg.
According to al-Azraq, “the majority of the loss occurred during the current starvation period, which started months ago and increased in the last month.” I actually only rarely consume a small serving of bread, rice, or pasta to keep me alive. But we completely lack all essential nutrients and important proteins – meat, chicken, healthy oils, eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and others”.
Before moving to the United States, the unemployed young man hoped to compete in official Palestinian arm-wrestling competitions. He instead states that the current starvation is “the hardest thing we’re experiencing as Gazans,” but athletes like us are particularly impacted because we need a lot of specific, not typical food.
Coach Adly al-Assar, a former international powerlifting champion, has created a fitness sanctuary by constructing the tent gym in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza]Mohamed Solaimane/Al Jazeera]
Trauma-based training
The tent gym, however, is more than just physical training for these athletes; it is psychological survival. Khaled Al-Bahabsa, 29, who returned to training two months ago after being injured in Israeli shelling on April 19, still carries shrapnel in his chest and body.
Sports provide psychological and physical support. Even though we were alive, we were closer to the dead, according to al-Bahabsa. “But when I returned to practice my]gym] training, I felt closer to the living than the dead, and the nightmares of genocide and hunger retreated a little”.
He was taken aback when the tents and trees surrounded the gym. I believed I had a passion for the war that made me give up. Bodybuilding isn’t just a sport – for me and many of its players, enthusiasts, and lovers – it’s life”.
More than 62, 000 people have died in the past 22 months of relentless bombardment by the Israeli military, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health, destroyed significant portions of the besieged territory, and forced the vast majority of its population to flee. In a world where food is almost indisputable, those who are still alive try to survive in dire humanitarian conditions.
Al-Assar has adapted his training methods for famine conditions, strictly instructing athletes to minimise workouts and avoid overexertion. Instead of the customary 30 seconds and one minute between sets, rest periods now extend to five minutes. No more than half of the weightlifting during pre-famine training sessions is allowed during 30-minute sessions.
“The recommendations are strict to shorten training duration and increase rest periods”, al-Assar warns. If the circumstances continue in this manner, training may stop completely. “We’re living a deadly starvation crisis.
Al-Assar, to the right, limits the bodybuilders’ workouts to 30 minutes due to fatigue, cramping, and a persistent lack of food for post-workout recovery. [Mohamed Solaimane/Al Jazeera.
On a daily basis, athletes experience complications including collapse, fainting, and inability to move, the coach told Al Jazeera. We are truly starving and without food. No animal protein, healthy oils, or other essential nutrients are present in our diets. We get a tiny amount that wouldn’t satisfy a three-year-old of plant protein from lentils, while other foods are completely absent”.
However, the bodybuilders continue to exercise.
Athletes continued to show up even when Israeli air attacks targeted the gym just yards away. “I’m hungry all the time and calculate my one training day per week – how will I manage my food afterward”? According to Abu Youssef, a street vendor who once aspired to compete in a bodybuilding competition held in Gaza two weeks after the start of the conflict in October 2023.
Youssef, who had a competitive dream and was in full training for the championship, was ruined by the war’s “turning of the world upside down.” Now, the few loaves of bread he manages to buy from his weekly earnings barely fill him up.
He claims that despite that, I persevered and trained to regain my abilities, even though they were slow and limited, but the famine prevents all of these attempts.
Simply visiting the training facility, for al-Bahabsa, who has fled Rafah with his family, offers hope for general recovery rather than just physical fitness.
“We aspire to live like the rest of the world’s peoples. We oppose the Israeli occupation and the war, which kills and starves us, and we oppose both. He asserted that it is our right to exercise, compete in international competitions, advance to higher levels, and represent Palestine.
The tent gym, despite its limitations, serves as what al-Assar calls a challenge to “the reality of genocide, destruction, and displacement”.
He asserts that “the concept here goes beyond just training.” We’re looking for a secure, tranquil life that we can lead. Gaza and its people will continue their lives no matter the genocide against them. One aspect of life is sports.
Ali al-Azraq, who was forced out of central Gaza in the beginning of the war, continues to exercise at the tent gym in al-Mawasi whenever possible. [Mohamed Solaimane/Al Jazeera]
Financial disclosures provide a window into the management of the billionaire’s wealth while he is in office, showing that US President Donald Trump has purchased more than $100 million in company and municipal bonds since his return to the White House.
Nearly 700 financial purchases were made by Trump from his January 21 inauguration to August 1, according to documents released by the US Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday.
The purchases include those made by financial tycoons like Meta, UnitedHealth, T-Mobile, and The Home Depot as well as those made by financial tycoons Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup.
Trump’s investments span hospitals, schools, airports, ports, and gas projects, with representation from dozens of US states, including Texas, Florida, and New York.
The documents do not provide the value of each transaction, only broad ranges, such as $100, 001- $250, 000 and $1, 000, 001- $5, 000, 000.
During the time period, Trump did not disclose any sales.
Bonds are a type of fixed-income investment that are exchanged for a specific interest rate by a government agency or business.
According to administration officials, who cited administration officials as saying that Trump and his family weren’t directly involved in the transactions, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US presidents are required to disclose a thorough analysis of their finances under legislation passed in 1978 following the Watergate scandal, but they are not required to sell any assets that might lead to conflicts of interest.
Prior to Trump, all US presidents who served in office had established a blind trust or pledged to only invest in diversified mutual funds.
Trump controversially abandoned that custom and instead gave control of his business to a trust that his children run.
Concerns about how Trump’s governance and his personal fortune intersect have been a source of controversy for years among government ethics experts.
If the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates as he has demanded, Richard Painter, former president of the White House ethics lawyer, noted that Trump’s bond holdings could increase in value.
Bond prices rise when interest rates drop, according to Painter, according to the Al Jazeera report. No wonder he wants to see a rate cut from the Fed!
