French lawmakers on Wednesday adopted ⁠a bill that will create a legal right to assisted dying for adults with incurable illnesses, capping an intense ethical and political debate. The legislation will, under strict conditions, allow a person who requests it to receive a lethal substance. The substance could be self-administered or, if the person is physically unable to do so, administered by ‌a doctor or nurse. Access to assisted dying will be restricted to adults who are French citizens or...

The European Union has accused China – along with Russia – of trying to “reshape the global order in line with their interests” and “fostering a return to a sphere-of-influence logic”, in an explosive new position paper that contains some of the bloc’s strongest ever official criticism of Beijing. The paper, which was adopted by the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Monday without any announcement, accuses Beijing of being both a “key enabler” and “crucial enabler” of Russia’s war on Ukraine,...

China’s global image has rebounded from its pandemic-era lows, with international views of both the country and President Xi Jinping improving as confidence in the United States has declined, according to a new Pew Research Centre survey. The survey, released on Wednesday, polled more than 45,000 people across 37 countries spanning every region of the world, including many advanced economies and emerging markets, such as Argentina, Australia, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Turkey...

A man who threatened on social media in May to shoot Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage was arrested, London police said on Wednesday, as concerns grow over the security of politicians following the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former member of parliament. The man was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a member of parliament, the Metropolitan Police said. “I am going to shoot you in the head if you win,” he allegedly told Farage on social media, according...

While a score of seven points out of a maximum of 42 in Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams might seem low to some, for non-verbal student Tam Chun-yu it is a massive accomplishment, achieved by typing his answers with just one finger. At the Hong Kong Red Cross John F. Kennedy Centre, Tam, 20, was among candidates receiving their DSE results on Wednesday, securing level 2 passes in English, Chinese and information and communication technology (ICT), and a level 3 in Chinese...

Police in Vietnam said on Wednesday they had arrested three executives of a publishing house that released a book on Ho Chi Minh, the revered founder of the country’s Communist Party. The author of Stories with Thanh - A New Account of Light, former telecoms executive Nguyen Thanh Nam, was arrested on anti-state charges in early July, along with an influencer who promoted the book on his social media channels. The book, which has been recalled by its publisher under pressure from authorities,...

Five months and at least two ceasefires into the US-Israeli war on Iran, hostilities have intensified again, with US President Donald Trump reimposing a naval blockade on Iranian ports and American forces trading fresh strikes with Tehran. The renewed cycle is testing both Tehran’s resilience and Washington’s appetite for a prolonged conflict, prompting some analysts to draw uncomfortable parallels with the political tolls that past US presidents faced in drawn-out wars such as in Vietnam and...