Britain’s Newcastle University faced criticism on Thursday for awarding a sustainability professorship to Anant Ambani, the son of Asia’s richest man and owner of a scandal-hit giant wildlife centre in India. Vantara, which calls itself the world’s largest rescue centre, last month announced a major reset of its procedures following concerns about its rapid and vast acquisition of animals from around the world, including endangered species. Newcastle University said on September 14, it awarded...

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump addressed top American business executives and officials in the White House’s East Room on Thursday evening, ahead of a state dinner. The dinner capped a tightly scheduled day for the two leaders, who delivered speeches in the morning hailing close ties and urging deeper cooperation. During the day, Xi and Trump held their second face-to-face meeting this year – which Trump called a “great meeting” – touching on issues including Taiwan, the Middle East...

Introducing legislation to protect minors by regulating social media use is among the options on the table, Hong Kong’s justice minister has said, after the latest policy address unveiled plans to create a task force to review the situation. Speaking to the South China Morning Post and other media outlets on Wednesday, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok dismissed concerns that such measures could infringe on individual rights and freedoms, emphasising that the goal was to protect children...

As Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet at the White House for a state dinner on Thursday, culinary diplomacy is on the menu for guests who include business leaders and government officials. “The menu showcases American ingredients with subtle Chinese influence, bringing the culinary traditions of both nations together,” the office of American first lady Melania Trump said. Xi is dressed in a black Zhongshan suit – colloquially known as a “Mao suit” – while Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan is wearing...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has put North Korea in a propaganda bind, analysts say, by publicly revealing that Kyiv recently transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. The disclosure – made during Zelensky’s address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday – directly challenges Pyongyang’s narrative that its soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces choose death over surrendering. North Korea is unlikely to acknowledge the transfer publicly, but may strengthen...

Film star Susan Sarandon and Hacks actress Hannah Einbinder were among a reported 100 people detained by police in New York on Thursday as they broke up a protest against the Israeli prime minister. Agence France-Presse footage showed NYPD (New York Police Department) officers leading away handcuffed Thelma & Louise star Sarandon at the demonstration in the city as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was readying to address the United Nations General Assembly. The New York Post reported...

Amnesty International called for the abolition of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is tasked with leading Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown, in a report released on Thursday. The report, titled “We Had Whistles, They Had Guns”, documents widespread human rights violations during ICE’s large-scale operations, the rights watchdog said. The release comes less than a week after a Venezuelan migrant, Wilber Garces Perez, was shot and wounded by an ICE agent in Austin, Texas,...