Reuters: World

How Evergrande’s downfall signaled China’s property crisis In the beginning, Hui Ka Yan followed a simple formula. Borrow to buy land. Sell homes on the site before they are built. Use the cash to pay lenders and finance the next real estate project. For two decades, starting in the mid-1990s, this approach was enormously lucrative as Chinese home prices soared. It transformed Hui, a former steel industry employee from a rural village, into China’s richest man. And it turned his company, China Evergrande Group(3333.HK), into a vast real-estate empire. But as Evergrande grew increasingly laden with debt, the company resorted to ever-more unorthodox strategies to generate funds. read more

New York says Trump should be found liable for fraud, even before a trial New York's attorney general on Wednesday asked a state judge to declare, even before the start of a trial, that Donald Trump committed fraud by submitting false statements to bankers and insurers and overstating his net worth by up to $2.23 billion. In filings with a state court in Manhattan, Attorney General Letitia James said evidence in her civil case showed "repeated and persistent fraudulent use" by Trump and his family business of false and misleading financial statements from 2011 to 2021. James said inflating values of more than a dozen assets by hundreds of millions of dollars established the defendants' liability for fraud under the state's Executive Law. read more

China says easing market access in response to 'uninvestible' comment from US China's embassy in Washington on Tuesday defended its business practices after U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said U.S. firms had told her that China had become "uninvestible." Asked to respond to the comments Raimondo made in China, embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said that most of the 70,000 U.S. firms doing business in China wanted to stay, that nearly 90% were profitable, and that Beijing was working to further ease market access for foreign companies. "China is actively advancing its high-level opening-up and making efforts to provide a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework," he said. "China will only open its doors even wider to the outside world." read more

France to ban Muslim abaya dress in state schools France will ban children from wearing the abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in state-run schools, its education minister said on Sunday ahead of the back-to-school season. France, which has enforced a strict ban on religious signs in state schools since 19th century laws removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, has struggled to update guidelines to deal with a growing Muslim minority. In 2004, it banned headscarves in schools and passed a ban on full face veils in public in 2010, angering some in its five million-strong Muslim community. read more

Gunman kills three, himself in racially motivated shooting, Jacksonville sheriff says A white man armed with a high-powered rifle and a handgun killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, before shooting himself, in what local law enforcement described as a racially motivated crime. "This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people," Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters told a press conference. The suspect, whom Waters described as a white male wearing a tactical vest, was not identified. Waters said all three victims - two men and a woman - were Black. read more

Second Russian plane reportedly linked to Prigozhin had no connection to Wagner group, operator says A second plane linked to Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin by some Russian media has no connection to the mercenary group and never has had, the CEO of the aircraft operator company told Reuters. Russia's aviation authority has said Prigozhin was on board a private Embraer jet which crashed on Wednesday evening northwest of Moscow with no survivors. An investigation has yet to definitively identify the 10 people on board but Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent condolences to their families. Russian media, mainly associated with the Wagner group's Telegram channel Grey Zone, had linked a second business jet with the tail number RA-02748 with the mercenary group, and had reported that it was also in the air at the time of the crash. read more

Zimbabwe braces for close election as early parliamentary results come in Early parliamentary results in Zimbabwe showed the ruling party and the main opposition neck and neck on Friday, after an election in which President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF party was widely expected to maintain its 43-year grip on power. Presidential results have yet to be announced after Wednesday's vote, which was extended into Thursday in some neighbourhoods due to late printing of ballot papers. Mnangagwa, 80, is seeking re-election at a time when the southern African country is grappling with soaring inflation and high unemployment, with many Zimbabweans reliant on dollar remittances from relatives abroad to make ends meet. read more

Pentagon: No info to support missile strike theory for Prigozhin crash The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, offered no evidence or further details on what U.S. officials believe caused the crash as he made his remarks at a Pentagon news conference. Reuters had reported earlier on Thursday that the United States was looking at a number of theories over what caused Prigozhin's plane to crash, and cited two U.S. officials saying a surface-to-air missile likely hit it. read more

Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane appeared fine on radar until last 30 seconds An Embraer (EMBR3.SA) Legacy 600 executive jet, believed to have carried Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to his death on Wednesday, showed no sign of problem until a precipitous drop in its final 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking data. Rosaviatsia, Russia's aviation agency said Prigozhin, who led an aborted mutiny in June, was one of 10 people on board the downed plane. It was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region, Russia's emergency situations ministry said. At 3:19 p.m. GMT, the aircraft made a “sudden downward vertical,” said Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24. Within about 30 seconds, the aircraft had plummeted more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet. “Whatever happened, happened quickly,” Petchenik said. read more

Putin foes who, like Prigozhin, have suffered mysterious fates Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was believed dead after a private jet on which he was listed as a passenger crashed north of Moscow with no survivors. Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a mutiny against Russia's top army brass on June 23-24, which President Vladimir Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war. Others who have opposed Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death. read more

India celebrates 'victory cry' as Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lands on the moon An Indian spacecraft landed on the rugged, unexplored south pole of the moon on Wednesday in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and India's standing as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed. "This moment is unforgettable. It is phenomenal. This is a victory cry of a new India," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who waved the Indian flag as he watched the landing from South Africa where he is attending a BRICS summit. Scientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed and people across India broke out in celebration, stting off firecrackers and dancing in the streets. read more

Thailand's jailed ex-PM Thaksin hospitalised after return from exile Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was moved to hospital overnight, officials said on Wednesday, over concern about his heart and high blood pressure on his first night in jail following his historic return from self-exile. The latest condition of 74-year-old Thaksin, the billionaire founder of the populist juggernaut Pheu Thai, was not clear on Wednesday and his representatives did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment. The Corrections Department said in a statement Thaksin had felt chest tightness and high blood pressure and he was referred to Bangkok's police hospital at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday. read more