Terry Gou is a Taiwanese iPhone billionaire with aspirations of becoming the country's president

Terry Gou, a 72-year-old millionaire and the creator of Foxconn, which is responsible for manufacturing iPhones, is the newest candidate to enter the contest for the presidency of Taiwan.

Mr. Gou is a magnetic entrepreneur who rose from humble beginnings to amass a fortune, a large amount of cash, and significant name recognition. According to observers in Taipei, Mr. Gou would have a decent chance of winning the election if he was the only candidate running against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is currently in power. However, he is not.

Instead, the opposition vote in the presidential election that will take place in January 2024 will be split three ways due to his candidacy.

When there are already two opposition candidates fighting to overthrow the incumbent party in a presidential system that awards all of the seats to the winner, adding a third candidate to the mix is probably not going to make the process any simpler.

The situation is a textbook illustration of the "law of holes," which states that if you find yourself in a hole from which it is difficult to escape, the first step you should take is to cease digging. It would appear like Taiwan's opposition is digging its own electoral grave at this point.

On Monday, Mr. Guo made his candidacy for an election that will have significant repercussions well beyond the borders of Taiwan public, and this is exactly what happened. An election for a new president will take place on the self-governing island in the midst of escalating threats from Beijing and an increasingly militarized region.

Mr. Gou, much like another charismatic billionaire on the other side of the Pacific, initially tried to have himself nominated as a candidate for Taiwan's most prominent center-right party, the old nationalist KMT (Kuomintang). In contrast to his success in the United States, he was unsuccessful.

As a result of the KMT's selection of another candidate, Mr. Gou resigned from the party. However, Mr. Gou's predicament is not only dependent on the KMT.

The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) is another opposition party in Taiwan, and Ko Wen-je, another popular populist, serves as the party's leader. Mr. Ko served as the mayor of Taipei city in the past, and he is now in second place in the polls. The younger generation of Taiwanese voters is very favorable to him.

It's not just his money and successful business career that make Mr. Gou such an attractive prospect. It is based on his job experience both in China and with the country.

Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai industries, is the largest electronics manufacturer in the world since it was the first company to pioneer the idea of merging the engineering know-how of Taiwan with the trained labor of China. Mr. Gou established massive industrial campuses in the south of China in the 1980s and 1990s, and he hired tens of thousands of young Chinese people to work there.

Because the strategy was so effective, he was finally able to convince Apple to contract out a significant portion of the production of MacBooks and iPhones to Foxconn. Because of this, Foxconn became the most successful company in Taiwan, and Mr. Gou became one of the wealthiest businesspeople in the country.

Now, Mr. Gou thinks that he can use the experience he gained investing and working in China to safeguard Taiwan's safety. Terry Gou has stated that one of his goals is to keep Taiwan from "becoming another Ukraine." In his announcement that he was running for office, he stated that he would lead Taiwan "back from the abyss of war with China."

He is not the only one who views the danger posed by China as becoming more severe as time goes on. Over the course of the past year, Beijing has significantly ramped up its military actions in the region surrounding the island.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) published a professionally produced propaganda video the previous week, in which it showed Chinese troops engaging in what appeared to be training for an invasion of the beaches of Taiwan.

Protests break out in Libya as a result of the country's ties with Israel

After her meeting with her Israeli counterpart in an unofficial capacity, the Prime Minister of Libya has decided to suspend his Foreign Minister.

Protests have broken out in the predominantly Arab state of Libya as a result of a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials. Libya is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.

The Foreign Minister of Israel According to Eli Cohen, the meeting that he had with Najla al-Mangoush was a historic first step in the process of establishing connections.

Israel is making efforts to forge deeper ties with Arab and Muslim-majority countries, despite the fact that these nations do not formally recognize it.

However, Libya's Presidential Council, which is made up of representatives from all three of the country's provinces, stated that normalizing relations with Israel was against the law.

Ms. Mangoush has been charged of high treason by the Speaker's Office in parliament, and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has forwarded the matter to the appropriate authorities for inquiry.

Given that Israel was not known to be wooing Libya, a staunch foe and defender of the Palestinian struggle, especially under the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the disclosure by Israel that conversations had taken place was surprising given that it was not known to be courting Libya. During his reign, numerous synagogues were burned down and thousands of Jewish people were driven from the country of Libya.

The statement was particularly remarkable in the amount of detail it provided, which may have been done with the intention of offsetting any anticipated denial from the Libyan side. Additionally, the statement identified and acknowledged Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani for hosting the conference in Rome.

An unnamed Israeli official stated to the Reuters news agency on Monday that the meeting took place "at the highest levels" in Libya and that it lasted for more than an hour. This information was provided on Monday.

Mr. Cohen stated in his statement that he had seen Ms. Mangoush the previous week in Rome on the sidelines of a meeting, and that during their conversation they had discussed "the great potential for the relations" between Israel and Libya. The statement was released on Sunday.

According to him, they discussed the necessity of preserving Jewish legacy in Libya, including the renovation of synagogues and cemeteries, as well as Israeli assistance in the management of humanitarian concerns, agriculture, and water management.

However, according to Libya's foreign ministry, Ms. Mangoush turned down the opportunity to meet with Israeli personnel, and what actually occurred was "an unprepared, casual encounter during a meeting at Italy's foreign affairs ministry."

The ministry "renews its complete and absolute rejection of normalization" with Israel, according to a statement that also noted the encounter did not include "any discussions, agreements, or consultations."

Following the news of the meeting, demonstrations took place in several places, including the nation's capital of Tripoli. Although it appears that very few people participated in the demonstrations overall, roads were shut down, tires were set on fire, and demonstrators waved the Palestinian flag.

There has been unrest in Libya for many years, and the country is currently divided between the interim government that is internationally recognized and is based in Tripoli and a rival government that is based in the east.

In the event that a settlement between Israel and Libya were to be negotiated, it would be difficult due to the political divide that has remained between the two countries ever since Gaddafi was deposed 12 years ago.

In the city of Tobruk, located on the eastern coast of Libya, an alternative government is led by General Khalifa Haftar of the Libyan National Army (LNA).

In recent years, Israel has made efforts to establish diplomatic connections with nations in the Arab League with whom it does not already have formal relations. These countries range from moderate states to countries that have been Israel's adversaries in the past.

Since the year 2020, it has negotiated agreements known as the Abraham Accords, which have normalized its relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. These agreements were brokered by the United States. The Palestinians are outraged by the accords and have accused the Arab signatories of being traitors. The agreements have been met with indignation by the Palestinians.

On Sunday evening, the Presidential Council of Libya sent a message to the administration asking for "clarification" about what had taken place. The duties of the head of state, as well as those of the commander in chief of the armed forces, are delegated to the Presidential Council.

It was said in a letter that came from the organization that the meeting between the two foreign ministers "does not reflect the foreign policy of the Libyan state, does not represent the Libyan national constants and is considered a violation of Libyan laws which criminalise normalisation with the 'Zionist entity.'"

Additionally, it requested that Mr. Dbeibah "apply the law in the event that the meeting took place."

Yevgeny Prigozhin: Wagner defied Putin and now its leader may be dead

When Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner troops launched their insurrection two months ago, Vladimir Putin made his feelings more than clear. He called it "treachery" and a "stab in the back" of Russia. He promised that the perpetrators would be punished.

So there was incredulity in Russia when they were not. When a deal was cut between Mr Prigozhin and the Kremlin to end the mutiny; when all the charges against the Wagner founder and his fighters were dropped, despite the fact that Russian servicemen had been killed during the murky but brief insurrection.

It made President Putin look weak.

Commenting on the agreed compromise (ending the mutiny in exchange for immunity from prosecution) one Russian newspaper commented: "This kind of compromise is normally made with political opponents. Never with criminals and terrorists. Does that mean we should view Mr Prigozhin now as a political figure?"

Suddenly things look rather different.

Exactly two months on, Mr Prigozhin is presumed dead after his private jet crashed and exploded in a field. Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin was on the same jet.

The Russian elite will shed few tears over Mr Prigozhin's reported demise. That goes for Russia's military leadership, whom Mr Prigozhin had publicly and vocally condemned and whom he demanded be sacked. The Wagner boss claimed that the so-called "March of Justice" (his euphemism for the insurrection) had not targeted the Kremlin but had instead been directed at Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.

In reality, the Wagner mutiny had been a direct challenge to President Putin's authority and a humiliating 24 hours for the Kremlin. Mr Putin himself pointed out that the Russian state had been financing Wagner. Money had clearly not bought loyalty.

If this was an act of revenge by those in power, that sends two clear messages to Mr Prigozhin's loyalists and to anyone else in Russia who may have been contemplating armed resistance:

Don't try

Look what happens to those who do.

That means that President Putin could emerge from these dramatic events stronger domestically.

But what if Mr Prigozhin becomes a martyr? What if those who had pledged loyalty to him - and who are well-trained fighters - call for their own acts of revenge?

Grey Zone, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner, blamed Mr Prigozhin's reported death on "Russian traitors".

It did not clarify who it believed those traitors were and what Wagner's response would be.

If this crash was foul play, that will come as little surprise to many in Russia. Ever since the mutiny there has been feverish speculation about Mr Prigozhin's fate, about whether his actions really would be forgiven.

He must have known that. Yet, in recent weeks, as he jetted around on his private plane he clearly did not view air travel as a danger. Perhaps he believed that he was too powerful, too crucial a figure in today's Russia to be taken out?

R Praggnanandhaa, a chess prodigy from India, will compete against Magnus Carlsen in the final of the World Cup

Chess enthusiasts in India are overjoyed that their country's R Praggnanandhaa will compete against Magnus Carlsen, the world's top-ranked player, in the championship match of the World Cup.

The 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa had advanced to the championship match by winning a tie-breaker against the third-ranked player in the world, Fabiano Caruana, on Monday.

After defeating Nijat Abasov over the course of the weekend, Carlsen was able to advance to the championship round.

Carlsen, who is 32 years old, will be participating in the World Cup final for the very first time. The World Cup is run by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

The championship match is scheduled to get underway on Tuesday in Baku, which is the capital city of Azerbaijan.

The beginning of this month marked Praggnanandhaa's 18th birthday, making him the youngest player to ever compete in a World Cup final.

The young man has also achieved the distinction of being the third-youngest individual in the world to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. This competition will be held the following year in order to select who would be the next contender for the title of world champion. Carlsen and Bobby Fischer, a chess genius from the United States, both qualified to compete in the tournament when they were 16 years old.

Praggnanandhaa, more commonly referred to by his nickname Pragg, is regarded as one of India's most talented chess players.

The young Indian player who stunned a reigning world champion.

When he became the youngest International Master in the game's history, he had just turned 10 years old. He holds the record for this accomplishment. After another year had passed, in 2018, he attained the level of chess grandmastery that made him the world's second-youngest player at the time.

The previous year, he triumphed over Carlsen at the Airthings Masters, an online quick competition, and in doing so, he became only the third Indian player ever to achieve this feat against the Norwegian grandmaster.

In addition to this, he is the first Indian player to reach the final of the FIDE World Cup since the legendary chess player Vishwanathan Anand.

On Tuesday, Anand was the first person to post a celebratory message on X following Praggnanandhaa's triumph. In his post, he said, "What a performance!"

Former world champions Susan Polgar and Garry Kasparov both took to social media to offer their congratulations to the young player.

After his victory on Monday, Praggnanandhaa commented that he hadn't anticipated facing Carlsen in the competition since "the only way I could play him was in the final, and I didn't expect to be in the final." This was his explanation for why he hadn't anticipated facing Carlsen in the tournament.

"I will just try my best and see how it goes," he stated. "I will just try to give my best."

Japan is planning to release cleaned water within the next 48 hours in response to the nuclear tragedy at Fukushima

In spite of protests from its neighbors, Japan is going ahead with plans to begin releasing radioactive water that has been treated from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear facility into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday.

The decision was reached some weeks after the nuclear inspector of the UN gave its approval to the scheme.

Since the facility was wrecked by the tsunami in 2011, around 1.34 million metric tons of water have accumulated. This amount of water is sufficient to fill 500 pools of Olympic size.

Following filtration and diluting, the water will be made available to the public after a period of thirty years.

After a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that the authorities will make a request for the plant's operator to "promptly prepare" for the disposal to begin on August 24 if the weather and sea conditions are suitable.

After Mr. Kishida's visit to the plant on Sunday, rumors began to circulate that the release was about to take place.

The plant is located on the east coast of the country, roughly 220 kilometers (137 miles) north-east of the capital city of Tokyo. According to the government, releasing the water is a vital step in the lengthy and expensive process of decommissioning the plant, which is located on the east coast.

Since more than a decade ago, Japan has been collecting and storing the contaminated water in tanks, but there is a limited amount of room in the tanks.

In 2011, a tsunami that was brought on by an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale flooded three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Since the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, this event is considered to be the worst nuclear tragedy in the world.

Soon after that, the authorities established an exclusion zone, which continued to be increased as radiation spilled from the facility. As a result, almost 150,000 people were had to evacuate the region.

Concern and rage have been expressed regarding the Fukushima nuclear waste plan.
Since the plan to release water from the plant was approved by the Japanese government two years ago, it has created worry across Asia and the Pacific.

In July, it was given the go light by the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, which came to the conclusion that the effects on both people and the environment would be insignificant.

However, a large number of people, notably fisherman in the area, are concerned that dumping the treated water will have a negative impact on their means of subsistence.

In addition, on Tuesday, a large group of demonstrators gathered in front of the official residence of the prime minister in Tokyo. They demanded that the government put a halt to the release.

Operators of the plant Even though Tepco has been filtering the water to remove more than 60 radioactive compounds, the water will not be completely free of radiation since it will still contain radioactive isotopes of hydrogen and carbon that cannot be easily removed from water. These are radioactive isotopes of tritium and carbon-14.

However, because to the extremely low levels of radiation that they release, specialists agree that they pose no threat to human health unless they are taken in very large quantities.

According to Professor Jim Smith, who teaches environmental science at the University of Portsmouth, "as long as the discharge is carried out as planned, radiation doses to people will be vanishingly small - more than a thousand times less than doses we all get from natural radiation every year." This statement was made by Professor Jim Smith.

The tainted water is also being released into a large body of water, namely the Pacific Ocean, which is another concern brought up by the experts.

According to Professor Gerry Thomas, who teaches molecular pathology at Imperial College London, "Anything released from the site will therefore be massively diluted" because of the surrounding environment.

Presented for your consideration: the frantic struggle to avert 2011's catastrophe

The city of Tokyo has stated in the past that the water that is going to be released into the Pacific Ocean, which has been mixed with saltwater, contains levels of tritium and carbon 14 that are acceptable for human consumption.

It is common practice for nuclear power stations all around the world to discharge waste water that contains levels of tritium that are higher than those found in the water that was treated at Fukushima.

However, the idea has been met with outrage from the countries that are nearby, with China being the country that has voiced its opposition the most. It made the accusation that Japan was using the water as its "private sewer."

On Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, repeated Beijing's protest to the proposal and said that China would take "necessary measures to safeguard the marine environment, food safety, and public health."

According to Mr. Wang, Japan is "putting its own self-interest over the long-term well-being of all humankind" by allowing waste water to be released into the environment.

Hong Kong announced that it would "immediately activate" import restrictions on a number of food products manufactured in Japan.

Fish imports from the Fukushima region have already been prohibited in South Korea and China respectively.

However, the government of South Korea has given its approval to the scheme and has accused the demonstrators of engaging in scaremongering.

Greece's wildfires have resulted in the discovery of eighteen dead in the country's forests

According to the Greek fire department, a total of eighteen remains have been discovered in a forested region of northern Greece that has been ravaged by wildfires for the previous four days.

According to the first reports, it appears as though those who passed away were migrants. A medical examiner and a team of investigators are currently en route to the scene in the Dadia woodland.

Several flames have wreaked havoc on the Evros region of north-eastern Greece, which is not too far from the border with Turkey.

An evacuation was necessary at a hospital located in the city of Alexandroupolis.

Patients in intensive care units and those who had just given birth were among those transferred overnight to a vessel at the port.

An earlier fatality, which was also suspected to have been that of a migrant, had been recorded in a village adjacent to the seaside city, and emergency officials had sent mobile text messages to the neighboring districts requesting people to evacuate the area.

It is believed that fires have been swiftly spreading in the Dadia national park since Monday. The park is a big forested area that is located to the north of Alexandroupolis.

According to the reports, the fire department discovered the 18 bodies on Tuesday outside a hut outside of the village of Avantas while inspecting the charred remnants of a house.

Given that there had been no reports of missing citizens, the spokesman for the fire department, Yiannis Artopios, stated that an investigation was being conducted to determine whether or not it was possible that the victims had entered Greece illegally.

According to unconfirmed accounts, the remains were found grouped together in two different locations, and there was concern that the total number of fatalities could rise. The fire department reported that investigations were still taking place throughout the region where the fire had spread.

The region around the Evros River has emerged as one of the most popular entry points into the European Union for refugees and migrants from Syria and other parts of Asia who are traveling from Turkey. It's common knowledge that migrants use the Dadia woodland as a passageway to get to their destination.

Yiannis Artopios emphasized that messages of urgent importance had been transmitted to all mobile phones in the region, even those connected to international networks.

Fires are raging in other parts of Greece, fueled by strong winds and temperatures that were forecasted to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.

The fire department has requested that tens of thousands of residents in the Ano Liosia neighborhood in northwestern Athens evacuate certain areas of the neighborhood.

When a fire broke out close to a monastery on the slopes of Mount Parnitha a few kilometers to the north, it was alleged that hundreds of nuns were trapped within the building.

In addition, some settlements on the island of Evia and in the region of Boeotia in the center of Greece have been evacuated.

In the early hours of Tuesday, a blazing red glow could be seen on the outskirts of Alexandroupolis, while satellite photographs showed that numerous regions of Greece were enveloped in dense smoke.

During the night, residents of eight neighboring villages were given the order to evacuate their houses and make their way to the city for safety. Later on Tuesday, as the vegetation near the coast continued to burn, a steady stream of cars could be observed travelling in that direction.

During the process that was taking place to evacuate the location on the north-eastern outskirts of Alexandroupolis, flames could be seen invading the grounds of the university hospital. Officials in Greece gave the order to remove approximately 115 patients, which resulted in a fleet of ambulances and buses being dispatched.

The Adamantios Korais is a ferry that has been requisitioned to look after intensive care patients and new-born babies. Some of the patients were relocated to other hospitals in the city, while as many as 90 were taken to the ferry.

Rhodope, which is located dozens of kilometers to the north-west of the city, as well as Kavala, which is located farther west along the coast, have also been experiencing fires.

A number of warehouses in an industrial district in Aspropyrgos became engulfed in flames, and the air near the Attica Highway became thick with pungent smoke. This occurred to the west of the capital city.

According to statements made by two Albanian workers to the BBC, the blaze could have been extinguished successfully if helicopters had arrived when they did.

On Tuesday at lunchtime, a second major fire broke out on the other side of the highway near the community of Fyli. This one was on the opposite side of the road. After another half an hour, people received a message on their mobile phones from the emergency number 112 instructing them to leave the area.

A few kilometers outside of Fyli, to the north-west of Athens, the fire also extended near to the historic Kleiston monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.

According to officials from the fire department, the monastery is home to fifty nuns, and a crisis response team has been dispatched to guide them to safety.

According to the climate monitoring organization of the European Union, Copernicus, Greece is one of several European countries that are now facing an extremely high danger of wildfires.

In the meantime, the weather service Météo-France reported that the nation of France saw its warmest day ever on the Monday after the mid-August holiday.

The record is for Monday's daily average temperature of 26.63 degrees Celsius, which was measured in 30 meteorological stations around France. Temperatures on Monday reached a high of 42.4 degrees Celsius in the Drôme region of south-eastern France, but the record is for that day's overall average temperature across France.

Because of the unusually high temperatures in Switzerland, the "zero-degree isotherm," which is the height at which the temperature drops below the freezing point, has been pushed to a new record altitude. According to MeteoSwiss, the new limit of 5,298 meters (17,381 feet) has been established.

According to the Swiss met office, the point is gradually climbing higher, mostly due to the fact that global warming is being caused by humans.

According to what it states, the rate of increase in the height of the zero-degree isotherm has been speeding up since the 1970s, particularly in the spring and summer.

Tottenham has accepted an offer to sign Davinson Sanchez from Spartak Moscow, but the defender is reluctant to move

Spartak Moscow has made a bid for Davinson Sanchez worth £12.9 million, which Tottenham has agreed to accept. However, the defender does not want to go for the Russian club.

Since his transfer from Ajax to Spurs in 2017 for a fee of £42 million, the Colombian central defender has played in 205 games for Spurs.

The 27-year-old player is now participating in Tottenham's pre-season tour of Asia and the Pacific.

There have also been rumors that Sanchez is interested in playing for Galatasaray, who reportedly made an offer to sign him in June.

In the 2017–18 Premier League season, Sanchez played a total of 18 games for Tottenham, who ended in ninth place.

When he was introduced to the game against Bournemouth in April as a replacement, Spurs fans jeered him, and they continued to do so when he was removed off the field after only 23 minutes.

In light of Russia's continuing invasion of Ukraine, the Premier League is unable to prevent clubs from conducting business with any Russian side, but it is common knowledge that the league will severely discourage clubs from conducting business with clubs from Russia itself.

Any club that wants to conduct business with a Russian side needs to be certain that neither the Russian side nor the club's source of money has been the target of any sanctions. It is a violation of the law to accept money from any person on the sanctioned list.

In March 2022, not long after the invasion began, the Premier League made the decision to terminate its broadcasting agreement with Russia.

In addition to the Russian national team being barred from competing in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, all of Russia's domestic teams have been disqualified from participating in any UEFA events.