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Peng Shuai – the Chinese tennis star in eye of storm after #MeToo claims

AFP

Concerns over the safety of Peng Shuai have prompted the Women’s Tennis Association to suspend all tournaments in China, after she made sexual assault allegations against a former top politician in Beijing.

The Chinese tennis star alleged on November 2 on the Twitter-like Weibo that she had been “forced” into sex by former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli, with whom she said that she had a long-term on-off relationship. The post was swiftly deleted and Peng was not seen publicly for nearly three weeks.

The 35-year-old reappeared as a guest at a youth tennis tournament in Beijing and then held a video call with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee. 

Concerns about her wellbeing have persisted, however, and the WTA’s Steve Simon said Wednesday he could not “in good conscience” hold events in China.

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So who is Peng Shuai?

– Doubles number one –

Peng is one of China’s biggest sports stars, winning the women’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2013 alongside Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei for her first Grand Slam title. 

A second followed at the French Open in 2014 — again with her long-time friend Hsieh — and Peng spent 20 weeks that year ranked number one in doubles. 

She also enjoyed her best Grand Slam singles run in 2014, reaching the semi-finals of the US Open.

She has won 23 WTA doubles and two singles titles, earning prize money of nearly $10 million. 

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Peng is currently ranked 191st in the world in doubles and has not been seen on the WTA Tour since the Qatar Open in February 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic shut down global tennis for almost five months.

– Six-month ban –

Peng was in August 2018 banned from tennis for six months and fined $10,000 for attempting to force Hsieh to withdraw as her doubles partner for Wimbledon 2017 after the sign-in deadline. 

“Although the offer was refused and Peng Shuai did not subsequently compete at The Championships, it constituted a breach of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program,” the Tennis Integrity Unit said, accusing Peng of using “coercion” and “the possibility of financial reward” to Hsieh to withdraw. 

– Heart defect –

Peng was born in January 1986 in Xiangtan, in the central province of Hunan, to a father who was a policeman. The city also happens to be the hometown of the founder of communist China, Mao Zedong.

She grew up in “an ordinary family” according to local media and was introduced to tennis at the age of eight by her uncle, a former tennis coach. 

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Peng’s fledgling career was nearly cut short when doctors said she would need an operation to treat a heart defect at 12. 

She insisted that the operation go ahead despite her family’s concerns about undergoing the procedure at such a young age, because she “loved tennis too much”, she once said.

She travelled alone to the United States at 15 to further her training — armed only with an electronic dictionary.

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International

India asks to identify Pakistani citizens in the country to ensure their departure before Sunday

The Indian government asked regional executives on Friday to identify all Pakistani citizens in their territories to ensure that they leave India once the deadline granted by the authorities to leave expires on April 27.

This measure was transmitted today to the heads of government of the different Indian states by the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, according to official sources cited by several media in the country.

Pakistani citizens must leave the country before April 27, following the order issued yesterday by the Indian Government, in which it indicated that all visas issued to nationals of the neighboring country will be revoked from that moment on.

He only made an exception with medical visa holders, to whom he granted until April 29 to leave India.

The order has increased transit at the only land crossing between India and Pakistan, known as the Attari-Wagah border, to where Pakistani citizens have traveled today to leave the country.

The suspension of visas is part of a series of measures ordered last Wednesday by New Delhi, in response to the terrorist attack perpetrated the day earlier in Indian-run Kashmir, in which 26 people died.

The Indian government said it had indications that the attackers had the support of Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of sponsoring the insurgency in Kashmir, which has caused a serious diplomatic crisis between the two nations.

In response to India’s measures, Pakistan suspended some visas for Indians and closed its side of the border – in reciprocity with New Delhi. It also closed its airspace to Indian airlines and announced the suspension of all bilateral agreements with India.

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International

At least nine injured, including two children, in new US bombings in Yemen

At least nine people, including two children, were injured this Wednesday in a new wave of bombings carried out by the United States against at least four cities in Yemen under the control of the Houthi rebels, reported media affiliated with the Iranian-backed Shiite movement.

Al Masirah, spokesman for the Houthis, reported that at least “seven women and two children were injured in the US attack” in the Al Thawra district of Sana, the capital of Yemen controlled by the insurgents since 2014.

According to the chain, the bombings also targeted “the surroundings of the city of Saada”, north of the capital; the northern town of Hazm, in the governorship of Al Jawf; and a district of the city of Al Bayda, in the center of the country.

At least two missiles hit the capital’s neighborhood of Al Jeraf, on the road that leads to Saná airport, according to EFE.

Large columns of smoke and a large fire could be observed from different points of the city, while ambulance teams and firefighters went to the scene of the attack, which according to witnesses was aimed at a deposit.

Al Masirah added that one of the attacks hit “a celebration hall under construction in a residential neighborhood in the Al Thawra district” and, in Al Jawf, destroyed a farm and killed several head of cattle.

This new wave of bombings came minutes after US President Donald Trump warned that Iran must completely and immediately cease its support for the Houthis, not just reduce it, and threatened the latter that they will be “completely annihilated” if the attacks against Israel and the Red Sea do not cease.

The Republican leader estimated on his social network, Truth Social, that “tremendous damage” has already been inflicted on the Houthis and stressed that “the situation will progressively worsen.”

At the weekend, the United States began a series of airstrikes against different cities controlled by the Houthis in northern and central Yemen, as well as in the capital, Saná, bombings that resulted in more than fifty deaths.

 

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International

China celebrates the call between Trump and Putin and affirms that dialogue is the “only way out” of the war in Ukraine

China said on Thursday that the dialogue is “the only way out” to the war in Ukraine and held the talks held on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to start “negotiations immediately” to end the conflict.

“Russia and the United States are influential powers and we welcome them strengthening the dialogue. Regarding Ukraine, dialogue is the only way out of the crisis. From the beginning, Chinese President Xi Jinping has advocated for peace talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press conference.

The spokesman added that China “will continue to make efforts” for peace and that it will play “a constructive role” to end the European conflict.

He also reiterated that China supports “any effort that leads to peace” and emphasized that the Asian country hopes to “maintain communication with all parties” for this purpose.

The possibility of Russia and Ukraine starting peace negotiations for the first time in almost three years of war multiplies after that call between Trump and Putin, to which we must add the one made by the American with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

This Friday, the US Vice President, J.D. Vance, will meet on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, which will be attended by China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, China has maintained an ambiguous position from which it has called for respect for “the territorial integrity of all countries”, including Ukraine, and attention to the “legitimate concerns of all countries”, in reference to Russia.

Beijing has opposed “unilateral” sanctions against Moscow and advocated for “a de-escalation and a political solution”. However, the West has accused China of supporting the Russian military campaign, something it has always denied, and of supplying Putin with key components he needs to produce weapons.

In addition, European countries have repeatedly asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to use his influence on Putin to end the conflict, but the Asian country has given priority to strengthening its relations with Russia, a country from which it imports oil and gas at a lower cost.

China has limited itself to presenting peace initiatives that have had a lukewarm reception in the West, such as the plan it presented last year together with Brazil that did not include the withdrawal of Russian troops and that was rejected by Kiev.

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