World

In 1933 a mysterious fossil skull was discovered near Harbin City in the Heilongjiang province of north-eastern China. Despite being nearly perfectly preserved – with square eye sockets, thick brow ridges and large teeth – nobody could work out exactly what it was. The skull is much bigger than that of Homo sapiens and other human species – and its brain size is similar to that of our own species. Historical events left it without a secure place of origin or date, until today.

Now a team of Chinese, Australian and British researchers has finally solved the puzzle – the skull represents a previously unknown extinct human species. The research, published as three studies in the journal Innovation, suggests this is our closest relative in the human family tree.

President Jair Bolsonaro brushed off controversy Tuesday over allegations his government censored questions on Brazil's high school exit exam, saying he was proud the test was now starting to "resemble this administration."

The far-right president has long criticized what he sees as left-wing bias in the National Secondary Education Examination, or ENEM, the standardized test Brazilian students take at the end of high school that plays a key part in gaining admission to university.

Video of Chinese health workers killing a pet dog with a crowbar after its owners were sent into Covid quarantine has sparked outrage, with social media users voicing concern about the extremes local authorities will go to enforce Beijing's zero-case strategy.

The owners had been ordered to isolate themselves in a hotel after a Covid case was discovered in their apartment compound in Shangrao, Jiangxi province -- a typically uncompromising response by authorities desperate to eliminate outbreaks.

British singer Sting is back at the age of 70 with a hopeful new album, though he admits he sees a lot to worry him in the world right now.

"I think we're in a very dangerous political climate at the moment where the working class have felt abandoned by what they call the elite," he told AFP on a recent trip to Paris.

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's graft trial resumed Tuesday, with his ex-spin doctor due on the witness stand, but the defense has asked the highly anticipated testimony be delayed.

Netanyahu, now opposition leader in parliament after he was ousted by a broad coalition of rivals in June, arrived at the Jerusalem court house without the large security contingent and crowds of rival protesters that were on hand when he appeared as premier.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Joe Biden held a virtual summit Tuesday, aiming to stabilise ties as tensions soar over Taiwan, human rights, and political and economic competition.

After exchanging cordial greetings, leaders of the two rival superpowers had what Beijing described as a "frank, constructive" discussion that lasted over three hours with the wider aim of avoiding conflict between the world's top two economies.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Monday he was "outraged" by a Russian space missile test that sparked a debris cloud and forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to take evasive action.

"With its long and storied history in human spaceflight, it is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only the American and international partner astronauts on the ISS, but also their own cosmonauts" as well as taikonauts aboard the Chinese space station, Nelson said in a statement.