777 jili games China has made diplomatic inroads in Latin America, where trade concerns have led some countries to end relations with Taiwan. The South American nation of Paraguay has expelled a Chinese diplomat on the grounds of alleged “interference in domestic affairs”. Paraguay’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the visa of Xu Wei, a Chinese envoy, had been cancelled. The country gave him 24 hours to leave, declaring him persona non grata. Xu allegedly told lawmakers that they must choose between relations with Taiwan and China after a surprise appearance at Paraguay’s Congress. He had been in the country to attend an annual conference for UNESCO, the United Nations body for international cooperation in culture, sciences and the arts. “This gentleman had a parallel agenda. He came to do internal politics that were not appropriate,” said Juan Baiardi, the deputy minister of administration and technical affairs for Paraguay’s Foreign Ministry. Paraguay is part of a dwindling number of countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the self-governing island of Taiwan. China, which claims the territory of Taiwan as its own , requires countries to choose between recognition of Taiwan and maintaining ties with its government in Beijing. Only 12 countries choose to recognise Taiwan — and Paraguay is the only one to do so in South America. On Wednesday, Xu skipped the UNESCO meeting and instead met with officials in Paraguay’s capital of Asuncion, where he called on lawmakers to ditch Taiwan and bolster ties with China. “It is either China or Taiwan,” he said. “I recommend that the government of Paraguay make a correct decision as soon as possible.” Xu added that relations with China would come with increased opportunities for trade, along with “thousands of other advantages”. Speaking to the press afterwards, Xu repeated his argument that forging diplomatic ties with China, instead of Taiwan, would pay economic dividends. “Currently, there is almost no direct trade or exports from Paraguay to China,” he said. “It’s a great shame. Paraguayans are giving away their profits to intermediaries. But with diplomatic relations with China, you can earn more.” As countries like Brazil and Argentina enjoy robust exports of products such as beef and soybeans to China, some members of Paraguay’s Congress have suggested that making the switch could be beneficial. In recent years, a number of Latin American countries — including Honduras , Panama, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador — have cut ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing, whose influence in the region has expanded alongside trade agreements that offer lucrative access to its huge markets. Xu urged Paraguay’s officials to likewise choose China over Taiwan, saying the matter cannot be negotiated. “It is not an option to choose both China and Taiwan. No, it’s ‘or’. Either China or Taiwan,” Xu said. “In my case, I recommend that the government of Paraguay make the right decision as soon as possible.” For its part, Taiwan has reacted angrily to Chinese efforts to roll back its diplomatic recognition abroad, and it responded forcefully to Xu’s petition in Paraguay. “He infiltrated Paraguay with an unknown purpose, to undermine the firm friendship between Paraguay and Taiwan,” the Taiwanese embassy in the country said in a social media post.Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info BBC radio personality John Spencer-Barnes raised eyebrows among his concerned fans after announcing he was going in for surgery, marking his second hospital visit in just a few months. The 63 year old revealed that he had been admitted to the hospital for an operation, just months after he was admitted to hospital with symptoms resembling a stroke. BBC Radio 5 Live host John shared the worrying news with his followers, who flooded him with supportive messages. Posting on X, he informed his fans of the news. "I had nothing better to do today so I decided to check into Burnley General Hospital for an operation," he wrote, alongside a picture from his hospital bed. He added: "I'll see you on the other side." While he hasn't yet disclosed what the procedure entailed, fans sent their well wishes for his recovery. One social media user offered: "If you want some grapes and a bottle of wine sneaked in I'm only 15 minutes away from Burnley. Hope all goes well." Another chimed in: "Thinking of you," while another added: "Wishing you a speedy recovery x," reports the Mirror . John later updated his supporters, letting them know his operation was complete and he was recuperating, sharing gratitude towards his medical team. He added: "Thank you to Burnley General Hospital for their amazing care over the last 24 hours even though they sent me to Whamageddon in recovery." In July, John shared another health update with his fans, revealing that he had previously suffered two strokes back in 2015. He posted: "I've been released from hospital following the manifestation of some stroke related symptoms. After having two strokes in 2015 it's something that I'm anxious to avoid again. The examination suggested there's no immediate concerns and I'm being referred for more tests this week." John was born in Dudley, West Midlands in 1961, and later moved to Wolverhampton for university. He began his career as a freelancer at BRMB in Birmingham, before joining the Beeb's WM Heartlands from 1989 to 1991. John then worked at Chiltern Radio Network before becoming the launch manager of Welsh station Radio Maldwyn. In 1994, he secured a News Editor role at Rock FM in Preston, Lancashire, where he coordinated the EMAP Radio response to the IRA bombing in Manchester. His emergency news service replaced Manchester's Key 103 and Piccadilly Magic off air. More recently, he has worked at various BBC regional stations, but decided to become a freelancer after lockdown made him "rethink" his priorities. He told RadioToday in 2021: "The BBC wanted me to stay but it was the right time for me to move on to the next stage. Right now, I'm renovating our 300 year old house with my husband Dave and will be taking on more work when that's done but right now I want to get back to doing a little bit of radio as it's always been in my blood. "After working from home for the last year I've grown a rather fashionable lockdown beard which hopefully shouldn't prove to be too much of an issue on the radio!"

HUNTINGTON, W.V. (AP) — Marshall has withdrawn from the Independence Bowl after a coaching change resulted in much of its roster jumping into the transfer portal. The Thundering Herd were slated to play Army on Dec. 28 in Shreveport, Louisiana. But the Independence Bowl and Louisiana Tech announced on Saturday that the Bulldogs will take on the 19th-ranked Black Knights instead. Marshall said it pulled out “after falling below the roster minimum that was deemed medically safe.” The Herd (10-3) beat Louisiana-Lafayette 31-3 last weekend to win the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the first time. The program has won seven games in a row in the same season for the first time since 2020. “We apologize for the nature and timing of this announcement and for the turmoil it has brought to bowl season preparations for Army, the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, the American Athletic Conference and ESPN,” Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill said in a statement. Coach Charles Huff left Marshall for Southern Miss last Sunday, and Tony Gibson, the defensive coordinator at North Carolina State, was announced as his replacement less than an hour later. By Thursday, at least 25 Marshall players had entered the transfer portal. Gibson held a meeting shortly after arriving on campus in Huntington to introduce himself to the team. He followed that up with phone calls, text messages and more meetings Friday and Saturday. “Any time coaches leave to take other jobs, it is emotional,” Gibson said at a news conference Thursday. “And kids that are 18-to-22 years old are going to make emotional decisions instead of just breathing for a day or two.” It's the first bowl for Louisiana Tech (5-7) since 2020. The Bulldogs have won two of their last three games, but they haven't played since a 33-0 victory over Kennesaw State on Nov. 30. “We are excited to accept the opportunity to play in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl against a fantastic and storied program as Army,” Louisiana Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey said in a release. “I believe our football program is moving toward positive structure and the opportunity to play in this bowl adds to that momentum. We are looking forward to being in Shreveport for this matchup.” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballA late-game rally derailed by a missed field goal and Cowboys stun Commanders 34-26

Polly Toynbee’s piece misses the central point about the housing crisis ( In Kent, Labour has a fight on its hands – and a make-or-break test for its housing revolution, 19 November ). It is a crisis of affordability, not supply, brought about by the over-financialisation of the stock through a decade and a half of interest rates close to zero. Prices rose from three or four times average earnings to more than nine times as investors shifted cash from deposits to bricks and mortar. No arbitrary housing targets will ever correct that because simple arithmetic is against it, never mind that developers won’t increase supply to the point where they have to drop prices. And the threat of rescinding unbuilt planning consents would see material starts, so that forfeiture would leave a mess for early buyers to live with, and someone else to sort out. Before automatic sacrifice of green space, shorter-term measures are needed, such as requiring holiday lets to have planning consent, to counter the commandeering of dwellings to turn into private profit streams – something that has decimated the rental market in some areas. Inherited property wealth, which has snowballed with market bloating and widened social division, should be a separate tax category. And, although higher council tax rates on non-principal residences have begun to bite, long‐term empty property should attract accelerated rates. New-builds, meanwhile – and Toynbee doesn’t mention this – should focus on social housing. John Worrall Cromer, Norfolk The irrefutable evidence of the past 30 or more years is that the price of a home goes up and up regardless of the amount supplied – the housing market that responds to supply by reducing prices is a myth. The MP Kevin McKenna is quoted as saying that developers “will only get permission to build if they raise the percentage of affordable housing and keep their community pledges”. The government may be able to extract such a pledge in exchange for granting permission, but no planning condition can prevent a developer from subsequently claiming looming impoverishment and applying for its social or affordable housing contribution to be reduced or removed altogether. This will continue to be the case until the government abolishes the viability test , which is the rotten core of the current system. The test virtually guarantees a 20% profit margin on every development, regardless of what is sacrificed in order to achieve it. In the meantime, unneeded executive homes will continue to be the majority of what’s built, despite being unaffordable, and the country’s shrinking carbon budget for getting to net zero by 2050 will continue to be frittered away to maintain the flow of money from developers to the main political parties. Ian Tysh Green party councillor with planning and environment portfolio at Wealden district council Reading Polly Toynbee’s article, I was struck by the delightful artist’s impression online of the proposed Highsted Park development in Swale, Kent. And not a car in sight! I do hope, if and when it is built, you find room for a photograph showing it again. This time, no doubt, complete with cars everywhere, including on the pavements. Sam Gibson Ravensthorpe, Northampton Hidden in the vast swaths of nimbyism are real concerns about the lack of infrastructure that is needed for new developments. Where I live, they plan to increase the village population by 20%. This is typical of hundreds of villages facing this sort of expansion, and yet nothing is being done to expand local sewage treatment, cycle lanes, doctor’s surgeries, schools, road junctions ... all of which are over capacity already. I would welcome new housing in our village if it meant that Southern Water would stop dumping raw sewage into Chichester harbour . Asking for local infrastructure to expand with the population is not nimbyism. Andrew Gould Bosham, West Sussex Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.

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