China has taken the first formal step towards severing government ties with Australia after more than a year of incremental trade strikes, veiled threats from the Chinese embassy and escalating attacks by Chinese state media. Beijing sent a message to Australia on Thursday that all dialogue...

Mihrigul Tursun was one of more than 40 women in a 40-square metre underground cell. In Xinjiang, north-west China, they were chained at the wrists and ankles. It was their prison and their toilet. It had just one small hole in the ceiling for ventilation. The women, Tursun said, were...