World News Hub

If Hongkongers’ support for Legco is waning, it isn’t just lawmakers’ fault

Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, Hong Kong’s first post-handover Legislative Council president, recently dropped a political bomb. She revealed that one of her friends had been telling her that a legislature with 90 seats costs a lot more than one with 60 and that “I kind of agree with that”. The basic maths behind the statement cannot be refuted: 60 is two-thirds of 90. Even though Fan didn’t bring up the t...

UC San Diego finds genetic switch that gave butterflies richer colour vision

Middle East crisis live: Houthis warn passengers against using Saudi airport after deadly attack on Riyadh

US president Donald Trump says he is weighing whether the US will join Saudi strikes against the Iran-backed HouthisSaturday’s attack was the third launched on the Saudi capital’s main airport this week- with the missile making it past Saudi air defences to strike terminals 3 and 4 of King Khalid airport where hundreds of passengers were awaiting domestic flights.The attack killed at least 12 peop...

This couple's $100 million gift made Yale School of Music tuition-free

A $100 million donation by Stephen and Denise Adams in 2005 made Yale School of Music tuition-free for admitted students. More than 20 years later, the school continues to offer full-tuition awards and fellowships. The couple, who initially donated anonymously, also supported improvements to the school's academic programmes and music facilities.

What the Iran war has done to the world’s energy supply, in charts

Fossil fuels produce 81 percent of global energy. We look at Middle East’s role and what happens when supplies are cut.

Man arrested after 23,000 bogus customer service scam calls in over a week

Hong Kong police have arrested a 24-year-old man over an alleged scam operation that made more than 23,000 fraudulent calls in over a week by impersonating e-commerce customer service representatives, with one victim losing more than HK$100,000 (US$12,741). The force said on Sunday that the man was suspected of operating a call centre for a syndicate that posed as online shopping platform staff an...

‘Under tremendous strain’: CIA analyst turned spy novelist on a fraying US-UK alliance

David McCloskey’s new book depicts a calamitous collapse of the ‘special relationship’ – could things get darker still?The “special relationship”, the time-honored emotional bond between the US and Britain that has sustained through war and peace, is in trouble.The ties of history, culture and language that have bridged an ocean and bound the two countries politically for generations are fraying a...

Can Saudi Arabia’s 2034 Fifa World Cup survive the Middle East’s escalating wars?

When 60,000 football fans gathered in Jeddah for the Arabian Gulf Cup on Tuesday, they inadvertently highlighted the vulnerability of major sports events hosted by Gulf monarchies to the wars raging across the region. The previous day, Saudi Arabia resumed strikes on Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels after a four-year ceasefire collapsed. That truce had originally followed a Houthi attack on an oi...

China’s rich coastal cities to see sea-level rise up to 20% higher than global average

International scientists warn that rising sea levels driven by melting Antarctic ice will be 15 to 20 per cent higher in cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai compared with the global average. They said gravitational shifts caused by shrinking Antarctic ice would redistribute water across the globe, causing higher ocean levels along China’s densely populated coastlines. “Even if we limit warming t...

Musk vows ‘affordable’ Starlink in India as he escalates feud with Ambani

Pledge comes days before Mukesh Ambani's low-cost Reliance Jio's parent launches India's largest-ever IPO.

AI and nuclear war threaten human extinction by 2100, report warns

Malicious use of AI and nuclear conflict pose the biggest threat to human extinction by the year 2100, global experts have warned.

Spanish PM Sanchez kicks off election campaign amid housing crisis protests

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez launched his campaign for a snap November election on Saturday. The vote comes as a deepening housing crisis is driving protests and putting pressure on his left-wing coalition.

Flash flooding triggered by landslide destroys homes in Nepal

Flash flooding has destroyed homes along a river in the central part of Nepal, with residents being evacuated by helicopter.

Flash flooding destroys homes in Nepal

Flash flooding has destroyed homes along a river in the central part of Nepal, with residents being evacuated by helicopter.

Missing Australian hiker Jordan Yap last seen on remote trail found dead in Peru

Family and friends say Melbourne man should be remembered for ‘immense joy he brought to so many people’s lives’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn Australian trekker who was last seen on a remote South American hiking trail has been found dead, his family have said.Jordan Yap, 30, last made contact with friends and family on 14 September ahead of a planned 10-day solo tr...

US bombs cargo vessel in Gulf of Oman ‘trying to run Iran blockade’

A US fighter jet bombed a commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, according to CENTCOM.

70-year-old woman swims 20 miles across Catalina Channel to support kidney charity

T’Emi Oshin: Wayne State’s first Obama-Chesky voyager scholar

In 1967, an Australian man built a house from discarded glass bottles; today, it is a mining museum

Built in 1967 by Tex Moeckel, the Bottle House in Lightning Ridge is constructed from discarded glass bottles. The structure has become a tourist attraction and a museum showcasing local opal-mining history and vintage bottles. Initially serving as part of a miner's camp, it reflects the area's long mining heritage. Visitors can explore various artefacts linked to opal mining and local history wit...

Nasa-backed spacecraft to inspect dead space objects, test future repair and debris removal tech

NASA has launched a washing-machine-sized spacecraft to inspect up to four inactive satellites and rocket bodies in low Earth orbit. The SSPICY mission, launched on October 1, will begin inspections in early 2027. Using autonomous navigation, sensors and electric propulsion, the spacecraft will test technologies that could eventually help repair satellites or remove orbital debris.

Four dead as Isaias continues to push across the Southeast US, bringing strong winds and heavy rain

Isaias made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane in the city of Destin in the Florida Panhandle on Friday evening. It has since weakened into a post-tropical cyclone.

‘Halloweenmas’: how the spooky one-nighter turned into a month-long spectacular

Welcome to Halloweenmas, weeks of themed fun and gifts – from costume parties to decorating trees – without the stress, rules or cost of ChristmasThe tree is up, the wreath is hanging on the front door and you’ve just opened your advent calendar. All told, it’s beginning to feel a lot like … Halloween.If it sounds like the stuff of nightmares then that’s the point: Britons are increasingly decorat...

‘It was a terrible thing’: Panama declares state of emergency as quake aftershocks rattle communities

More than 100 aftershocks as high as magnitude-5.8 recorded after two quakes toppled buildings and prompted evacuationsPanama’s government has declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook communities for hours.Officials did not attribute any deaths to Friday’s 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes, but reported damages in all 1...

A Trump impersonator and opera singers: CPAC was a spectacle, but the right still can’t agree how to take down Labor

Preferences proved the sticking point at the conference as conservatives face the prospect of a third successive election defeatGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcastMany mainstream Australians would feel as if they’d been dropped in a foreign country at the Conservative Political Action Conference, lost amid oblique references to transgender swimmers, blue hair, women’s bathr...

Flash flood sweeps away buildings in Nepal

Flash flooding in Nepal has swept away buildings along the Budhi Gandaki river on Sunday.