Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
UK Ministry of Defence security patrols arrested two Latvian men near an RAF (Royal Air Force) base that houses US and Nato intelligence operations, police said on Thursday. The base, RAF Molesworth, 112km (70 miles) north of London, is operated by the US Air Force and includes intelligence staff from the US Africa Command and the Nato Intelligence Fusion Centre, which provides information to the ...
The US government is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and several large IT firms from a programme that allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency, senior US officials have announced, citing alleged fraud, and as part of an effort to push companies to hire more Americans. “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” US ...
British police on Thursday said that search warrants they secured to search properties linked to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had been issued unlawfully and must be quashed, but that the investigation into King Charles’ younger brother was ongoing. Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in February, linked to his relationship with the late US sex offender ...
Washington’s policy towards Taiwan is increasingly tied to its relationship with Beijing, according to former American officials who also warn that the war on Iran is weakening US military readiness for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait. During a fireside chat in an annual symposium hosted by the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington on Wednesday, Brent Christensen, former director of the ...
Washington’s policy towards Taiwan is increasingly tied to its relationship with Beijing, according to former US officials who also warn that the war in Iran is weakening US military readiness for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait. During a fireside chat in an annual symposium hosted by the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington on Wednesday, Brent Christensen, former director of the Taipei...
The United Kingdom is “open” to Germany joining an international coalition to build the next generation of fighter jets, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced. Speaking in Berlin on Thursday, during his first visit to the German capital since taking office, Burnham said he “indicated” to Chancellor Friedrich Merz Britain’s “openness” to the country joining the Global Combat Air Program...
A 15-year-old former pupil killed one employee and injured two others at a Polish primary school on Thursday wearing a helmet-mounted camera, the second school stabbing in two days, possibly in response to an internet challenge, authorities said. A 37-year-old woman who worked as a caretaker had died in the latest attack, which took place at around 9am local time in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast o...
Three of the six residential buildings at CK Asset’s “starter homes” project in Hong Kong will be demolished and rebuilt in what the developer called the most “time-saving” solution, two years after a scandal over substandard steel reinforcement work halted construction. The Buildings Department said on Thursday that it had approved demolition plans for three blocks at the Anderson Road developmen...
Three of the six residential buildings at CK Asset’s “starter homes” project in Hong Kong will be demolished and rebuilt in what the developer called the most “time-saving” solution, two years after a scandal over substandard steel reinforcement work halted construction. The Buildings Department confirmed on Thursday that it had approved demolition plans for three blocks at the Anderson Road devel...
South Korea flight-tested on Thursday its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon, designed to fly at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile defence systems, bringing Seoul closer to what it says could be game-changing weapons capabilities. There was no immediate response from North Korea, which last week tested its own hypersonic missile that landed in the waters near Japan....
A Philippine bill expanding the country’s espionage law to cover peacetime activities is raising concerns among journalists and legal experts, who warn that its broad provisions could stifle free expression and restrict public scrutiny of national issues. The House of Representatives approved the measure on September 17, paving the way for a broader definition of espionage than under the current l...
The Chinese navy says it had a rare South China Sea encounter involving a foreign warship that lost power, propulsion and radar while following a People’s Liberation Army destroyer, an account that resembles incidents this year involving US Navy destroyers in the region. The incident occurred when a foreign vessel conducted aggressive close shadowing of the PLA Navy Type 055 destroyer Zunyi during...
Two summits in five months between US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping have produced shared language but not an open Strait of Hormuz. After the May meeting in Beijing, there was little sign the two sides agreed on how to end the war. Xi’s visit to Washington yielded no breakthrough on Iran, though Xi backed a return to the interim US-Iran agreement. Last week, Trump rejected a truc...
Age calculation in China is probably one of the most confusing aspects of Chinese culture, even for Chinese people themselves, because two systems are used. One system is the international standard: a person’s age is calculated from their date of birth. The other, the traditional nominal-age system, or xu sui, adds a year at the start of each lunisolar year. Under the xu sui system, a person’s nom...
A Russian bomb attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed at least 33 people, authorities said on Thursday, describing it as a targeted strike on civilians in the key stronghold sought by Moscow. Another 18 people were wounded in one of the largest single attacks this year, which took place on a street where police said two city buses were operating at the time of the strike. Pr...
Japan and the United States will rehearse moving anti-ship missiles, air defences and communications networks onto islands near Taiwan this month in an expanded military exercise that analysts say could complicate Beijing’s planning for a Taiwan or East China Sea conflict. Keen Sword 27, which runs from October 19 to 29, will involve about 45,000 Japanese personnel, 6,100 vehicles, 40 ships and 26...
As Hong Kong and Singapore compete for leadership in businesses ranging from foreign exchange trading to wealth management, the battleground has extended to artificial intelligence, with both cities vying to attract investment from HSBC Holdings and other major corporations, according to industry players. The issue came into focus after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) questioned HSBC about...
China has nominated health official Song Li to run for director general of the World Health Organization, the foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday. If elected, Song would be the first person from mainland China to head the United Nations health agency. China previously backed Margaret Chan, a Hong Kong-born doctor and former director of health of Hong Kong, who served as WHO director general fro...
Hong Kong police have arrested two students suspected of being key members of a fraud and money-laundering syndicate behind fake job advertisements, dating scams and bogus concert ticket sales. The force said on Thursday that officers had arrested 10 people in an earlier operation targeting the syndicate, which had allegedly swindled victims out of more than HK$2.1 million (US$267,578). The suspec...
Two students are among the suspected core members of a fraud and money-laundering syndicate that have been arrested by Hong Kong police in connection with fake job advertisements, dating scams and bogus concert ticket sales. Police said on Thursday that they had arrested 10 people in an earlier operation targeting the syndicate, which allegedly swindled victims out of more than HK$2.1 million (US$...
A second visit by one of the top US naval officers to India this year has raised expectations that the two countries can insulate their growing military ties from trade tensions. US Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, who leads the US Pacific Command, is scheduled to leave India on Thursday after spending six days meeting with senior Indian defence officials and others. The talks, which follow Paparo’s visi...
The winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature is Canada’s Anne Carson, an essayist and classicist who brings a modern twist to mysticism and antiquity in her writings about love, desire and despair. The 76-year-old won “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature”, the Swedish Academy said on Thur...
The winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature is Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson, who combines the classical and the modern. The announcement was made in Sweden’s capital Stockholm on Thursday. Last year, the Swedish Academy picked Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai. The Literature Prize is the fourth award announced each year, following the Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Physics and Ch...
Hong Kong’s development chief has dismissed concerns that commercial floor space in the Northern Metropolis megaproject will further depress the city’s struggling office market, stressing that incoming supply is primarily for the innovation and technology (I&T) sector. Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho told the Legislative Council on Thursday that the 1 million square metres (10.8 m...
The Philippines is “resigned” to managing its long-standing dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea and avoiding dangerous escalations, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Thursday. At the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Singapore, Marcos said: “I don’t know if we can find a resolution to the problem, but we are resigned to just being able to manage the problem, so that we do not have mista...
Pupils barricaded a secondary school in northeastern Paris with rubbish bins on Thursday before police moved in with tear gas, as France’s nationwide protests showed few signs of ending. The Helene Boucher high school has been a flashpoint for clashes in the French capital and was one of hundreds of schools disrupted by protests on Thursday. Riot police gathered in side streets as pupils converged...
France’s education minister on Thursday promised 3,000 substitute teachers for the country’s worst-off high schools, after tens of thousands took to the streets nationwide to demand better education and less police brutality. Pupils have blocked entrances to hundreds of high schools for more than a week, with squads of riot police deployed – occasionally resulting in violent clashes. High school p...
French teenagers blockaded some high schools and marched through cities on Thursday as the government promised to address their grievances about teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings but gave few specific details. The protest movement, now into its third week, has exposed deep tensions in France between popular demands for investments in deteriorating public services and a cash-strapp...
French teenagers blockaded some high schools and marched through cities on Thursday after the government promised to address their grievances about teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings but gave no specific details. The protest movement, now into its third week, has exposed deep tensions in France between popular demands for investments in deteriorating public services and a cash-stra...
An aide to Russia’s president arrived in China on Thursday for a visit that will be closely watched for signs of preparation for a possible trilateral summit with the US during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting next month. Nikolai Patrushev, who is also chairman of Russia’s Maritime Board, was set to hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
