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In a Moscow museum that once housed evidence of Stalin-era repression, serene family scenes flickered on a screen as a narrator hailed the tranquillity of pre-World War II life in the Soviet Union. The museum – set up to commemorate the “genocide of the Soviet people” – has elbowed out the award-winning Gulag History Museum, a harrowing collection that had for years cast a light on the killings an...
The annual Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival in late October will extend its opening hours until 1am on two nights and feature 10 per cent more booths, with the Tourism Board rolling out a gourmet month throughout November to boost visitor spending and encourage longer stays. Organised by the board under the theme “Taste the World’s Best”, the festival will be held from October 29 to November 1 at ...
Hong Kong education authorities have revealed that at least 60 per cent of suspected student suicide cases in the last three academic years involved children aged 15 or below, urging schools to avoid giving excessive homework so pupils can lead a balanced lifestyle. The Education Bureau also told lawmakers on Wednesday that school principals had directly referred 547 students at high risk of suici...
The Philippine Coast Guard will receive three longer-range aircraft from the US, two of them modified for improved surveillance, giving Manila greater reach and endurance to monitor Chinese coastguard, naval and research vessels across the South China Sea. Under a US$39.6 million contract awarded by the United States Navy on September 28, the three second-hand, extended-range King Air 350-series a...
The recent arrests of 11 suspected terrorists by authorities in Indonesia underline how terrorism remains a persistent security challenge, with analysts warning that militant networks are communicating online through smaller and decentralised cells despite stronger enforcement. The Indonesian National Police’s counterterrorism force, Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88), said on Sunday that 11 suspec...
Advanced-stage cancer patients could spend half as long in hospital and avoid more than a third of unplanned admissions if a symptom-tracking mobile app is added to their routine care, according to new research from the University of Hong Kong. The SUPPORT+ mobile app, developed by HKU’s clinical oncology department, provides symptom-management information and a direct line of communication with h...
A Chinese father-and-son duo established a home laboratory to create miniature models of China’s significant national strategic hardware, captivating many online with their skill and passion. Duan Yanjuan, a 13-year-old second-year junior secondary school student in Shanghai, has already replicated turbojet engines, pulse detonation engines, and an electromagnetic aircraft launch system, with assi...
Hong Kong’s economy continued to expand in the third quarter of this year, driven by strong exports and tourism, the finance chief has said, while warning of risks including the Middle East war and global inflation. Addressing lawmakers during a debate on the city’s first five-year plan and annual policy blueprint on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also reiterated that he was confid...
Hong Kong’s economy continued to expand in the third quarter of this year, driven by strong exports and tourism, the city’s finance chief has said, while warning of risks including the war in the Middle East and inflation. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also reiterated his confidence that the economy would grow by between 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent this year. He was speaking during a Legis...
Despite the recent surge in French borrowing costs that pushed the country’s 10-year bond yield spread with Germany to a level unseen since the euro zone crisis, analysts are urging calm, saying France is not facing a debt crisis but cautioning that future uncertainties remain. “The short answer is no, this is not a debt crisis,” said Stephane Colliac, senior economist at BNP Paribas. France’s eff...
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for solving the mystery of why only one version of some molecules’ mirror-image forms appears in nature, a discovery decisive for the development of pharmaceuticals. The pair were honoured “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis”, the jury said. Like hands, all ami...
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. “So this year’s prize is about foundational chemistry. Many molecules occur in two different versions. Like my hands. They are one another’s mirror image, they look alike, but they are not identical. I cannot put my hands ...
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. “So this year’s prize is about foundational chemistry. Many molecules occur in two different versions. Like my hands. They are one another’s mirror image, they look alike, but they are not identical. I cannot put my hands ...
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. The award, announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, is the third of six Nobel awards to be handed out this year. Earlier this week, German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, together with Am...
A former Buddhist monk in Thailand was convicted on Wednesday of misusing donations to a highly praised hospice he established for people with HIV/Aids and given the maximum term of 50 years in prison. Alongkot Poonmook, formerly known as Phra Ratcha Wisutthiprachanat, was forced to leave the monkhood after he was arrested last year along with an associate, Seksan Sapsubbsakul, who served as a fun...
Nasa has released a striking image of dawn on the Martian surface taken by its Curiosity rover, showing sunlight bathing jagged crags formed billions of years ago as the car-sized vehicle continues to explore Earth’s planetary neighbour. Curiosity landed in 2012 in Gale Crater near the Martian equator, and since 2014 has been climbing Mount Sharp, a 5km-tall (3-mile-tall) mountain rising from the...
Higher interest rates have weighed on property markets in both Hong Kong and New York, but Morgan Stanley sees greater upside potential in the Asian financial hub – particularly the office segment – in the months ahead, according to its latest report. The US investment bank highlighted the similarities between two of the world’s leading financial centres, pointing out that Hong Kong’s monetary pol...
China and the US – Iran’s key partner and its chief adversary – found firmer common ground on Tehran at the Washington summit last month, and further head-of-state diplomacy could work in Iran’s favour, according to analysts. Iran was on the agenda when the presidents of the United States and China met in Beijing in May and again in Washington in September. There was no direct reference to Tehran ...
Standing alongside prominent technology executives, US President Donald Trump announced a voluntary agreement under which major artificial intelligence (AI) companies will use internal controls and monitoring, outside audits and board oversight to manage risks. The White House calls the commitments “morally binding”, but the accord does not create a comparable system of legal enforcement. The admi...
It’s perhaps the most dramatic wound inflicted on the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military campaign over the past three years: the city of Rafah, once home to a quarter million people, has been erased. Satellite imagery shows the Israeli military has systematically razed the southern city and other towns and districts to the ground and in some places ploughed away the rubble. Demolition, using bulldoze...
In the industrial heartland of Normandy, more than 100km (62 miles) away from Paris, lies the small town of Cleon. Home to fewer than 5,000 residents and a Renault factory, the town and its environs are a near-perfect reflection of the current state of France’s rust belt, where economic activity and jobs are dwindling – the factory’s workforce has shrunk from almost 5,000 to 3,124 in 10 years. Yet...
Travellers heading to and from the revamped Huanggang Port must use authorised public transport services only, including pre-booked licensed taxi fleets, as other ride-hailing services would not be available inside the boundary control area, according to the Hong Kong government. At a press conference on Wednesday, transport officials also urged travellers not to rush to use the new port in the in...
We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Chinese researchers say missile lidar model can spot US F-35 at up to 61.5km A computer simulation developed by Chinese researchers suggests that a missile-borne system with the latest light detection and rangin...
A 47-year-old man will be charged on Thursday over a series of perfume thefts at Changi Airport, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Wednesday. The thefts date back to November last year and involved almost S$1,410 (US$1,102) worth of perfume, the police said in a news release. SPF said it was alerted to the first theft on November 5, 2025, after a retail assistant discovered that a box of pe...
Malaysia’s Melaka will hold a state election on November 14 as the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition nears a pact with Islamist rivals, leaving Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s alliance facing another difficult contest after a string of recent defeats. The filing of nominations will begin on October 31 and early voting on November 10, Election Commission chairman Ramlan Harun said on Wednesda...
Singapore occupies a “peculiarly sensitive existential point” as it seeks to retain strategic options amid a great power rivalry, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said, doubling down on the city state’s stance of refusing to take sides. He also warned that the global landscape would remain unsettled if China and the United States failed to address their respective domestic issues. Speaking...
Singapore occupies a “peculiarly sensitive existential point” as it seeks to retain strategic options amid a great power rivalry, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said, doubling down on the city state’s stance of refusing to take sides. He also warned that the global landscape would remain unsettled if China and the United States failed to address their respective domestic issues. Speaking...
Singapore occupies a “peculiarly sensitive existential point” as it seeks to retain strategic options amid a great power rivalry, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said, doubling down on the city state’s stance of refusing to take sides. He also warned that the global landscape would remain unsettled if China and the United States failed to address their respective domestic issues. Speaking...
At least 24 people were killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday, including four young children who died when a missile slammed into a residential block in the north of the country as they slept. Windows shattered in the powerful blast in Pryluky, in the Chernihiv region, reducing one half of the five-storey building into a smoking pile of charred concrete and twisted metal. President...
At least 11 people were killed in Russian strikes on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, including five when a missile destroyed a residential block in the north of the country. Emergency services picked through the rubble of the destroyed five-storey building in Pryluky, in the Chernigiv region, with fears that the death toll could rise. “There may still be people unde...
