New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled plans on Wednesday to offer those sleeping rough a way off the streets by Christmas and vowed to donate part of his wages to help curb homelessness. “No one should have to bed down in a doorway or outside a station,” Burnham said in a statement announcing
France saw more than 7,300 excess deaths during heatwaves so far this year, health authorities said on Wednesday, as the country also endured a record number of hot days since mid-June, according to an Agence France-Presse analysis. France has been hit by three summer heatwaves in quick succession:
North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, sister of leader Kim Jong-un, on Wednesday denied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claim that Pyongyang planned to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally. Kim Yo-jong, a top official in North Korea’s ruling party, said in a statement publis
US pharmaceutical firms Merck and Moderna announced on Wednesday encouraging results from a trial of their experimental vaccine against melanoma, potentially clearing the way for approval. The vaccine, called intismeran autogene, showed “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvemen
An obstetrician to the stars has been cleared of professional misconduct by Hong Kong’s medical watchdog over allegations she failed to properly record why she administered a labour-inducing drug to a patient who said the procedure left her traumatised. Dr Liang Shuk-tak, who reportedly had delivere
A helicopter carrying six tourists and a pilot crashed on Wednesday in Kenya’s Samburu county, north of the capital, Nairobi, killing all those on board, authorities said. The accident happened at 9.13am local time, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), after the aircraft departed
Bangladesh’s request for additional diesel from India has turned a growing power crisis into a potential opening for the two neighbours to repair ties strained in part by the continuous self-exile of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi and Dhaka’s repeated requests for her extradition. Indi
Patriot Critical Minerals of the US plans to dig into a long-abandoned mining site in the sparsely populated state of Nevada to extract tungsten, an important raw material with industrial uses ranging from aerospace gear to common cutting tools. The company, with only that single asset, is applying
Large language models are expert in intelligence work, able to quickly mine key data and analyse weapons performance – tasks that once took analysts huge amounts of time and effort. But engineers at China’s AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Research and Design Institute, developer of the People’s Liberation Arm
Beijing has banned Chinese entities from assisting with a European Union investigation into e-commerce giant JD.com under the bloc’s foreign subsidies regulation (FSR). A statement from China’s Ministry of Justice on Wednesday condemned the probe as “undue extraterritorial jurisdiction measures”, or
Hong Kong’s stock exchange reported record profits on Wednesday, thanks to a surge in demand for initial public offerings by tech and artificial intelligence companies, the bourse operator said on Wednesday. The results come as Hong Kong’s IPO market saw a surge in listings from the arti
A 48-year-old man has been sentenced to 22 years in jail after he repeatedly raped his daughter over a period of 10 years, starting when the victim was only 14. Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court Eric Kwok jailed the man, identified as Y.S., on Tuesday, The Witness reported. K
A Hong Kong court has dismissed a father’s “inappropriate” application for a writ of habeas corpus for his infant son Danny, who was born unassisted at home and has been kept in government custody. When granted, a writ of habeas corpus – meaning “to have the body” – would for
The owner of a large dog suspected of mauling two smaller dogs to death in Yuen Long has been arrested. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said in a statement on Tuesday night that it had arrested the owner of the dog earlier that day and collected a statement regarding th
A Hong Kong court has ordered the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily to pay HK$1.5 million in damages to a couple that sued the outlet for defamation over articles published in 2019. The defamation suit was lodged by listed company China Innovation Investment Limited, its chairperson Xi
Authorities are aiming to revamp a heat stress warning system by the end of the month after it was deemed inadequate by former Observatory chiefs amid a historic heatwave. Labour and welfare chief Chris Sun said on Tuesday that the government would look into whether the warning system could be bette
Hongkong Post has announced it will stop offering permanent civil service contracts to new staff in a bid to cut costs, as its chief has projected a continued decline in mail traffic. The embattled postal service will instead offer two-year contracts to new staff, including mail carriers and postal
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has said it may prosecute the owner of a large dog suspected of mauling two smaller pet dogs to death in separate incidents. The Hong Kong Police Force received reports from two pet owners on Monday afternoon about the incidents in Yuen L
Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji was mourned on Tuesday with lowered flags and social media commemorations, ahead of a funeral for the reforming trailblazer who died last week at 97. Known for his decisive restructuring of the Chinese economy during a five-year premiership starting in 1998, Zhu has
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has fenced off a “Democracy Wall” bulletin board that has been left largely empty for years as it converts it into a digital display. The wall, located outside the main library, was boarded up on Friday, media outlets reported. A notice was placed on the