At least 600 employees of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are receiving permanent termination notices in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from lay-offs but not others. The notices went out this week and many people have not yet received them, according to the American Federation of Government Employees ...

A team of Hong Kong footballers and coaches, who have struggled with gambling and drug abuse, are aiming to overcome their pasts by competing in the 20th Homeless World Cup in Norway this week. The players, led by captain Habib Akeel Amjid, flew to Oslo on Thursday to represent Hong Kong at the tournament, where they will compete against 39 other mens teams ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that Gaza City be captured more quickly than previously planned. The timeline for conquering the last terrorist strongholds and defeating Hamas should be shortened, Netanyahus office said on Wednesday without giving details. Army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin announced that Israeli forces had ...

Russia said on Wednesday it had to be part of any discussion on security guarantees for Ukraine and downplayed the likelihood of an imminent summit with President Volodymyr Zelensky, tempering hopes for a quick peace deal. Nato military chiefs, meanwhile, held a virtual summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, the latest in a flurry of global diplomacy ...

As tensions intensify across the Taiwan Strait, Beijing has ramped up its firepower capacity to prepare for a possible war in the region. One of the weapon systems key to these efforts is the PHL-16, a truck-mounted self-propelled multiple rocket launcher (MRL) that incorporates modular design and long-range precision-strike capabilities. The system is ...

The Silk Road once connected China and the Arab world, stretching from Cordoba to Canton. The network not only fostered trade, but also cultural and intellectual exchange. Today, as humanity stands on the brink of a new age of exploration, this time of the cosmos, the stage is set to revive this historic partnership. For Arab countries, especially the Gulf ...

Hundreds of fans turned out to support a member of Irish rap group Kneecap on Wednesday at a London court as he sought to throw out a terrorism charge for allegedly displaying a flag in support of the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who was initially charged under the Anglicised name Liam OHanna and whose stage name is Mo Chara, ...

Hong Kong has recorded its first case of Japanese encephalitis in six years after a 49-year-old woman was diagnosed with the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease upon returning from the Philippines. The Centre for Health Protection said on Wednesday that the imported case involved a foreign woman who was in a stable condition. She had travelled to the ...

Polands defence minister said a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland early on Wednesday was identified as a Russian drone, calling it a provocation by Russia. At a news conference in Warsaw, Deputy Prime Minister Wadysaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as defence minister, accused Russia of provoking Nato during a ...

Scientists for the first time have spotted the insides of a dying star as it exploded, offering a rare peek into stellar evolution. Stars can live for millions to trillions of years until they run out of fuel. The most massive ones go out with a bang in an explosion called a supernova. Using telescopes that peer deep into space, researchers have observed ...

The widow of a lift repairman who died last year after working for 59 hours straight is planning to take legal action against her late husbands employer, as an advocacy group raised concerns about the citys lack of laws protecting against overwork. The widow, who only wished to be identified as Mrs Chan, said on Wednesday that her late husband, Chan Ka-yee, ...

Restaurants and bars near Hong Kong Stadium have enjoyed a spike in business of at least 20 per cent thanks to the city hosting the Saudi Super Cup and are gearing up for Saturday when football legend Cristiano Ronaldo is set to play again. More than 30,000 spectators watched Ronaldo and his team Al-Nassr beat Al-Ittihad 2-1 at the Causeway Bay stadium on ...

Mathematician Zhang Yitang, who joined Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou from California in June, has called the wave of Chinese researchers exiting the US a positive trend. Zhang, known for his prime number research, told Phoenix TV, a partially state-owned broadcaster, in a programme aired on Monday that he had been thinking about returning to the ...

Hong Kong police have arrested a man on suspicion of targeting two restaurants and a bakery in a string of burglaries amid extreme weather, resulting in the theft of HK$80,000 (US$10,250) worth of items and cash. Inspector Wan Man-kin of the Wong Tai Sin police district on Wednesday said officers launched an investigation last Thursday after an employee of ...

Catch up on some of SCMPs biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trumps tariff blitz sparks unexpected India-China reset The worlds two most-populous countries made significant progress on the diplomatic front recently, and those championing such moves may have Washington to thank. ...

Maritime tensions between the Philippines and China have entered what analysts describe as a risky and potentially volatile phase after an accidental collision between two Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal, one of the most contested features in the South China Sea. The rare mishap involving the vessels from the Chinese coastguard and navy during a ...

Patients labelled as allergic to penicillin usually incorrectly are three times more likely to develop a serious joint infection after knee surgery as they receive weaker antibiotics, a Hong Kong study has found, with researchers urging them to seek an evaluation especially before their operation. A team from the University of Hong Kong, which released ...

Pricey dental care and a lack of services on Sundays have left Hong Kongs foreign domestic helpers desperate for affordable options, NGOs and unions have said, following the arrest of six women earlier this week for allegedly operating an illegal clinic. A lawmaker also said on Wednesday that one solution was for the city to adopt a similar policy to ...

Chinas crude oil imports remained robust in July, fuelled by higher Russian shipments, while Chinas purchases from the US remained suspended for a second straight month. The latest customs data shows that the volume of inbound crude oil reached 47.2 million tonnes in July, up 11.5 per cent from a year earlier. China purchased 8.71 million tonnes of crude ...

Two Hong Kong judges hearing Jimmy Lai Chee-yings national security trial have expressed reservations about the defence characterising the former media bosss alleged endeavours to trigger Western sanctions and foster hatred towards authorities as a legitimate exercise of fundamental rights. The 77-year-old Apple Daily tabloid founders legal team on ...

Hong Kong Ferry Holdings is buying retail shops in the New Territories from Hong Kongs Cassette King David Chan Ping-chi for HK$260 million (US$33 million) as part of an expansion of its property investment business. Prosper Link Investment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, entered into a provisional agreement with the seller, Man Hei International ...

Dreame Technology, a Chinese brand known for its robot vacuum cleaners, is actively recruiting drone experts in what is seen as a move to compete with DJI, the dominant player in the market, amid growing competition from innovative hardware start-ups. The company is advertising at least 10 positions including drone navigation modelling algorithm engineer, ...

Swire Properties, one of Hong Kongs largest developers, is set to start selling homes in its 850-unit, three-tower project on Hong Kong Island, its largest residential development in 20 years. The company, one of the citys largest commercial landlords, said it would unveil the price list for the flats, which range from one to three bedrooms with areas from ...

Chinas push to build broadband mega constellations could face further delays after one of the countrys leading privately developed rockets failed after take-off last week from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert. The Zhuque-2E an upgraded version of the LandSpace rocket that saw the company beat SpaceX in the race to send the worlds ...

An overcrowded bus carrying Afghans expelled from Iran crashed in western Afghanistan, and at least 79 people were killed, authorities said on Wednesday. The crash on the Herat-Kabul highway involved a motorcycle, a truck and a bus late on Tuesday, said Ahmdullah Muttaqi, head of the information department for Herats provincial government. The bus was ...