Secular News

Mark McGwire admitted to The Associated Press that he’d used steroids and human growth hormone when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.

One tourist is believed to have died after 52 travellers and crew members were thrown into the sea when their boat crashed in the middle of the water - horror images revealed the aftermath

Assailants detonated bombs at nearly a dozen petrol stations in Thailand’s south early Sunday, injuring four people, the army said, the latest attacks in the insurgency-hit region. A low-level conflict since 2004 has killed thousands of people as rebels in the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia battle for greater autonomy. Several bombs exploded within a 40-minute period after midnight on Sunday, igniting 11 petrol stations across Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani...

World number one Aryna Sabalenka prepares for the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Marta Kostyuk to win a third Brisbane International title.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka prepares for the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Marta Kostyuk to win a third Brisbane International title.

When he sits down later this month to finalise the budget for the coming financial year, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po will have some positive news in his pocket to balance against the many calls for additional spending. As some of those new demands are likely to be expensive and compelling, he will need all the help he can get. First, the good news. Hong Kong is heading for a surplus in public finances. In his 2025 budget, Chan forecast a deficit on the consolidated operating account of...

Iran's parliament speaker warned the US military and Israel would be targeted if America strikes Iran, as protests continue with at least 116 deaths reported by activists

At a hospital in Gaza, wards are filled with patients fearing they will be left without care if Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is forced out under an Israeli ban due to take effect in March.

At a high-level conference in Washington last month, the US State Department unveiled an “America first” aid strategy that ties development dollars directly to the commercial and security goals of the world’s largest economy. This shift away from decades of framing the United States’ foreign assistance as a moral undertaking is a reflection, analysts say, of the Trump administration’s view that foreign assistance should advance America’s national interest above all else. Officials at the...

China’s vast outbound travel market is set for further growth in 2026, boosted by the spread of visa-free policies for Chinese nationals and a stronger yuan. But visits to Japan could plummet by nearly 50 per cent amid a political dispute between Beijing and Tokyo, according to analysts and industry insiders. Mainland Chinese travellers are expected to take about 165 million to 175 million cross-border trips in 2026, up from an estimated 155 million last year, the travel marketing and technology...

A superstitious Chinese custom known as “borrowing longevity” involved performing a ritual to pray to the gods when a relative was seriously ill. During this ritual, individuals would voluntarily offer to shorten their own lifespans in hopes of extending the patient’s life. In ancient China, people held a profound belief in fate, considering a person’s lifespan predetermined and unchangeable. However, they also believed that life expectancy could be borrowed or exchanged. When parents were...

The 44-year-old man recorded himself trying to recapture three lions when they turned on him and attacked. His partially-eaten body was discovered hours later by his colleagues