Secular News

The year-end plunge in cryptocurrencies has rattled companies that had bet heavily on bitcoin, sending share prices tumbling and reviving fears of a bubble.

Hong Kong could enhance its standing as a wine trade hub by further improving its logistics and storage services, according to a seventh-generation French winemaker overseeing a 200-year-old Burgundy estate. Erwan Faiveley, owner of wine labels Domaine Faiveley and Billaud-Simon, also praised the Hong Kong government’s decision to axe its wine tax in 2008 during his first fact-finding trip to the city and mainland China since the Covid-19 pandemic. “The greatest thing they’ve done was cutting...

On August 6 last year, atomic bomb survivors held their annual commemorative lantern-floating ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. Two months later, their group, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize for decades of campaigning against nuclear weapons. Fifteen years earlier, in Chongshan village in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, Wang Jinti took his last breath. Wang died in near-total obscurity, never having received an apology or compensation for the suffering he...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down on Sunday with Donald Trump and seek to secure the US president’s stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia. The 20-point plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, lacks Moscow’s approval, and the face-to-face in Florida comes in the wake of a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv. The meeting, hosted by Trump at his opulent Mar-a-Lago residence, will be the pair’s...

The Central African Republic holds elections Sunday, with Faustin-Archange Touadera widely tipped to remain president after a campaign in which he boasted of steadying a nation long plagued by conflict.

Doctors, nurses and students at HKSH Medical Group in Hong Kong set aside their clinical routines to join a day of physical activity and fundraising, inspiring all to “throw kindness and catch health”. The staff-led activity on December 19 formed part of HKSH OSC Month, a month-long fundraising campaign contributing to Operation Santa Claus (OSC) – a cause the group has supported for the 17th consecutive year. Awards were given to individual employees and teams across departments in recognition...

San Diego County sheriff's deputies were looking Saturday night for a missing 15-year-old boy in Encinitas, broadcasting a bulletin from a helicopter in the area.

Cities around the world have scaled back New Year's Eve celebrations amid security concerns, as the FBI says it foiled an alleged bombing attack planned for Los Angeles on New Year's Eve

The piercing pop-pop of pickleball paddles starts before sunrise and ends after midnight at dozens of newly built courts across Hanoi, as residents relish one of Vietnam's fastest-growing sports -- or rage at the noise it makes.

Deep in Iraq's southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.

With the first wave of commercial Chinese real estate investment trusts (REITs) set to launch in the next two years, Greater Bay Area assets are likely to be in strong demand, according to Deloitte China. “GBA assets will likely be oversubscribed,” according to Ryan Wu, deputy managing partner for Hong Kong Chinese enterprises services with Deloitte China. He was speaking at the recent APREA GBA Conference on the fast-growing C-Reits market, which has recently expanded to include commercial...

ARDMORE, Pa. - Shoppers were still filling Suburban Square on Saturday, many carrying bags and showing off post‑holiday purchases as they squeezed in more browsing, returning and gift‑card spending.