Secular News

Last Thursday, the European Union added 14 Chinese companies to its latest round of sanctions, accusing them of providing support for Russia’s war against Ukraine – but few of the names were recognisable to anyone outside narrow trading and compliance circles. Officials were taken aback less than 24 hours later, when Beijing – which had been notified of the ragtag group of traders and freight forwarders to be listed by the EU as far back as June – fired back ferociously. Unlike the long notice...

China’s factory activity unexpectedly slipped into contraction for the first time in five months, and construction activity fell to its lowest since the pandemic, underscoring a divide in the nation’s economy that complicates efforts to revive growth. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 49.2 in July, missing the 50.1 median estimate in a Bloomberg poll of economists. Construction and services, part of non-manufacturing PMI, tumbled to 49 from 50.2 a month...

Scotland's largest city doubles as New York in the latest installment of Marvel cinematic universe.

Scotland's largest city doubles as New York in the latest installment of Marvel cinematic universe.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) says it "stands in solidarity" with Uefa and Concacaf in opposition to Fifa's proposal to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors.

This comes after thousands of migrants were reported to have illegally crossed into the territory on Thursday and Friday.

Hong Kong’s economy expanded by 4.3 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2026, with the government expecting “solid growth” to continue for the remainder of the year. A government spokesman attributed the robust momentum to buoyant external trade and resilient domestic demand. “Looking ahead, the Hong Kong economy should continue to post solid growth in the second half of 2026,” the spokesman said on Friday. “Vibrant global demand for artificial intelligence-related products should...

The family of Nolan Wells has hired audio engineers to review a distress call made from a boat on the day of his disappearance

The "content maker" published videos of encounters with young women and a female Sikh shop worker where he talked of a plot to "breed out the white race".

Firefighters in the Gironde region of France said the situation had "stabilized", after a week of wildfires caused by a major heatwave across Europe.

Singapore announced on Friday it took possession of 38 Oxley Road, the former home of its founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and would study how it could be developed into a public space, ending years of public debate over what to do with the property amid a family feud among the late leader’s children. In the interim, necessary maintenance works would be carried out as required, and there would be no public access to the site, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Heritage...

The nation is the world's third-smallest after Vatican City and Monaco, with a population of about 12,000