Secular News

Hong Kong’s retail recovery extended into November last year, with sales climbing 6.5 per cent year on year as authorities pointed to improving local consumption, macroeconomic stability and growth in visitor numbers. Official figures released on Friday placed November’s provisional estimate for retail sales value at HK$33.7 billion (US$4.3 billion), the third consecutive month of growth at above 6 per cent level year on year. “Retail sales sustained its recovery momentum in November,” a...

British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, aka the “Yorkshire Ripper,” was captured after a series of killings bred fear across northwest England between 1975 and 1980.

After two US Navy aircraft crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other in October, analysts said there were lessons for the Chinese navy as it rapidly expands aircraft carrier operations. They said the People’s Liberation Army could learn from its rival’s strengths in search and rescue response, but also its weaknesses in maintenance and training. The US Navy said the aircraft – an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet – went down in separate...

A New Year's party at a Swiss Alpine bar turned into a tragedy after about 40 people died in a fire and another roughly 115 were injured, many in their teens to mid-20s.

Investigators say they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire at a Swiss ski resort when they came too close to the ceiling of a bar crowded with New Year's Eve revelers. Forty people were killed and another 119 injured.

Paul Hunter, one of the sport's most beloved icons, remains unforgotten following his death in 2006.

Paul Hunter, one of the sport's most beloved icons, remains unforgotten following his death in 2006.

Paul Hunter, one of the sport's most beloved icons, remains unforgotten following his death in 2006.

Paul Hunter, one of the sport's most beloved icons, remains unforgotten following his death in 2006.

As an undergraduate student of anthropology long ago, I remember studying the phenomenon of “compartmentalism” as a hallmark of primitive cultures or societies – their capacity to hold contradictory beliefs without inner conflict or even appearing to notice the contradictions. We well-educated rationalists in the rich West were supposed to be above this kind of schizophrenic inconsistency, seen as a symptom of a defective imagination or the shallowness of the masses. Think of street hawkers in...

Pure battery-powered EVs are no longer eligible for a 100% discount on the congestion charge.

A sparkler appears to ignite the ceiling in the dramatic new photograph from Constellation Bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where dozens were killed and over 100 injured at a New Year's party