Secular News

Two months ago, Afghanistan sealed its eastern border with neighboring Pakistan soon after Islamabad shut down all routes into the landlocked country. But the longest border closure is now wreaking economic havoc in both countries.

The fossil was so complete experts could see remains of the last meal it ate, 330 million years after it died.

The fossil was so complete experts could see remains of the last meal it ate, 330 million years after it died.

In dark blue suits, the elders of the Khoo clan gathered outside the prayer halls of the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi, a grand 190-year-old clanhouse in George Town, the capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. One by one, they stepped inside for the Tung Chen ceremony, held annually on the first day of the winter solstice, a ritual that draws together members of the Khoo clan, one of the oldest Peranakan communities, from far beyond Penang. As smoke filled the air, Khoo Kay Hock, a senior...

Just over a year after an incident that nearly triggered a cascading failure across China’s national power grid, engineers have developed the most powerful smart direct current (DC) transformer on the planet – an innovation poised to neutralise renewable energy shocks to the system. The technology addresses an urgent need following a near total blackout in August last year, when low-frequency swings triggered by poorly integrated wind energy in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region threatened to...

A Chinese influencer with 44 million online followers has been banned for live-streaming a “vulgar” pool party at a hot spring. The influencer, who uses the handle Liu Ergou, live-streamed the party involving about 20 people for nearly three hours. It reportedly attracted more than a million viewers on a short video platform where Liu had 44 million followers. The live-stream features many close-ups of scantily clad women’s breasts and hips. Liu and other male participants are also seen playing...

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Eamon Dunne, known as 'The Don', was a notorious criminal in north Dublin who led a gang linked to at least 12 killings

When Kate Middleton handled a small piece of rock at London’s Natural History Museum she became one of the few people on earth to have touched a meteorite.

A mainland Chinese motorist travelling to Hong Kong under the southbound drivers scheme was fined for illegally parking this week, while another faces accusations of using tinted windows. The force said on Saturday that it was following up on the second case in response to a complaint about a social media post, with the driver in question accused of not adhering to the city’s requirements for windscreens to have a “transparency that would not obscure the view of the interior”. Hong Kong...

There are plenty of wonderkids catching the eye outside of Europe's big-five leagues - BBC Sport takes a look at the top 10 as ranked by the CIES Football Observatory research group.

There are plenty of wonderkids catching the eye outside of Europe's big-five leagues - BBC Sport takes a look at the top 10 as ranked by the CIES Football Observatory research group.

There are plenty of wonderkids catching the eye outside of Europe's big-five leagues - BBC Sport takes a look at the top 10 as ranked by the CIES Football Observatory research group.