Secular News

Japan remains the most trusted power among Southeast Asian countries, even as it seeks to amend its pacifist constitution and continues its military build-up. However, Tokyo would need to be transparent on its motives and assure others that its military-related actions would contribute to regional security, according to analysts. In the latest annual survey conducted by the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Japan retained its ranking as the most trusted power in the region, with 65.6...

A leading Indonesian university suspended 16 law students on Thursday after a sexually explicit group chat about their female peers went viral, sparking a debate about gender violence in the Muslim-majority country. Screenshots of a conversation among 16 male students at the University of Indonesia were posted on social media this week, eliciting shock and anger from female peers and a wider societal discussion. The university said in a statement on Thursday it had suspended the young men for...

Having worked with the Real Madrid Foundation as a teenager, Jordan Hadaway has now led financially-challenged Llandudno to Wales' top-flight.

Having worked with the Real Madrid Foundation as a teenager, Jordan Hadaway has now led financially-challenged Llandudno to Wales' top-flight.

Having worked with the Real Madrid Foundation as a teenager, Jordan Hadaway has now led financially-challenged Llandudno to Wales' top-flight.

Turkey will hold funerals for nine victims killed in a school shooting by a 14-year-old, an attack that has sent shockwaves across the country, with authorities saying the suspect had referenced a US mass killer in a WhatsApp profile image.

Pivoting to multiple romantic relationships while maintaining its tense, black-comic vibes, "Beef" Season 2 is set at a world-class country club where three couples — from three distinct generations and income classes — are tested by the way the world turns.

Chinese suppliers of parts for Tesla’s electric vehicles (EVs) and robots saw their stock prices gain on Thursday morning as the US tech giant announced that its AI5 artificial intelligence inference chip was 45 days ahead of schedule. After a nearly 7.7 per cent jump in Tesla’s Nasdaq-listed stock on Wednesday, shares of the company’s Chinese suppliers were up by as much as 4.6 per cent on Thursday morning local time. Shanghai-listed Ningbo Tuopu Group and Shenzhen-listed Zhejiang Sanhua...

Mainland China’s first-tier home prices edged up 0.2 per cent in March, rising after nine months of losses and no change in February, but it is too soon to declare the property market stable without sustained improvement in homebuying demand, according to analysts. Compared with a month earlier, March home prices were flat in Beijing, rose 0.3 per cent in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and gained 0.2 per cent in Shenzhen, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on...

China continued to diversify its foreign exchange reserves in February, trimming its US Treasury stockpile even as overall overseas holdings of sovereign American debt rose to a record high. China’s stockpile of United States Treasuries fell to US$693.3 billion in February, down from US$694.4 billion in January, according to US Treasury Department data released on Wednesday. Although China slightly increased its US Treasury holdings in January, the uptick did little to alter a broader downward...

China’s first abandoned dog, Deng Deng, who was famously sold at judicial auction, recently died after spending five joyous years in his new home. He is fondly remembered on social media. The owner of the 13-year-old Shiba Inu, identified as Shu, announced Deng Deng’s death on April 7 via a heartfelt social media post. “The dog auctioned for 160,000 yuan (US$23,000) has peacefully returned to the doggy planet, surrounded by his loving family. I hope everyone remembers him with thoughts of...

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