After Trump pardon, Honduras ex-president Hernandez returns home

Hernandez, jailed in the US in 2024 for drug trafficking, is expected to appear in a Honduran court on August 3 to face corruption charges

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Former Honduras’ President Juan Orlando Hernandez, centre, with his wife Ana Garcia, right, and daughter Daniela Hernandez, far right, at Palmerola Airport near Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa on Sunday. Photo: EPA

Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez returned to his country on Sunday, almost eight months after US President Donald Trump controversially pardoned his 45-year prison sentence for


Thailand monastery added to Unesco heritage list, boosting tourism hopes

A centuries-old monastery in southern Thailand is the country’s latest cultural landmark to be inscribed on Unesco’s World Heritage List, which will aid in the site’s conservation, the government said on Sunday.

Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat province is Thailand’s ninth World Heritage site, but its first in the nation’s southern region, the Thai foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Its inscription will further strengthen cooperation at both the national and local levels in the conservation, protection

A view of Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan, a 13th century Buddhist temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat city, Thailand, on July 4. Photo: AP

China has put a Polish university on its European dual-use exports blacklist. Why?

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology placed on export control list alongside defence firms as China hits back at latest EU sanctions

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Wroclaw University of Science and Technology says it has not received any official notification from Beijing. Photo: Shutterstock

In an unprecedented move, China has placed a Polish university alongside defence contractors on an export control list targeting entities linked to the European security sector.

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (PWr) was among 14 European Union entities added to a dual-use export control list by the


Israeli settlers set fire to West Bank mosques, graffiti and arson reported

Israeli settlers attacked ⁠Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, setting fire to two mosques and scrawling graffiti on buildings, Palestinian officials said.

The attacks followed an incident on Friday when four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers – one of them acting as a security coordinator for a nearby Israeli settlement – were killed when a crowd of Israeli settlers, some armed, approached the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.

During the incident, villagers came out of their homes to confront the settlers and a ‌stand


Typhoon Noul: Shenzhen girl, 6, blown away by gale, runs back to safety

Typhoon Noul drags out a cot with a child inside in Shenzhen on Sunday. Photo: Handout

As Typhoon Noul barrelled into southern China on Sunday with winds reaching 160km/h (99mph), violent gusts ripped a cot from indoors and flipped it over several metres away, sending the child inside flying to the ground.

Hongxing News, a Chinese media outlet, reported that a six-year-old girl lying in her cot in the southern city of Shenzhen was blown from inside a building onto the grass verge

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Chinese scientist faces probe after girl, 6, dies ‘following experimental gene therapy’

A leading Chinese scientist is under investigation by his university after a six-year-old girl reportedly died following experimental gene-editing therapy.

The girl, named Mei, died days after receiving a treatment designed to correct a genetic mutation affecting her neurodevelopment in March last year, according to a report published by Science following a joint investigation with Retraction Watch, a non-profit organisation that monitors retracted research.

Her parents said she had suffered a fatal immune reaction linked to the treatment.

The trial was led by Qiu Zilong

Infant formula maker insists product safe after recalls in Hong Kong and Macau

The affected batch, numbered 1W07KPJ, has a production date of September 30, 2025, and a best before date of September 30, 2027. Photo: Sun Yeung

The Dutch maker of Friso, a popular powdered infant formula brand, has stressed that tests show its product is safe, despite a recall of a product batch in Hong Kong and Macau after excessive levels of lead were found in samples.

In a statement on Sunday, Royal FrieslandCampina said: “We have conducted additional third-party quality testing on the affected batch.


Fake ICE raids and kidnapping drills: how Chinese teens prepare for US college

As Trump’s toughening rules spark anxiety, Chinese parents pay for camps teaching how to survive being seized by gunmen or ‘hidden dangers’

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US federal agents detain a person while surrounded by tear gas used to deter protesters following a fatal ICE shooting, in Minneapolis on January 21. Photo: Reuters

Beijing student Lulu Lu was just preparing for bed when she was startled by loud banging at her door.

When she opened the door, a man pushed his way inside, shone a flashlight


America’s North Korea strategy needs a dose of reality

Illustration: Huy Truong

Dr Gabriela Bernal is a North Korea analyst based in Seoul, South Korea.

Each year on July 27, North Korea commemorates “Victory Day”, marking what it presents as its triumph in the Korean war. While few outside the country accept that characterisation, the date underscores a reality: the war never formally ended. The 1953 agreement was an armistice that left the peninsula in a state of suspended conflict.
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Low profile, high AI ambition: what leaked comments reveal about DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng says his company sets prices to earn only a reasonable profit. Photo: Weibo

In an era dominated by aggressive tech founders who chase billion-dollar valuations and maximal profits while curating loud public profiles, Liang Wenfeng stands out for his insistence on staying in the background.
With only a couple of photographs of him circulating online, the founder of Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek and quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer Quant has long been a reclusive