Sri Lanka deploys military drones to fight worst dengue outbreak in almost a decade
Sri Lanka ’s public health services and hospitals are battling the worst outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue in nearly a decade, and turning to the island nation’s armed forces to help curb the spread of the disease.
The efforts range from air force drones tracking stagnating rooftop pools of water after monsoon rains to military and police officers helping to inspect homes, building sites and schools in a campaign to stamp out mosquito-breeding sites.
To prosper, China must become a magnet for international students
Wang Huiyao is the founder of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based non-governmental think tank.
Last month, 12.9 million students in China sat for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, or gaokao , the number sliding for a second year , and down from 13.3 million last year. Given that births have fallen below 8 million annually to a record low , in 18 years, the
Squally thunderstorms set to hit parts of Hong Kong within hours
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster has warned that downpours are approaching the city, saying they are expected to become more frequent throughout the day.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Observatory said at 8.20am on Tuesday that an area of thundery showers over western Guangdong was gradually moving eastwards.
“Showers are expected to be heavier in some areas, with squally thunderstorms affecting parts of the territory in the next couple of hours,” the spokesman said.
Hong Kong has experienced periods of heavy rain over the past few
Australian politician barks ‘sit down’ at dog during live interview
When the journalist asks him to ignore the dog and answer her question, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce tells her not to be rude
A top lawmaker from Australia ’s far-right One Nation party has grabbed headlines after exploding at a misbehaving dog as he was grilled on live TV.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was being interviewed on national broadcaster ABC on Monday night when he interrupted the one-on-one to shriek: “
Chinese teenager lies to parents about holiday to secretly help flood victims in Guangxi
A teenager from eastern China told his parents he was going on holiday, but secretly travelled with a friend to a flood-stricken region to join relief efforts.
Earlier this month, 18-year-old Shanghai student Wu Yulun had just completed the gaokao , China’s national college entrance examination, and was planning a graduation trip.
But after seeing an online appeal from a volunteer group in the southwestern Guangxi region, he abandoned those
Hong Kong’s first-time lawmakers ask fewer questions but attend Legco more often
Hong Kong’s first-time lawmakers have raised fewer questions than their veteran counterparts but recorded a higher attendance rate, a South China Morning Post check has found.
Alan Chan Chung-yee, who is also the chief operating officer of Miramar Group, and athlete turned legislator Vivian Kong Man-wai were among those who submitted the fewest questions to the government.
Political observers attributed the trend to newcomers seeking to balance respect for the executive-led system with their role in providing checks and balances.
The eighth Legislative Council
Chinese tourists blamed for overtourism in Japan’s Kyoto despite huge fall in arrivals
Chinese tourists are being unfairly blamed for Kyoto’s overtourism crisis , according to a new report, even as data shows mainland visitor numbers have fallen sharply amid worsening ties between China and Japan .
The report released earlier this month by the Kyoto City Tourism Association’s destination management organisation said many local residents assumed crowded public transport, congestion at popular sights and rising hotel prices were being driven by mainland Chinese tour groups.
But relatively few Chinese visitors
Chinese robot makers’ lament: if we only had a better ‘brain’, and more data
Chinese robotics companies lack both sufficient data and a good “brain” to improve the interaction of their products with the physical world, according to industry insiders at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), which concluded on Monday in Shanghai.
The most critical challenge for the embodied AI industry was to “link hardware, data, models and real-world scenarios into a closed-loop iterative system”, said Wang Xiaogang, co-founder of SenseTime and chairman of its robotics spin-off Ace Robotics, in an
US Justice Department investigating whether Harvard aid programmes are discriminatory
The US Justice Department said on Monday it launched an investigation reviewing whether some Harvard University financial aid programmes were discriminatory, marking the latest fight against the university by Donald Trump’s administration.
“The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today it is opening a compliance review into Harvard University to determine whether its China-based financial aid programmes and practices exclude American-citizen students,” the department said in a statement.
The agency said Chinese donors have given money to Harvard to support financial aid programmes limited to
