World

Hong Kong customs has uncovered two major sea smuggling cases, seizing suspected illicit goods worth about HK$200 million (US$25 million), including 150 tonnes of donkey skin. The massive haul was discovered aboard a river trade vessel and an ocean-going ship on October 3 and 7, respectively. “Customs officers inspected on October 7 five containers declared as carrying frozen food and …

US President Donald Trump has promised sweeping support for Japan and its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, amid the intensifying rivalry with China in the Indo-Pacific. Trump hailed Japan as “an ally at the strongest level” during his visit to Tokyo on Tuesday, noting that the longtime US ally was set to purchase “a large amount of new military equipment” …

A bipartisan group of 38 US senators is urging President Donald Trump to use his expected summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea next week to secure the release of former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, the latest in the US Congress’s efforts to get human rights on the agenda of the high-stakes meeting. In a …

Moscow’s adversaries want to sow division among its many ethnicities, Sergey Shoigu says The West is seeking to break up Russia into dozens of small, weak states, former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said. Shoigu, who currently serves as secretary of Russia’s Security Council, made the remarks in an op-ed published in Argumenty i Fakty on Tuesday, ahead of National …

MiniMax, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence start-up, released on Monday the M2, which ranks as the world’s leading open model on a prominent leaderboard. MiniMax M2 achieved an unprecedented score for an open model on Artificial Analysis’s overall intelligence index, placing it among the top five models globally. It surpassed Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, released in June, and sat …

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariff campaign is supposed to rest on an emergency authority — one he’s now using to ratchet up tariffs on one of America’s biggest …

Caretakers looking after the stray dogs living around Chernobyl have made a startling discovery – several of the animals have suddenly turned blue. The group, Dogs of Chernobyl, which cares for hundreds of dogs in the Ukrainian radioactive exclusion zone, shared a video showing packs of animals with patches, and in some cases, coats of bright blue fur, a fact …

Panic took hold in western Turkey as yet another strong earthquake hit the country loved by British tourists. A strong earthquake shook western Turkey on Monday, causing at least three buildings to collapse, officials said. The magnitude 6.1 quake was centered in the town of Sindirgi in Balikesir province, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management agency, AFAD. It struck …

Moscow is prepared for a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said. Asked on Monday about the timeframe for the potential top-level meeting, Ushakov refused to give any estimates. “There is no timetable yet, but there is a fundamental readiness to hold a meeting if it is prepared …

Vandals have sparked travel disruption for thousands of passengers across France after setting fire to cables along key train lines between Paris and the popular south coast. High-speed TGV services between the capital and cities, including Marseille, Avignon, Montpellier and Nice, were thrown into chaos, leaving travellers stranded during the busy half-term holidays. France’s transport ministry and national rail operator …