82 m. ago Hong Kong’s population stabilises for first time in a decade

The city recorded an inflow of 18,200 residents during mid-2024 to mid-2025

Politics

98 m. ago Pandora prepares to raise prices further as it faces hit from US tariffs

The Danish company said it was considering hiking its prices further to help mitigate the impact of increased costs.

Economics

1 hour ago Think you don’t like asters in the garden? It might be time to change your mind

The easy-going, unfussy aster can still flower long into autumn, puffing up the garden with cloud-like blooms of lilac, white or wizard purpleOne of the things that makes gardening so perpetually, addictively interesting to me is how it challenges beliefs I’d previously held about myself – often on an annual basis. Some beliefs are big, others are smaller, such as my dislike of asters.Ask me in the middle of spring, when everything is new and fresh, and the tulip petals look as if they’ve been streaked with a fan-shaped brush, and I will confidently say I’m not an aster fan. Too fussy, too much lilac, too bushy. But scoot forward six months, and I regret I hadn’t planted a few in the gaps that appear at this time of year. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago Lone piper plays at Edinburgh Castle to mark 80th anniversary of VJ Day

Stirling Castle and the Kelpies are among the sites around the UK set to be lit up on Friday evening to commemorate the end of the Second World War.

Politics

3 h. ago Hundreds hit by food poisoning after eating free school meals in Indonesia

President Prabowo Subianto's flagship free meals programme has been marred by mass food poisoning cases

Events

4 h. ago Chinese economy slows as Trump tariffs bite; FTSE 100 on track to hit new record

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsThe owner of Kingsmill has agreed to buy its rival bakery business Hovis, in a deal that could make the biggest bread brand in the country if it gets the green light from regulators.Associated British Foods, a FTSE 100 company which also owns the retailer Primark, has agreed to buy Hovis from the private equity firm Endless.This transaction will create a UK bakeries business that is both profitable and sustainable over the long term. Supporting the Hovis and Kingsmill brands with well-invested and efficient operations will also enable innovation and growth. This solution will create value for shareholders, provide greater choice for consumers and increase efficiencies for customers.Firms may be running on existing capacity rather than building new plants The July industrial value-add breakdown tells a more nuanced story than the weak fixed asset investment headline. Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago Afghan women feel forgotten by world after four years of ‘war’ waged by Taliban on their rights

While the rest of the world pays little attention, the Taliban’s edicts eroding women’s basic rights have only grown in number. Former female inmates of the group’s prisons tell Arpan Rai they are being brutally enforced

Events

7 h. ago At least 56 feared dead after flash flood devastates remote Himalayan village

Race against time to save 80 people still missing after flood sweeps away dozens of cars and motorbikes

Events

7 h. ago Opponents of Trump’s tariffs should be wary of relying on the courts

Judicial limits on the executive today will bind the hands of future presidents tomorrow

Events

11 h. ago India and Pakistan tensions spill over into contest over whose flagpole is bigger

Nationalist rivalries are on show at border crossing where soldiers in elaborate uniforms perform flag ceremonies each nightAt a remote, monsoon-soaked border checkpoint, Indian soldiers will mark Independence Day by raising the country’s tricolour on a mast that towers above a Pakistani flag flying just across the frontier – part of an ongoing vertical duel in South Asia’s fraught politics.Call it flag warfare: a contest not of weapons but of height, waged by two nuclear-armed neighbours that only three months ago fought a four-day battle which threatened to escalate into full-scale war. Continue reading...

Events

13 h. ago Buffett’s Berkshire dumped Apple shares again in second quarter

Conglomerate resumed selling the Big Tech group’s stock during period of US tariff turmoil

Politics

13 h. ago Buffett’s Berkshire offloaded Apple shares again in second quarter

Conglomerate resumed selling the Big Tech group’s stock during period of US tariff turmoil

Politics

18 h. ago King Charles to mark 80th anniversary of VJ Day with address

Monarch will pay tribute to military personnel and reflect on horrors experienced in Asia-Pacific regionKing Charles will mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on Friday with a message paying tribute to the service and sacrifice of military personnel in the second world war who fought and died in the Pacific and far east, saying they will never be forgotten.In an address, Charles will reflect on the horrors experienced by prisoners of war and civilians of occupied lands in the region “whose suffering reminds us that war’s true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life”. Continue reading...

Politics

19 h. ago ‘We thought with The Crown: “Is anyone going to watch this?”’ director Benjamin Caron on risk, realism – and royalty

A ‘safe pair of hands’ in high end TV, Caron now reunites with Vanessa Kirby for hyperactive Netflix thriller Night Always Comes about the terror of urban homelessnessIt’s quite a schlep from Buckingham Palace to the mean streets of working-class Portland, Oregon, but it is one that Midlands-born film-maker Benjamin Caron and actor Vanessa Kirby have undertaken with their new thriller Night Always Comes, adapted from the taut novel by Willy Vlautin. Caron and Kirby met nearly a decade ago when he directed episodes of The Crown, in which she played the young Princess Margaret from behind a cloud of cigarette smoke.Now Kirby stars as a former sex worker called Lynette, toiling in multiple jobs and living with her disabled brother (Zach Gottsagen) and their wrecked, wayward mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They have cobbled together the funds to buy their dilapidated house at a snip, only for Lynette’s mother to recklessly blow her half on a new car. Cue one manic night in which Lynette ...

Events

19 h. ago Canada is boycotting US alcohol over Trump’s policies. It will leave American companies’ bottom lines dry

Distilled Spirits Council estimates American liquor sales to northern neighbor have plummeted 62 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2025

Politics

20 h. ago London copper plant defies U.S. tariff threat with big expansion

London copper plant defies U.S. tariff threat with big expansion  London Free Press

Economics

21 h. ago Councillor forced to deny bizarre speculation that man is TRAPPED inside huge sculpture

Brendan Reilly, a Chicago alderman, said the rumour about the Cloud Gate sculpture, which locals calls The Bean, has diverted his office from the work of managing his district

Politics

23 h. ago At least 33 feared dead after flash flood devastates remote Himalayan village

Nearly 200 people missing as flood sweeps away dozens of vehicles and motorbikes

Events

23 h. ago U.S. producer prices surge in July as Trump tariffs push costs higher

U.S. wholesale inflation surged unexpectedly last month as President Donald Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports are pushing costs higher

Economics

23 h. ago Salmon industry in trade tariffs warning as exports reach almost £1bn

International exports were worth £941 million in the 12 months to the end of June.

Events