Russia has formally designated Nazi crimes against the Soviet population during World War II as genocide and criminalised their denial, after President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the country’s criminal code, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The term “genocide of the Soviet people” has increasingly been used in Russia in recent years. Authorities have also proposed repurposing a closed museum dedicated to the Soviet-era Gulag system into one focused on victims of Nazi crimes. Moscow has...

Six years ago, Chinese-American playwright Alex Lin was pursuing a career in tech, doing what she called “the stable thing” and promising herself she’d write when there was more time. The pandemic gave her that time – and with it the chance to change lanes. Success came relatively quickly. In the past year alone, she premiered not one but two plays off-Broadway in New York City and landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, which highlights people who are making a significant impact in their...

US President Donald Trump said he plans to impose a 20 per cent tariff on all cars imported from the European Union unless the trade bloc “soon” removes import duties and other barriers to US goods, escalating global trade tensions. “Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the US and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S....

Britain said on Thursday it had tracked and deterred three Russian submarines on an alleged month-long “covert operation” in UK waters in the North Atlantic near vital undersea cables and pipelines. Disclosing details of the joint mission with Norway and other unspecified allies, British Defence Secretary John Healey said there was no evidence the Russian vessels had damaged the subsea infrastructure. The UK minister said he was revealing the operation, which involved British warships and...

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Thursday that he represents a proud nation seeking to maintain global order, pushing back against the latest comments about ‌the Arctic island by US President Donald Trump. Trump on Wednesday vented his frustration with Nato as relations reached a crisis point over the Iran war, stating that the military alliance was not around when needed, and that he still ⁠remembered Greenland, a “BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE”. “What is important ‌for...

Workplace sexual harassment complaints in Hong Kong have jumped by 38 per cent year on year, according to the equality watchdog. The Equal Opportunities Commission recorded 315 such complaints in 2025, up from 228 the previous year, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said in a written response to legislative inquiries on Thursday. Employment-related harassment complaints climbed from 156 in 2024 to 207 last year. Non-employment-related cases, which include unwanted sexual conduct...

A proposed increase in the Hong Kong government’s borrowing cap for its bond programmes to HK$900 billion (US$115 billion) will be sufficient to finance infrastructure projects over the next three years, officials have said, while leaving the door open to further rises in the long run if needed. Andrew Lai Chi-wah, permanent secretary for financial services and the treasury, made the remarks on Thursday during a Legislative Council subcommittee meeting scrutinising the plan to lift the...