As you stroll among the trees, you hear a rustle and stop to listen. You raise your binoculars and quietly scan the spot where the sound came from. After waiting patiently, you may finally catch a glimpse of something rarely encountered in everyday life: a small, precious bird. Birdwatching, or birding, is emerging as a new hobby among Korea’s millennials and Gen Z. Until recently, it was largely seen as a pastime for middle-aged and older people, requiring expensive equipment and specialized knowledge. But smartphones have made the activity accessible to almost anyone. With celebrities, including actress Kim Tae-ri, author Chung Se-rang and model Lee So-ra, sharing their interest in birdwatching, it has even gained a reputation as a trendy hobby. Taking off during COVID-19, with smartphones lowering the barrier to entry Content about birdwatching has recently proliferated on social media. On Instagram, posts tagged “birdwatching" number approximately 144,000, while those tagged “birdwatching records" and “birdwatching life” number around 17,000 and 14,000, respectively. A gro

Deep in the rugged, forested mountains of Gangwon Province, the hollowed-out shafts of abandoned anthracite mines stand as quiet monuments to Korea’s industrial birth. During their mid-20th-century heyday, these bustling towns fueled the nation’s postwar economic miracle, powering domestic hearths and heavy manufacturing alike. But as Korea’s energy needs shifted toward oil and gas in the 1980s, the region entered a long, steep decline. While a handful of major mines remained operational into the 2020s, the last state-run mine officially closed its shafts in mid-2025 — leaving behind steep valleys marked by demographic collapse and crumbling local economies. Now, trade officials and local leaders are trying a new approach to revive these quiet valleys: connecting their remaining small businesses directly to overseas markets. Rather than relying solely on local tourism or government aid, a national trade showcase last week in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, brought small-town entrepreneurs face-to-face with international buyers. At the center of the event was a targeted exhibition flo

Cox Plate Day at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne spring racing.

Schools enrolling students disengaged from mainstream education are juggling soaring waitlists with “inflexible” rules on how they can be funded.

Private recreation leases have a long and contentious history in Hong Kong. Complaints about the inequity of granting land leases to private clubs at a nominal premium for the exclusive enjoyment of a small number of members have been raised many times. This issue is increasingly pressing. Twenty-seven sites are involved and almost all the leases for these sites are set for renewal next year. In response to this perceived inequality, the government reviewed its policy for clubs with private...

The number of private secondary schools in Hong Kong has risen by more than half in five years as demand for alternative curricula grows and new operators seek to attract families drawn by the city’s highly ranked universities, education authorities and principals have said. Between 2021-22 and 2025-26, the number of private secondary institutions increased from 16 to 25, a jump of 56.3 per cent, Education Bureau figures show. Leaders at schools offering alternative curriculum pathways said that...

Apple’s digital media streaming box gets a more powerful chip, support for Siri AI, and a new remote with some nifty features, and a higher price tag.

Joseph Paratore, 40, was riding his bike on North Lake Road around 5.20am when he was fatally struck by a white Toyota Prado, which allegedly failed to stop at the scene.

The independent MP remains hospitalised in Melbourne following the amputation of both legs.

Rain and thunderstorms are forecast across multiple states in the coming days.

It’s Cox Plate day at Flemington. Follow along live as we bring you the colour, fashion and racing as the spring carnival continues.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that President Trump's deployment of California National Guard troops last year was unlawful and unconstitutional. The ruling also blocks a way for the president to federalize state troops over California's wishes again in the future.

Local hospitality and accomodation venues are celebrating the move.

Xiaomi’s wind-sculpted concept car will arrive alongside the PlayStation-exclusive game’s EV Experience mode.

A letter detailing child abuse allegations against Thomas Markle was written by a close family friend, Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers has revealed.

The week in photos from our award-winning staff photographers and regular contributors at The Age.

Kevin Rudd, president of the Asia Society and a former Australian prime minister, described US-China strategic competition as full-on and multidimensional at a Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics event on Friday. “There is a full-blown strategic competition under way in every dimension of national political power and influence, militarily, economically, trade and investment and technology, in foreign policy, in ideology,” said Rudd, a noted China scholar. “It’s across the world,...

Strategic competition between China and the US and its allies is intensifying across the Pacific islands, with both sides pursuing a growing range of security agreements to expand their influence, according to an interactive mapping tool released this week by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank. The tool details 56 security arrangements among 14 Pacific island countries and the US, Australia, New Zealand, mainland China and Taiwan in a bid to map...

Police have charged a 29-year-old man.

Plenary sessions of the Central Committee, the upper echelon of China’s ruling Communist Party, are major events on the country’s political calendar. In the third part of this series, William Zheng and Alcott Wei examine how the fight against corruption is shaping the party’s future. When China’s political elites gather for a key conclave in Beijing later this month, the increasingly empty auditorium will speak loudly to the event’s theme – the ruling Communist Party’s strict self-discipline and...

Two men have previously been sentenced over the death of Darcy Schafer-Turner, who was 22 when he disappeared.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Friday, accusing the company of failing to warn consumers about the potential dangers from its AI models. The lawsuit alleges the ChatGPT maker is running afoul of a Texas consumer protection law and kids' online safety law, underscoring warnings about the...

Metrolink temporarily suspends service on the Pacific Surfliner in South Orange County due to forecasted high tides.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Beijing has “influence” over Moscow it should use to stop the war in Ukraine, and that a proposed summit meeting of the US, Chinese and Russian leaders must not lead to the division of his war-torn country. Speaking virtually at an event hosted by Washington-based Hudson Institute think tank, Zelensky said he did not know what would be discussed at the potential meeting between US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and...

First Lady Melania Trump has helped secure a localised, humanitarian ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for the front-line city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, the White House says.

Authorities in south-east Queensland have saved a man in a daring rescue, pulling him from floodwaters on the Sunshine Coast.

A grandmother has arrived back in Perth, after being jailed in Japan for attempting to smuggle drugs into the country.

Two people are still on the run, after a police pursuit came to a fiery end in western Sydney.

The Duchess of Sussex says she is "deeply distressed" by child sex abuse allegations against her estranged father Thomas Markle Senior.

The Treasury Department on Thursday moved to implement tenets of a bipartisan housing law Congress passed over the summer, including a ban on institutional investors buying single-family homes. Under impending regulations from the department, a large institutional investor cannot buy a single-family home starting on Jan. 7, 2027, with certain exceptions.  The department is codifying...