World Sleep Day, why do we celebrate?

China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group sailed beyond the first island chain last week to reach the southernmost waters of the Philippines, suggesting an intent to position itself closer to ongoing US-Japan joint exercises. Philippine news channel BNC reported that the carrier group reached about 25 nautical miles (46km) east-southeast of Balut Island, the southernmost point of the Philippines, before sailing northeast on Friday. That positioned the warships past the first island chain, a...

In the second of a four-part Health Matters wellness series on frontier medicine in Hong Kong, Fiona Sun looks into how a new PCR system can detect cancer, infections and birth defects within hours, and what it will take to bring such laboratory breakthroughs to patients. Part one can be found here. It began with a pimple-like lump on Audrey Kwan’s neck. Within a month, it had swollen to the size of a table tennis ball. But it took blood tests, a biopsy and CAT scans before the Hongkonger, then...

Hong Kong officials held discussions with finance ministers and representatives from economies such as Brunei during last week’s Apec meeting on reducing reliance on the US dollar and expanding the use of local currencies and the yuan for bilateral trade settlement, the city’s treasury chief has said. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu on Sunday also shared lighthearted but telling anecdotes about the intangible gains made by the city from hosting the...

A popular Perth beach has been closed after a whale carcass was found on the sand, prompting a shark alert.

A doctor charged with manslaughter has been freed on bail and is back working at a major WA hospital.

Residents across Perth have been asked to check their backyards, sheds and security cameras as the search for a missing 24-year-old intensifies.

Four people have been shot in a drive-by shooting in Logan, with a woman left in a critical condition.

Hong Kong firefighters battled for five hours to bring a hill fire near a residential area in Tuen Mun under control on Sunday, with a government helicopter sent to help bring the flames under control. No injuries were reported, but the flames spread along the hillside near Shan King Estate, not far from two secondary schools, sending thick clouds of smoke billowing into the air. The blaze, reported at about 1.30pm, broke out in a patch of grass measuring about 10 metres by 20 metres (33 feet by...

China’s five-year leadership cycle is getting under way at a provincial level, with new teams being installed in a process that offers important clues to the future of the Communist Party at a national level. Last week, four provinces – Anhui, Henan, Shanxi and Xinjiang – wrapped up their respective party congresses and appointed new standing committees for the next five years. The meetings were held a week before a key party gathering in Beijing – known as the fifth plenum – that runs from...

Better than a Diet of Worms.

L.A. Community College District trustee candidates vie for three open seats, promising to tackle student housing, job training, and basic needs across campuses.

A shift in weather at the end of the week will bring a high chance of rain to deliver possibly the first rainy Halloween in Los Angeles since 2014.