[MORNING CALM TALES] The irresistible appeal of Korea's 'pojangmacha' food tents
Had I not gotten lost in Jamsil one cold December night, I might never have discovered the soul of Seoul. It was the early 1990s, and I decided to be adventurous and find a different way back to my apartment. Somewhere in the maze of Jamsil 2-danji, I got twisted around and ended up on a street I had never taken before. Getting lost there was surprisingly easy. At night, the apartment buildings all looked alike, row after row of concrete towers rising into the darkness. I knew the subway station was somewhere behind me and my apartment somewhere ahead. Beyond that, I was guessing. The December air had a bite to it. I shoved my hands deeper into my coat pockets and kept walking. Then I saw the orange glow. On the side of the street stood a rectangular tent, glowing in the darkness. Light filtered through thick orange plastic, turning it into a giant lantern. Shadows moved behind the vinyl. Every so often, someone lifted a flap, releasing a burst of steam and noise into the cold before ducking inside. I stopped. What was this place? There was no sign or name that I could see, yet people...
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Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: Blind musician with rare birth disease plays her heart out
A year after a seven-hour surgery in Hong Kong in 2025, Cassie Li Pui-ying was on stage at Queen Elizabeth Stadium, playing the drums before an audience of more than 2,500 people. She heard the applause but could not see who it came from. That March night was organised by Live Theatre, which her mother Marine Mak also helps run. Li sang, spoke and played the drums. The group gives visually impaired students a stage to perform on. Despite having been through several serious health scares, what...
Why a Communist Party boss had a coffee shop date with Chinese content creators
The setting may have been casual but the choice was not when the Communist Party boss of a northeastern Chinese province sat down with digital content creators at a coffee shop on Wednesday. Jilin province party secretary Huang Qiang invited the influencers to the relaxed setting of the Songyuan Coffee Shop in Changchun to encourage them to “actively promote mainstream values and spread positive energy”. According to a local government statement, Huang and the participants also exchanged views...
Pedestrian injured and driver wanted after alleged hit-and-run near Brisbane
The man in his 50s was found with serious injuries after the driver of a ute fled the scene.
Pedestrian injured and driver wanted after alleged hit-and-run near Brisbane
The man in his 50s was found with serious injuries after the driver of a ute fled the scene.
Modi and Xi can’t bridge the India-China divide by themselves
Last month, President Xi Jinping travelled to New Delhi to attend the Brics summit – his first visit in seven years. On the summit’s sidelines, Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an in-depth conversation that explored topics of shared interest between them, such as leveraging open-weight artificial intelligence (AI) for mutual benefit. Even so, such sanguine signals were soon drowned out by a spate of downbeat headlines. One recent story warned of the “asymmetric” relationship...
The F1 Exhibition opens in Singapore with F1 cars, racing sims and an SG-centred gallery
The F1 exhibition will run until 18 October.
Teenager dies in head-on collision south-west of Sydney
Two cars collided in a head-on crash on a major arterial road connecting Wollongong and Sydney.
How much fibre do you really need? Here’s what an expert says
Social media diet trends come and go, but experts say this one might be worth keeping.
'I wish she was here to see it': Canberra young gun pays tribute to late mum after stunning Bathurst
Zach Bates has recorded the fastest Bathurst 1000 time of the Gen3 era.
The Age photos of the week, October 10, 2026
The week in photos from our award-winning staff photographers and regular contributors at The Age.
Lack of heat action plan leaves Hong Kong’s vulnerable residents at risk, experts warn
Environmentalists and academics have criticised the omission of a systemic heat-health action plan in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and latest policy address, warning that relying on “common sense” is failing to protect vulnerable residents from rising temperatures. Their comments came as new research from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) found that extreme heat may have contributed to as many as 3,238 excess deaths in the city over the past decade. In response to the South China Morning...
New Taipei-Hong Kong subsea route opened to cut risk and meet AI demand
One of the world’s biggest network service providers has opened a new subsea route between Taipei and Hong Kong to strengthen the system against repeated underwater cable disruptions around the island. Britain-headquartered RETN said the new route would take its total to six serving Taiwan: four connecting Taipei and Hong Kong, and two linking Taipei and Tokyo. “Like many island economies, Taiwan’s international connectivity relies heavily on subsea cables, which creates exposure to risks such...