An Island of Serenity in a Timeline Gone Mad. Free Daily Art Email With Human-Curated Selections

A year after stepping away from competition, Olympic shot put champion Gong Lijiao has lost more than 30kg (66lbs) after refusing to “lie flat” during her retirement. The 36-year-old submitted her official retirement paperwork after the National Games in November last year. She said then she aimed to lose 25kg before pursuing marriage. “I also want to become beautiful. You will surely see a different version of me,” Gong said. Speaking to Chinese media in an interview published on Monday, the...

Lakshya Sen said that constant travel and fitness issues limited his ability to experiment in training, forcing him to focus on workload management during a challenging few months.

This article was first published on November 4, 2011. China a step closer to building its own space station by Stephen Chen Encouraged by yesterday (November 3, 2011) morning’s historic rendezvous and docking of the Shenzhou VIII spacecraft, Chinese authorities said construction of a space station will begin as soon as 2013. “We will do two more rendezvous and docking flights next year,” said Wu Ping (武平), spokeswoman for the manned space programme, at a press conference in Beijing yesterday....

An anticancer drug developed by Sichuan Biokin Pharmaceutical took centre stage in a late-breaking oral presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid last week. Researchers said the drug, iza-bren, showed a significant advantage over platinum-based chemotherapy in a phase 3 randomised, double-blind clinical trial conducted at 73 hospitals in China and involving 432 patients with advanced lung cancer. The median progression-free survival (PFS) – the length of...

Fresh off title-winning runs by PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, a report revealed Indian shuttlers had to fund their own European tour after SAI declined support for four tournaments.

Kimi Antonelli made history in 2026 by becoming the sport's youngest-ever world champion at 20.

Kane was named the world's best player last week, beating superstars Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to the prestigious award.

It was a fitting end to another painful defeat for Saudi-funded Newcastle, who have lost four of their past five matches in all competitions, winning just twice in their last 7.

The withdrawal casts fresh doubt over Cobolli's prospects of making a maiden appearance at the ATP Finals, with four of the 8 places in the season-ending event still up for grabs.

The United States has attacked an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, the latest in a series of covert, limited strikes ahead of the US midterm elections, as President Donald Trump signalled progress in talks with Tehran and mediators continue pushing for dialogue. A Chinese analyst said Washington faced no urgency to negotiate with an anxious Tehran, with the outcome of the midterms and Trump’s strategy still undecided. Iran’s Qeshm Island was struck on Monday, The Wall Street Journal...

Chinese President Xi Jinping met four foreign leaders in October – two each from Africa and Europe – with the month dominated by the Communist Party Central Committee’s fifth plenum. The pace will probably pick up in November. Xi has already met Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, and he will host an Apec summit on November 18–19. The Shenzhen event will probably feature talks with US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other regional leaders.

A key document endorsed by the Communist Party proposes stronger oversight of principal leaders below the central level, barring them from demanding personal allegiance from their leadership teams – a demand that is only for the top leaders. The proposal is part of a 17,000-word resolution approved at the fifth plenum of the 20th Central Committee, the full text of which was published by state news agency Xinhua on Sunday. The four-day plenum held last week emphasised internal governance,...