Death toll in suicide bombing rises to 36

The death toll from a Taliban suicide bomb attack on a mosque in northwest tribal Pakistan has risen to 36, including eight children, officials said on Sunday.

Nation confronts disability stigma after 19 murders

The stabbing deaths of 19 disabled people in their sleep in July and the silence surrounding their identities are forcing Japan to grapple with its attitudes toward physically and cognitively impaired persons, less than four years before Tokyo hosts the Paralympics.

Security at Oktoberfest tightened in light of recent attacks in Munich

Heavy rain and stricter security did little to dampen the spirits of beer lovers at the start of this year's Oktoberfest, which opened on Saturday in the Bavarian city of Munich.

17-year-old first minor to be euthanized

A terminally ill 17-year-old has become the first minor to be euthanized in Belgium since age restrictions on such mercy killings in the country were lifted in 2014, it was learned on Saturday.

IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Putin favored to win election

The ruling United Russia party is expected to win even greater dominance over Russia's lower house in a parliamentary election on Sunday, showing that support for President Vladimir Putin is holding up despite sanctions and a deep economic slowdown.

17 soldiers killed in attack at Indian army base in Kashmir

Suspected rebels using guns and grenades sneaked into a crucial army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir early Sunday and killed at least 17 soldiers in the deadliest attack on a military base in the disputed Himalayan region in recent years, the army said.

Using the 'fan economy' to build franchises

iQiyi, the web-based entertainment arm of Chinese tech giant Baidu, will start to broadcast in October, a series based on the popular crime novel Mei Ren Wei Xian that loosely translates to "beauty lies within the dumpling", in a first major exploration of its franchise-building abilities, a senior company executive says.

Chinese sci-fi author explores galaxies beyond printed words

The 2015 Hugo Award-winner, who lives in Yangquan, North China's Shanxi province, says he is looking to build a franchise of his works. A film adapted from the first book of the 53-year old's Three Body trilogy will likely be released in 2017. The interview has been translated from Chinese

Lost in folds

Qin Kun is hungry but he refrains from using his hand to pick a morsel of sushi. He does use his hands, however, for judging and feeling the paper that he shapes into intricate representations of animals and insects.

Japanese journalist focuses on wartime atrocities of Japan

Takuya Kobayashi, Beijing bureau chief of the Japanese Communist Party's official newspaper Shimbun Akahata, has paid several visits to the same Chinese county to report on a slaughter more than 70 years ago by the Japanese imperial army.

Chef transforms skill into luck

Cookery teacher and veteran chef Zhang Hui attributes his career success to luck, but behind his modesty are hard-trained skills and dedication to details.