Science, Policy & regulation, Transport, Consumer
399 storiesChina cross-regional trips total 303.6m on Oct. 3, down 0.4% year on year
China's Ministry of Transport reported 303.568 million cross-regional passenger trips on Oct. 3, 2026, the third day of the National Day holiday, down 0.6% from the previous day and 0.4% below the same day in 2025. Rail volume rose 6.1% yea…
Japan farm ministry orders Fukui seafood firm over mislabeled Echizen crab gifts
Japan's agriculture ministry issued a measures order on Oct 6 against Fukumaru Foods, a seafood processor in Echizen Town, Fukui Prefecture, for labeling products as Echizen crab while using mizugani, a crab not counted as Echizen crab. The…
Army study found ICE shock gloves cause pain, compliance and fear, AP reports
A previously unreleased Army study found that shock gloves now purchased by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement caused intense pain, immediate compliance and fear of further shocks during a 2024 military exercise. Records obtained by t…
Nobel chemistry prize goes to Japan's Soai Kenso and France's Henri Kagan
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on 7 October that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Soai Kenso, 76, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, and Henri Kagan of France, for the discovery of nonlinear effects and …
South Korea weighs ending military service exemptions for athletes and artists
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said on October 6 that it is considering tightening or abolishing the military service exemption granted to athletes and artists, after some Asian Games gold medalists said exemption mattered more to them than…
Korea to factor Korean proficiency into student visas, tighten screening
South Korea’s Justice Ministry announced plans to weigh Korean-language ability across its foreign student visa system, exempting students with TOPIK level 4 or social integration programme stage 4 from proving financial capacity. Universit…
NASA delays Crew Dragon undocking from ISS to no earlier than 7 October
NASA and SpaceX have postponed the undocking of the Crew Dragon spacecraft of the Crew-12 mission from the International Space Station, TASS, iXBT and Interfax reported. The departure was originally expected on 5 October and is now set for …
China transport ministry flags 33 highway sections for Oct 4 congestion
China's Ministry of Transport said 33 sections of national highway are prone to congestion on Oct 4, the middle of the National Day holiday, mainly in Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan and Zhejiang. The ministry advised travellers planning…
China holiday consumption: long trips boom, trade-in subsidies lift store sales
China's National Day holiday brought a surge in long-distance travel, small-city tourism and immersive cultural experiences, according to Xinhua's market roundup published by China News Service. Trade-in subsidy programmes also boosted stor…
Nuri rocket completes fifth launch, placing satellites in orbit
South Korea’s Nuri rocket lifted off at 12:25 p.m. local time on Oct 7 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, carrying 15 satellites, the most in its history, and placed the five main ultra-small cluster satellites in their target orbit. Ne…
Nuri rocket lifts off on fifth flight carrying record 15 satellites
South Korea's Nuri rocket launched at 12:25 p.m. on Oct. 7 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, after the launch management committee confirmed the time that morning. The rocket carries 15 satellites — five NEOANSAT microsatellite cluster…
Sochi airport imposes temporary flight restrictions for fourth time in a day
Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency introduced temporary restrictions on the reception and release of aircraft at Sochi airport, Interfax reported, citing Rosaviatsia. The airport temporarily stopped servicing flights. According to Interf…
Nobel medicine prize goes to three researchers for optogenetics
The Karolinska Institute announced on October 5 that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University of Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzbur…
S. Korea farm minister says minor farmland survey violations won't be punished
Agriculture minister Song Mi-ryung told a parliamentary audit on Oct 7 that most ordinary, customary violations found in the government's full farmland survey would not be punished, and that the government has no plan or reason to confiscat…
Nuri declared a success on fifth flight; five cluster satellites make contact
South Korea's Nuri rocket lifted off at 12:25 p.m. from the Naro Space Center in Goheung and the Korea Aerospace Administration declared the fifth flight a success, saying all 15 satellites were placed in orbit. Officials said 14 of the 15 …
Nuri rocket lifts off at 12:25 with 15 satellites on fifth flight
South Korea's Nuri launch vehicle lifted off at 12:25 local time on Oct 7 from the second pad of the Naro Space Center in Goheung, carrying five ultra-small cluster satellites and 10 cubesats. Kerosene and liquid oxygen loading was complete…
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry, announced Wednesday at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, for work on molecules that exist as mirror images of each other. Kagan showed in the 1980s that …
Nobel physics prize goes to IceCube neutrino researcher Francis Halzen
Sweden's Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on 6 October that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery…
Defense minister: arts, sports military service exemption to be cut and abolished
South Korea's defense minister said on Oct 7 that the goal is to gradually reduce the arts and sports military service exemption and ultimately abolish it, after controversy over remarks by Asian Games football gold medallists about the exe…
Korea's top individual tax delinquent Kwon Hyuk to pay 393.8 billion won
The National Tax Service said on Oct 7 that Kwon Hyuk, chairman of Sido Group and the country's largest individual tax delinquent, has submitted a plan to pay his personal back taxes of 393.8 billion won in full, 15 years after the tax was …