There have been precious few positives during the COVID pandemic but British academics may have unearthed one: people look more attractive in protective masks.Researchers at Cardiff University were surprised to find that both men and women were judged to look better with a face-covering obscuring the lower half of their faces.In what may be a blow for producers of fashionable coverings - and the environment - they also discovered that a face covered with a disposable-type surgical mask was li

United States (US) surgeons have successfully implanted a heart from a genetically modified pig in a 57-year-old man, a medical first that could one day help solve the chronic shortage of organ donations.The "historic" procedure took place Friday, the University of Maryland Medical School said in a statement on Monday.

Thousands more people have fled swamped homes as heavy rains exacerbated flooding in seven Malaysian states, officials said Sunday, with over 125,000 people evacuated in total since mid-December. The National Disaster Management Agency said the weeks-long bout of bad weather was expected to carry on until Tuesday.

The death toll from one of the most destructive typhoons to hit the Philippines in recent years rose to 388 on Monday, the government said, as disease outbreaks threatened some of the stricken areas.Typhoon Rai struck the south and centre of the Asian nation on 16 and 17 December, toppling power lines and trees and unleashing deadly floods that also left hundreds of thousands homeless.The civil defence office in Manila raised the death toll from Rai to 388 with 60 others missing and hundreds

Chheut Dina was only a few days into her reduced shift cleaning Siem Reap International Airport when she was told not to come back to work.After 10 months with practically no tourism, the airport dropped its contract with Dina’s employer in December 2020, forcing her to cut spending on her family of seven and refinance a US$11,000 loan she took out before the pandemic.

Father Ricardo Virtudazo stands in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church in the southern Philippines, delivering Christmas Day Mass to dozens of devotees whose wishes this year were for new roofs, food and fine weather.More than a week after Super Typhoon Rai cut through the archipelago, killing nearly 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, survivors clung to family and faith after their homes - and planned festivities - were wiped out.“What’s important is all of us are sa

Concepcion Tumanda picks through the mud-caked wreckage of her home on a Philippine island devastated by Typhoon Rai that left hundreds dead across the country and survivors pleading for food and water.Rai slammed into the popular tourist destination of Bohol last Thursday, dumping torrential rain, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and smashing fishing boats."The house was destroyed, everything was broken," Tumanda told AFP, weeping as she stood in the ruins of her home in the rive

In April last year, Unyakarn Booprasert, a Thai cleaner, tried to commit suicide in front of the Ministry of Finance’s building with rat poison as a “protest”, as what she was going through “happened to many people.”“I completely ran out of money. I called my friends and relatives. Everyone had no money,” Booprasert explained.

The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has surged to 208, the national police said Monday, making it one of the deadliest storms to hit the country in recent years.At least 239 people were injured and 52 were missing after Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago, the police tally showed.More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Rai slammed into the country on Thursday as a super typhoon.The Philippin

More than 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Malaysia on Sunday as the country battles some of its worst floodings in years.The tropical Southeast Asian nation often sees stormy monsoon seasons towards the end of the year, with flooding regularly prompting mass evacuations.Downpours since Friday have caused rivers to overflow, submerging many urban areas and cutting off major roads, leaving thousands of motorists stranded.More than 30,000 flood victims across eight states and te