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Explosion and fire at Dallas residential building...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

An explosion and massive fire at a Dallas residential building Thursday killed a child and at least two other people following a blast that shook nearby homes and happened while firefighters were rushing to a reported gas leak, officials said. At least five people also went to hospitals with injuries, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans said. It was unclear how many residents lived in the two-storey complex in the Oak Cliff neighbourhood south of downtown Dallas, where a towering

How Chinese green tech and investment are reshaping...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Central Asia is tilting more decisively towards China as geopolitical uncertainty deepens, with Beijing’s expanding influence recasting the former Soviet states’ strategic orientation. In the second of a three-part series, Victoria Bela looks at how Kazakhstan is adopting China’s green tech and expertise to fight desertification, restore ecosystems and decarbonise industries. Read the first part here.Across the sweeping plains of Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region, construction began last month on

Can middle powers restore the international order?...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Recent articles in an Asia-focused international policy forum suggest that states such as Australia, Canada and South Korea can join up with other middle powers to secure the maritime order and restore the liberal international order. While well meaning and encouraging, the unfortunate truth is that these tasks are beyond the capacity of middle powers. The smartest ones won’t even try. Maritime security has transformed from a permissive environment dominated by uncontested naval supremacy into

Taylor Swift concert attack plot suspect found guilty...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

An Austrian court on Thursday convicted a man of planning to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna nearly two years ago. The state court in Wiener Neustadt found the 21-year-old defendant, an Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, guilty on charges including those related to the concert, the Austria Press Agency reported. His defence lawyer said he admitted to the charges related to the concert plot during the opening day of the trial last month. The...

Panama rejects US pressure claims as it seeks to ease...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday rejected suggestions that US pressure had shaped his government’s handling of a dispute over ports near the Panama Canal, as Panama seeks to stabilise relations with Beijing and renew a key maritime agreement. “The decision we made regarding those two ports was genuinely Panamanian,” Mulino said during his weekly press conference, after China accused unnamed “third parties” of interfering in bilateral ties. Mulino also expressed hope that...

Man jailed for 40 years to life for killing 4...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

There was no one in the courtroom on Thursday to speak on behalf of the four men Randy Santos bludgeoned to death with a metal bar as they slept on New York City’s Chinatown streets. No anguished friends or relatives to tell the judge about Chuen Kok, Florencio Moran, Nazario Vasquez Villegas and Anthony Manson’s abruptly shortened lives. No one to confront Santos face-to-face about his psychosis-fuelled rampage through Manhattan’s Chinatown neighbourhood nearly seven years ago, or to hear

Carney seeks new US-Canada partnership as world...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a “new partnership” with the United States to “help make America great again”, in a speech delivered in New York on Thursday. Carney said that while the world is ‌undergoing a “rupture” as the US transforms its commercial relationships, working closely with Canada in specific sectors, including aluminium, cars and critical minerals, would strengthen both countries. Asked about his January trip to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping,

Milan restores 19th century bull mosaic’s testicles...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Worn down by thousands of passers-by honouring an unusual tradition, a floor mosaic of an anatomically detailed bull in one of Milan’s grand arcades is getting a sensitive makeover. Legend has it that grinding one’s heel on the mosaic bull’s testicles at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II guarantees a return one day to the city. “Because of constant pirouettes on the heel made by tourists visiting Milan, the pink tesserae that make up its testicles have been worn down, forming a small crater,”...

Strikes kill family of 6 after Israel declares south...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Several members of a family were killed in fresh Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Thursday, health authorities said, as tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah continue to escalate despite a ceasefire. Six people were killed in a strike south of the coastal city of Sidon in the morning, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. The dead included two children as well as their mother and father, it added. The state news agency NNA reported that the victims were a family displaced by the...

Bruce Springsteen calls out Trump, announces Maryland...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard and Joan Baez will headline a star-studded protest festival set for the Washington area a month before the midterm elections. Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello announced the festival on Wednesday while performing together at Nationals Park in Washington as Springsteen winds down his Land of Hope and Dreams American tour. At the concert on Wednesday, Springsteen played many of his most political songs,...

US farmers seek firmer soybean guarantees despite...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Across the vast United States, soybean farmers caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war hoped for a deal on the crop when US President Donald Trump met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. There was optimism after the two presidents met in Busan, South Korea, in October, when China committed to increased soybean purchases. This time, however, Trump left Beijing without any concrete agricultural announcements, much less one about US farmers’ biggest export. Instead, a general...

Tentative agreement reached in Iran negotiations...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

A tentative agreement has been reached in the ongoing negotiations with Iran, US sources confirmed, though they stressed that the deal has not yet been finalised and remains subject to formal approval by US President Donald Trump. Trump has asked for a couple of days to consider the proposal before making a decision. “The teams have been going back and forth,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday at a White House press conference. He added that Trump has been “very clear”

China’s BYD aims for zero accidents with ‘God’s Eye’,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, has set its sights on achieving zero traffic accidents through self-developed autonomous driving technology, aiming to assemble next-generation cars affordable for mass consumers.Founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu told a press conference in Shenzhen on Thursday that BYD’s “God’s Eye” advanced driver-assistance system would be priced at just 12,000 yuan (US$1,770). The system allows drivers to go “hands off”, with BYD pledging to cover any...

For a yuan in deeper markets, Fed ex-president cites...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

China has a unique window to internationalise its currency by deepening domestic financial markets, according to a former senior US central bank official who pointed to the evolution of the US dollar and the euro for lessons to be gleaned. The comments from Charles Evans, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, provide a fresh perspective in the growing discussion over whether and how the world’s second-largest economy can transform the yuan into a global currency. Speaking

America at 250: how Trump’s foreign policy is...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy direction could have lasting effects on America’s alliances and global leadership, and it could also speed up the shift to a multipolar world where China plays a bigger role. That is according to Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. Speaking at a seminar hosted by the university on Tuesday, Wu said the Trump administration was “reshaping US foreign policy” – and it could be a turning point for the...

US key inflation gauge worsens, eroding Americans’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

A key inflation gauge accelerated in April to the highest level in three years, the latest sign that spiking gas prices and higher food costs are squeezing Americans’ finances. Inflation jumped to 3.8 per cent in April compared with a year ago, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, up from 3.5 per cent in March and the highest since May 2023. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.4 per cent, down from the 0.7 per cent jump in March. The report showed that prices have risen for many items in...

Hong Kong approves smart IoT fire alarms for 3,600...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department has given approval for 3,600 old low-rise residential buildings to install a new Internet of Things (IoT) smart fire alarm system as an alternative to traditional fire-safety equipment, following a successful pilot scheme in the first quarter of this year. The IoT-enabled system consists of detectors installed in individual flats and public areas of the building, which send warning signals to the department within 60 seconds of detecting carbon monoxide or...

Veteran lawyer seeks judicial review over alleged...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

A veteran Hong Kong barrister ordered to demolish alleged illegal structures on his home has lodged a judicial challenge after building authorities refused to consider a constitutional argument he raised earlier. Senior counsel Alan Hoo’s lawyers applied to the High Court for a judicial review over the extent of jurisdiction of the Appeal Tribunal (Buildings Ordinance), saying the statutory body was entitled to decide whether an order to remove unauthorised structures would violate

Hong Kong bus driver suspended after video shows him...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

A Hong Kong franchised bus operator has suspended a driver after video footage surfaced online showing him operating a vehicle without either hand on the steering wheel. The incident, which sparked widespread safety concerns on social media on Thursday, prompted KMB to launch an immediate investigation into the driver’s conduct. In a 17-second clip filmed from an adjacent vehicle, the driver can be seen completely releasing his grip on the steering wheel while the bus is in motion, instead

El Nino may turn coming tropical cyclones into super...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/28

The El Nino weather phenomenon could turn the four to seven tropical cyclones predicted to hit Hong Kong this year into super typhoons, the Observatory has said. The weather forecaster also said on Thursday that the 33.4 degrees Celsius (92.1 Fahrenheit) recorded at its Tsim Sha Tsui headquarters was likely to be surpassed on Friday, when the mercury was set to rise to 35 degrees Celsius. It added that temperatures could rise higher on Friday if showers and thunderstorms occurred at dusk or...

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