SCMP World·Saturday, January 10, 2026

SCMP World - Saturday, January 10, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

US says it carried out new ‘large-scale’ strikes against Isis in Syria

US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead. Washington said a lone gunman from the militant group carried out the December 13 attack in Palmyra – home to Unesco-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by jihadist fighters – that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter. “The strikes today targeted ISIS...

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Trump declares US national emergency to protect Venezuela oil money

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, after the ousting of Nicolas Maduro, the White House said. In an order signed on Friday, Trump – who has made clear that tapping Venezuela’s vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ousting of Maduro – is acting “to advance US foreign policy objectives”, the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order. The action follows a meeting Friday in Washington where Trump..

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How the AI race could play out for the US, China and the world

The global artificial intelligence (AI) race remains one of the most hotly contested spheres of international competition. Few would bet today on an eventual winner, but current trends point to three possible scenarios that we should consider. In the first scenario, the AI world is dominated by the US and China. While the US still has the technological edge, China is closing in fast and vies with the US for leadership on many of the key dimensions of AI prowess. According to Stanford...

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Trump’s Venezuela and Greenland threats make Canada fear it’s next

For months, many Canadians hoped Donald Trump had lost interest in making their country the 51st US state – his plate full with turning Washington and the global trading system upside down. Those hopes are fading. The shock capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Trump’s ramped-up talk of seizing Greenland have rattled Canada, forcing citizens to take seriously the US president’s past threats to Canadian sovereignty. The administration’s declaration that “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” makes

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Minneapolis ICE shooting: mayor urges activists not to take Trump’s ‘bait’

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Saturday urged demonstrators protesting the fatal shooting of a ‍motorist by a US immigration agent to stay peaceful, saying that any unlawful actions would play into US President Donald Trump’s hands. Frey, a Democrat, cautioned them as civil liberties and migrant rights groups prepared nationwide rallies to protest the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday. Minnesota and US officials have offered.

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6 killed in Mississippi shootings, including 7-year-old child

Authorities have charged a 24-year-old man with murder after six people – including a child – were killed in a series of shootings in northeast Mississippi. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said the victims – four family members related to the suspect and two other adults – were shot at three separate locations late on Friday. The youngest victim was a cousin of the suspect. “I don’t know what kind of motive you could have to kill a seven-year-old,” Scott said at a press conference on...

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Irish farmers in protest march against EU-Mercosur trade deal: ‘very disappointing’

Thousands of Irish farmers protested on Saturday against the European Union’s trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, a day after EU states approved the treaty despite opposition from Ireland and France. Tractors streamed into the roads of Athlone, in central Ireland, for the demonstration, displaying signs including “Stop EU-Mercosur” and ones with the European Union flag emblazoned with the words “sell out”. Farmers on Friday also marched in Poland and blocked roads in France and...

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Trump’s immigration crackdown ‘invites danger’, sparking violent confrontations

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown increasingly is sparking violent confrontations with both migrants and American citizens, a development grimly underscored by an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman this week. Under ‌Trump’s orders to ramp up deportations, masked immigration officers have surged into Democratic-led cities, sprayed tear gas in residential streets, tackled people in car parks and pointed guns at bystanders trying to film them. A federal...

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1 dead in UK, 100,000 French homes without power as storms batter Europe

A man was killed after a tree fell on a caravan in England after record winds brought by Storm Goretti, as 100,000 homes in France were still without power on Saturday. Some 15 people have died in weather-related accidents this week across Europe as gale-force winds and storms caused travel mayhem, shut schools, and cut power to hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures. The storm barrelled through southwestern Cornwall and parts of Wales overnight Thursday to Friday, with gusts of up to...

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Crackdown fears grow as Iran rocked by new rallies: ‘most blatant tools of repression’

Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by new mass rallies denouncing the Islamic republic, as activists on Saturday expressed fear authorities were intensifying their suppression of the demonstrations under cover of an internet blackout. The two weeks of protests have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, although supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United...

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