SCMP News Digest
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Trump says will ‘de-escalate a little bit’ in Minneapolis, amid outcry over killings
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would “de-escalate a little bit” in Minneapolis, amid a backlash over the killings of two people by federal immigration agents.
“We’re going to de-escalate a little bit,” Trump told Fox News after he sent his border tsar Tom Homan to the city and was expected to pull out hardline Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.
Trump said Bovino was “very good, but he’s a pretty out there kind of a guy”, while saying of his shake-up in Minneapolis: “I don’t think…
In the age of Trump, are ‘safe-haven’ US assets not so safe any more?
For decades, the US dollar has served as the currency of global reserve, the de facto anchor for the vast majority of international exchanges.
Consequently, United States government debt – most commonly in the form of Treasury assets such as bonds, notes and bills – has long been regarded as a safe haven by investors, prized for its unmatched liquidity and deep market penetration.
That faith has remained strong in the past, even amid global financial crises. But the events of recent weeks…
US-China cooperation backed by most Americans, new national survey reveals
Most Americans favour cooperation with China in spite of Washington’s tougher stance on visas, research collaboration and tariffs, according to a new survey by the Committee of 100 (C100) civic group.
The results of the polling, conducted in June 2025 shortly after US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff onslaught and released this month, found relatively broad support for greater cooperation between Washington and Beijing on “diplomatic issues and policies that affect both…
Person critical after being shot in Border Patrol incident in Arizona
The US Border Patrol was involved in a shooting in Arizona on Tuesday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a statement, adding that his office was working with the FBI and Customs and Border Protection to look into the incident.
NBC News earlier reported, citing a Pima County Sheriff spokeswoman, that a person was in critical condition after being shot in an incident involving the Border Patrol.
The circumstances of the incident were not immediately clear and the person who was shot has…
Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight, a year into Trump term
The “Doomsday Clock” representing how near humanity is to catastrophe moved closer than ever to midnight on Tuesday as concerns grow on nuclear weapons, climate change and disinformation.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the metaphorical clock at the start of the Cold War, moved its time to 85 seconds to midnight – four seconds closer than a year ago.
The announcement comes a year into US President Donald Trump’s second term in which he has shattered global norms including by…
China’s CMOC makes US$1 billion Brazil gold push as bullion jumps on rising global risks
One of China’s largest mining companies has taken control of three gold mines in Brazil in a deal worth about US$1 billion, as gold prices hit historic highs amid rising economic and geopolitical uncertainty in the United States and a global flight to safe assets.
CMOC said on Tuesday it assumed operational control on January 23 after Brazilian regulators approved the transfer of the Aurizona mine in Maranhao, the Riacho dos Machados mine in Minas Gerais and the Complexo Bahia, which includes…
Carney rolls eyes at US Treasury chief, says he told Trump he meant what he said at Davos
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that he told US President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals.
Carney rolled his eyes and rejected US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday.
“To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the…
TikTok cites technical glitch as California probes alleged Trump-critical censorship
TikTok said on Tuesday that technical issues caused posting problems after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a probe into the company for allegedly censoring content critical of US President Donald Trump. This came days after the short video app operator closed a deal with the Trump administration to avoid a US ban.
Newsom said on Monday via social media that he was launching a review into whether TikTok violated state law, citing another user’s post showing that a message read…
North Korea fires ballistic missiles as US signals defence shift
North Korea fired what appeared to be ballistic missiles off its east coast days after the US released a new defence strategy signalling a reduction in American military support to deter Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Multiple ballistic missiles were launched on Tuesday from north of Pyongyang towards waters off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s coastguard said an object suspected of being a ballistic missile likely already fell into the sea.
“Our military is…
Composite tool find puts China at centre of tech revolution up to 160,000 years ago: paper
China may have led a Stone Age technological race as early as 160,000 years ago, by crafting sophisticated stone tools for cutting, piercing and sawing, according to a new study.
An international team of scientists said the discovery of hafted tools – the earliest evidence for composite tools in eastern Asia – had reshaped the understanding of human evolution in the region.
They said the find showed that hominins in China were much more inventive and adaptable than previously thought,…
Donald Trump carries out only 1 in 4 tariff threats, ‘Taco’ study says
In less than three weeks, US President Donald Trump has issued four sweeping tariff threats that, in normal times, would rattle investors, unnerve CEOs and send economists rushing to revise their growth forecasts for the targeted countries.
Instead, financial markets and C-suite executives have mostly shrugged off Trump’s latest warnings involving Iran’s trading partners, Greenland’s supporters, Canada and South Korea, seeing them as merely words intended to gain leverage or change behaviour –…
Hong Kong drivers warned to look out for sham compensation claims
Hong Kong police and insurers have warned motorists to be alert to road scammers seeking unusually high and belated compensation claims stemming from minor or non‑existent traffic accidents, with officers reviewing 30 such cases.
Superintendent Charles Fung Pui‑kei of the commercial crime bureau warned on Tuesday that the police force had recently received reports of drivers facing sudden massive civil claims, well after officers closed a traffic case. Some incidents involved a tiny bump or even…
Hong Kong Lunar New Year parade to feature Labubu, wishing tree on floats
Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year parade next month is expected to attract 100,000 people, with global toy sensation Labubu and the city’s storied wishing tree being featured on floats in the procession.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board, which organises the event, said that eight “distinctive” floats would be displayed at Kai Tak Sports Park one day after the event – the first time for such an arrangement.
The event will be held in Tsim Sha Tsui on the evening of February 17, the first day of Lunar New…
Hong Kong eyes bigger marathon with egg waffles and milk tea to cheer runners
Hong Kong authorities have signalled openness to expanding the city’s annual marathon, suggesting future routes could bring runners closer to the public, allowing residents to cheer them on with “egg waffles and milk tea” along the way.
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui told lawmakers that the government maintained a “positive and open” attitude towards expanding the capacity of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon or even turning it into a two-day event, an…
Judge orders ICE chief Todd Lyons to Minnesota court over Trump’s immigration crackdown
The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him on Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.
In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schlitz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for…
DeepSeek taps Alibaba open-source AI technology to boost OCR performance
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek on Tuesday unveiled an upgraded version of its optical character recognition (OCR) model, incorporating an Alibaba Cloud-developed open-source system to boost performance.
The new model, DeepSeek-OCR 2, replaced a key component of its original architecture with Alibaba Cloud’s lightweight Qwen2-0.5b model, according to a research paper released by the company.
The update, which comes just over three months after DeepSeek launched the first…
Chinese satellite forces 4,400 of its Starlink rivals into lower altitude: study
A team of researchers in China has claimed that a recent near-miss between a Chinese satellite and one of SpaceX’s Starlink devices was behind the US company’s decision to move more than 4,000 of its satellites into lower orbit.
The two satellites passed within about 200 metres (656 feet) of each other on December 10, shortly after a launch from northwestern China, according to a social media post last month by Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s vice-president of engineering.
Three weeks later, in…
Trump sells tariffs as farmers’ win in Iowa, but many aren’t buying it
After a bruising 2025 that pushed him to the brink of bankruptcy, Arkansas soybean farmer Randall Shelby starts the new year worried that US farmers could once again be caught in the crossfire as tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten to escalate anew.
This comes as US President Donald Trump addressed farmers on Tuesday in Iowa, the United States’ second-largest soybean producer, to try to convince them that he has their best interests at heart in advance of the November midterm…
Spain to buck Trump trend and legalise thousands of migrants
Spain’s government announced on Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorisation, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend towards increasingly harsh immigration policies championed by US President Donald Trump and seen across much of Europe.
Migration Minister Elma Saiz said the beneficiaries would be able to work “in any sector, in any part of the country”, and extolled “the positive…
On the wrong side: Hong Kong politicians trade barbs over lawmaker’s driving
An alleged traffic offence involving a Hong Kong lawmaker has sparked a fiery exchange between a veteran of the city’s biggest party and political heavyweight Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who defended her protege and was accused of double standards.
New People’s Party chairwoman Ip, convenor of the government’s key decision-making body Executive Council, reportedly snapped at former lawmaker Choy So-yuk, questioning whether her Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB),…