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AdvertisementHong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedyHong KongSocietyRebuilding fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court ‘not practical’, Hong Kong officials sayAuthorities plan to repurpose Tai Po site for community use, citing decade-long delays and HK$6 billion in acquisition costs before rebuilding
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPLam Ka-singPublished: 1:46pm, 10 Jan 2026Updated: 1:55pm, 10 Jan 2026Hong Kong authorities estimate that acquiring all homes in the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court will cost around HK$6 billion (US$770 million), with officials saying that rebuilding on the same site was “not really very practical”.
Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said on Saturday that the site was expected to be repurposed for community facilities rather than housing, citing overseas examples where sites of similar tragedies were rarely redeveloped for residential use. He stressed that “no one will earn big money” from the land in future.
“In this moment, we feel on-site reconstruction i..

Trump (File photo) After, Venezuelan military op and threatening Greenland and Columbia, US President Donald Trump now seems to turn his attention to Mexico, to target drug cartels, following maritime attacks in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.“We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity aired on Thursday night, signalling a tougher stance on cross-border cartel operations.Any direct action against cartels inside Mexico, however, would represent a major escalation of US military involvement in the region. Trump said on Sunday that he was pressing Sheinbaum to allow US troops to operate in Mexico against drug cartels, an offer he claimed she had previously rejected.then, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum warned on Monday that the Americas “do not belong” to any single power, responding to Trump’s comments about Washington’s “dominance” of the hemisphere following..

Northern lights may drift across US skies this week: Know where to spot them Northern skies do not always announce themselves. Most nights pass quietly, even when something distant is shifting above the planet. This week is slightly different. A pulse of solar activity is moving through Earth’s magnetic field, and that change may be just enough to push the northern lights into view across parts of the United States. It is not guaranteed, and it will not look the same everywhere. Some people may see soft colour low on the horizon, others nothing at all. Still, for a short window in early January, the odds tilt a little. Space weather forecasters are watching closely, and so are sky watchers, hoping the darkness offers something unexpected rather than empty for once during the coldest stretch of winter nights.Which US states are most likely to see the Nothern lights this weekThe strongest chances sit far north, as they usually do. Alaska remains the most reliable place, almost separate f..

AdvertisementIsrael-Gaza warWorldMiddle EastIsrael says Bulgarian diplomat to direct Trump’s Board of Peace for GazaThe Board of Peace is meant to oversee the implementation of the second and far more complicated phase of the Gaza ceasefire
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPAssociated PressPublished: 1:12pm, 9 Jan 2026A former UN Middle East envoy has been chosen to direct US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel’s prime minister said on Thursday, as at least eight more deaths from Israeli strikes were reported there.
The appointment of Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov marks an important step forward for Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which has moved slowly since delivering an October ceasefire ending more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement after meeting Mladenov in Jerusalem, identifying him as the “designated” director general for the board, which is meant to oversee t..