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Received today — 30 April 2026 World - South China Morning Post

Brown University shooter targeted symbolic victims tied to grievances, FBI says

29 April 2026 at 22:14
Federal investigators say they believe the man who carried out a mass shooting at Brown University and later killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor did not act randomly. Instead, former Brown student Claudio Neves Valente, 48, appeared to target places and people for what they represented in his own life – institutions and individuals he associated with personal failure, missed opportunity and perceived injustice. In a detailed behavioural assessment released on Wednesday, the...

Received yesterday — 29 April 2026 World - South China Morning Post

Man charged with trying to kill Trump took photo with knife in hotel

29 April 2026 at 17:35
The man charged with trying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and kill US President Donald Trump took a picture of himself in his hotel room just minutes earlier, outfitted with an ammunition bag, a shoulder gun holster and a sheathed knife, authorities said on Wednesday in a new court filing. Cole Allen wore black pants, a black shirt and a red tie as he snapped the image in his room at the Washington Hilton, where Trump and hundreds of journalists were meeting for a...

UK police say London stabbing of 2 Jewish men is terrorist incident

29 April 2026 at 14:54
London police say the stabbing of two Jewish men on Wednesday has been declared a terrorist incident. Metropolitan Police say they are investigating whether the attack specifically targeted the Jewish community. The force says the incident, in the Golders Green area, left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalised with knife wounds. A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Police are investigating whether the stabbings are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and...

Received — 28 April 2026 World - South China Morning Post

Ukraine shot down 33,000 Russian drones in 1 month: defence minister

28 April 2026 at 15:25
Ukraine used interceptor systems to shoot down more than 33,000 Russian drones of various types in March, a record monthly figure since Moscow launched its all-out invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine’s defence minister claimed. Ukraine has developed cutting-edge and battle-tested drone technology that has proved essential in holding back Russia’s bigger army and has drawn military interest from around the world. Interceptor drones as part of a comprehensive air defence system are now...

Greece man, 89, arrested after Athens shooting injures 5 people

28 April 2026 at 12:05
An 89-year-old man armed with a hunting rifle opened fire inside a Greek social security office in Athens on Tuesday, wounding an employee in the leg, authorities said. The suspect then carried out a second shooting at a courthouse in the city, leaving four more people lightly injured. The attack was reportedly sparked by problems with the man’s pension payments. He was arrested a few hours after the shootings in the port city of Patras, state broadcaster ERT reported. Earlier, local media...

Austria Islamic State man admits plot on Taylor Swift concert in Vienna

28 April 2026 at 10:50
A man accused of pledging allegiance to Islamic State group and plotting to attack one of superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago pleaded guilty as his trial began on Tuesday, Austrian media reported. The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still cancelled Swift’s three performances in August 2024. The singer’s fans, known as Swifties, who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance of her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated,...

Mexico captures top cartel leader ‘El Jardinero’ hiding in roadside ditch

28 April 2026 at 05:13
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexico’s most powerful criminal enterprise, suffered another blow on Monday when the Mexican military captured one of its top leaders in the northwest of the country, two months after the cartel’s leader was killed. Audias Flores Silva, also known as “El Jardinero”, or The Gardener, was seen as a possible successor to the killed leader and the United States had a US$5 million reward out for information leading to his arrest. The CJNG regional commander was...

Received — 27 April 2026 World - South China Morning Post

Archaeologists use AI to reconstruct Pompeii victim’s face and final moments

27 April 2026 at 17:04
Archaeologists and researchers at the ancient Roman site of Pompeii have used artificial intelligence for the first time to digitally reconstruct the face of a man killed in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius that smothered the city, offering a new way to understand one of history’s most famous natural disasters. The digital portrait represents a man whose remains, along with those of another person, were discovered as they attempted to flee the city towards the coast of what is now Italy...

US Justice Department cites shooting as need for Trump’s ballroom

26 April 2026 at 23:16
US President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is using the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday to try to pressure preservationists to drop their lawsuit over his planned US$400 million ballroom on the site of the former East Wing of the White House. “It’s time to build the ballroom,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said plainly on Sunday on social media, posting a letter in which Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate gave the National Trust for Historic...

Received — 26 April 2026 World - South China Morning Post

Strikes in Ukraine and Russia kill at least 16 on Chernobyl disaster anniversary

26 April 2026 at 17:57
Strikes across Ukraine, Russian-occupied territory and Russia over the past day killed at least 16 people, authorities said on Sunday as the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster prompted new warnings about risks posed by attacks near the plant during Russia’s more than four-year invasion of its neighbour. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the anniversary with a warning that Russian attacks risk repeating history. “Russia is once again bringing the world to the brink of...

Syria begins long-awaited first trial of Assad-era officials

26 April 2026 at 11:52
The first public trial in Syria of officials linked to the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad opened in Damascus on Sunday. Atef Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general who was head of the Political Security Branch in southern Syria’s Daraa province under Assad, and who is also a cousin of the former president, appeared in the courtroom to face charges related to “crimes against the Syrian people,” the state-run news agency SANA reported. Najib was in that position in 2011 when...

Ukrainians gather to remember Chernobyl disaster despite Russia’s war

26 April 2026 at 10:44
People streamed into the central square of Slavutych in the early hours of Sunday, placing candles on a large radiation hazard symbol laid out on the ground as a midnight commemoration began for those killed in the Chernobyl disaster 40 years ago and the thousands who risked deadly radiation exposure to contain its aftermath. Residents show up for the vigil each year despite wartime curfews and official warnings against large gatherings during Russia’s war on Ukraine. The April 26, 1986 disaster...

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