While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 8, 2025
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Black smoke rising from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on the first day of the conclave to elect a new pope, in the Vatican City on May 7.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Black smoke: Cardinals fail to elect new pope on first try
Thick black smoke emerged on May 7 from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in a sign that cardinals had failed to elect a new head of the Catholic Church in their first conclave vote.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in St Peter’s Square to await the smoke, which came around three hours and 15 minutes after the 133 cardinals were closed in.
The prelates will now withdraw to the Santa Marta guesthouse where they are staying for the election, before starting to vote again on May 8.
Cardinals were called back to Rome following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 after 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Poland police say one killed in axe attack at Warsaw University
REUTERS
Police said on May 7 they had detained a 22-year-old Polish man after he killed one person with an axe at Warsaw University, in an attack the institution described as a “huge tragedy”.
“Police have detained a man who entered the University of Warsaw campus. One person died, another was taken to hospital with injuries,” Warsaw Police said, in a statement on X.
They said the incident occurred at around 6.40pm (12.40am on May 8 in Singapore), when the man attacked people on the campus with an axe, adding that the detainee was a 22-year-old Polish citizen.
US V-P Vance adopts more conciliatory tone towards Europe
US Vice-President J.D. Vance on May 7 said Europe and the United States were “on the same team” but needed a better joint security posture, taking a more conciliatory tone after alarming allies with sharp remarks during a visit to Germany in February.
During an event in Washington sponsored by the Munich Security Conference, Mr Vance reiterated his and President Donald Trump’s belief that Europe needed to take on more responsibility related to defence. Mr Vance said both sides of the Atlantic had become too comfortable with an outdated security system that was not adequate to meet the challenges of the next 20 years.
The vice-president has played an attack dog role repeatedly for Mr Trump on foreign policy but stepped back from that approach in his remarks at the conference on May 7.
France’s Macron wants EU to end Syria sanctions
AFP
France’s President said on May 7 he would urge the EU to end sanctions on Syria when they come up for renewal in June and lobby the US to follow suit as well as keep its troops there to ensure Syria’s stability.
Speaking alongside Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was in Paris for his first trip to Europe since the overthrow of former president Bashar al-Assad in December, Mr Emmanuel Macron said it was the international community’s duty to ease Syria’s economic plight.
“I told the President that if he continues on his path, we would do the same. Namely, by first progressively lifting European sanctions, and then we would also lobby our American partners to follow suit on this matter,” Mr Macron said.
Google agrees to fund three US nuclear power plants
REUTERS
Tech giant Google and nuclear developer Elementl Power have signed an agreement to develop three advanced nuclear power plants in the United States, according to a statement released on May 7.
The partnership comes as technology companies seek new power sources to meet the growing energy demands of the generative AI revolution.
Under the agreement, Google will provide early-stage development capital for three projects, each designed to generate at least 600 megawatts of power capacity, each roughly the equivalent to a standard large power plant.
