Boomtown

China's Xi Jinping recently declared that he wants China to rank as one of the world's most innovative countries by 2020 and to top the list by mid-century. Going by past practice, this probably means a lot more money being poured into dodgy startups and ill-conceived high-tech schemes. There's a better model to be found, however, one that's surpri...

After a wildfire blazed a path of destruction in the oil boomtown of Fort McMurray, Canadian towns in heavily wooded northern Alberta are scrambling to take precautions against fire as hot weather and dry vegetation increase the risk.

Canadian officials on Monday got their first glimpse of the oil sands boomtown of Fort McMurray since a wildfire hit and saw a "heartbreaking" number of destroyed homes but a largely intact downtown business area.

Over a year ago, a government-run newspaper warned that a boomtown in southern China would run out of space to dump the waste left behind from a building frenzy.

On a bustling street in China's southern boomtown of Shenzhen, more than 30 stores carrying Apple Inc's iconic white logos peddle pre-orders for the new iPhone, a gadget that has become a status symbol among many better-off Chinese.

Living and working just a few hundred metres from Hong Kong, residents of neighbouring Chinese boomtown Shenzhen are infuriated by new restrictions on travel to the former British colony.

China's Xi Jinping recently declared that he wants China to rank as one of the world's most innovative countries by 2020 and to top the list by mid-century. Going by past practice, this probably means a lot more money being poured into dodgy startups and ill-conceived high-tech schemes. There's a better model to be found, however, one that's surpri...

After a wildfire blazed a path of destruction in the oil boomtown of Fort McMurray, Canadian towns in heavily wooded northern Alberta are scrambling to take precautions against fire as hot weather and dry vegetation increase the risk.

Canadian officials on Monday got their first glimpse of the oil sands boomtown of Fort McMurray since a wildfire hit and saw a "heartbreaking" number of destroyed homes but a largely intact downtown business area.

Over a year ago, a government-run newspaper warned that a boomtown in southern China would run out of space to dump the waste left behind from a building frenzy.

On a bustling street in China's southern boomtown of Shenzhen, more than 30 stores carrying Apple Inc's iconic white logos peddle pre-orders for the new iPhone, a gadget that has become a status symbol among many better-off Chinese.

Living and working just a few hundred metres from Hong Kong, residents of neighbouring Chinese boomtown Shenzhen are infuriated by new restrictions on travel to the former British colony.