SCMP Asia·Saturday, December 27, 2025

SCMP Asia - Saturday, December 27, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Indonesian rescuers search for Spanish father, 3 children after tourist boat sinks

Indonesian rescuers searched for four members of a Spanish family on Saturday after a tour boat carrying 11 people sank overnight near Padar Island, a popular destination within Komodo National Park, officials said. The boat was carrying the family of six, four crew members and a local guide when it went down on Friday evening after suffering engine failure on a trip from Komodo Island to Padar, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Maumere Search and Rescue Office. He said three people were rescued

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Honouring ancestors, shaping empires: the story of Southeast Asia’s Peranakan Chinese

In dark blue suits, the elders of the Khoo clan gathered outside the prayer halls of the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi, a grand 190-year-old clanhouse in George Town, the capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. One by one, they stepped inside for the Tung Chen ceremony, held annually on the first day of the winter solstice, a ritual that draws together members of the Khoo clan, one of the oldest Peranakan communities, from far beyond Penang. As smoke filled the air, Khoo Kay Hock, a senior...

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Thailand, Cambodia sign new ceasefire deal to end deadly border clashes

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an “immediate” ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end weeks of deadly border clashes. At least 47 people were killed and more than a million displaced in three weeks of fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets, according to official tallies. The conflict spread to nearly every border province on both sides, shattering an earlier truce for which US President Donald Trump took credit. “Both sides agree to an...

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Singapore in 2025: election fever, courtroom drama, pickleball mania

Singapore saw plenty of drama unfold this year, from pickleball courts to the Supreme Court. The city state was gripped by election fever in May, when the People’s Action Party maintained its dominance at the polls. On the trade front, Washington’s imposition of a 10 per cent tariff on Singapore elicited a strong reaction from Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. The jury is still out on whether US President Donald Trump would introduce levies on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, which could deliver.

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2 killed in Japan as 50-vehicle pile-up leads to crash on icy expressway

A massive crash in snowy weather killed two people and injured 26 on an expressway in Japan late on Friday as the country kicked off its end-of-the-year holiday season. The Gunma prefectural highway police said on Saturday that the pile-up on the Kan-etsu Expressway started with a collision between two trucks in the town of Minakami, about 160km (100 miles) northwest of Tokyo. A 77-year-old woman from Tokyo died, while a body was found in the driver’s seat of a large truck, police said. Out of..

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Safety fears as Japan prepares to restart nuclear plant ‘built on tofu’

Campaigners against nuclear energy have condemned Japan’s decision to resume operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant, claiming that the facility will be unable to withstand a major earthquake as it was “built on tofu”. Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the operator of the Niigata prefecture plant, on Wednesday applied for a final examination of the facility to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Approval is likely to be a formality as the prefectural assembly already gave the nod on.

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‘Lost my future’: Myanmar’s ‘charade’ election dims hopes of diaspora

Taya says her life was looking up as Myanmar crept out from decades of isolation. She had a job in marketing, enough money to shop in Yangon’s new retail plazas and fuel her quiet dreams of opening a small bakery, as her generation enjoyed unprecedented economic and personal freedoms. But that was before Myanmar’s short-lived experiment with greater democracy ended in a coup in 2021. With the military once more in charge, the economy is in free fall, and inflation has surged to well over 20 per.

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Chinese chipmaker CXMT in crosshairs of South Korean prosecutors over Samsung tech leak

Prosecutors in South Korea have indicted 10 people, including former Samsung Electronics executives, for allegedly leaking the company’s technology to Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday said five people had been arrested, including a former Samsung executive who allegedly recruited key personnel and leaked the company’s proprietary technology to CXMT, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency. They face charges for..

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India’s rice exports face price pressures as Trump threatens more tariffs

India, the world’s largest rice exporter, could see its shipments to the US become more expensive if President Donald Trump follows through on a threat to impose higher tariffs after accusing the country of dumping rice. Industry executives said the move was unlikely to significantly dent export volumes, but warned of potential wider repercussions, including pressure on prices in other markets, efforts by importers to divert shipments and renewed strain in trade talks where agriculture and dairy

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Japan stabbing rampage leaves 15 injured at Yokohama rubber factory

Fifteen people were injured in a stabbing attack in a rubber factory in central Japan on Friday during which an unspecified liquid was also sprayed, emergency officials said. “All fifteen people were sent to hospital,” said a firefighting department official in the city of Mishima, southwest of Tokyo. The official, declining to be named, said that of the 15 injuries, eight were the result of stabbing and seven due to the liquid. Some local media outlets, quoting unnamed sources, said the liquid.

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