SCMP Asia·Monday, December 29, 2025

SCMP Asia - Monday, December 29, 2025

10 stories~15 min

Listen to this episode

Hear all 10 stories summarized and read aloud.

▶Play on Tera.fm

Stories Covered

Myanmar pro-military party claims big lead in disputed junta-run poll: ‘election not credible’

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the elections, a senior party official said, after democracy watchdogs warned the junta-run poll would entrench military rule. The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people. “We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” a senior member of the Union..

Read original →

Malaysia army chief on leave as procurement scandal sparks anti-corruption raids

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency said on Monday that it has raided ‌several firms alleged to be involved in bribery ‍linked to army procurement projects, days after the country’s army chief was placed on leave pending an investigation into the matter. Azam Baki, chief commissioner ⁠of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said the agency had also frozen six bank accounts belonging to a suspect and their family members as part of the probe. He did not provide ‍details about the...

Read original →

Bondi Beach attack hero Ahmed al Ahmed wanted to protect ‘innocent people’

Bondi Beach shooting hero Ahmed al Ahmed recalled the moment he ran towards one of the attackers and wrestled the gun from him, saying in an interview published on Monday with a US outlet he wanted to protect “innocent people”. Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram are accused of targeting a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people and wounding dozens in what authorities have described as an antisemitic terrorist attack. Despite the tragedy, tales of heroism...

Read original →

Will Tarique Rahman’s return to Bangladesh ease tensions, restore stability?

The recent homecoming of Tarique Rahman, the de facto leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and heir to one of the country’s most powerful political families, is widely expected to reshape the political trajectory ahead of February’s national election. Analysts say his return after 17 years in exile could consolidate the BNP’s position as the dominant electoral force, while tempering a volatile political climate unsettled by unrest and tensions with India following the overthrow of...

Read original →

Typhoon-hit Philippines learns disaster preparations with a board game

In a library in the Philippines, dice rattle on the surface of a board before coming to a stop, putting one of its players straight into the path of a powerful typhoon. The teenagers huddled around the table leap into action, shouting instructions and acting out the correct strategies for just one of the potential catastrophes laid out in the board game called Master of Disaster. With fewer than half of Filipinos estimated to have undertaken disaster drills or to own a first aid kit, the game...

Read original →

Najib’s new 1MDB verdict deepens Umno rifts, testing Malaysia’s unity government

The fresh prison sentence handed to disgraced former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has sharpened tensions inside Umno, with analysts warning the legal blow to the party’s former figurehead could fuel calls for a withdrawal from the coalition led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. On Friday, a Malaysian court sentenced Najib, 72, to a further 15 years in prison after finding him guilty on all 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering linked to the siphoning of 2.3 billion ringgit...

Read original →

Why Myanmar’s junta election cannot hide a collapsing economy

Myanmar’s junta-held election will not mask the nation’s dire economic condition, experts warn, as civil war drives some of the highest inflation in Asia, power shortages hack at production and the country’s military rulers seek fast cash from the sale of rare earths and kickbacks from drugs and scams. The military has begun a phased election, with voting in some areas taking place on Sunday and further rounds planned in January, a process critics say is designed to project control rather than..

Read original →

Fire at Indonesia retirement home kills 16 elderly residents

A fire at an Indonesian retirement home killed 16 older people on Sunday evening, police said. The fire in the single-storey house in Manado in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi Province started while the residents were asleep, police said on Monday. “The team on the ground has confirmed that the death toll currently is 16,” North Sulawesi police spokesperson Alamsyah Hasibuan said. “Fifteen of them were burned to death, while one victim’s body remains intact.” There were 15 survivors who were treated.

Read original →

Ex-rapper Balendra Shah to run for Nepal PM after youth-led protests

Two popular leaders have formed an alliance ahead of March parliamentary elections in Nepal that will challenge the older parties which have dominated the Himalayan nation’s politics for over three decades, party officials and analysts said on Monday. Rapper turned-Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, known as Balen, a popular ⁠elected official, joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) or national independent party, led by a former TV host-turned politician Rabi Lamichhane on Sunday, party officials.

Read original →

Nepal probes illegal matchmaking as China cautions citizens over ‘bride buying’

Nepal is stepping up scrutiny of illegal cross-border matchmaking after authorities uncovered cases in which brokers and online intermediaries were marketing Nepali women as prospective brides for Chinese nationals, prompting increased enforcement and official warnings. The Chinese Embassy in Nepal issued a New Year’s travel advisory cautioning its citizens against what it described as “bride buying” in the country, urging them not to trust matchmaking agencies and brokers blindly and stressing.

Read original →