SCMP Asia·Wednesday, December 31, 2025

SCMP Asia - Wednesday, December 31, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Australia sees defiant start to 2026 after mass shooting

Auckland was the first major city to ring in 2026 with a fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, followed by a defiant celebration in Australia in the aftermath of a horrific mass shooting. South Pacific countries were the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland 18 hours before the famous ball drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks. Australia’s east coast welcomed 2026 two hours after New...

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Japan’s PM, women MPs, call for more toilets

Nearly 60 women lawmakers in Japan, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building to match their improved representation. Although the number of women politicians rose at the last election and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October, Japanese politics remains massively male-dominated. This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles near the Diet’s main plenary session.

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Singapore PM excited about Jessica Sanchez’s Philippines show, Marcos’ wife says

The Philippines is adding a dash of star power to next year’s Asean summit by tapping Filipino-American singer Jessica Sanchez, and one famous fan of hers is said to be looking forward to her performance: Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. While meeting with Sanchez on Tuesday in Manila, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said that he had invited the America’s Got Talent season 20 winner to the bloc’s May diplomatic gathering in Cebu. Speaking during the meeting, first lady Liza Marcos said...

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Thailand releases 18 Cambodian soldiers held since July

Thailand on Wednesday released 18 Cambodian soldiers held for five months as prisoners of war, days after a fresh truce between the nations ended weeks of deadly fighting along their contested frontier. A decades-old border dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbours erupted into military clashes several times this year, with the latest round of fighting in December killing dozens of people and displacing more than a million. Some of the 18 soldiers, with closely cropped hair, smiled, waved..

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As commissioners quit, Philippines’ flood-control probe faces credibility crisis

The resignation of a second commissioner from a Philippine presidential fact-finding body investigating alleged corruption in flood control projects has left the panel with only its chair, raising fresh doubts about the state’s ability to hold powerful interests to account amid the sprawling scandal. The exits come as the investigation has become a focal point of public anger over billions of pesos spent on poorly constructed or non-existent flood control infrastructure that critics say failed..

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Why return of Zia’s son may influence Bangladesh’s election

The death of Bangladesh’s three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia just days after her son Tarique Rahman returned from a 17-year exile has created a groundswell of sympathy for the family, with analysts saying Zia’s legacy may tilt the country’s February election in favour of her party. With the polls set to be the first since student-led protests toppled the government of Zia’s long-time rival, Sheikh Hasina, and the Awami League barred from contesting, analysts said Zia’s death on Tuesday

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Malaysian forced to scam Hongkongers recalls year-long nightmare in Myanmar

What began as an overseas job opportunity turned into a year-long nightmare for a 26-year-old Malaysian who was forced to work for an online scam syndicate in Myawaddy, Myanmar. The victim, who wanted to be known only as Chew, said he was among 31 Malaysians safely repatriated on December 20 after being rescued from a scam compound during a security raid by Myanmar authorities. Chew, who works as a ground staff member for an airline company at Singapore’s Changi Airport, said his ordeal began on

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Muslim businesses in China target Malaysia as global halal gateway

Smoke from charcoal grills hangs over rows of food stalls as vendors at a Kuala Lumpur mall skewer lamb and pull long strands of noodles by hand, with the smell of cumin and chilli filling the evening air. At an outdoor area of 1 Utama Shopping Mall, dishes from China’s Muslim heartlands – Lanzhou beef noodles, Xinjiang lamb skewers, hand-grabbed lamb and others – are drawing steady crowds at a Chinese Muslim food festival, now in its third year. The growing popularity of the festival is a sign.

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In Australia, local and global treasure hunters get gold fever as prices skyrocket

In the hinterlands of Australia’s historic goldfields, Vicki Plumridge jumps for joy when she digs a small golden nugget out of the earth. The retired retail worker was ‌learning how to use her new metal detector when it started bleeping by the moss-covered ruins of a building. After Plumridge dug the nugget out of the shallow dirt with a plastic trowel, ‍a guide estimated it was around 0.2 of a gram of gold, worth about A$40 (US$26.58). “But to me, it’s worth a million dollars,” said the...

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Will Ocean Infinity finally solve the flight MH370 mystery in Indian Ocean?

Nearly 12 years after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board, the search for answers to one of aviation’s most haunting riddles resumed on Tuesday in the remote southern Indian Ocean. Armed with cutting-edge deep-sea robots and smarter data, US investigators are scouring the seabed for clues that have eluded governments, experts and grieving families for more than a decade. MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur just after midnight on March 8, 2014, bound for Beijing on what.

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