SCMP World·Sunday, December 14, 2025

SCMP World - Sunday, December 14, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

French farmers spray manure, keep up road blocks over cow ‘mass slaughter’

Farmers sprayed manure on government offices and kept up roadblocks in southern France on Sunday in protest against a mass cull of cows as officials urged Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to urgently intervene. Many farmers in southern and southwest France have been incensed by the use of police force and the government’s mass slaughter policy to contain the spread of nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease. Farmers have blocked roads after veterinarians on Friday slaughtered a...

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Netanyahu accuses Australia’s PM of inaction in tackling antisemitism

Following the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Australia of not taking decisive action to tackle antisemitism. Netanyahu said in a statement that he had warned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a letter four months ago, stating that “the Australian government’s policy was promoting and encouraging antisemitism in Australia”. Australia and other leading nations formally recognised the State of...

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Egypt reveals restored colossal statues of pharaoh in Luxor in bid to boost tourism

Egypt on Sunday revealed the revamp of two colossal statues of a prominent pharaoh in the southern city of Luxor, the latest in the government’s archaeological events that aim at drawing more tourists to the country. The giant alabaster statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were reassembled in a renovation project that lasted about two decades. They represent Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt about 3,400 years ago. “Today we are celebrating, actually, the finishing and the erecting of...

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Ukraine’s Zelensky eyes US, EU guarantees to prevent more Russian aggression

President Volodymyr Zelensky has signalled that Ukraine could accept security guarantees from the US and Europe as a way to prevent future Russian aggression, and substitute for its long-term goal of joining Nato. Kyiv, which for years has seen membership in the alliance as a way to ensure its future security, has altered its rhetoric amid continued reluctance of the US and some European partners and as Washington presses efforts to bring the war to an end. Bilateral security agreements between.

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Germany thwarts Islamist plot to ram vehicle into Christmas market

German authorities said on Saturday they had arrested five men on suspicion of involvement in an Islamist plot to plough a vehicle into people at a Christmas market. Officials have been on high alert during the festive season after a deadly car-ramming attack at a market in the city of Magdeburg last Christmas shocked the nation. Police and prosecutors said they had detained an Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian on Friday over the plan to carry out the attack in southern Bavaria...

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Southeast Asia barely features in America’s new security strategy

Washington’s latest national security blueprint may be one of its most consequential in years, yet it barely mentions Southeast Asia. Analysts say that absence speaks volumes, signalling a narrowing of American priorities that risks turning the region into a “bargaining chip” in the US-China rivalry. The National Security Strategy published by the White House on December 4 presents the Trump administration’s vision for restoring “American economic independence”, alongside preventing conflict in.

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Europe fears hidden Russian threat in Trump-backed Ukraine peace plan

European officials are growing concerned that an emerging US-brokered peace deal in Ukraine could be exploited by Russia, paving the way for a reinvasion of territory in the war-battered nation’s eastern Donbas region. The fear, a main sticking point in recent talks, is that the US plan for a demilitarised zone would give the Kremlin cover to deploy covert forces in the contested area, according to people familiar with the matter. The Kremlin might then use hybrid tactics, including so-called...

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Suspect arrested in US after 2 students shot dead at Brown University

A suspect in Saturday’s shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and nine injured has been arrested after an extensive manhunt, NBC said. The shooting took place in a classroom on Saturday, on the second day of final exams for the autumn term at the Ivy League institution, which has a student population of about 11,000. Surveillance footage released by authorities showed the alleged shooter walking away from the Providence, Rhode Island campus. In the brief clip the person, whose..

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Hundreds join Tommy Robinson’s far-right rally in London: ‘Make Christmas Great Again’

Around 1,000 people gathered in London on Saturday for a “Christmas” rally organised by far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson, as bishops said they were gravely concerned by the use of Christian symbols to “justify racism and anti-migrant rhetoric”. People waved Union flags and others that read “Jesus is King” at the rally in the centre of the capital, where a counterprotest was also held. “It’s great to see one is not alone … our Christian faith is important, more than ever, and we have to...

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6 UN peacekeepers killed in Sudan drone strike blamed on RSF paramilitary group

A drone strike hit a United Nations facility in war-torn Sudan on Saturday, killing six peacekeepers, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. The strike hit the peacekeeping logistics base in the city of Kadugli, in the central region of Kordofan, Guterres said in a statement. Eight other peacekeepers were wounded in the strike. All the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, serving in the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). “Attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute

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