SCMP World·Wednesday, December 17, 2025

SCMP World - Wednesday, December 17, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

BYD plans giant Brazil factory to scale electric bus and truck production

Chinese carmaker BYD plans to build a new factory in Brazil within the next three years after rising demand for electric buses filled its existing production capacity and forced the company to redraw its manufacturing strategy in the country. The project would sharply expand output, create hundreds of jobs and support exports across South America, with Africa also being considered, as BYD strengthens a business segment that predates its move into passenger electric vehicles. BYD has assembled...

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Oscars will move to YouTube in 2029, leaving long-time home of ABC

In a seismic shift for one of television’s marquee events, the Academy Awards will depart from ABC and begin streaming on YouTube beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday. ABC will continue to broadcast the annual ceremony through 2028. That year will mark the 100th Oscars. But starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to streaming the Oscars through 2033. YouTube will effectively be the home to all things Oscars, including red-carpet...

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Son of US filmmaker Rob Reiner in court on charges that he murdered his parents

The younger son of Hollywood filmmaker and political activist Rob Reiner made his first court appearance on Wednesday for the two murder charges he faces in the stabbing deaths of his parents, who were found slain in their Los Angeles home over the weekend. The arraignment was delayed until January 7 and Nick Reiner, 32, did not enter a plea. Bearded and wearing a blue protective vest, he made the court appearance three days after his arrest and a day after he was charged with one of the most...

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4 Republicans defy House speaker to force vote on extending Obamacare subsidies

Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans. The stunning move comes after House Republican leaders pushed ahead with a healthcare bill that does not address the soaring monthly premiums that millions of people will soon endure when the tax credits for those who buy insurance...

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Jack Smith tells US lawmakers his team had ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ against Trump

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview on Wednesday that his team of investigators “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that US President Donald Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of his opening statement obtained by Associated Press. He also said investigators had accrued “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents from his first term..

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Louvre crisis: why jewel heist, staff unrest push museum to breaking point

The ongoing strike at the Louvre is no longer just a labour dispute. It has become a test of how securely, credibly and competently the world’s most visited museum is being run. Behind the walkout are not only frayed labour relations, but a building itself under strain, with crumbling parts of the ageing former palace now deemed unsafe. At the heart of the crisis lies a deeper rupture: a US$102 million jewel heist that exposed security failures at the core of the institution and transformed...

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What does future hold for Brazil, US in China’s soybean balancing act?

China, the world’s top soybean consumer, faces a complex balancing act when securing supplies. With 90 per cent of market demand met by imports, Brazil and the United States remain its top suppliers, but intensifying efforts to promote self-sufficiency are seeking to reduce reliance on imports. From price swings and quality traits to strategic roles in the market, soybeans from the three countries tell different stories about China’s quest for stability and security that can be broken down into.

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Warner Bros rejects Paramount’s ‘inferior’ US$108 billion bid, backs Netflix deal

Warner Bros Discovery on Wednesday rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount launched last week to thwart plans by streaming giant Netflix to acquire the Hollywood giant and owner of CNN. The Warner Bros board said it found Paramount’s offer “inferior” to the merger agreement with Netflix. It added that the Paramount bid “once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated … throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals”. “We are...

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Miss Finland scandal: Finnish PM apologises to East Asia for MPs’ ‘racist’ gestures

Finland’s prime minister apologised on Wednesday to citizens of Japan, China and South Korea after MPs sparked outrage by posting pictures of themselves making derogatory squinting gestures. The parliamentarians from the populist Finns Party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government, posted images on social media where they pulled back the corners of their eyes – widely seen as a racist gesture targeting East Asian people. They claimed to have shared the pictures in support of the...

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For Trump, the only communists to really dislike are those at home

The new US national security strategy says a great deal about how the government imagines its foreign policy in the next few years but tells us just as much about communism and the US president’s view of it. Donald Trump has long had an unusual relationship with communism, in that he does not seem especially concerned by it. Yes, it’s true he does denounce “communists”, “socialists”, “radicals” and “the far left”, but he is rarely speaking about communist regimes opposed to US interests...

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