SCMP World·Friday, December 26, 2025

SCMP World - Friday, December 26, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

US airlines cancel more than 1,000 flights due to winter storm Devin

Airlines in the United States have cancelled or ‌delayed thousands of flights on Friday, according to flight tracking website ‍FlightAware, due to winter storm Devin during peak holiday travel. A total of 1,382 flights were cancelled and 4,685 delayed on Friday afternoon, the website said. The National Weather Service (NWS) predicted snowfall across the upper Great Lakes region through the day, with the storm’s focus moving towards the northeast. “Road conditions will be treacherous for those...

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Harvey Weinstein accuser Kaja Sokola is being sued for defamation by her sister

Two sisters testified at Harvey Weinstein’s most recent criminal trial. Kaja Sokola accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexual assault. Ewa Sokola was called as a witness to boost her claims but ultimately ended up helping the defence. Now, Ewa Sokola is suing Kaja for defamation, alleging in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that the psychotherapist and ex-model’s public remarks amount to libel and are damaging Ewa’s reputation and business as a cardiologist in Poland. Ewa.

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Venezuela frees 99 prisoners detained after 2024 election protests, prisons authority says

Venezuela released 99 prisoners on Christmas Day, officials said, with the government calling it a goodwill gesture as it assesses arrests made after President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election. “The national government and the justice system have decided to evaluate each case individually and, in accordance with the law”, released 99 citizens “as a concrete expression of the State’s commitment to peace, dialogue and justice”, the Ministry of Penitentiary Services said. “They were deprived of liberty

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Israel becomes first country to formally recognise Somaliland as an independent state

Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and ‌sovereign state on Friday – a decision that could reshape regional dynamics and test ‍Somalia’s long-standing opposition to its secession. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek immediate cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology and the economy. In a statement he congratulated Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, praised...

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Zelensky to meet Trump in Florida to discuss ‘90% ready’ Russia peace plan, Ukraine security

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he will meet US President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend. Zelensky told journalists the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90 per cent ready”. An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelensky said, but he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalised by the end”. The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial...

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Blast in Syria kills 8 at mosque targeting Alawite minority in Homs

An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, Syria, on Friday. In a statement on Telegram, Saraya Ansar al-Sunna announced that its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque. The group – which was formed after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad – previously claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 20 people at a Damascus church..

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To harness crypto ingenuity, financial threat must first be neutralised

The fascination with cryptocurrencies shows no sign of fading. With the passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (Genius) Act in July, US lawmakers added to the sense that crypto is here to stay. But an uncomfortable issue remains unresolved: are cryptocurrencies a genuine innovation capable of serving the common good, or a speculative threat to financial and social stability? Not all cryptocurrencies are alike. Unbacked ones, such as bitcoin or Ethereum,...

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The brutal life of child recruits under a shadowy African rebel group

Forcibly recruited into a rebel militia affiliated with Islamic State, two boys have revealed the “torment” of living in its camps as members committed massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast. The two minors freed from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) gave Agence France-Presse an unprecedented account of the shadowy group, notorious for its extreme brutality. Paluku, a frail 12-year-old, spent two months with the ADF after rebels killed his mother during an attack on his...

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Israel’s rising air defence sales become its ‘most potent’ foreign policy weapon

Israel is cashing in on soaring international demand for combat-proven air defence systems, as analysts say the billions of dollars' worth of weapon sales will significantly expand the country’s influence beyond the Middle East. The weapon exports to Europe, Asia and Africa are helping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration overcome its diplomatic isolation over the Gaza war by making the Jewish-majority state a key long-term security partner for its customers. “Exporting air defence

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Inside Chernobyl: Ukraine races to repair radiation shield as war drags on

Inside an abandoned control room at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a worker in an orange hard hat gazed at a grey wall of seemingly endless dials, screens and gauges that were supposed to prevent disaster. The 1986 meltdown at the site was the world’s worst ever nuclear incident. Since Russia invaded in 2022, Kyiv fears another disaster could be just a matter of time. In February, a Russian drone hit and left a large hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the outer of two radiation...

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