SCMP World·Saturday, December 27, 2025

SCMP World - Saturday, December 27, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Bus crash kills 15 in Guatemala, government declares 3 days of national mourning

An intermunicipal bus veered off a road in Guatemala and fell into a deep ravine, killing 15 passengers and injuring at least 15 others, authorities said on Saturday, declaring three days of national mourning. The accident happened on Friday night outside the town of Totonicapan along a route known as the Inter-American Highway. Officials said it took rescuers more than two hours to recover the bodies from the crash site and rescue injured passengers. Fifteen people were still being treated for.

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Ukraine peace requires ‘a willing Russia’, says Canada’s PM Carney at Zelensky meeting

Establishing a lasting peace in Ukraine requires “a willing Russia”, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday, denouncing the “barbarism” of Moscow’s latest bombardment of Kyiv as he met Volodymyr Zelensky. “We have the conditions … of a just and lasting peace, but that requires a willing Russia, and the barbarism that we saw overnight … shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine,” Carney said as the Ukrainian leader stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, en route to meet US

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Brazil judge puts coup plot convicts under house arrest after ex-police commander flees

A Brazilian judge on Saturday issued house arrest orders for 10 people who have been convicted and sentenced for taking part in a plot to keep former president Jair Bolsonaro in power after he lost the 2022 election. The decision by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes comes just hours after authorities in neighbouring Paraguay arrested a former police commander who also had been convicted in the plot and returned him to Brazil. Silvinei Vasques, the former director of Brazil’s Federal...

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Ukrainian parliament raided in bribes-for-votes probe as Zelensky jets off for US talks

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency said security services tried to prevent officers from raiding parliament offices on Saturday, as investigators said some MPs were implicated in a new inquiry. The anti-corruption detectives were later allowed into the heavily guarded compound where the parliament was located, Ukraine’s State Security Department said on social media. Ukraine has been embroiled in a string of corruption scandals that led to the resignation of the chief of staff to President...

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9 held in Italy over US$8.2 million charity scam linked to Hamas

Italian authorities arrested nine people linked to three charitable organisations on suspicion of raising millions of euros for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, anti-terrorism prosecutors said in a statement on Saturday. The suspects are accused of sending about €7 million (US$8.2 million) to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas”, the statement said. Among those arrested was Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian.

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Spanish town reaches deal to share El Gordo jackpot after ticket error

A small town in northern Spain has reached a compromise after a ticket sales error threatened to leave some winners of the country’s iconic Christmas lottery empty handed. Spanish media reported on Saturday that everyone holding a ticket with the winning number of the main prize, called El Gordo (The Fat One), will now receive almost their full winnings. Celebrations in Villamanin, a town of fewer than 1,000 residents, on Monday over winnings totalling almost €35 million (US$41.2 million) turned

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Kyiv strike shows Russia does ‘not want to end war’, Zelensky warns ahead of US talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv showed Moscow did “not want to end the war”. Zelensky made the comments ahead of his departure for talks in the United States with President Donald Trump on a plan to halt the Russian invasion. The Russians “do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world”, Zelensky said. “There have...

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Russia likely moving nuclear hypersonic missiles that are hard to intercept to Belarus

Moscow is likely stationing new nuclear-capable hypersonic ballistic missiles at a former airbase in eastern Belarus, a development that could bolster Russia’s ability to deliver missiles across Europe, two US researchers have found by studying satellite imagery. The researchers’ assessment broadly aligns with US intelligence findings, said ‌a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share information not authorised for public release. Russian President Vladimir

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Nexperia China eyes new wafer suppliers in 6 months amid legal fight with Dutch chipmaker

Nexperia China, the estranged unit of the Dutch chipmaker, is pushing forward with efforts to secure new wafer suppliers in six months, as the firm’s Netherlands head office and mainland Chinese owner Wingtech Technology started direct talks last week. In its shareholders meeting in Shanghai on Friday, Wingtech said Nexperia China’s plant in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province, continued to operate amid “a significant gap in wafer supply”, reports from several state-backed media...

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Trump says Ukraine’s Zelensky ‘doesn’t have anything until I approve it’ ahead of talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday in pursuit of a deal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion, though the latest comments from Moscow raise doubts about how close a final agreement really is. Zelensky told reporters on Friday that he would discuss sensitive issues with Trump including the future of the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Ukrainian leader said he plans to...

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