SCMP World·Sunday, January 4, 2026

SCMP World - Sunday, January 4, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Raw emotion as mourners pay tribute to victims of Swiss ski resort fire

A heavy pall of grief hung over Crans-Montana on Sunday as more than a thousand mourners walked in silence through the Swiss ski resort to remember those killed and injured in a horrific New Year’s Eve fire. A total of 40 people died in the tragic blaze at Le Constellation. The bar’s owners are under criminal investigation. A mass dedicated to the victims was held at a small chapel some 300 metres down the road from the gutted bar, outside which well-wishers have left an abundance of flowers,...

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Loot in German bank vault break-in could exceed US$117 million

The loot from the spectacular break-in at a German bank may have exceeded €100 million (US$117.24 million), security sources said on Sunday, as new questions were raised over the origin of some of the money stored inside. The sources said that individual customers reported that they each had more than €500,000 in their safe deposit boxes at the Sparkasse branch in the western city of Gelsenkirchen, confirming earlier reports by the German mass-circulation daily Bild. Bild reported that the...

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Russia’s Medvedev floats kidnapping scenario involving Germany’s Merz

Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said he could envisage abduction operations against other world leaders similar to the US arrest of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, naming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz among them. “The kidnapping of the neo-Nazi Merz could be an excellent twist in this carnival of events,” Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, was quoted as saying by state news agency TASS on Sunday. Such a scenario was not unrealistic, he added. “There are.

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US scrambles geopolitics with stark attack on Venezuela

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were transported to New York by helicopter, ship and plane within hours of their capture for arraignment in a US federal court as the world woke up Sunday to a new era of brazen US military might. In a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida shortly after the raid on Maduro’s compound in Caracas, US President Donald Trump held forth on the strength and precision of the US military, warned that other politicians could follow..

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UK’s Starmer says ousting him would lead to chaos, far-right government

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned his governing Labour Party that removing him in 2026 would plunge Britain into “utter chaos” and open the door to a far-right government. The turmoil wrought by the constant chopping and changing of staff under the previous Conservative administration is “amongst the reasons that the Tories were booted out so effectively at the last election”, Starmer told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Any repeat of that instability “would gift Nigel Farage”,...

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Rights group says 16 dead in Iran protests, government clashes

At least 16 people have been killed ‌during a week of unrest in Iran, rights groups said on Sunday, as protests over soaring inflation spread across the country, prompting violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Deaths and arrests have been reported throughout the week both by state media and rights groups, though the numbers have differed. Reporters have not been able to verify the figures independently. The protests are the biggest in three years and while smaller than some.

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US removal of Maduro has potential to reshape global oil market: analysts

The United States’ seizure of Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has the potential to reshape the global oil market, as America gains effective control over a country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves, analysts said. While crude prices may rise marginally in the short term, the move could boost long-term supplies and tighten the US’ grip over the oil market at a time when its position was starting to look more vulnerable, they said. “Once the US gains control of the country,...

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War in Sudan: drone strikes cut power supply in oil-rich south

The power supply was cut on Sunday following drone strikes in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, the national electricity company said, as fighting raged in the oil-rich southern region. For more than two years, Sudan has been gripped by a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with Kordofan the latest battleground after the RSF launched an offensive to seize the strategic region. “El-Obeid power station ... was attacked by drones,.

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Portugal’s 11 presidential candidates debate migration, instability

A record number of 11 candidates in Portugal’s coming presidential election kicked off their campaigns on Sunday. The official two-week campaign period preceding the January 18 election will see the contenders competing to capture voters’ support. However, the broad field makes it unlikely that any candidate will capture more than 50 per cent of the vote, leaving the two top candidates to compete in a run-off ballot on February 8. Among the front runners, according to recent opinion polls, are..

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Caribbean holidaymakers stranded after US operation to seize Maduro halts flights

The US military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of the country early on Saturday also disrupted Caribbean travel at a busy travel time for the region. No airline flights were crossing over Venezuela that day, according to FlightRadar24.com. Major airlines cancelled hundreds of flights across the eastern Caribbean region and warned passengers that disruptions could continue for days after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed...

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