30/12/2025

TUESDAY | DEC 30, 2025

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Thailand, Cambodia consolidate truce

16 die in Sulawesi nursing home fire MANADO: A fire at a nursing home in the city of Manado in Sulawesi has killed 16 people, a police official said yesterday. The fire at the Werdha Damai nursing home was ablaze late on Sunday and authorities are still investigating its cause, Manado police chief Irham Halid said at a press conference. Footage by news channel Metro TV showed the fire blazing through the home, turning the night sky orange, with residents appearing to help one elderly person escape from the burning building. Firefighters received the report of the blaze at 8.31pm on Sunday at a nursing home, said the city’s fire and rescue agency chief Jimmy Rotinsulu. “There were 16 deaths; three (people) had burn injuries, he said. Many bodies of the victims were found inside their rooms, Jimmy said, adding that many of the elderly residents were likely resting in their rooms in the evening when the fire broke out. Authorities managed to evacuate 12 people, all unhurt, and transfer them to a hospital, he said. – Agencies BODY OF CHILD RECOVERED LABUAN BAJO: Search teams yesterday found a Spanish national who had been reported missing after a tourist boat sank off Padar Island, Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, last weekend. Maumere Search and Rescue Office operations chief Asfan Dulhasan said the victim, a 12-year-old girl, was found dead off Serai Island, part of Komodo National Park. Search efforts will continue for seven more days to locate three other victims, all of whom are Spanish nationals. – Bernama DRONES UNDER PROBE BANGKOK: Thailand’s army yesterday accused Cambodia of violating a newly signed ceasefire agreement by flying more than 250 drones over its territory. The Thai army said “more than 250 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected intruding into Thailand on Sunday night. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said in remarks aired on state television yesterday that the two sides had discussed the incident and agreed to investigate and “resolve it immediately”. Prak Sokhonn described it as “a small issue related to flying drones seen by both sides along the border line”. – AFP S’PORE TO CANE SCAMMERS SINGAPORE: Offenders convicted of scams or scam-related offences in Singapore face caning from today, under the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025, passed last month. Under the law, scam mules may be caned up to 12 strokes, while scammers and members of syndicates face mandatory caning of six to 24 strokes. Police urged the public not to share personal information that could be used by criminals. – Bernama ‘NO NEW YEAR FIREWORKS’ JAKARTA: The central government will support the move by several regions to forgo fireworks while celebrating New Year in solidarity with Sumatra flood victims. Several regional government offices and police, including those in Jakarta and Bali, have said they will not allow firework displays out of respect for the victims in Sumatra, where floods and landslides have killed over 1,100 people, with around 400,000 displaced. Prasetyo Hadi, spokesperson for President Prabowo Subianto’s office, said the government thinks it is correct that regional governments ban fireworks. – Reuters

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month after a breakdown in a ceasefire that US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim helped broker on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur to halt a previous round of fighting. “The implementation of the ceasefire agreement requires continued communication and consultation, and the restoration of bilateral relations must also proceed gradually,” Wang said yesterday. Thai and Cambodian defence officials also joined the talks in China. Diplomats and defence officials from Thailand and Cambodia held a number of bilateral meetings, the Chinese foreign minister said, adding that both sides held in-depth discussions and showed a “positive and open attitude”. – Reuters

In a meeting with his Thai and Cambodian counterparts, Wang called the ceasefire “hard won”, and urged the two nations not to abandon it halfway or allow fighting to resume. “Discussions between the three parties were beneficial and constructive, and an important consensus was reached,” Wang said, according to a statement released by his ministry, which did not mention Asean’s role in facilitating a ceasefire. The parties involved must “look forward and move forward”, Wang said. Thailand and Cambodia will “rebuild political mutual trust, achieve a turnaround in relations, and maintain regional peace”, according to a joint communique released by Xinhua news agency. The latest round of clashes began early this

o Move forward, urges China

BEIJING: Thailand and Cambodia plan to rebuild mutual trust and gradually consolidate a ceasefire after weeks of border clashes, Beijing said in a communique with the two countries following talks in southwestern China. The Southeast Asian neighbours on Saturday ended weeks of fierce fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million with their second ceasefire since late October. Thailand and Cambodia’s top diplomats travelled to the Chinese province of Yunnan for trilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss the border situation.

Wang (centre) congratulates Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn (left), who is also foreign minister, and Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow in Yunnan. – AGENCE KAMPUCHEA PRESS HANDOUT/AFPPIC

Pro-military party claims huge win in first phase YANGON: Myanmar’s pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the country’s elections, a senior party official told AFP. authorised to officially disclose the results. At the last polls in 2020 the USDP was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which was dissolved after the coup and did not appear on Sunday’s ballots. Suu Kyi has been in detention since the putsch, which triggered a civil war.

five years, said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government. “We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he said. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.” The coup triggered a civil war as democracy activists formed guerilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies. Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships, the most of the three phases of voting. The military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies. – AFP

The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people. “We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” said a senior official of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The party won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not

Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and two more phases are scheduled for Jan 11 and 25. Many analysts describe the USDP as a civilian proxy of the military, saying former officers serve in senior leadership roles. After voting on Sunday military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled by diktat for the past