NEWS IN BRIEF__2025-12-30

Myanmar pro-military party official

says 'winning' junta-run poll

NAYPYIDAW, Dec 29: Myanmar's dominant pro-military party is "winning a majority" in the first phase of junta-run elections, a party source told AFP on Monday, after democracy watchdogs warned the poll would entrench military rule. 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. The massively popular but dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she remains jailed since the military putsch which triggered a civil war. — AFP

North Korea tests cruise missiles in show of 'combat readiness'

SEOUL, Dec 29: North Korea test-fired two strategic long-range cruise missiles, state media reported Monday, hailing the exercise as a show of "combat readiness" against foreign threats. Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the drill-staged Sunday over the Yellow Sea to the west of the Korean peninsula-and called for "unlimited and sustained" development of his nuclear weapons forces. — Reuters

Indonesia nursing home fire kills 16

JAKARTA, Dec 29: A fire at a nursing home on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi killed more than a dozen people, with three others injured, a local official said Monday. Firefighters received the report of the blaze at 8:31 pm Sunday at a nursing home in the North Sulawesi provincial capital Manado, said the city's fire and rescue agency chief Jimmy Rotinsulu. — AP

India's navy sails into history

with ocean voyage

NEW DELHI, Dec 29: India's navy boasts aircraft carriers, submarines, warships and frontline vessels of steel, as it spreads its maritime power worldwide. But none of its vessels is as unusual as its newest addition which sets sail on its maiden Indian Ocean crossing on Monday-a wooden stitched ship inspired by a fifth-century design — AFP