Dear ST reader,
December was a rough month that saw two fatal air crashes, leading to commercial aviation suffering its deadliest year since 2018.
An Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed on Dec 25 in Kazakhstan. The plane is thought to have come under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya before being diverted to Kazakhstan, where it crashed.
On Dec 29, a Jeju Air plane departing from Bangkok crashed as it was landing at Muan International Airport in south-western South Korea.
Still in South Korea, the nation witnessed three presidents in a month. Wendy Teo reports that acting president Choi Sang-mok will likely get more time from the opposition than his predecessor.
The world also saw the passing of two influential leaders – former US President Jimmy Carter, whose foreign policy decisions Nirmal Ghosh says were fateful for Asia and beyond, and former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, who Ravi Velloor notes has a special connection with Singapore.
In the US, the impending Trump presidency is stirring up disquiet in the media, which Bhagyashree Garekar observes has still not figured out how to cover an unconventional political leader given to half-truths, wild exaggerations, and filing lawsuits.
Let’s hope 2025 will be kinder to everyone. Happy New Year!
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