MANCHESTER, Dec 23 — Manchester United crashed to a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth yesterday as Ruben Amorim admitted his “nervous” team would have to “suffer” before they can get back on track. It was a second successive flop for Amorim’s side following their 4-3 League Cup quarter-final exit at Tottenham on Thursday. Bournemouth took a first-half lead through Dean Huijsen before Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo netted after the interval to complete a dismal afternoon for Amorim, who replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag in November. A year after securing their first ever victory at Old Trafford, Andoni Iraola’s Cherries triumphed by the same scoreline as they inflicted the biggest blow of Amorim’s short reign. Huijsen became the latest player to capitalise on United’s woeful set-piece defending, before a Kluivert penalty and a Semenyo strike sealed a stunning win that brought boos from the home fans at full-time....

BERLIN, Dec 22 — The German government faced growing questions Sunday about whether more could have been done to prevent the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200. The Saudi suspect, 50-year-old psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities. News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany’s spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a “price” for its treatment of Saudi refugees. And in August Abdulmohsen wrote on social media: “Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?… If anyone knows it, please let me know.” Die Welt daily reported, also citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried...

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — The disappearance 10 years ago of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people on board remains one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries. The Boeing 777 went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Satellite data analysis showed the plane likely crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, off the coast of western Australia. However, two major searches failed to come up with any significant findings. Here are some details of the search for MH370 and the unresolved mystery of what happened: What happened on MH370? The last transmission from the plane was about 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah signed off with “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”, as the plane entered Vietnamese air space. Shortly thereafter, its transponder was turned off, which meant it could not be easily...

JAKARTA, Dec 21 — Indonesian artist Arahmaiani has had many lives — from an imprisoned then exiled anti-dictatorship activist to a hippie, art teacher and environmentalist — which have inspired her works that test the limits of freedom. The South-east Asian artist was a nomad for years because of a crackdown on her paintings, installations and performances, which were viewed as provocative in the conservative Muslim-majority nation. Her works are now on show at Britain’s Tate Modern in London for the first time and in November she gave a performance there focusing on violence suffered by Chinese-Indonesians in unrest during the fall of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s. Her voice and percussion-based performance named “Burning Country” presents a healing process for the community after the trauma from riots still fresh in the memory. Her radical view of that era, questioning of religious tolerance and environmental damage were major themes...

SUBANG, Dec 21 — The government will continue its Special Appreciation for Pensioners (PKKP) initiative, aimed at supporting affected pensioners and derivative pension recipients, to ensure the welfare of this group is well taken care of. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed that the Cabinet made this decision yesterday. “The Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA), which came into effect on Dec 1, includes pension adjustments for pensioners and derivative pension recipients. These adjustments are based on the civil service salary review in accordance with Section 3 of the Pension Adjustment Act 1980 (Act 238),” he explained. “The pension amounts will be adjusted according to the percentage increase in the final salary of the pensioners, based on their respective service groups. These adjustments will take place in phases, on Dec 1, 2024, and Jan 1, 2025,” he said during a press conference addressing various government and current issues here. Anwar...