Daily Monsoon

On the 7th of March 2025, BBC headline reads: “Teen armed with gun overpowered by passengers onboard plane”, a report by Aleks Philips.

From the article:

> Police in Australia have charged a 17-year-old who got on a plane with a shotgun and ammunition.

> He was filmed being wrestled to the ground by passengers and crew as the aircraft prepared to take off from Avalon Airport, near Melbourne, carrying 160 people bound for Sydney on Thursday afternoon.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith.

In the video, someone onboard asked the question, “How is this possible?”

That is just one of many questions we could ask.

On the 6th of March 2025, BBC Headline reads: “Sweden is 'no longer a country that cannot be trusted’”, a report by Jorn Madslien.

I never thought of Sweden as an untrustworthy country. That was a clever headline as it got me to click to read the whole article. This is how the article begins:

> War, cross-border conflict and geopolitical upheaval are rarely deemed good for business.

> Yet that appears to have been the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on two of the aggressor's neighbours to its west – Finland and Sweden.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. Trump has been busy. I wonder whether he has read the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and decided to do everything the book says not to do.

On the 5th of March 2025, Channel News Asia reports: “Foreigners from 63 countries, territories can use QR code clearance to enter Malaysia from next year”.

“QR code clearance - which is a form of passport-free travel - allows travellers to clear immigration in around five seconds, said Malaysia Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.”

Hi, my name is Terence, I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. For today, I am a technology pundit.

On the 28th February 2025, Channel News Asia has a Visual Stories article, an article told through photos, titled, “Connecting with ancestral spirits, Malaysia’s indigenous Mah Meri tribe keeps 200-year-old tradition alive”, an article by Fadza Ishak.

When I was young, I enjoyed reading the National Geographic. But when I say read, I mean looking at the photographs. In a world before Google, YouTube, Instagram, the National Geographic photos was the rare doorway into another world. So today’s article, with all the photos that accompany the text, brings back a big dose of nostalgia.

The 200 year old tradition is the Hari Moyang or Ancestor’s Day.

And today in the Daily Monsoon, I, Terence, will have a look at what Hari Moyang, a tradition practised by non-Christians, can mean for Christians.

On the 25th of February 2025, BBC Headline: “Historic visual effects studio Technicolor collapses in UK”, a report by Chris Vallance and Tom Gerken.

From the article:

> Technicolor, the visual effects (VFX) group which has worked on films ranging from Disney's 1940 classic Pinocchio to 2024 blockbuster Mufasa The Lion King, has collapsed into administration in the UK.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m the host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith.

On the 19th of February 2025, BBC Headline reads: “'Real life Squid Game': Kim Sae-ron's death exposes Korea's celebrity culture”, a report by Kelly Ng.

From the article:

> Actress Kim Sae-ron's death in an apparent suicide has renewed criticism of South Korea's entertainment industry, which churns out stars but also subjects them to immense pressure and scrutiny.

> Kim - who was found dead aged 24 at her home in Seoul on Sunday - had been bombarded with negative press coverage and hate online after a drink-driving conviction in 2022. Police have not provided further details about her death.

> Experts found the circumstances leading to it depressingly familiar. Other celebrities also ended up taking their lives after careers upended by cyberbullying.

> As Kim was laid to rest on Wednesday, analysts say they are not optimistic her death will lead to meaningful change.

Hi, my name is Terence, and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. Suicide in any form is disturbing but I think it is more troubling when it’s the young who are doing it, when they have a whole life ahead of them, and for some reason, they have decided that there is no longer any hope for them, and they just end it.

On the 14th of February 2025, BBC News headline reads, “'I felt a slimy texture brush my face': Man describes being swallowed by whale”, a report by Andrea Díaz and Ayelén Oliva.

From the article:

> The first thing kayaker Adrián Simancas noticed after he was eaten by a whale was the slime.

> “I spent a second realising I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me, that it could have been an orca or a sea monster," the 23-year-old told BBC Mundo.

> Adrián had started to think how he might survive inside the humpback whale "like Pinocchio" - then the creature spat him back out.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. And I think you know where I am going with today’s topic.

On the 14th of February 2025, Channel News Asia headline reads: “Snap Insight: Trump’s reciprocal tariffs put Asia’s history of trade openness at risk”. A commentary by Deborah Elms of the Hinrich Foundation.

From the article:

> Mr Trump has long argued that the global trade and economic system is unfair to the US. He has aired a variety of grievances, but one point has captured his attention – the fact that each country has a different tariff schedule.

> What he is now aiming to do is to reset this structure by applying “reciprocal tariffs”. This means if Country A charges a 10 per cent tariff on incoming phone cases while the US charges only 3 per cent on the same product, the US will start to apply a reciprocal tariff of 10 per cent for Country A.

Hi, my name is Terence and I am your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. And today, I want to use Deborah’s article to share my insight on Trump and tariffs.

On the 13th of February 2025, BBC Headline reads: “Trump-Putin call lowers the temperature but at Ukraine's expense”, a report by Frank Gardner.

From the report:

> Pete Hegseth laid out in crystal clear terms where the US stands on peace for Ukraine, in words that will no doubt be welcomed by Moscow.

> No US troops for Ukraine in any future security arrangement.

> No likelihood of Ukraine joining NATO.

> No realistic possibility of returning to its pre-2014 borders, when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea and backed insurgents in the Donbas.

> These were all clearly stated goals made by President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government and they come on top of a dire situation on the battlefield, where Russia's superior numbers are enabling it to slowly push deeper into Ukrainian territory.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. And today, we go to Ukraine.

On the 12th of February 2025, Channel News Asia headline reads: “Truck cabin found in Japan sinkhole search for driver”.

From the article:

> Rescuers have been struggling to find the 74-year-old driver since the truck plunged into a chasm that appeared near Tokyo two weeks ago.

Later, the report continues:

> "After experts analysed photos taken with a drone ... they said there's a cabin of a truck in the photos and they can't rule out the possibility that what appears to be inside is a person," local fire department official Tomonori Nakazawa told AFP.

> But rescuers could not enter the sewer pipe where the truck cabin was spotted due to water flow and high levels of hydrogen sulphide gas, he said.

Hi, my name is Terence, and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. Today, we look at the tail end of a disaster that started two weeks ago.