While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 4, 2025
· The Straits TimesPentagon review faults Hegseth over Signal chat
A Pentagon investigation has faulted US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for using Signal on his personal device to transmit sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen, saying it could have endangered US troops if intercepted, two people familiar with the document said on Dec 3.
However, the report by the Pentagon’s independent Inspector General did not weigh in on whether the information Mr Hegseth posted was classified at the time since it acknowledged that he, as the head of the Pentagon, can decide what information is classified and what isn’t, the sources said.
The report has not yet been publicly released, something which US officials expect to happen this week.
The renewed focus on Mr Hegseth comes at a delicate time for the former Fox News host, as scrutiny intensifies of his leadership overseeing deadly US strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean that have raised legal concerns.
EU proposes giving Ukraine $136b
The European Commission proposed on Dec 3 an unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets or international borrowing to raise €90 billion (S$36 billion) for Ukraine to cover its struggling military and basic services against Russia’s war.
The European Union’s executive body has declared it favours a “reparations loan” using Russian state assets immobilised in the EU due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Belgium, which holds most of the assets and has voiced a range of legal concerns, is not convinced by the proposal.
Thailand seizes $388m in assets linked to scam centres
Thailand has seized more than US$300 million (S$388 million) in assets tied to criminal networks running multibillion-dollar scam centres in South-east Asia, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Dec 3.
The announcement comes after the authorities across Asia, Europe and the United States targeted Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group and its global business network with asset seizures and freezes worth billions of dollars.
In October, US authorities indicted Prince’s Chinese-born founder Chen Zhi, accusing him of presiding over forced labour camps in Cambodia where trafficked workers conduct online scams.
Laughing gas probe in France after three teens die
Three teens drowned on Dec 3 in France after the car they were in veered of the road into a private swimming pool, a prosecutor said, in a case possibly linked to laughing gas.
The car smashed into a wall of the private residence, flipped onto its back and fell into the swimming pool with its wheels spinning in the air at around 2am (9am in Singapore) in the southern town of Ales, prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini said.
It was not immediately clear which of the young men – aged 14, 15 and 19 – was driving.
Somalis condemn Trump’s insults
Somalis reacted with outrage on Dec 3 to Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks about them and their country, although a few also said the US president had spoken unpalatable truths.
In comments made during a Cabinet meeting on Dec 2, Mr Trump described Somalis as “garbage” and said “we don’t want them in our country”.
“They just run around killing each other,” said Mr Trump, who has long used racist and sexist language. “Their country stinks.”