While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 13, 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
People carrying supplies at Batthkav refugee camp in Cambodia on Dec 12, amid ongoing border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
Trump: Thailand, Cambodia agree to stop clashes
US President Donald Trump said on Dec 12 that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to halt fighting along their disputed border, which has killed at least 20 people this week.
The latest fighting between the South-east Asian neighbours, which stems from a long-running dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800km frontier, has also displaced around half a million on both sides. Each side had blamed the other for reigniting the conflict.
“I had a very good conversation this morning with the Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, and the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, concerning the very unfortunate reawakening of their long-running War,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” he said, referring to a deal made in July.
EU agrees to indefinitely freeze Russian assets
PHOTO: AFP
The European Union agreed on Dec 12 to indefinitely freeze Russian central bank assets held in Europe, removing a big obstacle to using the cash to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.
The EU wants to keep Ukraine financed and fighting as it sees Russia’s invasion as a threat to its own security. To do so, EU states aim to put to work some of the Russian sovereign assets they immobilised after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
A first big step, which EU governments agreed on Dec 12, is to immobilise €210 billion (S$318 billion) worth of Russian sovereign assets for as long as needed instead of voting every six months on extending the asset freeze.
Zelensky visits Kupyansk as Ukraine retakes parts
PHOTO: AFP
Ukrainian forces said they had retaken parts of the northeastern town of Kupyansk and had encircled Russian troops there as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the area and praised the operation, saying it strengthened Ukraine diplomatically.
With US-backed peace efforts under way, Moscow has said it is advancing on all fronts and that it has seized Kupyansk and the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the east. Kyiv has denied this, saying that the fighting is continuing.
In a video clip posted on his social media account on Dec 12, Mr Zelensky, wearing a bulletproof vest, is seen standing in front of a sign bearing the town’s name at the entrance to Kupyansk.
King’s cancer treatment to be reduced in 2026
Britain’s King Charles III said on Dec 12 that his cancer treatment would be cut back in 2026, as he shared his “good news” in a televised national address.
“Today I am able to share with you the good news that thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders’, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year,” Charles said, in a rare video message as part of an annual televised fundraising drive to raise money for cancer research.
However, the British monarch, who was diagnosed in January 2024, did not share what kind of cancer he is being treated for.
Hundreds of storks found dead near Madrid
Spanish authorities have detected four outbreaks of bird flu in wild birds in the central Madrid region, where forestry agents collected hundreds of dead storks over the past several weeks including more than a hundred in the past 24 hours.
The outbreaks are part of an unprecedented surge in bird flu cases across Europe this season, with thousands of wild bird cases reported in 29 countries, according to the European Food Safety Authority.
Madrid’s regional government said in a statement that no commercial poultry farms have been affected so far and there was no serious risk to humans.
