While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 19, 2025
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A police officer walking with a wounded man, during protests by farmers in Brussels against the EU-Mercosur free-trade deal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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EU-Mercosur deal delayed, amid farmer protests
The signing of a trade deal between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur will be postponed to January, officials said on Dec 18, after farmers staged a show of force against the pact outside a Brussels leaders’ summit.
Mercosur nations were notified of the move, which came after EU plans to seal the pact this week were upended by heavyweights France and Italy demanding a delay, a European Commission spokeswoman said.
The EU-Mercosur deal would create the world’s biggest free-trade area and help the 27-nation bloc to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions.
But Paris and Rome want more robust protections for their farmers, who fear being undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.
Wounded Bangladesh youth leader dies in S’pore hospital
PHOTO: AFP
A leader of Bangladesh’s 2024 uprising who was wounded in an assassination attempt and flown to Singapore for treatment has died in the city-state, officials said on Dec 18.
Masked attackers shot Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, a week ago as he was leaving a mosque in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, wounding him in the ear.
“Despite the best efforts of the doctors..., Mr Hadi succumbed to his injuries on Dec 18,” Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement, adding that it was assisting Bangladeshi authorities with repatriating his body.
French police raid minister’s home in graft probe
PHOTO: AFP
French police on Dec 18 searched the homes of Culture Minister Rachida Dati, as well as the ministry and the Paris town hall she presides over, as part of a corruption probe, prosecutors said.
The police raid comes as Ms Dati, who heads the town hall in the seventh district of Paris, is campaigning to be elected mayor of the French capital in 2026.
Ms Dati, 60, has been accused of accepting nearly €300,000 (S$450,000) in undeclared payments from major energy group GDF Suez while a member of the European Parliament between 2010 and 2011. She has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump media targets nuclear fusion through merger
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PIXABAY
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social, is getting into nuclear fusion.
The company said on Dec 18 it will merge with TAE Technologies, a closely held fusion developer founded in 1998, in a transaction valued at more than US$6 billion (S$7.74 billion).
Shareholders of each company will own about 50 per cent of the combined business after the all-stock deal is completed, Trump Media said in a statement.
McIlroy crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Rory McIlroy was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Dec 18 after completing the career Grand Slam with a long-awaited Masters triumph.
England rugby union standout Ellie Kildunne finished second and Formula One world champion Lando Norris placed third in the public vote.
McIlroy won the Masters at Augusta National in April, becoming only the sixth man – and first European – to complete the full set of major championships.
