While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 26, 2025
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has conceded there are points he does not like in the US-led draft plan to end Russia's invasion.
PHOTO: X/@ZELENSKYYUA
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Zelensky has talks on Ukraine with US envoys
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec 25 he had had “very good” talks with US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Mr Steve Witkoff and Mr Jared Kushner, focused on ending the “brutal Russian war”.
“We discussed certain substantive details of the ongoing work,” he said, in a post on social media.
“There are good ideas that can work towards a shared outcome and the lasting peace,” he added.
Mr Zelensky thanked the two envoys for their “constructive approach, the intensive work, and the kind words”.
Myanmar sets late January for final election round
PHOTO: AFP
Myanmar’s junta will stage the third and final round of its heavily restricted elections on Jan 25, a statement said Dec 25, just days before polls open for the first batch of ballots.
Democracy watchdogs say the junta-run vote is a charade to rebrand the rule of the military, which snatched power in a 2021 coup triggering a civil war that has seen much of the country captured by rebel factions.
Democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed since the putsch, her massively popular party dissolved, and the United Nations has slated the junta for a sweeping pre-election dissent crackdown.
US lottery player wins $1.8b Powerball
PHOTO: EPA
A lucky lottery player in the US state of Arkansas has won the US$1.8 billion (S$2.3 billion) Powerball prize, the second-largest US lottery jackpot ever won, the gambling game’s organiser said on Dec 25.
“With final ticket sales, the Powerball jackpot reached US$1.817 billion, making it the second-largest US lottery jackpot ever won and the largest Powerball prize this year,” Powerball said in a statement.
The draw was held on Christmas Eve.
Israeli settler attack injures Palestinian baby
PHOTO: X/@QUDSNEN
Israeli security forces announced on Dec 25 the arrest of five Israeli settlers over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that injured a baby girl in the occupied West Bank.
The eight-month-old infant suffered “moderate injuries to the face and head” in the late Dec 24 attack, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
It blamed the attack on “a group of armed settlers”, accusing them of “throwing stones at homes and property” in the town of Sair, north of Hebron.
Kimmel tells British TV that ‘tyranny is booming’ in US
PHOTO: CHANNEL 4
American humourist Jimmy Kimmel said that “tyranny is booming” in the United States in a Christmas message broadcast by British television on Dec 25.
“I can tell you that from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year. Tyranny is booming over here,” the talk show host said, in the alternative to Britain’s royal Christmas message that Channel 4 has produced since 1993.
Kimmel, whose show was halted for a week in September after he accused the American right of exploiting the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, went into detail about the suspension of his ABC show.
