While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 27, 2025
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More than 1,700 flights across the United States had been cancelled, according to the FlightAware website.
PHOTO: AFP
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Over 1,700 flights across US grounded as snowstorm blankets New York City
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at New York’s major airports as a significant winter storm descends on the city and neighbouring regions.
New York City and surrounding areas are in line to get 15cm to 23cm of snow, with a winter-storm warning in effect between 4pm on Dec 26 (5am on Dec 27, Singapore time) and 1pm on Dec 27, local time, according to the National Weather Service.
The heaviest snowfall will occur from 6pm Dec 26 to midnight, with as much as 2.5cm to 5cm an hour.
More than 1,700 flights across the United States had been cancelled as at 3.12pm on Dec 26, according to the FlightAware website. Roughly half of those were clustered around flights coming into or leaving New York City’s three major airports – LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark. Detroit, Philadelphia and Boston airports also saw cancellations and delays.
Many cheer, but some disappointed with guilty verdict for Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib
ST PHOTO: HAZLIN HASSAN
Die-hard supporters of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak started to gather on the grounds of the court complex in Putrajaya from around 6.30am on Dec 26, hopeful for their hero who led the country for nine years until 2018.
“We stand by him because he was a prime minister who truly cared about the people. He always thought about ordinary Malaysians,” Mrs Suzzalina Anuar, an UMNO branch secretary, told The Straits Times.
Najib faced 25 charges, comprising 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power, over allegations that roughly RM2.3 billion (S$730 million) was transferred into his personal bank accounts through a network of offshore entities.
Police arrest suspect after man stabs 3 women in Paris metro
PHOTO: AFP
French police on Dec 26 arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro as the capital’s end-of-year festivities were in full swing, prosecutors told AFP.
The three women were stabbed at Republique, Arts et Metiers and Opera at around 4pm local time. Their wounds were not life-threatening, the prosecutor’s statement said.
An AFP journalist at the Republique station saw a security team treating a woman who had been wounded in the leg and appeared to be in a state of shock.
Israel becomes first country to formally recognise Somaliland as independent state
PHOTO: AFP
Israel on Dec 26 formally recognised Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” and signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties, as the region’s leader hailed its first-ever official recognition.
Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has for decades pushed for international recognition, the key priority for president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi since he took office in 2024.
Two sources from the Somali prime minister’s office said the government was holding a crisis meeting on the evening of Dec 26, while several countries condemned the move.
New York to require social media platforms to display mental health warnings
PHOTO: AFP
Social media platforms with infinite scrolling, auto-play and algorithmic feeds will be required to display warning labels about their potential harm to young users’ mental health under a new law, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Dec 26.
“Keeping New Yorkers safe has been my top priority since taking office, and that includes protecting our kids from the potential harms of social media features that encourage excessive use,” Ms Hochul said in a statement.
In December, Australia imposed a social media ban for children under 16. New York joins states like California and Minnesota that have similar social media laws.
