Day: April 22, 2025

Washington:

The White House has started a process to look for a new Pentagon chief, a US broadcaster said, following media reports that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive military information in a group chat that included his wife and brother.

Citing an unnamed US official, NPR reported that the process started after The New York Times (NYT) said Sunday that Hegseth shared information about US strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 15 in a Signal messaging chat.

According to the report by The New York Times, Hegseth shared highly confidential details, including F/A-18 Hornet flight schedules, with a private group named “Defense | Team Huddle,” which he created in January using his personal phone. The group included his wife, Jennifer Hegseth (a former Fox News producer), his brother, his personal lawyer, and roughly a dozen others from his inner circle.

The Times’ report follows an earlier disclosure by The Atlantic, which revealed the existence of another Signal chat, initially intended for senior national security officials.

Hegseth had already faced controversy over his reported sharing of details on strikes in Yemen in a separate Signal chat that accidentally included a journalist, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump called the NYT report “fake news.”

“Pete’s doing a great job. Everybody’s happy,” Trump told reporters during the White House Easter Egg Roll event.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also dismissed the NPR report as “fake news.”

“This NPR story is total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about,” Leavitt wrote on X. “As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind SecDef.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Singapore:

A 20-year-old Indian national will be charged in Singapore on Tuesday for allegedly outraging the modesty of a cabin crew member aboard an aircraft bound for the city-state.

The police were alerted to the incident at 12.05 pm on February 28, after a 28-year-old female cabin crew member was allegedly molested during the flight.

According to a police statement on Monday, preliminary investigations revealed that the crew member was escorting a female passenger to the lavatory when she noticed a piece of tissue paper on the floor.

As she bent down to pick it up, the 20-year-old man allegedly appeared behind her, grabbed her, and pushed her into the lavatory with him, according to The Straits Times newspaper.

The female passenger, who witnessed the incident, intervened and helped the crew member out of the lavatory immediately.

The matter was reported to the cabin supervisor, and the man was arrested by officers from the Airport Police Division after the plane landed at Changi Airport.

The police did not disclose the name of the airline.

The man will be charged with using criminal force with intent to outrage modesty.

The offence carries a jail term of up to three years, a fine, caning, or any combination of these penalties.

The commander of the Airport Police Division, Assistant Commissioner M Malathi, said: “We take such incidents seriously as cabin crew are trained professionals dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of all passengers.

“The police remain committed to protecting airline staff and passengers on board from any form of sexual harassment or assault,” the report quoted Malathi as saying. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)