2025 Year-end retrospective: Part 2

This week, hosts Hanna and Amanda reflect on the news story that most impacted Amanda in the year 2025: the on-going saga of U.S. "Secreatary of War" Pete Hegseth. They also briefly discuss events from the past week, including the Bondi Beach terror attack, Jimmy Lai's verdict, and the Vanity Fair whitehouse article. Read along with us: Weekly event recap: 1. What we know about the Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting (Tom McArthur, Emily Atkinson, and Malu Cursino, BBC), 2. Former Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai convicted in landmark national security trial (Kanis Leung, AP News), 3. Vanity Fair Goes to the White House: Trump 2.0 Edition (Mark Guiducci, Vanity Fair) Hegseth's appointment: 1. The New Yorker: Pete Hegseth forced out of veterans’ advocacy groups over misconduct allegations (Eric Bradner, CNN), 2. Pete Hegseth sworn in as US defence secretary after tie-breaking vote (Ana Faguy and Ben Hatton, BBC), 3. Hegseth confirmed as Trump’s defense secretary in tie-breaking vote despite turmoil over his conduct (Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Farnoush Amiri, AP News) Hegseth and Signalgate: 1. Pentagon report finds Hegseth's Signal chat could have endangered U.S. service members, sources say (James LaPorta, CBS News/ Face the Nation), 2. Hegseth's Signal chat put U.S. personnel at risk, Pentagon watchdog finds (PBS NewsHour ), 3. Pentagon chief Hegseth shared sensitive Yemen war plans in second Signal chat, source says (Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart, Reuters) Boats and Warcrimes: 1. Pentagon won’t release full video of Caribbean strike that killed two people, Hegseth says (Chris Stein, The Guardian), 2. US military carried out second strike killing survivors on a suspected drug boat that had already been attacked, sources say (Natasha Bertrand, CNN) Firing top military lawyers: 1. In Pursuit of a ‘Warrior Ethos,’ Hegseth Targets Military’s Top Lawyers (Greg Jaffe, New York Times), 2. Hegseth says he fired the top military lawyers because they weren’t well suited for the jobs (Lolita C. Baldor, AP News)