While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, April 16, 2025
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US President Donald Trump accused China on April 15 of going back on a major deal with US aviation giant Boeing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Trump says ball in China’s court on tariffs
Donald Trump believes it is up to China, not the United States, to come to the negotiating table on trade, the White House said April 15, after the US president accused Beijing of reneging on a major Boeing deal.
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” said a statement from Trump read out by press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a briefing.
“There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger,” she added.
Ms Leavitt’s comments came after Mr Trump accused China of going back on a major deal with US aviation giant Boeing – following a Bloomberg news report that Beijing ordered airlines not to take further deliveries of the company’s jets.
Netanyahu calls for hostages to be released during Gaza visit
AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited northern Gaza on April 15, accompanied by the country’s defence minister, head of the military and other senior officials, his office said.
A statement released by the prime minister’s office said Mr Netanyahu received a security briefing in northern Gaza on the military’s effort to free Israeli hostages and to defeat Hamas.
The statement did not specify where in northern Gaza Mr Netanyahu visited or mention Hamas’ claim on April 15 that it had lost contact with those guarding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after the military purportedly bombed their location.
Top Hegseth adviser put on leave in Pentagon leak probe
AFP
One of US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leading advisers, Mr Dan Caldwell, was escorted from the Pentagon on April 15 after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defence, a US official told Reuters.
Mr Caldwell was placed on administrative leave for “an unauthorised disclosure,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The investigation remains ongoing,” the official said, without providing details about the nature of the alleged disclosure, including whether it was made to a journalist or to someone else.
Nato’s Rutte visits Odesa, says Ukraine support unwavering
Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he had visited the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa with President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 15 and declared Nato’s support for Ukraine was unwavering.
Mr Rutte’s visit was a show of solidarity with Kyiv, following a Russian missile strike on the northern city of Sumy on April 13 that killed 35 people and wounded more than 100.
“Ukraine’s people have endured so much – not least Russia’s Palm Sunday attack on Sumy. Nato support is unwavering,” Mr Rutte said, in a post on social media platform X. “We will continue to help Ukraine so it can defend today and deter future aggression, ensuring a just and lasting peace.”
Gandhis accused in India money-laundering case, ANI reports
REUTERS
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia, the most senior members of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, have been accused in a money-laundering case by the country’s financial crimes agency, news agency ANI reported on April 15.
The financial crimes agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), presented the findings of its investigation in the case, known as a charge sheet, to a New Delhi court.
The ED accused the Gandhis, who have previously denied any wrongdoing in the case, of forming a shell company to illegally take control of property worth US$300 million (S$400 million) that belonged to a firm that published the National Herald newspaper.
