While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 16, 2025
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A screengrab shows rising plumes of smoke, following bombardment on Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, on March 15.
PHOTO: AFP
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Trump launches strikes against Yemen’s Houthis
US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on March 15 over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, warning “hell will rain down upon you” if the Houthis do not abandon their campaign.
Mr Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support to the group.
He said if Iran threatened the United States “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
The unfolding US strikes represent the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Mr Trump took office in January, and came as the US ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme.
US to pay El Salvador to jail 300 alleged gang members
AFP
The United States is set to pay El Salvador US$6 million (S$8 million) to imprison 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang that it deports to the Central American country, for one year, the Associated Press reported on March 15, citing an internal memo.
“El Salvador confirms it will house these individuals for one (1) year, pending the United States’ decision on their long term disposition,” AP quoted a memo from El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry as saying.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signalled during a visit in February that the country’s government had offered to host “dangerous criminals” deported from the US in its prisons.
Telegram founder allowed to temporarily leave France
AFP
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been allowed to temporarily leave France, where he is charged with multiple infractions linked to allegedly enabling organised crime, sources told AFP.
Durov, now 40, was sensationally detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris in August 2024 and charged with a litany of violations related to the popular messaging app he founded.
After days of questioning after his arrest, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content and released on €5 million (S$7.2 million) bail .He had been banned from leaving the country, but on March 15 flew out to Dubai, sources said.
Tornadoes strike US South, killing 14 people
REUTERS
At least 14 people were killed in Arkansas and Missouri as a series of tornadoes hit the US Midwest and Southeast overnight, raking a path of destruction that was still being assessed on March 15, police said.
Twenty-six tornadoes were reported but not confirmed to have touched down late on the night of March 14 and early on March 15 as a low-pressure system drove powerful thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri, said meteorologist David Roth, of the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Centre.
“Today, there is a high risk for more tornadoes across Alabama and Mississippi. The chance is 30 per cent,” he said. “That’s pretty significant.”
Nine finals left for City in European qualification fight
AFP
While Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are in the unlikeliest of positions having to battle desperately for a Champions League berth next season, the manager did not mince his words in describing the enormity of the challenge.
City dropped points in a 2-2 Premier League home draw with Brighton and Hove Albion on March 15, to leave the champions provisionally in fifth place with nine games to go.
“Until the end, I think so,” Guardiola told reporters. “Nine games, nine finals.”
