While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 16, 2025
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Family members react during the funeral of Israeli soldier Daniel Shimon Perez, who was killed during the Oct 7, 2023 attack and whose body was kidnapped and later returned to Israel, in Jerusalem, on Oct 15.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Trump says Israel could resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to disarm
US President Donald Trump told CNN on Oct 15 that he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal.
“Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they’d do that,” Mr Trump was quoted as saying to CNN in a brief telephone call when asked what would happen if Hamas refused to disarm.
Hamas, which has not publicly committed to disarming and ceding power, has gradually sent its men back into the streets of Gaza since the ceasefire began on Oct 10.
It has killed more than 30 members of "a gang" in Gaza City, a Palestinian security source said on Oct 13, without identifying the gang involved.
US judge blocks Trump’s plan to lay off thousands of government workers
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
A federal judge in California on Oct 15 ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to halt mass layoffs of federal workers during a partial government shutdown while she considers claims by unions that the job cuts are illegal.
During a hearing in San Francisco, US District Judge Susan Illston granted a request by two unions to block layoffs at more than 30 federal agencies while the case proceeds.
The decision is likely to be appealed quickly, but it offers a reprieve for federal workers facing a nearly year-long push by the Trump administration to slash their ranks.
Greer, Bessent blast China’s rare earths curbs, urge Beijing not to implement them
PHOTO: AFP
Top US officials on Oct 15 blasted China's major expansion of rare earth export controls as a threat to global supply chains, but said Beijing could still change course and avoid steps by Washington to decouple from the world's second-largest economy.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told a press conference that China's new export restrictions were a "global supply-chain power grab" and the US and its allies would not accept the restrictions, but he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stressed that Washington did not want to escalate the conflict, which has roiled financial markets and sent US-China relations into a tailspin.
As of the night of Oct 14, US President Donald Trump was still expecting to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later in October, Mr Bessent said.
Ukraine introduces power cuts across all regions after recent Russian attacks
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ukraine is introducing emergency power cuts in all but two regions following a spate of Russian strikes that have hobbled the country’s energy system, officials said on Oct 15.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities as winter approaches, seriously damaging gas production and plunging major cities including the capital Kyiv into periods of darkness.
In a statement, Ukraine’s energy ministry said the fallout from recent strikes had forced it to implement the cuts. Planned power outages had already been in place in the eastern Donetsk and northern Chernihiv regions.
Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to temporary truce after fresh fighting, airstrike
PHOTO: REUTERS
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Oct 15 after airstrikes and ground fighting ramped up tensions between the South Asian neighbours, leaving more than a dozen civilians dead and 100 wounded.
Oct 15’s fighting along the volatile, contested frontier shattered a fragile peace after dozens were killed in weekend clashes, the worst between the two Islamic countries since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.
The recent friction between the former allies erupted after Islamabad demanded that the Afghan Taliban administration act to rein in militants who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.
