Weekly News Recap 29.03.2025
Signalgate, anti-Erdogan protests Turkey, new US-tariffs and an Earthquake in Asia. All the important news of this week, summarized.
Signalgate
It was the biggest story of the week. On Monday, the Atlantic published an article proving that officials from the Trump Administration accidentally added the Atlantic’s chief editor to a group-chat where high ranking cabinet members like Vice-President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth discussed war plans for the U.S. strike against Huthi rebels in Yemen.
Public outrage followed the historic security breach as the secret plans were discussed in a normal group chat on the messenger app Signal, which is not an allowed secure government channel to discuss secret information.
The White House was quick to downplay the messages, stating nothing was classified and that no war plans was discussed. In response, the Atlantic released Screenshots of all text messages, showing detailed plans that were likely classified. The case will now be discussed in court.
Anti-Erdogan protests continue
Protests continued in Turkey a week after the questionable arrest of Istanbuls mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. The arrest is seen as an attempt by Erdogan to silence his main opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential elections and sparked protests despite strikt restrictions for gatherings and arrests.
Protesters from universities in Ankara clashed with the police, which used water cannons to disperse the crowds. Despite these harsh responses by the police and over a thousand arrests, the protests show no sign of slowing down.
Trump issues new tariffs… and threats
On Wednesday Trump issued 25% tariffs on all imported cars and car parts. The new tariffs apply to all countries and sent US-stocks into negative territory. Share prices for the stocks of German automakers like Volkswagen and BMW also took losses up to 5%. Trump hopes to bring manufacturing to the US with tariffs, but economists warn that consumers will suffer as they have to pay the tariffs through higher prices.
In the meantime, Trump warned the EU and Canada to not partner against the United States in trade relations. If so, he threatened to impose steep tariffs to both EU and Canadian goods. Trump’s new tariff threats come at a time of economic uncertainty in the U.S. as the chance for a recession has more than doubled.
7.7 Magnitude Earthquake hits Southeast Asia
At least 1,000 people died in a 7.7 quake that destroyed large parts of Myanmar on Friday. The death toll is not yet final.
Culture: Adolescence takes Netflix by storm
The British 4-episode show Adolescence has taken over the nr. 1 spot on Netflix within days of its release. The show investigates why 13-year old Jamie killed a girl from his school, looking into toxic masculinity and online culture that affects young men.