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  • Police say it could take months to identify Philippine ferry fire victims

    Police say it could take months to identify Philippine ferry fire victims

    One week after a devastating cargo hold fire tore through the passenger ferry MV June Aster off the Philippine coast, local authorities are facing the grim, labor-intensive task of identifying the remains of 76 confirmed fatalities, a process that forensic officials warn could stretch from weeks to months. The disaster, which unfolded as the vessel sailed from Manila to the popular tourist hub of Coron in Palawan province, has left 13 people still missing and 43 survivors, many of whom have shared harrowing accounts of panic and escape from the rapidly spreading blaze.\n\nSpeaking to reporters on Sunday, Richard Allan Mangalip, a forensic specialist with the Philippine National Police, explained the primary challenge slowing the identification work: most recovered remains are heavily charred from the intense, prolonged fire that burned through the vessel for more than 40 hours. “We are pushing our full efforts to collect any potential identifying markers from the remains,” Mangalip said, noting that the large number of specimens has made it impossible to set a firm, fast deadline for the process. To assist forensic teams, authorities have requested that family members of missing passengers provide DNA samples and information about personal belongings that may help confirm identities.\n\nThe MV June Aster departed Manila last Tuesday on a routine voyage to Coron, a top tourism draw famous for its white-sand beaches and World War II-era shipwreck diving sites. The passenger manifest included a mix of international and domestic tourists, workers commuting to the island, and people traveling to visit family members. Survivor accounts collected in the days after the fire paint a picture of sudden chaos: many reported hearing a loud explosion seconds before smoke began billowing from the cargo hold, and the fire spread so quickly that passengers had only minutes to react before the entire vessel was engulfed. One survivor told the BBC that he was knocked to the deck and trampled in the panicked rush to escape, before managing to jump overboard into the ocean, where he waited hours for rescue.\n\nRescue and recovery operations were severely hampered by the conditions on board: the fire burned for more than 24 hours, generating extreme heat and toxic fumes that kept first responders from accessing the vessel for more than 40 hours. When teams finally were able to board, they found many remains clustered together in sections of the ferry, a grim reminder of how quickly the disaster overtook trapped passengers.\n\nIn an official statement released Sunday, the Philippine Coast Guard, which is leading the ongoing recovery and investigation, expressed its solidarity with those affected by the tragedy. “Our thoughts continue to be with the survivors and the families who are still waiting for word of their loved ones,” the statement read. “We understand the overwhelming pain and uncertainty they are living with every day as we work through recovery and identification, and we are committed to completing this process as thoroughly and expediently as possible.” A senior coast guard official confirmed Saturday that two parallel priorities are guiding the response: identifying all victims, and launching a full investigation to determine the root cause of the blaze.

  • Carney eyes ‘unique alliance’ with EU as trade war with US intensifies

    Carney eyes ‘unique alliance’ with EU as trade war with US intensifies

    As trade tensions between Canada and the United States spiral to new heights, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has publicly clarified his government’s strategic approach to deepening ties with the European Union, confirming Ottawa is not pursuing full bloc membership but a bespoke, far-reaching partnership. Carney made the remarks to reporters in Toronto Sunday, on the sidelines of the Toronto International Film Festival.

    “What we are looking – and will begin discussions for – [is] a unique alliance with the European Union,” Carney stated, pushing back against recent reports that Canada had sought associate member status in the 27-nation bloc. He emphasized that Canada and the EU share foundational democratic values, overlapping policy priorities, and economically complementary strengths that make closer collaboration mutually beneficial. “We’re stronger together. And this is at a time when the world’s more dangerous and divided, and friends need to stick together at these times,” he added.

    Carney’s comments follow a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous officials from both sides that revealed the prime minister had floated the idea of associate membership, and that EU officials had signaled openness to the proposal. The outlet also reported that Carney had directed his special envoy to Europe to map out the most ambitious possible cooperation frameworks that stop short of full accession. Carney’s Sunday briefing put those rumors of a membership bid to rest.

    This week, Carney will embark on a high-stakes European tour to kick off formal discussions on the proposed alliance. He is scheduled to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg, attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual State of the European Union address, and travel to Liverpool to meet with United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

    The push for closer EU alignment comes directly in response to a rapidly escalating trade conflict with the United States that erupted after bilateral trade negotiations collapsed in late August. The Trump administration has implemented steep tariffs on core Canadian export sectors, including steel, aluminum, and softwood lumber, before adding an extra 50% levy on roughly C$28 billion ($20 billion) worth of Canadian goods. Ottawa hit back with reciprocal tariffs of up to 50% on an equal value of U.S. imports, ranging from industrial steel to consumer goods like furniture and cotton apparel.

    Since taking office, Carney has centered his economic policy on building a “more independent, more resilient economy” for Canada, a shift driven by increasingly hostile trade and political rhetoric from the Trump administration. In a notable escalation of tensions, Trump has publicly mused about absorbing Canada as the 51st U.S. state, and recently issued an executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to rebrand Lake Ontario as “Lake America” — a move widely seen as a deliberate provocation. In his January address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carney already laid out his vision for closer cooperation between like-minded middle powers, declaring that “the old order is not coming back” and urging aligned nations to build new frameworks for collective security and economic stability.

  • Nearly 86,000 people flee fighting in Yemen, UN says

    Nearly 86,000 people flee fighting in Yemen, UN says

    A sharp escalation of armed conflict between Yemen’s internationally recognized government forces and Houthi fighters has triggered a massive new humanitarian displacement crisis, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed in an official statement released Sunday. The total number of people forced to flee their homes since the resumption of major clashes has reached nearly 86,000, marking an increase of roughly 10,000 displaced people in just 24 hours.

    Many of those uprooted by the violence have been forced to abandon their homes multiple times over years of ongoing conflict, the agency emphasized. In a stark appeal for global action, IOM Director General Amy Pope highlighted the human cost hidden behind the raw displacement figures. “Behind every number is a family who’s lost everything,” Pope said. “People are crossing the sea with nothing because they have no other choice left.” She warned that Yemen, already shattered by decades of instability and crippling extreme poverty, cannot bear the weight of this growing crisis without urgent international support.

    Since Thursday evening alone, more than 2,000 displaced people — a large share of whom are women and young children — have crossed the Red Sea by boat to reach neighboring Djibouti, IOM data shows. All new arrivals in Djibouti have been moved to a dedicated reception site in the northern town of Obock, where they are currently receiving emergency life-saving aid. The organization, however, cautioned that new waves of displacement are expected as fighting intensifies across western Yemen, and called for significantly increased international assistance to meet growing needs.

    The latest escalation of hostilities dates back to September 3, when clashes between Saudi-backed government forces and Houthi fighters reignited across multiple frontlines. The resumption of violence has already killed hundreds of people on both sides. The conflict has spilled across borders, with Houthi forces launching cross-border attacks targeting Saudi territory, while Houthi media outlets confirm that Saudi aviation continues to carry out frequent air strikes on population centers and military positions held by the group in northern and western Yemen.

    In a rapid, large-scale offensive launched earlier this week, Houthi fighters captured a broad stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline along the Arabian Gulf, including several strategically vital islands and control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a critical global shipping chokepoint that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.

    Local human rights group the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms (YNRF) has documented widespread abuses against civilian populations in the newly captured coastal areas following Houthi fighters’ entry into local cities. The group has recorded more than 950 separate violations against civilians on western frontlines. Among the documented abuses are more than 150 unlawful killings of civilians. Preliminary investigation gathered by YNRF also confirms that Houthi fighters have looted private residences and seized personal property across the seized regions.

    Additionally, the rights organization reported that Houthi authorities have launched a widespread mass arrest campaign targeting both civilian residents and former government military personnel. The detainees are being held as leverage to pressure their relatives to surrender themselves, turn over any privately held weapons, and align with Houthi rule, YNRF said.

    This report was originally published by Middle East Eye, a media outlet that provides independent, in-depth coverage of political, social and humanitarian developments across the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding regions.

  • Amazon pauses work with cargo firm after fatal crash

    Amazon pauses work with cargo firm after fatal crash

    One week after a deadly cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport left five people dead and five more injured, e-commerce behemoth Amazon has announced it will pause all operational partnerships with 21 Air, the aviation firm that operated the Boeing 767-300 jet involved in the incident. A company spokesperson confirmed the decision in a statement Sunday, noting that the move came after a preliminary review of circumstances surrounding the tragedy and ongoing coordination with official investigators.

    The September 6 crash unfolded when the cargo plane, which had departed from Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport bound for Miami, overshot the runway during landing. The jet smashed into several civilian vehicles on surrounding roads before coming to a stop, leaving a scene that National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy described as “utter devastation”. Last week, local authorities released the identities of the five victims: Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

    Early investigative updates from the NTSB, which is leading the probe into the crash, have revealed key preliminary findings. One of the two pilots on board flagged multiple times that the aircraft was traveling at excessive speed as it approached the runway, according to the agency. Multiple safety alerts, including an altitude alarm and other electronic landing warnings, activated during the final approach, but investigators noted that the second pilot did not provide a consistent verbal response to the speed warnings. Investigators have already recovered the plane’s flight data and voice recorders to conduct deeper analysis of the factors that led to the accident.

    21 Air, an all-cargo air carrier that contracts its services to global logistics giants including Amazon and DHL, has publicly expressed grief over the tragedy. In a previous statement, the company’s CEO Keith Winters said the firm was “devastated by the accident”, extended deepest condolences to the families of the deceased, and confirmed that the company was fully cooperating with NTSB investigators to clarify the root cause of the crash. The BBC has reached out to 21 Air for additional comment on Amazon’s decision to pause their partnership, and no further statement has been released from the carrier as of press time.

    In Amazon’s official announcement, the company emphasized that safety has remained its non-negotiable top priority across all of its internal operations and third-party partnerships. “After the tragic incident last weekend, we’ve spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances, and we’ve decided to pause our operations with 21 Air,” the spokesperson said, adding that Amazon will continue to support the ongoing investigation and all parties impacted by the crash.

  • Watch: Why a Russian strike on train near Ukraine-Poland border could mark an escalation

    Watch: Why a Russian strike on train near Ukraine-Poland border could mark an escalation

    A startling new development in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has raised urgent international concerns over a potential dangerous escalation of hostilities, after a Russian drone targeted a passenger train in northern Ukraine just kilometers from the Polish border. Critically, the attack unfolded moments after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a delegation of senior European Union policymakers had departed the same border region, where they had been conducting official talks with Ukrainian leadership.

    Ukrainian emergency services confirmed that no fatalities or injuries were recorded in the strike, a stroke of luck that has not eased growing anxiety over the implications of the attack. The proximity of the strike to NATO member Poland – which has served as a key logistics and political hub for Western support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 – has led military analysts to frame the incident as a deliberate provocation that tests the alliance’s collective defense commitments.

    While Russian officials have not yet issued a formal statement claiming responsibility for the strike, the targeting of infrastructure so close to the border immediately following a high-level Western diplomatic visit has sparked debate over whether the strike was intended to send a direct message to European capitals, or marks a shift in Russia’s strategy to target cross-border transport links that are critical to Ukraine’s war effort and international supply lines. Security sources across Europe have already moved to heighten border alert levels in response to the incident, with many leaders calling for increased vigilance against further Russian actions that could draw NATO into direct conflict with Moscow.

  • US pilot shot down over Iran recalls ‘free-falling’ in first interview since rescue

    US pilot shot down over Iran recalls ‘free-falling’ in first interview since rescue

    In a landmark, first-hand account of one of the most high-stakes military incidents of the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran, a downed United States Air Force airman has opened up about his harrowing experience of free-falling to earth with a malfunctioning parachute and evading enemy forces for two days before a dramatic special operations rescue. The interview, which aired Sunday on CBS News’ flagship program 60 Minutes, marks the first public statement from any crew member involved in the April shootdown incident over Iranian territory.

    Identified only as “Bravo” to protect his identity, the airman described the split-second chaos after his $30 million two-seat F-15E Strike Eagle was downed by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile valued at just $100,000, per CBS reporting. After ejecting from the crippled aircraft, Bravo looked up to discover his parachute had failed to deploy fully. “At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced,” he told the program. He added, “Free-falling is a good way to put it. I wasn’t focused on the speed at which I was falling. I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose.”

    Despite his frantic efforts to fix the damaged parachute, Bravo hit the ground at speeds between 70 and 100 miles per hour, leaving him with broken bones in his back, shoulder, and arm. Calling his survival a “miracle,” the injured airman still pushed himself to hike to the peak of a high ridgeline to avoid detection, constantly looking over his shoulder for approaching Iranian forces. His guiding mantra through the ordeal: “Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV.”

    Bravo and the jet’s second crew member, identified only as “Alpha,” were separated after ejecting, with both evading Iranian troops while waiting for extraction by US special operations forces. Alpha, who declined to participate in the CBS interview, was rescued within six hours of the crash, in an operation that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed involved sustained close-quarters combat. “It was a gun fight all the way in and all the way out,” Hegseth said of the mission. “But they got Alpha back.”

    Bravo’s rescue stretched to 48 hours behind enemy lines, in what Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper confirmed is the first large-scale American military operation on the ground inside Iran in 46 years. At the peak of the mission, more than 90 US service members were operating inside Iranian territory. The operation suffered significant setbacks, however, when multiple American aircraft meant for evacuation became stuck in deep desert sand. Two of these stuck aircraft, valued at approximately $100 million apiece, along with several “Little Bird” reconnaissance helicopters, had to be destroyed by US forces to prevent Iranian forces from seizing sensitive American military technology.

    The incident comes amid a war that has stretched into its seventh month, launched five weeks before the shootdown by a joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. As the United States approaches November’s congressional midterm elections, the conflict has grown increasingly unpopular among the American public, fueled largely by skyrocketing global energy prices and cascading inflation across consumer goods that have been linked to the war. Last week, former President Donald Trump predicted the conflict would continue at least through Election Day on November 3.

  • Emmy Awards: How to watch, who is nominated and why Heated Rivalry is missing

    Emmy Awards: How to watch, who is nominated and why Heated Rivalry is missing

    The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, the most prestigious honorary event in the U.S. television industry, is set to kick off on Monday at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, bringing together the brightest talents from across the small screen. Months of speculation around the full nominations list have now come to a head, with clear fan favorites and unexpected snubs already shaping the narrative ahead of the live telecast.

    This year’s awards are split across three core program categories: drama, comedy, and limited/anthology series, with several structural changes designed to refresh the ceremony. Organizers have merged the best talk series and best scripted variety series into a single outstanding variety series category, and shifted eight previously main-ceremony awards to the earlier Creative Arts Emmys weekend. This cuts the total number of trophies awarded during the live Monday telecast from 26 to 19, freeing up more airtime for live musical performances, comedic segments and unscripted acceptance speeches.

    In the top-rated drama category, last year’s winner *The Pitt* returns to defend its title following the release of its second season. The acclaimed medical drama leads all scripted series this year with eight individual acting nominations, including a best drama actor nod for lead star Noah Wyle. Other standout nominees for best drama include *Pluribus*, *Slow Horses*, *The Diplomat*, and *A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms*, the latest prequel to the global hit *Game of Thrones*.

    Over in the comedy categories, the fifth and final season of Hollywood satire *Hacks* is widely tipped to extend the show’s historic winning streak. Both leading stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are nominated for acting prizes, with Smart on the cusp of making awards history: a win this year would bring her total career Emmy count to eight, tying the all-time record currently held by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman. Top competitors for comedy honors include *Widow’s Bay*, *Shrinking*, *Abbott Elementary* and *Nobody Wants This*, with multiple cast members from *Abbott Elementary* already earning acting nods.

    In the limited and anthology series race, Netflix’s *Beef* season two emerges as a strong contender, with lead stars Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac both landing acting nominations. It faces stiff competition from buzzy contenders including *All Her Fault*, *The Beast in Me* and *DTF St Louis*, which already notched two early wins at the recent Creative Arts Emmys. DTF St Louis stars Linda Cardellini and David Harbour took home best supporting actress and actor in a limited series honors during the pre-telecast ceremonies.

    A total of seven British performers have earned acting nominations this year, alongside Mulligan: Riz Ahmed for *Bait*, Rufus Sewell for *The Diplomat*, Kate O’Flynn for *Widow’s Bay*, Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden for *Slow Horses*, and Matthew Rhys, who made history as a double nominee in two separate lead actor categories: comedy for *Widow’s Bay* and limited series for *The Beast in Me*.

    One of the biggest talking points ahead of the ceremony is the absence of the year’s biggest viral sensation, the ice hockey romance *Heated Rivalry* starring Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. The Canadian-produced series was deemed ineligible for this year’s awards because it lacks required U.S. production involvement, a rule that confused many observers who point to 2021’s big *Schitt’s Creek* sweep. However, *Schitt’s Creek* qualified for inclusion thanks to U.S. broadcast and financing partnerships, including an American-based production company led by creator Dan Levy. *Heated Rivalry* will instead compete in the 2026 International Emmys, set to take place in New York this November.

    Two other fan-favorite shows with strong youth followings also underperformed in nominations despite meeting eligibility requirements. The final season of Netflix’s *Stranger Things* only earned seven nominations, all in technical categories, with no nods for the show in the top drama categories. Similarly, the final season of HBO’s *Euphoria* only landed one acting nomination, with former winner Zendaya being the only cast member from the series to earn a spot on the nominations list.

    The Creative Arts Emmys, held last weekend ahead of the main ceremony, handed out honors across a range of craft and supporting categories. Other early winners include Julie Andrews, who took home best voiceover performance for *Bridgerton*, Alan Cumming who won best reality host for the U.S. adaptation of *The Traitors*, and *Remarkably Bright Creatures*, the drama starring Sally Field and Lewis Pullman, which won best made-for-TV movie. Additional early winners include *South Park* for best animated series, *Mr. Scorsese* for best docuseries, *Love on the Spectrum* for best unstructured reality programme, and Bad Bunny’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show for best variety special.

    This year’s main ceremony will be hosted by veteran television star Mariska Hargitay, the lead of NBC’s long-running crime drama *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit*. Hargitay, who has earned eight Emmy nominations and one win for her role as detective Olivia Benson, is set to preside over the event as her show prepares to air its 28th season and 600th episode this autumn. She also picked up two honors at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys for her documentary *My Mom Jayne*, which explores the life of her mother, iconic 1950s actress Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car crash when Hargitay was just three years old.

    “It’s my great honour to host the 78th Emmy Awards and celebrate this extraordinary community of storytellers,” Hargitay said in a pre-ceremony statement. “Whether it’s an actor or a director, a costumer or a sound designer, we are all so privileged to take part in creating television that unites us.”

    For viewers tuning in, the ceremony will begin at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET on Monday. U.S. audiences can stream the event live on Peacock or broadcast it on NBC. In the UK, the ceremony will start at 1:00 a.m. BST on Tuesday, with no scheduled live broadcast on domestic television, but the BBC News website will provide live overnight coverage of the red carpet and awards announcements.

  • Why a fresh wave of North Korean soldiers may fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine

    Why a fresh wave of North Korean soldiers may fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine

    Four and a half years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a little-discussed but increasingly consequential development has reshaped the conflict’s dynamics: North Korea’s deepening military commitment to Moscow’s campaign. What began as a 2024 deployment of 13,000 elite North Korean troops to defend Russia’s Kursk region amid a Ukrainian offensive has evolved into a long-term, mutually beneficial arrangement that carries sweeping geopolitical ramifications for Europe and East Asia alike.

    When North Korean soldiers first entered the Kursk battlefield in late 2024, their presence was unacknowledged by both Moscow and Pyongyang. Ukrainian forces did not confirm their first encounters with the newly deployed troops until November that year, and the first live North Korean prisoner of war was not taken until January 2025. It was only in April 2025 that Russia officially recognized their contribution, with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov publicly praising their battlefield heroism.

    Accounts from Ukrainian troops who faced the North Korean detachments paint a stark picture of their early combat performance. Members of Ukraine’s 95th Air Assault Brigade described North Korean forces as relying on relentless massed assaults, wave after wave of troops advancing on the same positions even after heavy casualties. Early in the campaign, the elite Storm Corps troops – handpicked from North Korea’s most indoctrinated military units – suffered staggering losses: Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) estimates 3,000 killed and another 1,500 wounded, while a BBC analysis of North Korean memorial sites puts the confirmed death toll at 2,300.

    Ukrainian troops also noted critical gaps in the North Korean force’s equipment and coordination with Russian allies. Many troops were found lacking basic protective gear including body armor, helmets and adequate winter clothing, and communication between Russian and North Korean units was reportedly poor. Most strikingly, captured North Korean soldiers and evidence from fallen troops confirm Pyongyang’s strict prohibition on surrender: almost all troops carry suicide ordnance, and thousands chose to kill themselves rather than be captured, a practice publicly celebrated as heroic by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. To date, only two North Korean soldiers have been taken alive by Ukrainian forces – both captured by accident after being incapacitated by combat injuries.

    Despite the heavy human cost, analysts and officials agree that the initial Kursk deployment has already delivered transformative benefits for North Korea’s isolated, sanctions-battered regime. Economically, South Korean security analyst Lim Soo-ho estimates that arms sales and troop deployments to Russia have netted North Korea close to $10 billion over two and a half years – a sum equal to one-third of the country’s entire annual GDP. In exchange for its military contribution, Pyongyang receives critically needed supplies of food, energy and hard currency from Russia, which refuses to enforce international sanctions on the North Korean regime.

    Beyond immediate economic gains, the partnership with Moscow has reshaped North Korea’s geopolitical position. For decades, North Korea relied heavily on China for diplomatic and economic support, but its deepening military cooperation with Russia has allowed Kim Jong Un to diversify his country’s alliances and position Pyongyang as a key player in the emerging multipolar order Kim describes as a “new Cold War.” That shift was formalized last September, when Kim stood alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the first trilateral public meeting of the three leaders, marking Pyongyang’s arrival as a core member of the anti-Western bloc.

    Militarily, the deployment has given North Korea an unprecedented opportunity to test its troops against modern Western-backed weaponry. “North Korea now knows what modern combat is about,” notes Dr. Yang Uk, a research fellow at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. While early tactics proved costly against Ukrainian drone and artillery fire, Yang says North Korean forces rapidly adapted their tactics to the realities of 21st-century warfare, lessons that will strengthen Pyongyang’s own military capabilities for decades to come.

    Today, the remaining 8,500 North Korean troops already deployed to Russia are stationed in four brigades under Russia’s “North” Group of Forces, tasked with defending the Kursk region border against further Ukrainian incursions. HUR confirms no North Korean combat troops have been deployed to Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory so far – but that could soon change.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued repeated warnings that North Korea is preparing to deploy up to 50,000 additional troops to Russia, up from an earlier estimate of 30,000, and is preparing to ship additional ballistic weapons to Moscow. Zelensky says preparations for the new deployment are already underway in Russia’s Voronezh region, and he has repeatedly called on South Korea – Ukraine’s ally, which has so far only provided non-lethal aid to Kyiv – to supply advanced air defense systems to counter the expanding North Korean-Russian military partnership.

    For Russia, the growing North Korean deployment comes as Moscow faces a crippling manpower shortage four and a half years into its full-scale invasion. Western and Ukrainian intelligence estimates indicate Russia loses roughly 6,000 more troops each month than it can recruit, forcing Moscow to turn to foreign fighters from across the globe to fill its ranks. For North Korea, the arrangement remains a profitable, high-stakes gamble that has already reshaped its global standing – and analysts agree Pyongyang will continue to supply troops and weapons to Russia so long as the benefits outweigh the cost.

    The fate of the two captured North Korean soldiers remains unresolved. Both men have explicitly stated they fear returning to North Korea, where they say their families would be punished with execution for their capture, and have requested resettlement in South Korea. While Seoul has agreed to accept them, Ukraine has not yet formalized the transfer, and Russia is the only party that has formally requested their repatriation. Kyiv says it will abide by international human rights rules that prohibit forcing prisoners of war to return to countries where they face persecution, leaving their future in limbo even as a new wave of North Korean troops prepares to deploy to the conflict.

  • Carney gambles on the world’s biggest investors betting on Canada

    Carney gambles on the world’s biggest investors betting on Canada

    Eighteen months ago, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a striking declaration: the decades-long tight economic and military alliance that defined Canada’s relationship with the United States was effectively over. That break has been fueled by a rapid escalation of tensions: collapsed bilateral trade talks, escalating tit-for-tat tariffs, and inflammatory rhetoric from former U.S. President Donald Trump, including his infamous suggestion that Canada could become America’s 51st state. What began as simmering friction has grown into a full-blown trade feud that is forcing Canada to fundamentally reimagine its economic future.

    Now, leaning on his decades-long career at the upper echelons of global finance, Carney is launching a high-stakes gambit to build that new future. For two days, Toronto is playing host to more than 100 of the world’s most powerful institutional investors, who collectively oversee a staggering C$100tn ($72tn) in assets under management. Billed as a first-of-its-kind national investment summit, the event is Carney’s push to forge new global economic ties that can insulate Canada from today’s increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape.

    Ahead of the summit’s opening, Carney framed Canada as an under-tapped opportunity for global capital, telling attendees: “Canada has what the world wants.” The guest list reflects the scale of Carney’s ambition: it includes leaders of top sovereign wealth funds from nations including Norway and the United Arab Emirates, alongside chief executives of the world’s largest asset managers, such as BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Blackstone President Jon Gray. During the summit, Carney plans to pitch investors on opportunities across Canada’s key sectors: from the country’s abundant energy and natural resource holdings to its growing technology ecosystem, highlighting political stability as a core advantage. The prime minister is specifically targeting new investment for high-priority projects in artificial intelligence, national defense, transportation, and national infrastructure.

    The strategy is rooted in a clear goal: to build a “more independent, more resilient economy” for Canada, after the breakdown of trade relations with its largest and closest trading partner. Tensions in the ongoing trade war have climbed to new highs in recent weeks, leaving little hope of an immediate reset with Washington.

    But Carney’s pitch faces significant headwinds. One longstanding structural barrier to large-scale investment in Canada is the country’s notoriously slow regulatory approval process for major projects, which has deterred global capital for decades. A pre-summit analysis from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investment Board), a co-host of the event, warned that the lack of scalable, ready-to-invest opportunities is Canada’s greatest weakness when competing for global capital. “Global capital is looking for opportunity, but opportunity alone does not make a market investible,” explained Naomi Powell, director of the CPP Investments Insight Institute.

    Unlike many other sitting heads of government, Carney brings a unique advantage to the table: decades of personal relationships with the world’s top business leaders, built during his time as Governor of the Bank of Canada, Governor of the Bank of England, and a senior leader at Goldman Sachs. Most invites to the summit were extended personally by Carney himself, according to Goldy Hyder, president and chief executive of the Business Council of Canada. Miville Tremblay, who worked alongside Carney at the Bank of Canada for multiple years and witnessed his crisis leadership during the 2008 global financial crash, says this personal network and deep financial fluency sets this outreach apart from previous Canadian trade missions. “It’s not a group of politicians inviting financiers, it’s a group of former financiers and investment people inviting their former buddies,” Tremblay noted. He added that Carney’s grasp of global finance puts him a step ahead: “He understands finance very deeply. He would know when they are bluffing and when the understatement meant that something really bad was happening.”

    For a quarter century, Canada’s core pitch to foreign investors centered on one key selling point: access to the U.S. consumer market. That line no longer works, Tremblay says, forcing a complete rebrand of Canada as an investment destination. The new framing, which Carney has fully embraced, is simple: “Canada has stuff that the world needs” – from critical natural resources to stable regulatory governance and cutting-edge innovation.

    While Carney is pushing to diversify Canada’s economic ties away from the U.S., analysts warn that severing ties entirely would come at a massive cost to Canada: exports to the U.S. still account for nearly 20% of Canada’s total GDP, one of the highest bilateral trade dependency ratios in the world. Most economic analysts agree that even as Canada courts new global investment, a long-term resolution of the trade dispute with Washington remains the critical foundation for sustained economic stability. Bradley Saunders, North America economist for Capital Economist, explains that for Carney’s investment push to succeed long-term, he will ultimately need to secure a stable new trade framework with the U.S. “If Carney wants to attract long-term investment… he wants this to go well, he has to try and provide a stable environment – and that won’t come until Canada has a certain trading relationship with the U.S,” Saunders said. Even if Canada continues to reduce its trade reliance on the U.S. over the coming decades, Tremblay notes that both nations will eventually need to return to the negotiating table to reach a compromise.

    Investors in attendance are also looking for Carney to address other domestic barriers to investment, including the need to build consensus for major projects with Indigenous communities and provincial governments, who often hold the power to delay or cancel large resource and infrastructure developments. Beyond attracting overseas capital, the summit also has a quiet secondary goal: encouraging Canada’s own large pension funds, which currently allocate the majority of their capital to overseas investments, to increase their domestic holdings.

    Carney’s supporters frame this moment as a perfect fit for his proven track record as a crisis manager. “He’s a crisis manager. He managed the financial crisis, he managed Brexit, and now he’s got a super crisis for Canada,” Tremblay said. Carney has been open about the challenges ahead, acknowledging that shifting Canada’s economy away from decades of reliance on the U.S. will be a long, difficult road. So far, a majority of Canadian voters have backed his approach, though the prime minister has faced criticism for shifting away from previous climate commitments and pursuing closer resource ties with controversial nations including Saudi Arabia and China.

    The biggest long-term risk, according to some analysts, is the mismatch in timelines: building new trade and investment partnerships across the globe takes years, while the rift with the U.S. has happened far more rapidly. Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, warns that this gap creates a dangerous “valley of death” in the interim that could hurt Canada both economically and politically. For Carney, the summit this week is the first major step on a uncertain path that will define Canada’s economic trajectory for generations.

  • EU foreign policy chief says Israeli settlements should be treated like Russian-occupied Crimea

    EU foreign policy chief says Israeli settlements should be treated like Russian-occupied Crimea

    The European Union’s top foreign policy representative Kaja Kallas has ignited fresh debate over the bloc’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by calling on EU member states to adopt the same uncompromising stance on illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories that the bloc took against Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

    In an interview with The Irish Times published Friday, Kallas argued that the EU cannot maintain its credibility as a global actor if it remains divided on how to respond to aggressive actions by the Israeli government and violent extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. She urged member states to align behind a principle-driven policy: a bloc-wide ban on all trade with goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements, a measure that is fully consistent with existing international law, which universally recognizes settlements as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

    Kallas noted that the total volume of EU trade with the settlements remains small in economic terms, but emphasized that implementing the ban would carry outsized symbolic weight, sending a clear message that the bloc does not accept illegal territorial annexation. To circumvent long-standing opposition from a handful of member states—including Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which have blocked unanimous foreign policy sanctions against Israeli settlement activity—Kallas proposed framing the ban as a trade regulation rather than a formal sanctions measure. This procedural shift would only require a majority vote among member states to pass, rather than the unanimous consent needed for foreign policy sanctions, clearing a key path to approval.

    According to Kallas, the European Commission is facing explicit pressure from a majority of national governments to formally table the trade ban proposal. She added that EU institutions have faced widespread public and political criticism for their failure to impose any punitive measures on Israel amid the ongoing military campaign in Gaza that has been widely condemned as genocidal by international human rights bodies and legal experts.

    “When Russia occupied Crimea, we all agreed it was illegal, we refused to recognize the annexation, and we immediately cut off all trade with goods coming from the occupied peninsula,” Kallas said. “We need to hold the same principled line here: everyone acknowledges these settlements are illegal, so we must end all trade with products from the occupied Palestinian territories.”

    Kallas’ comparison is rooted in recent EU history: within four months of Russia’s February 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea, the bloc had implemented a full ban on Crimean-origin goods and broad economic sanctions on Moscow, eventually expanding restrictions to cover arms, energy, and technology exports to Russia.

    Kallas’ call comes as Israel faces mounting diplomatic pressure from its traditional Western allies, as global public approval for Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied territories has dropped to historic lows. Earlier this month, on September 8, the United Kingdom became the first major Western power to implement national sanctions targeting Israeli settlement activity, and 10 other European nations plus Canada joined the UK in a joint statement affirming their plan to introduce domestic restrictions and back EU-level measures targeting illegal settlement trade.

    Israeli officials have pushed back aggressively against the UK’s decision. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced a package of retaliatory measures, including closing the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and barring 11 sitting British members of parliament from entering Israeli and occupied territory. Even the United States’ ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, waded into the dispute, launching a vitriolic attack on British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband—who is Jewish—accusing him of “Jew hate” and threatening further retaliation against the UK.

    The rising tensions over settlements follow an August announcement from the Israeli government that it would approve construction of the long-contested E1 settlement project, which will add 3,400 new housing units to existing settlements in the West Bank and effectively cut the occupied Palestinian territory in half, ending any possibility of a contiguous future Palestinian state. The approval drew widespread condemnation from governments and international bodies across the globe.

    Kallas’ new public stance marks a notable shift, as reports have previously revealed she has privately compared Israel’s systematic treatment of Palestinians to the apartheid regime that once ruled South Africa. It also stands in sharp contrast to her earlier public position: just months ago, at a March 2025 press conference, Kallas reaffirmed the EU’s “solidarity with Israel and its people” and emphasized that the bloc views Israeli security as a core priority for Europe.