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World Monthly Headline News March 2025 Page 1
By ANDREW WILKS

ISTANBUL (AP) — Kurdish militants who have waged a 40-year insurgency in Turkey declared a ceasefire on Saturday in what could mark a significant boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, two days after their imprisoned leader called for the group to disarm.

The announcement by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, comes against the backdrop of fundamental changes in the region, including the reconfiguration of power in neighboring Syria after the toppling of President Bashar Assad, the weakening of the Hezbollah militant movement in Lebanon and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The government is yet to respond in detail to the PKK’s declaration but Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz posted on X that a “new phase has been entered towards the goal of a terror-free Turkey. … We hope that this opportunity will be seized, this effort will be concluded quickly and successfully.”

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has led to tens of thousands of deaths since it began in 1984. The ceasefire is the first sign of a breakthrough since peace talks between the PKK and Ankara broke down in the summer of 2015.
By Christopher Lamb, CNN

Rome CNN  — When Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in 600 years it sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church. Now, after spending two weeks in hospital battling pneumonia, the speculation in the Vatican is whether his successor Pope Francis might do the same.

“I think the only circumstances under which he (Francis) would consider resignation, as he has said, would be if he had a long-term degenerative or debilitating condition which prevented him from fully carrying out the papal ministry,” Austen Ivereigh, a papal biographer, told CNN.

The pope was put on a breathing machine on Friday, after suffering a sudden episode of respiratory difficulty, the Vatican said. The episode was complicated by vomiting, some of which the pope aspirated, it added. A Vatican source said on Friday the next 24-48 hours will determine whether the pope’s general condition has deteriorated. On Saturday morning, Francis was said to be resting, after what the Vatican called a peaceful night.

Resigning the papacy is not like stepping down from being the president of a company or CEO of a large corporation. There are no term limits, no board, and it is considered a job for life. For Catholics, the pope is St. Peter’s successor, carrying out a ministry given by Christ himself. Yet the papacy is also an office and advances in modern medicine and life expectancy have presented a new scenario. It also remains unclear how long the 88-year-old pope will remain in hospital or his long-term prognosis.
Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Where next? The first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire ends on Saturday.

The 42 days since 19 January have seen their fair share of uncertainty, hope, grief and anger, but everything that should have happened in that time has.

Israeli hostages - the living and the dead - have been released. Palestinian prisoners set free.

But negotiations on phase two, including the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, have barely begun.

Talks opened in Cairo on Friday but Israel's delegation returned home in the evening.

Reports suggested that negotiations would continue "at a distance" and that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold late-night talks with the delegation, senior ministers and intelligence chiefs.

For such a meeting to take place late on the sabbath was highly unusual. But as of mid-morning on Saturday, no details have been released.

Israel appears to be looking to extend the current phase for another six weeks, to get more hostages back and release more Palestinian prisoners but without withdrawing its troops.

The government here is adamant that Hamas, the group responsible for the massacres of 7 October 2023 and the taking of 251 hostages, has to lay down its arms and relinquish any form of authority in the Gaza Strip.

Israel also says it is not yet ready to leave the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border - a process that should have begun on Saturday.
Lucy Leeson

Watch live as Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Sir Keir Starmer today (1 March) following the Ukrainian president’s explosive Oval Office showdown with Donald Trump.

Mr Zelensky arrived at London Stansted Airport on Saturday after a disastrous meeting with the US President in Washington on Friday.

Mr Zelensky left the White House after a meeting collapsed when JD Vance accused him of having “disrespected” the US.
By SAM MEDNICK, WILSON MCMAKIN and MONIKA PRONCZUK

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Countries around the world already are feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate more than 90% of foreign aid contracts and cut some $60 billion in funding. Hours after the announcement earlier this week, programs were shuttered, leaving millions of people without access to life-saving care.

Some 10,000 contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development were terminated on Wednesday, in letters sent to nongovernmental organizations across the globe.

The letters said that the programs were being defunded “for convenience and the interests of the U.S. government,” according to a person with knowledge of the content who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Many of the programs are in fragile countries that are highly reliant on U.S. aid to support health systems, nutrition programs and stave off starvation. Other major issues like fighting terrorism, human and drug trafficking, including fentanyl, and monitoring and aiding migrants will also suffer as a result of the U.S. cuts, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Some said they felt the U.S. president was disrespectful and that they were proud of their leader for standing up to him.
By Kim Barker and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn
Reporting from Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

Liudmyla Shestakova has lost a lot to this war — her son, and his wife, who died together on the front lines. But she’s a realist, like many in this mining region in central Ukraine. And ever since President Trump suggested it, she has thought that her country should sign a proposed deal that would give America some profits from mining in Ukraine.

Ms. Shestakova, 65, who works with an environmental group called Flora in the city of Kropyvnytskyi, had hoped a deal between the U.S. and Ukraine on critical minerals could bring much-needed investment to the region.

But on Friday night, Ms. Shestakova, like many people in Ukraine, was shocked and blindsided at how the deal fell apart and how she felt that President Trump treated Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, almost like a serf who didn’t bow and kiss the ring quite enough.

“With a trustworthy partner, this could have been a beneficial deal for everyone,” said Ms. Shestakova, who once ran Flora and now sits on its supervisory board. “But with a partner like Trump, it could actually be dangerous.”
Story by TIA GOLDENBERG and SAMY MAGDY

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel stopped the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned of “additional consequences” if Hamas does not accept a new proposal for an extension of the first phase of a fragile ceasefire.

Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the truce and said its decision to cut off aid was “cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack on the (ceasefire) agreement.” Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended.

The first phase of the ceasefire, which included a surge in humanitarian assistance, expired on Saturday. The two sides have yet to negotiate the second phase, in which Hamas was to release dozens of remaining hostages in return for an Israeli pullout and a lasting ceasefire.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the decision to suspend aid was made in coordination with the Trump administration.
Zelenskyy is seeking foreign support after a disastrous U.S. visit.
By David Brennan

LONDON -- European leaders will gather in London on Sunday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a tempestuous White House meeting that thrust U.S.-Ukrainian relations further into crisis.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC News on Sunday morning he had agreed with President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron that the U.K. and France would work on a Ukraine peace plan to then be presented to -- and discussed with -- the U.S. The prime minister added that "one or two" other nations may be involved in drafting the plan "to stop the fighting."

In a statement, Starmer's office said the prime minister will "intensify his efforts in pursuit of a just and lasting peace in Ukraine" while hosting Sunday's summit in the British capital.

Zelenskyy arrived in the U.K. on Saturday, straight from his visit to Washington, D.C., in which an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance descended into an open argument in front of gathered reporters.
Story by Alex Stezhensky

“Today, we witnessed the biggest disgrace ever put on display by the current US president and his vice president. President Zelenskyy deserves great credit for maintaining his composure, even as the United States turned it into a televised spectacle,” the company stated in a now-deleted Facebook post.

Although the post criticizing the US was later removed from the company’s page, Haltbakk Bunkers has not retracted its decision.

According to reports, the company has immediately ceased all fuel supplies to US military forces in Norway and ships docking in Norwegian ports. It has also urged Norwegians and Europeans to join the boycott.

Gran emphasized in a media comment that “not a single liter of fuel will be supplied” as long as Donald Trump remains president.

He also highlighted that the company had cut ties with Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We lost a lot of revenue, but we have a moral compass. Now the US is excluded because of its behavior toward Ukrainians,” Gran said.
By Tucker Reals, Ahmad Mukhtar, Anna Coren, Haley Ott

President Trump's imposition of blanket 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico drew swift vows of retaliation from the United States' immediate neighbors on Tuesday. China, which was hit with a second 10% tariff on U.S. exports since Mr. Trump took office, bringing the total levy to 20%, immediately announced its own reciprocal measures — deliberately targeting America's agricultural sector.

A Canadian official confirmed to CBS News that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Canadian foreign minister Mélanie Joly intened to speak on Wednesday.

Below is a look at the measures being imposed or planned by Canada, China and Mexico, and the rhetoric coming from officials in those countries as Mr. Trump ramps up his trade war against one of America's biggest adversaries, and its two closest neighbors.

Canada announces reciprocal tariffs; Trudeau calls Trump's move "a very dumb thing to do"

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced immediate retaliation to the new U.S. tariffs in a statement late Monday evening. He said Canada would impose a $30 billion counter-tariff on goods imported from the U.S. immediately, escalating to $155 billion worth of American products within the next 21 days. Trudeau has said previously that Canada would target American beer, wine, bourbon and home appliances, along with Florida orange juice, with its measures.

"Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered," Trudeau said, adding that he was already discussing with Canada's provincial leaders various non-tariff measures that could be imposed if the Trump administration doesn't lift its tariffs.
By JOSH BOAK, PAUL WISEMAN and ROB GILLIES

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump launched a trade war Tuesday against America’s three biggest trading partners, drawing immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China and sending financial markets into a tailspin as the U.S. faced the threat of rekindled inflation and paralyzing uncertainty for business.

Just after midnight, Trump imposed 25% taxes, or tariffs, on Mexican and Canadian imports, though he limited the levy to 10% on Canadian energy. Trump also doubled the tariff he slapped last month on Chinese products to 20%.

Beijing retaliated with tariffs of up to 15% on a wide array of U.S. farm exports. It also expanded the number of U.S. companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.
Story by Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com

The leader of Canada's biggest economy is ripping up a deal with 'First Buddy' Elon Musk as the country continues to try and fight back against Donald Trump's tariffs.

Doug Ford is the Premier of Ontario, home to both Canada's capital of Ottawa and largest city in Toronto.

He has been one of the most fearsome fighters against Trump's tariff war with Canada which officially went into effect after midnight on Tuesday.

Ford - who also threatened to cut off energy to the United States - launched into an attack on Musk, canceling the company's $100million CAN ($68million US) contract with Starlink satellite internet provider.

'It's done, it's gone. We won't award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country,' Ford said.

He went even further, attacking Queen's University in Kingston, saying they should be 'embarrassed' that Musk attended the school.

Ford, a member of the country's 'Tory' party which opposes Prime Minister Trudeau's liberals, said of the decision: 'They only have President Trump to blame.'

The Premier added that this didn't need to happen.
Story by Naomi LaChance

Changes to a program expanding internet access could “drastically increase” opportunities for Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The Commerce Department is looking to change a Biden era program that intends to make the internet more widely available across the country as soon as this week, meaning his satellite internet system, Starlink, will stand to profit.

Reporter Patience Haggin writes, “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has told staff he plans to make the grant program ‘technology-neutral,’ the people said. That change will free up states to award more funds to satellite-internet providers like Starlink, rather than mainly to companies that lay fiber-optic cables, to connect the millions of U.S. households that lack high-speed internet service.”

Starlink is part of SpaceX, Musk’s space technology company. The $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program placed rules around the usage of satellites — they could only be used where it wasn’t a good idea to lay fiber cables, because they thought cables were more reliable and durable. Republicans say the program moves too slowly.
Story by Brad Reed

Bloomberg is reporting that members of the Federal Aviation Administration have been threatened with termination if they act to "impede" a takeover by SpaceX, the private space exploration firm owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

According to Bloomberg's sources, SpaceX engineer Ted Malaska last month came to the FAA's headquarters in Washington D.C. and gave employees what he described as a directive from Musk himself to "immediately start work on a program to deploy thousands of the company’s Starlink satellite terminals to support the national airspace system."

Furthermore they were given 18 months to complete this task and were told that they would be reported directly to Musk should they impede progress on it.

Musk is not an elected official nor a Senate-confirmed cabinet official, and it's not clear what authority he has to fire federal employees.
David Edwards

Brown Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's liquor, warned investors after some Canadian officials reacted to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs by pulling American booze from the shelves.

CEO Lawson Whiting gave the warning in a post-earnings call Wednesday, according to The Globe And Mail.

"I mean, that's worse than a tariff, because it's literally taking your sales away, (and) completely removing our products from the shelves," Whiting said.
Why does Trump keep doing things that help Putin and Russia? Is Trump a Russian asset?

Story by Alberto Rojas / Pablo Pardo

Kiev will not be able to access the information that activated alerts for civilians to take shelter.

Donald Trump continues to distribute doses of arrogance and cruelty to his former Ukrainian ally. If last Monday it was the pause in the delivery of military equipment, which posed a worrying challenge for the troops in Kiev, now he has left them blind by cutting off the vital Intelligence collaboration that gave some advantage to the soldiers of the invaded country. In Ukraine, they wonder what to expect next from the country that had promised to stand by them "for as long as necessary."

The decision is terrible in military terms. Thanks to that Intelligence, Ukraine was able to know before many Russian generals that the Z troops were going to invade Ukraine on February 24, 2022, giving Zelensky a chance to prepare a resistance that helped defeat the Russians around Kiev and Kharkiv, the two most important cities in the country. Putin responded on Wednesday to Zelensky's truce offer with an attack of 183 drones and three ballistic missiles across all of Ukraine.

Furthermore, now Ukraine will not be able to access the information that triggered its early warnings, such as the takeoff of bombers, drones, and missiles from Russian territory, which allowed warning Ukrainian civilians to take shelter. Now they will have to rely on their own radar equipment, much inferior in detection capabilities. Undoubtedly, this decision by the Trump Administration could lead to the deaths of civilians in Ukraine.
Story by Liliana Oleniak

Some US allies are considering reducing the amount of intelligence they share with Washington in response to the Donald Trump administration's conciliatory approach to Russia. They fear the transfer of data to Moscow, NBC News reports.

According to the sources, the allies are considering this step because of concerns about protecting foreign agents whose identities could be inadvertently revealed.

Every intelligence agency treats its obligations to foreign agents as sacrosanct, promising to ensure the agents' safety and conceal their identities. Anything that jeopardizes that commitment undermines trust, former officials say, and could lead some spy services to refrain from sharing information with Washington.

The sources said that allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and members of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence alliance, are exploring the possibility of revising current intelligence-sharing protocols to reflect the Trump administration's warming relations with Russia.

“Those discussions are already happening,” said a source with direct knowledge of the discussions. However, according to the sources, no decisions or actions have been taken.

According to the sources, the review is part of a broader examination of the range of relations with Washington among many US allies, including diplomacy, trade and military cooperation, as well as intelligence issues.
The gathering threw its support behind a plan to rebuild Gaza put forward by Egypt and backed by Arab states.
By The Associated Press

Foreign ministers from Muslim nations on Saturday rejected calls by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population and backed a plan for an administrative committee of Palestinians to govern the territory to allow reconstruction to go ahead.

Meanwhile, Hamas reported “positive signals” in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on starting negotiations on the delayed second phase of its ceasefire deal with Israel. Spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua gave no details, but said the group is willing to start talks and its delegation has been discussing the means to do so.

The foreign ministers gathered in Saudi Arabia for a special session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to address the situation in Gaza while the 7-week-old ceasefire has been thrown into doubt. Its second phase is meant to bring the release of remaining hostages, a lasting truce and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.


The gathering threw its support behind a plan to rebuild Gaza put forward by Egypt and backed by Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, aimed at countering Trump’s call. The OIC has 57 nations with largely Muslim populations.

Without specifically mentioning Trump, the ministers’ statement said they rejected “plans aimed at displacing the Palestinian people individually or collectively … as ethnic cleansing, a grave violation of international law and a crime against humanity.”

They also condemned “policies of starvation” that they said aim to push Palestinians to leave, a likely reference to Israel’s cutting off all supplies to Gaza in the past week as it presses Hamas to instead extend the ceasefire’s first phase.
By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

CNN — President Donald Trump’s blanket 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday, an extraordinary action aimed at bringing America’s top trading partners to heel. But it threatens to weaken the North American economy, including that of the United States, at a time of significant stress for inflation-weary consumers.

Trump also doubled the tariff on all Chinese imports to 20% from 10%. Those duties sit atop existing tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese goods. China and Canada immediately retaliated with tariffs on American goods, threatening to ignite a damaging trade war. Mexico said it would announce retaliatory measures Sunday.

The Trump administration said the tariffs were necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

“While President Trump gave both Canada and Mexico ample opportunity to curb the dangerous cartel activity and influx of lethal drugs flowing into our country, they have failed to adequately address the situation,” according to a statement released by the White House shortly before the tariffs took effect.

But the tariffs come at a time when inflation remains stubbornly high. Americans, and the US economy as a whole, are on shakier ground, as evidenced by recent data.
The accident causes a fire in a busy shipping lane off East Yorkshire.
Aljazeera

An oil tanker and a cargo ship have collided off eastern England, setting both vessels on fire and prompting a massive rescue operation.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said Monday’s crash had occurred off the county of East Yorkshire.

Both the oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, and the cargo vessel, Solong, were on fire off the northeastern coast of England with British media showing images of a huge plume of black smoke and flames rising from the scene.

Local MP Graham Stuart said that all 37 crew aboard the two ships had been accounted for and that one was hospitalised. “The other 36 mariners across both crews are safe and accounted for,” he said.

Earlier, Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said at least 32 casualties were brought ashore, but their conditions were not immediately clear.
ABC News

The United States and Ukraine are calling for a 30-day ceasefire, subject to the acceptance of Russia, following talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

The U.S. will also "immediately lift" its pause on intelligence sharing and "resume security assistance to Ukraine," the countries said in a joint statement.

The U.S. and Ukraine "took important steps toward restoring durable peace for Ukraine," the statement said.

"Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation," the statement said. "The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation in Jeddah, said the ceasefire proposal will be delivered to Russia "directly through multiple channels."

"The offer is to stop the shooting. The goal here is, the only way out to end this war is to negotiate out of it. There's no military solution to this war," Rubio said during remarks to reporters in Jeddah following the talks. "Before you can negotiate, you have to stop shooting at each other. And that's what [President Donald Trump] has wanted to see, and that's the commitment we got today from the Ukrainian side, their willingness to do that, obviously."

"Our hope is that the Russians will say yes," Rubio added.
Holly Ellyatt

The European Union has reacted swiftly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that came into effect Wednesday, retaliating with their own punitive counter-measures that it said were needed to protect consumers and businesses.

The White House confirmed the duties — which will affect Canada, Australia, the EU and others — late Tuesday, but said that Trump no longer planned to raise tariffs on the metals from Canada to 50%.

The EU responded swiftly, saying it would impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28.33 billion) worth of U.S. goods starting in April.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday told reporters that the EU “must act to protect businesses and consumers.”

We deeply regret this measure [by the U.S.]. Tariffs are taxes, they are bad for business and worse for consumers, they are disrupting supply chains, they bring uncertainty for the economy, jobs are at stake, prices are up and nobody needs that, neither side needs that,” she said during a press conference.
By LORNE COOK, DAVID MCHUGH and ROB GILLIES

BRUSSELS (AP) — Major trade partners swiftly hit back at President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, imposing stiff new taxes on U.S products from textiles and water heaters to beef and bourbon.

Canada, the largest supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., said Wednesday it will place 25% reciprocal tariffs on steel products and also raise taxes on a host of items: tools, computers and servers, display monitors, sports equipment, and cast-iron products.

Across the Atlantic, the European Union will raise tariffs on American beef, poultry, bourbon and motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans.

Combined, the new tariffs will cost companies billions of dollars, and further escalate the uncertainty in two of the world’s major trade partnerships. Companies will either take the losses and earn fewer profits, or, more likely, pass costs along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Prices will go up, in Europe and the United States, and jobs are at stake, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers,” von der Leyen said.
By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

CNN — President Donald Trump imposed sweeping 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States Wednesday, a policy aimed at leveling the playing field for US manufacturing but a move that threatens to drive up prices on a broad range of consumer and industrial goods for Americans.

It’s the latest salvo in Trump’s multifaceted tariff plan aimed at correcting perceived trade imbalances and reigniting domestic industry. But it risks igniting a global trade war. The European Union, hit for the first time by higher US tariffs since Trump returned to the White House, retaliated within hours with countermeasures on US goods exports. And later Wednesday, Canada announced over $20 billion in retaliatory measures as well.

Trump on Wednesday in the Oval Office said the United States would up the ante after the European and Canadian retaliation, but he did not spell out how or when the United States would respond.

“Of course I will respond, Trump said.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum mark the first time in Trump’s second term that a set of tariffs has been applied to all countries.

Imposing steel and aluminum tariffs poses a risky bet: Although it could give America’s steel and aluminum industries a boost, it will raise prices on a key ingredient for American manufacturers, which could be passed on to consumers. The costs could outweigh the benefit.
Opinion by David Gardner

Vladimir Putin has Donald Trump right where he wants him.

Now the world is waiting to see what Russia wants, rather than what Ukraine needs or the United States desires.

The U.S. president sees peace as a means to an end. In his case, bragging rights over Joe Biden and European leaders who have fretted over the bloody conflict for three years.

Of course, Trump also wants the killing to stop. But picking up the phone to the Kremlin and sending over your golfing buddy to knock some sense into the Russians is playing into Putin’s hands.

Because Moscow has no interest in peace.

It is Trump’s strategy, or rather, his lack of strategy, that interests Putin and his pit bull foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. The naive approach, talk of World War II alliances and ending the bloodshed, forgets Russia’s maximalist ambitions.

According to a senior diplomatic source with intimate knowledge of Putin’s inner circle, Trump’s protégé and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will likely bypass the usual protocols when he meets with Putin in Moscow later this week.
Story by Julia Conley

With declining consumer interest in Tesla vehicles sending CEO and Trump administration ally Elon Musk into an apparent panic over the electric automaker's plummeting stock—spurring an impromptu car show on the White House lawn Tuesday with President Donald Trump scolding Americans for not buying Musk's products—recent reports from across Europe and Canada suggest the two right-wing leaders are pushing global consumers to reject not just Tesla, but a wide array of American goods.

As The Guardian reported Wednesday, numbers released this week by Statistics Canada showed waning enthusiasm for Canadians to visit their southern neighbor, with 23% fewer Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—the most popular mode of cross-border travel—this year so far compared to February 2024.

With Trump initiating a trade war with Canada—falsely claiming the country is a major source of fentanyl flowing into the U.S.—by imposing 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports and threatening to take over the country as the "cherished Fifty First State," consumers have been downloading apps like "Maple Scan" and "Is This Canadian?" to avoid purchasing U.S.-made products.

"A lot of people feel betrayed by our closest ally," Emma Cochran, an Ottawa-based marketer, toldNBC News on Wednesday.

Cochrane partnered with a colleague to make hats and shirts emblazoned with the phrase, "Canada is not for sale," one of which was worn by Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week.
Arthur Sullivan

The Trump administration's uncompromising approach to tariffs appears to have sparked a trend in opposition — boycott campaigns against American products from consumers and companies.

Scandinavian countries and Canada are at the forefront of a growing international trend in which some consumers are shunning US goods because of President Donald Trump's decision to place tariffs on a range of products from all over the world.

Several Facebook groups have been set up in recent weeks aimed at organizing boycotts and campaigns. A Swedish group called "Bojkotta varor fran USA" in Swedish, meaning "Boycott goods from the US," had almost 80,000 members at the time of writing.

It describes its purpose as to "protect democracy, self-determination and security," and says it hopes boycotts will put pressure on the Trump administration. The use of the American platform Facebook is justified as it is "the best weapon," it added.

Several similar Canadian groups have started on Facebook, while a French group called "BOYCOTT USA: Achetez Francais et Europeen!" — BOYCOTT USA: Buy French and European! — has over 20,000 members.
Tesla drops amid Musk wrath

There is limited data available so far to show if such campaigns are having an impact. However, one of the US products with an especially tangible link to the Trump administration is Tesla. The electric car brand is run by Elon Musk, a senior advisor to Trump currently tasked with running the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
There’s a growing global call to boycott American-made goods.

Consumers across the world are boycotting American products in protest of literally everything Donald Trump is doing.

In Canada, American liquor, wine, and spirits have been pulled off the shelves in response to Trump’s tariff war with America’s northern ally. Canadians have booed the American national anthem at hockey games, and trips across the southern border dropped 23 percent last month from the same time last year.

In Sweden and Denmark, people are calling for a boycott of American companies, including McDonalds, Amazon, and KFC, after Trump pulled military funding for Ukraine. A Danish Facebook group, Boykot varer fra USA, which translates to “Boycott Goods from the U.S.,” has over 70,000 members. Users post about alternatives to American products, and support one another in boycotting American products.

“I have been in the group for a few days and can already feel my joy at my increased consumer awareness,” one user posted.

And across the world, electric vehicle buyers are refusing to buy Teslas in rejection of Elon Musk’s shadow presidency, his support for the far-right German party AfD, his hand gesture that looked like a Nazi salute, his slashing of federal funding through the Department of Government Efficiency … the list goes on.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser says Moscow wants long-term settlement taking its interests into account

Russia does not want a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine and is pushing for a long-term peace settlement that will take into account its interests and concerns, a senior aide to Vladimir Putin has said.

Yuri Ushakov, the Russian president’s foreign policy adviser, told state television on Thursday that the 30-day ceasefire proposed after talks between the US and Ukraine this week was “nothing other than a temporary breather for Ukrainian troops”.

“Nobody needs steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation,” Ushakov said, adding that Moscow “hopes [the US] knows our position and wants to believe that they will take it into account as we work together going forward”.

Russia’s rejection of the US proposal aligned with Putin’s hardline stance ahead of high-level talks later on Thursday in Moscow, where Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, has landed.

Those demands would in effect end Ukraine’s existence as a functioning state and place it squarely in Russia’s orbit while severely limiting Nato’s presence east of Germany.
By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, March 13 (Reuters) - Israel carried out "genocidal acts" against Palestinians by systematically destroying women's healthcare facilities during the conflict in Gaza, and used sexual violence as a war strategy, United Nations experts said in a report on Thursday.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the report's findings, saying they were biased and antisemitic.

"Instead of focusing on the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organization...the United Nations once again chooses to attack the state of Israel with false accusations," he said in a statement.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, MATTHEW LEE and SAMY MAGDY

JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.S. and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for moving Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump’s proposed postwar plan, American and Israeli officials told The Associated Press.

The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the U.S. and Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned and raised serious legal and moral issues. Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump’s stated goal of resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in a “beautiful area.”

Officials from Sudan said they have rejected overtures from the U.S., while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told The Associated Press that they were not aware of any contacts.
Story by ROB GILLIES

TORONTO (AP) — Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked Defense Minister Bill Blair to review the purchase of America’s F-35 fighter jet to see if there are other options “given the changing environment," a spokesman for Blair said Saturday.

Defense ministry press secretary Laurent de Casanove said the contract to purchase U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin's F-35 currently remains in place and Canada has made a legal commitment of funds for the first 16 aircraft. Canada agreed to buy 88 F-35’s two years ago.

Carney, who was sworn in on Friday, has asked Blair to work with the military “to determine if the F-35 contract, as it stands, is the best investment for Canada, and if there are other options that could better meet Canada’s needs," de Casanove said.

“To be clear, the F-35 contract has not been canceled, but we need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces,” de Casanove said.
By The Associated Press

KOCANI, North Macedonia — A massive fire tore through a nightclub in North Macedonia 's eastern town of Kocani early Sunday, killing 59 people and injuring 155, authorities said.

The blaze broke out around 2:30 a.m. during a concert by a local pop group at Club Pulse, Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski told reporters. He said 39 of the dead had so far been identified.

He said, following an initial assessment, pyrotechnics likely caused the roof to catch fire. Videos showed chaos inside the club, with young people running through the smoke as the musicians urged people to escape as quickly as possible.
The US raids come after Trump warned that ‘hell will rain down’ if Houthis attacked ships in the Red Sea.
Aljazeera

US fighter jets have carried out a series of air raids across Yemen, killing at least 32 people after President Donald Trump warned the Houthi group not to attack ships passing through the Red Sea.

According to the latest statistics from the Houthi-run Health Ministry, at least 101 have been injured in the US air raids, said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Al Attab reporting from Sanaa.

The US raids, the most significant military action since Trump’s return to power in January, came after Yemen’s Houthis threatened to resume raids on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

The US attacks, which began on Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday, on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as areas in Saada and al-Bayda killed 32 people and wounded 101, according to the ministry of health.

Earlier, spokesperson for the ministry of health Anis al-Asbahi said that most of the casualties were “children and women”.

The victims in Saada included four children and a woman. According to Yemeni media, US forces also launched attacks in the provinces of Hajjah, Marib, Dhamar, and Taiz.
The strikes differ from the Biden administration's, Waltz told "This Week."
By Quinn Scanlan

The U.S. airstrikes that bombarded Yemen on Saturday targeted and "took out" multiple leaders of the Iranian-backed Houthis, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said Sunday.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Waltz argued to co-anchor Martha Raddatz that these latest strikes differ from the countless strikes the Biden administration launched against the rebel group, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

"These were not kind of pinprick, back and forth -- what ultimately proved to be feckless attacks," Waltz said. "This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out. And the difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership, and two, holding Iran responsible."
Story by Camilla Schick

The Trump administration and Israel approached the governments of Sudan and Somalia, and have also been interested in Syria, as potential places to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, according to three sources familiar with the effort.

The idea of Palestinian resettlement in another country is one of several options the Trump team is chewing over as part of the U.S. president's larger goal of ending Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and rebuilding the devastated Palestinian enclave.

"Nobody is expelling any Palestinians," President Trump said Wednesday, when the Irish Prime Minister was asked during the two leaders' Oval Office meeting by a Voice of America reporter about the president's controversial remarks in February when he suggested taking ownership of Gaza to rebuild it.

Mr. Trump made the remarks during a Feb. 4 press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Gaza could be the "Riviera of the Middle East."

" We should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction," Mr. Trump said.

A combination of Israeli and U.S. officials communicated to Sudan and Somalia, two diplomatic sources confirmed to CBS News. Senior far-right Israeli government officials have already been calling for Palestinians to migrate from the enclave. Mr. Trump's remarks have only emboldened Israel to reach out to other countries to explore opportunities for Palestinian resettlement, one source said.

Countries worldwide are rejecting American products in response to Trump administration policies. European car buyers are abandoning Tesla while Canadian apps help shoppers avoid US goods.
Story by Joe Lancaster

So far, President Donald Trump's second term in office has been characterized by antagonism to allied nations. In just two months, Trump has shown hostility to the NATO defense alliance while gleefully pursuing a trade war against Canada and Mexico by imposing double-digit tariffs on the two largest purchasers of U.S. goods for specious reasons only to then agree to a pause, before repeating the cycle all over again.

One side effect of Trump's brash, undiplomatic attitude is that some allied nations may back out of purchasing F-35 fighter jets from the U.S., the latest indignity in a program that has infamously become a years-long boondoggle.

"The F-35 Lightning II aircraft (F-35) is the Department of Defense's (DOD) most ambitious and costly weapon system and its most advanced fighter aircraft," according to an April 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). "However, DOD's projected costs for sustaining the F-35 continue to increase while planned use of the aircraft declines." While the DOD plans to keep the jet in service through 2088, it estimates the cost to do so at $2 trillion.

The department has little to show for the exorbitant price tag. "DOD plans to fly the F-35 less than originally estimated, partly because of reliability issues with the aircraft," GAO found. "The F-35's ability to perform its mission has also trended downward over the past 5 years."
By Helen Regan, Abeer Salman, Lauren Izso and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN

CNN — Gaza’s fragile ceasefire was shattered early Tuesday as Israel carried out deadly strikes across the enclave and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to use “increasing military strength” against Hamas.

The overnight bombardments struck multiple locations across Gaza, killing more than 400 people, according to Palestinian authorities, in the most extensive strikes since a months-long truce came into effect, with Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz declaring: “Tonight we returned to fighting in Gaza.”

The deal between Israel and Hamas was already hanging in the balance with phase one ending more than two weeks ago and all sides at loggerheads over a path forward that might see remaining Israeli hostages freed and a permanent peace secured.

Israel’s military and security agency said they were “currently conducting extensive strikes” on Hamas targets in Gaza. In response, Hamas accused Netanyahu of deciding to overturn the ceasefire agreement, and “putting the captives in Gaza at risk of an unknown fate.”

At least 404 people were killed and more than 562 injured in the new wave of Israeli strikes, according to the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza. “More than 130 children and many women” have been killed, including entire families, Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told CNN.
The Conversation

The ceasefire in Gaza appears to be over.

And while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to blame Hamas for the resumption of fighting that killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18, 2025 – “only the beginning,” Netanyahu warned – the truth is the seeds of the renewed violence are to be found in Israeli domestic politics.

Ever since the first phase of the ceasefire came into effect in January, Israeli politics experts – myself included – have flagged a likely insurmountable problem. And that is the execution of the plan’s second phase – which, if implemented, would see full withdrawal of Israeli military forces from the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages – is a nonstarter for far-right elements in the Israeli ruling coalition that Netanyahu relies on for his political survival.

Withdrawing from the Gaza Strip runs counter to the maximalist ideologies of key members of Netanyahu’s government, including some in his own party, Likud. Rather, their stated position is for Israel to remain in control of the enclave and to push as many Palestinians as possible out of it. It is why many in Netanyahu’s government cheered when President Donald Trump indicated that Palestinians should be cleared from Gaza to make way for a massive reconstruction project led by the United States.
Bloc aims to build up military-industrial complex to deter Russia and brace for the U.S. shift away from Europe.
By Gregorio Sorgi, Jacopo Barigazzi and Giovanna Faggionato

BRUSSELS — United States arms-makers are being frozen out of the European Union’s massive new defense spending plan, which aims to splash the cash for EU and allied countries, according to defense spending plans released Wednesday.

Also left out — for now — is the United Kingdom.

“We must buy more European. Because that means strengthening the European defense technological and industrial base,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in announcing the Readiness 2030 program.

In a bid to strengthen ties with allies, Brussels involved countries like South Korea and Japan and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in its program that could see as much as €800 billion spent on defense.

“We need to see not only Russia as a threat, but also ... more global geopolitical developments and where Americans will put their strategic attention,” European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told reporters.

In recent years, about two-thirds of EU procurement orders have gone to U.S. defense companies.

The Commission presented its long-term defense policy proposal, known as a white paper, as well as a raft of legislative proposals aimed at making it easier for countries to boost military spending and to create a more integrated defense market in the bloc.

“We’re not doing this to go to war, but to prepare for the worst and defend peace in Europe,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat.
White House has ‘moved beyond’ minerals deal; Zelenskyy expects ceasefire deal to cover civilian as well as energy infrastructure. What we know on day 1,121
Warren Murray with Guardian writers and agencies

Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday that the US could own and run Ukrainian nuclear power plants as part of a ceasefire. The Ukrainian president said following their call that “we talked only about one power plant, which is under Russian occupation”, referring to Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power station. The White House said it had “moved beyond” the idea of taking possession of Ukraine’s mineral wealth as part of negotiations. “We are now focused on a long-term peace agreement,” said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

Kyiv was “ready” to pause attacks on Russia’s energy network and infrastructure, Zelenskyy said, write Shaun Walker and Pjotr Sauer. Zelenskyy indicated he did not yet consider a ceasefire to be in place, instead saying it could be established quickly, and his team would present the Americans with a list of the kind of facilities it should include. Zelenskyy also indicated he expects the ceasefire to apply to civilian infrastructure as well as energy facilities.
By JOSEPH KRAUSS

The wave of Israeli strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday was the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to get out of the ceasefire with Hamas that he agreed to in January.

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has faced dueling, possibly incompatible pressures: Families of the hostages want him to cut a deal with Hamas to free them, while his far-right coalition partners want to continue the war with the aim of annihilating the militant group.

On Tuesday, he appeared to cast his lot with the latter — and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has backed Netanyahu’s decision to unilaterally walk away from the ceasefire it took credit for brokering.
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