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Must Know

Russia kills 16 in 'double-tap' drone strike on Ukrainian mall; overnight strikes follow

Ongoing · day 50

Russian drones carried out a 'double-tap' strike on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih — Ukrainian President Zelensky's hometown — killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 130, including children, in one of the deadliest single attacks on a civilian target in recent weeks. Nine people remain missing after the Kryvyi Rih shopping centre attack, with rescuers still digging through the wreckage, and Zelensky condemned the strike as 'despicable' and 'cynical,' calling on allies to apply 'real pressure' on Moscow to end the war. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrived in Kyiv within hours of the Kryvyi Rih attack and condemned what he called the 'indiscriminate murder of civilians.'

Why it matters

The deliberate second strike on rescue workers at the burning mall is the pattern Kyiv has cited to argue it needs more Western air-defence systems; Friday's attack came a day after ballistic missile strikes killed one and damaged railway infrastructure in Kyiv — two attacks in 24 hours on civilian targets that Zelensky is pressing allies to answer when Macron, UK Prime Minister Burnham and Germany's Merz co-chair a Coalition of the Willing meeting on Ukraine in Kyiv on Monday.

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CBC Newslean-left1
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Canada-US trade talks collapse; 50% tariffs take effect and Carney vows to match them

Ongoing · day 6

The three-day pause expired and the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian goods after last-minute trade talks collapsed without a deal. Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed Canada will match the U.S. tariffs 'dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,' announcing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Carney accused the U.S. of making 'unfair' last-minute changes to a deal that had been close to agreement, which he said forced Canada to walk away.

Why it matters

The reversal from yesterday's near-deal — Carney's suspension of talks rather than a final concession — leaves both sides in escalation with no active negotiating channel and no set date to reopen one, meaning Canadian exporters now face 50% tariffs of indefinite duration on a range of goods not previously targeted.

How reporting varies

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer: Blamed Canada, saying it made 'new demands and walkbacks' that 'upended the careful balance reached in the past days.'

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: Said the US made 'last-minute changes' that were 'unfair and uneconomic' and called into question the reliability of any deal.

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Iran's president calls for end to war 'from position of strength' as US prepares new sanctions

Ongoing · day 3

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly stated it is time to end the war with the United States 'from a position of strength and dignity,' signaling Tehran's interest in negotiating an exit while it believes it holds leverage. Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also serves as lead negotiator in talks with Washington, said Tehran must plan to overcome U.S. sanctions after Trump's 'Economic D-Day' threats, while separately declaring that the world now recognizes Iran's victory. New U.S. economic sanctions against Iran are formally scheduled for announcement on Monday, with the measures expected to impact Iran and its most important trading partners, including China.

Why it matters

Pezeshkian's call to end the war — while Iran's armed forces chief simultaneously warned of 'crushing, punishing and devastating' responses to new threats — reflects a split between a civilian leadership that sees a negotiated exit as economically necessary and a military establishment still holding the Strait of Hormuz as leverage; Trump's approval rating has fallen to 33% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, meaning neither side faces easy domestic conditions for concession.

How reporting varies

Iranian state media / Pezeshkian administration: Frames the war as an Iranian victory; Pezeshkian says Tehran holds 'power and dignity' and the June memorandum showed no Iranian 'capitulation'.

Reuters / Western wire services: Leads with the US sanctions offensive, Trump's 'seeing what happens' comment, and his 33% approval rating; frames Iran as the side under economic pressure.

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First Ebola vaccine doses reach Kinshasa as outbreak spreads at record pace

Ongoing · day 12

The DR Congo Ebola death toll has surpassed 2,500, with the UN warning the virus is now spreading exponentially — and roughly half of all recorded deaths occurred in just the last 20 days, according to the WHO. More than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have arrived in DR Congo, the first shipment of 70,000 doses allocated for Kinshasa as experts warn of the virus's exponential spread. Frontline health workers fighting the outbreak are going without wages, with nurses and other staff describing severe financial hardship, security risks from locals angered by the outbreak, and attacks on health workers as compounding obstacles to the response.

Why it matters

Running a clinical trial for a vaccine against a strain it was not designed for — while that same outbreak expands exponentially across an area the WHO describes as larger than France — means the DRC is gambling that partial or uncertain protection is better than none, with the clock running and armed conflict by the M23 rebel group blocking access to affected areas in the east.

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Turkey seeks Interpol arrest warrant for Netanyahu over Gaza flotilla attack

Turkey's justice minister said Friday that Ankara had requested Interpol red notices for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a second Israeli national on charges including genocide and crimes against humanity, stemming from Israel's interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in May. In response, Netanyahu's office called Turkish President Erdogan an 'anti-Semitic dictator'. US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack separately said Israel's earlier strike on a Syrian airbase without informing Turkey had risked pulling the two countries into direct military confrontation.

Why it matters

Interpol routinely declines red-notice requests with a clear political dimension, making the warrant unlikely to result in Netanyahu's arrest — but the formal request by a NATO member, filed on charges of genocide, adds legal pressure at the same moment the UK, Canada and Australia are calling Israel's conduct in Gaza 'shameful', compressing the diplomatic space available to Israel's allies who want to maintain ties with both Israel and Turkey.

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Should Know

TikTok to pay $400 million to settle US child-privacy lawsuit

TikTok and parent company ByteDance agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a 2024 Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the platform collected data on millions of children under 13 without parental consent, in violation of federal law. Under the settlement, $300 million is due immediately and a further $100 million when the government vacates an earlier consent decree.

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Nikkei Asialean-right1

US judge strikes down Trump visa ban affecting applicants from 75 countries

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled Friday that a Trump administration policy suspending immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries was 'patently unlawful', finding that it exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statutory authority. The suspension, which took effect in January, had affected applicants from Latin American, Balkan, South Asian, African, Middle Eastern and Caribbean countries.

5 sources · 3 left · 1 center · 1 right
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Al Jazeeralean-left1
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Nikkei Asialean-right1

UK, Canada and Australia call Israel's decision to drop WCK probe 'shameful'

Britain, Canada and Australia issued a joint statement Friday condemning Israel's military for closing its investigation into the April 2024 drone strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers without launching a criminal inquiry. The IDF said the commanders' decisions 'did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct'. Australia summoned Israel's ambassador; Poland's foreign ministry said it was 'very disappointed' and also summoned Israel's envoy.

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Al-Monitorlean-left1
Haaretz Middle Eastleft1
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Israeli kills Palestinian teenager in West Bank after settlers enter village

Ongoing · day 7

Palestinian and Israeli authorities offered divergent accounts of the incident, with the shooting occurring as settler violence has surged across the occupied territory. In a separate incident the same day, a 58-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed in Jenin by Israeli army gunfire. Eight Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, jointly condemned Israel's E1 settlement plan, calling it a 'direct challenge' to peace efforts including Trump's plan for postwar Gaza.

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Al Jazeeralean-left1
Haaretz Middle Eastleft1
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Somalia child malnutrition surges 32% as aid cuts close health facilities

UNICEF said Friday that Somalia has seen a 32% rise in children admitted for severe acute malnutrition in the first half of 2026, with 205 health and nutrition facilities already closed after funding was cut. Nearly 1.9 million children are projected to be malnourished this year; funding to address acute malnutrition has dropped by more than 80% in parts of the country.

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Hong Kong's independent bookshops close as national security raids reach their shelves

Multiple independent bookshops in Hong Kong have been raided or forced to close after national security police arrested owners and staff on sedition charges, cutting off access to books on banned topics — including the Tiananmen Square massacre — that mainland Chinese readers cross the border to find. At least three independent bookshops closed within a month of police raids in July, including one that had been open for 50 years.

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The Guardianlean-left1
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Germany seeks extradition of suspect linked to Russian weapons cache near Berlin

German authorities are seeking to extradite a suspect from Romania after discovering two handguns and ammunition hidden in a forest near Berlin, which German media reports have linked to a Russian intelligence plot to assassinate defence industry executives, opposition figures in exile and other Ukraine supporters on German soil. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed federal prosecutors opened an investigation on suspicion of 'preparing a serious act of violence that threatens national security'.

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NYT Worldlean-left1
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US Navy transits Taiwan Strait as Chinese research ship approaches island's largest naval base

A US Navy aircraft transited the Taiwan Strait ahead of a planned Xi-Trump meeting. Separately, a Chinese research vessel operated by Tongji University was spotted 28 nautical miles from Taiwan's largest naval base at Zuoying — its second appearance near the island in recent months — and Taiwan dispatched a coastguard vessel to shadow it.

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One killed in sword attack at Swedish high school; 18-year-old suspect shot and arrested

An 18-year-old man armed with a sword attacked students at the Brinell School in Fagersta, central Sweden, on Friday, killing one person and seriously injuring two teenagers; a third suffered minor injuries. Police shot the suspect before arresting him. Eight nearby schools were locked down and authorities declared a state of high alert in the Västmanland region.

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Guyana's UN ambassador leads second Security Council straw poll for secretary-general

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana's permanent representative to the UN, led the second informal Security Council poll on candidates to succeed Secretary-General António Guterres, who finishes his term on December 31. She received eight votes in favour and four against, overtaking Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan — the previous front-runner — who dropped to second; Argentina's Rafael Grossi came third but saw his votes against double to six.

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Netherlands fines Uber €825 million for automating driver suspensions without notice

The Dutch data-protection authority fined Uber €825 million for deactivating drivers' accounts through automated processes without informing them, in violation of European data rules against decisions based solely on automated processing. The case covered incidents between 2020 and 2022, originated as a complaint in France, and was heard in the Netherlands because Uber's European headquarters is in Amsterdam. Uber said it will appeal.

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France, UK and Germany to co-chair Coalition of the Willing meeting on Ukraine in Kyiv Monday

French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will co-chair a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Kyiv on Monday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending. European Council President António Costa will be there in person; NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska will join remotely.

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