Happy Wednesday and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest political and business headlines from around the world.
First this morning, US President Donald Trump has announced he’s doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium to 50%, The Guardian reports.
The higher levies were in response to Ontario’s decision to impose a 25% surcharge on electricity imports to several US states in retaliation to US tariffs.
In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump claimed that Canada was one of the highest “tariffing” nations in the world. He has threatened to make the country the 51st US state.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was unperturbed, as he told MSNBC: “We will not back down. We will be relentless.”
The tariff tit-for-tat has rattled Wall Street, with the benchmark S&P 500 falling 1% as investors fear the import taxes will damage US economic growth and rekindle inflation.
Doug Ford.
To Saudi Arabia, where Ukrainian and US officials are holding talks to discuss a minerals deal and end the war with Russia, hours after Moscow was hit by a drone attack.
And this morning NZT, a joint statement from Ukraine and the US said the US would “lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine” as Kyiv “expressed readiness to accept the US 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,” it said.
The issue of security guarantees was one of the key sticking points for Ukraine. Kyiv wants any ceasefire or peace deal to be underpinned by Western security guarantees if Russian president Vladimir Putin does not stick to the agreement.
Hours before the meeting, Russia said it was struck by a Ukrainian drone attack overnight.
Moscow’s defence ministry said it had downed 343 drones from Ukraine, of which 91 had targeted the Moscow region.
In Pakistan, armed militants in the Balochistan region have attacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers, taking hostages.
The BBC reports the Baloch Liberation Army fired at the Jaffar Express Train as it travelled from Quetta to Peshawar.
The BLA, in a statement, said it bombed the track before storming the train, which was now under its control.
Quetta's railway controller Muhammad Kashif told the BBC that 400-450 passengers had been booked on the train. It is unknown how many have been taken hostage, although a group of 80 passengers had disembarked the train.
Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed. The BLA is fighting for the region's independence.
In South East Asia, former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is on a plane to The Hague, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity over his deadly war on drugs.
He was taken into police custody after he arrived at Manila’s international airport on Tuesday morning from Hong Kong, the BBC reports. Local authorities arrested Duterte following a request from Interpol.
The allegations against Duterte relate to his brutal crack-down on drugs during his time in office from 2016 to 2022, Al Jazeera reports.
Over the course of Duterte’s presidency, more than 7,000 people were killed in anti-drug operations, according to police records.
The former president has questioned the legality of the arrest.
“What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?” Duterte asked in a video uploaded to social media by his daughter, Veronica Duterte.
Rodrigo Duterte.
To the North Sea, where a 59-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship off the coast of Withernsea, east of England.
According to the Telegraph, Humberside Police opened an investigation into the Portuguese vessel Solong and the US tanker Stena Immaculate and are trying to determine what caused the collision.
One crew member is missing and more than 30 people have been rescued. The Solong was still on fire overnight and experts have warned of the potentially devastating environmental impacts.
And finally, Air India has issued a timely reminder that its lavatories are strictly for human waste, not clothes.
In a statement, the airline said a Chicago to Delhi flight last week was forced to return after eight of its 12 toilets were clogged. The airline found items like polythene bags, rags and clothes had been flushed causing discomfort to the passengers on board.
"We take this opportunity to urge passengers to use lavatories only for the purposes that they are meant for," Air India said.
