Category World News

Australia and Japan have joined a growing list of countries suspending some parcel shipments to the United States after US President Donald Trump’s administration ended an exemption that allowed packages valued at less than $800 to enter the country duty-free.

With the “de minimis” exemption set to end on Friday, Australia Post announced that it was implementing “a temporary partial suspension”.

In a statement on Tuesday, Australia Post said it was “disappointed” but the decision was necessary “due to the complex and rapidly evolving situation”.

Packages sent to the US and Puerto Rico lodged on or after Tuesday will not be accepted until further notice, the postal service said. Gifts valued at less than $100, letters and documents are unaffected by the change.

Australia Post said it would continue to work with the US and Australian authorities and international postal partners to resume services to the US soon.

Japan Post made a similar announcement on Monday, saying the suspension of some parcel shipments was necessary.

The procedures for transport and postal operators were “not clear”, which is “making implementation difficult”, Japan Post said.

Australian public broadcaster ABC said some businesses that make products in Australia have already suspended shipments, with Australian shipping software company Shippit saying it had seen a decline in shipments from Australia to the US even before the new changes came into effect.

“There’s been a 36 percent drop in volume since April in terms of outbound shipments from Australia to the US”, Shippit’s chief executive, Rob Hango-Zada, said, according to the ABC.

The announcements from Australia and Japan come after several European postal services announced similar changes last week, including Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France, Austria and the United Kingdom.

The UK’s Royal Mail said it would halt shipments to the US beginning on Tuesday to allow time for those packages to arrive before new duties kick in.

“Key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the US Customs and Border Protection will be carried out”, DHL, the largest shipping provider in Europe, said in a statement.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a rolling wave of tariffs, or taxes paid on goods imported into the US.

The changing nature of Trump’s tariffs, which vary from country to country and are different in some cases depending on which products are being imported, has added to the confusion for postal services.

Trump had already ended the “de minimis” exemption with China and Hong Kong on May 2, closing a loophole which was widely used by fast-fashion companies Shein, Temu and others to ship duty-free.

The tax and spending bill recently signed by Trump repealed the legal basis for the “de minimis” exemption worldwide starting on July 1, 2027.

Due to the alleged involvement of the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Norway’s largest wealth fund, the largest in the world, has divested from Caterpillar, a US construction equipment company.

The Norwegian central bank announced on Monday that it had made the decision to omit Caterpillar from the fund, which it manages, “due to the unacceptable risk that the businesses’ actions lead to serious violations of the rights of people in times of war and conflict.”

On the advice of its ethics council, the fund also announced that it had dissolved five Israeli banks.

The ethics council stated in a statement that “Israeli authorities are using Caterpillar bulldozers to carry out widespread, unlawful destruction of Palestinian property.”

There is no denying that Caterpillar’s products violate international humanitarian law in a significant way, according to the council.

Caterpillar “has not taken any steps to prevent such use” by Israeli authorities, it was further stated.

According to fund data, the fund had a 1.17 percent stake in Caterpillar that was valued at $2.1 billion prior to its divestment.

Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel, and FIBI Holdings were the five banks listed in the statement.

The banks were not included in the ethics council’s analysis because they “provided financial services that are a necessary prerequisite for construction activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” contributing to the maintenance of Israeli settlements.

The council stated that “the settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their continued existence constitutes an ongoing violation of international law.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled just last year that Israeli settlements built on Palestinian territory that were seized in 1967 should be “as quickly as possible” because they “have been established and are continuing in violation of international law.”

21 nations released a joint statement last week opposing Israel’s plans to erect an illegal settlement on a 12 km (4.6 km) of east Jerusalem known as “East 1” or “E1” in a joint statement.

The occupied West Bank is virtually deserted from occupied East Jerusalem as a result of the massive construction, which includes 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, praised the plan, claiming that the settlement’s size and its expansion into Palestinian territory “would leave the possibility of a future Palestinian state” because “there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognize.”

According to fund data, the Norwegian fund’s stakes in the five Israeli banks totaled $661 million.

The Reuters news agency emailed a request for comment from Caterpillar, Hapoalim, First International Bank of Israel, and Bank Leumi, but they did not respond right away.

The fund had previously stated on August 18 that it would stop funding six businesses as part of an ongoing ethics review into the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank’s occupied West Bank, but it had not at the time indicated any organizations until its stakes in the businesses were sold.

After Typhoon Kajiki slammed northern and central parts of Vietnam, causing severe winds and torrential rains that caused the country’s capital Hanoi to turn into rivers, killing at least three people.

At least 10 people were hurt as a result of the storm, which made landfall in Vietnam on Monday, according to authorities on Tuesday.

It has now weakened into a tropical depression and crossed into Laos.

According to a statement from Vietnam’s government, Kajiki destroyed nearly 7, 000 homes, inundated 28,800 hectares (71, 166 acres) of rice plantings, and cut about 18, 000 trees. Additionally, it caused widespread blackouts in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen, and Phu Tho provinces by downing 331 electrical poles.

National weather agency: up to 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rain in some places in six hours, which could lead to flash floods and landslides, was predicted for the nation through Tuesday.

Local media in Hanoi reported that persistent heavy rains had slowed down traffic, flooded streets, slowed down stalling cars, and snarling traffic.

The floodwaters on National Highway 6, which connects Hanoi and the northwestern provinces, reportedly reached nearly 1 meter (3,2 feet) in some places, stalling vehicles and motorcycles.

Around 44, 000 people were evacuated across five provinces before the storm’s landfall, and Vietnamese authorities called all fishing boats back to port.

More than 346, 000 military personnel and 8,200 vehicles, including five aircraft, have been mobilized to help with storm relief, according to Viet Nam News.

The military has advised its troops to remain on high alert and gear up quickly for a deployment in areas prone to flash floods and landslides.

More severe and unpredictable weather patterns are being caused by human-caused climate change, which increases the likelihood of destructive floods and storms, especially in the tropics.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates that in Vietnam, more than 100 people have died or gone missing as a result of natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025.

More than $ 21 million in economic losses are thought to have been lost.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, claimed that Iran is responsible for at least two anti-Jewish attacks in his nation and that it intends to send its ambassador to Canberra.

Albanese, who spoke to reporters in Australia’s capital on Tuesday, described the attacks as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation” with the aim of undermining social cohesion in Australia.

The Australian government is taking strong and decisive action, he said, “and it is completely unacceptable.”

We just recently informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia that he would be kicked out.

The government moved all of its diplomats to a third country, according to the prime minister, along with suspending operations at its embassy in Tehran, Iran.

He continued, “I can also inform the government that it will pass legislation to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, as a terrorist organization.”

According to Australian officials, the attacks occurred at the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 10 and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 6. In neither of the attacks, there were no fatalities, but attackers also blazed up the homes, causing extensive damage.

The Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, and three of his colleagues have been declared persona non grata, according to Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, who claimed they have seven days to leave the nation. She claimed that this was the first time Australia had expelled an ambassador since World War II and that Tehran had also had its ambassador envoy removed.

Wong urged Australians living in the Middle Eastern nation to go home, noting that the Albanese government will maintain diplomatic ties with Iran to advance Canberra’s interests. She also advised Australians who might visit Iran to stay away from it.

On Tuesday, August 26, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

• In a Russian attack on Kupiansk city in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, a woman was killed, and three others were hurt, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
• In the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported that one person was killed and three others were hurt by Russian attacks.
• According to Governor Serhiy Lysak, Russian drones and artillery fire in the Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk region’s Nikopol caused injuries to a rescue worker and caused damage to a fire truck.
• According to Russian state TASS news agency, a Ukrainian drone attack in the Luhansk region of Russia claimed the lives of one person and injured two others.
• In a single day, Russian forces also detonated two missile launchers, four aerial bombs, and 151 Ukrainian drones, according to TASS.
• The Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, wrote in a post on Telegram that one person was killed and two others were hurt as a result of Ukrainian attacks on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Kherson region.
• The Zaporizke settlement in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine was taken, according to the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

Peace talks

• German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil stated on Monday while visiting the Ukrainian capital that while the discussions are in its early stages and must be shaped by Kyiv, but that Germany will contribute security guarantees to Ukraine along with its European partners.
• US President Donald Trump responded to a question about why Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, appears reluctant to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy for peace talks.
• Russia and Ukraine, to be honest, were the two that I thought would be the easiest. However, Trump claimed that there are some significant personality conflicts.
• According to the RIA Novosti news agency, Putin spoke with Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian over the phone and had a conversation with Trump in Alaska.
• The Kremlin stated support for the Kremlin’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Ukrainian crisis peacefully.

Ukraine assistance

• Zelenskyy stated at a press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Kyiv that Ukraine wants to “raise no less than $1 billion every month” to pay for the purchase of American weapons for the war.
• According to Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill that would have allowed Ukrainian refugees to receive financial aid.
• “The Starlink Internet that Poland provides to Ukraine, which is at war, is over.” On X, Gawkowski, a member of a different political party than Nawrocki, wrote that this also means that the Ukrainian administration’s data is no longer supported in a secure place.

Diosdado Cabello, the head of Venezuela’s Popular Power for Interior, announced on Monday that Caracas would deploy 15, 000 troops to help with border security in the states of Zulia and Tachira.

The minister also announced the seizure of 53 tonnes of drugs so far this year, saying, “Here, we do fight drug trafficking, here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts.”

According to Cabello, who called on Colombian authorities to do the same to “ensure peace along the entire axis,” the increased security on the border with Colombia would also involve aircraft, drones, and riverine security.

Following accusations by the Trump administration that Venezuela’s left-wing president, Nicolas Maduro, was involved in cocaine trafficking and worked with drug cartels, Venezuela’s troops were redeploying to the Colombian border.

Both Maduro and Cabello have been accused of working with the drug-trafficking organization Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), which Washington has labeled a terrorist organization by officials in Washington, DC.

The US announced last week that it had increased the reward to $50 million for the arrest of Maduro on drug charges as a result of the accusations made. Cabello’s arrest or prosecution were to be pursued for a $10 million to $25 million reward, which was increased by the US earlier this year.

In response to Washington’s threats, Maduro has accused the US of trying to stoke the Venezuelan government and launched a nationwide campaign to recruit thousands of militia members.

According to Maduro, who was quoted as saying in local media on Monday, “I am confident that we will overcome this test that life has imposed on us, this imperialist threat to the peace of the continent and our country.”

By early next week, the USS Newport News and the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie will be arriving in the southern Caribbean, according to a report from the Reuters news agency on Monday.

According to two Reuters sources who were informed about the deployment, the missile cruiser and attack submarine would accompany the US amphibious squadron that was scheduled to depart Venezuela on Sunday.

According to reports, the squadron is reportedly containing 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 Marines, and includes the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale.