Protesters in the US have marched to demand the release of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil after immigration forces detained him on Saturday over his role in the pro-Palestine demonstrations at Columbia University.
US President Donald Trump has announced he will double planned tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports to 50 percent, escalating a trade war with the United States’s northern neighbour.
In a social media post on Tuesday morning, Trump said the increased tariffs come in response to a decision by the province of Ontario to put a 25-percent surcharge on electricity exports to some US states.
He said the increased tariffs on steel and aluminium would come into effect on Wednesday.
“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear”, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
US-Canada relations have plummeted amid Trump’s push to impose steep tariffs on a range of Canadian goods and his repeated threats to annex the country.
The US president has said the tariffs – some of which came into effect last week – are part of an effort to balance the countries ‘ trade relationship. However, the Canadian government has rejected the measures as “unjustified” and unveiled retaliatory levies.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that his government would impose a 25-percent surcharge on electricity exports to the US states of Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Ford – who has taken a strong line against Trump’s economic policies – told reporters that Ontario electricity powers 1.5 million American homes and businesses in those US states.
The surcharge, the premier said, would cost families and businesses as much as $276, 000 (400, 000 Canadian dollars) per day.
“Let me be clear, I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If necessary, if the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely”, Ford said.
The US stock market plunged this week amid the uncertainty around Trump’s economic and trade policies.
Canada and the US are major trading partners, with the US importing $412.7bn from its northern neighbour in 2024, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. American exports to Canada that same year totalled $349.4bn.
Canada tops the list of foreign suppliers of both steel and aluminium to the US, with imports of $19.5bn last year, according to data from S&, P Global.
“While steel represents a significant portion of total US imports, the country depends far more on Canadian aluminum to meet domestic demand”, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said in a recent factsheet.
It said US tariffs on steel and aluminium could lead to job losses in Canada, while retaliatory measures by the Canadian government could raise prices for consumers.
Despite concerns that a prolonged trade war with Canada could raise prices for Americans and hurt the US economy, the Trump administration has defended its tariff policy as necessary to close a trade deficit between the two countries.
In his Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump warned Canada that if it did not drop its tariffs on US goods, his administration would increase planned reciprocal levies set to take effect in early April.
That “will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada”, Trump said.
“Those cars can easily be made in the USA! Also, Canada pays very little for National Security, relying on the United States for military protection. We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of more than 200 Billion Dollars a year. WHY??? This cannot continue”.
Larry Summers, a veteran economist and former US Treasury secretary, slammed the increased tariffs as Trump’s “worst trade policy yet”.
“Increasing the price of key inputs for the US manufacturing industries–who employ 10 million people–is what a US adversary would do”, Summers wrote on X. “It is a self-inflicted wound to the US economy that we cannot afford, at a moment when recession risks are rising”.
The Canadian government did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to formally step down in the coming days to allow the new leader of his governing Liberal Party, Mark Carney, to step in as the country’s next prime minister.
Carney has promised to take on Trump and deepen Canada’s relationships with other trading partners.
“We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves”, he said during his Liberal leadership victory speech on Sunday.
Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy argues Israel will continue to thwart attempts to solidify the ceasefire in Gaza.
As long as Israel keeps moving the goalposts, former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy argues, there’s no way to reach phase two of the ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel itself signed.
Levy, president of the US/Mideast Project, tells host Steve Clemons that the biggest question is whether the United States, which is the guarantor of the agreement, will allow Israel to scuttle it.
Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities are rolling out an electronic coupon scheme in recognition of the dire economic conditions under sanctions, but they are also hiking taxes across the board to cover budget deficits.
As the busy shopping and travel season of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, approaches, the government of centrist President Masoud Pezeshkian has revived the coupons scheme for at least a few more months, this time online.
The first use of coupons in Iran dates back to World War II when the country faced dire economic conditions and famine under British and Soviet occupation, which ended in 1946 after five years.
But coupons are mostly remembered for their widespread use in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution. Neighbouring Iraq invaded Iran with support from global and regional powers to counter the new theocratic Iranian establishment, and an eight-year war squeezed the population.
Starting this week, low-income and middle-class Iranians are being given up to 5 million rials (just over $5) per person that can be used to buy limited quantities of food like red meat, chicken, eggs, milk, cooking oil, rice and sugar at government prices. About 60 million people are eligible to use the credit.
People can buy only 11 items from a list of select suppliers and shops across the country, and the credit purchases are separate from monthly government cash handouts that currently amount to about $4.85 per person.
The goal is to marginally alleviate short-term pressure on families who have been watching their purchasing power dwindle for years as a result of local mismanagement and all-encompassing Western sanctions.
The government of late President Ebrahim Raisi, which was in office from 2021 to 2024, implemented electronic coupons schemes twice, in 2023 and 2024, for short periods to ease pressure as well.
His immediate predecessor, President Hassan Rouhani, also publicly considered resorting to coupons in the aftermath of the 2018 withdrawal of the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and imposed harsh sanctions on the country.
The Pezeshkian administration, which lost two key members to a political dispute with hardliners last week, has been trying to cut costs and increase revenues to grapple with a budget crunch.
The government’s approved budget for the Iranian calendar year 1404, which starts on March 21, shows considerably increased taxes and costs of services – in many cases much higher than Iran’s current 35 percent inflation rate.
Successive Iranian governments have been pushed to find new revenue sources, including through tax increases, to decrease the country’s dependency on oil revenues, which have been hit by the “maximum pressure” tactics by the US.
The Pezeshkian government said this month that it pays for 73 percent of its current expenses, excluding infrastructure expenditures, using tax revenues.
According to a February report by Iran’s Parliament Research Center, total government tax revenues are expected to go up 53 percent in the fiscal year 1404 compared with the previous year, the highest jump in a decade.
The budget foresees a 73 percent surge in total government earnings from corporate income tax , compared with the year before and a 68 percent increase in income from personal income taxes.
The research arm of the parliament foresees a 36 percent rise compared with the previous year in wealth and property taxes.
Taxes on imports are to go up 85 percent as well with a significant part of the increase linked with government revenues from imports of new or used foreign vehicles after a years-long ban was lifted in 2022.
During the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, restaurants and hotels need to pay for permits to be able to operate while making sure no one publicly breaks their fast by eating, drinking or smoking, something that is considered a crime under Iran’s Islamic laws.
Taxes are increasing months after Iran raised the age of retirement for men by two years to 62 and increased the years of service required to receive full pensions for men to 35 from 30. That was aimed at reducing alarming pension fund deficits that have threatened financial sustainability and exerted more pressure on the government.
Amid another currency freefall and a lingering energy crisis, the embattled government has also been accused by hardline lawmakers of intentionally devaluing the national currency to make short-term gains.
Along with boosted taxes, the 1404 budget makes a long list of government services offered to Iranian and foreign nationals much more costly while ramping up financial penalties for offences.
Fees to issue national IDs and passports are up, and it will be more costly to register vehicles and motorcycles. Several fees linked with universities and technical and vocational exams are expected to rise.
Especially with Nowruz prompting millions of Iranians to travel this month, authorities are expecting much higher revenues from traffic fines because they will be hiked by up to 30 percent until early April.
Many major traffic offences had already seen their penalties tripled about eight months ago with several others, including dangerous or drunk driving, expected to be hiked another 50 percent next year.
Authorities plan on charging Iranians more for trying to leave the country too with departure levies up by about 30 percent. Repeated departures would incur more costs.
The state continues to impose financial penalties on and open criminal cases against people who are deemed to have violated mandatory hijab laws. Vehicles can be fined and impounded for weeks if they are repeatedly reported for hijab offences.
The Iranian government plans to make services offered to millions of migrants and refugees across the country more expensive as well, including costs of issuing or renewing travel and work permits.
Tehran Municipality announced last month that costs of services offered to foreign nationals will be 54 percent higher in the next Iranian year.
These price rises will mostly impact migrants and refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan, whose numbers in Iran swelled in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of the country after the US withdrew in 2021.
Al-Shabab gunmen have stormed and laid siege to a hotel in central Somalia as government officials and tribal elders met to discuss action against the outfit.
The armed group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on the Cairo Hotel in the town of Beledweyne in a statement. Several people are reported to have been killed.
The gunmen detonated a car bomb before storming into the building firing. An intense battle with Somali security forces was triggered, and a siege was ongoing in the early afternoon.
Ali Suleiman, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack, told the Reuters news agency that he heard “a huge blast followed by gunfire. Then another blast was heard”. The witness said part of the hotel was reduced to rubble.
Al-Shabab said in a statement that it had killed more than 10 people in the attack. However, reports on the death toll varied.
Quoting Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from Beledweyne, Reuters reported that at least four people had been killed. The Associated Press news agency, quoting a resident in the area, reported that six people have been killed, including “two well-known traditional elders”.
Born out of Somalia’s many years of anarchy after a 1991 civil war, al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has been waging war against the Somali government for more than 16 years.
The armed group frequently carries out attacks targeting government officials and military personnel in the country as it tries to topple the government to establish its own strict interpretation of Islamic law although civilians are also at risk.
A Hong Kong court has convicted a social worker on charges of rioting over her attendance at 2019 antigovernment protests.
The verdict, announced on Tuesday, found Jackie Chen guilty despite a different court having acquitted her in 2020. The case went to retrial after an appeal from Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice, underscoring a continued crackdown on political cases in the Chinese territory.
Chen said she had sought during the protests to mediate between police and protesters by using a loudspeaker to urge police to remain calm and not use their weapons.
However, prosecutors argued that Chen actively participated in a riot.
She pleaded not guilty, but Deputy District Judge May Chung ruled that Chen had made unfounded accusations against police, shouting “provocative” words that implied they had used excessive force.
“Through her words and acts,]Chen] expressed her support of the protesters, … which bolstered their determination and confidence to resist the police”, the judge wrote.
Before the verdict, Chen told reporters she had no regrets and had spent five years preparing for the outcome.
“I hope all the people I know will live healthy, they will live happy because we still have our road to walk along”, she said.
After the ruling, she reassured her supporters in the public gallery, shouting that she would be fine. She is due to be sentenced in April.
While Hong Kong law allows for a maximum 10-year sentence for rioting, District court rulings are capped at seven years.
The case has drawn attention due to Chen’s limited role in the 2019 democracy protests, which posed the biggest challenge to Beijing’s rule over Hong Kong since the city’s 1997 handover from its former colonial ruler, the United Kingdom.
The protests began over a proposed extradition bill. It was later withdrawn, but the protests escalated into broader calls for democracy and police accountability.
Beijing responded with a sweeping national security law, leading to the prosecution of many activists. Authorities claim the law has restored stability.