Settlement is largest of its kind in any US city and is set to affect 260,000 delivery drivers.New York City has finalised a more than $131m settlement with DoorDash amid allegations that the delivery company underpaid its workers.The administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the settlement on Tuesday. It marked the largest settlement for delivery workers in any city in the United States, set to affect 260,000 workers. Of the total, $115m will go directly to the workers, while $16m will go towards civil penalties and other costs.A nearly 70-page consent order, provided to Al Jazeera by the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), found the San Francisco, California-based delivery giant failed to pay some of its workers the minimum amount required by law between December 2023 and June 2026.The city expected some of those underpayments to continue through November before corrective measures go into effect, according to the order.DoorDash confirmed that roughly $6.6m in payments never reached its delivery drivers and that there were more than $5.7m in late payments. A spokesperson for the company told Al Jazeera that it will notify the affected workers in the coming weeks.The city echoed DoorDash’s statement and said it has already identified the affected workers using DoorDash’s records.“When a worker earns a wage, they deserve to be paid that wage — not tomorrow, not after a lawsuit, but on time and in full,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference on Tuesday.The city government said that underpaid workers would receive 200 percent of what they were originally owed.“A worker who was owed $1,000 but received no payment will receive $3,000. A worker who was paid $1,000 later than allowed under the law will receive $2,000,” a news release announcing the settlement said.The city began cracking down on delivery driver underpayments under Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams.His administration established a first-of-its-kind minimum-pay rule for app-based delivery workers in 2023.Delivery companies, including DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber, were required to meet a minimum pay rate for covered work.The rule initially called for a minimum pay rate of $17.96 per hour and was set to increase to $19.96 per hour when fully implemented in 2025.Samuel Levine of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) said that the settlement is a result of the Mamdani administration expanding its enforcement capabilities after increasing staff when he took office in January.“What we’ve been able to show, particularly over the last nine months of the Mamdani administration, is that by investing directly and bringing in the best lawyers, investigators, data scientists, and economists to the government, we can cut through a lot of the noise, identify violations when they happen, and put money back in people’s pockets,” Levine told Al Jazeera.New York is not the only city in the US to attempt to address delivery driver underpayments.Seattle, Washington has also adopted a minimum-payment system. Starting in 2024, the city began using data from delivery platforms in an effort to enforce it.In August, Uber Eats agreed to pay nearly $4.4m to settle allegations that the platform violated the city’s minimum-pay rules for delivery workers, affecting 14,000 workers.Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS) said Uber Eats failed to provide required minimum payments for some cancelled orders, including instances when a driver had already arrived at a restaurant to pick up food.Seattle also alleged that Uber Eats failed to provide minimum payments when either the pick-up or drop-off location was outside of the city limits.
Read briefing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the “pain and trauma” inflicted by Israel’s government in Gaza at the UN General Assembly and said UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese must not “be silenced for telling the truth”.
Read briefing Djibouti’s Minister of Social Affairs and Solidarity, Ouloufa Ismail Abdo, has appealed for international support for Yemeni refugees facing urgent humanitarian crises. She highlighted the pressing needs of vulnerable groups, including children, the sick and people with disabilities.
Read briefing Debate over Badar Khan Suri’s release sparks a renewed legal clash over authority between US federal courts and Trump’s immigration system.The administration of United States President Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision to release a Georgetown University scholar who had advocated for Palestinian rights and opposed Israel’s war in Gaza.Georgetown scholar and postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri was released last year after a judge heard claims that his detention violated his due process and free speech rights under the US Constitution.On Monday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) petitioned the high court to consider whether federal immigration law barred the lower-court judge from ordering Suri’s release.Suri, an Indian citizen, was first arrested by masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, in March 2025 amid the Trump administration’s targeted crackdown and mass deportation campaigns of foreign nationals and visa holders engaged in pro-Palestinian activism across college campuses.At the time, critics accused the Trump administration of targeting him based on his familial ties. His wife is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.Suri was brought to Texas after his detention and freed in May 2025 on the orders of a district court judge, on the grounds that he was likely to succeed in proving his arrest was in retaliation for his constitutionally protected speech.The Trump administration has argued that the judge should not have interfered in the case.In July, the Virginia-based US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in a 2-1 decision that nothing prevented a lower-court judge from hearing a challenge to someone’s allegedly unconstitutional detention, even if it related to deportation proceedings pending before the immigration courts.Solicitor General D John Sauer argued that the Fourth Circuit’s ruling threatened nationwide immigration enforcement by letting detainees bypass immigration courts to contest their deportations.Sauer noted that a different appeals court had reached the opposite conclusion earlier this year, overturning a ruling that freed pro-Palestinian activist and former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who had been released on bail in June last year after spending more than 100 days in ICE detention.In January, the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that lower federal district courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear immigration or detention challenges while active removal proceedings are ongoing. While the order did not influence the core First Amendment arguments in Khalil’s case, it stripped away crucial procedural safeguards.
Read briefing Victory of United Russia party strengthens Putin’s hand even as the war with Ukraine grows more unpopular.President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has won a record supermajority in tightly orchestrated parliamentary polls that excluded virtually any genuine opposition, near complete official results show.With over 58 percent of votes secured, United Russia, which has dominated Russian politics for 25 years, is on track to win more than three quarters of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, according to the results announced on Monday after three days of voting that ended on Sunday.The polls were the first parliamentary vote since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the first to include residents of four Ukrainian regions that were seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year.Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dmitry Medvedenko said the results, along with a high voter turnout of almost 60 percent, “is likely to be seen by Moscow as emboldening, as public support for what it is doing, especially for what it’s doing in Ukraine for the continuation of the war”.Ella Pamfilova, chair of the Central Electoral Commission, said Yabloko, the only registered anti-war party in Russia, did not win any seats at the national level. It had been removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court and only had a few dozen candidates in single-seat races.Yabloko did enter the regional parliament in western Russia’s Novgorod region. It said on social media that it received about 12,000 votes – just over six percent of votes and enough to enter the regional legislature.Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticised some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Putin, said many of their observers were turned away from polling stations.The Communists made it into parliament with 13.8 percent of the vote, securing 40 Duma seats. The nationalist LDPR party won 25 seats and the New People party 20.Russia did not invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which the Foreign Ministry has accused of “double standards” for its criticism of the country. OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said the decision to exclude observers violated Russia’s commitments as a member.“In the morning, I saw that United Russia was winning. It probably comes as a surprise to nobody,” said Moscow resident Tatyana.Asked what she would like to change, she said: “Well, I guess everyone knows the most acute thing – the conflict in Ukraine. I’d like to see it end sooner, with peaceful methods if possible”.The continuation of the war risks entrenching policies, which are increasingly affecting average Russians and the parliamentary supermajority may struggle to change the dynamic.“Putin, of course, will interpret United Russia’s results as confirmation of the (public) support of the war, even though it is not the case: The overall demand for ending the war is growing,” said Tatyana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in an online commentary.“The main question is: What now? There are great concerns about mobilisation, new repressions, harsher measures and escalation,” she wrote.“The Kremlin silenced dissent, barred the only registered party that opposed its war in Ukraine and shut out international election monitors. The veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia,” Kallas said.In a joint statement, five countries, including Australia, Britain and Canada, condemned Russia’s “sham” parliamentary elections in areas of occupied Ukraine, branding them “part of a wider system of occupation”.
Read briefing In this episode of On the Record, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns that AI must not be allowed to make life-or-death decisions, saying autonomous ‘killer robots’ should be forbidden. Watch the full conversation on aljazeera.com.
Read briefing Jason Eaton faces up to life in prison after a jury rejected his insanity defence.A jury in the US state of Vermont has convicted a man of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian college students in 2023, rejecting his defence that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.Jason Eaton, 51, faces up to life in prison for the attack near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington. It left Hisham Awartani paralysed from the waist down and wounded his friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid.The jury deliberated for several hours on Monday before reaching its verdict after a week-long trial that included testimony from the three men and psychiatric experts called by both the defence and prosecution.Awartani and Aliahmad, who were sitting in the front row of the courtroom, smiled and hugged people around them as the verdict was read.Eaton did not dispute that he shot the three men in November 2023. Instead, his lawyers argued that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.The defence said Eaton was suffering from a delusional psychotic disorder and believed the CIA and Israel’s Mossad were transmitting messages to him through FM radio.Joshua O’Hara, the supervising attorney at the Chittenden County Public Defender Office, told jurors that Eaton believed the intelligence agencies had enlisted him to “overwatch duty” to protect a Jewish family living across the street and that God was commanding him to act.Prosecutors rejected the insanity defence, telling jurors that a state psychiatrist had concluded Eaton did not have a mental disease or defect and that the evidence showed he intended to kill the three men.Awartani, Aliahmad and Abdalhamid, now 23, grew up together in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank before moving to the US for university.They were visiting Awartani’s grandmother in Burlington over the Thanksgiving holiday when they went for a walk near the University of Vermont campus after dark.Awartani testified that the friends were smoking cigarettes and speaking a mix of English and Arabic. Two of them were wearing keffiyehs.He said Eaton was standing on the porch of the apartment building where he lived before approaching the friends without saying anything.When Eaton was about five to 10 feet (1.5 to three metres) away, Awartani testified, he pulled out a handgun and began shooting.Awartani, then a student at Brown University, was shot in the chest and left paralysed from the waist down. Aliahmad, who attended Trinity College, was shot in the collarbone, while Abdalhamid, a Haverford College student, was shot in the right buttock.The shooting prompted calls for a hate crime investigation, but no hate crime charges were filed.Police later found three shotguns in Eaton’s apartment as well as a Ruger .380-calibre handgun that crime laboratory testing identified as the weapon used in the shooting.
Read briefing FAA halts East Coast flights due to equipment outage, affecting major US airports in New York, Newark, and Philadelphia.The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has halted flights to several busy East Coast airports amid an equipment outage, snarling more than 1,000 flights.On Monday, the FAA issued ground stops at large commercial airports, including New York’s John F Kennedy International (JFK) and LaGuardia; Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, as well as Boston Logan and Philadelphia International Airport.The flights were halted on the day that 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers were arriving in New York for the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on social media platform X that flights have resumed into New York’s LaGuardia and into Philadelphia, but that ground stops are still in effect at Newark, JFK, and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The ground stop has also been lifted in Boston.FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters on Monday that it had “lost the primary circuit” at what is called Philadelphia TRACON, or Terminal Radar Approach Control, which controls air traffic into Philadelphia and airports across the busy northeast US airspace.Bedford said that the backup fibre had a break and told reporters that it could take up to 13 hours to repair. He said the cut was between the city of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey, which is home to Newark Liberty International Airport.“An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast,” Duffy said in a post on X.At Newark alone, more than 1,000 flights had been delayed or cancelled. Throughout the US, there were nearly 4,000 delayed flights and 500 cancelled.United Airlines said it would waive change fees for impacted travellers. Newark serves as a major hub for the airline.“Flights that had been destined for Newark have either been held at their departure airport or diverted to alternative airports. Once the FAA outage is resolved, we will work to safely get our customers to their destinations and have issued a travel waiver to give our customers flexibility to manage their travel plans,” a representative for United Airlines said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.Newark has recorded the highest levels of delays and cancellations of any airport, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions in real time. As of 3pm Eastern Time in the US (19:00 GMT), 31 percent of departing flights from Newark had been cancelled, along with 29 percent of inbound flights. Meanwhile, 17 percent of departing flights from the United hub had been delayed, as had 17 percent of inbound flights.A ground stop was also issued at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, a private airport neighbouring New York City.
Read briefing FIFA president proposes ‘consultation’ with member federations to reform world football governing body’s decision-making processes.FIFA President Gianni Infantino has proposed an outside review of how the governing body makes major decisions, acknowledging in a letter to members that its handling of a now-abandoned investment plan had caused outrage.“First, I will ask the Council whether it wishes to commission an independent external review of FIFA’s current governance framework for major strategic initiatives and recommend potential improvements,” Infantino wrote to the FIFA Council and all 211 member association presidents on Monday in a letter seen by the Reuters news agency.He also said he would propose consultations with confederations, member associations and other stakeholders on strengthening FIFA’s decision-making.The proposals would examine who has a say in major initiatives – including the roles of the president, bureau, council and congress – and how to improve transparency and accountability.Infantino faced a fierce backlash over his proposal to sell a 20 percent stake in FIFA’s commercial rights, including the World Cup, to private investors. The plan was abandoned in July after opposition and boycott threats, with UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf subsequently calling for changes to FIFA’s leadership.Infantino said the abandoned plan had explored whether selling a minority stake in a FIFA-controlled commercial company could raise more money for football development. It would not have involved giving up control over sporting decisions, he said.But the proposal became public before it could be presented in full to the council and member associations, according to Infantino.“I recognise that, without the full context, this caused concern and created the impression that decisions had already been taken. They had not.“It remained a proposal, not a decision, and was always subject to the necessary approvals of the Council and the Member Associations. It has now been withdrawn and will not proceed.”Infantino said he had heard differing ideas about who should decide major strategic questions. Some favoured requiring unanimous agreement in the bureau, while others wanted such matters put directly to the congress and member associations.“My role is not to pre-judge that discussion. Those who support a particular model should have the opportunity to set out their case clearly,” he wrote.Suggestions received by the October 15 FIFA Council meeting could be discussed there, with later submissions also considered within a deadline yet to be specified. Any changes to FIFA’s statutes would need congress approval.Infantino also said member associations’ positions on proposals or governance matters would not affect their treatment by FIFA, whose development and solidarity programmes would continue under existing rules.“No association’s treatment will depend on its position on any proposal or institutional matter,” he wrote.“I remain fully committed to leading FIFA and confident in what we can achieve together.”
Read briefing Federal court in Florida to try men accused of orchestrating the transnational plot to kill Jovenel Moise from US soil.Eighteen suspects facing federal charges for the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise have been flown to the United States.A military flight on Sunday transported the suspects from the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, to the US state of Florida, where the defendants are set to stand trial for their alleged involvement in the transnational plot to kill the former leader.The major development comes after federal prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida successfully secured convictions in May against what they called “gang leaders” and “co-conspirators” implicated in the scheme to kill Moise.The high-profile investigation is being directed by US Attorney Jason A Reding Quinones, an appointee of US President Donald Trump.“Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moise,” Quinones wrote on social media. “We will follow the evidence wherever it leads, to those who financed it, facilitated it, supported it or committed crimes to make it possible. Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished.”Quinones did not immediately identify the suspects being extradited, but those who remain in Haiti awaiting trial include more than a dozen Colombian soldiers and a former Haitian government official.Quinones said that the FBI and others “remain steadfast in ensuring that all individuals who allegedly sought profit from the assassination of a head of state are held fully accountable”, with FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles confirming that multiple arrests in the US and abroad were made on Sunday.Moise, 53, had been shot dead overnight at his private residence in the Pelerin 5 neighbourhood, in the hills above Port-au-Prince in July 2021, while his wife was critically injured. His killing caused a profound political vacuum that left the Caribbean nation devoid of any elected national leader. Capitalising on this institutional collapse, armed gangs have rapidly expanded their influence, ultimately consolidating control over an estimated 90 percent of Port-au-Prince.At least 8,100 gang killings were documented in 2025, with insecurity displacing about 1.5 million people, according to the United Nations.Legal jurisdiction was established by US federal courts in Florida, the closest US state to Haiti, because the overarching plot to assassinate Moise had been primarily engineered, financed, and staged out of the southern part of the state, according to federal prosecutors. A fair trial inside Haiti had also grown increasingly impossible owing to the ongoing security collapse and entrenched graft stemming from intense gang violence, political chaos and overlapping humanitarian crises that have severely paralysed and hollowed out the judicial system.In Haiti, prominent human rights activist and executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network Pierre Esperance said that the transfer of the 18 suspects to the US was a “disgrace for the Haitian justice system”, and called for an overhaul of the judicial system to allow such complicated cases to be tried inside Haiti in the future.In May, a jury in Florida convicted four men in the killing, and at least five others have pleaded guilty and are serving life sentences.
Read briefing Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has called on states to respect sovereignty as a condition for security in the Middle East, warning against “cycles of escalation” after “an earthquake” caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.The region needs a “framework in which sovereignty is respected” and no state can pose a “threat to another”, Sheikh Mohammed said on Sunday at the opening of the Qatar Economic Forum’s UN General Assembly-adjacent event in New York City.Sheikh Mohammed – who is also Qatar’s foreign minister – described the economic fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran as “an earthquake” with “its shock waves” reaching far beyond the borders of the Middle East, “challenging assumptions about security and stability”.“During the crisis, almost every conversation began with security and de-escalation, then turn[ed] to energy supplies, shipping routes, and with our investments, plans will continue. These were different expressions of the same question. When so much is being disrupted, what can still be relied upon?”He said that Qatar has weathered the test to the “foundations” of the country’s economy and security, but acknowledged that the ongoing conflict in the region is having an impact.“Permanent security cannot be built through arrangements that leave any state permanently exposed to insecurity,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “We must address the sources of tensions and build confidence.”Reporting from New York, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey said that message “no doubt will be repeated” when Gulf leaders meet US President Donald Trump on Tuesday during the UN General Assembly.The PM also outlined a domestic shift in Qatar’s investment strategy by pledging more than $38bn in spending on Qatari infrastructure over the next five years.“That’s meant to attract private investors and send a message of Qatar’s resilience,” Saloomey said, while the PM is nonetheless acknowledging that the ongoing conflict is “having an impact on the region”.The situation in the Middle East and its global ramifications are expected to be high on the agenda during speeches and diplomacy.Also on Sunday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed Al-Ansari, told US media in New York that the mediation efforts by his government are ongoing to restart talks between Tehran and Washington to end the US-Israel war on Iran.
Read briefing Scott Bessent and He Lifeng meet in New York for US-China talks ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting later this week.Top economic officials from China and the United States have begun talks in New York City aimed at clearing the way for possible agreements on trade, artificial intelligence and critical minerals ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng began talks at JPMorgan Chase’s Manhattan headquarters on Sunday morning, with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also taking part.The talks come four days before Trump is due to host Xi at the White House, with both sides looking to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.“I’m looking forward to having focused, fulsome and constructive talks today that will set the stage for our leaders’ meeting,” Bessent told reporters as he arrived.At the top of the agenda is a fragile US-China trade truce due to expire on November 10.The agreement, reached in Busan, South Korea, last November, capped US tariffs on Chinese goods at about 20 percent after a tit-for-tat trade fight briefly pushed tariffs into the triple digits.Washington is also pressuring Beijing over its supply of rare-earth magnets and other critical minerals, crucial to industries ranging from cars to advanced semiconductors.China promised to restore the flow of critical minerals under last year’s truce, but a senior US official said on Friday that Beijing’s performance had “not been up to par”.Artificial intelligence (AI) is also expected to feature prominently, adding a relatively new issue to negotiations long dominated by trade.Bessent has said the countries could discuss AI “guardrails” aimed at addressing shared risks, including preventing powerful models from falling into the hands of malign non-state actors.The talks are expected to cover both open- and closed-weight AI models. Chinese open-weight models have increasingly attracted US companies, in part because they can be cheaper than closed systems developed by US firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic.“The United States remains the leader in AI,” Bessent said. “And we are open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems.”Another potential point of friction is Iran. China remains one of Tehran’s most important economic partners and buys much of its oil, making Beijing an important target of Washington’s efforts to increase economic pressure on Iran as the US-Israel war on Iran enters its seventh month.“I think there will be some show of deliverables because of the fact that it’s a presidential summit coming, but I don’t feel like we’re on the verge of some sort of breakthrough,” Anna Ashton, a China trade analyst and founder of Ashton Intelligence, told Reuters.Former US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell similarly said the immediate goal may simply be keeping tensions contained.“One of the only things we can hope for in the short term is a truce, and that this will likely continue through the remainder of this year,” Campbell said.Sunday’s negotiations are part of a series of meetings between Bessent, He and Greer over the past 16 months aimed at hammering out areas of agreement before Trump and Xi meet face to face.
Read briefing Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari tells Bloomberg that mediators are shuttling between Tehran and Washington to revive talks, with several proposals being exchanged to bridge differences.
Read briefing Announcement comes as Canada seeks a closer relationship with the EU amid a trade war with the US.Canada and France will pursue cooperation on energy, defence, space and other sectors, in what their leaders say is a reflection of shared values between the two countries.The announcement was made on Sunday during a joint media conference by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron on the island archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic.The French territory is only about 25km (15.5 miles) from Newfoundland in Canada. Macron said it is a reflection of the historic closeness between the two countries, who “see the present from the same angle”.Parts of Canada were once French colonies and French is still one of Canada’s two official languages, along with English.“We both believe in democracy, in the rule of law, in the respect of international law, in the respect of free and fair commerce and trade,” Macron said alongside Carney. “That is why we support this future alliance, that you named as an associate member of the EU.”Carney said both countries see eye to eye on protecting sovereignty, and that this meant going beyond “being able to feed, fuel and defend ourselves” to being able to secure access to AI, space, semiconductors, critical minerals and clean energy. Carney said the time had come to strengthen bonds between Canada, France and the European Union based on their “shared values”.The remarks came as Canada looks to reduce its dependence on the United States amid the escalating trade dispute between the neighbours and instead move closer to the EU.Carney has said Canada seeks a “unique alliance” with the economic and political bloc, which would fall short of being a full member state. Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed opening the door for Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member.”Canadian and European leaders have openly said they want to forge closer bonds to distance themselves from the United States and the political direction it seems to be going.“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” Carney said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday. “We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and make it the “51st state”. He has also called for Greenland to be taken away from Denmark and made a part of the US. But this week, he said he was happy with an agreement that he claimed would give Washington “permanent control” over the island, which largely enjoys self-rule but is still a part of Denmark. Both Greenland and Denmark said after the agreement was announced that any deal with the US would not compromise Greenland’s sovereignty.Trump has called Ottawa’s attempt to move closer to the EU “laughable” and said he would have to study exactly what membership would mean. If it did not satisfy him, Trump said it could be seen as a “hostile act”.“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs,” Trump said. He also suggested that the US could stop trading with Europe “on many things”.Canada and the US have been locked in a trade war after failing to reach an agreement. The Trump administration imposed up to 50 percent tariffs on nearly $20bn worth of Canadian products, including machinery, textiles and even hockey sticks. Canada imposed retaliatory measures and the impasse continues.
Read briefing Elor Azaria had shot a Palestinian who had already been incapacitated by Israeli troops, in controversial case.Israeli President Isaac Herzog has expunged the criminal record of a former soldier convicted of manslaughter for killing a wounded Palestinian in Hebron a decade ago.Herzog announced on Saturday that he had shortened the remaining erasure period on Elor Azaria’s record, effectively clearing it despite opposition from Israeli army Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir.In a letter to the defence minister, Zamir and other senior officers said Azaria “has refrained from expressing remorse and taking responsibility for his actions, even a decade after his conviction”.The president’s office said it had taken the military’s position into account but decided the circumstances justified allowing Azaria to “open a new chapter in his life”.Azaria, an army medic at the time, was filmed shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head in March 2016.Al-Sharif had stabbed and wounded a soldier but had already been shot by Israeli troops and had lain on the ground for about 11 minutes before Azaria killed him.Azaria was convicted by a military court in 2017 and sentenced to 18 months in prison, later reduced to 14 months. He was released in May 2018 after serving nine months.Herzog’s office said the decision followed a request from Defence Minister Israel Katz in July and was based on “the passage of time, the completion of his sentence, and the remorse he has expressed”.The statement added that the pardon was issued “in the spirit” of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and did not challenge the original legal proceedings.Katz welcomed the pardon, writing on X that it “sends an important message to [Israeli army] soldiers and their families: We do not abandon our fighters”.Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, called the decision “deeply moving” and urged Herzog to grant a similar pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption.The 2016 shooting generated intense debate in Israel and drew international condemnation at the time.The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had condemned the shooting as an “extrajudicial execution” and a “war crime”, saying the video footage “demolished all the slogans chanted by the occupation leaders about the ethics of the Israeli army”.The family of al-Sharif had dismissed the legal proceedings as a “farce” aimed at improving Israel’s international image rather than delivering justice.The United Nations human rights office described the original sentence as “excessively lenient” and said it risked “reinforcing the culture of impunity”. In 2024, the Joe Biden administration barred Azaria and his immediate family from entering the United States, citing an “extrajudicial killing”.
Read briefing Gaza’s IT sector was once considered the hope for enclave’s disenfranchised youth. Now, it is mostly in ruins.Deir el-Balah, Gaza – A handful of electronic components, a few wires and a basic programmable circuit board are enough to bring a group of curious children around a table in central Gaza to learn about robotics.Students at The Next Gen Team: Rising Robotics Engineer Project in Deir el-Balah learn how to integrate sensors into alarm systems, study robotics, understand how motors and drive units work, as well as get firsthand experience with programming.The children’s research could save lives in the future. The robotics and early warning systems they are working on could make way for bigger developments such as early detection of gas leaks and fires or help rescue workers access hard-to-reach areas, such as victims trapped under rubble.Today’s lesson will also teach students the sciences of the future and help them keep pace with technological advancements happening outside Gaza’s borders.Before the war, students had access to schools, universities, incubators and training programmes to pursue an interest in technology.With much of that infrastructure now destroyed or damaged during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, there are few places and tools for students to work with.But their interest in robotics and will to learn are helping them maintain their skills and ambitions for the future, something they hope will be of benefit when the bombs stop falling on Gaza.Hamza al-Atrash, 16, is a student taking part in the “Next Gen” project and learning how electronic components can be used to develop robots and early-warning systems. To do this, he is using an Arduino controller – a programmable circuit board which connects sensors – and some other electronics.Students work with what they have, but a shortage of equipment and electricity outages make studying a challenge.“We have capabilities and aspirations that we want to develop, and we try to take advantage of every available opportunity for learning and training,” Hamza tells Al Jazeera.Hamza hopes the skills that he and his cohort learn in class will benefit his community and provide new opportunities for young people in Gaza.“The lack of devices and equipment doesn’t mean we’ll stop. It pushes us to look for solutions and make the most of the simple tools we have,” he said.The challenges facing these students are part of a wider disruption to Gaza’s technology and innovation sector.Before the war, Gaza had several incubators that supported technology projects and startups. Bahaa al-Masri, head of the training team for the Early Warning Systems and Robotics Project, said it provided a rare bit of hope for children and young adults in the besieged enclave.“These incubators provided an environment for training and development. They helped innovators and entrepreneurs turn their ideas and projects into prototypes and ventures,” he told Al Jazeera.The war severely damaged this ecosystem: training spaces were lost, equipment difficult to find, and students and innovators left with limited opportunities to experiment and develop their ideas.Although challenges remain, the trainers are continuing their mission of educating budding tech experts in Gaza.“We have a generation of students who possess genuine passion and talent in technology and digital systems,” he told Al Jazeera. “They need the environment and tools to develop these abilities and turn their ideas into projects that can serve their community and their future.”The near-collapse of Gaza’s technology sector has coincided with the widespread destruction of the education system, with schools, universities and research facilities repeatedly targeted by Israel during the war.Preliminary estimates from the Government Media Office in Gaza put direct losses to the education sector at approximately $4bn. Seventeen higher education institutions have been completely or partially destroyed since October 2023, preventing about 620,000 high school students and 90,000 university students from continuing their education.Approximately 20,228 students and 830 teachers and educational staff have also been killed, along with 194 scientists, academics and researchers.For students seeking to enter technical fields, the loss of such educational facilities and teachers means fewer opportunities to gain practical experience and hone their skills.Before the war, the IT industry was one of the promising sectors of Gaza’s economy and a rare source of foreign income, said Ahmad Abu Qamar, an economic affairs specialist and board member of the Palestinian Economists Syndicate.It was also an opportunity for employment for thousands of university graduates entering a job market with high unemployment, with roughly 80 percent of its economic activities directed towards foreign markets.Abu Qamar estimates that the IT sector now runs at less than 25 percent of pre-war levels, while more than 70 percent of IT companies in Gaza have completely or partially halted operations.
Read briefing US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has kicked off his ‘Send Me Tour’ in Texas, invoking the biblical words, “Whom shall I send?”, a reference to Isaiah’s declaration, “Here am I. Send me.” The military outreach comes as Hegseth’s net favourability fell to a record low of -24 points amid growing public frustration over the Iran war.
Read briefing Trump has wanted a foothold in Greenland for some time, as a strategic battle unfolds for supremacy in a warming Arctic.Denmark has hailed a “binding” deal by United States President Donald Trump to give Washington “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bar Russian and Chinese military bases from the Arctic territory.But Denmark and Greenland – an autonomous Danish territory – said on Saturday that any deal with the US would not compromise Greenland’s sovereignty, and the two countries would sign the agreement next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.“A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic, and thereby our shared security within NATO and Europe – while respecting the [Danish] Kingdom’s red lines,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a social media post.Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming NATO ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance.Key details of the agreement have not been made public, including the scale of the US military presence in the self-governing Danish territory and whether any formal power over foreign policy and resources would be ceded to Washington.Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the agreement “recognises Greenland’s interests” and is “to the benefit of us all”.Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it is “great for NATO and Europe”, as it “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area”.“I don’t know exactly what the agreement is or what has been signed. But whenever the US and Trump are mentioned, I have mixed feelings. I’m not entirely comfortable with how much attention Greenland has right now,” Soren Kreutzmann, a 29-year-old hairdresser, told the AFP news agency.“We hope the leaders have made a good agreement, because our country needs to be protected, both from the air and sea. Denmark had not given that enough attention for many years,” said Bibbi Kleist Jepsen, a 64-year-old educator.Trump, who had previously said the US needs “ownership” of Greenland, announced that Washington would immediately start building up a large military presence in the territory.“From now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval”, he said.Trump has repeatedly warned of Russia and China trying to establish a foothold in Greenland as a strategic battle unfolds for supremacy in the warming Arctic region. The State Department left no doubt that they would not be allowed to do so.“This agreement guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base in Greenland, they cannot send troops to Greenland and the necessary mechanisms are in place to prevent investment in sensitive sectors,” a State Department official said.
Read briefing From work and study to trade, Canadians see new possibilities in closer ties with the European Union.Some Canadians are already embracing their newfound European identities after the European Union floated the potential for “associate member” status amid the trade war with the United States.“Telling my boss I don’t need to show up for work today cuz I’m [European],” an X user joked as talk of closer ties between Canada and the EU spawned a flood of memes about everything from cigarettes for breakfast to generous European vacation time.“If Canada joins the EU I’m taking [seven] weeks off work next summer,” wrote another user.Canada is not joining the EU, but the prospect of a new kind of relationship with Europe had been kicking around for days.It comes after Canada and the US’s trade war broke out as negotiations failed to head off US President Donald Trump’s threatened 50 percent tariffs on nearly $20bn worth of Canadian products, including machinery, textiles and hockey sticks. Back-and-forth retaliatory measures have resulted in both sides slapping new tariffs on each other.Canadian officials initially pushed back on news reports of the “associate membership” possibility with the EU.Then, on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the proposal public. By Thursday, Canada’s own vision was becoming clearer.Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed von der Leyen’s ambition, describing what he wanted as an “alliance for the future” spanning critical minerals, defence, artificial intelligence, energy, digital trade, research and financial services.He also called for making it easier for young Canadians and Europeans to work, study and live on either side of the Atlantic.“Canada and Europe are each strong,” Carney told EU legislators. “Europe and Canada are stronger together.”In response to the talks of closer economic relations, Trump threatened to take action against the EU if it moves forward with von der Leyen’s proposal of associate membership for Canada.“If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump told reporters, calling the proposal “laughable”.Whatever the partnership is ultimately called, getting closer to Europe appears to have broad support at home.An Abacus Data survey conducted from September 4 to 9, before the proposal was officially confirmed, found 81 percent of Canadians supported closer integration with the EU while remaining outside the bloc, including making it easier for transatlantic trade, travel, work and study. Eighty percent backed deeper cooperation on foreign policy, defence and economic priorities, up six percentage points since February.David Coletto, founder and CEO of Abacus Data, said he did not expect those numbers to have shifted significantly now that the conversation has turned to “associate membership”.He said the support makes more sense against a striking shift in how Canadians view the United States. Positive impressions of the EU have risen to 71 percent, while just 21 percent now have a positive view of the US.“Canadians overwhelmingly [feel] still angry and a sense of betrayal over how the Trump administration has approached the Canada-US relationship,” Coletto told Al Jazeera.Flight attendant Donna Gordon welcomes closer ties. She was among several people Al Jazeera spoke to in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Thursday.She said they made sense given “the state of our negotiations with the United States right now, or lack thereof”. Having travelled frequently to Europe for work, she said she had seen its “efficiency” and “innovation” firsthand.She was particularly excited about what closer ties could mean for younger Canadians, including greater opportunities to study and work in Europe.For Riyad Choy, that possibility was one of the biggest draws. The Canadian who works for a tech company in New York said greater freedom to live and work in Europe was particularly appealing.“I would love to have the opportunity,” he said. “I want to be able to have that freedom of movement.”While older Canadians were more likely to prioritise trade and security, 38 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds polled by Abacus listed study, training and research among their top priorities for a closer EU relationship.“The thing that most people in Canada and I think a lot of people around the world are just seeking more agency, more control to make choices for themselves,” Coletto said.For many Canadians, Europe may feel like a natural place to exercise that choice.Asked which side they had more in common with in terms of values, way of life and outlook on the world, 56 percent chose countries in the EU. Only 16 percent chose the United States.Peter Van Driel is a hydrogeologist whose father is Dutch Canadian and who previously lived in Germany. He described Canada as culturally “sort of in between” Europe and the United States, pointing to differences in healthcare, gun laws, parental leave and vacation time.
Read briefing Thousands of people cheered as they welcomed Syrian icon Assala Nasri back at a sold-out concert in Damascus. She spent more than 15 years in exile after publicly supporting the 2011 uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad.
Read briefing Former air officers, including an air force general, were arrested in a series of operations.Syrian security forces say they have arrested five former air force officers accused of involvement in air strikes on civilians during the rule of deposed President Bashar al-Assad.The former officers, including an air force general, were arrested in a series of operations in coordination with the Counter Terrorism Directorate, the head of Syria’s Internal Security Forces in the coastal Tartous province said in a statement on Friday.The detained officers were involved “in using the air force, airbases and field command centres to conduct intensive combat airstrikes targeting populated areas”, according to the statement.Colonel Abdul Aal Mohammad Abdul Aal said the detainees included pilots, field commanders and officers who served in operations rooms under the former regime.Those detained were identified as Major-General Mohammad Fajr Ali; Brigadier-General pilot Abdullah Ali Mualla; Colonel pilot Nidal Hussein Saleh; Colonel Mohammad Ali Salim; and Lieutenant-Colonel pilot Talib Abdul Karim Hassan.Investigations and military records indicated that the five, each according to his position and responsibilities, were involved in planning, directing and carrying out air strikes, Abdul Aal said.According to the security chief, aircraft, airbases and field command centres were used to conduct intensive strikes on populated areas, resulting in the destruction of residential neighbourhoods and infrastructure, forced displacement and extensive casualties.The forces said investigations were ongoing before the suspects’ referral for trial.Over more than 13 years of a civil war that claimed more than half a million lives, Syrian forces relentlessly shelled areas held by the rebels before al-Assad was toppled and the current government came to power.Since al-Assad was overthrown in December 2024, Syria’s new government has arrested dozens of former security officials.Earlier this month, Syrian authorities said they had arrested nine former pilots, including three generals accused of taking part in lethal bombings of towns and villages under al-Assad’s rule.Syria sentenced Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and five other security officials to death in absentia in August for atrocities committed during the civil war.The former president fled Syria as his government fell and is believed to be living in Russia.
Read briefing The US president insists media outlets report ‘fiction and lies’ as he enforces new bans on White House access.United States President Donald Trump has announced that, effective immediately, CNN, MS NOW and Politico are banned from the White House.On Friday, Trump posted on social media his displeasure with the media outlets’ coverage of his administration.“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote.“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”Speaking to reporters later on Friday at the White House, Trump said the outlets “purposely write negative news.”“You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “They purposely write negative news, and they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration. And honestly, we’ve done a fantastic job.”Asked why he is taking action now, Trump said it is because of the news organisations’s “cumulative” coverage.“We have a right under the US Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right,” the spokesperson said.Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher reported from Washington that Trump’s ban will likely be challenged soon.“The United States has the First Amendment [of its Constitution] that says the government cannot restrict access to this sort of thing,” he said.“Other presidents have been angry at press coverage before. Lyndon B Johnson used to rail about it. Richard Nixon wondered whether or not he could ban certain people from the White House as well,” he said. “At every point, they were told it’s not a good look.”While in office, Trump has repeatedly criticised the press for what he says is unfair coverage and has verbally targeted reporters for their reporting.
Read briefing Acclaimed Russian film director who won 2026 Grand Prix award at Cannes, has been critical of the war in Ukraine.The winner of a prestigious Cannes Film Festival award has been declared a foreign agent by Russian authorities for his criticism of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.Acclaimed Russian film director Andrey Zvyagintsev was designated a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin on Friday, according to state news agency TASS.Zvyagintsev won the 2026 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival for, Minotaur, a film depicting a Russian businessman who is forced to decide which of his employees should be mobilised to go and fight in Ukraine.“Millions of people on both sides of the front line dream of only one thing: for the massacres to stop,” Zvyagintsev said in his acceptance speech, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the only person capable of ending the war.Moscow has kept casualty numbers from the fighting in Ukraine heavily restricted and has not provided timely or complete public updates, but estimates of Russian soldiers killed in the four-year war range from anywhere from 200,000 to half a million.Russia’s Ministry of Justice on Friday accused Zvyagintsev of disseminating “false information about decisions taken by the public authorities of the Russian Federation and the policies they pursue”.“He interacted with foreign agents and resides outside the Russian Federation,” it said.The 62-year-old director, who has lived outside Russia since the COVID pandemic, is known for a series of other films including, The Return, The Banishment, and, Leviathan, a bleak portrayal of life in rural Russia.People listed as foreign agents are subjected to onerous bureaucratic requirements and restrictions on their income in Russia.They are barred from holding public office and forced to register their activities with the authorities.They also have to add warnings on everything they publish, including on social media, that the content was produced by a foreign agent.The label adds connotations of espionage to numerous people, including public figures, whom it deems to be engaging in anti-Russian activity with support from abroad.Previously, writer Boris Akunin and rock musician Boris Grebenshchikov have been labelled as foreign agents by Moscow.
Read briefing In southern Lebanon, visual artist Lina Jouni transforms debris from Israeli missile strikes into pieces of art. As Israel continues bombing Lebanon, she says it is her way of turning weapons of death and painful memories of war into symbols of life and dignity.
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