The leaders of Canada's four major federal parties have squared off in their second and final debate ahead of this month's general election. But it was someone off stage who stole much of the spotlight - US President Donald Trump. A big question heading into the two-hour forum was whether Liberal leader Mark Carney, who has been leading in the polls, would stumble. Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, managed to survive Wednesday's French debate despite being less proficient in the country's second-most spoken language. On Thursday, he found himself placed on the spot repeatedly by his three opponents: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet. How to respond to Canada's ongoing trade war with the US was a theme, but the debate also saw clashes on affordability, crime and the environment. Here are five big takeaways from Thursday's primetime showdown: Trudeau's ghost haunts Carney Carney's opponents were quick to focus on the mistakes of his unpopular predecessor, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Conservative leader Poilievre made references to the "lost Liberal decade", talking about the last 10 years when the Liberal party has been in power. He cited issues like housing affordability and the high cost of living to drive his point home. "How can we possibly believe that you are any different?" Poilievre asked Carney. Blanchet also threw down the gauntlet to Carney. "You claim you are different - you need to prove you are better." Carney was forced to defend himself multiple times, noting that he has only been in the prime minister's chair for one month despite sharing the same party banner as Trudeau. "I am a very different person than Justin Trudeau," Carney said. A softer approach to Trump tariffs The leaders were asked about how they would negotiate with Trump and respond to his tariffs on Canada. The US president has implemented blanket 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, with an exemption on products covered by the USMCA - a North American free trade deal. Canada is also hit with global US tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars. The president has also publicly spoken about Canada becoming the 51st US state. Canada's government has previously said its position is to implement "dollar-for-dollar" tariffs with the aim of inflicting maximum pain on the US economy. But during the debate, the leaders appeared to concede it is ultimately not an equal fight. "We've moved on from dollar-for-dollar tariffs," Carney said, acknowledging that the US economy is more than 10 times the size of Canada's. The Liberal leader said the focus would shift to targeted tariffs designed to maximise pain on the US and hurt Canada as little as possible. Trump appears to have softened his language on Canada in recent weeks. After a phone call with the US president in late March, Carney said Trump "respected Canada's sovereignty" and that their conversation was "constructive". Canada and the US are expected to start talks on trade and security after the 28 April election. Devil in the (policy) details For Canadians tuned in to issues facing the country beyond Trump and his tariffs, the debate offered substantive policy discussions on topics from housing to crime to immigration. It was clear that Canadians have starkly different choices before them. Poilievre frequently championed his vision of a small government that would keep taxes low to drive up economic growth and affordability for Canadians, and that would be tough on crime. 'My home is worth millions but my kids can't afford to live here' Singh, meanwhile, pushed for stronger social programmes in Canada, including expanding the country's national dental care and pharmacare programmes and other healthcare spending. Carney stuck close to the centrist point of view of his party. "Government can play a role, but its role has to be catalytic," he said during a segment on strong leadership in a crisis. Smaller parties fight for air time – and survival Canada's political system, similar to that of the UK, has several political parties - the centrist Liberals, the right-leaning Conservatives, the left-leaning New Democrats, and the Bloc, which only runs candidates in Quebec. There is also the Green Party, which was disqualified at the last minute from the debate for not running enough candidates. But polls suggest that in this election, the bulk of Canadians are opting to support either the Conservatives or the Liberals. This has left the third-place parties fighting for survival. National polls have Singh's New Democrats polling at 8.5% - which could roughly translate to just five seats out of 343, a major loss from their current 24 seats. Singh pushed to make his voice heard, repeatedly interrupting both Poilievre and Carney in a bid to set his party apart as the choice for left-wing voters. "You can't entrust all the power to Mr Carney," Singh remarked. Meanwhile, Bloc leader Blanchet inserted issues relevant to the French-speaking province at every opportunity. His party, too, stands to lose at least a dozen seats in Quebec, according to current polling. Canadian civility on display Despite the frequent crosstalk, the tone overall was rather cordial. The general sense of decorum was apparent when the leaders were discussing the housing crisis. In a rebuttal to Poilievre, Carney appeared to stop himself before laying into his opponent. "A misunderstanding... ," Carney said as he paused mid-sentence, adding: "I'll be polite." Even after some heated exchanges, Carney and Poilievre were filmed shaking hands and laughing afterwards. Not only was it strikingly different to some recent presidential debate cycles in the US, it was even friendlier than some past Canadian federal debates.

Canada's election campaign has ramped into top gear with voting day just over a week away. The leaders of major parties participated in debates on Wednesday (in French) and Thursday (in English), pitching their visions for the future of the country during an uncertain time. On stage were Liberal leader Mark Carney, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and the Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet. Today's debate was surprising in terms of the dynamic between the candidates. I think it was a bit more centred around content than blaming one another. I find it refreshing that Carney is not a career politician, and it showed in the debate. The way he spoke was business-like - in both the French and English debates - and he was able to express his points very clearly compared to practiced politicians. Pierre Poilievre felt like a broken record, constantly looking at the camera to send his message. It was like watching an advertisement. My values align with the NDP, but I don't think Singh can be a leader for the Canadians. So my vote is still for Carney, as I think he has the best plan. The debate was all very respectful. I didn't get a sense that anyone was having a go at each other, unlike in the good old days of hot-headed debate - those days seem to be over. Pierre Poilievre was the winner at the end of the day. I don't think there was a big difference between him and Carney, but Poilievre was better for sure. Poilievre made some good points, pointing to the nine-and-a-half years of the Liberals in power and the catastrophic mess they've made. Carney tried to pitch himself as some kind of Lancelot figure, but didn't come across as different to what was there before. At the end of it, I was disappointed. I didn't feel anyone left the table with a phenomenal finish. I think it was a pretty good debate, and nothing too crazy was said. The Liberal and Conservative leaders stayed on track, sticking to their initial messages. The loser of the debate was Jagmeet Singh. He came across a bit desperate and frantic in the way he was trying to attack on multiple fronts. The key thing that stood out for me was that all the leaders were emphasising a strong Canada in the face of foreign influence. My big concerns were the environment, the cost of living and a strong Canada - they addressed those issues well, although I don't think anything new was brought up. On the whole, the debate was civil, useful, and very Canadian. Pierre Poilievre showed a more prime ministerial attitude today, rather than being the attack dog he has been over the past few months. But his pre-formatted spiel was very annoying - it was as if he was trying to beat it into voters that 10 years of Liberal government was bad for Canada. We also saw a Mark Carney who was very confident, very respectful, quite the opposite of what the Conservative party has shown so far in mimicking the Republican party in the US in terms of rhetoric. The standout moment was when Mark Carney told Poilievre that the carbon tax and Trudeau were "both gone" - to me that was akin to a smash that is unexpected in a tennis match. A highlight, and a very effective and honest response. This debate reinforced a few things, but didn't change anything. From a western Canadian perspective, the Bloc Quebecois leader had a few good comments. I liked that he said he was willing to work within the Canadian federation as long as Quebec's sovereignty is respected. It's not something we understand in western Canada. He's not someone I'll be able to vote for, but I was impressed by his performance. I'm personally confident that either Pierre Poilievre or Mark Carney are capable leaders, and I'm not worried about whether the wrong person wins. I'm more worried about the next year when the world might be on fire, as Trump seems prepared to make such extreme moves. Nothing is off the table with him. If we go into a crisis, I'm sure Poilievre and Carney will put aside their differences and work together and do the job as well as it can be done. So to the extent that Canada can be well prepared in the face of this looming threat, I'm confident that whoever the leader is is going to be able to manage it as well as it can be managed. I am proud of the quality of the debate - it was respectful, dignified dialogue between high-calibre politicians. Canada has once again demonstrated to the world that it is a strong, multi-party democracy. Mark Carney's idea of free trade in Canada by Canada day is a winning policy, and the concept of a national bureau to address the housing crisis - which was mentioned during the French debate - is one that should be explored. But I found it difficult to relate to the picture that the Conservative leader was painting of the current Canadian experience in the sense that there is widespread chaos and crime. I wish there was more in the public discourse about the climate crisis and that leaders had to commit to climate action. I agree that Canada could be a clean energy superpower, but that they made no commitment was a little disappointing - which could have happened had the Green party been invited.

YIWU, China — Hammers, hats and hair clips. Toys, tech, socks, baseball caps and Christmas decorations. If it’s a cheap manufactured product, it may well have come from the world’s largest wholesale market in the Chinese city of Yiwu. With 75,000 suppliers spread across six buildings, it was once a one-stop shop for American companies, big and small, looking to buy cheap goods and export them back to the U.S. Today it is on the front line of President Donald Trump’s trade war, and after he upped U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made goods from 10% to 145%, vendors told NBC News on Wednesday, their once reliable American clients have started to put orders on hold or cancel them altogether. Nicole Zhang and her husband, Huang Fangchao, whose Yiwu Dowell Accessories Co. makes hair accessories for major brands using machine-cut and hand-finished materials, said around 60 or 70% of her 6 million pieces were destined for the U.S. But as tariffs have soared, she said American clients like Target have halted orders and put two shipping containers full of her products on hold. “They want to see what is happening in the future,” she said. After stunning trading partners and global markets in early April, when he announced a raft of “reciprocal” tariffs on imports from more than 180 countries, Trump subsequently paused higher targeted tariffs for 90 days for most countries. But he did not include China, which was hit hardest of all and has since imposed retaliatory tariffs of up to 125% on U.S. imports. In Yiwu, the effects have started to take their toll. Chen Jinsai, a vendor selling press-on nails, said she didn’t think she’d shipped anything to the U.S. “in the first half of this year” mainly “because the export taxes have gotten way too high.” Goods that were ready to be shipped have “just been sitting there,” she said, adding that customers had not asked them to suck up the extra costs from the tariffs. “If I had to pay the tax, I’d be losing money. Our prices are already quite low, so the tax is definitely something the customer has to handle themselves,” she said. It’s a reversal from last year when the provincial, development and reform commission in the district of Zhejiang, where Yiwu is based, reported that the city’s total import and export value reached 668.93 billion yuan ($91 billion), an increase of 18.2% from the previous year. With U.S. trade uncertain, some of the traders in Yiwu said they were already focusing on markets in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and Asia. Sock vendor Lou Jinling, meanwhile, said only around 10% of her business was in the U.S., “so we’re not heavily affected.” “Since tariffs, some clients asked me to help share the cost, but I won’t do that because the margin is already very thin,” she said, adding that one of her American customers “told me he managed to clear out his warehouse stock as people were panic-buying from him.” “For us, we have ways of offsetting the losses by selling to other markets,” she said. “But I feel sorry for everyday Americans, as they are the ones paying for the rising cost.” One of the people who might have to pay more to import into the U.S. is Vicky Eng, who said she’d noticed her clients back home in the U.S. had become “a lot more hesitant” since the tariffs were introduced. Eng, who flew in from Chicago with her sister Vivian Eng, 29, to source hair clips and other accessories for their company, Adorro, said they sold them on to American retailers, mostly in the Midwest and Florida. “We haven’t raised prices since the tariffs have been announced because we don’t want to pre-emptively jump the gun with any price increases if it’s not necessary,” Eng, 30, said. Nonetheless, their clients, she said, were “placing much smaller volume orders.” Most of their customers were “relatively small businesses,” Eng said, adding that since the tariffs were introduced, it had become “a little harder” for people to operate. The Chinese vendors were “just like us.” she added. “They can’t have an empty store.”

HONG KONG — Marcus Wu’s home racing simulator setup needs one more thing: a manual gearshift. A decade ago, one from a Western brand would have been a no-brainer for gamers like the 12-year-old Hongkonger. As President Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing escalates, the fact that Wu opted for a gearshift from Chinese manufacturer Moza illustrates how far Chinese manufacturers have come in competing with their Western counterparts on affordability and quality. The deepening economic conflict between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies, has the potential to wreak havoc on a complex web of globalized commerce. And Trump’s attempts to claw back manufacturing to American shores could have unintended consequences, including giving Chinese technology manufacturers an edge at a time when American products are already becoming expensive. Wu and his father-cum-financier, Mingfai, have already made their choice, opting for a Chinese alternative over American brands such as the Oregon-based Thrustmaster. “If only the price was good but the quality wasn’t, then I wouldn’t have bought this,” the elder Wu said. “But this is cheaper and works great.”The duo were browsing Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po computer market — a sprawling hub of small tech stores selling everything from computer parts to gaming equipment for casual gamers and enthusiasts alike. To residents and tourists from mainland China — a country with a gaming market of half a billion users — the market is a one-stop shop, featuring top American brands including Dell, Corsair and the Nasdaq-listed Swiss manufacturer Logitech. Those are just some of the companies competing for market share in a gaming industry that accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates will be worth $300 billion by 2027. According to China’s Game Industry Report, China’s gamers contributed $44 billion in sales revenues to the industry last year. To be sure, Western brands are still popular when it comes to big-ticket items like monitors, processors and storage devices, but sellers at the market told NBC News that Chinese brands have been knocking it out of the park when it comes to accessories, like mice, keyboards and simulator setups. “So many Chinese manufacturers popped up after the pandemic,” said Dennis Leung, a sales assistant at a store that specializes in gaming peripherals. “They often provide an extremely cheap and bargain price compared to the whole market,” he said.Standing in front of a table of 30 mice, Leung held up two with identical feel and weight. The Chinese option, which was cheaper and more powerful, had been outselling its Western counterpart, he said. The Trump administration last week issued a memorandum saying that electronics including computers, smartphones and some components will be temporarily exempt from levies imposed on Chinese imports. But Trump’s indication that duties on semiconductors and other technology could be on their way means it’s still unclear whether electronics could get more expensive in the U.S. and whether prices of American-made products could go up for the rest of the world, too. That uncertainty may already be causing nervousness at companies such as Dell — the $56 billion tech giant has a 20% share of the global gaming market — as well as the $12 billion market cap for Logitech and specialists such as Corsair, which is worth $630 million. The administration’s market-roiling tariffs come at a time when the quality of Chinese products has already vastly improved. That’s giving Hong Kong’s vendors a chance to capitalize.When it comes to buying gaming accessories, shoppers don’t really care where the end product is coming from, Kira Fong, manager of another store in the market, told NBC News. “Most people just look for quality. They still want the best equipment,” he said. Analysts expect Chinese-made tech products only to get better. “People are choosing more Chinese-made products in each industry, not just personal computers, gaming, smartphones or electric vehicles,” said Xiao Feng Zeng, who analyzes China’s gaming and esports industry at Niko Partners, an Asian and European gaming intelligence firm. “Their quality is better and the price is cheaper,” the Shanghai-based vice president said, adding that Trump’s policies will hurt America’s ability to compete for young gamers. The policies of the president, who refers to himself as “Tariff Man,” are already feeding through into higher prices. Hyte, a gaming PC sister brand of the California-based iBuyPower, said this month on X that while it was standing by increased prices, those prices will not be sustainable long term. That was not a problem for Marcus Wu, and more importantly his dad, at checkout at the Sham Shui Po market. With his son excited to go home and play with his new gearshift, Mingfai Wu breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s Chinese,” the elder Wu said. “That’s why it’s cheap and good!”

Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal, which broke down when Israel resumed airstrikes and sent ground troops back into Gaza. JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes hit around 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said on Friday, hours after Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire offer that it said fell short of its demand to agree a full end to the war. Last month, the Israeli military broke off a two-month truce that had largely halted fighting in Gaza and has since pushed in from the north and south, seizing almost a third of the enclave as it seeks to pressure Hamas into agreeing to release hostages and disarm. The military said troops were operating in the Shabura and Tel Al-Sultan areas near the southern city of Rafah, as well as in northern Gaza, where it has taken control of large areas east of Gaza City. Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal, which broke down when Israel resumed airstrikes and sent ground troops back into Gaza, but there has been little sign that the two sides have moved closer on fundamental issues. Late on Thursday, Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza. But he dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions”. Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. The ceasefire offer it made through Egyptian mediators includes talks on a final settlement to the war but no firm agreement. Defense Minister Israel Katz also said this week that troops would remain in the buffer zone around the border that now extends deep into Gaza and cuts the enclave in two, even after any settlement.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said the strike was one of the deadliest since the U.S. began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants in Yemen. U.S. strikes on a fuel port in Yemen killed at least 58 people, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said, one of the deadliest since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants. The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping. Al Masirah TV said 126 people were also wounded in Thursday’s strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Isa, which the U.S. military said aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthi militant group. Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis’ casualty figure and its own estimate, the U.S. Central Command said it had none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks. “The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen,” it had said in a post on X. Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on vessels transiting the waterway, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel in protest over the war in Gaza. They halted attacks on shipping lanes during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza. Although they vowed to resume strikes after Israel renewed its assault on Gaza last month, they have not claimed any since. In March, two days of U.S. attacks killed more than 50 people, Houthi officials said.

The Islamic Republic displayed its military might, parading thousands of troops through the streets of the capital, Tehran, along with military hardware. TEHRAN, Iran — On Army Day in Iran, the Islamic Republic displayed its military might, parading thousands of troops through the streets of the capital, Tehran, along with its S-300 missile defense system, drones and other military hardware. Watched and praised by President Masoud Pezeshkian, it was a very public show of force. But behind the scenes, Iran is pushing for diplomacy, with Foreign Minister Sayyid Abbas Araghchi traveling to Moscow, where he met with President Vladimir Putin, before sitting down for talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Friday. “Our Russian friends gave us the necessary information,” Araghchi was quoted as saying by Russia's state-run Tass news agency after his meeting with Putin on Thursday. He is scheduled to travel to Rome for talks with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday, where they are expected to resume discussions about Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The pair met in Oman last Saturday and held the first round of talks between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. But while both sides described those talks as positive and constructive, Iran has said since that it has been confused over the mixed messaging by the Trump administration on whether it wants Iran to completely dismantle its entire nuclear program. “The reality is, we are receiving contradictory and inconsistent messages from the United States,” Araghchi was quoted as saying in Moscow by Iran’s Mehr News Agency. “From our perspective, what matters is what is said at the (indirect and mediated) negotiation table.” Witkoff had earlier suggested that Iran could enrich uranium to a cap of 3.6%, but then later walked it back, saying the complete abandonment of the program was the goal. Were it to be capped at that level, it would have been in line with the 2015 nuclear deal Iran signed with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the U.S., Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom — as well as Germany and the European Union. Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it offered Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curb its nuclear program. But Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018 and imposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran then abandoned all limits and is believed to have enriched uranium up to 60%, closer to the weapons-grade level of 90%. Western powers, including the U.S., consider uranium enrichment to be a key step in producing nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, The New York Times reported that Trump waved off plans by Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites in favor of renegotiating a deal. “I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death — and I’d like to see that, that’s my first option,” Trump told reporters Thursday at the Oval Office, when asked about possible airstrikes on Iran. So far, Iran has approached the talks with caution and suspicion of Trump, but at a weekly Friday prayer service attended by hard-line clerics and members of the military, the message from the imam was revealing — the country should be open to these negotiations. Although some of the crowd of thousands of people at the University of Tehran campus shouted "death to America," the imam said Iran should treat the talks with great caution because the U.S. and the Trump administration have proven they are not to be trusted. Trump has nonetheless threatened to bomb Iran if no deal was reached, and the U.S. moved a second aircraft carrier into Middle Eastern waters ahead of Saturday's talks. The president has also threatened to extend tariffs on other countries over buying Iranian oil, in a bid to force Tehran's hand on top of the sweeping sanctions already in place. Elsewhere, on a visit to Iran on Thursday, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the talks were “in a very crucial” stage. Richard Engel and Marc Smith reported from Tehran. Mithil Aggarwal reported from Hong Kong.

The haunting picture of 9-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour was taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf. A haunting portrait of a young Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip who lost both of his arms in an Israeli strike has been named World Press Photo of the Year for 2025. Mahmoud Ajjour, 9, was fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza with his family when he turned back to urge his loved ones to move forward, the World Press Photo organization said in a statement accompanying the picture taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf. Then he was hit in an explosion, the Netherlands-based nonprofit added. One of Ajjour's arms was completely severed, while the other was left severely injured and ultimately had to be amputated. “One of the most difficult things Mahmoud’s mother explained to me was how when Mahmoud first came to the realization that his arms were amputated,” Abu Elouf said in the statement from World Press Photo. “The first sentence he said to her was, ‘How will I be able to hug you?’” "The first few days were very difficult. He was in a lot of pain as there was no anaesthetic," she said. "He would look at his hands and not see them. He would scream and say, 'where are my hands?' And the first thing he said was, 'how will I hug you?' and 'how will I pray?'" Ajjour was evacuated out of Gaza for treatment in Qatar's capital, Doha, where Abu Elouf took his portrait for The New York Times. The photographer also fled to the city. Ajjour is one of hundreds of children in Gaza to have lost at least one limb during the war, which has seen more than 51,000 people killed since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. UNICEF warned in December 2023 that around 1,000 children in Gaza had seen one or both legs amputated alone since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel began its military campaign in the enclave following the Hamas-led terror attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. “These are unbelievable numbers,” Dr. Ahmed Al-Fara, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis told NBC News’ crew on the ground in an interview earlier this month, noting that thousands of children have also been killed and more still have been left without one or both parents. Al-Fara said he could not understand “the silence of the world” in the midst of the widespread devastation in Gaza, where much of the enclave has been destroyed. Many of the operations children in Gaza have had to undergo have been done without anesthetic, according to UNICEF, with the enclave's health care system also hit hard by Israel's offensive, which it restarted last month after a pause in the fighting. Talks for a permanent end to the fighting were supposed to begin after the first phase of the ceasefire deal — in which Hamas released 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and detainees — ended March 1. But Israeli forces shattered the fragile truce and have since launched airstrikes on the enclave while also resuming military ground operations. Israel has also barred the entry of medical supplies, along with food, water and other vital aid, during a more than monthlong blockade of the enclave. Efforts to secure a more permanent ceasefire and secure the release of hostages held in Gaza have so far failed to yield results. In the meantime, Ajjour is learning how to live without his arms. "We all help Mahmoud in everything, in food, drink, clothing and the smallest things." But she said her son is also learning to use his feet to do things like writing and playing games on his mobile phone. His hope now, she said, is to receive prosthetic limbs — a dream now shared by a growing number of children in Gaza

Before Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened its sovereignty, the Canadian psyche was consumed with another major issue: housing affordability. With an election on the horizon, voters are wondering if any party has a plan to fix what has become a generational problem. Willow Yamauchi says she was just a "regular" person when she and her husband bought their family home in Vancouver 25 years ago for a modest sum of C$275,000 - around C$435,000 ($312,000; £236,400) in today's dollars. That same property is now worth several million. In the city on Canada's west coast, Ms Yamauchi's story is as common as the rainy weather. The average price of a detached home in Vancouver in 2000 was around C$350,000. Now, it is more than C$2m. "My husband and I were very privileged to be able to purchase a house when we did," the 52-year-old writer tells the BBC. As a member of Generation X, timing was on her side. The same, she says, cannot be said for younger people, who - without "the bank of mom and dad" - are effectively priced out of the city they grew up in. Vancouver, a cultural and economic hub with a population of less than one million, is often seen as the epicentre of Canada's housing crisis. A report by Chapman University in California last year listed it among the top "impossibly unaffordable" cities in the world. But it is not the only Canadian city where the cost of homes is out of reach for many. Canada as a whole has one of the highest house-price-to-income ratios among developed nations. In 2021, the average household income after taxes in Canada was around C$88,000, according to national data. That same year, the average home price hit C$713,500 - more than eight times higher. The gap is even larger in major cities like Toronto and Vancouver. For many Canadians, housing is one of the top issues in the federal election, eclipsed only recently by US President Donald Trump and his tariffs on Canada. Before Trump, concerns on housing affordability had boosted the Conservative Party, which has consistently been seen as the best equipped to fix the crisis. But then a trade war with the US came along and it catapulted the governing Liberal party to the top of the polls. Even with the Trump factor, the topic featured prominently in the two election debates this week. During the French language one, moderator and journalist Patrice Roy displayed figures showing how much home prices had increased in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in the last decade. "I'm sure this won't come as a surprise," Mr Roy told the federal leaders, before asking for their plans on how they would fix the crisis. Polls show young people are especially worried about the housing crisis and what it means for their future. Speaking to students at the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Vancouver campus, it quickly became clear that the issue was top of mind for many. Many said they have either opted to live at home during their studies to save on costs, or are paying anywhere from C$1,100 to C$1,500 for a single room near campus, often in a home shared with five or six others. Emily Chu, a 24-year-old who is in her final semester at UBC, says that she at one point had to delay her studies by two years in order to work, as she struggled to afford paying both tuition and rent. She now shares an apartment with her older brother, who works full-time and pays the majority of the rent. Ms Chu considers herself one of the lucky ones. As for home ownership in the future, she says "that's not even possible" for most people her age. "Everybody kind of assumes that we can't ever own housing." Young professionals with well-paying jobs, like Margareta Dovgal, are also priced out. The 28-year-old director at Vancouver-based non-profit Resource Works told the BBC that she has considered moving to the neighbouring province of Alberta due to its lower cost of living, despite being a lifelong and "committed Vancouverite". Still, Calgary, Alberta's largest city, saw house prices increase by 15% in 2024 from the previous year as the city experienced its highest population growth rate since 2001. The root causes of Canada's housing affordability crisis are complex. One of the main issues is a supply that has not kept up with a growing population, which has driven up costs for both buyers and renters. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the national housing agency, estimates that more than 3.8 million homes need to be built in the next six years to address the shortage. Construction of new housing, however, has been well below that target, raising questions on whether Canada will meet this goal. Experts say barriers to ramping up building include the high cost and scarcity of land in urban areas, where most Canadians tend to live and work. There are also regional barriers, like city zoning laws that prevent the construction of more affordable, higher density housing - including apartment buildings or multiplexes - in some neighbourhoods. Daniel Oleksiuk, co-founder of the advocacy group Abundant Housing Vancouver, says his city is one example, where more than half of the land has historically been zoned for single-family homes. "We've kept almost all of the land reserved," Mr Oleksiuk told the BBC. "There are whole neighbourhoods where all you have is three to five million dollar homes." Eloise Alanna/BBC A photo of Willow Yamauchi at a beach in Vancouver, wearing a bright yellow parka On the campaign trail, each major federal party has put forward a plan to fix the crisis, all with the goal of building as many homes as quickly as possible. The Liberals, led by Mark Carney, said their aim is to build 500,000 new homes a year with the help of a new government agency called Build Canada Homes that would oversee and finance the construction of affordable housing in Canada - a plan similar to one implemented after the Second World War to house veterans. Critics have questioned whether Carney's target is viable, as it would require Canada to more than double its current construction rate. Meanwhile, the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, vowed to tie federal funding to housing starts by rewarding cities that build more homes and penalising those that block construction - a carrot-and-stick approach. Poilievre also promised to remove federal taxes on newly constructed homes in an effort to cut costs to would-be homebuyers. Critics, however, say this policy may have minimal effect, as most homes purchased in Canada are resold, rather than brand new. Voters who spoke to the BBC say they welcome any plan to ramp up housing construction in Canada. While much of housing is governed by provinces and cities, Ms Dovgal notes that the federal government has an ability "to lead persuasively" and implement measures that make it cheaper and easier to build across the country. But others watching the issue closely caution that the steps proposed may not be enough. Paul Kershaw, a public policy professor at UBC and founder of think tank Generation Squeeze, argues that politicians have failed to address the elephant in the room: the wealth older homeowners have generated off the housing crisis. "The political bargain has asked younger Canadians to suffer higher rents and mortgages in order to protect those higher home values," Kershaw notes. "None of the parties are really naming that generational tension," he says, adding that politicians may privately feel there is a political risk in trying to stall the cost of housing, and thus, older Canadians' assets. Prof Kershaw calls this a "cultural problem", and says that parties should also focus on reducing costs for younger people as a way to alleviate this generational burden. Fixing the housing crisis, he argues, is just as integral as asserting sovereignty and prosperity in the face of threats posed by Trump's tariffs. The "dysfunction that has entered our housing market is disruptive to the well-being of the country", he says. Until a fix is found, the possibility of homeownership still looks bleak for many. Ms Dovgal contends half-heartedly that, other than moving elsewhere, "you have to win the lottery, or marry a multi-millionaire. These are kind of the options".

Scientists have grown a nugget-sized piece of chicken using a new method that can deliver nutrients and oxygen to artificial tissues, marking a major breakthrough in cultured meat. While labs have been producing lifelike tissues for more than a decade, previous methods only made small, scattered cell balls less than 1 millimeter thick, or about 0.04 inches. It was a challenge to hold the cell groupings together in a way that more closely mimicked the texture of muscle, and the current generation of lab-grown meats are often tiny pieces clumped together around an edible scaffolding. However, a team of researchers in Japan have achieved new lengths, growing a single, square piece of chicken 2.7 inches (7 centimeters) wide and 0.7 inches (2 centimeters) thick with a new lab tool, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Trends in Biotechnology. Weighing in at about a third of an ounce, the artificial chicken muscle is a small bite, but is believed to be the world’s largest chunk of lab-grown meat. The scientists developed a bioreactor that mimicked a circulatory system, using 50 hollow fibers acting like veins to distribute nutrients and oxygen to the meat, keeping cells alive and guiding them to grow in the specified directions. The bioreactor delivered nutrients and oxygen through the tissue using tiny, precision-laid hollow fibers, using a method that, for the first time, could sustain growth across relatively long cellular distances. This piece of chicken was not made using food-grade materials, and the scientists have not tasted it. “It’s exciting to discover that these tiny fibers can also effectively help create artificial tissues,” Shoji Takeuchi, a co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan, said in a statement. Hollow fibers had previously been used in household water filters and dialysis machines for patients with kidney disease. The new approach, he said, could be a scalable way to produce whole-cut cultured meat, adding that it could yield advancements not just in food production, but also regenerative medicine, drug testing and biohybrid robotics. The new technology could accelerate the commercial viability of cultured meat, but there are further challenges ahead. Replicating the texture and taste of whole-cut meat remains “difficult,” Takeuchi said, adding that larger pieces will also require better oxygen delivery. Additionally, the process of removing tiny hollow fibers that help grow the meat, currently done by researchers manually, needs to be automated, he said, adding that future lab-grown meat will also have to be made with food-grade materials before they can be eaten. Consumers in the United States have mixed attitudes toward cultured meat. About a third say they are not willing to try cultivated chicken, and 40% reject cultivated pork, according to a 2024 poll conducted by Purdue University in Indiana. Ethical and environmental concerns may prompt consumers to opt for plant-based meat substitutes, but cultured meat presents a different hurdle to acceptance partly due to perceived food risks, such as its unnaturalness, unfamiliarity and concerns about whether it is safe or healthy to eat, according to a 2022 study. Currently, there is little cultured meat in the market, but they can be legally sold to consumers in three countries: Singapore, the U.S. and Israel. Only two California companies are authorized to sell cultured meat in the U.S., while Florida and Alabama have banned its sales. In 2013, the world’s first lab-grown burger made from cow stem cells was cooked and publicly tasted in London, to ambivalent reviews.