Siegel, along with Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas, are set to be released Saturday, after 484 days in captivity. In exchange, Israel is expected to release another group of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. American Israeli Keith Siegel is among the hostages set to be released Saturday, Hamas said statement Friday, as part of the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel. Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon will also be released, according to Hamas' statement. Siegel, 65, was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April, where he spoke directly to his family to say he was doing OK. Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Siegel was taken from kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which some 250 people were kidnapped and about 1,200 killed. Bibas was abducted along with his wife, Shiri, and their two sons, Kfir, who was 9 months old at the time and would have turned 2 this month, and Ariel, now 5. During a one-week ceasefire in November 2023 when 105 hostages were released, the Bibas children did not emerge out of Gaza, unlike other child hostages. It’s unknown if the Bibas children and their mother are still alive. Hamas said during that ceasefire that Shiri Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but the Israeli military said the claims could not be confirmed. In February 2024, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged its fears for the family. "Based on the information available to us, we are very concerned and worried about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces' chief spokesperson, said in a news conference. Ofer Kalderon, now 54, was kidnapped with 17-year-old daughter Sahar and 12-year-old son Erez. Both children were released in November 2023. "To get him back has been the one thing that has been the missing piece of their puzzle of recovery," Kalderon's cousin, Jason Greenberg, told NBC Boston. Soon after Siegel's video, his two daughters, Ilan and Shir, shared a picture of them holding hands with their mother, Aviva Siegel, who was also taken hostage on Oct. 7 but released a month later.“Keith and I nearly died in the tunnel because there was no oxygen, and I’ve been talking about it over and over and over — hard stories. But I want to just tell everybody we’re not going to stop,” she told NBC News' Lester Holt in an interview alongside others whose loved ones were also taken. Apart from Siegel, two more Americans are believed to be still alive in Gaza: Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Edan Alexander, 20. The bodies of four Americans — Itay Chen, 19; Omer Neutra, 21; and the married couple Judith Weinstein, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 73 — who were most likely killed on Oct. 7, 2023, are still being held in Gaza. Israel is expected to release another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the three hostages Saturday.

Five Thai nationals held hostage by Hamas since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel were released Thursday. They were among 31 Thais taken by the militant group, of whom 23 have already been released. Another two have been confirmed dead, and the status of one remaining person is not clear. According to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 46 Thais have been killed during the conflict, including the two who died in Hamas captivity. They were among tens of thousands of Thai workers in Israel. Israel once relied heavily on Palestinian workers, but it started bringing in large numbers of migrant workers after the 1987-93 Palestinian revolt known as the first Intifada. Most came from Thailand, and Thais remain the largest group of foreign agricultural laborers in Israel today, earning considerably more than they can at home. Thailand and Israel implemented a bilateral agreement a decade ago to ease the way for workers in the agriculture sector. Israel has come under criticism for the conditions under which the Thai farm laborers work. In a 2015 report, Human Rights Watch said they often were housed in makeshift and inadequate accommodations and “were paid salaries significantly below the legal minimum wage, forced to work long hours in excess of the legal maximum, subjected to unsafe working conditions and denied their right to change employers.” A watchdog group found more recently that most were still paid below the legal minimum wage. There were about 30,000 Thai workers, primarily working on farms, in Israel prior to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. In the wake of the attack, some 7,000 returned home, primarily on government evacuation flights, but higher wages have continued to attract new arrivals. Thai ambassador to Israel Pannabha Chandraramya said Thursday that there are now more than 38,000 Thai workers in the country. Faced with a labor shortage in the wake of the exodus after the Hamas attack, Israel’s Agriculture Ministry announced incentives to try and attract foreign workers back to evacuated areas. Among other things, it offered to extend work visas and to pay bonuses of about $500 a month. Thailand’s Labor Ministry granted 3,966 Thai workers permission to work in Israel in 2024, keeping Israel in the top four destinations for Thais working abroad last year. Thai migrant workers generally come from poorer regions of the country, especially the northeast, and even before the bonuses the jobs in Israel paid many times what they could make at home.

Sama al-Qudra, her father and her brother were killed by shrapnel from an Israeli airstrike shortly after the ceasefire was supposed to go into effect. JERUSALEM — As Ahmed al-Qudra set off to see what — if anything — remained of his family’s home in the village of al-Qarara, he believed the long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza had begun. So at around 9 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 19, he began walking north through the city of Khan Younis with his seven children, including his oldest son, Adli, 16, and his youngest daughter, Sama, 6. It would prove to be a fatal mistake. Unbeknownst to him and his family, the ceasefire — due to start that morning at 8:30 a.m. — had been delayed. Hamas had not provided the names of the first hostages it planned to free that afternoon, so Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered airstrikes to continue. As the al-Qudras approached El Bareer Street, one of Khan Younis' main roads, an Israeli aircraft attacked a passing Palestinian police vehicle. The Israeli military said in a statement at the time that it was hitting “terror targets.” But the blast also sent shrapnel tearing into the al-Qudra family. Video verified by NBC News shows Ahmed’s body lying in the street alongside Adli's, as several of the smaller children scream for their father, shortly after the strike at around 9:30 a.m. By the time the truce finally began at 11:15 a.m., Sama had been declared dead. She was the last child killed in Gaza before the ceasefire, a spokesperson at Nasser Hospital told NBC News. “This is their fate,” Sama’s mother, Hanan, 31, told NBC News last week, of the death of her husband, son and daughter. After Sama’s small body was brought to Nasser Hospital, she was laid out briefly on a metal tray — barefoot and wearing a pink sweater — before being wrapped in a traditional Islamic burial shroud. Adli lay next to her. That morning the children “were jumping with joy” at the prospect of returning home, Hanan said, adding that she was in the market shopping for food when she heard the explosion and rushed to the hospital, praying her family wasn’t involved. Instead she would find her husband, son and daughter were among the last of more than 47,000 people killed in Gaza since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to health officials in the enclave. Before the war, Hanan said the family of nine had struggled financially but found happiness in their home in al-Qarara. Sama would sometimes daydream aloud about her wedding day, asking what dress she would wear, Hanan said. But the family was left displaced and destitute after the fighting started, she said, adding that the children often went hungry. “Their father and I would cry at night when we put our heads on the pillow because they wanted to eat,” she said. The war took an especially hard toll on Sama, Hanan said. She shared a video with NBC News showing three of her daughters walking down a dusty road carrying yellow plastic jerry cans to collect water. Sama struggles to keep up with the older girls, wiping sweat and dust from her eyes as she approaches the camera. “She had been asking for more than two months to eat a banana,” Hanan said. “I took her and bought her a small banana. She wanted pizza, so I bought her a small piece for 2 shekels (55 cents). I told her to eat it in the street so that her siblings wouldn’t know.” “I was afraid they might die wanting something they couldn’t have,” she added. The Israeli strike that killed Sama occurred on President Joe Biden’s last full day in office, and such attacks were a source of ongoing tension between his administration and Netanyahu’s government. The police in Gaza fall under the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, and enforce laws set by the militant group after it took control of the Strip in 2007. Israel considers members of the police force to be Hamas terrorists and legitimate military targets, even though some officers also carry out more mundane duties like traffic enforcement and crime prevention. So the Israel Defense Forces repeatedly targeted police officers early in its 15-month military campaign, which it launched after Hamas killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage in the Oct. 7, terrorist attack, according to Israeli tallies. The Biden administration warned that Israel’s targeting of Palestinian police officers was adding to the chaos in Gaza and leaving humanitarian aid convoys vulnerable to looting. “With the departure of police escorts it has been virtually impossible for the U.N. or anyone else ... to safely move assistance in Gaza because of criminal gangs,” David Satterfield, Biden’s envoy for humanitarian aid, said earlier this month. On the morning of Jan. 19, uniformed police officers returned to the streets of Khan Younis and, like the al-Qudra family, they also appear to have mistakenly believed that the ceasefire had gone into effect. Hours after her family members were killed, an exhausted Hanan leaned her against the wall of a relative’s home. Several of her surviving children sat next to her, a blanket spread across their laps. She scrolled through photos of her children, pausing on a picture of a Sama taken during the pandemic. She was holding a medical mask over her nose, even though it was far too big for her small face. “She was like a rose,” Hanan said quietly. “May God have mercy upon her.”

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Commerce Department has told US lawmakers that Canada and Mexico can avoid blanket tariffs if they close their borders to fentanyl. "As far as I know, they are acting swiftly, and if they execute it, there will be no tariff," Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday during a confirmation hearing before senators. Trump has said he is considering imposing 25% tariffs on both countries by 1 February. He has previously tied the tariffs threat to ending illegal migration and drugs crossing into the US through its southern and northern borders. He called the levy linked to border security were "not a tariff per se - it's a domestic policy action". Later on Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the fentanyl crisis, but told reporters after the meeting that the fate of the tariffs was still unknown. "We need to continue to engage. The ultimate decisionmaker is President Trump," she said, adding that working with the Trump administration was "unpredictable". Joly added that she would be meeting with lawmakers in Washington until Friday and was "cautiously optimistic" that the matter could be resolved. She said that Canada was prepared to retaliate with its own tariffs if necessary. Lutnick, the billionaire chief executive of financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, said other levies on Canada are to be decided by the end of March or in April, once a review of US trade relationships commissioned by Trump is complete. He also expressed a preference for assessing tariffs "country-by-country" rather than by product. "We are treated horribly by the global trade environment, everybody has higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies," he said. "We can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness and respect." In December, Canada promised to implement a $1.3bn ($900m; £700m) set of new security measures along the country's US border. Trump selects financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary Has Trump promised too much on US economy? It includes plans to disrupt the fentanyl trade, as well as stronger coordination with US law enforcement. They also brought in a new aerial surveillance task force with Blackhawk helicopters and drones. The overdose epidemic claims around 80,000 lives a year in North America. Both the northern and southern US borders have reported drug seizures, though amounts at the border with Canada are considerably lower than those with Mexico, according to official data, US border agents seized 43lbs (19.5kg) of fentanyl at the northern border between October 2023 and last September, compared to more than 21,000lbs (9,525.4kg) at the southern border. Canadian border agents seized 10.8lbs (4.9 kg) of outbound fentanyl on its side of the border between 1 January and 31 October of last year, most destined for the Netherlands. Still, recent reports from Canadian intelligence agencies suggest a growing number of transnational organised crime groups are manufacturing drugs in Canada. A new report from the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada paints a web of organised criminal gangs operating in North America: Asian crime groups importing precursor and finished drugs to the region, Mexican cartels supplying cocaine, meth and fentanyl, and US gangs supplying Canadian criminals with illegal firearms. Canadian law enforcement has also reported fentanyl originating from Mexican organised crime groups in the Canadian drug supply, though the "magnitude and nature" of the operation isn't clear.

Among those to be freed is Arbel Yehoud, whose release was at the center of a dispute that threatened to unravel the fragile ceasefire deal. Hamas plans to release three Israeli hostages Thursday — two women and an 80-year-old man — as well as five Thai nationals abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The Hostages Families Forum said it had received news that Hamas will release the eight abductees. The forum is a volunteer-based group the families of the abductees formed after the attack. Among those the militant group plans to release is Arbel Yehoud, 29, whom Israeli officials had expected to be freed last weekend in the first phase of the ceasefire deal, in which a total of 33 hostages are expected to be released. The two other Israelis expected to be released are Agam Berger, 20, and Gadi Moses, 80. Berger was working as an observer at Nahal Oz base, where she arrived just two days prior to the Oct. 7 attack, and was captured alongside multiple other observers who have since been released. Moses was living at kibbutz Nir Oz, where he was one of the founding members of the kibbutz's vineyard and gave lectures on agriculture. His partner was killed in the Oct. 7 attack, the hostage organization said. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, 30 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been released for civilian hostages and 50 for captive soldiers. The truce between Israel and Hamas was put in jeopardy Saturday after Israel blocked Palestinian civilians from moving back to their homes in northern Gaza. Israeli officials said that Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement because it had failed to release Yehoud, a civilian, before captive soldiers. Hamas similarly accused Israel of breaking the deal, fueling concerns that a ceasefire that has brought a pause to 15 months of deadly fighting in Gaza could be imperiled. But on Monday, Qatar, a leading mediator in ceasefire negotiations, said that Yehoud would be freed along with two other hostages before Friday, soothing friction over the deal. Yehoud was kidnapped from her home in kibbutz Nir Oz, of which her grandparents were founders, along with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, 27. The couple had just recently returned to Israel from a trip to South America. Yehoud's brother, Dolev Yehoud, 25, was also initially believed to have been taken hostage into Gaza, but in September, Israel determined that he had been killed by Hamas on the day of the attacks and that his body had never left Israeli territory. Cunio and his brother David, 34, remain held captive in Gaza, with neither expected to be released in the first phase of the deal. Specific details of the second phase of the deal has yet to be agreed upon, although a Middle Eastern official told NBC News on Monday that the second round of talks are likely to begin in Qatar next week. Three more captives are expected to be released Saturday in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Many across Israel are hopeful Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage to remain in Hamas' captivity, will be among them. Specific details of the second phase of the deal has yet to be agreed upon, although a Middle Eastern official told NBC News on Monday that the second round of talks are likely to begin in Qatar next week. Three more captives are expected to be released Saturday in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Many across Israel are hopeful Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage to remain in Hamas' captivity, will be among them. Kfir, now 2, was just under 9 months old when he was taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, along with his 5-year-old brother, Ariel, and their parents, Yarden and Shiri Bibas. With 26 Israeli hostages still set to be released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire, a Middle Eastern official briefed on the matter told NBC News on Monday that Hamas has informed Israel that eight of the group are dead. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed that these numbers matched information gleaned by Israeli intelligence. Hamas' disclosure was believed to be the first time the militant group has made clear how many hostages are dead or alive. Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, a dual British citizen, were the first three hostages to be freed by Hamas earlier this month in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, all women and children under the age of 19. Four female Israeli soldiers were later released Saturday in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, some of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks. Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage into Gaza in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli officials. In the more than 15 months since, more than 47,000 people in Gaza were killed in Israel's offensive, according to Palestinian health officials. Researchers estimate that the death toll is likely significantly higher because of difficulties in counting the dead amid the war and with thousands missing and feared dead under debris. CORRECTION (Jan. 29, 2025, 9:15 p.m. ET): A headline on a previous version of this article misstated that Arbel Yehoud had been released due to an editing error. She is expected to be released Friday; she has not yet been freed.

She’s the sister of Nigerian soccer legend Sunday Oliseh, but now Tessy Oliseh-Amaize is becoming something of a celebrity in her own right, making a name for herself in the US fashion scene. As founder of the Tesslo fashion brand, and a former science student, she produces a distinctively modern take on traditional wax print ankara designs, with her vision inspired as much by mathematics as classic aesthetics. The style is showcased in her “Africa to the World” collection, featuring designs that infuse elements of African culture in colorful ankara fabrics. Each design takes four to eight weeks to create, using carefully conceived geometric shapes to create an optical illusion of depth, and patterns she describes as “moving in a four-dimensional way.” “I realized that in designing, the Pythagoras theorem comes to play,” said Oliseh-Amaize, referencing the formula for calculating the relationship between the sides of a triangle. “My designs are all mathematics. You need to think of shapes and even calculate shapes that do not exist.” “Pyramids” is a knee-length dress made from one of the most common ankara fabrics and inspired by the pyramids of Giza, with prism-like shapes arranged in alternating directions. “Mpi” is Oliseh-Amaize’s take on a varsity jacket, embellished with rows of protruding cones, a nod to the animal horns used in Nigeria’s traditional Igbo culture for weddings, chieftaincy titles and as a musical instrument. “For Pyramids, I used geometric calculations, which is a very complex technique in fashion design,” Oliseh-Amaize said, while for Mpi, “I manipulated the fabric in geometrical dimensions to create each one of those horns. I thought that the real beauty of executing this inspiration would be more impactful if I have them all together in a cluster around the outfit.” “Taking it to the next level” Oliseh-Amaize’s design journey started out in the UK, at Middlesex University London, where she studied Fashion Product Management at the start of the millennium. A major break came after she returned to Nigeria and was crowned the country’s best designer at the 2006 Nigerian Fashion Show competition. She began designing for TV shows, and eventually relocated to the US, which she said “was like starting afresh.” Unlike Nigeria, where there’s a ready demand for ankara clothing, she had to prove her creativity to an American clientele, which meant “taking it to the next level.” Now based in Washington, DC, her eye-catching designs are increasingly in the spotlight. Last September she was invited to close the Ankara Festival Los Angeles, which celebrates African fashion, and her works were also shown at the Congressional Black Caucus and Philly Fashion Week that month. After the Ankara Festival, she said in a statement, “Outside Africa, when people hear “African prints,” it is as if the expectation is that it’s not truly African unless it looks primitive or poorly made. I’m rebelling against that. African fashion is rich, diverse, and deserves to be seen as sophisticated and high-quality.” It’s a stance that’s earning her celebrity supporters. Folake Olowofoyeku, star of US sitcom “Bob Hearts Abishola,” wore Tesslo’s “Hollywood” dress at the Ankara Festival, a design inspired by old-school Hollywood glamour, with sleeve cuffs shaped like mid-century lamps. Oliseh-Amaize has also received a commission by celebrity stylist J. Bolin for one of his high-profile clients. As Oliseh-Amaize establishes her own identity, she is stepping out of the shadow of her famous brother, who played for European soccer teams including Ajax and Juventus in 1990s and 2000s, as well as playing for and managing Nigeria’s national team. Growing up, “Everyone calling me Sunday Oliseh’s sister didn’t mean I had it easy,” she told CNN, saying that she would be overcharged when buying equipment, because people assumed she had money. “I had to work extra hard to get things,” she added. “Fashion Professor” Now, Oliseh-Amaize is helping younger designers through her “Fashion Professor” project. She has held 35 mentoring sessions on Instagram about everything from understanding different fabrics to knowing how to bill clients, teaching young designers to navigate the industry and to aspire beyond Nigeria. “I looked at how I could inspire the next generation of fashion designers within and beyond Nigeria and decided to mentor them and help them avoid my own mistakes while charting their own unique paths,” she explained. Her innovations in ankara designs come at a time when more Western designers are exploring the fabric. Oliseh-Amaize says they have the opportunity to do so because they can more easily access funding, which is not always the case for Nigerian designers. She emphasizes that African designers should not limit their thoughts to designing or selling to only Africans, and Oliseh-Amaize would like to see a time when a Nigerian brand can sell out in international department stores like Harrods or Macy’s. While her fashion creations are deeply rooted in Africa, Oliseh-Amaize insists that her identity as a designer goes beyond that. “I don’t want to be put in a box and labeled an African designer,” she said. “I want to be identified as a global brand designing for the global market. This is what would make me fulfilled.”

There is no evidence of "traitors" in Canada's parliament plotting with foreign governments to interfere with elections, a Canadian public inquiry has said. The foreign interference commission's final report, released on Tuesday, said attempts by foreign states to meddle in recent elections were "troubling" but had "minimal impact". The inquiry did warn that disinformation posed an "existential threat" to the country's democracy. The end of the months-long inquiry comes in an election year in Canada, with a federal race expected as early as this spring. A parliamentary intelligence committee had said in a June report that some members of parliament are "witting or semi-witting" participants in foreign meddling. But the inquiry's commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said in Tuesday's findings that she had seen no evidence of conspiracy by parliamentarians and that the June report "sometimes contained inaccuracies". "There are legitimate concerns about parliamentarians potentially having problematic relationships with foreign officials, exercising poor judgment, behaving naively and perhaps displaying questionable ethics," she also wrote. On disinformation, Ms Hogue said: "In my view it is no exaggeration to say that at this juncture, information manipulation (whether foreign or not) poses the single biggest risk to our democracy." The inquiry was called in September 2023 to investigate allegations of interference by China, Russia, India and other foreign actors. It was in response to a steady drip of detailed press reports, many based on leaked intelligence, of Chinese meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. There is no evidence the efforts altered the outcomes of either election. Over a number of months, the inquiry heard public testimony by witnesses including members of parliament, national security officials, senior government aides and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Tuesday's report, which included 51 recommendations, was critical of the government's response to interference, which it described as slow.. Coordination between "various players involved has not always been optimal", it also stated, while efforts to educate the public about interference was "piecemeal and underwhelming". Why is Canada so vulnerable to foreign meddling? Foreign meddling a 'stain' on Canada's elections - inquiry report Canadian MPs 'wittingly' aid foreign meddling - report In May, Ms Hogue released an interim report calling interference a "stain" on Canada's electoral process. The report found that China "stands out as a main perpetrator" of such interference. China "clandestinely leveraged" Canadian officials in an effort to help its "favoured" candidates win office in 2019, the interim report stated. Tuesday's report said India has become the "second-most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada". Both India and China have repeatedly denied allegations that they have meddled in Canada's affairs. The inquiry also heard from diaspora Canadians who spoke about being targeted - or having their families targeted - by foreign states. Those affected by the alleged meddling efforts have accused officials of not doing enough to combat it. Tuesday's report called transnational repression "a genuine scourge" that officials should take seriously. The federal government said it was reviewing the final report and was taking steps to improve election security.

The leader of Canada's most populous province has triggered a snap election, saying he needs a decisive mandate to fight Donald Trump's tariff threat. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has led the province for more than seven years, has emerged as a de-facto spokesperson for Canada in the tariff fight after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would step down in March. The early election call is a sign of how the new US president has upended politics in the country. The provincial campaign comes more than a year before the date required by law, with Ford citing the need for voters to give him another majority to "outlast" President Trump. "This is gonna be a battle for the next four years," he said. Trump has said he is considering 25% sweeping levies on Canadian goods, which could come as early as Saturday. Earlier this month, Ford appeared at a press conference wearing a hard-to-miss baseball cap emblazoned with the words "Canada Is Not for Sale". The cap's catchphrase was inspired by a line the premier uttered on Fox News as he made the rounds on US networks to defend Canada's interests in the possible coming trade war. His message resonated north of the border, earning him the nickname "Captain Canada" from columnists and pundits. The cap went viral after Ford wore it, with C$20,000 ($13,900; £11,100) worth of stock selling in less than two hours, according to broadcaster Radio-Canada. But Ford is facing criticism for the election call by those who worry he is throwing Ontario into an expensive campaign even as it faces the threat of costly tariffs. The premier is also facing questions from opponents over the politics of the early vote. His Progressive Conservative government has been embroiled in several controversies, including an ongoing criminal investigation into a deal to sell a piece of environmentally protected land for real estate development. Ford's election decision is an example of how Trump has affected Canadian politics, said media commentator and law professor Errol Mendes, with the University of Ottawa. The tariffs expected to have a devastating impact on the Canada's trade-dependent economy. The US is its largest trading partner. Canada offers to help Trump as it scrambles to avert tariff war Canada’s oil patch rattled by Trump's tariff threat Co-operate or else: Trump's Colombia face-off is warning to all leaders Prof Mendes told the BBC that the tariffs have shifted the calculus for Canadian politicians at all levels of government, from provincial premiers like Ford to those jockeying to replace Trudeau as federal Liberal leader. In that leadership race, front-runners Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney have each focused on how they would respond to Trump's tariffs. Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the federal Conservatives whose message has centered mostly on domestic issues, has been pushed to provide his own plan for how he would deal with Trump. "The whole Trump thing has completely shaken up" political strategy in Canada, Prof Mendes said. For Ford, it has been an opportunity to be at the forefront of a critical national conversation, especially amid political chaos in Ottawa following Trudeau's decision to resign. His province stands to suffer significantly if the tariffs materialise. Ontario's economy is the largest in Canada, making up about 38% of the country's GDP, and has a significant automotive sector that is deeply integrated with the US. Ford has suggested that 500,000 of Ontario's 14.2 million people could lose their jobs if the US follows through in the blanket tariffs. The premier is known for his folksy, straight-talking style - one that has become synonymous with his family name and popularised by his late brother, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. "You can't let someone hit you over the head with a sledgehammer without hitting them back twice as hard, in my opinion," he stated earlier this month. He has called for a strong retaliation to any sweeping tariffs, suggesting that Canada cut off energy supply to the US and calling for provincial liquor stores to pull American booze off their shelves. In the same breath, he has proposed the idea of "Fortress Am-Can" - a catchy slogan to sell Trump on a stronger energy alliance between the two countries. By calling an election in his province early, Prof Mendes said Ford is playing several games of political chess as he seeks to solidify his position both in Ontario and as a voice for Canada. Prof Mendes said Ford has so far succeeded in drawing US attention to his message, more so than other premiers and Trudeau. He is expected to lead a delegation of Canadian premiers to meet US lawmakers in Washington DC twice next month. Domestically, however, he still faces significant challenges, primarily the ongoing investigation into his government's land dealings. "Now is the time (for Ford) to get the election done and get his massive new majority to weather that storm, whenever it happens," Prof Mendes said. An election could also secure him another term before the possible US tariffs take a bite out of the provincial economy. Despite the controversies, Ford has maintained a stronghold in Ontario. He has won a majority twice, and polls so far indicate he is headed for a third. He said Ford has proven himself to be a political survivor by communicating effectively with a working-class base, much like Trump. "He is connecting in terms of being able to fight, and fight fiercely for Canada," he said.

A hitman who was one of two people who shot and killed a man acquitted in the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight has been jailed for life in Canada without the possibility of parole for 20 years. Tanner Fox, 24, was sentenced on Tuesday by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge. Fox and Jose Lopez pleaded guilty in October to the second-degree murder of Sikh businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik in 2022. Lopez will be sentenced on Friday. The sentencing came after an emotional morning, in which Malik's relatives begged Fox to reveal who hired him to carry out the murder. "We plead with you to reveal the names of the people who hired you," said Malik's daughter-in-law Sundeep Kaur Dhaliwal, according to reporters inside the New Westminster courtroom. The two men entered their guilty pleas on the eve of their trial for first-degree murder. Malik was shot several times in his car outside his family business in Surrey, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the morning of 14 July 2022. Police found a burnt-out vehicle nearby. Prosecutor Matthew Stacey told the court that Fox and Lopez planned a "deliberate killing" of Malik. "They were financially compensated for killing him," he added. The killing happened more than a decade after Malik was acquitted in the devastating double bomb attack - Canada's deadliest terrorist attack in history. On 23 June 1985, Air India flight 182 from Canada to India blew up off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people on board, most of them Canadian citizens visiting relatives in India. About the same time, a second bomb exploded prematurely in Japan, killing two baggage handlers The bombings - widely believed to have been carried out by Canadian-based Sikhs in retaliation for India's deadly 1984 storming of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion - remain Canada's deadliest terror attack. Following a two-year trial, Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were both acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to the two bombings, after a judge ruled that testimony against them was not credible. According to the agreed statement of facts, Fox and Lopez were contracted to kill Malik, but the evidence did not establish who had hired them. Malik's family has urged them to co-operate with police to bring to justice whoever had directed the killing. In her testimony to court on Tuesday, Malik's daughter-in-law said the lack of answers has left the family afraid for their safety. "This fear and anxiety comes from not knowing who hired you," she told Fox. "Are we next?" According to Fox's lawyer, the 24-year-old was born in Thailand and was adopted at age three by parents in Abbotsford, British Columbia. "It's impossible to say where he went awry, went wrong in his youth that took him to this horrible offence," lawyer Richard Fowler has said. In court, Fox stood up to apologise for his actions. "I'm sorry for all the pain and hurt that I've caused," he said.

Some European governments are afraid that Vladimir Putin may turn his armies their way after Ukraine. An isolationist White House may not help if he does. LONDON — All over Europe, there are signs of a continent steeling itself for the unthinkable. Lithuania plans to lay mines on its bridges to Russia, ready to detonate should Kremlin tanks try to cross. In the nearby Baltic Sea, NATO ships are hunting Russia’s so-called “Shadow Fleet” accused of cutting undersea communications cables. And in Europe’s skies there are plans to construct a vast missile defense system, similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome” but with the explicit purpose of shooting down rockets launched by Moscow. European governments and citizens worry that an emboldened Kremlin may turn his armies their way after Ukraine. There is also widespread nervousness that the new U.S. president — an isolationist — has suggested he may not defend America’s historical NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia. While President Donald Trump this week criticized Vladimir Putin, Trump has showed few signs of a meaningful shift from that position. On Thursday, he said in an interview with Fox News that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “was fighting a much bigger entity,” and that “he shouldn’t have done that, because we could have made a deal.” He said little new about NATO or Europe, only reiterating his latest demand for European allies to pay 5% of their GDP toward defense — more than twice the NATO recommendation — and lamenting how much more Washington has spent than Brussels toward supporting Ukraine’s defense. “NATO has to pay more,” Trump said. “It’s ridiculous because it affects them a lot more. We have an ocean in between.” The stakes couldn’t be higher. European officials have repeatedly stated that Putin is preparing for a war with the West. For many, this is already happening, with think tank analysts, governments and NATO itself accusing Moscow of “hybrid warfare” attacks — from election interference to trying to crash airliners with firebombs. “The Europeans are taking this very seriously,” said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe between 2014 and late 2017. In particular, countries in Eastern Europe nearer the Russian border “know that this is for real, because they live there,” Hodges added. “It’s only those people who live in Western Europe or the U.S., far away from the Bear, who say: ‘Come on, this is not going to happen.’” The core tenet of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is that allies will defend any fellow member under attack. The only time this “Article 5” promise has been triggered was after 9/11, when Europe helped the United States patrol its skies in an act of solidarity. The main message of that stipulation is that if a country attacks Europe, it will also be at war with Washington, and its intended audience is Russia. But Trump has repeatedly suggested he would ignore Europe’s distress call. Plenty of those in Europe’s corridors of power agree that a complacent continent has for too long relied on Washington’s protection. French President Emmanuel Macron, a longtime proponent of European self-reliance, said Monday that Trump’s second term should serve as a “wake-up call” for the continent. In comments made at a defense conference on Wednesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, agreed with Trump’s assessment of European spending, saying that “Russia poses an existential threat to our security today, tomorrow and for as long as we underinvest in our defense.” Many of these critics remain nonetheless alarmed. “While every president has complained that European countries don’t do enough, there never was a question about American commitment,” said Hodges. “This causes a lot of anxiety.” In the short term, Trump and key members of his incoming administration have vowed to quickly end Russia’s war in Ukraine, likely impossible without huge territorial concessions from Kyiv. Effectively giving Russia a win would be a signal to the Kremlin that aggression is rewarded and the West has no appetite to intervene, critics say. “Russia is preparing for a war with the West,” German foreign intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said in a November speech. For years, experts and government officials have accused Moscow of spreading disinformation, launching cyberattacks and using any other means necessary to meddle in the elections of democratic countries. Though Moscow denies it. Western officials and experts are near united in agreeing that this campaign only seems to be expanding. Last month, Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker they suspected of having severed undersea power and internet cables. That was among a spate of incidents that prompted NATO to launch operation “Baltic Sentry,” stepping up maritime patrols. Meanwhile, Western officials said Russia was responsible for sending two incendiary devices to DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the United Kingdom in July as part of a wider sabotage campaign to possibly start fires aboard North America-bound aircraft. In response, Europe has reversed decades of military underfunding, with most of its big powers now hitting the NATO guideline of 2% of GDP spent on defense. Spending started to increase in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea, although Trump is widely credited for accelerating it. On Wednesday, the European Union’s defense commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, announced that Lithuania intends to spend between 5% and 6% of its GDP on defense in the coming years. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has focused minds further. In March, the European Union allocated 500 million euros (around $515 million) to double shell ammunition production to 2 million units per year. And 22 countries have now joined the European Sky Shield Initiative, a continentwide missile defense system designed to protect against Russian attacks. “Europe must be prepared for the most extreme military contingencies,” a spokesperson for the bloc told NBC News in an email when asked whether the continent was preparing for a worst-case scenario of war with Russia. “Put simply: to prevent war we need to spend more. If we wait more, it’ll cost us more.” Asked if that change was prompted by Trump’s suggestion he may not defend Europe as well as Putin, the spokesperson referred only to the Russian president, whose war in Ukraine they said “challenges the international rules-based order itself.” For its part, Ukraine’s reaction to the re-election and inauguration of Trump has been assiduously diplomatic. On Inauguration Day, Zelenskyy said in a post on X that Trump “is always decisive” and that his second term was an opportunity to “achieve a long-term and just peace.” Whatever the impetus, “the mindset has changed big time,” said Vytis Jurkonis, who leads the Lithuanian office of Freedom House, an international pro-democracy group. “We need to make it very clear to the Kremlin that any attack against a NATO member is going to cost and have consequences,” said Jurkonis, who also teaches politics at Lithuania’s Vilnius University. The Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are particularly vulnerable, perched on the Baltic Sea between mainland Russia and the heavily militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. For decades occupied by the Soviet Union, these now-Westernized states are only now constructing “the Baltic Defense Line,” a frontier hundreds of miles long dotted with anti-tank trenches and pillboxes. Lithuania has already purchased warehouses full of “dragon’s teeth” — concrete pyramids designed to stop tanks — and plans to mine its bridges to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, its defense ministry told NBC News. Lithuania recently said it would raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, the highest in NATO and far more, proportionally, than Washington’s 3.4%. That’s still lower than Russia, with the Kremlin effectively reordering its economy along a war footing and committing at least 6.2% of its inflation-hit finances to its military. In western Scandinavia, meanwhile, Norway has updated its emergency preparedness booklet that it hands out to all citizens, telling them how much water, food and other supplies to stockpile in case of “acts of war.” The 20-page document has historically focused on extreme weather and accidents, but its most recent version notes that “we live in an increasingly turbulent world” and warns that “in the event of an act of war, you may be notified that you should seek shelter.” Meanwhile, Swedish church authorities — on guidance from Sweden’s armed forces — have begun looking for extra cemetery space should such a conflict reach their shores. And Germany committed around 100 million euros to reinstate public sirens that were removed when the Iron Curtain fell. And yet there are plenty of observers who believe that Europe is not doing nearly enough. Western European countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom have only committed “small percentage uplifts to defense budgets, which is nothing like the transformative investment” in Eastern Europe, said Keir Giles, a leading defense analyst at London’s Chatham House think tank. For Giles, author of “Who Will Defend Europe? An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent,” the problem is that “countries further away are still pretending that war is something that happens to other people.” What’s more, efforts are further complicated by the political situation. Europe’s mainstream parties are being challenged by populists, who often mix their vehement opposition to immigration with a softer — and sometimes even friendly — stance toward Russia. That’s a problem for those who argue Russia’s war on Europe has already begun. “Anybody who isn’t worried hasn’t been paying attention,” said Giles.