Author: Emily Harper

Kananaskis, Alberta, has traded hikers for heads of state as the Group of Seven rolls into the Canadian Rockies. Roadblocks, drones and Mounties ring the mountain resort while host Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump, Britain’s Keir Starmer, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Japan’s Fumio Kishida, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni. What would normally be a photo-op getaway is overshadowed by Israel’s sudden strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation—an escalation many leaders learned about in mid-flight. Carney, determined to keep attention on “shared prosperity,” must first navigate a world bristling with missiles and tariffs. Trump’s Presence Keeps…

Cross-Border Tourism Faces Sharp Declines For decades, Canadian tourists have been a vital part of the northern US economy. From Vermont to Washington, businesses have grown accustomed to a steady influx of visitors crossing the border to enjoy beaches, golf courses, mountain trails and lakeside resorts. Now, as political tensions and currency challenges disrupt travel patterns, northern states are facing a sharp decline in Canadian visitors, raising concerns across the region. Kristy Kennedy, vice president of marketing for the North Country Chamber of Commerce in New York, described the situation as unprecedented. Hotel and campground bookings have slowed, marinas see…

A Unique Story Amid Global Soccer Powerhouses As FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup begins in the United States, global attention gravitates towards soccer giants like Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors. Yet, quietly stepping into the spotlight is Auckland City FC, a team that represents not only New Zealand but also the dream of amateurs competing on the world stage. Unlike their millionaire counterparts, Auckland City’s squad is composed of full-time workers and students who balance demanding careers with their passion for soccer. Their qualification, earned by winning the Oceania Champions League, has set them on a path that many…

Prime Minister Donald Tusk breathed a public sigh of relief on Wednesday after his centrist-led government survived a confidence motion in Poland’s lower house. Yet the 243-210 tally in the 460-seat Sejm only settles who governs— not for how long— as a nationalist president-elect and widening cracks inside Tusk’s ideologically diverse coalition threaten to hobble his promised reforms. A Vote To Break Political Deadlock Seeking what he called a “fresh opening,” Tusk demanded the ballot barely ten days after Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski—his long-time ally—unexpectedly lost a presidential runoff to conservative historian Karol Nawrocki. Supported by outgoing President Andrzej Duda…

Markets react sharply to escalating Middle East conflict, with fears of wider disruption in global energy supplies. Oil prices surged on Friday in one of the biggest intraday jumps in years, as investors reacted to Israel’s military strike on Iran, raising concerns over a potential regional war and major energy supply disruptions. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed nearly 6% to almost $71 per barrel, while US crude oil spiked 8.6% to $74 per barrel. Earlier in the day, prices had soared as much as 13%, marking the steepest single-day rally since March 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of…

Changing Patterns in the Tropics As hurricane season unfolds, scientists are sounding the alarm on a silent but powerful force: tropical waves. These weather patterns, made up of low-pressure systems that travel across the Atlantic, are drawing attention for their growing intensity and impact. Though often overlooked, tropical waves are crucial early signals of potentially devastating storms. Originating near the African coastline, these waves travel westward, sometimes stirring little more than brief rainfall or increased winds. However, in many cases, they serve as the foundation for the most powerful hurricanes that reach North America and other parts of the world.…

Fast-fashion powerhouse Shein has pivoted its stock-market debut to Hong Kong after regulators in Beijing withheld approval for a planned London listing. The Singapore-headquartered retailer, valued privately at about US-$60 billion, hopes the move will unlock a broader pool of Asian capital while sidestepping the turbulence it encountered in Western venues. Before looking to London, Shein had flirted with Wall Street. Its 2023 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stalled when lawmakers demanded audits of its suppliers and higher tariffs on its imports. That episode, coupled with a bruising lobbying battle, convinced the firm that a Western flotation…

Federal Judge Halts Voter ID Requirements in Executive Order A federal judge in Massachusetts has stopped key portions of former President Trump’s executive order aimed at reshaping how voter registration is handled in the United States. The decision was made after attorneys general from 19 states filed a legal challenge, arguing that the order placed unconstitutional burdens on voters and overstepped presidential authority. This marks the second time a federal court has intervened to block the implementation of the executive order, which introduced new requirements around proof of citizenship in voter registration processes. Voting rights groups and state officials raised…

A Devastating Aviation Disaster in Ahmedabad An international flight operated by Air India faced a tragic end shortly after takeoff from the city of Ahmedabad, located in the northwestern region of India. The aircraft was en route to London and carried a total of 244 people onboard, including passengers and crew. Within minutes of departure, the plane crashed into a medical college situated in a dense residential neighborhood, causing widespread destruction both in the air and on the ground. This tragic event stands as one of the most severe air disasters the country has experienced in recent decades. The plane…

China’s dominance over critical minerals, from rare earth elements to tungsten and gallium, has become a pivotal bargaining chip in its trade dealings with the United States and other major economies. State support dating back to Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 declaration that “the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths” laid the groundwork for an industrial base that now processes roughly 80 percent of the world’s rare earths and the majority of several other key metals. In mining hubs such as Ganzhou, generations have grown up extracting and refining these resources, making the region a linchpin of China’s mineral strategy.…