Donald Trump has announced he is doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% as a retaliation for the province of Ontario’s imposition of a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to several US states, in a dramatic escalation of the trade war between the two ostensibly allied countries.

“Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to ad [sic] an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president said the tariffs would go into effect in the morning of Wednesday 12 March, and again threatened to make Canada the 51st US state.

Trump’s announcement is just the latest in the chaos around the president’s trade policy, the uncertainty of which has raised concerns about a recession in the US.

Over the last few days, the White House’s strategy has been to play down the anxiety on Wall Street, which has further exacerbated a decline in the stock market. After Trump refused to rule out the possibility of a recession in an interview with Fox News over the weekend, the US stock market continued to drop on Monday. By the end of the day, the Nasdaq had seen its worst day since September 2022, dropping 4%.

The sell-off continued into Tuesday morning after Trump’s announcement, with the Dow dropping 1.2% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also declining.

In response to Trump’s new tariffs, the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, told MSNBC that Canada “will not back down” and encouraged American CEOs to speak up. Ford has said in the past that he would be willing to cut off US energy supply from Canada completely in response to Trump’s tariffs.

“We will be relentless,” Ford said on Tuesday. “We need those CEOs to actually get a backbone and stand in front of him and tell him, ‘This is going to be a disaster. It’s mass chaos right now.’”

Tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum imports from other countries are expected to go into effect on Wednesday, after Trump announced tariffs for the sector last month.

Trump is set to meet on Tuesday with the Business Roundtable, an influential group of business leaders that includes the CEOs of Google, Amazon and JPMorgan.

The group said in a statement last week that while it supported trade policies that “open markets to US exports, revitalize the domestic manufacturing base and de-risk supply chains”, it called on the White House to “preserve the benefits” of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump had signed in 2020.

In recent weeks, both consumer and business confidence has dropped since Trump entered office.

A survey published on Monday in Chief Executive magazine found that CEOs’ rating of the current business climate fell 20% in January from 6.3 out of 10 – with 1 being “poor” and 10 being “excellent” – to 5, the lowest since spring 2020.
Meanwhile, consumer confidence measured by the Conference Board found that confidence dropped over 6% in February, its biggest month-to-month drop since August 2021.

Keir Starmer has said he will not hit back with immediate counter-tariffs if Donald Trump imposes 25% levies on all steel and aluminium imports to the US on Wednesday.

The prime minister discussed the issue with Trump in a phone call on Monday and is prepared for the tariffs to be imposed at 4am UK time on 12 March.

His comments on Tuesday came as Trump announced on social media that he was doubling the size of the steel and aluminium tariff in the case of Canadian imports – from 25% to 50% – in retaliation for Ontario province imposing a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the US.

Downing Street’s official spokesperson said: “The UK and US have got a strong economic relationship. It’s based on fair and balanced, reciprocal trade and we’re engaging closely with the US administration to make the case for the UK to be exempt from proposed tariffs.

“And, more broadly, we’ve been very clear that when it comes to the UK steel industry we remain prepared to defend the UK’s national interest where it’s right to do so. But we will continue to take a cool-headed approach to any speculation around tariffs.”

He added: “We’ve got a £2.5bn commitment to invest to rebuild the UK steel industry and support communities now and for generations to come.”

When Starmer visited the White House in February, Trump suggested a “real trade deal” between the US and the UK could mean tariffs were not necessary.

Jonathan Reynolds, the trade and business secretary, also made the case for a UK exemption from the tariffs to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, in a phone call on Sunday. Unlike other countries, the UK does not have a big trade surplus with the US.

According to government figures, 5% of Britain’s steel exports and 6% of aluminium exports by volume go to the US.

Political leaders and industry bodies have warned the tariffs risk damaging the UK and global market. Gareth Stace, the director general of the industry group UK Steel, has described them as a “sledgehammer to free trade, with huge ramifications for the steel sector in the UK and across the world”.

Japan and the EU have also made last-minute pleas for a U-turn, and Brussels has made clear it is ready to hit back with retaliatory measures. The EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said he spoke to Trump’s trade team when he visited Washington last month.

“We jointly identified the few areas that would allow us to move forward by fostering a mutual benefit. But in the end, one hand cannot clap,” Šefčovič told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

Japan’s trade minister, Yoji Muto, headed to Washington this week for last-ditch negotiations on a range of Japanese exports including cars, steel and aluminium, but failed to win an exemption for his country, a key US ally.

UK Steel has criticised the tariffs for primarily targeting US allies, such as the UK, as most other countries were already subject to 25% steel tariffs, while aluminium levies were previously 10%.

The presidential executive order announcing the tariffs cited rising global excess capacity, forecast to hit 630m tonnes in 2026, and concerns over cheap steel shipments from China. The proclamation claimed that steel imports from Australia, the EU, Japan and the UK had risen from 18.6% in 2020 to 20.7% last year, proving that quotas had been ineffective.

However, UK Steel pointed out that demand in 2020 was at a historical low because of the pandemic, and UK steel exports to the US last year were 14% lower than in 2018 when tariffs were first introduced.

Donald Trump posted to social media more than 100 times on Monday in a frenzy of self-aggrandizing messages even as the global stock market fell sharply amid fears that his economic policies could produce a US recession.

Far from rushing to calm troubled waters after markets reacted shakily to his refusal to rule out a recession, the US president instead shared a blizzard of links on Truth Social, the platform he owns, starting at 11.44am ET with a link to a Fox News article about Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, raising defense spending before visiting Washington last month.

Dozens of other messages followed in rapid succession, most of them sharing articles praising Trump’s policies, economic and otherwise.

At 1.05pm – shortly after the FTSE in London had closed down 1.4% and as media analysts were already floating the idea of a US recession or a “Trumpcession” – the president posted not about the economy but about Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and legal US resident whose arrest by immigration authorities on Saturday night stoked huge protest.

After a break of a few hours, another string of unadorned links appeared on Trump’s account, covering policies and obsessions including a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by a Republican in Congress, then embedded tweets of Republican support for him.

After US markets closed – with the S&P down 2.7%, the Dow Jones down 2%, the Nasdaq down 4%, and shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla seeing their worst day since late 2020, falling 15 points – Trump’s account was posting ads for The Apprentice, the 2000s reality show that rescued him from financial oblivion and set him out on the road to political power.

He later accused Canada of being “a Tariff abuser” and said “Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” while accusing leftists of “illegally and collusively” trying to boycott Tesla.

As usual White House officials had been speaking anonymously to media outlets, seeking to explain what the president really meant and to attempt to calm growing worries over economic chaos.

Speaking to CNBC, one official said: “We’re seeing a strong divergence between animal spirits of the stock market and what we’re actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders. The latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what’s in store for the economy in the medium to long term.”

Michael Wolff, the author of four books on Trump, has described how many of the posts on his account are not made by the president but by Natalie Harp, a devoted aide whose closeness to the president has confused, angered and worried family members, according to Wolff.

Sarah Matthews, a White House communications aide in Trump’s first administration, has said in congressional testimony that it is “painfully obvious” when a tweet or social post is written by Trump himself because of “the phrasing of it, the capitalization of letters”. She added that messages sent by aides “seemed a little bit more grammatically correct”.

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has left Manila on a plane headed to the Hague, hours after he was served with an arrest warrant from the international criminal court over the killings resulting from his “war on drugs”.

President Ferdinand Marcos told a press conference that a plane carrying Duterte took off at 11.03pm local time on Tuesday. “The plane is en route to the Hague in the Netherlands, allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs,” he said.

Duterte’s youngest daughter, Veronica Duterte, said on social media that the plane had been used to “kidnap” her father.

The former leader, who will turn 80 this month, is accused by ICC prosecutors of crimes against humanity over his anti-drugs crackdowns, in which as many as 30,000 people were killed. Most of the victims were men in poor, urban areas who were gunned down in the streets.

Duterte was arrested on Tuesday morning at Manila’s main airport after flying back from Hong Kong. “Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said in a statement. “As of now, he is under the custody of authorities.”

Video shared online had earlier showed the former leader walking with a stick and being helped to board the stairs of a plane, surrounded by security. His lawyer, Martin Delgra, told local media it was bound for The Hague, where the ICC is based, although this has not been confirmed by officials until Marcos spoke after its departure.

Marcos, who was previously allied with Duterte’s elder daughter Sara, the country’s vice-president, had in the past refused to cooperate with the ICC investigation. However, his stance shifted after the two families became embroiled in a feud.

Marcos said the arrest came at the request of the ICC. “I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures,” he said after Duterte’s departure. “We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol.”

Sara Duterte said she had “no message” for her former ally. “If you are a Filipino, you will never obey the foreigners inside your own country,” she said. “I don’t have any message for [Marcos]. I don’t think there’s any point talking to a person who will allow a citizen to be turned over to foreigners.”

A video shared by the broadcaster GMA had shown the moment of arrest as Duterte was stopped onboard a plane as he arrived in Manila. “You will just have to kill me. I won’t allow you to take the side of the white foreigners,” he said in the footage.

Philippine police said 379 police personnel had been deployed to the airport and other key locations. Duterte told police after he was taken into cusody he should be put on trial in a court in the Philippines. “If I committed a sin, prosecute me in Philippine courts,” he said in a video shared on social media by a relative.

Leila de Lima, one of the fiercest critics of Duterte and the “war on drugs” who was jailed for more than six years on baseless charges under his former government, said: “Today, Duterte is being made to answer – not to me, but to the victims, to their families, to a world that refuses to forget. This is not about vengeance. This is about justice finally taking its course.”

Josalee S Deinla, the secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, which represents the victims of the war on drugs, said justice was “finally catching up” with the former leader.

Much of the day’s events were relayed on social media and Veronica Duterte posted updates throughout Tuesday. In one clip, an official said Duterte’s family could select three people to accompany him to a charter flight. “Tell where he will be brought. You son of a bitch,” a voice shouted. In another update, Veronica Duterte warned about her father’s health, posting a photograph of him resting and receiving oxygen.

Duterte’s supporters have argued that, as the Philippines withdrew from the Rome statute in 2019, the ICC no longer has jurisdiction. However, the ICC has previously said it retains jurisdiction for alleged crimes that occurred in the country before its withdrawal.

Rights groups had urged the government to swiftly surrender him to the ICC.

Duterte became president in 2016 after promising a merciless, bloody crackdown that would rid the country of drugs. On the campaign trail he once said there would be so many bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish would grow fat from feeding on them. After taking office, he publicly stated he would kill suspected drug dealers and urged the public to kill addicts.

Since his election, between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in connection with anti-drugs operations, according to data cited by the ICC.

Even as his crackdowns provoked international horror, he remained highly popular at home throughout his presidency.

Police reports often sought to justify killings, saying officers had acted in self-defence, despite witnesses stating otherwise. Rights groups documenting the crackdowns allege police routinely planted evidence, including guns, spent ammunition and drugs. An independent forensic pathologist investigating the killings has also uncovered serious irregularities in how postmortems were performed, including death certificates that wrongly attributed fatalities to natural causes.

Duterte, who appeared before a senate inquiry into the drugs war killings in 2024, said he offered “no apologies, no excuses” for his policies, saying: “I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country.” During the same hearing, he told senators he had ordered officers to encourage criminals to fight back and resist arrest, so that police could then justify killing them – but also denied authorising police to kill suspects.

Duterte also told the hearing that he kept a “death squad” of criminals to kill other criminals while serving as a mayor of Davao, before becoming president.

The ICC’s investigation into the anti-drugs killings covers alleged crimes committed from November 2011 to June 2016, including extrajudicial killings in Davao City, as well as across the country during his presidency up until 16 March 2019, when the Philippines withdrew from the court.

”.

Soon after his election in 2016, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte launched his so-called “war on drugs”, a bloody campaign in which as many as 30,000 civilians were killed.

Most of the victims were men from poor, urban areas, who were gunned down in the streets or their homes by police, or in some cases, unidentified assailants.

The authorities routinely claimed police had killed in self-defence. However, groups documenting the killings have challenged this claim, alleging the police regularly falsified evidence, including by planting drugs and guns at the scene. Witnesses frequently stated that victims were unarmed and did not pose a threat. The type of wounds sustained by victims also contradicted police claims: many were shot multiple times, and in some cases in their backs or the back of their heads.

Duterte has been arrested on a warrant issued by the international criminal court, after being investigated for crimes against humanity over the killings. He has been accused of encouraging and even incentivising the killings, and allowing police to act with impunity.

After taking office, Duterte publicly stated that he would kill suspected drug dealers and urged the public to kill addicts. Even as the killings prompted international alarm, Duterte remained committed to the campaign, saying “many will die, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets”.

It has been alleged in parliamentary committee hearings in November that Duterte’s office paid officers up to 1m pesos (£13,200) per killing during the crackdowns, depending upon the target.

He has denied that such payments were made, or that he authorised extrajudicial killings. However, he has admitted to maintaining a death squad of criminals to kill other criminals while serving as a mayor.

Duterte told a senate hearing in October that he took “full legal responsibility” for the crackdown.

As Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte was notorious for his boasting.

With cowboyish bravado, he bragged about a past when he cruised around on his motorbike looking for suspected criminals to kill, or at age 16 stabbed someone to death. In 2016 he joked about missing out on the chance to rape an Australian missionary before she was murdered in jail in 1989.

Just months after he was elected president of the Philippines in 2016, he made a glowing and erroneous reference to the Holocaust as an aspirational analogy for his brutal “war on drugs”. “Hitler massacred three million Jews,” he said, wrongly – the Nazis killed six million Jews. “Now, there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

A populist who appears to relish in hyperbole, denigrating women and attacking the press, Duterte was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged role in overseeing a bloody “war on drugs” that killed thousands of Filipinos.

The Interpol arrest warrant from the international criminal court was served on his arrival at Manila’s main airport on Tuesday, the government said. The ICC had said it was investigating suspected crimes against humanity related to Duterte’s role in the drug war.

From Davao death squad to ‘war on drugs’

A former prosecutor and longtime mayor of Davao, a city on the island of Mindanao, Duterte rose to the presidency in 2016 on blustering promises to eradicate drugs and crime, pledging a crackdown that would see 100,000 people slaughtered and the bodies of drug users fed to the fish in Manila Bay.

During his presidency from 2016 to 2022, between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in connection with anti-drugs operations, according to data cited by the ICC. Most of the victims were men from poor, urban areas, shot dead in the streets by police officers or unidentified assailants.

Nicknamed “the Punisher”, the 79-year-old was born in the city of Maasin. As a child he was expelled from school and, aged 15, reportedly carried a gun.

“He was kicked out of some schools, and even shot a classmate, but he never got punished for anything. He got away with it,” the Philippine senator Antonio Trillanes, one of Duterte’s fiercest critics, previously told the Guardian. “So I believe that contributed to his mindset of impunity, because he was never punished. He killed people, but it just went away.”

Duterte went on to study law and become a prosecutor, eventually working his way up to vice-mayor and then mayor of Davao – positions he held for about 20 years in total.

“I believe the only real crisis he had growing up was when his father died and the political power and wealth dissipated. He couldn’t stand being a regular guy. So he was forced to eat humble pie and work his way up,” says Trillanes. “From that point on, this guy who relished that life of power and wealth did not want to experience life without it. So from that point on, he didn’t let go.”

It was in Davao in the 1980s that Duterte would first try out his crackdown on drugs and crime, which regularly saw dead bodies turn up on the streets. Human Rights Watch has long detailed allegations of the “Davao death squads” while Duterte was mayor, claiming that more than 1,000 people were killed, including suspected drug users and dealers, street children, as well as journalists critical of his rule.

Even Duterte once appeared to openly confess as much. “Am I the death squad? True. That is true,” he told local television in May 2015.

During his presidency such comments sent Duterte’s aides into furious damage control as they suggested the comments should not be taken literally or were meant in jest.

Duterte denied ordering the murders of drug suspects and said he instructed police to kill only in self-defence. But on the streets the reality of the so-called drug war was unforgettable. Grisly scenes of the killings flooded the local and international press, including jarring images of people slain in the street in the middle of the night, their heads wrapped in packing tape, often next to cardboard signs accusing them of being a drug dealer, user or criminal.

Even as Duterte’s war sparked major international condemnation, the president remained impervious.

Sometimes seen with a walking stick Duterte has grown more frail, but as he was served the Interpol arrest warrant on Tuesday, his swagger remained, as he asked: “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?”

Senior US and Ukrainian officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia for crunch talks focused on ending the war with Russia, aiming to build confidence despite a personal crisis between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Although the two presidents will be absent, Zelenskyy has sent his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, while Trump dispatched his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, to Jeddah.

“We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” Yermak told reporters as he arrived for the talks, held in an opulent room provided by the Gulf state.

The two sides talked for about three hours in the morning before taking a break, with more meetings planned for the afternoon. During the talks, Yermak posted one line on social media: “Work in progress.”

Zelenskyy, who was also in Jeddah to meet the crown prince but not in the room for the talks, had said Ukraine’s position would be “fully constructive”.

Rubio, on his flight out, said Washington’s main aim was to see if Kyiv was “prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form”.

The stakes could not be higher for Ukraine, with the prospect of US military aid and intelligence sharing being restarted if the talks go well. Trump cut off that critical support after the heated Oval Office argument in which he and his vice-president, JD Vance, rowed with Zelenskyy in front of the world’s media. Members of the US administration have suggested repeatedly that Zelenskyy should hold elections or step down.

Domestically, Zelenskyy’s flagging ratings were boosted by his dressing down in the White House, and most Ukrainians say they would not want elections while the war continues. However, while there is anger at Trump and Elon Musk’s demands, there is a strong feeling that, given the difficult situation at the front and exhaustion after three years of war, the Ukrainian president should make every effort to mend relations with the White House.

Since the debacle in Washington, Ukraine has sought to flatter Trump, to prevent a peace plan from being forced upon it. Writing in the Guardian before the talks started, Yermak complimented a “strong American leadership” but said “a peace must be found that is both just and sustainable”.

Trump’s interest in Ukraine has initially focused on a money-making scheme in which Kyiv would hand over a proportion of the country’s mineral wealth to the US. It is not clear if that deal will be agreed in Jeddah.

After the US president dropped support for Ukraine, European governments rallied behind the country, promising funds and military aid, but they have also put pressure on Zelenskyy to repair ties with the superpower.

The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, posted a social media update on Tuesday stressing the importance of the day’s US-Ukraine talks.

“Dear Americans, dear Ukrainians, don’t waste this chance. The whole world is watching you in Jeddah today. Good luck!” he said.

Russia has celebrated the loss of support from Ukraine’s largest, and previously steadfast, backer. While most European governments ended working ties with Vladimir Putin after the full-scale 2022 invasion, which they say is a war of aggression, Trump has been more willing to build a rapport with the Russian leader.

Several media outlets, including Reuters and Axios, have reported that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, planned to visit Moscow this week to meet Putin.

Asked about those reports, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said contacts between Russia and the US were now quite intensive, the RIA news agency reported.

It remains to be seen how ready Russia is for any peace deal, even in the current scenario in which the Trump team seems to be requiring more sacrifices from Kyiv than Moscow.

On Tuesday, Putin’s spokesperson said the signals from Washington were causing many in Moscow to rejoice, but added there should not be premature celebration.

“You always need to hope for the best but still be prepared for the worst, and we should always be ready to defend our interests,” Dmitry Peskov said at a conference, in comments reported by Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. “Many people are rushing to put on rose-tinted spectacles and are saying that the Americans will now stop providing weapons or have already done so, that Musk will turn all the communications systems off, and everything will work out for us. But it will work out for us anyway.”

Peskov said Moscow expected the US would inform Russia about the talks with Ukraine, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.

On the battlefield, Moscow has seized the moment to launch a recent offensive in the Kursk region of western Russia, where it is trying to eject the Ukrainian army.

On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had regained more than 100 sq km (38.6 sq miles) of territory and 12 settlements in Kursk, which was taken by Ukrainian forces seven months ago. Kyiv has said the Kursk operation was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to force Russia to shift forces from eastern Ukraine.

In an attempt to put pressure on Moscow hours before the Jeddah peace talks, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war.

The Russian defence ministry reported 337 drones were launched at Russia overnight on Monday, including 91 targeting the Moscow region, killing two people, sparking fires and disrupting flights and train services.

“This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air,” said Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian national security council official.

Ukraine has launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war hours before US and Ukrainian teams convened for peace talks in Saudi Arabia.

The Russian defence ministry reported that 337 drones were launched at Russia overnight on Monday, including 91 targeting the Moscow region, killing three people, causing fires and disrupting flights and train services.

A senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday the drone attack should encourage Vladimir Putin to accept an aerial and naval ceasefire that Ukraine is expected to propose during the talks in Saudi Arabia.

“The largest drone attack in history was carried out on Moscow and the Moscow region,” said Andriy Kovalenko, a national security council official responsible for countering disinformation. He added: “This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air.”

Russia’s health ministry reported that 18 people were injured in the Moscow region.

The Russian aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four of Moscow’s airports. Two other airports, in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions east of Moscow, were also closed.

Russian Telegram channels shared images showing the aftermath of drone strikes on a car park outside Miratorg, one of Russia’s biggest meat producers, in the Moscow southern suburb of Domodedovo, which killed three security guards and damaged about 40 vehicles.

Tatyana, a shopkeeper from Domodedovo, said: “I’ve been up since 3am. The sound of drones woke us first, then came the explosions. It was the loudest night in three years, absolutely terrifying.”

There was some anger in Moscow over the apparent lack of warning from Russia’s emergency services about the drone attack.

“How did such a large number of drones cross the border from Ukraine unnoticed? Where were the alarms?” Oksana wrote in a chat on Telegram for Domodedovo residents.

Russian state media also published images of a damaged apartment in a multi-storey building in the Ramenskoye district, about 31 miles (50km) south-east of the Kremlin.

It was not immediately clear whether Russia’s defence systems had intercepted all the drones flying toward Moscow.

Shot, a Telegram channel with links to the security services, cited a former Russian serviceman who reportedly shot down one of the drones with a hunting rifle in a small village outside Moscow.

Russian officials and pro-Russian outlets frequently say drones have been shot down and their debris damaged housing or facilities – regardless of whether the drones hit their intended military targets.

Ukraine routinely launches drone attacks on Russia, targeting infrastructure critical to Moscow’s war effort. Tuesday’s attack was the largest on the capital this year, coming hours before US and Ukrainian teams were to meet for peace talks in Saudi Arabia. The timing appeared to send a clear signal to Moscow and Washington that Kyiv was not prepared to accept an unfavourable peace deal and remained a formidable military force.

Like their Ukrainian counterparts, Russian officials and Moscow-aligned Telegram channels also linked the attack to the peace talks.

“The meaning behind this largest drone attack on the Moscow region is clear – it coincides with the start of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine will try to push for an air and naval ceasefire that is entirely unfavourable to Russia,” wrote the popular pro-Kremlin channel MIG Russia.

“The raid is meant to suggest that such a decision would supposedly benefit all parties … But it won’t work,” the channel added.

The Kremlin has yet to comment on Ukraine’s latest proposal for a partial ceasefire, though Russia has previously dismissed such proposals as attempts to buy time and allow Kyiv to rebuild its military.

On Monday the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, travelled to Saudi Arabia hoping to mend his strained relationship with the US and secure better terms to end the war. Ukraine also aims to persuade the Trump administration to reverse its decision to halt intelligence-sharing and military aid.

Without American military aid, Ukraine is leaning heavily on its fast-growing drone industry and the production of domestically made artillery systems to sustain its defence efforts.

Ukraine and Russia have developed innovative and increasingly sophisticated UAV programmes. Kyiv has established its own drone command and has improved the range of its systems, with attacks hundreds of kilometres into Russia. It has hit weapons storage units, oil processing facilities and enemy airstrips near the Arctic Circle, as well as naval vessels in the Caspian Sea.

Kommersant, a Russian news outlet, said Ukraine primarily used its new An-126 Liutyi (Fierce) drones for Tuesday’s strikes on Moscow.

Separate from its attack on the Russian capital, Ukraine also launched more than 100 drones at Russia’s Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, where Moscow has been reclaiming territory lost after Kyiv’s surprise incursion last summer.

Since the US halted military and intelligence aid to Ukraine, Russia has intensified its offensive in the Kursk region, threatening to encircle thousands of Ukrainian troops.

On Tuesday, Maria Zakharova, from the Russian ministry of foreign affairs, claimed that the large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow was a sign that Russian forces were gaining the upper hand on the battlefield.

Europe must keep the financial pressure on Russia even though a ceasefire has never seemed closer in Ukraine’s three-year war with Moscow, the chief of staff to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, has written in the Guardian as he starts talks in Jeddah with the US about the terms of any truce.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has convened the talks to test Ukraine’s willingness to make concessions to Russia to achieve peace, but Andriy Yermak has urged Europe “to remain united to counter Russian aggression now and deter it in the future”.

He was writing as Ukraine targeted Moscow early on Tuesday in what authorities said was its largest-ever drone attack on the Russian capital.

Yermak called for Europe to maintain all Russian assets held in European banks under embargo, with the profits used to sustain Ukraine’s financial recovery.

“Allowing Russia to reclaim these funds after its war of aggression would have catastrophic consequences,” he said. His remarks highlighted one of the potential sticking points in any ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia.

He said the €300bn (£253bn) in frozen Russian assets held in western financial institutions were “one of the most potent tools in Europe’s arsenal”.

It is part of a wider argument by Yermak that Europe must not prematurely dismantle the sanctions regime against Russia. He said it was important to “maintain the political and financial pressure to raise the cost of renewed conflict for Russia”, adding: “Europe cannot allow a ceasefire which serves only to allow Russia to rearm, rebuild its forces and come back for more Ukrainian lands and resources.”

He nevertheless gave an optimistic assessment of the possibility of peace, writing: “As I arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a ceasefire in the three-year war the Russian federation has waged on my country has never seemed closer. Recent talks between Ukraine and its partners give rise to great hope that the Ukrainian people will very soon return to the peaceful lives that they enjoyed before the war began in 2014 or the extreme escalation since 2022.”

But he said any peace must be “just and sustainable”. Praising the EU for its recent decision to increase defence spending, he added: “Stronger sanctions will close loopholes in the financial system, preventing European businesses and institutions from indirectly funding Russia’s war machine, while also setting a precedent for dealing with future threats. In the long run, Europe’s decreased dependency on Russia will bring geopolitical strength and market stability.”

Yermak made no criticism of the US decision to suspend military aid or to restrict Ukraine’s access to US intelligence, instead thanking the US for its support. But he did back calls for Europe to enhance its strategic autonomy in defence, an implicit acknowledgement that Europe could not in the long term rely on a leading US role in the defence of Europe. Rubio strongly hinted that if the Jeddah talks went well from the US perspective then military aid might be restored.

Yermak made no detailed mention of the possibility of a European-led force to help maintain a ceasefire. He wrote: “Ukraine must be given security guarantees that lend credibility to a future ceasefire agreement.”

Military chiefs from 30 European and Nato countries willing to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine after any negotiated truce with Russia are meeting in Paris on Tuesday to try to make the nature of the offer of guarantees more explicit.

Sierra Leone’s president has fired the head of the immigration service days after footage was published showing him receiving a birthday gift from a fugitive Dutch drug kingpin.

The footage of Alusine Kanneh being handed a present by Johannes Leijdekkers – which has not been independently verified by the Guardian – was published by the investigative outlet Follow the Money and the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad on Friday.

The dinner is understood to have been held in an upmarket restaurant in Freetown, the country’s capital.

Leijdekkers, 33, one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives, was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison for drug smuggling by a Rotterdam court last June.

Kanneh was relieved of his duties the same day the reports were published but authorities in Freetown did not disclose the reason for his dismissal in a short statement by the presidential secretary.

For months speculation has swirled in the west African country that Kanneh and other members of the political elite had been helping Leijdekkers accumulate influence.

In February, a Guardian investigation established that Leijdekkers had been in the country since at least 2022 and had spent time at nightclubs and house parties.

A Reuters report in January placed him at a New Year’s Day church service in President Julius Maada Bio’s home town, sitting near the leader’s daughter Agnes Bio, with whom he is believed to be in a relationship.

Days before that event, the immigration ministry introduced an investment-for-citizenship scheme under Kanneh’s direction. Called Go-for-Gold, it offers a fast-track path to citizenship in 90 days for investors willing to pay $140,000 (£108,000). The traditional route to naturalisation involves eight years’ residence.

Leijdekkers has a passport from Turkey, where he previously resided after going on the run from Dutch authorities. It is unknown if he has Sierra Leonean documentation too.

At a press conference in January, Sierra Leonean police said their own investigations had established that the church service footage depicted a man called Omar Sheriff. The country’s police chief, William Fayia Sellu, declined to say at the time whether Sheriff and Leijdekkers were the same person.

Leijdekkers, who has assumed numerous aliases and nicknames, including Bolle Jos, was sentenced in absentia by a Rotterdam court last June to 24 years in prison for six drug transports totalling 7,000kg of cocaine, an armed robbery in Finland, and ordering the murder of an associate. He received a 10-year sentence in absentia by a court in Belgium in September over an attempt to smuggle drugs via the port of Antwerp in 2020.

Organised criminal groups have long used west African countries as a staging post for cocaine shipments from South America to Europe. The revelations about Leijdekkers come at an awkward moment for the authorities in Sierra Leone, which earlier this year recalled its ambassador from neighbouring Guinea after seven suitcases containing suspected cocaine were found in an embassy vehicle.

Dutch officials are still in discussions to extradite Leijdekkers, even though Sierra Leone does not have a formal extradition treaty with the Netherlands.

Sources in Freetown told the Guardian that Sierra Leone’s government wanted to swap Leijdekkers for the Netherlands-based influential social commentator Abdul Will Kamara, AKA Adebayor, whose videos and long WhatsApp voice notes are popular among older people and those in rural areas.

Officials and ruling party supporters claim he incited deadly riots in 2022 in the capital and north of the country that left at least 26 civilians and six police officers dead.

In February, the information minister, Chernor Bah, said two attempts to extradite Adebayor had been unsuccessful. Bah was approached for comment on Monday.

Sierra Leone’s president has fired the head of the immigration service days after footage was published showing him receiving a birthday gift from a fugitive Dutch drug kingpin.

The footage of Alusine Kanneh being handed a present by Johannes Leijdekkers – which has not been independently verified by the Guardian – was published by the investigative outlet Follow the Money and the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad on Friday.

The dinner is understood to have been held in an upmarket restaurant in Freetown, the country’s capital.

Leijdekkers, 33, one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives, was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison for drug smuggling by a Rotterdam court last June.

Kanneh was relieved of his duties the same day the reports were published but authorities in Freetown did not disclose the reason for his dismissal in a short statement by the presidential secretary.

For months speculation has swirled in the west African country that Kanneh and other members of the political elite had been helping Leijdekkers accumulate influence.

In February, a Guardian investigation established that Leijdekkers had been in the country since at least 2022 and had spent time at nightclubs and house parties.

A Reuters report in January placed him at a New Year’s Day church service in President Julius Maada Bio’s home town, sitting near the leader’s daughter Agnes Bio, with whom he is believed to be in a relationship.

Days before that event, the immigration ministry introduced an investment-for-citizenship scheme under Kanneh’s direction. Called Go-for-Gold, it offers a fast-track path to citizenship in 90 days for investors willing to pay $140,000 (£108,000). The traditional route to naturalisation involves eight years’ residence.

Leijdekkers has a passport from Turkey, where he previously resided after going on the run from Dutch authorities. It is unknown if he has Sierra Leonean documentation too.

At a press conference in January, Sierra Leonean police said their own investigations had established that the church service footage depicted a man called Omar Sheriff. The country’s police chief, William Fayia Sellu, declined to say at the time whether Sheriff and Leijdekkers were the same person.

Leijdekkers, who has assumed numerous aliases and nicknames, including Bolle Jos, was sentenced in absentia by a Rotterdam court last June to 24 years in prison for six drug transports totalling 7,000kg of cocaine, an armed robbery in Finland, and ordering the murder of an associate. He received a 10-year sentence in absentia by a court in Belgium in September over an attempt to smuggle drugs via the port of Antwerp in 2020.

Organised criminal groups have long used west African countries as a staging post for cocaine shipments from South America to Europe. The revelations about Leijdekkers come at an awkward moment for the authorities in Sierra Leone, which earlier this year recalled its ambassador from neighbouring Guinea after seven suitcases containing suspected cocaine were found in an embassy vehicle.

Dutch officials are still in discussions to extradite Leijdekkers, even though Sierra Leone does not have a formal extradition treaty with the Netherlands.

Sources in Freetown told the Guardian that Sierra Leone’s government wanted to swap Leijdekkers for the Netherlands-based influential social commentator Abdul Will Kamara, AKA Adebayor, whose videos and long WhatsApp voice notes are popular among older people and those in rural areas.

Officials and ruling party supporters claim he incited deadly riots in 2022 in the capital and north of the country that left at least 26 civilians and six police officers dead.

In February, the information minister, Chernor Bah, said two attempts to extradite Adebayor had been unsuccessful. Bah was approached for comment on Monday.

The former bank boss Jes Staley pushed JP Morgan to keep Jeffrey Epstein as a client despite human trafficking concerns and told him suspicious withdrawals from his account were being investigated, a court has heard.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) put the allegations to the ex-chief executive of Barclays during his second day of witness testimony at the upper tribunal in London.

Staley, who resigned from Barclays in 2021, is trying to overturn the regulator’s decision to ban him from taking any senior roles in the UK financial sector after claiming he lied about the depth of his relationship with Epstein. Barclays declared to the regulator in a letter in 2019 that the two men “did not have a close relationship”.

Staley originally met Epstein in 2000 after he became head of JP Morgan’s private bank, where Epstein was a client, and continued their relationship after Staley was appointed to lead the investment bank in 2009.

The FCA’s lawyer, Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, presented the tribunal with a series of internal emails and notes from JP Morgan bosses, who were considering dumping Epstein as a client in 2011. The financier had been released from prison after being convicted in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

In one, a senior boss in the compliance team said he had held a meeting with colleagues “to determine how to approach the issue with Jes Staley who is friends with Mr Epstein. He needs to understand the potential backlash to the firm given all the work done to root out clients involved in human trafficking.”

The court was also showed another note produced by JP Morgan bosses which said Staley had asked the bank’s top lawyer, Stephen Cutler, to “hear [Epstein] out”.

Mulcahy put to Staley that others at JP Morgan “appeared to be of the view … that you were the one pushing to retain Mr Epstein as a client”.

Staley denied the allegations saying “I don’t think that’s fair”, adding that while JP Morgan knew the two men had a relationship, the decision to exit a client such as Epstein was not his to make.

He admitted to putting Cutler in contact with Epstein’s lawyer, but said that if JP Morgan’s top lawyer “had wanted to let Epstein go as a client he had full latitude to do that and I would never stand in his way”.

Mulcahy also accused Staley of sharing confidential information with Epstein, particularly about how JP Morgan had concerns over human trafficking allegations against the financier and suspicious cash withdrawals from his account. She pointed to an email that Epstein subsequently sent to a senior boss in the private bank in September 2011, saying “Jes told me that there was [an issue] with reg cash with drawals [sic].”

Staley said that while he “was not part of managing the account” he did not deny that he told Epstein there were concerns about cash withdrawals.

Epstein died in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial over charges on trafficking underage girls for sex.

An Argentinian neurosurgeon and six other medical professionals have gone on trial in Buenos Aires over the death of the legendary footballer Diego Maradona.

Ardent admirers of the World Cup-winning star, who died in November 2020 aged 60, gathered outside the courtroom to demand punishment for the people they blame for Maradona’s premature death.

Protesters shouted “Murderer! Murderer!” as one of the seven defendants entered the building on Tuesday morning with her lawyer at the start of what is expected to be an emotionally charged four-month trial. Other demonstrators carried posters that called for “Justice for God!”

As he arrived for the opening session, Fernando Burlando, a lawyer representing Maradona’s daughters, told journalists the court would hear evidence that would make it “shudder”. “The most important thing is to understand that they killed Diego … What they did was a murder,” Burlando said.

Maradona was found dead at his home near the Argentinian capital on 25 November 2020 having suffered a heart attack while he recovered from surgery he had undergone earlier that month to treat bleeding around the brain.

The death of the footballer, considered a national treasure in Argentina, prompted a massive outpouring of grief. Thousands flocked to the Casa Rosada presidential palace to attend the wake of a player who was famed for his sporting genius and a 1986 “hand of God” goal against England but spent decades battling cocaine and alcohol addiction. “Olé, olé olé olé, Die-go, Die-go!” mourners chanted as they stood in line.

Celebration of Maradona’s life and achievements quickly turned to anger, recriminations and claims that medical negligence may have played a role in his death.

Prosecutors accused Maradona’s eight-member medical team – seven of whom are going on trial this week – of failing to provide adequate care that might have kept him alive as he recovered from surgery.

They claim those medics pushed for Maradona to receive home care, a decision that proved “reckless” and “totally deficient”. Prosecutors allege the footballer was abandoned to his fate for a “prolonged, agonising period” before his death.

The defendants, who include the neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luciano Luque, 44, and the 36-year-old psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov – have all denied the charges. Vadim Mischanchuk, a lawyer for Cosachov, said he was “very optimistic” of an acquittal, arguing his client was in charge of Maradona’s mental, not physical health.

Mario Baudry, a lawyer for Maradona’s ex-wife, Verónica Ojeda, said of Luque and Cosachov: “The main responsibility is theirs.”

Each defendant could face between eight and 25 years in prison if convicted of “homicide with possible intent”, allegedly for pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to the footballer’s death.

More than 100 witnesses, including members of Maradona’s family and doctors who tended to him over the years, are expected to take the stand in the long-delayed trial, which has revived painful memories of the player’s demise.

In La Paternal neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, where the player nicknamed “El Pibe de Oro” (the Golden Boy) revealed his prodigious talent as a player for Argentinos Juniors in the 1970s, graffiti urging “Justice for Diego!” was daubed on walls before the trial.

“All society needs to know … what really happened, who abandoned him … and whoever is responsible must pay the price,” Hilda Pereira, a pensioner, said. Maradona “did not deserve to die as he died, alone”, she added.

The mother of an alleged child bride has left a safe house in South Sudan to travel to be with her daughter after discovering the teenager is pregnant.

Deborah Kuir Yach made headlines last year when she opposed a competition for her daughter’s hand in marriage, insisting that her child Athiak Dau Riak was only 14. Fear of reprisals from her husband and family forced her to leave her home in the capital, Juba, and go into hiding.

After eight months living in a shelter under the protection of a local NGO, the 41-year-old mother of seven has travelled to Nairobi where Athiak is believed to be staying with relatives.

Despite the threats she faced after her stance became widely known, Yach said she is determined to be with her daughter – who is due to give birth this month – in keeping with the cultural tradition of the Dinka, one of the largest ethnic groups in South Sudan.

“Now that Athiak is pregnant, I can’t do anything about the marriage. Let her be with her husband. They will decide together whether she can go back to school later on,” said Yach. “[But] according to our Dinka tradition, a daughter must give birth to her first child in her mother’s home – that’s why I am going to Kenya.”

Yach does not know if Athiak will be allowed to stay with her but said she would visit her to guide her daughter into motherhood, and help take care of the baby.

Although she was perceived as a victim of child marriage by those who condemned the wedding, Athiak sided with family members who orchestrated it.

“Athiak disagrees with what I have done. She says that I brought shame to the family,” Yach told the Guardian before she left South Sudan. “But I explained to her that I didn’t want to stay where I am mistreated. Athiak wants to protect the image of the family but I will not go back, I am following my truth and my right,” she said, adding that she wants a divorce. “I just found out that he brought another wife home.”

In June 2024 Athiak travelled to Nairobi shortly after her traditional wedding to Chol Marol Deng, a South Sudanese man in his 40s who lives in Canada. A court case opened the same month by South Sudanese lawyer Josephine Adhet Deng against Yach’s husband, Dau Riak Magany, accusing him of arranging the marriage of a minor – a crime under South Sudan’s laws – failed to progress. Attempts by Deng to have Athiak brought back from Kenya were rejected by South Sudan’s public prosecution office in October 2024.

Yach has travelled to Kenya with her three younger daughters in the hope that she can protect them from a similar fate to Athiak. Her brother, Athiak’s uncle, who also publicly opposed the marriage, is supporting her.

“My niece is now pregnant and I’m not seeing this case going anywhere,” said Daniel Chol Yach, who lives in Canada. “I’ve tried tirelessly to alert the Canadian authorities but nothing has happened so far. Chol has been travelling freely and he impregnated Athiak, even though the marriage is not complete, and although he had said he would let her go back to school.” While the customary part of the wedding was celebrated in Juba, the marriage is not legally finalised.

“Now I want to make sure that my sister, Deborah, and my nieces have a better future. I’m renting a place for them in Nairobi. The kids will go to school there, and that will protect them from what happened to Athiak. With good education, they’ll be able to know what is best for their future.”

Yach hopes to put her daughters in school in Kenya and, eventually, to join her brother in Canada to build a better life for herself and her family. “The reason I leave my country is the future of my children. If I stayed in South Sudan, maybe they will be married young, too.”

The mother of an alleged child bride has left a safe house in South Sudan to travel to be with her daughter after discovering the teenager is pregnant.

Deborah Kuir Yach made headlines last year when she opposed a competition for her daughter’s hand in marriage, insisting that her child Athiak Dau Riak was only 14. Fear of reprisals from her husband and family forced her to leave her home in the capital, Juba, and go into hiding.

After eight months living in a shelter under the protection of a local NGO, the 41-year-old mother of seven has travelled to Nairobi where Athiak is believed to be staying with relatives.

Despite the threats she faced after her stance became widely known, Yach said she is determined to be with her daughter – who is due to give birth this month – in keeping with the cultural tradition of the Dinka, one of the largest ethnic groups in South Sudan.

“Now that Athiak is pregnant, I can’t do anything about the marriage. Let her be with her husband. They will decide together whether she can go back to school later on,” said Yach. “[But] according to our Dinka tradition, a daughter must give birth to her first child in her mother’s home – that’s why I am going to Kenya.”

Yach does not know if Athiak will be allowed to stay with her but said she would visit her to guide her daughter into motherhood, and help take care of the baby.

Although she was perceived as a victim of child marriage by those who condemned the wedding, Athiak sided with family members who orchestrated it.

“Athiak disagrees with what I have done. She says that I brought shame to the family,” Yach told the Guardian before she left South Sudan. “But I explained to her that I didn’t want to stay where I am mistreated. Athiak wants to protect the image of the family but I will not go back, I am following my truth and my right,” she said, adding that she wants a divorce. “I just found out that he brought another wife home.”

In June 2024 Athiak travelled to Nairobi shortly after her traditional wedding to Chol Marol Deng, a South Sudanese man in his 40s who lives in Canada. A court case opened the same month by South Sudanese lawyer Josephine Adhet Deng against Yach’s husband, Dau Riak Magany, accusing him of arranging the marriage of a minor – a crime under South Sudan’s laws – failed to progress. Attempts by Deng to have Athiak brought back from Kenya were rejected by South Sudan’s public prosecution office in October 2024.

Yach has travelled to Kenya with her three younger daughters in the hope that she can protect them from a similar fate to Athiak. Her brother, Athiak’s uncle, who also publicly opposed the marriage, is supporting her.

“My niece is now pregnant and I’m not seeing this case going anywhere,” said Daniel Chol Yach, who lives in Canada. “I’ve tried tirelessly to alert the Canadian authorities but nothing has happened so far. Chol has been travelling freely and he impregnated Athiak, even though the marriage is not complete, and although he had said he would let her go back to school.” While the customary part of the wedding was celebrated in Juba, the marriage is not legally finalised.

“Now I want to make sure that my sister, Deborah, and my nieces have a better future. I’m renting a place for them in Nairobi. The kids will go to school there, and that will protect them from what happened to Athiak. With good education, they’ll be able to know what is best for their future.”

Yach hopes to put her daughters in school in Kenya and, eventually, to join her brother in Canada to build a better life for herself and her family. “The reason I leave my country is the future of my children. If I stayed in South Sudan, maybe they will be married young, too.”

Greenland’s prime minister said voters face a “fateful choice” as the Arctic island goes to the polls in a pivotal election closely watched by Europe and the US.

The vote on Tuesday has attracted global attention after Donald Trump’s repeated assertions about acquiring the autonomous territory, using military and economic force if necessary.

The election, which takes place against a backdrop of growing calls for independence, is also being closely scrutinised by Denmark, which ruled Greenland as a colony until 1953 and continues to control its foreign and security policy.

Greenland, along with the Faroe Islands, remains part of the Danish kingdom. However, Copenhagen fears that if voters give strong backing to the largest opposition party, Naleraq, a prominent pro-independence voice and supporter of US collaboration, Greenland could instead strengthen its ties with the US.

The sole polling station in Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk, opened at 11am GMT, with a result expected in the early hours of Wednesday.

On Monday the territory’s prime minister and chair of the Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party, Múte B Egede, accused Trump of being “unpredictable” and said he had failed to treat Greenlanders with respect.

“It is a fateful choice we have,” Egede told Danish broadcaster DR.

“The things that are happening in the world right now worry me quite a lot. That there is a world order that is faltering on many fronts, and perhaps a president in the United States who is very unpredictable in a way that makes people feel insecure,” he said.

“We deserve to be treated with respect, and I don’t think the American president has done that lately since he took office.”

In his speech to Congress last week, Trump said that he would acquire Greenland “one way or the other”. And on Sunday, he attempted to appeal to Greenlanders directly by reiterating his invitation to join the US and pledging to “invest billions of dollars to create new jobs and make you rich”.

However, while many in Nuuk are open to strengthening collaboration with the US, the idea of Greenland being acquired by the Trump administration has been widely rejected.

Trump’s recent remarks were not helping, Egede said. “We need to draw a line in the sand and spend more effort on those countries that show us respect for the future we want to draw,” he added.

Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for natural resources, equality, business and justice and a member of IA, said Trump’s latest comments were seen as “crass and inappropriate”. “It’s the wrong way to do foreign policy if you want to get a closer tie with Greenland,” she added.

Of the six parties running, only Naleraq has promised to hold a snap vote on independence and all parties, except for Atassut, support secession – although with varying degrees of urgency.

Greenland’s longstanding independence movement has gained significant traction in recent years after a series of scandals highlighting Denmark’s racist treatment of Greenlanders – including the IUD scandal, in which up to 4,500 women and girls were allegedly fitted with contraception without their knowledge, and “parenting competency” tests that have separated many Inuit children from their parents.

With the US administration expressing interest in Greenland’s “incredible natural resources”, chiefly its mineral wealth, Egede’s IA and another party, Siumut, have said they would set up a national mining company to enable Greenland to profit more from its raw materials.

Nathanielsen said that despite the geopolitical drama the issues on voters’ minds were the usual preoccupations such as education and healthcare.

“We are getting asked the exact same questions as usual by voters,” she said. “But on top of that there is, of course, a real concern about what is going on the world stage, especially with regards to Greenland.”

Trump’s promises of interest and money in Greenland have so far been “very vague”, she said. “Right now it is just talk and very unclear what they [the US] actually think and what he [Trump] means by making Greenlanders rich, that’s still to be seen.”

High school student and first-time voter, Aviâja Korneliussen, 18, said: “I am excited but also very nervous because we don’t know how it’s going to affect our communities and we know that the whole world is watching and waiting.”

Korneliussen said she had not yet decided whether to vote for Naleraq, IA or the Democrats. She wanted Greenland to become independent and to have more connection with the Arctic region rather than with Denmark or the Nordics or Europe. But she was unsure when it came to the US.

“I’m a bit conflicted because we know [what] the US has done to their own Indigenous groups and how they can manipulate things to be their way. But I get the idea they want to work together to be more independent from Denmark, so it’s a bit 50/50 for me.”

Trump had been “disrespectful … he looks at us as objects to own” and she did not want Greenland to become the 51st state, she added.

Until recently, Hassan Diab’s life in Ottawa had begun to settle back into a quiet suburban routine: spending his days teaching sociology part time at Carleton University, taking his two youngest children to the park to play football, or going for an afternoon swim.

It had been well over a year since he was convicted in absentia for carrying out a deadly bomb attack on a Paris synagogue in 1980, and the media attention had largely quieted down. He was trying to move on with his life.

Diab, who is Lebanese Canadian, has consistently maintained his innocence, claiming he was in Beirut sitting university exams at the time of the bombing.

But in January, a new voice weighed into his case, returning it to the headlines. Elon Musk reposted an X post about Diab by Pierre Poilievre, leader of the country’s federal Conservative party. Musk added a remark: “A mass murderer is living free as a professor in Canada?” More than 21 million people saw the post.

For 71-year-old Diab, whose story is the focus of a new Canadaland podcast series that I co-host with Dana Ballout, the renewed attention from prominent rightwing figures has plunged his life back into a familiar turmoil.

With a general election that needs to be called before October, Diab fears that shifting politicians winds in Canada could lead to a new extradition fight.

“I just have to be careful. It’s like you are living in constant fear. It’s not easy, it’s like waiting for a ghost to appear from somewhere.”

Aliza Shagrir, an Israeli film editor, was in Paris on holiday in October 1980, when she stopped at a grocery store on rue Copernic to buy figs.

Moments later, a blast ripped through the street. Shopfronts were blown out. Parked cars were reduced to twisted hunks of metal.

Ten kilograms of the explosive PETN had been hidden inside a motorbike parked outside a synagogue and timed to detonate at 6.30pm, when the congregation was due to be leaving. But services were running late, so the more than 300 worshippers were still inside when the bomb exploded. Shagrir was one of four passersby who were killed in the attack.

Her son, Oron Shagrir, said that the family never recovered from the loss. “She was 42 when she was killed. She was beautiful, joyful, very opinionated. In some ways, she was the centre of the family.”

The blast shocked the country. It was the first deadly attack targeting French Jews since the second world war, and in the following days, thousands of Parisians marched in solidarity with the Jewish community.

French police gathered a limited set of clues: a handwriting sample from his hotel registration card, and a police sketch based on witness testimony.

Together with the type of explosive used and a German intelligence report, authorities concluded that the attack was committed by the PFLP-OS – a now defunct offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

But it wasn’t until decades later, in 2007, after a new investigative judge in Paris named Marc Trévidic took over the case, that Diab became a focus of the investigation. His name appeared in an unsourced 1999 Israeli intelligence report, which included a list of people purportedly involved in the bombing.

Diab’s lawyer, Don Bayne, has long argued that the intelligence used to identify him is unreliable, saying: “It’s unknown sources. Unknown circumstances. Who said what? When? Is this a human source? Is this just something some analyst made up? We have no idea.”

Trévidic obtained a photocopy of an old passport belonging to Diab, which contained stamps showing travel in and out of Europe around the dates of the attack. Finally, he found a 1988 police interrogation record, in which one of Diab’s former university friends suggested that Diab was once involved with a political party linked to the PFLP.

Diab denies ever being involved with a political group. He says that he believes his passport was stolen in Beirut in 1980, and subsequently used by the bomber.

In 2008, Trévidic had completed his initial investigation and submitted an extradition request to the Canadian government.

Diab was getting ready to leave the house for his morning jog in November that year when police showed up. He was arrested and later released on bail.

As the case attracted increasing media attention, Ottawa citizens and human rights organisations grew alarmed at what they believed was insufficient evidence to justify Diab’s extradition.

Bernie Farber, a Jewish community leader who had initially welcomed Diab’s arrest, was following closely. “It came to a point where I just couldn’t believe that people didn’t understand that this was not the guy,” he said.

In April 2012, Robert Maranger, the judge overseeing the extradition hearings, delivered his verdict. He described the French case as “weak [and] replete with seemingly disconnected information”. But he was sufficiently persuaded by handwriting analysis gathered from five words written on the suspect’s hotel registration card. Despite expert testimonies strongly criticising the analysis, Maranger granted the extradition.

Diab’s appeals failed, and in November 2014, he was placed on an Air France flight bound for Paris, where he was met on the tarmac by French police and escorted to prison.

Eleven months into his detention, Diab received some welcome news; Trévidic’s term as investigative judge had come to an end, and two new judges would be reinvestigating the case.

They interviewed Diab at length, and travelled to Lebanon to gather testimony from former university classmates, who said they remembered Diab sitting exams in Beirut the week of the bombing.

Eventually, the judges ruled that there was insufficient evidence to keep Diab detained, and ordered his release. After more than three years incarcerated in Paris without trial, he was free to return home to Canada.

Three days later, Diab was welcomed at Ottawa airport by supporters – and by his wife, Rania, and his two children – the youngest of whom he was meeting outside prison walls for the first time.

The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, later voiced his support, saying that “what happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened”, and promised a government inquiry into his extradition.

For Diab, the past decade had felt like a kafkaesque nightmare – and now it looked like it might finally be over.

But his relief was short-lived.

The French judges’ decision was successfully appealed, and arrangements were made for a fresh trial in April 2023.

Diab was requested to attend in person, but without a new extradition order he was under no obligation to show up.

During the three-week Paris trial, state anti-terrorist prosecutors asked for a maximum prison sentence, saying there was “no possible doubt” he was guilty. Diab’s defence asked for him to be acquitted to “avoid a judicial error”.

No new evidence was presented during the three-week trial, and the handwriting evidence was thrown out after it was determined to be inconclusive.

The only material evidence brought up in court was a set of fingerprints and a handprint believed to belong to the bomber. Neither was a match for Diab.

But the court dismissed alibis presented by Diab, saying their explanations about the passport being lost and his presence in Beirut at the time of the attack were “variable” and “not very credible”.

On 21 April 2023, Diab was found guilty in absentia, and sentenced to life in prison. A warrant was immediately issued for his arrest.

In the knowledge he could be arrested at any moment, Diab attempted to reintegrate back into his old life, living back at home with his family, and working as a part-time professor at Carleton University.

In late 2024, the Jewish advocacy group B’nai B’rith issued a statement calling for Carleton to end Diab’s teaching contract, igniting a flurry of new interest in the case – particularly in the rightwing media.

Diab’s sociology department chair said while Diab’s current contract has ended, the department’s relationship with him had not changed.

Diab says his lectures were temporarily relocated out of concern for student safety, and he received death threats to his work email.

For now, his life hangs in an anxious limbo. He’s out of prison, but is followed by the constant dread that his government could accept another extradition request from France. “That’s the sword above your head, waiting to fall.”

Several hundred student protesters have blocked Serbia’s public television station building in Belgrade as tensions soar days before a large rally planned for the weekend that is billed as the climax of months of anti-government demonstrations.

The students, who first blocked the TV building in the capital’s city centre late on Monday, gathered again in their hundreds on Tuesday after announcing that their blockade would last for at least 22 hours. A similar blockade was organised in the country’s second-largest city, Novi Sad.

University students in Serbia are behind almost daily rallies that started after a concrete canopy crashed down at a railway station in Novi Sad last November, killing 15 people. The protests have rocked populist rule of the president, Aleksandar Vučić, and his firm grip on power.

During the blockade on Monday evening, riot police briefly used batons against the crowd, which tried to block one of the entrances to the TV building with metal security fences.

The students blame the public broadcaster for biased reporting and siding with Vučić and the government during the demonstrations. The Serbian president was the guest of the main TV news bulletin on Monday evening.

During the interview, Vučić insulted the student-led protests, warning that security officers would use force against people at the rally planned for Saturday. He added that the nationwide demonstrations would never cause him to step down.

“You will have to kill me if you want to replace me,” he said.

The TV reporter who interviewed Vučić called the protesting students “a mob”, which the president appeared to approve of.

The interview followed a spat between Vučić and the station, RTS, in which the president described a reporter covering the protests as “an imbecile”. He later apologised for the remark, but said RTS reporters were a “disgrace to their profession”.

The station issued a statement denouncing the blockade on Tuesday. “Forcibly preventing RTS employees from coming to their workplaces represents a dangerous step into open conflicts with unpredictable consequences,” it said.

On the same day, Vučić met Donald Trump Jr, the US president’s eldest son, who had just arrived in Belgrade. The purpose of his visit was not immediately known. Vučić is a vocal supporter of the US president.

Many in Serbia believe that the roof collapse in Novi Sad last November was caused by poor renovation work fuelled by government corruption. Authorities have indicted 16 people over the disaster.

The students have insisted on full accountability for the tragedy, a call that has garnered widespread support among citizens who are largely disillusioned with politicians and have lost trust in state institutions.

Student-led rallies have drawn tens of thousands of people, becoming among the biggest ever in the Balkan country, which has a long history of anti-government protests. Vučić has described the rallies as a western-orchestrated ploy to oust him from power.

Vučić has claimed that protesters “will try to achieve something with violence and that will be the end” this Saturday. Many demonstrators “will end up behind bars accused of criminal acts,” he added.

Student-led protests in the past months have mostly been peaceful, while incidents were recorded when opponents drove their cars into protest blockades or attacked the protesters.

Vučić and his rightwing Serbian Progressive party have held a firm grip on power in Serbia for more than a decade, facing accusations of stifling democratic freedoms despite formally seeking EU entry for Serbia.

The South Korean singer Wheesung has died aged 43, with police reportedly planning to conduct an autopsy to determine his cause of death.

The singer, whose name was Choi Whee-sung, was found unconscious in his apartment on Monday night by emergency responders after his mother called for help, local media reported.

Police told local media they had found no signs of foul play but warned that “a significant amount of time” had elapsed since he died, with an autopsy requested.

“Artist Wheesung has left us,” his management agency Tajoy Entertainment confirmed on Tuesday, describing their staff and colleagues as being “in deep sorrow”.

Wheesung, who had a string of hits in South Korea including a popular cover of British star Craig David’s Insomnia, was scheduled to perform alongside singer KCM in the south-eastern city of Daegu this weekend.

In his final message on social media, Wheesung announced the upcoming concert and wrote: “Weight loss completed. See you on March 15.”

Since his singing debut in 2002, Wheesung had been popular in South Korea with numerous hit songs, including chart-topping With Me, and was well regarded for his soulful performances.

But his music career took a hit in 2021 when he was convicted and handed a suspended jail sentence for use of propofol – a surgical anaesthetic that is sometimes abused recreationally.

An overdose of the drug was cited as the cause of pop star Michael Jackson’s death in 2009.

The South Korean rapper Verbal Jint paid tribute on Instagram, saying: “Every moment we spent together was an honour and I’m thankful. You’ve worked so hard. Rest in peace, Wheesung.”

Another rapper, Paloalto, thanked the veteran singer for fond memories, mentioning he went to see his first concert.

“It’s shocking and sad. I’m thankful for the music that accompanied me through the good memories of my youth,” he wrote on Instagram.

South Korea’s entertainment industry has been under scrutiny for years due to the sheer number of stars of stage and screen dying at young ages. K-pop stars are picked up by agencies at a young age – usually in their early or mid-teens – and live under tight control, with their days taken over by gruelling musical and dance training.

Just last month, the South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron was found dead at her home aged 24. A former child star, her career came to a sudden halt after a drunk-driving accident in 2022, after which she struggled to land new roles.

Last year, the South Korean actor Song Jae-lim was found dead at home aged 39, while Moonbin, the K-pop star and member of boyband Astro, was found dead in his apartment in 2023, aged just 25.

Several other young K-pop stars who have died in recent years include Goo Hara and Sulli in 2019, Minwoo of boyband 100% in 2018 and SHINee’s lead singer, Jonghyun, in 2017.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.