“Retaliatory tariffs issued by Canada are set to hit [Canadian buyers of] some imports from the United States soon after midnight on Tuesday, intensifying a trade war between the longtime allies and risking an escalation from President Donald Trump. Levies as high as 50% will be applied to [Canadian buyers of] hundreds of U.S. products, ranging from aluminum foil to raincoats to cheese. U.S. elected officials in states bordering Canada, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have warned the trade dispute will hurt local businesses and consumers. Canadian officials said the retaliatory measure would target about $20 billion worth of U.S. products, mirroring the size of a recent batch of U.S. levies. The targeted goods amount to nearly 6% of annual U.S. exports to Canada, according to U.S. Census Bureau data for 2025.” (09/07/26)
“Two people have died at this year’s Burning Man alternative arts festival being held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, officials said. The first death was reported Friday and the second Saturday by the Burning Man Project. According to the U.S. nonprofit behind the annual nine-day event, Craigh Mann, 60, was found dead in his camp by campmates Saturday at 3 p.m. … The identity of the first death has not been made public. Burning Man said it was a participant in their mid-50s who experienced an undisclosed medical emergency on Thursday. … Foul play is not suspected in either death, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.” (09/06/260
“Nepal held a day of mourning Monday to remember those killed in the Aug. 26 floods, with flags lowered at government offices and families concluding mourning rituals. Monday was the 13th day since the flooding which killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left some 5,000 missing, including foreigners, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency. In predominantly Hindu Nepal, mourning periods last 13 days, during which close family members stay home and relatives visit to pay their respects. Rituals are held on the final day to pray for the souls of the departed. Several people whose relatives remain missing performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in Hindu tradition, and performing the ceremony even without the bodies of their loved ones provided some families a sense of spiritual release.” (09/07/26)
“German rocket maker Isar Aerospace successfully reached orbit for the first time over the weekend, marking a milestone for Europe’s commercial space industry as the company looks to ramp up launches to meet what it says is booming demand. The Munich-based company’s Spectrum rocket reached orbit on Saturday and successfully deployed its payloads in low Earth orbit, an achievement that came on only its second test flight. Chief Commercial Officer Stella Guillen told CNBC on Monday that the company was now focused on scaling production, saying the space industry was ‘desperate’ for additional launch capacity and that Isar had a pipeline worth more than 10 billion euros ($11.6 billion).” (09/07/26)
“Thousands of people have turned out in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, to attend the funeral of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. Widely known as the Butcher of Bosnia, Mladić died at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence in the UN prison in The Hague, the Netherlands. He was found guilty of genocide by a UN war crimes tribunal for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when around 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed. It was described as Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two. A Serbian government minister had initially said that Mladić would be given a state funeral but those plans were changed after objections from some European leaders. … Despite his conviction for genocide, Mladić remains a national figure perceived by many Serbs as a heroic defender of the nation.” (09/07/26)
“North Korea commissioned its second 5,000-ton destroyer, state media reported Monday, as leader Kim Jong Un called for further strengthening the country’s naval power with nuclear-capable warships. Kim attended a commissioning ceremony for the Kang Kon at the eastern port city of Wonsan on Sunday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. … KCNA did not specify which weapons the Kang Kon would carry or explicitly say that nuclear weapons had been installed aboard it. In July, however, Pyongyang conducted weapons tests from the ship that included the launch of what it called a ‘strategic’ cruise missile, a term North Korea typically uses to indicate nuclear capability.” (09/07/26)
“U.S. forces on Monday sank a floating refueling vessel used by an Ecuadorian organized crime ring, officials said. Forces with Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere (JTFWH) interdicted the refueling vessel used for ‘at-sea drug trafficking operations’ in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said. … The vessel was involved with the Los Choneros narco-terrorist [sic] organization, SOUTHCOM said. The people aboard were removed and will be handed over to Ecuadorian authorities.” (09/07/26)
“At least five people died when an Amazon Prime Air cargo flight overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, local officials said. Prime Air Flight 7598 overran the airport’s diagonal runway shortly before 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) and struck multiple vehicles on the ground, officials said during a news conference on Sunday afternoon. Five people were also injured in the crash, including three who are in critical condition, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. At least two people were trapped in vehicles that were struck by the plane, and the pilot and co-pilot were trapped inside the plane by the crash, Jadallah said.” (09/06/26)
“President Trump is spending Labor Day flooding his Truth Social account with AI-generated images about conquering both the Earth and outer space alike. Trump on Monday posted a map of North America, where both Canada and Mexico are annexed to the United States — and shaded in stars and stripes. He dropped several posts suggesting the state of New Mexico be renamed ‘New America.’ The posts carried various maps bearing the new name. In another, Trump claimed the moon for the United States.” (09/07/26)
“Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte posted bail Saturday after an order was issued for her arrest the previous day on charges that she publicly threatened to arrange the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and two other people. … The vice president, who has denied the allegations, showed a court order lifting the arrest warrant issued by the court Friday and said her lawyers instructed her to keep a copy on hand. She urged journalists to surround her on the way to her car because she did not feel safe. … Paul Lawrence Lim, one of her attorneys, said court staff took Duterte’s fingerprints and she posted 360,000 pesos bail ($5,740) for three counts of grave threats. After the arrest order was issued Friday, he said Duterte would fight the charges.” (09/05/26)
