About $50 billion in wind-farm investments and 150,000 jobs are at risk from the Trump administration’s effective halt to approvals for new projects, a trade group said

#UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail. Talks at the UN to reaffirm nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament goals failed on Friday, according to the leader of the talks, after four weeks of negotiations held amid low expectations.

Vietnam’s Do Hung Viet, the president of the conference, said that “despite our best efforts... it is my understanding that the conference is not in a position to achieve agreement on its substantive work.”

“I do not intend to put the document forward for adoption,” he added.

Negotiators were reviewing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the cornerstone of nuclear weapons control, amid fears of a renewed arms race. Previous reviews in 2015 and 2022 were also unsuccessful.

With expectations low, participants negotiated over a repeatedly reviewed and watered-down text, which they ultimately failed to adopt.

Experts pointed out that even in the absence of a review agreement for the third time in a row, the treaty continues to exist, but with diminished legitimacy.

“The text keeps on becoming less and less anchored in the realities of current conflicts and proliferation risks,” including North Korea and Iran, analyst Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group said before the outcome was announced.

The latest version of the text seen by AFP on Friday merely stated that Tehran must “never” develop nuclear weapons.

The paragraph was in brackets, signalling persistent disagreement, despite the removal of the reference to Iran’s “non-compliance” with its obligations that appeared in the first draft.

Also gone were expressions of concern about North Korea’s nuclear program, or even any mention of the “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

Gone as well was the direct call on the United States and Russia to begin negotiations on a successor to the New START treaty limiting Russian and American arsenals, which expired in February.

The diluted text still covered “the risk of a resumption of nuclear testing by Russia, China and the United States, the growth of arsenals, and attacks on nuclear infrastructure,” Heloise Fayet of the French Institute of International Relations said earlier on Friday.

Exactly why the review failed isn’t yet known.

“The majority of countries are indeed working in good faith for disarmament,” said Seth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), commenting on the failure of the talks.

“But the small handful of nuclear-armed states, and certain of their allies, are undermining the NPT, frustrating disarmament efforts, expanding arsenals and provoking proliferation, and pointing the world toward catastrophe,” he added.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the nine nuclear-armed states -- Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea -- possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, 90 per cent of which were in American and Russian hands.

Some countries are modernizing their arsenals or even increasing their stockpiles.

The NPT, which entered into force in 1970 and has been signed by almost all states -- with notable exceptions including Israel, India and Pakistan -- aims to prevent proliferation, promote complete disarmament and encourage cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

#Energy: Rising energy prices are deepening anxiety for those whose livelihoods are tied to the ocean.

#Malaysia orders #TikTok to explain 'grossly offensive' fake content targeting king.

UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia said Thursday it has ordered TikTok to explain and address what it described as the social media platform’s failure to act swiftly against offensive, defamatory and fake content targeting the royal institution.

The Communications and Multimedia Commission said the move followed the circulation of “grossly offensive, false, menacing and insulting” content, including AI-generated videos and manipulated images linked to an account falsely claiming association with king Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar.

Such matters fall within the sensitive issues of race, religion and royalty “which are highly sensitive and may undermine public order, national harmony and respect for constitutional institutions,” the regulator said in a statement.

Despite prior notifications and engagements, it said TikTok’s moderation response especially in ensuring the prompt removal of such content and preventing further dissemination was unsatisfactory.

It said TikTok — which has not publicly commented on the case — has been issued a legal notice that requires it to explain its moderation failures and undertake immediate remedial measures, including strengthening its content moderation mechanisms and improving enforcement against content that violates Malaysian laws and community standards.

The commission said social media platforms operating in Malaysia are expected to exercise greater responsibility in preventing unlawful and harmful activities on their services.

It warned it would continue to take “firm and proportionate action” to ensure digital platforms comply with their responsibilities in maintaining a safe and respectful online environment.

The move comes amid Malaysia’ s broader push to tighten oversight of digital platforms, with authorities in recent years stepping up enforcement against social media companies over harmful content, scams, online gambling and material deemed offensive or threatening to public order.

TikTok did not respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment.

The Associated Press

U.S. industry groups push to ban fresh P.E.I. potatoes after disease detection. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says potato wart was recently detected in soil samples collected from a single P.E.I. potato field. In response, the Washington, D.C.-based National Potato Council, alongside 13 U.S. state potato organizations, is calling for the reinstatement of a previous ban on fresh potato imports from P.E.I.

“That would be a huge hit to the industry,” said Bill Zylmans, chair of the Canadian Potato Council.

In 2024, P.E.I. exported about $153 million worth of fresh or chilled potatoes to the U.S.

While potato groups south of the border see the disease as a threat, Canadian regulators and industry leaders say the latest detection shows the system is working.

#BREAKING: #Alberta government adds separation-related question to fall referendum. Albertans will vote on whether the province should remain a part of Canada when they head to the polls this fall.

They will also decide if a second referendum on Alberta’s independence should happen in the future.

Premier Danielle Smith says her government is putting a new question on an Oct. 19 provincial referendum that covers sentiments of both the successful pro-federalist Forever Canadian petition and the struck-down Stay Free Alberta separation petition.

The question: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

The wording captures what Smith says is a way to hear from Albertans on both sides of the separation debate while abiding by a legally binding Court of King’s Bench decision that ruled a previous separatist question unconstitutional.

Earlier this month, a judge struck down Stay Free Alberta’s petition because the group failed to consult First Nations.

In a televised address Thursday evening, Smith said that ruling “fundamentally misinterprets the nature of the duty to consult.”

“I want to be clear. I support Alberta remaining in Canada. That is how I would vote on separation in a provincial referendum. It is also the position of my government, and my caucus,” she said.

“However, despite my personal support … I am deeply troubled by an erroneous court decision that interferes with the democratic rights of hundreds of thousands of Albertans.”

Smith said a ‘yes’ vote to another referendum would allow her government to take the legal steps toward a second separation vote without falling under the recent court ruling. The outcome of the fall referendum would not trigger separation, she added.

The question would also avoid a months or years-long court appeal process Smith’s government began shortly after the ruling was announced.

“Kicking the can down the road only prolongs a very emotional and important debate, and muzzling the voices of hundreds of thousands of Albertans wanting to be heard is unjustifiable in a free and democratic society,” she said.

“It’s time to have a vote, understand the will of Albertans on this subject, and move on.”
Legislative committee approves Forever Canadian petition hours prior

MLAs part of a review committee approved a referendum petition that would ask Albertans if the province should remain in Canada hours before Smith’s address.

The committee was tasked with reviewing the next steps for Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian petition question, which amassed more than 400,000 signatures in support of staying in Canada. It was initially unclear whether there would be a provincewide vote on the matter.

The United Conservative Party members outnumbered the Opposition in the group, swaying Thursday’s vote.

The decision comes after the UCP caucus prematurely released a statement Wednesday recommending the referendum, prompting the end of committee’s meeting which resumed Thursday afternoon.

UCP MLA Jason Nixon said the release was sent in error, but voted with other party members in the committee against discussing the matter further.

New Democratic Party members at the committee meeting pressed the UCP to elaborate on the media breach, which were continuously avoided.

Brandon Lunty, UCP MLA, said the questions posed by the Opposition were irrelevant to the motion of the day.

Opposition MLA Court Ellingson proposed that the province consult with First Nations before putting the referendum to Albertans.

“The government can’t pass the duty to consult,” said Ellingson during the meeting.

UCP committee members accused their Opposing colleagues of stalling the meeting with the consultation amendment, which the NDP refuted.

The amendment to consult with First Nations was ultimately struck down.

NDP’s Rakhi Pancholi raised concerns of a recent data breach that saw the release of more than three million Albertan’s private information leaked, saying a referendum shouldn’t be held until the investigation into the breach has been completed.

Pancholi and her party colleagues voiced their suspicion that the premier would be announcing her own referendum on separation in a televised address Thursday evening.

“She is using this committee to legitimize her desire to have a question on a referendum,” said Ellingson.

Nixon called a point of order, saying “what the premier thinks or does not think is certainly not under discussion in this motion.”

Following the meeting, Pancholi accused the UCP of “courting separatists.”

“The premier is very aware that it is the separatists in this province who got her the UCP leadership, and she owed them a debt,” said the MLA.

Forever Canadian petition leader Lukaszuk said Smith has “something else coming” if she thinks the referendum question will satisfy separatists.

“What the premier is doing right now is trying to find her way through a very, very fine crack between upsetting separatists and upsetting the rest of Alberta, and her only goal right now is saving her political skin … as opposed to doing what’s good for our province and our country,” Lukaszuk told media after the meeting.

With a question on staying in Canada now slated for the ballot, Albertans will be voting on 10 immigration and constitution-related questions this fall.

The other nine questions, which ask for a mandate on issues relating to Alberta’s jurisdiction in matters of immigration and the judicial system, were announced earlier this year.

The outlook for African currencies is mixed in the next week to Thursday, with those of #Ghana, #Kenya and #Uganda expected to weaken, while #Nigeria's could be little changed and Zambia's may strengthen, traders said.

As #Ebola cases rise, Americans returning from #DRC must enter US via Washington Dulles

South Korea's benchmark Kospi #stock index is up more than 150% over the past year, driven by a global #AI boom. But, surprisingly, the won remains one of Asia’s weakest currencies.

U.S. announces criminal case against former Cuban President Raúl Castro.

#MIAMI — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles as the Trump administration escalated pressure on the socialist government.

The indictment was related to Castro’s alleged role in the shootdown of two small planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro, now 94, was Cuba’s defense minister at the time. The charges included murder and destruction of an airplane.

“For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” Blanche said. “They were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida straits.”

Asked to what lengths American authorities would go to bring Castro to face charges in the U.S., Blanche said: “There was a warrant issued for his arrest. So we expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way.”

The federal government, he said, indicts people outside the United States “all the time” and uses a variety of methods to bring them to justice.

A grand jury in Miami returned the indictment in late April before it was unsealed Wednesday, Blanche said. Five other people were also charged, including three Cuban military pilots.

Asked what will happen next for Cuba, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “We’re going to see.” He added that the U.S. is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to a “failing nation.”

The charges pose a real threat, observers said, because former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was indicted on drug-related charges before he and his wife were seized by U.S. special forces in the Venezuelan capital in January.

“He’s going to have to keep his head pretty low from now on,” said Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst and specialist on the U.S.-Cuba relationship at the National Security Archive. “They’re going to have no choice but to take this threat extremely seriously.”

Cuban president condemns indictment

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the indictment and accused the U.S. of lying and manipulating the events of 1996. He called it “a political action without any legal basis” that only seeks to ”bolster the case they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.”

Díaz-Canel wrote on X that Cuba acted in “legitimate self-defense within its territorial waters after repeated and dangerous violations of its airspace by notorious terrorists.”

He said U.S. officials at the time had been warned about the violations but allowed them to continue.

Marlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr, was among those who died, said the charges were “long overdue.” She said her father only wanted to bring freedom to his Cuban homeland.

Over the years, she spoke to multiple federal investigators about charging Castro. She referred to him as “one of the main architects of the crime.”

In Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, Peter Hernandez, whose family owns a fruit and vegetable market, said he would welcome the U.S. sending its military to arrest Castro.

“He’s a criminal,” said Hernandez, whose parents moved from Cuba to South Florida before he was born. ”I think we should do that with all criminals, especially if they’re hiding behind a country that consistently has been proven that they are on the wrong side of our national security efforts and ideology.”
Trump has threatened military action for months

U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since U.S. forces captured the Cuban government’s longtime patron, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. After ousting Maduro, the White House ordered a blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

Since Maduro’s capture, Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging earlier this year to conduct a “friendly takeover” of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

Trump’s first administration indicted Maduro on drug-trafficking charges and used that to justify removing him from power during a surprise military raid in January that whisked the Venezuelan leader to New York to face trial.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged the Cuban people to demand a free-market economy with new leadership that he said will chart a new course in relations with the U.S.

“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people,” Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said in a Spanish-language video message. “Currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”
Raúl Castro believed to wield power behind the scenes

Castro took over as president from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro in 2006 before handing power to a trusted loyalist, Díaz-Canel, in 2018.

While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who previously met secretly with Rubio.

Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Havana for meetings with Cuban officials, including Castro’s grandson. Two other senior State Department officials met with the grandson in April.
The investigation into Castro stretches back to the 1990s

Starting in 1995, planes flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded by Cuban exiles, buzzed over Havana dropping leaflets urging Cubans to rise up against the Castro government.

The Cubans protested to the U.S. government, warning that they would defend their airspace. Federal Aviation Administration officials also opened an investigation and met with the group’s leaders to urge them to ground the flights, according to declassified government records obtained by George Washington University’s National Security Archive.

But those calls went unheeded and on Feb. 24, 1996, missiles fired by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets downed two unarmed civilian Cessna planes a short distance north of Havana just beyond Cuba’s airspace. All four men aboard were killed.
Raúl Castro faced earlier indictment

Guy Lewis, who was a federal prosecutor, uncovered evidence linking senior Cuban military officials to cocaine trafficking by Colombia’s Medellin cartel. Following the shootdown, the investigation expanded, and prosecutors pursued charges against Raúl Castro for leading a vast racketeering conspiracy by Cuba’s armed forces.

In the end, the Clinton administration indicted four individuals, including the MiG pilots, the head of the Cuban air force and the head of a Cuban spy network in Miami — the only one to see the inside of a U.S. prison — for providing valuable intelligence about the flights.

The incident led the U.S. to harden its position against Cuba, even though the Cold War had ended and the Castros’ support for revolution across Latin America was a fading memory.

But Castro himself was spared as the Clinton administration — which had quietly sought to expand relations with Cuba prior to the incident — raised foreign policy concerns about such a high-profile indictment.

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Joshua Goodman And Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters David Fischer in Miami; Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Meg Kinnard in Houston; Michael Weissenstein in New York; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.