Man trained dog to illegally dump garbage, Italian authorities say. Rome — Some people will go to extreme lengths to avoid paying for regular garbage collection – and sometimes they enlist help from man’s best friend.

Authorities in Sicily, Italy, have released footage of a dog carrying garbage to a rogue land dump near Catania.

The cunning canine can be seen carrying a large bag of trash with his teeth and gingerly leaving it on the roadside, according to video released by the Catania municipality Thursday.

“Inventiveness… can never be an alibi for incivility,” the local authority said in a post on Facebook.

“The environmental unit of Catania’s municipal police has released two videos recorded by surveillance cameras in which a dog is seen depositing a bag of waste in the street,” the post read.

“This behavior is both cunning and doubly unfair, because in addition to littering the city, it attempts to evade the rules by exploiting the unwitting four-legged friend. Respect for urban decorum and the environment is everyone’s duty.”

The man has been identified and fined, according to the post.

The episode underscores what is a burgeoning problem across Italy.

The situation is particularly bad in the southern provinces and islands, where garbage collection is sometimes as low as 57 per cent, meaning garbage can be left in dumpsters and trash cans for days.

The capital Rome has the highest rate of garbage tax evasion, according to the authorities, followed by Naples.

Rates of collection are much higher in the northern regions of Italy, where rates of evasion are considerably lower, according to the Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police).

Each year, nearly 10,000 waste related offenses, including illegal dumping, burning and burying are recorded each year, according to the Legambiente environmental group, prompting many municipalities to set up surveillance camera traps to monitor illegal activity.

Fines for illegal dumping range from €1,500 (US$1,770) to €18,000 ($21,200) and in some cases carry criminal charges. Illegal dumping is often tied to organized crime syndicates who are known as the eco-mafia by law enforcement.

DEVELOPING | US Supreme Court rejects Trump’s global tariffs

Trump handed a significant loss to his economic agenda. Here’s what the U.S. Supreme Court said.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court struck down U.S. President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday, handing him a stinging loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda.

Furious about the defeat, Trump said he will impose a global 10 per cent tariff as an alternative while pressing his trade policies by other means. The new tariffs would come under a law that restricts them to 150 days.

He made that announcement after lashing out at the Supreme Court for striking down much of his sweeping tariff infrastructure as an illegal use of emergency power. Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of justices who voted to strike down his tariffs and called the ruling “deeply disappointing.”

“Their decision is incorrect,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter because we have very powerful alternatives.”

The court’s 6-3 decision centers on tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law, including the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs he levied on nearly every other country.

His loss before the conservative-majority high court came despite a series of short-term Trump wins that have allowed him to move ahead with key aspects of his broad agency.

It’s the first major piece of Trump’s broad agenda to come squarely before the nation’s highest court, which he helped shape with the appointments of three conservative jurists in his first term.

#Cuban families receive ‘Made in Mexico’ essentials as crisis worsens.

Beltrán, a 70-year-old Cuban father of two, was one of several hundred recipients of Mexican humanitarian assistance, ordered by President Claudia Sheinbaum in support of the island nation as it faces blackouts and severe fuel shortages worsened by a U.S oil embargo.

“I feel very grateful,” said Beltrán. “The Mexican president should be praised to the skies for showing such concern and courage.”

Two Mexican Navy ships laden with humanitarian aid docked in Cuba last week, two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island, deepening an already severe economic and energy crisis in the Caribbean nation.

The ships brought about 800 tons of goods, and another 1,500 tons of powdered milk and beans are expected to be loaded in the coming days.

The Cuban government said the aid will support vulnerable families with underweight children or elderly members in Havana and the provinces of Mayabeque and Artemisa. Earlier this week, state television aired footage of the supplies arriving at bodegas — the state-run shops that distribute basic goods to citizens through a national ration book system.

The bags received by Beltrán were taken directly to his home by the manager of his neighborhood bodega in Havana.

“People are very grateful for these donations,” Roberto Román, the 28-year-old manager, told The Associated Press. He is responsible for 1,780 customers, distributed among 850 families.

The economic crisis gripping Cuba since 2020 has been compounded by intensified U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing a change in the island’s political model. These pressures led to critical shortages and severe blackouts that peaked in early 2026.

Cuba relied heavily on oil shipments from Venezuela that were halted when the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its leader.

Because Cuba produces only 40% of its required fuel, it remains highly vulnerable to external blockades. While strong allies like Russia and China have condemned the U.S. measures, their support has remained largely symbolic thus far.

U.S. military prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, but Trump has yet to make a final call, sources say.


The U.S. military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, though U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether he’ll authorize such actions, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The White House has been briefed that the military could be ready for an attack by the weekend, after a significant buildup in recent days of air and naval assets in the Middle East, the sources said. But one source cautioned that Trump has privately argued both for and against military action and polled advisers and allies on what the best course of action is.

Top administration national security officials met Wednesday in the White House Situation Room to discuss the situation in Iran, a person familiar with the meeting said. Trump was also briefed Wednesday by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, about their indirect talks with Iran that occurred a day earlier.

It was not clear if he would make a decision by the weekend.

“He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,” one source said.

The U.S.’s readiness to strike by the weekend was first reported by CBS News.

Iranian and U.S. negotiators passed notes for three-and-a-half hours Tuesday during indirect talks in Geneva, though they departed with no clear resolution. Iran’s top negotiator said both sides had agreed upon a “set of guiding principles,” though an American official said “there are still a lot of details to discuss.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Iran was expected to provide more details on its negotiating position “in the next couple of weeks,” but she wouldn’t say whether Trump would hold off on military action within that timespan. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Israel on Feb. 28 to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and update him on the Iran talks, a State Department official told CNN Wednesday.

“I’m not going to set deadlines on behalf of the president of the United States,” Leavitt said.

She added that while “diplomacy is always his first option,” military action remains on the table.

“There’s many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran,” she said, adding Trump was relying on counsel from his national security team “first and foremost.”

The opaque statements have fueled increasing fears of military conflict between the two nations — even as officials ostensibly hold out hope for diplomacy. The USS Gerald Ford — the most advanced carrier group in the U.S. arsenal — could arrive in the region as soon as this weekend, after a flurry of other military buildup. U.S. Air Force assets based in the United Kingdom, including refueling tankers and fighter jets, are being repositioned closer to the Middle East, according to sources familiar with the movements.

For its part, Iran is fortifying several of its nuclear facilities, using concrete and large amounts of soil to bury key sites amid US military pressure, according to new satellite imagery and analysis from the Institute for Science and International Security.

A number of calendar events could play a role in the timing of an attack. The Winter Olympics — traditionally a moment of global unity — conclude on Sunday; some European officials said they believed no strike would occur before then. Meanwhile, Ramadan began Wednesday; some officials from U.S. allies in the Middle East — which have lobbied against an attack, fearing regional destabilization — said an attack during the Muslim holy month would convey American disrespect. And Trump is delivering his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday; aides have said it was likely to act as a kickoff for Trump’s midterm year message on domestic issues. It wasn’t clear whether the president was taking any of those events into account as he weighs his options.

Trump, in his statements on Iran over the past weeks, has done little to gain buy-in from the American public or Congress for a large military operation in the country. He has hinted at a desire for regime change, and insisted Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, but has not said what precisely his objectives would be in ordering an attack.

North #Korean leader deploys 50 new rocket launchers ahead of major party congress.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Thursday leader Kim Jong Un held a ceremony to unveil the deployment of 50 new launch vehicles for nuclear-capable short-range missiles threatening rival South Korea as he flaunted his expanding military capabilities ahead of a major ruling party congress.

In a separate statement, Kim’s sister, who is a key foreign policy official acknowledged a South Korean minister’s apology regarding alleged civilian drone incursions, but said the North is bolstering border security against the “enemy” South.

North Korea has suspended nearly all talks and cooperation with the South since 2019, when Kim’s nuclear diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump derailed over U.S.-led sanctions. Relations worsened in recent years as Kim discarded the North’s long-standing goal of peaceful reunification and declared a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula, a stance he may further institutionalize in the Workers’ Party’s constitution during the upcoming congress.

State media photos showed rows of launcher trucks lined up near the April 25th House of Culture, the venue of party congresses in 2016 and 2021.

The Korean Central News Agency said the vehicles support the country’s 600-millimeter multiplier rocket launcher systems. Experts say North Korea’s large artillery rockets blur the distinction between artillery systems and short-range ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery. They are part of Kim’s growing collection of nuclear-capable short-range weapons that are designed to overwhelm missile defenses in South Korea.

Kim, in a speech, said the “wonderful” rocket launchers are equipped with artificial intelligence and advanced guiding technologies tailored to carry out a “strategic mission,” a term that implies nuclear purpose. He said the upcoming congress will issue new plans to expand the capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, which already has various systems targeting U.S. allies in Asia and long-range missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

In her statement, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said she “highly assesses” an apology made by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young over the alleged drone flights but reiterated that the North would respond with force if such flights recur. She said the country’s military would strengthen surveillance across the border with the South.

“The border with an enemy state should naturally be firm,” she said.

Chung on Wednesday said Seoul was considering reinstating a suspended 2018 inter-Korean military pact on reducing border tensions, which included a no-fly zone, as part of measures to prevent further drone incursions into the North.

North Korea threatened retaliation last month after accusing South Korea of launching a surveillance drone flight in September and again in January. The South Korean government has denied operating any drones during the times specified by North Korea but law enforcement authorities are investigating three civilians suspected of flying drones into the North from border areas.

Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press

#Vatican says it will not participate in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’, Pope Leo, the first U.S. pope and a critic of some of Trump’s policies, was invited to join the board in January.

Under Trump’s Gaza plan that led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts. The board will hold its first meeting in Washington on Thursday to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction.

Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board.

The Holy See “will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States,” Parolin said.

“One concern,” he said, “is that at the international level it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”

Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure. The board launched last month has also faced criticism for not including a Palestinian.

Countries have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation, with experts concerned that the board could undermine the U.N. Some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined but its Western allies have stayed away so far.

The Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated with hundreds of Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since it began in October.

Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced Gaza’s entire population.

Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defence after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.

Leo has repeatedly decried conditions in Gaza. The pope, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican has an extensive diplomatic service and is a permanent observer at the United Nations.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Reuters

4 dead in 30-vehicle pileup in Colorado as powerful winds slam Plains, fueling multiple wildfires.

At least 29 people were taken to the hospital with injuries, according to the Colorado State Patrol, which did not provide any additional information on the severity of those injuries.

A three-mile stretch of the interstate remains shut down between mile markers 91 and 94 and there is no estimated reopening time, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.

The same powerful winds are causing fire weather conditions to go downhill fast in a “particularly dangerous situation” fire threat that’s gripping the region.

A wildfire that broke out late Tuesday morning in Beaver County, Okla., rapidly crossed into southwest Kansas in just a few hours. It’s burned about 15,000 acres as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Service.

The fire is threatening at least two communities in Kansas. Evacuations are underway in Englewood and Ashland, according to CNN affiliate KAKE. At least one health center in Ashland, a town of around 700 people, reported it was evacuating in a social media post.

‘Eye-watering numbers’: Reaction to Canada’s new $6.6B defence strategy.

HALIFAX — A new $6.6-billion national defence strategy is reportedly designed to support Canadian businesses and position Canada to shift away from an overreliance on the United States for defence support, while still meeting its NATO commitments.

The new plan, expected to officially be unveiled on Tuesday, includes targets of increasing defence exports by 50 per cent and industry revenues related to defence by 240 per cent.

Prime Minister Mark Carney was supposed to unveil these changes last week, but that announcement was delayed after the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

#MOSCOW -- The Kremlin on Monday flatly rejected accusations from five ‌European countries that the Russian state had killed Alexei Navalny two years ago using toxin from poison dart frogs, but his widow said the truth had finally been proven.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent domestic critic, died on Feb. 16, 2024, in the “Polar Wolf” penal colony north of the Arctic Circle about 1,900 kilometres northeast of Moscow. He was 47.

His death, which the Russian state said was from natural causes, occurred a month before Putin was re-elected for a fifth term in ​a landslide ​vote which western nations said was neither free nor fair due to censorship ‌and a crackdown on opponents.

Britain, ⁠France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said on Saturday that analyses of samples from Navalny’s body had “conclusively” confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.

“Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” they said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations.

“Naturally, we do not accept ⁠such accusations. We disagree with them. We consider them biased and not based on anything. And we strongly reject them," Peskov told reporters.
Test results?

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, previously said Moscow would provide relevant comment if and when the countries making the allegations released and detailed ⁠their test results.

Until then, the state TASS news agency cited her as saying, the allegations were “merely propaganda aimed at diverting attention from pressing western issues.”

The British government on Saturday declined to respond to a Reuters query about how the samples from Navalny’s body were obtained or where they were assessed.

The European joint statement referenced the ​2018 Novichok poisoning in Salisbury, England, of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, suggesting that Moscow has form ‌when it comes to using deadly poisons against ⁠its enemies.

Russia denies involvement in the Salisbury ⁠incident. It also rejects British allegations that Moscow killed dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 by lacing his tea with radioactive polonium-210.