MOSCOW, Dec 31 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year’s address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying he believed in them and in victory in a war that he has framed as part of an existential struggle with the West.
U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to broker an end to the nearly four-year-old conflict, Europe’s bloodiest conflagration since World War Two, with both sides’ negotiating stances still far apart.
Dressed in a black coat, Putin – whose forces are advancing slowly but steadily in Ukraine – spoke about Russia’s destiny and the unity of its people, which he said guaranteed the sovereignty and security of the “Fatherland”.
He paid tribute in particular to his forces fighting in Ukraine, calling them heroes.
“Millions of people across Russia — I assure you — are with you on this New Year’s Eve,” said Putin.
“They are thinking of you, empathising with you, hoping for you. I wish all our soldiers and commanders a happy coming New Year! We believe in you and our Victory!”
His speech, which was first broadcast in Russia’s far east, came as Russia released video footage of what it said was a downed drone, presenting it as evidence that Ukraine had tried this week to attack a presidential residence. Kyiv has dismissed Russia’s allegation as a lie designed to derail peace talks.
In another video released on Wednesday, Russia’s top general told troops to keep carving out buffer zones in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions and said Moscow’s forces had advanced faster in December than in any other month in 2025.
Reuters could not verify his battlefield assertion.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Kevin Liffey)
LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) – The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened again and is of serious concern, Britain, Canada, France and others said in a joint statement on Tuesday that also called on Israel to take urgent action.
The statement, published online by the British Foreign Office, said Israel should allow non-governmental organisations to work in Israel in a sustained and predictable way, and ensure the U.N. could continue its work in the Palestinian enclave.
“(We) express serious concerns about the renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza which remains catastrophic,” read the statement from the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
It also said Israel should lift what it called “unreasonable restrictions” on certain imports including medical and shelter equipment, and open border crossings to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October after two years of intense Israeli bombardment and military operations in Gaza that followed a deadly attack by Hamas-led fighters on Israeli communities in October 2023.
A global hunger monitor said on December 19 that there was no longer famine in Gaza after access for humanitarian and commercial food deliveries improved following the ceasefire.
But humanitarian agencies say far more aid needs to get into the small, crowded territory and that Israel is blocking needed items from entering. Israel says more than enough food gets in and that the problems are with distribution within Gaza.
(Reporting by William James; editing by Andrew Heavens and Mark Heinrich)
Dec 27 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday announced an additional $2.5 billion of economic aid for Ukraine.
The assistance will help Ukraine unlock financing from the International Monetary Fund, Carney said during an appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who also spoke briefly to reporters.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non and Matthew Lewis)
The World Junior Championship tournament kicked off in Minnesota on Friday. For those eager to check it out, there’s a free fan experience called the Bold North Breakaway.
While many people are likely cleaning up from Christmas, hockey fans in St. Paul are coming from all walks of life. Whether it’s inside the RiverCentre or outside at Rice Park, hockey lovers young and old can easily find something to their liking.
The fan festival features bumper cars on ice, s’mores by the fire, a rink where someone can play hockey by themself, a holiday market with over 40 local vendors and more.
WCCO spoke with a father-son duo who flew from Canada.
“I didn’t know Minneapolis is only two hours from Toronto,” said Bryan Forrest of Ontario. “So when I saw that, and it was the World Juniors, figured it would be worth coming.”
The events run through Jan. 5. More information on the festival can be found here.
DENVER, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Santa Claus drove his reindeer-powered sleigh over rooftops around the world on Wednesday, delivering gifts to millions of children in a magic Christmas Eve ritual that North American air defense officials say they began tracking 70 years ago.
Still, despite its devotion to a tradition dating back to the Cold War era of 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, possesses limited intelligence about the direction that Santa will take in any given year.
Santa is not required to file a flight plan. So the only thing NORAD knows for sure in advance is that the red-suited jolly old elf, also known as Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas, takes off every Christmas Eve from his home base at the North Pole.
“NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route, which means we cannot predict where or when he will arrive at your house,” a senior NORAD official said in a press statement.
NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canadian military command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has provided images and updates on Santa’s worldwide journey for seven decades, along with its main task of monitoring air defenses and issuing aerospace and maritime warnings.
The Santa tracker tradition originated from a 1955 misprint in a Colorado Springs newspaper of the telephone number of a department store for children to call and speak with Santa. The listed number went to what was then known as the Continental Air Defense Command.
An understanding officer took the youngsters’ calls and assured them that Santa was airborne and on schedule to deliver presents to good girls and boys – at least those who believe in him – flying aboard his reindeer-powered sleigh.
According to its website, NORAD detects Santa’s liftoff with its polar radar network, then follows his journey with the same satellites used to warn of any possible missile launches aimed at North America.
As soon as Santa’s lead reindeer, Rudolph, switches on his shiny red nose, military personnel can zero in on his location using the satellites’ infrared sensors.
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to be following NORAD’s Santa tracker on Wednesday as he sat by a Christmas tree at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, fielding telephone calls from children around the country.
As he spoke to one youngster from Pennsylvania, Trump said, “So Santa right now is in Copenhagen, Denmark, but he’s heading toward our country. What would you like from Santa?”
Speaking to another caller, Trump jokingly explained the rationale for tracking Santa in terms of national security, saying, “We want to make sure he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”
(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
A former senior security official at South Beach Casino has filed a lawsuit alleging unlawful dismissal, drawing uncomfortable attention to the Manitoba gaming venue. The plaintiff claims that his termination was in retaliation for reporting the illegal activities. The casino, meanwhile, maintains that the dismissal was warranted due to workplace safety concerns stemming from sexual harassment complaints.
The Plaintiff Claims Management Tried to Silence Him
Devin Morin, who served as head of security at South Beach Casino & Resort in Scanterbury, Manitoba, says he was dismissed “with cause” in late July after raising alarms about illegal drugs among staff and patrons. In a statement of claim dated 9 December and filed at the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, Morin asserts that management manufactured a harassment allegation to remove him.
According to the lawsuit, Morin began working at the casino in 2022. The plaintiff claims he consistently received positive feedback, along with annual bonuses. He alleges that the situation got worse after he voiced concerns about drug sales inside the casino, including claims that substances were being sold to employees. Morin also reportedly told the casino’s CEO that senior leadership may also be involved.
South Beach Casino, which is one of the three First Nation-operated casinos in the province, is run by the Southeast Resource Development Council for the seven Manitoba First Nations. The casino launched operations in 2005 and has evolved into a major employer and a tourism destination in the Winnipeg area.
The Venue Argues the Dismissal Was Justified
South Beach Casino strongly disputes Morin’s claims that his dismissal was a means to silence further complaints. The venue is adamant that the plaintiff was terminated to protect employees after multiple harassment complaints were made against him. The defense drew attention to several 2025 complaints of unwanted sexual advances toward another employee.
According to the casino, the internal investigation into Morin’s actions included interviews and a review of CCTV footage. However, he denies all allegations of inappropriate conduct. Morin argues that he was never shown the evidence against him, nor allowed to respond. He also claims that the casino did not employ a neutral and qualified investigator, breaching his employment contract. Morin also took issue with the matter of his dismissal.
He alleges that he was removed from the building in full view of employees and customers, which humiliated him and damaged his reputation. Morin is seeking undisclosed damages and a declaration that his dismissal was wrongful, while South Beach is asking the court to dismiss the case entirely.
Thunderkick has expanded its reach in Ontario, Canada, and, by extension, North America, through a new partnership with PointsBet and the company’s casino platform.
Thanks to this new content alliance, Thunderkick is now rolling out a host of its top-performing and player-favorite games in the province.
Among those are Midas Golden Touch 3, Esqueleto Explosivo 3, and Carnival Queen 22, along with others. Thunderkick has consistently delivered games that are based on serialized franchises and has been building momentum in the iGaming space by leveraging player-favorite mechanics and creating powerful gaming narratives.
PointsBet Canada Head of Casino Brooke Hilton has welcomed the opportunity to team up with Thunderkick and add even more value to the existing casino operations, arguing:
“PointsBet has made a point of distinguishing itself from the crowd, from our local on-the-ground presence in Ontario to our premium online casino portfolio. We strive to partner with the very best.
When it comes to casino content, the addition of Thunderkick’s popular slots will enable us to continue providing players across the province with diverse, impactful gaming experiences.”
Thunderkick has similarly welcomed the opportunity to work with PointsBet, with company COO Svante Sahlström arguing that the operator is aligned with the supplier’s own brand identity, mission statement, and ethos.
“It is a reputable and recognized brand across the globe. We look forward to supporting its continued North American growth with our class-leading content,” Sahlström added.
Both companies are interested in scaling up their presence in Canada and creating experiences that resonate with players.
Researchers in northern Canada have observed a rare case of polar bear adoption, capturing video footage of a wild female bear caring for a cub that was not her own.
“Cub adoption is relatively rare in polar bears. We’ve documented 13 cases in our study population over the last 45 years,” said Evan Richardson, a scientist with Canada’s ministry for environment and climate change.
The footage of a bear caring for an adopted cub was captured during the annual polar bear migration along the Western Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba, widely known as the polar capital of the world.
Canadian researchers encountered the mother in the spring as she left her maternity den. She had only one cub, which was tagged — a common practice to aid study of the population.
They encountered the same mother again weeks ago but saw a second cub with no ear tag, Richardson told AFP.
“When we went back and looked at the data, we realized that she had adopted a second cub,” he said.
Video footage collected by the researchers shows the cubs surveying a snow-covered landscape, with the mother pacing behind, and one sequence where one cub hurries to join the others.
Both cubs are 10 to 11 months old, and will likely stay with their mother until about 2.5 years of age.
“When we got confirmation that this was an adoption, I had a lot of mixed feelings, but mostly good,” Alysa McCall, a staff scientist with Polar Bears International, said in a video provided to the CBC. “It’s just another reason why this species is so incredible, why they’re so fascinating and interesting, and it gives you a lot of hope when you realize that polar bears may be looking out for each other out there.”
Researchers currently have no information as to what happened to the adopted cub’s biological mother.
But having a maternal figure increases the chances of the cub’s survival into adulthood, Richardson said.
“It’s really a feel-good story to know that this female bear is looking after this cub and that it has a chance at survival,” Richardson said.
“These female polar bears are such good moms, they’re maternally primed to take care of offspring, and when there’s a lone cub out on the tundra, bawling and crying, they just take them under their wing,” he added.
There are currently about 26,000 polar bears worldwide, according to the nonprofit Polar Bears International. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists polar bears as a vulnerable species, saying sea ice loss from climate change is the biggest threat to their survival.
This isn’t the first time wild animals have been observed with babies that aren’t their own. Earlier this year, scientists said video showed capuchin monkeys carrying at least 11 howler babies in Panama.
At first, the researchers thought it was a “heartwarming story of a weird capuchin adopting these infants,” said Zoë Goldsborough, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.
But Goldsborough said they eventually realized the abductions were a social tradition or “fad” among the island’s young male capuchins, and in most or all cases, the baby howlers died.
The negotiations that remade the North American Free Trade Agreement were, as one participant put it, a series of “near-death” experiences. For more than a year, starting in 2017, envoys from the United States, Canada, and Mexico met to determine the future of a trade alliance worth trillions of dollars. They clashed over everything from labor laws to the minutiae of duty-free imports, while repeatedly deflecting President Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from the agreement. In the fall of 2018, they were finally prepared to sign what came to be known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. First, though, they needed to decide how long the accord should last.
NAFTA was what is called a “forever deal”—as with all of America’s major trade agreements, its terms were permanently fixed. This frustrated Trump’s trade czar, Robert Lighthizer, who believed that NAFTA had resulted in thousands of job losses and a ballooning trade deficit. Lighthizer wanted the U.S.M.C.A. to have an escape hatch: a review mechanism, or perhaps a fixed term. So he proposed that the agreement expire after four years.
In his book, “No Trade Is Free,” Lighthizer described his offer as “an aggressive opening bid.” Mexican and Canadian officials thought that it was insane: no business would expose its investments to a deal that could end so quickly. Even prominent Republicans expressed opposition. But Lighthizer found an ally in Jared Kushner, Trump’s key adviser on Mexico. Kushner had come to see trade negotiations as a game of mutual bluffing; the key to success, in his view, was getting your counterparts to “believe you are going to jump off a cliff.”
On August 25, 2018, Kushner invited Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, to his home in the upscale Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Kalorama. As he recalled in his own memoir, “Breaking History,” negotiators were scheduled to meet the next morning, and both sides were short on time: the Americans were eager to send the agreement to Congress before the midterm elections, and the Mexicans needed to reach a deal before a new President came into office.
Kushner made a proposal that he had cleared with Lighthizer. The agreement would remain in place for sixteen years, but, after six years, the countries would convene for a review. “If the parties agreed to an extension,” Kushner suggested, “the term of the agreement would reset for another sixteen years.” If they disagreed, “a ten-year termination clock would start to tick.” Videgaray left after midnight, having agreed to consult with the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto.
In the morning, everyone gathered in Lighthizer’s office, across from the White House. “Let me share a proposal,” Kushner began—a theatrical gesture, since Trump and Peña Nieto had already been briefed on the plan. By the meeting’s end, negotiators had agreed to include a review mechanism, ending more than a year of gruelling talks. Soon, Trump stood in the Rose Garden, hailing the U.S.M.C.A. as “the most modern, up-to-date, and balanced trade agreement in the history of our country.”
For Mexican officials, one of the keys to accepting the deal was that the review would be triggered after six years rather than four: they predicted that Trump would serve two consecutive terms and leave office before the deadline came. In the meantime, they reasoned, the treaty would shield their nation’s economy from a hostile Administration. They turned out to be wrong. Trump returned to the White House four years later than expected, and the review of the U.S.M.C.A. is scheduled for next July, just seven months away. In Trump’s second term, his protectionist agenda has been even more aggressive and erratic than before. Most indications suggest that what will take place between now and the summer is less a review of America’s crucial trade relationships than a wholesale renegotiation.
In the years since the U.S.M.C.A was signed, Mexico and Canada have become America’s top trading partners. Millions of jobs depend on this economic alliance, which exceeds $1.8 trillion in trade. Officials are already shuttling between their various capitals for conversations about what the parties might get from it.
As the talks got under way, I sat down with Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal, a former secretary of the economy who led Mexico’s negotiations of the U.S.M.C.A. during his term. A short, dapper man of sixty-eight, Guajardo has been involved in every major trade accord that Mexico has signed since NAFTA. He built a reputation as a fearsome negotiator, once praised by Kushner for his ability to spin “technical issues into unsolvable deal-breakers.” Now he seemed pleased to be out of the fight. “I’ve got a trip coming up to Palm Beach,” he told me, in an airy cafeteria in Mexico City.
Ron Curtis, an English professor in Montreal, lived for 40 years with a degenerative spinal disease, in what he called the “black hole” of chronic pain.
On a July day in 2022, Mr. Curtis, 64, ate a last bowl of vegetable soup made by his wife, Lori, and, with the help of a palliative care doctor, died in his bedroom overlooking a lake.
Aron Wade, a successful 54-year-old stage and television actor in Belgium, decided he could no longer tolerate life with the depression that haunted him for three decades.
Last year, after a panel of medical experts found he had “unbearable mental suffering,” a doctor came to his home and gave him medicine to stop his heart, with his partner and two best friends at his side.
Argemiro Ariza was in his early 80s when he began to lose function in his limbs, no longer able to care for his wife, who had dementia, in their home in Bogotá.
Doctors diagnosed A.L.S., and he told his daughter Olga that he wanted to die while he still had dignity. His children threw him a party with a mariachi band and lifted him from his wheelchair to dance. A few days later, he admitted himself to a hospital, and a doctor administered a drug that ended his life.
Until recently, each of these deaths would have been considered a murder. But a monumental change is underway around the world. From liberal European countries to conservative Latin American ones, a new way of thinking about death is starting to take hold.
Stephanie Nolen is exploring access, attitudes and approaches to medically assisted death around the world.
Over the past five years, the practice of allowing a physician to help severely ill patients end their lives with medication has been legalized in nine countries on three continents. Courts or legislatures, or both, are considering legalization in a half-dozen more, including South Korea and South Africa, as well as eight of the 31 American states where it remains prohibited.
It is a last frontier in the expansion of individual autonomy. More people are seeking to define the terms of their deaths in the same way they have other aspects of their lives, such as marriage and childbearing. This is true even in Latin America, where conservative institutions such as the Roman Catholic church are still powerful.
“We believe in the priority of our control over our bodies, and as a heterogeneous culture, we believe in choices: If your choice does not affect me, go ahead,” said Dr. Julieta Moreno Molina, a bioethicist who has advised Colombia’s Ministry of Health on its assisted dying regulations.
Yet, as assisted death gains more acceptance, there are major unresolved questions about who should be eligible. While most countries begin with assisted death for terminal illness, which has the most public support, this is often followed quickly by a push for wider access. With that push comes often bitter public debate.
Should someone with intractable depression be allowed an assisted death?
European countries and Colombia all permit people with irremediable suffering from conditions such as depression or schizophrenia to seek an assisted death. But in Canada, the issue has become contentious. Assisted death for people who do not have a reasonably foreseeable natural death was legalized in 2021, but the government has repeatedly excluded people with mental illness. Two of them are challenging the exclusion in court on the grounds that it violates their constitutional rights.
In public debate, supporters of the right to assisted death for these patients say that people who have lived with severe depression for years, and have tried a variety of therapies and medications, should be allowed to decide when they are no longer willing to keep pursuing treatments. Opponents, concerned that mental illness can involve a pathological wish to die, say it can be difficult to predict the potential effectiveness of treatments. And, they argue, people who struggle to get help from an overburdened public health service may simply give up and choose to die, though their conditions might have been improved.
Should a child with an incurable condition be able to choose assisted death?
The ability to consent is a core consideration in requesting assisted death. Only a handful of countries are willing to extend that right to minors. Even in the places that do, there are just a few assisted deaths for children each year, almost always children with cancer.
In Colombia and the Netherlands, children over 12 can request assisted death on their own. Parents can provide consent for children 11 and younger.
Denise de Ruijter took comfort in her Barbie dolls when she struggled to connect with people. She was diagnosed with autism and had episodes of depression and psychosis. As a teenager in a Dutch town, she craved the life her schoolmates had — nights out, boyfriends — but couldn’t manage it.
She attempted suicide several times before applying for an assisted death at 18. Evaluators required her to try three years of additional therapies before agreeing her suffering was unbearable. She died in 2021, with her family and Barbies nearby.
The issue is under renewed scrutiny in the Netherlands, where, over the past decade, a growing number of adolescents have applied for assisted death for relief from irremediable psychiatric suffering from conditions such as eating disorders and anxiety.
Most such applications by teens are either withdrawn by the patient, or rejected by assessors, but public concern over a few high-profile cases of teens who received assisted deaths prompted the country’s regulator to consider a moratorium on approvals for children applying on the basis of psychiatric suffering.
Should someone with dementia be allowed assisted death?
Many people dread the idea of losing their cognitive abilities and their autonomy, and hope to have an assisted death when they reach that point. But this is a more complex situation to regulate than for a person who can still make a clear request.
How can a person who is losing their mental capacity consent to dying? Most governments, and doctors, are too uncomfortable to permit it, even though the idea tends to be popular in countries with aging populations.
In Colombia, Spain, Ecuador and the Canadian province of Quebec, people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other kinds of cognitive decline can request assessment for an assisted death before they lose mental capacity, sign an advance request — and then have a physician end their life after they have lost the ability to consent themselves.
But that raises a separate, challenging, question: After people lose the capacity to request an assisted death, who should decide it’s time?
Their spouses? Their children? Their doctors? The government? Colombia entrusts families with this role. The Netherlands leaves it up to doctors — but many refuse to do it, unwilling to administer lethal drugs to a patient who can’t clearly articulate a rational wish to die.
Jan Grijpma was always clear with his daughter, Maria: When his mind went, he didn’t want to live any more. Maria worked with his longtime family doctor, in Amsterdam, to identify the point when Mr. Grijpma, 90 and living in a nursing home, was losing his ability to consent himself.
When it seemed close, in 2023, they booked the day, and he updated his day planner: Thursday, visit the vicar; Friday, bicycle with physiotherapy and get a haircut; Sunday, pancakes with Maria; Monday, euthanasia.
All of these questions are becoming part of the discussion as the right to control and plan one’s own death is pushed in front of reluctant legislatures and uneasy medical professionals.
Dr. Madeline Li, a Toronto psychiatrist, was given the task of developing the assisted-dying practice in one of Canada’s largest hospitals when the procedure was first decriminalized in 2015. She began with assessing patients for eligibility and then moved to providing medical assistance in dying, or MAID, as it is called in Canada. For some patients with terminal cancer, it felt like the best form of care she could offer, she said.
But then Canada’s eligibility criteria expanded, and Dr. Li found herself confronting a different kind of patient.
“To provide assisted dying to somebody dying of a condition who is not happy with how they’re going to die, I’m willing to assist them, and hasten that death,” she said. “I struggle more with people who aren’t dying and want MAID — I think then you’re assisting suicide. If you’re not dying — if I didn’t give you MAID, you wouldn’t otherwise die — then you’re a person who’s not unhappy with how you’re going to die. You’re unhappy with how you’re living.”
Who has broken the taboo?
For decades, Switzerland was the only country to permit assisted death; assisted suicide was legalized there in 1942. It took a further half century for a few more countries to loosen their laws. Now decriminalization of some form of assisted death has occurred across Europe.
But there has recently been a wave of legalization in Latin America, where Colombia was long an outlier, having allowed legal assisted dying since 2015.
Paola Roldán Espinosa had a thriving career in business in Ecuador, and a toddler, when she was diagnosed with A.L.S. in 2023. Her health soon deteriorated to the point that she needed a ventilator.
She wanted to die on her terms — and took the case to the country’s highest court. In February 2024, the court responded to her petition by decriminalizing assisted dying. Ms. Roldán, then 42, had the death she sought, with her family around her, a month later.
Ecuador has decriminalized assisted dying through constitutional court cases, and Peru’s Supreme Court has permitted individual exceptions to the law which prohibits the procedure, opening the door to expansion. Cuba’s national assembly legalized assisted dying in 2023, although no regulations on how the procedure will work are yet in place. In October, Uruguay’s parliament passed a long-debated law allowing assisted death for the terminally ill.
The first country in Asia to take steps toward legalization is South Korea, where a bill to decriminalize assisted death has been proposed at the National Assembly several times but has not come to a vote. At the same time, the Constitutional Court, which for years refused to hear cases on the subject, has agreed to adjudicate a petition from a disabled man with severe and chronic pain who seeks an assisted death.
Access in the United States remains limited: 11 jurisdictions (10 states plus the District of Columbia) allow assisted suicide or physician-assisted death, for patients who have a terminal diagnosis, and in some cases, only for patients who are already in hospice care. It will become legal in Delaware on Jan. 1, 2026.
In Slovenia, in 2024, 55 percent of the population who voted in a national referendum were in favor of legalizing assisted death, and parliament duly passed a law in July. But pushback from right-wing politicians then forced a new referendum, and in late November, 54 percent of those who voted rejected the legalization.
And in the United Kingdom, a bill to legalize assisted death for people with terminal illness has made its way slowly through parliament. It has faced fierce opposition from a coalition of more than 60 groups for people with disabilities, who argue they may face subtle coercion to end their lives rather than drain their families or the state of resources for their care.
Why now?
In many countries, decriminalization of assisted dying has followed the expansion of rights for personal choice in other areas, such as the removal of restrictions on same-sex marriage, abortion and sometimes drug use.
“I would expect it to be on the agenda in every liberal democracy,” said Wayne Sumner, a medical ethicist at the University of Toronto who studies the evolution of norms and regulations around assisted dying. “They’ll come to it at their own speed, but it follows with these other policies.”
The change is also being driven by a convergence of political, demographic and cultural trends.
As populations age, and access to health care improves, more people are living longer. Older populations mean more chronic disease, and more people living with compromised health. And they are thinking about death, and what they will — and won’t — be willing to tolerate in the last years of their lives.
At the same time, there is diminishing tolerance for suffering that is perceived as unnecessary.
“Until very recently, we were a society where few people lived past 60 — and now suddenly we live much longer,” said Lina Paola Lara Negrette, a psychologist who until October was the director of the Dying With Dignity Foundation in Colombia. “Now people here need to think about the system, and the services that are available, and what they will want.”
Changes in family structures and communities, particularly in rapidly urbanizing middle-income countries, mean that traditional networks of care are less strong, which shifts how people can imagine living in older age or with chronic illness, she added.
“When you had many siblings and a lot of generations under one roof, the question of care was a family thing,” she said. “That has changed. And it shapes how we think about living, and dying.”
How does assisted dying work?
Beyond the ethical dilemmas, actually carrying out legalized assisted deaths involves countless choices for countries. Spain requires a waiting period of at least 15 days between a patient’s assessments (but the average wait in practice is 75 days). In most other places, the prescribed wait is less than two weeks for patients with terminal conditions, but often longer in practice, said Katrine Del Villar, a professor of constitutional law at the Queensland University of Technology who tracks trends in assisted dying
Most countries allow patients to choose between administering the drugs themselves or having a health care provider do it. When both options are available, the overwhelming majority of people choose to have a health care provider end their life with an injection that stops their heart.
In many countries only a doctor can administer the drugs, but Canada and New Zealand permit nurse practitioners to provide medically assisted deaths too.
One Australian state prohibits medical professionals from raising the topic of assisted death. A patient must ask about it first.
Who determines eligibility is another issue. In the Netherlands, two physicians assess a patient; in Colombia, it’s a panel consisting of a medical specialist, a psychologist and a lawyer. The draft legislation in Britain would require both a panel and two independent physicians.
Switzerland and the states of Oregon and Vermont are the only jurisdictions in the world that explicitly allow people who are not residents access to assisted deaths.
Most countries permit medical professionals to conscientiously object to providing assisted deaths and allow faith-based medical institutions to refuse to participate. In Canada, individual professionals have the right to refuse, but a court challenge is underway seeking to end the ability of hospitals that are controlled by faith-based organizations and that operate with public funds to refuse to allow assisted deaths on their premises.
“Even when assisted dying has been legal and available somewhere for a long time, there can be a gap between what is legal and what is acceptable — what most physicians and patients and families feel comfortable with,” said Dr. Sisco van Veen, an ethicist and psychiatrist at Amsterdam Medical University. “And this isn’t static. It evolves over time.”
Jin Yu Young in Seoul, José Bautista in Madrid, José María León Cabrera in Quito, Veerle Schyns in Amsterdam and Koba Ryckewaert in Brussels contributed reporting.
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premier of Canada’s oil rich province of Alberta agreed Thursday to work toward building a pipeline to the Pacific Coast to diversify the country’s oil exports beyond the United States.
The memorandum of understanding includes an adjustment of an oil tanker ban off parts of the British Columbia coast if a pipeline comes to fruition.
Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the agreement will lead to more than 1 million barrels per day for mainly Asian markets so “our province and our country are no longer dependent on just one customer to buy our most valuable resource.”
Carney reiterated that as the U.S. transforms all of its trading relationships, many of Canada’s strengths – based on those close ties to America – have become its vulnerabilities.
“Over 95% of all our energy exports went to the States. This tight interdependence – once a strength – is now a weakness,” Carney said.
Carney said a pipeline can reduce the price discount on current oil sales to U.S. markets.
He called the framework agreement the start of a process.
“We have created some of the necessary conditions for this to happen but there is a lot more work to do,” he said.
Carney said if there is not a private sector proponent there won’t be a pipeline.
The agreement calls on Ottawa and Alberta to engage with British Columbia, where there is fierce opposition to oil tankers off the coast, to advance that province’s economic interests.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved one controversial pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the British Columbia coast in 2016 but the federal government had to build and finish construction of it as it faced opposition from environmental and aboriginal groups.
Trudeau at the same time rejected the Northern Gateway project to northwest British Columbia which would have passed through the Great Bear Rainforest. Northern Gateway would have transported 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific to deliver oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry China.
The northern Alberta region has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, with about 164 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Carney’s announcement comes after British Columbia Premier David Eby said lifting the tanker ban would threaten projects already in development in the region and consensus among coastal First Nations.
“The pipeline proposal has no project proponent,” he said. “Not only does it have no permits, it doesn’t even have a route.”
Eby said the agreement is a “distraction” to real projects and does not have the support of coastal First Nations.
“We have zero interest in co-ownership or economic benefits of a project that has the potential to destroy our way of life and everything we have built on the coast,” Coastal First Nations President Marilyn Slett said.
The agreement pairs the pipeline project a proposed carbon capture project and government officials say the two projects must be built in tandem.
The agreement says Ottawa and Alberta will with work with companies to identify by April 1 new emissions-reduction projects to be rolled out starting in 2027.
At Fleece & Harmony, a woolen mill and yarn shop in bucolic Belfast, Prince Edward Island, in Canada, owner Kim Doherty used to be able to send yarn skeins to U.S. customers across the border with little fanfare.
The yarn orders usually met an import tax exemption for packages valued at under $800, meaning it could be imported tariff-free and avoid the customs process.
But ever since the Trump administration eliminated the exemption as of Aug. 29, the cost to send yarn to U.S. customers has skyrocketed. The bill for a $21 ball of yarn now includes $12 to $15 in brokerage fees that her shipper UPS charges, plus state taxes and a 6.5% tariff, all of which almost doubles her costs.
“We had orders that have reached the customers and they’re in shock about the fact that they have to pay,” she said. “And it’s amazing how many people really didn’t know what the impact was going to be.”
Getting rid of the so-called de minimis exemption was meant to curb drug trafficking and stop low-quality goods from discount sellers like Temu and Shein flooding the U.S. market.
But as the all-important annual holiday shopping season kicks off, it is putting a crimp on small businesses and shoppers now facing higher costs.
Chad Lundquist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ordered fragrance oil from a site called Oil Perfumery in October, but he didn’t realize the business was based in Toronto, Canada. His total was $35.75, which included an $8 standard shipping fee. But when his package arrived, he was hit with a $10.80 tariff bill from FedEx.
“It wasn’t worth the $10 tariff for a $27 purchase,” Lundquist said. Oil Perfumery did not respond to a request for comment.
He’s not the only skittish shopper. Three months after the exemption ended, sellers abroad are reporting drastic declines in U.S. sales. Some are paying the duties themselves instead of passing them to consumers. They are also trying to focus on domestic customers to replace U.S. ones and adjusting product lineups to feature best selling items to try to goose sales.
Martha Keith, founder of British stationery brand Martha Brook, which is based in London with a small office in Melbourne, Australia, said U.S. sales from her Etsy store — her main e-commerce channel in addition to her own website — were up 50% for the year before the exemption ended. But sales fell dramatically when the tariffs hit, and continue to drop even though she’s paying the import taxes and customs fees herself so customers aren’t impacted. Sales are down about 30% year-over-year.
“The issue seems to be in customer confidence hitting the desire to order from businesses outside of the U.S., because of confusion about how the tariffs will affect them,” Keith said.
She’s also in a bind because she sold a £109 ($144) stationery advent calendar to about 200 U.S. customers ahead of the tariffs, and now she has to ship them. Shipping and tariffs will cost a combined £25 ($33), meaning Keith will have to find an additional £5,000 ($6,583) to cover shipping the advent calendars already sold.
“The whole thing has been a bit of a nightmare for businesses like ours, and such a huge shame, as the U.S. market was such a valuable growth area for us, particularly through Etsy,” she said.
The timing was particularly bad for Sue Bacarro, who along with her sister co-owns Digi Wildflowers, an Etsy shop that sells embroidered baby blankets, gifts and custom quilts for wedding and anniversaries, located across the border from Detroit in Windsor, Ontario.
Before the announcement of the removal of the de minimis exemption, they placed a large inventory order to prepare for the holiday season and early 2026 demand. But when the de minimis exemption ended, “inventory wasn’t moving as expected, and we suspected customers were hesitant to purchase due to potential duty charges,” Bacarro said.
Sales — 70% of which come from Americans — finally started to rebound when Digi Wildflowers prominently added a banner on its site that said, “U.S. Import Duties On Us.”
“Heading into this holiday season, we’re keeping that message front and center through banners, social media, and direct communication,” said Bacarro, who is also expanding their product line.
But not all businesses can — or want to — pick up the tariff tab.
Kim Doherty, who runs the woolen mill on Prince Edward Island, doesn’t plan to pay the tariff and fees for her customers.
“I’m not in a position as a small business owner to do that. The profit margins are already rather thin,” said Doherty, adding that “on principle,” she shouldn’t have to do it.
Right now, her shipments to U.S. customers are about 10% of what they were. Instead, she’s working on expanding her fiber offerings to Canadian customers at her brick-and-mortar store and fiber festivals.
“We’ll see what happens,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that my U.S. customers were shopping and not even thinking about it, but now they’ll be evaluating the purchases that they’re making, knowing that they are going to have the extra fees on top of whatever they see.”
Selene Pierangelini’s business, Apricot Rain Creations, based in Brisbane, Australia, which sells crystals, candles, and spiritual wellness products on Etsy, depended on the Australia Post to get deliveries to U.S. customers. More than three-fourths of her customer base comes from the U.S. Australia Post suspended service to the U.S. for about a month, resuming on Sept. 22.
She temporarily switched to FedEx and UPS — private shippers that are more expensive than Australia Post. Since it resumed, Australia Post is working with Zonos, a provider of cross-border shipping technology, to offer a shipping calculator that lets her prepay duties and fees. They themselves charge a fee of $1.69 plus 10% of the total duty fee.
So far, the items she ships from Australia have been tariffed at a 10% rate, the baseline tariff for the country. She increased her shipping costs to help cover the expense. It is manageable, but tricky, she said.
“You don’t really know how much (the cost) is going to be until the package clears custom in the U.S., and you get an invoice which is automatically paid out of your account,” she said.
And her sales have not recovered. Before the tariffs, her U.S. sales were about 85% of her total sales, and now they’re around 35%. She’s hopeful people are just holding off until Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday sales.
In the meantime, she has restarted sales to Europe, which she had paused in 2024 due to increased regulations. And she’s launched a Facebook marketing campaign and is exploring print-on-demand services from U.S.-based providers for production and fulfillment.
“This situation highlights how fragile small businesses can be when dependent on one market,” Pierangelini said. “While it has been a shock, it’s also pushed me to diversify — something that will hopefully make my business stronger and more resilient in the long run.”
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox on Monday said he will run for a seat in the Bahamas’ House of Assembly in an election due to be held no later than October.
“As a candidate and as a leader for the Bahamas I will demand transparency, honesty, integrity while demanding a level of excellence from all of us,” Fox wrote on social media.
“This is bigger than party politics. This is the Bahamas versus the world. Imagine a nation where every Bahamian feels secure, safe, empowered, and proud.”
Fox, who was born in Canada to a Bahamian father and Canadian mother, played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association as a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
Under the Bahamas’ parliamentary system, Fox will run to represent one of 39 constituencies but he did not specify which one.
Prime Minister Philip Davis will decide the date of the election, which must occur within five years of the last election in 2021.
Earlier in November, Fox announced he was forming the Good Neighbors Party with an agenda focused on regional integration in the Caribbean.
He was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Fox won three NBA titles with the Lakers from 2000 to 2002 and retired in 2004.
While in the NBA, he launched an acting career and has since starred in films and television shows like “Ugly Betty,” “Greenleaf” and “One Tree Hill.”
Fox has continued to live in the Los Angeles area but has a home in the Bahamas, where he was appointed ambassador at large for sports in 2022.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Teachers fended off a grizzly bear that attacked a school group walking along a trail in British Columbia, Canada, on Thursday, officials said.
“The group had stopped along a trail near the community when a grizzly bear emerged from the forest and attacked,” Insp. Kevin Van Damme of British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service, said in an update on social media. “Teachers successfully repelled the bear using pepper spray and a bear banger.”
Eleven people were injured in the attack, including students in the fourth and fifth grade, according to CBC News.
Two were in critical condition, two in serious condition and the other seven were treated at the scene, the British Columbia Health Services said.
British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service said the grizzly emerged from the woods and “attacked.”(Matthew Bailey/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The incident happened in Bella Coola, a town more than 400 miles north of Vancouver.
The victims were taken to Bella Coola Hospital and were being transferred to Vancouver for further care, Van Damme said.
Officials were still searching for the bear as of Friday, who they believe may have been previously injured.
“We recognize this incident is distressing for the community. We are in close contact with the Nuxalk Nation as our investigation continues. We thank them for their collaborative efforts to ensure community awareness and shared safety information,” Van Damme said. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and we wish them a full and speedy recovery.”
Bella Coola is more than 400 miles north of Vancouver in British Columbia.(Google Maps)
Tamara Davidson, British Columbia’s Minister of Environment and Parks, called the teachers who fought off the bear “true heroes,” adding that they were well-prepared, according to the Guardian.
Looking for a hidden gem with rugged coastlines and some of the clearest night skies in Canada? Terra Nova National Park, tucked on the eastern boundary of Newfoundland, gives nature lovers an opportunity to experience Mother Nature’s untouched beauty. Covering about 248 square miles, the sanctuary is one of the most beautiful places in Canada to visit thanks to its boreal forests, hikes, bays, and some of the best spots for stargazing.
Officially founded in 1957, Terra Nova was among the first national parks in Newfoundland, Canada’s seventh largest province. However, it was not until 1961 that it officially started operations. In 2018, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada designated the park as a Dark Sky Preserve due to the measures the park has taken to eliminate light pollution and provide a dark sky for star gazing.
Terra Nova National Park is a 45-minute drive from Gander via the Trans-Canada Highway. You can fly into Gander International Airport or St. John’s International Airport, the closest major city (which is about two hours southeast of the park).
Two persons watching the Milky Way sitting on chairs – Carlos Fernandez/Getty Images
Terra Nova National Park is among Canada’s most spectacular national parks for stargazers. Its remote location on Newfoundland’s northeast coast, far from the glare of major cities, gives it some of the clearest, darkest skies in Canada for viewing thousands of stars and the Milky Way. One of the best spots to view the stars in Terra Nova National Park is Sandy Pond, a freshwater lake bordered by boreal forest. It’s one of the darkest places in the park with a clear sight of the sky. The stars can be seen from the parking lot, or take a short walk to the sandy beach where the waters reflect the stars above.
If you want to stargaze on your camping trip, the Newman Sound Campground is the best spot. The campsite has little lighting, and you can step outside your tent or RV at night to gaze at the starry skies. Ochre Hill was a fire-watch station, but it has also become a popular stargazing spot. During the day, travelers can enjoy stunning views of the coastline and forests, but after sunset, its elevated location provides unobstructed views of the stars. You can also see the stars from Blue Hill, the highest point in the park. The elevated location provides a breathtaking view of the skies. If you want to know more about the night sky and constellations, Terra Nova National Park has events to celebrate astronomy.
Other activities to enjoy near the national park
Happy Latin American farmer selling organic strawberries to a client at a Farmer’s Market – Hispanolistic/Getty Images
Apart from the stunning night skies, Terra Nova National Park is awash with other outdoor adventures and activities that visitors can enjoy. If hiking is your thing, Terra Nova National Park has close to 50 miles of hiking trails that wind through the scenic landscapes and forests, making it one of the best destinations around the world for avid hikers. You can follow the Ochre Hill Trail, which takes you to a fire tower that provides beautiful views of the landscape. You can also try out the Terra Nova Coastal Trail, which is 5.6 miles long. This trail passes through the coast of Newman Sound with stunning water views.
If you want to discover towns near Terra Nova National Park, visit Clarenville, about 22 miles south of the park. On your tour around town, stop by the Clarenville Farm & Market for live entertainment or shopping for local produce and souvenirs. Have lunch with an ocean view at the Stellar Kitchen found in the Clarenville Inn to try its seafood chowder or deep-fried cod. If you’re craving comfort food, Rod’s Restaurant is the go-to eatery for locals and visitors looking for some hearty treats. Try the regional specialities, such as hot sandwiches with dressing and gravy, fish and chips, or fish and brewis (a hard biscuit made with salt fish and pork).
JOHANNESBURG/KYIV (Reuters) -European and other Western leaders meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit scrambled on Saturday to come up with a coordinated response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for Ukraine to accept his peace plan with Russia by Thursday.
The U.S. plan, which endorses key Russian demands, was met with measured criticism in many European capitals, with leaders trying to balance praise for Trump for trying to end the fighting, but also recognising that for Kyiv, some of the terms in his proposal are unpalatable.
On Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine faced a choice of either losing its dignity and freedom or Washington’s backing over the peace plan. He appealed to Ukrainians for unity and said he would never betray Ukraine.
EUROPEAN, WESTERN LEADERS MEET TO AGREE RESPONSE
That signal prompted European leaders to rally. At the meeting of the Group of 20 major economies in South Africa, leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, the EU Commission and EU Council met to discuss tactics, sources said.
While the leaders discussed next steps, Ukraine said it would hold talks with high-ranking U.S. officials in Switzerland on ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its fourth year.
“Ukraine will never be an obstacle to peace, and representatives of the Ukrainian state will defend the legitimate interests of the Ukrainian people and the foundations of European security,” a statement from the Ukrainian presidency said.
On Friday, Trump threw down the gauntlet to Ukraine, saying Zelenskiy had until Thursday to approve his 28-point plan, which calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO.
“He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” he said. “At some point he’s going to have to accept something he hasn’t accepted.”
Recalling their fractious February meeting with Zelenskiy, Trump added: “You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the cards.’”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said late on Friday that any plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine should preserve Ukrainian sovereignty and be acceptable to both countries but that it was a “fantasy” to think Ukraine could win if the U.S. were to give Kyiv more money or weapons or impose more sanctions on Moscow.
“There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand,” Vance wrote on X.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the plan as being the basis of a resolution to the conflict, but Moscow may object to some proposals in the plan, which requires its forces to pull back from some areas they have captured.
The peril for Zelenskiy was writ large when the Ukrainian president turned to a national address to prepare the population for a tough few days.
“Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice — either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner,” he said in a speech to the nation. “I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points in the plan are not overlooked – the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians.”
(Writing by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by William Maclean)
A grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada, injuring 11 people, two of them critically.
The attack happened Thursday afternoon in Bella Coola, 700 kilometers (435 miles) northwest of Vancouver. The Nuxalk Nation said the “aggressive bear” remained on the loose Thursday evening and police and conservation officers were on the scene.
“Officers are armed. Remain indoors and off the highway,” the First Nation said in a social media post.
Two people were critically injured and two had serious injuries, Emergency Health Services spokesman Brian Twaites said. The others were treated at the scene.
Parent Veronica Schooner said a lot of people tried to halt the attack but one male teacher “got the whole brunt of it” and was among the people taken by helicopter from the scene.
Schooner’s 10-year-old son Alvarez was in the class of fourth- and fifth-graders that was attacked and was so close to the animal “he even felt its fur,” she said.
“He said that bear ran so close to him, but it was going after somebody else,” Schooner said.
She added that some children were hit with bear spray as the teachers fought off the bear and Alvarez was limping and his shoes muddy from running for safety. Her son’s thoughts, however, were with his classmates.
“He keeps crying for his friends, and oh my goodness, right away he started praying for his friends,” she added.
Acwsalcta School, an independent school run by Nuxalk First Nation in Bella Coola, said in a Facebook post that the school will be closed on Friday and counseling made available.
“It’s hard to know what to say during this very difficult time. We are so grateful for our team and our students,” the post said.
Amazon has launched Alexa+, its next-generation digital assistant, in Canada. The company unveiled the new assistant in February, and it has been making its way to more and more people since. Canada is the first region outside the US to get access Amazon’s upgraded Alexa. Like the version that rolled out in the US, users can communicate with Alexa+ in natural language. They can say “I’m cold,” for instance, and the assistant will turn up the heat in their home. If they say “It’s dark,” Alexa+ can switch on the lights for them.
In Amazon’s announcement, Allison Siperco, the Alexa manager for Canada, said the assistant understands Canadian culture and regional expressions. It can understand distinctly Canadian topics, such as the country’s hockey teams and musicians. In addition, the assistant links with services Canadians use. It can make restaurant reservations for them through OpenTable, connects them to CBC news and help them look for and buy items from their e-commerce platforms. Siperco said the assistant will also support Yelp, Uber Eats, Suno and TripAdvisor in the country “soon.”
Alexa+ is capable of adapting its tone to everyone in the household, suggesting different routines based on the user. It can suggest meditation, for example, to someone who’s had a long day at the office. And it can remember if someone has dietary restrictions when recommending restaurants. Alexa+ can also help users shop by finding items with the best pricing, by creating grocery lists for them while taking dietary restrictions into account, as well as by comparing features across products and summarizing reviews on Amazon Canada.
Amazon’s upgraded assistant is free during its Early Access phase, though those who are interested to try it out right now will have to purchase the new Echo Show 8, Echo Show 11, Echo Dot Max or Echo Studio. After Early Access, it will remain free for Prime subscribers, while everyone else will have to pay $28 CAD a month for it.
MUNICH (Reuters) -Germany will not hit its own 3.5% defence spending target in 2029, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday, as the country ramps up spending in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Germany’s defence spending will only be 3.05% of gross domestic product that year, Pistorius said in Munich.
That is less than the 3.5% pledged by Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil earlier this year.
A NATO summit in The Hague this year agreed that allies will reach a new spending target of 5% of GDP by 2035. The target is made up of 3.5% in the defence budget, and another 1.5% of defence-related spending.
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Sabine Siebold; writing by Tom Sims; editing by Rod Nickel)
France denounced the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats as a violation of international law. Canada and the Netherlands have stressed they aren’t involved. Colombia has vowed to cut off intelligence cooperation with Washington. Mexico summoned the U.S. ambassador to complain.
Two months into the Trump administration’s military campaign against low-level smugglers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the coalition of partners that has long underpinned U.S. antidrug operations in the region is fraying.
