NEW YORK CITY: The UN secretary-general’s personal envoy for Sudan, Pekka Haavisto, joined fellow “Quintet” mediators in Khartoum on Tuesday for a round of talks aimed at reviving an inclusive political process that can end the conflict in Sudan, the UN said.
The Quintet group — comprising the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, the EU and the UN — held what Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, described as a “good offices mission” to hear an assessment by Sudanese stakeholders of the political and security situation in the country, and to share reflections on efforts to advance peace.
The envoys met at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry before engaging with representatives of UN agencies, Dujarric told reporters in New York. Next, they will meet Sudanese political and civilian representatives, followed by further engagements, he said.
Sudan has been locked in a civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and rival paramilitary faction the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.
Haavisto arrived in Khartoum on Friday and held a series of meetings with the chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, the prime minister, the foreign minister and senior government officials, as well as other political leaders and representatives of civil society, Dujarric said.
Haavisto’s talks over the weekend focused on “practical measures to advance deescalation and the protection of civilians,” Dujarric added. He also raised the issue of the release and exchange of detainees, and stressed the importance of a single national examination process for all Sudanese schoolchildren.
Haavisto called for an inclusive political process alongside concrete steps to reduce violence in the country, insisting that a negotiated settlement remained “the only viable path” toward a comprehensive ceasefire agreement and a sustainable end to the conflict.
The envoy is expected to remain in Sudan until the end of this week.
KYIV: US envoy Steve Witkoff said he and fellow emissary Jared Kushner held “important” talks Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on ending the war with Russia — but offered no sign of a breakthrough.
The envoys met with the Ukrainian leader on their first trip to Kyiv, a day after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s business ally, and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have been to Moscow several times, but had never held talks in the Ukrainian capital — hit by deadly Russian strikes for more than four years.
“We’ve had a very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we are very encouraged and we look forward to continuing this as long as it takes,” Witkoff said after the talks.
“Hopefully this trip has come out with some new ways to advance forward. I think we’ve learned a lot from the trip,” Kushner said after the meeting with Zelensky.
Witkoff and Kushner traveled to the region hoping to revive the Trump administration’s push for peace in Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, after a summer of escalation.
Another round of talks in the presence of British, French and German representatives was still ongoing.
“We are grateful that the Europeans are with us today and that we are in such a coalition of countries,” Zelensky said.
“Here we are all on the same side.”
‘Peace Express’
Like all visiting officials, the American delegation arrived by train, with “Peace Express” written on the platform at Kyiv Central Station.
Zelensky said Kyiv had “prepared everything to make our airports operational,” but that Russian strikes made arriving by plane impossible.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
Russia and Ukraine have vowed not to strike each other’s capitals during the US envoys’ trip.
‘Substantive plans’
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
A White House official said in a statement to AFP that in Moscow the envoys had “discussed substantive plans which will be announced in the coming weeks.”
The Kremlin said the Americans “put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement,” but did not elaborate.
Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine, and Russia increased deadly strikes this summer.
Since Putin launched the invasion in February 2022, the war has dragged on with no end in sight.
In Kyiv, many welcomed the fact the Americans even made it to Ukraine, but few believed in a breakthrough.
Nataliia Lipekh, 67, said it was “absolutely necessary (for them) to be here” and to see that “our land is already soaked with this blood and that we need some help.”
“At the moment, I have no grounds for hope,” said 29-year-old Yaroslav, saying he had seen “far too many of these negotiation processes.”
‘Idea for peace’
Putin on Saturday told the US envoys that Moscow would ensure their safety in Kyiv.
Just days ago, Russia struck the headquarters of the SBU security building in central Kyiv.
Trump has said his envoys were bringing a “proposal” to end the fighting.
“We have an idea for peace,” he said, without elaborating.
Undercutting Trump’s vow to end the war quickly, US peace efforts have stalled, in part because of Washington’s war with Iran.
‘Deceived us’
Despite the ceasefire pledges for the capital cities, fighting continued elsewhere.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had attacked overnight with 108 drones and missiles, while Moscow said it had shot down 258 drones.
Ukraine said Saturday that 10 people were killed by Russian strikes, including an 11-year-old boy.
With the war in its fifth year and thousands dead, peace seemed out of reach for most.
Yulia, a 41-year-old who came from a town now occupied by Russia and worked as a cleaner in Kyiv, said it was a “positive step” the Americans were in Kyiv.
“But taking our opponent into account… I can’t put my hopes on this, because for thousands of years they have deceived us with their empire and imperial habits,” she said, adding:
“We want to believe in it, but it’s very difficult.”
Saturday’s talks in Moscow lasted three hours and were held behind closed doors in Putin’s official residence in the heart of the Russian capital, according to Russian state media.
Details are still emerging, but both sides have given broadly positive remarks without going into specifics.
Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov described the talks as “constructive, extremely frank”.
“The talks were not limited to an exchange of views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis – economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in considerable detail,” he said.
Ushakov also said “note was made of the Russian army’s tangible advances in the combat zone” and that there was acknowledgement that talks needed to address “the root causes of the conflict”.
Despite an escalation of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Russian ground forces have made very slow advances for most of the conflict, incurring enormous casualties. Russia still controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory – areas that it seized back in 2022.
Kushner and Witkoff have visited Russia several times but given Ukraine’s airspace has been closed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, it is not clear how they will be travelling to Kyiv from Moscow.
The talks come after Russia and Ukraine have intensified aerial attacks in recent months.
Ukraine says it has struggled to repel ballistic missile attacks due to a lack of interceptor missiles, while Kyiv has focused its strikes on Russian economic infrastructure targets, notably oil installations.
Two of US President Donald Trump’s top envoys have arrived in Moscow ahead of a weekend of talks aimed at accelerating efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold talks in the Russian capital before travelling to Kyiv on Sunday for discussions with Ukraine.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Witkoff and Kushner were “bringing with them a proposal to end the war”. So far, efforts from the US and its allies to broker a peace deal have failed to deliver a breakthrough.
Both Russia and Ukraine have said they will halt strikes on each others’ capital cities for three days while the delegation conducts its visit.
Zelensky said on Saturday that he had spoken to the envoys, who have “already begun working with the Russian side today”.
“The plan for tomorrow’s diplomatic engagements in Kyiv, involving the US team, has been approved. We are waiting for Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and are ready for a substantive conversation,” he added.
“From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv.”
Russian state media reported that President Vladimir Putin had ordered a halt to strikes on Kyiv for three days due to the US visit.
Witkoff and Kushner were pictured being greeted by Russian official Kirill Dmitriev after landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.
Flight tracking data showed a US government plane had travelled from Helsinki, Finland, where it had flown to from the US earlier in the day.
US news outlet Axios reported that the US envoys would separately meet both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Kushner and Witkoff have visited Russia several times but the talks on Sunday would be the first in Ukraine.
The European Commission suspended imports of meat from Brazil on Thursday over concerns about antibiotic use, after Brasília failed to convince the EU executive that its products comply with European standards.
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The move comes as Brazilian meat imports lie at the heart of opposition to the free trade agreement signed in January 2026 by the Commission with Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
EU farmers accuse Latin American producers of failing to comply with the bloc’s phytosanitary and food safety standards, arguing that this gives Latin American products an unfair advantage on the EU market.
“We have rules that ban antimicrobials or using antimicrobials for growth,” Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova said. “On the 3rd of September, the list of countries that basically comply with our rules on antimicrobials comes into application.”
The spokesperson added that Brazil was not currently on the list, meaning its imports were suspended as of Thursday.
No guarantees for beef
The suspension, which resulted from a vote by national experts in May, covers beef, poultry, eggs and honey.
Imports of some products could resume following an audit of poultry and honey, launched on the basis of written guarantees of compliance provided by Brasília. The audit is expected to run until the end of the week, although the conclusions will take longer.
Hrncirova said no such guarantees had been provided for beef, adding that they must cover the animals’ entire life cycle, which is naturally longer for cattle.
Brazil’s ambassador to the EU, Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva, told Euronews ahead of the summer that technical discussions with the Commission were ongoing. However, Brazil ultimately failed to prevent the suspension from taking effect.
Trade in agricultural products was the most contentious issue throughout the 25-year negotiations over the Mercosur agreement.
The deal was provisionally applied in May after the European Parliament suspended the ratification process with a legal referral to the European Court of Justice.
Vice President JD Vance said in a podcast released Tuesday that if a 2024 assassination attempt had killed Donald Trump, he would have always wondered if it was part of a conspiracy and might not have accepted even another Republican as the next president.
Vance made the statement during a conversation with Christian podcaster Bryce Crawford. The vice president, who recently released a book detailing his own journey to Catholicism, also defended President Trump for posting an image of himself as Jesus and mused about whether artificial intelligence was a sign of the end times.
The conversation kicked off with a discussion of faith and the rush to scientifically explain away events that may be divinely touched. Vance cited the July 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, during which a bullet nicked Trump’s ear and a supporter was killed.
Trump has long talked about his survival as divinely guided, a theme Vance took up. The vice president said that if the bullet had killed Trump, “we would have had real civil strife in a way that I don’t know that the country could have ever come back from.”
Vance said many Trump supporters would have assumed a conspiracy had robbed them of their chosen president, and he said he would have also had those thoughts “in the back of my mind.”
“I would have assumed very dark forces had taken out Donald Trump, right as he was about to come back into the White House,” Vance said. “There would have just been an illegitimacy to our entire political system.”
Most of the hour-and-ten-minute conversation was an amiable chat about faith, Vance’s own spiritual journey, his Easter meeting with Pope Francis the day before the pontiff’s death last year, and human frailty and fallibility. But it occasionally touched on darker themes.
Crawford asked Vance whether, as vice president, he had ever been in a room that was “spiritually dark.”
“I’ve been in meetings with world leaders where various issues are being discussed, and somebody will say something or somebody will make an observation and I’ll feel some darkness about it, it sets off every spiritual alarm bell in my body,” Vance said. He added he also felt “a very dark spiritual energy” in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, probably because of the carnage at the Civil War battlefield.
Vance cites AI during a discussion about ‘end times’
Crawford also asked Vance about his interest in the “end times,” which the vice president laughingly said had been more of an obsession in youth during the late 1990s, when people were abuzz about the possibility with the coming millennium. A chortling Vance recounted a story of a friend who was obsessed that the world would end in late 2007 and ran up major credit card debt.
“There are, like, things about the world that make me feel, like, not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us, but, again I try not to focus too much on it,” Vance said. He cited “IT companies” and the use of artificial intelligence as a substitute for human interaction.
“I think that’s kind of satanic,” Crawford said when Vance recounted the story of one acquaintance using AI as a marriage counselor.
“Yeah, when you completely divorce the human from the social element that God made us for, OK that’s very, that’s very bad,” Vance said.
Crawford asked Vance about Trump’s post on social media of an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus earlier this year, which Crawford said offended him. Trump initially contended he thought the image was of him as a doctor, then took down the post amid widespread criticism from even some of his own backers.
Vance defended the president. “He did not mean to, like, mock or mimic God, that’s just not who he is,” Vance said, adding that the president often tries to keep things light and constantly makes jokes. “He’s a bit of a ballbuster, for those of us who work with him, and he just likes to have a good time. And I think that if people appreciated that, they would recognize, he’s not trying to offend people, he’s trying to keep things light.”
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has made a surprise appearance at United States-hosted G20 finance talks in North Carolina, sparking frustration and dismay among European ministers and officials.
Siluanov’s appearance at the talks in Asheville on Monday marks the first time the minister, who was appointed in 2011, has attended a G20 meeting in person since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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He held a bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Russia’s Ministry of Finance saying the two men discussed financial cooperation within the G20 framework.
A US official said the meeting focused on US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.
Asked about the invitation to Siluanov, Trump told reporters: “We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”
European officials, however, criticised the move.
Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he was unhappy to see Moscow represented, although he recognised the right of G20 hosts to invite guests.
“We do not trust Russia. They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,” he told the Reuters news agency, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.
“So for me, it would be very difficult to have any kind of conversation with Russia.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon and CEO of Goldman Sachs David M Solomon attend a plenary session as finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries meet in Asheville [Sam Wolfe/Reuters]
‘Troubling’ signal
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the US’s decision to welcome Siluanov sent a “signal I find troubling”.
He said he told Siluanov during a plenary session that Moscow had to end the war and “that we clearly support Ukraine”.
He also said Europe was preparing a further package of sanctions against Russia and hoped for close cooperation with Washington on the measures.
European ministers and central bankers also opposed appearing with Siluanov in the traditional G20 “family photo”, European officials said. The photograph was ultimately taken without the Russian minister.
Klingbeil said European officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, had discussed Russia’s involvement on Sunday and agreed that maintaining an avenue for dialogue could allow them to deliver a frank message to Moscow.
“However, the mere fact that the Russian finance minister is back – after, I believe, four G20 meetings without Russian participation – indicates an attempt at normalisation, and that makes it all the more important for us to push back,” he said.
Siluanov’s appearance marked a sharp contrast with the G20 meeting in Washington, DC, in April 2022, when his virtual participation prompted officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Central Bank to walk out.
White House defends talks with Russia
Asked about Siluanov’s attendance, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the AFP news agency that the Trump administration had been working with Russia to push for a deal that “would stop the endless bloodshed that the president has really condemned”.
“The president and the administration will never shy away from talking with the folks we need to talk to, to further that,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on here at the G20.”
Separately, Reuters and AFP, citing sources familiar with the Washington-Moscow talks, said Bessent had made clear that the US would not provide Russia with economic relief until war in Ukraine was over.
Trump has pushed Moscow and Kyiv to reach a deal to halt the fighting, but an initial 28-point plan that largely adhered to Russia’s demands was criticised by Ukraine and European governments.
The US, which currently holds the rotating G20 presidency, did not invite South Africa, last year’s G20 host, to the gathering. Poland, which is not a permanent G20 member, was invited.
Certain reporters from major US newsrooms, including The New York Times and Bloomberg News, were not granted credentials to cover the gathering.
The decision was condemned by the National Press Club, which said that “no administration should be allowed to handpick the press corps that scrutinizes it”.
The two-day meeting comes as global debt levels have reached a record of nearly $353 trillion and the global economy faces an energy shock triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran. The talks also come amid rising tensions over China’s large trade surplus and uncertainty over the effects of a surge in artificial intelligence investment.
Manchester City have opened talks with Chelsea in their bid to sign midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
In what is set to be one of the key narratives on transfer deadline day, City have set the wheels in motion towards what would be one of the most expensive deals of the summer.
It is understood Chelsea want a minimum of £120m for Fernandez and talks are under way as both clubs negotiate a price.
Fernandez, 25, worked with City manager Enzo Maresca during the Italian’s reign at Chelsea.
Maresca is keen to work with the Argentina international again, while Fernandez is open to a move to City.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that India supports every effort to end the war in Ukraine. The two leaders met in Bishkek at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
Aug. 30 (UPI) — Icelandic voters rejected restarting talks about the Nordic island nation joining the European Union.
Referendum results announced Sunday showed that 53% of people voted against the talks while 47% said yes. Overall, 68,135 were cast with 82.4% voter turnout.
Iceland had discussed joining the bloc in 2013 shortly after a banking collapse in the country and the global economic crisis. Talks ended because Icelanders were concerned about keeping sovereign control over fisheries, the country’s top export.
Iceland would not have become an EU member automatically if voters had approved the talks. The country’s representatives would have had to negotiate with Brussels, and Icelandic voters would have had to approve EU membership in a second referendum.
“This is a good day,” Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir said Saturday. “We have now reached the point where this is in the hands of the nation. Either we enter these negotiations, seek a good agreement and then see what happens, or we put the discussion about the European Union aside, at least for the time being.”
Frostadóttir last month said on the British podcast, The Rest is Politics, that Iceland currently follows 75% of EU rules.
“Joining it is not going to sink the country and joining it is also not fundamentally going to change every aspect of Icelandic, you know, economy,” she said at the time.
However, there was concern that the other 27 countries in the EU would drown out Iceland and the country would have to change its currency to the euro from the króna.
With almost all votes counted, the ‘no’ side was ahead by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent, the national broadcaster says.
Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026
Voters in Iceland have rejected a proposal to resume negotiations on joining the European Union, dealing a setback to the government’s push for closer ties with the 27-country bloc.
With almost all votes counted, the “no” side was ahead by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent, according to national broadcaster RUV. Official results have not been announced yet.
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The result is not a vote on EU membership itself, but on whether Iceland should reopen accession negotiations that were suspended more than a decade ago.
The government had argued that renewed talks could help Iceland confront growing economic and geopolitical pressures, including tensions over Arctic security.
Opponents of accession instead focused on protecting Iceland’s fishing waters and general sovereignty-related issues that would arise if the country became part of the bloc.
Here is what you need to know:
What was the vote about?
The referendum asked Icelanders a simple question: Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?
It was not a vote on whether Iceland should actually join the EU. A “yes” result would have allowed the government to restart negotiations with Brussels. Any eventual agreement on membership would then have been put to voters in another referendum.
In 2009, Iceland applied to join the EU, following a financial crisis that severely affected its economy. Negotiations were suspended in 2013 after a eurosceptic government came to power.
Technically, the referendum result is nonbinding, but the coalition government headed by Social Democratic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir has vowed to respect the result.
What was the result of the vote?
The “no” side won, according to RUV, with 52.5 percent against 47.5 percent for “yes”. Some votes from one constituency were still pending, but they were not expected to change the result.
The outcome represents a setback for Frostadottir’s government, which had presented the referendum as a “now or never” moment for the EU debate.
What’s the debate in Iceland on joining the EU?
The debate has largely centred on the economy, fishing rights and the cost of living.
The most important argument put forward by opponents against membership was the fate of the country’s fishing industry, a major part of Iceland’s economy.
Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir, the opposition leader who campaigned for the “no” vote, rejected claims that Brussels could solve Iceland’s economic problems.
“These are not problems that Brussels will solve for us. These are problems that Icelandic politicians must solve,” she said.
A supporter wearing a European Union flag attends an election-night gathering in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sunday, August 30, 2026 [Marco Di Marco/AP Photo]
Supporters, however, argued EU membership could help address Iceland’s high inflation and interest rates. Iceland’s central bank rate is eight percent, compared with 2.25 percent at the European Central Bank.
Some also saw adopting the euro as a potential source of economic stability. Nevertheless, Iceland already has close economic links with the EU.
It belongs to the European Economic Area and the Schengen free-travel zone, giving it access to the EU’s single market without being a member.
What triggered the referendum?
The EU debate gained urgency because of a changing geopolitical environment surrounding Arctic countries. Iceland is a NATO member, but has no military of its own and depends heavily on its allies for defence.
However, the country’s left-leaning coalition government, elected in 2024, moved up the EU referendum it had planned for next year after US President Donald Trump mistakenly named the country four times while speaking about his policy towards Greenland.
The government argued that closer ties with Europe could provide Iceland with greater protection and strengthen its position amid growing tensions in the region.
Frostadottir said the campaign had raised discussion about Iceland’s place in the world and its broader geopolitical position.
“We’ve been waiting for this for years to be able to have a vote,” Frostadottir said, adding that her government would continue its work regardless of the outcome.
What happens next?
It is unlikely that Iceland will resume EU accession negotiations during the current government’s term, which runs until 2028.
The government had already said it would respect a “no” vote. It is also expected to refer to parliament the question of whether Iceland should formally withdraw its EU membership application.
For now, Iceland will remain outside the EU while continuing its existing relationship with the bloc through the European Economic Area and Schengen.
Icelanders head to the polls on Saturday to decide whether their country should reenter negotiations to join the European Union, a vote that could have economic and security implications beyond the small Arctic country.
The election comes 13 years after Iceland, under a Eurosceptic government, paused the last EU accession talks, believing the country would fare better outside the bloc.
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But much has changed since then.
Arctic security concerns have grown amid Russia’s war against Ukraine and United States President Donald Trump’s threats to invade neighbouring Greenland, the cost of living has climbed and Iceland’s currency has kept wavering.
Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir, whose Social Democrats party is pro-EU, said she will honour whatever choice the public makes.
If Icelanders vote “yes”, the country would likely start years of negotiations with Brussels to hammer out membership terms. It would then hold a second referendum on whether to formally become part of the EU.
Frostadottir has said a “yes” vote would see the nation “enter negotiations with our heads held high and stand together in seeking a good agreement”.
If the result is “no”, “all speculation about what [EU membership] might involve will be set aside”, she said.
Knife-edge vote
Recent surveys show Icelanders are almost evenly split on the proposal.
A Gallup opinion poll conducted this week found that 51.6 percent of respondents were against new EU membership talks, while 48.4 percent favoured them.
An earlier survey by Icelandic pollster Maskina showed a narrow majority of 51.3 percent of respondents backing new EU accession talks.
Gabriella Gricius, associate professor of strategy at the Norwegian Military Academy, said Iceland’s lack of armed forces has always left it “reliant on NATO and specifically the US for its security”.
“As the US has grown more unpredictable, and specifically, its rhetoric around Greenland has grown more concerning, it is not surprising that Iceland is seeking additional security guarantees through the EU,” Gricius told Al Jazeera.
Adam Fishwick, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Iceland, said the expected benefits of membership would be reduced inflation, a more stable currency and fewer customs barriers for consumers.
“There may also be opportunities for regional development in Iceland, which is an important issue here, with access to dedicated EU funds,” he told Al Jazeera.
However, the debate over EU accession remains “quite polarised”, he noted. Opponents fear the small nation of 395,000 people would “lose control over everyday policy decisions” and have limited sway in a bloc filled with larger European powers, Fishwick said.
Voters to weigh impact on inflation, currency
The benefits of EU membership for Iceland are not as obvious as for other potential candidates.
Iceland is a relatively wealthy country that, as a member of Schengen and the European Economic Area, already gets a lot of the single-market access that would come with EU membership.
However, the country has experienced growing economic pains in recent years, primarily regarding the cost of living. Consumer prices in 2025 exceeded those of any EU state and were 87 percent higher than the EU average.
Iceland’s currency, the krona, meanwhile, has been prone to exchange-rate swings that opponents say lower investment confidence and make it more costly to borrow money. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs concluded that the costs of maintaining Iceland’s own currency probably outweigh the benefits. Adopting the euro, it said in a report, may help reduce interest rates and transaction costs.
Joining the EU could help address both issues.
Iceland would become a part of the bloc’s customs union, in which goods move freely between members and face a common tariff when imported from non-member countries. It could also adopt the more stable euro as its currency.
Fishing industry concerns: ‘Backbone of the economy’
A major concern, though, is the impact on the country’s fishing industry, an economic pillar that in 2024 directly contributed about 8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and much more indirectly.
By joining the EU, Iceland would become subject to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, which governs European fishing fleets and fish stocks.
Iceland’s fishing industry fears this change could lead to new catch quotas, increased foreign competition and, more broadly, less control over local fishing policy.
A fishing boat battles rough seas in Grindavik, Iceland [File: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images]
“The fundamental objection to EU membership is that Iceland would not retain full control over its fisheries – the traditional backbone of the economy,” Valur Ingimundarson, professor of contemporary history at the University of Iceland, told Al Jazeera.
Even if Icelanders vote “yes” to proceed with EU negotiations, the country is unlikely to go forward with EU membership unless it secures “ironclad” exemptions regarding its fishing industry, said Ingimundarson.
‘Additional security guarantees’
Mounting security pressures in the Arctic, coupled with uncertainty about US commitment to its traditional European partners, are also contributing to Iceland’s renewed interest in the EU, say analysts.
Though Iceland is a founding member of NATO and has a 75-year defence treaty with the US, it has no standing armed forces of its own and is located in a geopolitical hotspot that both Russia and the US have sought to project power in.
While Russia has expanded its military presence in the Arctic in recent years, President Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to seize nearby Greenland.
Ingimundarson said pro-EU Icelanders see “the EU as a source of political and economic protection for a small state confronted by coercive great-power politics and uncertainty about the US as a reliable security partner”.
Iceland’s Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir has said membership would be “a valuable addition” for Iceland, even though NATO and the US would still be its core security partners.
In comments to Reuters, Gunnarsdottir said Iceland has been “disappointed” with the US’s “pressure campaign waged against both Greenlanders and Denmark”.
Russia poses a security threat “in our waters and nearby, in the North Atlantic”, said Gunnarsdottir.
For the EU, bringing Iceland into its orbit would expand EU territory much deeper into the North Atlantic, potentially deepening its strategic focus there, said Gricius, the professor.
“Icelandic membership in the EU wouldn’t necessarily change Arctic security dynamics, as Iceland is and will continue to be an Arctic state,” she said. “However, it may influence how the EU behaves in the Arctic, as the EU would then include four of the eight Arctic states – Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark.”
The back-to-back news this week of the deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry — both at age 80 — felt like an unfair and twisted threat to our peace.
Both were extraordinary cultural forces whose screen and stage work lit up and shaped our lives, so its no wonder the emotional whirlpool led to one large group chat on social media, with fans posting favorite performance clips and interview soundbites. I took comfort in many, including Parton singing “Jolene” at the Grand Ole Opry in 1988 and eight minutes of Curry in the frantic “how it was done” climax in “Clue” (1985), which he reportedly performed so intensely he had to be taken to the hospital for high blood pressure.
Our writers captured the depth of the legacy each leaves behind.
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The country music superstar’s performance in 1982’s “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, is one of our streaming recommendations this week. (For those seeking community while celebrating the life of Parton, AMC Theatres announced screenings for the film, as well as “Steel Magnolias,” in select locations through Sept. 2.) Our other streaming suggestion, if you need a life vest to keep afloat through the tears, is a series featuring veteran fashion police partners reuniting again — this time, to dole out critiques of fictional characters.
Also in this week’s Screen Gab, we spoke with actor Kristen Johnston about the Season 2 return of “Leanne.” Best known for her role as Sally Solomon in the hit ’90s sitcom “3rd Rock From the Sun,” Johnston has built a career bringing laughs to comedies like TV Land’s “The Exes” and CBS’ “Mom.” Lately, she’s been bringing her seasoned comedy skills to Netflix’s multi-cam sitcom, which captures the messy (and funny) experiences of women navigating midlife — like dealing with menopause or the horrors of the modern dating scene. Stand-up comedian Leanne Morgan stars as the titular character, while Johnston plays her brutally honest sister, Carol.
“Not every show has to be, you know, medieval dragons,” Johnston says. “There’s room for a couple of silly women in their 50s trying to figure it out.” Read more from Johnston in Guest Spot. In the meantime, I’m off to mix and bake a cuppa flour, a cuppa sugar and a cuppa fruit cocktail with the juice at 350 till it’s gold and bubbly. See you next week. — Yvonne Villarreal
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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Dolly Parton as Miss Mona in the 1982 movie “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
(Universal Pictures)
“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (VOD)
Dolly Parton cemented her movie star status with her feature debut “9 to 5” alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. But outside of the irresistible title song, Parton did not sing in the film. She makes up for it with her second film, 1982’s “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Adapted from the Broadway musical, the country superstar dazzles as Miss Mona Stangley, the proprietress of the popular “Chicken Ranch” brothel. With her characteristic down-home charm, she makes her place of business seem as wholesome as apple (“There’s lots of goodwill and maybe one small thrill, but there’s nothing dirty going on,” she sings in the opening number). Parton also contributed two extra songs to the soundtrack alongside the original Broadway score, including her hit “I Will Always Love You.” — Greg Braxton
Clinton Kelly, left, and Stacy London in “Why’d They Wear That?”
(Jordan Petsy / Simple Alien)
“Why’d They Wear That?” (YouTube)
Stacy London and Clinton Kelly are back with a third “Wear” show, after “What Not To Wear” and last year’s “Wear Whatever the F You Want.” This one’s for the Stacy and Clinton fans, as it removes the clients and makeover elements and sits the hosts on a bed together in front of a TV as they critique what characters wear in the movies, viewing film through the lens of clothing, hair and makeup. (It’s very smart.) The films and actors they highlight are meaningful to one or the other — they don’t always agree — which is to say they broadly represent the tastes of people born in 1969. The range of subjects encompasses “Meatballs,” “Poltergeist,” “Best in Show,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” in which episode you will learn that London views Darth Vader as “the Karl Lagerfeld of outer space” (“monochromatic dressing … quiet luxury and he doesn’t change — he invests in his pieces”). One episode is a tribute to Catherine O’Hara. With no one’s feelings to dance around, they can be as critical as they like, but snark isn’t the point so much as celebration and the delight of old friends sharing their own, often self-deprecating stories. Come for the analysis, stay for the laughter, or vice versa. — Robert Lloyd
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Leanne Morgan, left, and Kristen Johnston in Season 2 of “Leanne.”
(Patrick Mcelhenney / Netflix)
In “Leanne,” Kristen Johnston plays the ultimate ride-or-die sister you want in your corner — she turns chaotic moments into fun, tells the hard truths and provides unwavering emotional support. The Netflix sitcom stars comedienne Leanne Morgan as a woman trying to rebuild her life after her husband of 33 years left her for someone else. Helping her navigate the emotional rubble is her family, including her fiercely loyal, unfiltered, twice-divorced sister, Carol (Johnston). As Leanne confronts more change in Season 2, like turning 60 and coming to terms with aging parents that require more care, Carol remains a blunt support system. Over the phone, Johnston discussed her connection to the themes explored in the comedy and the genre of TV that has her hooked these days. — Y.V.
Change continues to be a theme in Season 2. It opens with Leanne resisting the idea of turning 60 and still not ready to be alone with herself. Carol is there to remind her that she’s capable. Tell me about your 50s, Kristen. How are you feeling about this stage of your life and the prospect of turning 60?
Oh my God! Honestly, I never even thought I’d make it to my 50s. So, the fact that I’m still here is a pretty big miracle. My 50s has just continued to be about trying to figure out my place in the world and deepening my friendships with my friends, my family. That’s about it.
Are there things you used to worry about that now you’re like, “I can handle that”?
I used to worry about everything, and now I really couldn’t give a s—. I don’t live for other people’s opinions anymore, and that was probably something I lived for for a long time. When you get fame really early, you just condition yourself to not make anyone upset and not get found out by the tabloids or be stalked. I don’t know. I do enjoy really just trying to live. Other people’s opinions matter to me, but they’re not the reason I do or don’t do anything.
You and Leanne both get a chance to play with the idea of getting older early in the season with a daydream sequence about being in the retirement home. What was that like? It hits at such a big topic that many people come to grips with at some point, which is the idea of caring for aging parents.
That’s a huge topic this season, and it one it matters to me because my mom is still here — thank God. But it’s stuff that really comes up a lot. When it’s time to get them into a home, it’s so hard, and of course, they never want to go. Who would? But literally doing that scene was so great because I’m so into prosthetics and makeup. We had a lot of fun coming up with what each of us would be.
Kristen Johnston, left, and Leanne Morgan in “Leanne.”
(Patrick Mcelhenney / Netflix)
The bond between Leanne and Carol is such an important element of the show. What do you think this show really gets right about sisterhood?
It feels very real. You have one who’s a black sheep and always blamed for everything, then you’ve got one who’s the Goody Two-shoes and got married at the right time and had kids. Carol did none of that. But throughout that, and much more important than the rivalry and being mad at each other or whatever, is just this absolute unending love. And I feel very sisterly towards Leanne. I get really emotional about her because I feel like she’s my sister. They’re pretty easy scenes to act.
You’ve worked in multi-cam sitcoms across broadcast, cable and streaming. Do you feel a difference?
I don’t know if it’s as much that they’re different, but the times sure have been different. I’m from the era where we would have the head of the studio come to every taping and send us cards and thank you or call you to come over to his house for his 60th birthday or whatever. That doesn’t really happen anymore. I’m from this other era, which really felt more personal and felt more one-on-one. Now it really just feels like, “Don’t look at me. I just want thanks for the paycheck.”
And it seems hard to even gauge how well the shows are doing.
Exactly. Leanne was so nervous about all that at first, and I just said, “Look, all we can do is our our best. Let’s just be funny and have fun, and everything else is above our pay grade.” So she went with that. That’s how we kind of roll.
OK, tell me — how often are you asked about the “Splat!” episode of “Sex and the City”? How often do people come up to you about Lexi?
It’s crazy. It’s all anybody wants to talk about, any podcasters or anything. Really, I would say 80% of the conversations I’ve had in the last few weeks are focused mainly on that.
What does that tell you that a role that was a one-off could have that kind of lasting impact?
It’s the shock of what happens in that scene more than almost anything. There was kind of this angry “I’m gonna live no matter what” vibe to her. So to watch her fall to her death out of her own hubris, it’s just a perfect little encapsulation of a moment in New York City, and I think that’s why people love it. It’s also probably one of the bigger, bigger acting choices I’ve ever made. That was Michael Patrick King. I can’t believe it still matters to people, but obviously, I’m thrilled it does. I did like three takes [of the fall]. And it could have been the stunt woman [who made the cut]. I honestly don’t know who they cut to for what.
Because when people say, “Are you a Carrie? Are you a Charlotte?” A lot of people say, “I’m Lexi.”
They tell me that all the time. I just go, “Oh, babes.” I wouldn’t really want to cling to her as like an inspiration for your character, but I think what they mean is they’re probably bawdy. There are worse things to be in life.
What’s the most recent thing you watched that you’re obsessed with?
I’ve gone down the K-drama rabbit hole. And something I loved is this C-drama called “Pursuit of Jade” on Netflix. It’s so well-done, really good and very thrilling. A period show. Love it. I’ve been sucked into that. Oh, for K-drama — “Bon Appétit, Your Majesty.” That’s pretty much where I’ve been living.
What’s your go-to comfort watch?
I like spooky, weird stuff like “True Detective,” “Broadchurch.” I just did a rewatch. I can’t believe “Broadchurch” is my comfort show. Anything with really good character development, fantastic acting. I love it.
US trade officials downplay French language dispute, calling claims fabricated.
Published On 27 Aug 202627 Aug 2026
Canada’s top trade negotiator with the United States, Dominic LeBlanc, says he “welcomes” a shift in the US position on “discoverability”, “labelling” and “measures to promote French language and Canadian culture” not being subject to US tariffs.
LeBlanc praised the move in a post on Thursday on X and added that Canada is looking “forward to further constructive U.S. clarifications on their other positions, which would create the possibility of a mutually beneficial trade agreement”.
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Al Jazeera reached out to the White House for comment, but it pointed to an interview with US Trade Representative Jamison Greer on the Canadian broadcaster CBC in which Greer said French language discoverability on streaming services “is not something where we push hard or condition or red-line”.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed those comments at a news conference on Thursday outside the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
“Do I care about how the Quebecois speak? I mean, what could matter less to America? We don’t care. So the fact is we never brought those words up. This is manufactured, and that’s why the president put out a [post on Truth Social] saying it was a complete lie, right? It was manufactured,” Lutnick told reporters.
The comments come on the heels of tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Ottawa.
Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on roughly $20bn of US goods ranging from 15 to 50 percent that will go into effect on September 8. Those levies were in response to 50 percent tariffs announced by Washington on Canadian goods as negotiations collapsed over the weekend.
US President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric against Canada in recent days, including signing an executive order on Thursday to rename Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the five Great Lakes, which borders Ontario, to Lake America.
On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said US officials made “threats to the French language” as well as threats to the culture of Canada and Quebec specifically.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs are to hit hundreds of consumer products, including ice skates, dishwashers and construction materials. However, on Wednesday, Ottawa scaled back some tariffs, including those on fish and other seafood products.
“Based on feedback, we have made select adjustments to protect against economic harms, including removing seafood and fish products from our list of counter-tariffs,” Canada’s Department of Finance said in a post on X.
“We are continually working with Canadian industries to assess the effectiveness of these measures, with a primary focus on industries that have been targeted by US tariffs.”
Chelsea are in talks to sign Atalanta defender Honest Ahanor.
The Blues expressed an interest in the 18-year-old Italian when they signed right-back Marco Palestra from the Serie A side in July.
BBC Sport has been told Atalanta are willing to sell Ahanor if their 40m euro (£34.3m) valuation is met.
Ahanor, who mainly plays at left-back, joined Atalanta from Genoa on a three-year deal last summer for a reported fee of 16m euros, plus 4m euros in add-ons.
He made 28 appearances in Serie A for Atalanta last season, establishing himself as a regular starter for the Italian club. He also made his Champions League debut in a 2-1 win against Club Brugge in September.
In May, he was called up by Italy for friendly matches against Luxembourg and Greece.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani is due to visit Tehran on Thursday for talks on de-escalating tensions and reviving dialogue between Iran and the United States.
A spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the visit in a statement on X on Wednesday.
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Majed al-Ansari said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar’s foreign minister, will meet with “a number of Iranian officials” in Tehran to “discuss ways to de-escalate tensions” and “create the conditions conducive to dialogue”.
“The visit comes in line with the State of Qatar’s firm position that the diplomatic path is the best means of resolving differences & promoting security & stability in the region,” he added.
Iran also confirmed the visit, saying the discussions will cover “the continuation of Qatar’s mediation efforts and initiatives, as well as other regional developments”.
Qatar has served as a back-channel negotiator between Washington and Tehran and helped secure a memorandum of understanding in June that briefly paused hostilities. The agreement collapsed in July, and the conflict is now nearing its sixth month, with fighting largely paused but no diplomatic breakthrough in sight.
The US has, meanwhile, promised to increase economic pressure on Tehran by sanctioning its trade partners.
US President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he was in “no hurry” to resume talks with Iran, saying that he believed economic and military action against Tehran were both effective.
“I have no time schedule; whatever it takes,” he said.
‘Economic terrorism’
Iran has continued to denounce the economic pressure campaign.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote to the United Nations on Wednesday calling the new sanctions an “act of state and economic terrorism” and urging member states not to implement them.
“The sanctions deliberately harm civilians by restricting access to food, medicine, medical equipment, energy and other essentials, violating rights including the rights to life, health, food and an adequate standard of living”, he said.
The two sides also remain at odds over the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.
Iran wants control over the strait, while the US wants it to remain an international waterway that is free for all. That disagreement in part led to the collapse of the memorandum signed in June.
Oil flows through the strait have since fallen to a three-month low, with just 5 million barrels per day (bpd) transiting on Monday. Before the war, the strait carried roughly 20 million bpd of crude oil.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sheikh Mohammed will also discuss the waterway in his meetings in Tehran on Thursday, focusing on “the need for it to return to the status quo prior to February 28”.
Regional diplomacy
Sheikh Mohammed’s visit comes two days after Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi met his Iranian counterpart, Araghchi, in Tehran.
Following those talks, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the two countries had agreed on a new temporary route for shipping in the strait.
But he insisted that the waterway will not reopen until the US fulfils its commitments under the June deal, including the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets.
Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, also visited Tehran earlier in the week in a bid to “end the stalemate” in the conflict, with Islamabad reporting “significant progress” in those talks.
Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Tehran, said that regional countries were pushing for dialogue because “they believe that the situation is moving towards escalation”.
“They know that if war breaks out, it would be a fully-fledged war and the fire would spill over into the entire region and beyond, leaving a detrimental impact on the global economy,” he said. “So there are hectic diplomatic moves on the part of these countries.”
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta made it clear Tuesday he holds the power to extract major concessions in the battle over the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
A day after canceling settlement talks, Bonta said he remains open to meeting with Paramount Skydance executives to find remedies to resolve the antitrust lawsuit stalling David Ellison’s $111-billion takeover, but called on the company to end its “amateur hour” conduct.
“If you want to have an adult, legitimate, serious settlement discussion — no problem,” Bonta said during an appearance in Los Angeles. “But if you want to play games, we’ve got better things to do.”
That wasn’t the issue, Bonta said, specifically pointing to leaks about the settlement talks that appeared in various news outlets.
Some reports suggested Bonta’s office sought the negotiations amid withering political pressure. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for governor, have separately urged a settlement to end the antitrust fight.
Bonta set the record straight: “Paramount reached out to us to have settlement discussions,” he said. “They asked for them.”
Bonta’s beef was that the substance of the nascent negotiations appeared in newspaper articles despite both sides agreeing to hold confidential talks, Bonta said, adding that crossed the line. The Wall Street Journal reported that California’s top prosecutor planned to ask Paramount for agreements to keep Warner Bros. and the Paramount Pictures film studios separate units as well as an agreement to sell some cable channels.
“We thought they were reaching out to us in good faith … unfortunately, they violated the rules of engagement,” Bonta said. “They leaked lies to the press while we were in settlement negotiations. That’s not okay … That is amateur hour.”
Paramount declined to comment. On Monday, Paramount denied it was the source of the leaks.
Bonta’s comments appeared as a show of strength after major court wins.
The coalition of attorneys general, who also represent New York, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon, last month won a temporary restraining order that blocked Paramount from closing the deal. Rather than lose in a hearing over a more consequential preliminary injunction, Paramount voluntarily agreed that it would not finalize the transaction until after the trial or by June 1, whichever date comes first.
U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín set a March 2 trial, which was in line with the plaintiff states’ request. Paramount had lobbied for a November date.
“We are winning in this lawsuit,” Bonta said. “They have eight of the biggest law firms in the country, making every imaginable argument under the sun. And they lost, the judge said: ‘You are likely to lose this case’… the states are likely to succeed on the merits.”
“If they are willing to clean things up, put a lid on their lying leaks and engage in a way that is sincere and in good faith, we will be where we always are … happy to meet,” Bonta said.
Staff writer Kevin Rector contributed to this report.
The trip is thought to be Ratcliffe’s first trip to Russia as CIA director, although he has maintained contact with his intelligence counterparts in Moscow.
John Foreman, who served as a British military attaché to Moscow between 2019 and 2022, told Radio 4’s PM programme that the visit could be focused on “escalation management” given speculation recent drone activity in Germany could be linked to Russia.
He said: “The Americans don’t normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up.”
Foreman said the trip could also concern the release of US detainees currently being held in Russia.
Ratcliffe played a role in negotiations for the release of Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina’s, who was jailed in Russia for over a year after being accused of providing support to Ukraine.
The CIA was also involved in a 2024 prisoner swap deal with Russia that saw the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, as well as former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
The US has had strained relations with Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, Russia has been isolated on the world stage and faced international economic sanctions.
Ratcliffe appears to be one of the highest-ranking US officials to visit the country during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska last year but the meeting did not lead to a breakthrough. Subsequent US-led peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to have stalled.
Islamabad, Pakistan — Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir spent Monday moving through the power corridors of Tehran: the presidency, parliament, the Supreme National Security Council, and the foreign and interior ministries.
He met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is Tehran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States to end their now six-month-long war.
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But amid a deadlock in those peace negotiations, many analysts say that Munir’s true test as mediator will lie in his ability to use his position as one of the region’s most powerful military leaders to convince his Iranian counterparts in olive uniforms to agree to a return to talks with Washington.
Days before Munir’s visit, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a gathering of doctors in Tehran that it was time to end the war while Iran held the advantage, a message aimed as much at Tehran’s own security establishment as at Washington.
“It is better that we bring the war to an end now as we are in a position of power and dignity,” he said, adding that “the whole world acknowledges our victory”.
Hours later, on August 21, the chief of the general staff of Iran’s armed forces, Major-General Ali Abdollahi, promised “revolutionary, crushing, regret-inducing and devastating” responses to any American miscalculation.
It was a sharp illustration of the gap between Iran’s president and the men now running its military — one that Munir will need to also navigate, analysts say.
And that’s why Munir’s most significant meeting on Monday might have been with General Mohsen Rezaei, a representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the newly appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. Rezaei is essentially the bridge between the military and Khamenei.
State of the war
Munir’s visit to Tehran came on a day when the region and the world were bracing for US President Donald Trump’s threatened “economic D-Day” sanctions against Iran, accompanied by a threatened punishment for all countries that continue to trade with Tehran.
Later in the day, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled “Operation Economic Outcast“, a sweeping sanctions campaign targeting Iran’s digital assets, gold, aviation, technology and shipping networks.
But while warning other countries to sever trade ties with Iran, he held back from actually announcing any penalties for those nations, acknowledging that such a step would “blow up the global financial system”.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking the same day, kept the option of renewed strikes open.
“If we need to use kinetic strikes, we’ll use them. If Iran is foolish enough to overplay their hand or mess with the American military, we’ll do what we need to do,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Munir’s visit helped stave off broader US action against Iran and its trading partners.
But the timing was significant, analysts point out. Munir travelled to Tehran days after taking a phone call from United States President Donald Trump, who reportedly asked Islamabad to use its influence to bring Iran back to the table.
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the one-day visit had produced “comprehensive discussions” on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war.
Iranian officials, the ISPR added, “appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role and sincere efforts”.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who travelled with Munir, went further, calling the talks “very positive and productive” and saying “significant progress was made”.
A reshuffled Iranian military
This was his fourth visit to Tehran this year, but his first since Iran’s military hierarchy changed earlier this month.
Pakistan’s military chief, Asim Munir, met General Mohsen Rezaei, representative of the supreme leader and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, in Tehran on Monday, August 24, 2026 [Handout/Inter-Services Public Relations]
On August 10, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei installed Abdollahi as chief of the general staff and moved Rezaei into the Supreme National Security Council. Ahmad Vahidi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has held his post since March, when his predecessor was killed in the war’s opening strikes.
It is these military men that analysts say are now shaping Iran’s war moves, potentially giving a fellow man in uniform an edge over traditional diplomats in convincing Tehran to get back to talks.
“It is increasingly the IRGC and the wider security establishment driving decisions on war and peace during this crisis,” Ahmed Saeed, a former vice admiral in Pakistan’s navy and a defence analyst, told Al Jazeera.
Naqvi, the interior minister, has travelled to Tehran eight times since April without those visits producing a substantial breakthrough.
But unlike him, Munir is not a politician. He’s a general who appears to enjoy the trust of both the Iranian leadership and, crucially, Trump — who has described the Pakistani army chief as his “favourite field marshal”.
“The call [to Munir a few days ago] was initiated by Trump himself, requesting Pakistani leadership use its influence to bring Iran back to the table,” Saeed said.
Warm words, no movement
What Iranian officials actually told Munir, in accounts carried by Iranian state media, differed little from what they have been telling their own broadcasters all week.
“We distrust America, and it must change its behaviour,” Rezaei told Munir, according to IRNA.
Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, was blunter.
“We are pursuing the implementation of the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, and it is America that must adhere to its commitments based on the Memorandum of Understanding,” he told Munir, according to IRNA.
Pezeshkian, meanwhile, pressed Munir to tell Washington to “correct its tone and approach”, warning that “relying on force and bullying will only complicate the process”, according to Tasnim, another Iranian outlet.
Two tracks, one strait
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi is also expected in Tehran today for a separate round of talks focused specifically on the Strait of Hormuz, a track that has run alongside Pakistan’s mediation for months.
Oman’s involvement is not new. Albusaidi has held recurring talks with Tehran on the strait’s navigation rules.
Ejaz Haider, a Lahore-based defence analyst, said the Omani and Pakistani diplomatic tracks complement each other.
“Oman and Islamabad channels complement, because clause 5 of the Islamabad MoU stresses a bilateral understanding on the strait [between Oman and Iran],” he told Al Jazeera. The Strait of Hormuz passes through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.
“This [a deal between Iran and Oman to jointly manage the strait] is not in the interest of the US, which is why Trump has threatened to bomb Oman,” Haider said, referring to remarks Trump made on August 17, when he told Fox News he would bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of reopening the strait, the second time he had threatened the US ally over Hormuz.
Where Islamabad’s advantage as a mediator lay was in its “direct access to Vahidi, Abdollahi and Rezaei, the actual architects of Iran’s decision-making”, Saeed, the former naval official, said.
An Iranian official close to the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Albusaidi would be in Tehran “primarily to hear what Iran has decided and what it has discussed with its Pakistani mediator”.
Who holds the leverage?
Andreas Krieg, an associate professor of defence studies at King’s College London, said the differences that had emerged between the Iranian military and civilian leaderships demonstrate a gulf between their understanding of where the war stood.
Pezeshkian and Ghalibaf, Krieg said, were “essentially warning that Iran cannot live indefinitely in this condition”, while “parts of the IRGC believe the opposite and think time is working against Washington”.
But ultimately, he said, “Mohsen Rezaei, Ahmad Vahidi and the IRGC are central to whether any political understanding [to end the war] can be implemented”, referring to Iran’s top military leadership.
“[Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas] Araghchi can negotiate something, and Qatar can broker it, but none of that matters if the security apparatus does not accept the operational consequences.”
For now, Munir appears to be the candidate mediators believe has the best shot at getting Iranian generals from their war room to the board room.
Aston Villa are working to sign Club Brugge central defender Joel Ordonez after failing to agree a deal with Southampton for Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The Premier League side, who sold England defender Ezri Konsa to Arsenal last week, are accelerating their interest in Ordonez, with discussions ongoing and his Belgian Pro League club wanting a minimum £40m fee for the Ecuador international.
The 22-year-old centre-back, who played for his country at this summer’s World Cup, has made 124 appearances for Club Brugge since joining in 2022 from Independiente del Valle.
Villa had targeted Harwood-Bellis, but there is understood to be a significant gap in valuation between them and Southampton after an offer worth £18m was rejected.
It remains to be seen whether a transfer for the 24-year-old can still be revived but, as things stand, Unai Emery’s side have moved on to other targets.
Villa lost their opening game of the season 4-0 to Brighton on Sunday and are working to strengthen their squad before the transfer deadline on 1 September.
They have lost a host of key players this season with Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Konsa all departing.
As political pressure builds to resolve the standoff between California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison over his company’s proposed Warner Bros. merger, the two sides are set to face off in a court-ordered mediation session this week.
It’s not clear whether Monday’s meeting will lead to an immediate breakthrough because the parties remain far apart on business concessions that Bonta has said are necessary to settle the antitrust lawsuit that has stalled Ellison’s proposed $111-billion takeover.
In addition, the fight has grown increasingly ugly after Paramount threatened to leave California. Then, on Friday, the company accused actor Mark Ruffalo — a prominent deal critic — of injecting “antisemitic tropes” into the campaign to thwart the industry-reshaping deal.
Leaders of prominent Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League, quickly came to Paramount’s defense, scolding the Emmy-winning actor best known for playing the Hulk and in numerous productions for HBO, the premium channel that Paramount is hoping to buy. Ruffalo is also known for being an outspoken political progressive.
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked,” Paramount said in a statement. “Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far.”
The fracas began last week when Ruffalo highlighted support for Israel by Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, and his software company, Oracle Corp., which has worked with the Israeli military amid the Israel-Gaza war.
Ruffalo recirculated a two-year-old video clip of Safra Catz, Oracle’s former CEO and a current Paramount board member. During an Israeli-American Council National Summit conference, she said she couldn’t discuss Oracle’s work with Israel’s military, but “we have some profoundly scary technology at Oracle and we wanted to make sure that it was available” to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas.
Ruffalo, in his post, described the war in Gaza as a “genocide” that “was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”
In a subsequent post, Ruffalo defended his right to speak out against Oracle and the war in Gaza.
Mark Ruffalo stars in HBO’s drama “Task.”
(Peter Kramer / HBO)
“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo wrote on X. “Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people.”
The fight intensified Sunday when Mark Goldfeder, head of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, lashed out at Bonta and suggested California’s top law enforcement official was doing Ruffalo’s bidding by filing the antitrust lawsuit.
“Your friend @MarkRuffalo said the quiet part out loud. His campaign against the Jewish Ellisons is about Israel, ‘genocide’, and ‘apartheid’,” Goldfeder wrote in a message on X directed at Bonta.
“Did you hear that too before you sued?” Goldfeder asked — a reference to a Feb. 27 message by Bonta, who at the time was responding to Ruffalo’s dismay after Paramount won the bidding war for Warner Bros., which also owns CNN.
Bonta and 11 other state attorney generals, all Democrats, from states including Colorado, Washington, Nevada and New York, filed the antitrust suit last month.
Paramount declined to comment on the latest developments.
Ruffalo has long been an outspoken critic of Israel’s involvement in Gaza. He’s also been a major irritant to David Ellison and other top Paramount executives as the actor took a starring role, drumming up opposition in Hollywood to Paramount’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has been privately advocating for a truce, in part, to avoid seeing another pillar of industry — the Paramount film studio — leave the state. Newsom reportedly said that he took Paramount’s threat “seriously.”
A Los Angeles County report estimated that 4,500 jobs would be lost in Los Angeles if the merger goes through.
In recent weeks, key movie theater owners have scaled back their opposition, calling for talks to find a truce.
Bonta, in several interviews, has stressed the deal is about competition and antitrust law — not politics.
Paramount would have to sell businesses, what he calls “robust structural remedies,” to make the deal work, Bonta said last week on CNBC. He views Ellison’s pledge to make 30 movies a year post-merger as insufficient and unenforceable once the transaction closes.
Paramount last week demanded that Bonta and the other states post a $1.88-billion bond if the case stretches to March, which is when the judge has scheduled the trial. Paramount must increase its payout to Warner shareholders through “ticking fees” every quarter until the deal is complete.
The mediation talks are part of the judicial process.
“We do prefer to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom,” Bonta told CNBC, a response to Democratic nominee for governor Xavier Becerra, who earlier this month said he, too, would like to see a settlement.
“For now we’re bringing our case,” Bonta said. “I hope they can focus on the actual allegations we make in our complaint.”
Aug. 22 (UPI) — A 50% tariff on Canadian goods went into effect early Saturday after talks between the two countries collapsed.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from the negotiations and said Canada would retaliate against the tariffs.
Negotiators had been in Washington, D.C., working with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to try to come to an agreement. But just before the midnight deadline Friday, Carney released a statement on X announcing that there would be no deal.
“In recent weeks, we made important progress toward improving Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S. However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians. As a result this evening I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” Carney said in the statement.
“At midnight tonight, the U.S. intends to impose a 50% tariff on roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods. Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” Carney added.
Greer posted a statement on X saying, “Despite the U.S. offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk-backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days.”
“This is a missed opportunity for Canada to partner with the United States, which is the fastest growing economy in the G7,” Greer said.
President Donald Trump signed orders in July to add the new tariffs on goods, including cement, hockey sticks, beer, cheese and other items that would make up about 2% of the entire trade between the two countries.
Carney responded on X: “Substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done.”
Analysts have said this is bad news for the United States and Canada.
“Economically, [the new tariffs are] not that important – except that the relationship itself is extremely important,” said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan research organization, The Washington Post reported.
Candace Laing, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said it will hurt both countries economically.
“This will be a body blow to North American competitiveness in this self-defeating trade saga,” Laing said in a statement. “Americans will see their costs go up, and Canadians will see customers, investment and small businesses disappear.”
NTT IndyCar Series Drivers Scott Dixon (R) and Graham Rahal (L) pose with first lady Melania Trump during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday. The first lady announced that a $2 million donation from IndyCar and Fox Corporation will fund Fostering the Future scholarships at Indiana University and Purdue University to expand academic opportunities for individuals transitioning from foster care. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
