OTTAWA -- Canada's second-largest airline, WestJet, is pausing nine routes between the United States and Canada as demand dampens for travel between the two countries, local media reported Thursday.
According to CBC News, flights from Canadian cities to U.S. cities of Austin, Los Angeles and Chicago are among those impacted.
"WestJet continuously evaluates and adjusts its schedule to meet demand, and we remain committed to reviewing opportunities for direct service on these routes in the future," a spokesperson was quoted as saying.
WestJet announced in April that it would add new domestic routes within Canada and make it easier to connect with flights to Europe.(Canada-Airline)
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KIEV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he held a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine.
"We discussed the need for continued efforts to achieve peace, including concrete steps that could be taken," Zelensky wrote in a post on a social media platform X.
He said he informed Trump that Ukraine is ready for a 30-day ceasefire "starting even today" and is awaiting Russia's response to the proposal.
Ukraine also remains open for talks in any format if Russia demonstrates "the seriousness of its intentions to end the war, starting with a full unconditional ceasefire," Zelensky added.
According to him, Trump expressed his readiness to help achieve peace and voiced support for a potential ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.(Ukraine-Russia-conflict)
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ADEN -- Yemen's Houthi group on Thursday celebrated a recently-announced ceasefire agreement with the United States as a "victory for Yemen" while warning of a "devastating response" to Israel, according to the Houthi-run Saba News Agency.
During a meeting in Sanaa, members of the Houthi Supreme Political Council evaluated "developments related to U.S. President Donald Trump's ceasefire announcement" and expressed appreciation for "Oman's brotherly and responsible role" in facilitating the agreement.
"Yemen considers what happened a victory achieved through the wisdom of leadership in managing the battle against U.S. military operations supporting Israel, ultimately forcing the United States to retreat after suffering a major failure," the council said in a statement. (Yemen-US-Victory)
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TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Thursday categorically rejected media claims that Iranian nationals were involved in a suspected "terror plot" against the Israeli embassy in London.
"Iran in no uncertain terms categorically rejects any involvement in such actions and confirms that we have not been informed of any allegations via proper diplomatic channels," Araghchi wrote on social media platform X.
Iran has urged Britain "to engage so that we may assist any probe into credible allegations. Timing and lack of engagement suggest that something is amiss," he wrote, urging the British authorities to afford Iranian citizens "due process."
Araghchi warned of third parties' intention of "derailing diplomacy and provoking escalation, resorting to desperate measures, including false flag operations." (Iran-Terror Plot-Denial)
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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced at the White House that the United States and Britain had reached a new trade agreement, which includes partially rolling back tariffs in certain sectors and further expanding market access for each other's products.
However, details of the agreement still need to be finalized, and the 10 percent "reciprocal tariff" previously imposed by the United States remains in place.
"The final details are being written up in the coming weeks," Trump told reporters at the White House Oval Office.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not attend the event in person but delivered a speech remotely via phone.
Under the deal, the first 100,000 vehicles imported into the United States from Britain each year are subject to the "reciprocal rate" of 10 percent and any additional vehicles each year are subject to 25 percent rates, according to a White House fact sheet.(US-Britain-Trade)
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UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations hopes that the talks between China and the United States scheduled to take place in Switzerland will help the two countries move towards a more normalized trade relationship, a UN spokesperson said on Thursday.
"We just hope that these talks will help the United States and China to move towards a more normalized relationship regarding their trade relations. As the secretary general made clear, there can be no winners in a trade war," Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at a daily briefing.
The UN chief "is particularly worried about the situation in terms of how a global war could affect developing countries. So any effort to avoid that would be welcome," Haq added.(UN-China-US) ■
