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It’s nearly 10:00 pm on Friday night, and a group of children shine their flashlights on the imposing skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex.Though the scene seems like something out of a movie, it is in fact a whimsical sleepover at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.Once a month, and for a not insignificant fee, parents and kids can once again spend the night at the venerable institution — a program that had been suspended since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.”We live really close to this place. So we can come here anytime we want,” said eight-year-old Jake Nelson. “It’s crazy to sleep (here) — like, I don’t know who would come up with this crazy idea.”Jake, nestled into his sleeping bag on a cot underneath the museum’s gigantic suspended model of a blue whale, said he was “so happy to be here.”The museum first launched its “Night at the Museum” programs in 2006, riding the success of the movie of the same name, released that year, starring Ben Stiller as a security guard who realizes that the animals and fossils come to life overnight.The return of the sleepovers is good news for the museum and its visitors.”They were an iconic part of our itinerary here, and very sought after by all of our visitors,” Aaron Anleu, senior director of visitor service, told AFP.”Unfortunately, during the pandemic, we had to pause the experience for a few years, but we really wanted to take a pause and understand how we can make this experience exciting and memorable for our visitors, and now we’re here.”Friday’s overnight visit was sold out, as are the November and December events, but in the end, a few cots were empty when the lights dimmed.A few hundred children ages six to 12 arrived at the museum at 6:00 pm with their parents or other caregivers, sleeping bags and pillows in tow. Some were already wearing their pajamas.For a fee starting at $225 a person, attendees get flashlight tours of exhibits including the fossil halls, do scavenger hunts, play trivia games and have bedtime snacks. Breakfast is served before the event ends. Admission also includes a souvenir and a voucher for free admission during regular hours.- Tours and karaoke -Amid the games, crafts, live presentations and self-guided visits to the live insect displays, one of the most popular events is…. karaoke.Kids belt out a mix of Broadway tunes, viral YouTube hit “The Duck Song” and the inescapable soundtrack from the Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters.”Shortly before midnight, the children get into their beds to listen to a live reading of the 1993 children’s book “The Night at the Museum” by Milan Trenc — the inspiration for the film.Wake-up comes early at 7:00 am, before the event ends at 8:30 am.”It’s magical. I’m a lifelong New Yorker, and I’ve never done anything like this,” said Jaclyn Rice Nelson, Jake’s mother. “There’s the whale above us.”Her son skipped a few hours of the night’s activities to read a Harry Potter book in the unusual setting. “This is tiring,” Jake said. “I think I’ve done a lot of stuff.”His mother explained that the pair had indeed visited several exhibits.”We went up to the dinosaurs, and all the lights were off, and so it was like walking around with flashlights with these big, kind of scary dinosaurs. And that’s just a very, very special experience,” she said.Hollywood media outlets have reported that a new “Night at the Museum” film is in the works. Stiller starred in the first three installments. So the magic is set to endure.

Donald Trump met Saturday with Qatar’s leaders to discuss the fragile truce in Gaza, stopping in the emirate on his way to Asia and talks with China’s Xi Jinping that the US president predicted could yield a “comprehensive deal.”Trump’s refueling stop in Qatar, a key ally in the Gaza negotiations, came as Israel conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza, despite the ceasefire brokered by the US president.Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump has also said he would like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip.He will also visit Malaysia and Japan on the trip, his first to Asia since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.Aboard Air Force One at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, when asked about ending the trade row with Beijing, Trump said: “I think we have a really good chance of making a really comprehensive deal.”Such an agreement would stave off further 100 percent tariffs on China that are due to come into effect on November 1.During the pit stop at the base, which hosts the regional headquarters for the US military, Trump greeted Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.”What we’ve done is incredible peace to the Middle East, and they were a very big factor in it,” Trump said.Ahead of the long trip, the US president fueled speculation that he could meet Kim for the first time since 2019, saying: “I’m open to it.”Asked if he would consider North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear state as a precondition for talks, Trump replied: “Well, I think they are sort of a nuclear power… They got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the US president if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.- Peace and trade deals -Trump’s first stop will be Malaysia, where he arrives on Sunday, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit — a meeting he skipped several times in his first term.Trump is set to sign a trade deal with Malaysia, and will witness the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia in his continued quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.He said he also expected to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the summit to improve ties with the leftist leader after months of bad blood.The US president’s next destination is Tokyo. He will meet Japan’s first woman prime minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative, on Tuesday.Takaichi said Saturday that she had a “good and candid” initial conversation with Trump.Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States.”- Trump and Xi -The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, with Trump due in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.Trump will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, address an APEC lunch with business leaders and meet US tech bosses for dinner on the sidelines of the summit in the city of Gyeongju.He will meet Xi on Thursday for the first time since his return to office.Global markets will be watching closely to see if they can halt the trade war sparked by Trump’s sweeping tariffs, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing’s rare-earth curbs.Trump said he would also discuss fentanyl with Xi, as he raises pressure on Beijing to curb trafficking of the powerful opioid and cracks down on Latin American drug cartels.burs-jhe/sst/acb

US President Donald Trump met Saturday with the emir and prime minister of Qatar — a key ally in preserving the fragile Gaza peace deal — en route to Asia and high-stakes trade talks with China’s Xi Jinping.The talks came as Israel conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza, despite the ceasefire brokered by the US president.Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, and said he would also like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip.He will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first trip to Asia since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.Aboard Air Force One at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the regional headquarters for the US military, Trump greeted Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.”What we’ve done is incredible peace to the Middle East, and they were a very big factor in it,” Trump said.He did not take questions before reporters were ushered out.Earlier, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he hoped for a “very good meeting” with Xi, adding that he expected China to make a deal to avoid further 100 percent tariffs that are due to come into effect on November 1.He also fueled speculation that he could meet Kim for the first time since 2019, when they met in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas during the Republican’s first term in office.”I’m open to it,” Trump said.Asked if he would consider North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear state as a precondition for talks, Trump replied: “Well, I think they are sort of a nuclear power… They got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the US president if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.- Peace and trade deals -Trump’s first stop will be Malaysia, where he arrives on Sunday, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit — a meeting he skipped several times in his first term.Trump is set to sign a trade deal with Malaysia, and will witness the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia in his continued quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.He said he also expected to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the summit to improve ties with the leftist leader after months of bad blood.The US president’s next destination is Tokyo. He will meet Japan’s first woman prime minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative, on Tuesday.Takaichi said Saturday that she had a “good and candid” initial conversation with Trump.Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States.”- Trump and Xi -The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, with Trump due in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.Trump will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, address an APEC lunch with business leaders and meet US tech bosses for dinner on the sidelines of the summit in the city of Gyeongju.He will meet Xi on Thursday for the first time since his return to office.Global markets will be watching closely to see if they can halt the trade war sparked by Trump’s sweeping tariffs, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing’s rare-earth curbs.A US Treasury spokesman told AFP that US and Chinese officials in Malaysia had concluded a day of “very constructive” trade talks, which are expected to resume on Sunday.Trump said he would also discuss fentanyl with Xi, as he raises pressure on Beijing to curb trafficking of the powerful opioid and cracks down on Latin American drug cartels.burs-jhe/ami-sst/des

US President Donald Trump headed Saturday for Asia and high-stakes trade talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, saying that he would also like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip.Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.He will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first trip to Asia since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.During a refueling stop on the way there, Trump is expected to meet Saturday with the emir and prime minister of Qatar — a key ally in preserving the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal.Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he hoped for a “very good meeting” with Xi, adding that he expected China to make a deal to avoid further 100 percent tariffs that are due to come into effect on November 1.A US Treasury spokesman told AFP that US and Chinese officials in Malaysia concluded a day of “very constructive” trade talks, which are expected to resume on Sunday.As he left Washington, Trump added to speculation that he could meet Kim for the first time since 2019 while on the Korean peninsula.”I’m open to it,” Trump said aboard the presidential plane. “I had a great relationship with him.”Asked if he was open to North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear state as a precondition for talks, Trump replied: “Well, I think they are sort of a nuclear power… They got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”The two leaders last met in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas during Trump’s first term. Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the US president if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.Seoul’s reunification minister has said there is a “considerable” chance that Trump and Kim will meet while the US leader visits South Korea.- Peace and trade deals -Trump’s first stop will be Malaysia, where he arrives on Sunday, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit — a meeting he skipped several times in his first term.Trump is set to sign a trade deal with Malaysia, and will witness the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia in his continued quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.He said he also expected to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the summit to improve ties with the leftist leader after months of bad blood.The US president’s next destination is Tokyo, where he arrives Monday. He will meet conservative Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday after she was named this week as Japan’s first woman prime minister.Takaichi said Saturday in a post on X that she had a “good and candid” initial conversation with Trump.Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States.”- Trump and Xi -The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, with Trump due to land in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.Trump will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, address an APEC lunch with business leaders and meet US tech bosses for dinner on the sidelines of the summit in the city of Gyeongju.He will meet Xi on Thursday for the first time since his return to office.Global markets will be watching closely to see if they can halt the trade war sparked by Trump’s sweeping tariffs, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing’s rare-earth curbs.Trump initially threatened to cancel the meeting and announced the fresh 100 percent tariffs during that row, before saying he would go ahead after all.He said he would also discuss fentanyl with Xi, as he raises pressure on Beijing to curb trafficking of the powerful opioid and cracks down on Latin American drug cartels.burs-jhe/ami/des

The US government wants to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man at the center of a row over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, to Liberia and possibly by month’s end, a court filing showed Friday.The case of Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March and then sent back to the United States in June, has become a lightning rod for those opposed to Trump’s efforts to carry out mass deportations across the United States.The Trump administration alleges he is a violent MS-13 gang member involved in smuggling other undocumented migrants.His lawyers have filed a suit contesting his deportation, and a federal judge in August blocked an attempt to send Abrego Garcia, who is married to a US citizen and denies all wrongdoing, to Uganda.In Friday’s filing, government attorneys say they have identified the west African country of Liberia as a site for “removal,” as it was not on a list of countries that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had rejected out of hand.”Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States’s closest partners on the African continent,” attorneys said in the filing in a US federal court in Maryland.The government noted that Liberia is an English-speaking country and is “committed to the humane treatment of refugees.” It said it could complete the deportation “as soon as October 31.”Abrego Garcia’s lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said ICE is seeking to deport his client “to Liberia, a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland.””Costa Rica stands ready to accept him as a refugee, a viable and lawful option. Yet the government has chosen a course calculated to inflict maximum hardship. These actions are punitive, cruel, and unconstitutional,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said in a statement on his law firm’s website.Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.He then became one of more than 200 people sent to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison in March as part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.But Justice Department lawyers admitted that the Salvadoran had been wrongly deported due to an “administrative error.”Abrego Garcia was returned to US soil months later, only to be detained again in Tennessee on human smuggling charges, a separate case from the Maryland proceedings.Right-wing supporters praise the Republican president’s toughness, but legal scholars and human rights advocates have blasted what they say is a haphazard rush to deport people without even a court hearing, in violation of basic US law.

US President Donald Trump left on Friday for Asia and high-stakes trade talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping — adding that he would also like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip.Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. He will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first trip to Asia since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.A senior US official said on Friday that Trump would “deliver for the American people in one of the most economically vibrant regions of the world, signing a series of economic agreements.”As he left Washington, Trump added to speculation that while on the Korean peninsula he could meet Kim Jong Un for the first time since 2019 during his first presidency.”I’d like to, he knows we’re going there,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We let him know, he knows that I’m going.”Talk about a possible meeting with Kim while Trump is in South Korea for a regional summit grew after Seoul’s reunification minister said there was a “considerable” chance.The White House had said earlier that a meeting was “not on the schedule.”- Peace and trade deals -Trump’s first stop will be Malaysia, where he arrives on Sunday, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit — a meeting Trump skipped several times in his first term.Trump is set to ink a trade deal with Malaysia, but more importantly he will oversee the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia, as he continues his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may also meet Trump on the sidelines of the summit to improve ties after months of bad blood, officials from both countries told AFP.Trump’s next stop will be Tokyo, where he arrives on Monday. He will meet conservative Sanae Takaichi, named this week as Japan’s first woman prime minister, on Tuesday.Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States.” – Trump and Xi -But the highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, with Trump due to land in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.Trump will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, address an APEC lunch with business leaders and meet US tech bosses for dinner, on the sidelines of the APEC summit in the city of Gyeongju.On Thursday, Trump will meet Xi for the first time since his return to office.Global markets will be watching closely to see if the two men can halt the trade war sparked by Trump’s sweeping tariffs earlier this year, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing’s rare earth curbs.Trump initially threatened to cancel the meeting and imposed fresh tariffs over the critical minerals row, before saying he would go ahead after all.”The president is most interested in discussing the trade and economic relationship,” another senior US official said.Trump himself said on Thursday that the first topic on the agenda would be fentanyl, as he boosts pressure on Beijing to curb drug trafficking and cracks down on Latin American drug cartels.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Friday he was “deeply disturbed” after Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were among those arrested in a far-ranging FBI probe into illegal gambling.”My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said in an interview with Amazon Prime during their coverage of the New York Knicks’ home game against the Boston Celtics on Friday.”There’s nothing more important for the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition.”Heat guard Rozier and former NBA player and assistant Damon Jones were arrested for their alleged roles in a betting scheme that prosecutors say provided inside information on injuries and game absences to bettors between December 2022 and March 2024.Rozier, who has denied wrongdoing, was accused of advising co-conspirators that he would exit early with a supposed injury from a March 2023 game when he was with the Charlotte Hornets, allowing them to make bets on his performance accordingly.Portland Trail Blazers coach Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and an NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigged illegal poker games tied to Mafia crime families, with Jones also indicted in that investigation.At a press conference in New York on Thursday, FBI director Kash Patel described “a criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra.”Both Billups and Rozier were immediately suspended by the NBA, but the league’s fledgling season rolled on with 12 games scheduled for Friday.Silver expressed regret that the allegations had taken attention away from the start of the season.”I apologize to our fans that we are all dealing with, now, this situation,” Silver said.”But in terms of the competition on the floor, it has been spectacular.”Billups and Rozier were both arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering on Thursday, Billups in Portland, Oregon, and Rozier in Orlando, Florida.Both have denied the accusations through their attorneys.Prosecutors said the 49-year-old Billups was one of more than 30 people indicted for alleged involvement in a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games.Billups’s celebrity helped lure players to high-stakes games that used “high-tech cheating technology” including shuffling machines that could read cards, hidden cameras and barcoded decks.Rozier and Jones allegedly took part in a scheme that featured illegal betting on the performance of players on the Charlotte Hornets, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.- Aberrational betting -Rozier, 31, was part of the illegal gambling probe that led to the lifetime ban of former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter last year.The NBA said in January they found no evidence Rozier violated league rules but were cooperating with an ongoing federal investigation.Silver said the league had been alerted to suspicious betting activity related to Rozier.”We then looked into that situation,” Silver said. “And while there was that aberrational betting, we couldn’t find anything.”Terry at the time cooperated. He gave the league office his phone. He sat down for an interview and we ultimately concluded there was insufficient evidence, despite that aberrational behavior, moving forward.”He noted that federal authorities have broader investigative powers, including the power to subpoena witnesses, and said the league had been cooperating with the ongoing investigations.Billups was not named in the sports betting indictment, but the description of one unnamed co-conspirator involved in alleged illegal betting on a Trail Blazers game includes a playing and coaching career that tallies with his.Since sports gambling was leagalized in most US states in 2018, American professional leagues have eagerly partnered with betting firms to garner a slice of a multi-billion-dollar industry.Therefore, the NBA wasn’t the only league chilled by the news of the indictments, with the NFL sending a memo to all 32 teams reiterating that players are prohibited from betting on NFL games and from any illegal gambling.They are reminded that players also must not throw or fix any NFL game or manipulate any particular plays, and they are barred from sharing confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player or event, with a third party.

Early voting for New York’s next mayor begins Saturday with an outsider Democratic Party candidate the favorite to upend the city’s politics and face down President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked him.The twisting race has seen state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani, a self-described socialist, surge from the political wilderness to become the frontrunner in a campaign in which the current mayor bowed out and the onetime Democratic favorite lost his own primary.The 34-year-old Mamdani’s once unlikely campaign has been turbo-charged by eager campaigning by young New Yorkers in particular. An emphasis on the soaring cost of living has also resonated, with the Queens-based lawmaker promising to freeze rent for two million New Yorkers in rent-stabilized properties.In the latest twist, scandal-tainted current mayor Eric Adams backed the second-place candidate, 67-year-old former state governor Andrew Cuomo — after previously calling him a “snake and a liar.”Early voting allows New Yorkers to cast a ballot from Saturday until November 2, with Election Day on November 4 and the winner taking office in the New Year. Mamdani had 47 percent support and led Cuomo by 18 points in the latest citywide poll, conducted by Victory Insights between October 22 and 23. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, 71, was at 16 percent.Adams, who has been mired in corruption allegations linked to his term in office, dropped out of the race on September 28 but did not initially endorse a rival.”You can’t freeze rent, but you are lying and telling people you could — we’re fighting against a snake oil salesman,” Adams said Thursday with Cuomo at his side.”Gentrifiers have raised the rent in the city… and (Mamdani’s) the king of the gentrifiers.”It is unclear what impact Adams’s endorsement will have on the race.”It is possible, but extremely unlikely, Cuomo can catch Mamdani,” said Lincoln Mitchell, a political science professor at Columbia University, saying the former governor’s “tough guy persona” dates from another era.- ‘Affordability crisis’ -The race has been dominated by the issue of cost of living, as well as by how each candidate would handle Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds from the city where he made his name as a property developer and reality TV star.Trump has branded Mamdani, who wants to make bus travel and childcare in the city of 8.5 million people free, a “communist.””I was always very generous with New York, even when you had opposition there,” Trump said this month.”I wouldn’t be generous to a communist guy that’s going to take the money and throw it out the window.”Mamdani has said he would cooperate with Trump if it brought down the cost of living in the city, while Sliwa has said he would seek to “negotiate” with the president and Cuomo has said he would “confront” the commander-in-chief.”I’ve lived in New York for 10 years almost. I’ve always been… not necessarily always struggling, but trying to hustle and get things together,” Mamdani supporter and tenant organizer Lex Rountree, 27, told AFP. “It feels strange to kind of think about what it would look like to have some of that ease” under Mamdani, Rountree added.Mamdani’s campaign received a lift on Friday when Hakeem Jeffries, a New York lawmaker and the top Democrat in the US House of Representatives, endorsed him.”Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” the leading Democrat said.Mamdani will bring star firepower to the table Sunday when he appears alongside leftist Senator Bernie Sanders and lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio Cortez at a “get out the vote” rally in Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. 

In a picturesque town on the US-Canada border, workers under dark clouds were building a new entrance for Canadians into a library to replace one that had long symbolized bilateral closeness.For more than a century, Canadians in Stanstead, Quebec, could walk through a door in the Haskell Free Library into Derby Line, Vermont, without passing through customs.But President Donald Trump’s administration has canceled the arrangement, citing the need to counter “illicit cross-border activities.”Standing on the black line inside the library that demarcates the US-Canada border, Sylvie Boudreau, Haskell’s board of trustees president, said the Trump administration’s announcement caused “a lot of anger on both sides.””It’s the end of something,” she told AFP.As a result of the US action, a new entrance is being constructed on the side of the building to give Canadians access to the library.  Canadian access to the library has been restricted before, including when tighter controls were imposed following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and again during the Covid-19 pandemic.But the Trump administration’s announcement marks the first definitive end to an arrangement that signaled enduring US-Canada unity for many in Stanstead, a town dotted with large Victorian houses about a 90-minute drive from Montreal.– ‘Mistrust’ –The change has stirred emotions on both sides of the border.Derby Line resident Jonas Horsky, a Franco-American who frequents the library for its bilingual catalogue, told AFP he felt “nostalgic” for the days of unencumbered cross-border travel.”We’ve always been united, we’ve always visited each other, but now we carry our passports with us. It wasn’t like this before,” the 41-year-old said.For Canadian Erica Masotto, who works at Stanstead College — a boarding school in the town of 2,824 residents — it’s “strange” to have to enter through what used to be the library’s emergency exit.She said she was troubled by the “symbol” the change represents.”Why this sudden mistrust?”– ‘Never be the same again’ –The shift at the library comes amid a broader breakdown in US-Canada relations.Trump’s musings about annexing Canada — made regularly through the early weeks of his second term — enraged Canadians.His tariffs have forced job losses across several key sectors, and late Thursday, he announced he was ending trade talks over an anti-tariff ad produced by the government of Ontario province.As he laid out his vision for Canada’s upcoming budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney reiterated that the US-Canada relationship would “never be the same again,” stressing that decades of deepening economic ties had been permanently ruptured.Bilateral tension has impacted Canadian travel patterns, with the national statistics agency in June reporting “a marked decrease” in the number of Canadians visiting the United States.Marc Samson, a silver-haired retiree who was picking up his wife from her job at the Haskell library, affirmed what the data shows.”We don’t go to the United States anymore,” despite Stanstead and Derby Line existing side-by-side, Samson told AFP.But, he added, political change could help repair the relationship.”I imagine that if the government changes on the other side of the border, things will go back to normal,” Samson said.Boudreau said the changes in library access marked “a physical end” to an era of unique closeness.But, she insisted, “from the perspective of people, of friendship, of unity, the sense of community, that has been strengthened by what happened.”

The Pentagon on Friday ordered the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to counter drug-trafficking organizations in Latin America, a major escalation of a US military buildup that Venezuela’s leader warned was steered at “fabricating a war.”US President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of ending foreign military interventions, in early September launched a military campaign targeting boats allegedly used to smuggle narcotics, destroying at least 10 vessels in a series of strikes.But the American military buildup as part of that campaign — including 10 F-35 stealth warplanes and eight US Navy ships — has sparked fears in Venezuela that Washington’s ultimate goal is the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro, and the decision to send the carrier is certain to add to those concerns.Late Friday, Maduro accused the Trump administration of stoking “a new eternal war.””They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war that we are going to prevent,” Maduro told state broadcasters.The US-Venezuela standoff has also pulled in Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, a sharp critic of the American strikes who was sanctioned by Washington on Friday for allegedly allowing drug trafficking to flourish.The deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford and accompanying ships “will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, referring to transnational criminal organizations.The carrier announcement came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said an overnight strike on a boat alleged to be operated by Venezuelan drug trafficking gang Tren de Aragua had killed six people in the Caribbean Sea.”If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,” Hegseth said on X.- ‘Inflame South America’ -The latest military action brings the death toll from the US strikes to at least 43, according to an AFP tally based on US figures, but Washington has yet to release evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics.Regional tensions have flared as a result of the campaign, with Caracas accusing the United States of plotting to overthrow Maduro, who said earlier this week that Venezuela had 5,000 Russian man-portable surface-to-air missiles to counter US forces.On Thursday, at least one US B-1B bomber flew over the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast, flight tracking data showed, following a show of force by multiple US B-52 bombers that circled off the country’s coast last week.Colombia’s Petro — who has accused Trump of murder over the strikes on the alleged drug boats — was sanctioned by the US Treasury on Friday along with his wife and son.Regional powerhouse Brazil has also weighed in on US actions, with a senior foreign policy advisor telling AFP that the country views a military intervention in Venezuela as unacceptable, fearing it could be damaging for the whole of South America.”We cannot accept an outside intervention because it will trigger immense resentment,” said Celso Amorim, aide to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “It could inflame South America and lead to radicalization of politics on the whole continent.”Trump meanwhile said Thursday that he did not need a declaration of war from US lawmakers to attack Venezuela or other countries he accuses of involvement in the drug trade, warning that strikes on land are coming.”The land is going to be next,” Trump said, likening drug cartels to the brutal Islamic State jihadist group.