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Russia dramatically intensified missile and drone attacks across Ukraine this month in an effort to sap Ukrainians’ morale – but it is also stepping up ground attacks in many areas along the long frontline, according to Ukrainian officials and analysts.

Some of those attacks have succeeded, with Ukrainian units in Donetsk and the north falling back from some positions, while some rural areas in the south have also been lost.

But Ukraine’s own enhanced use of drones, deployed in several layers on the battlefield, has helped Kyiv inflict heavy losses on the opposing forces with minimal casualties among its own troops. They may become even more critical in the months to come.

The Ukrainians are trying to expand their own drone industry to create defensive corridors along key sections of the front line, often dubbed the “drone wall.”

Meanwhile, ignoring US President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure a ceasefire, the Kremlin is pursuing a two-pronged strategy aimed at forcing Ukraine to admit defeat – destroying its cities from the sky and whittling away its defensive lines on the ground.

Russia has sharply expanded its own drone and missile production in the past year, allowing for mass attacks using several hundred projectiles at once. The Russian strategy seeks to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses with scores of low-cost drones so that simultaneous missile strikes can succeed.

On the ground, Russian forces are probing Ukrainian defenses along many parts of the frontline simultaneously, from Zaporizhzhia in the south to Sumy in the north, advancing into abandoned villages and across open countryside in small numbers.

The Russians are not rolling through Ukrainian defenses but gnawing away at them, using cars and motorbikes and scattered infantry platoons.

Russian forces have advanced an average of roughly 14 square kilometers (5.4 square miles) per day so far this year, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington. This rate implies they’d need nearly four more years to complete the occupation of the four regions illegally annexed by Moscow: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Those are the Kremlin’s oft-stated goals, but it is also trying to instil a sense among Kyiv’s allies of Russian superiority over Ukrainian forces.

Much of the fighting is in Donetsk, with the Russians still determined to seize the entire region – unless it is handed over in peace negotiations, which is a non-starter for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday that a village south of the key town of Kostiantynivka had been taken. ISW assesses that Russian forces seized roughly 65 square kms of territory – but remain incapable of intensifying offensive operations in several different directions simultaneously.

“The main Russian effort into the summer will once again be against the key towns of Kostyantynivka and Pokrovsk” in Donetsk, according to Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.

Hundreds of miles to the north, Russian units have edged a few kilometers into the Sumy region.

Zelensky told journalists Tuesday that the Russians are “now amassing troops in the Sumy direction. More than 50,000. We understand that. But we are making progress there.”

Zelensky said the Russians wanted “to build this buffer zone, as they call it, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep into Ukraine,” but lacked the capability.

The Russians are supporting these operations with missile and air-launched guided-bomb attacks.

The attacks into Sumy follow a Kremlin directive on May 21 that the military create buffer zones inside northern Ukraine – in Sumy and Kharkiv regions. That came when President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region across the border, part of which had been seized by a Ukrainian incursion launched from Sumy last summer.

Capturing Sumy’s regional capital is probably beyond the Russians – the terrain is thickly forested. But through their attacks, the Russian military can prevent the Ukrainians from redeploying units to Donetsk.

Further east there’s also been an uptick in fighting around Vovchansk in Kharkiv region in recent days.

Across the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) frontline, according to analysts, the Ukrainian military has to decide which areas are under greatest threat, where to withdraw, how to redeploy – even as many brigades are seriously under-strength more than three years after the Russian invasion.

The manpower balance is still very much in Russia’s favor, despite its heavy losses. Putin recently claimed that 60,000 volunteers are being recruited every month. Observers believe this is likely exaggerated but signing-up bonuses that dwarf civilian wages in Russia make military service an attractive option.

Ukraine’s military chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said earlier this month that Kyiv faced “a combined enemy grouping of up to 640,000 personnel,” higher than at the outset of the invasion. Zelensky said in January that Ukraine had 880,000 soldiers, “but 880,000 are defending the entire territory. Russian forces are concentrated in certain directions.”

Russian recruitment “has exceeded Kremlin targets for every month of 2025,” according to the RUSI analyst Watling. “Having shuffled commanders and built-up reserves of equipment, Russia is now set to increase the tempo and scale of attacks.”

But for every square kilometer of Ukrainian land that Russia captures, Moscow is probably losing about 100 men, according to Western assessments.

Layers of drones

Above and behind the frontlines as well as in the air campaign being waged by Moscow, the development and deployment of drones will continue to be critical.

The recent Russian advances in Donetsk, while incremental, were enabled by the tactic of isolating the battlefield – cutting Ukrainian units from supplies through drone strikes on supply vehicles up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the front lines.

Ukrainian defenses are heavily reliant on layers of drones. The Ukrainians are developing a concept sometimes dubbed the “drone wall,” designed to “provide a continuous defensive corridor of drones along Ukraine’s most vulnerable frontiers to inflict significant casualties on Russian forces,” according to Mick Ryan, author of the blog Futura Doctrina.

Konrad Muzyka, a defense analyst at Rochan Consulting, says that “Ukrainian forces are increasingly lethal with drone-artillery coordination. Russian assaults — motorcycle-based and armored — were defeated across several fronts with minimal Ukrainian losses” in April.

But Ryan points out that an effective drone wall will require integration “and probably AI-assisted decision-making and analysis,” as well as integration with electronic warfare.

And it’s a two-way street. Ukrainian drones are “guided by small radar, and Russia is now systematically working to locate and target these radar stations,” Watling writes.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia plans to ramp up production of Shahed attack drones to between 300 and 350 per day. Asked whether there may come a time when Russia fires 1,000 drones in one day, he replied: “I cannot say that this will not happen.”

Sending drones in their hundreds saturates air defenses, as they accumulate over a target area. Russia has also developed drones that can evade Ukrainian jamming and can fly higher and faster than earlier models. Ukrainian analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko said last week that one Shahed had been observed at a record altitude of 4,900 meters.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine is now deploying F-16 and Mirage fighter jets to supplement air defenses. “We are also moving towards drone-to-drone interceptors,” he said Tuesday.

Ukraine’s former military chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, says Ukraine must wage a “high-tech war of survival” in which drones play a critical role, to “make the economic burden of the war unbearable for Russia.”

Speaking to a Kyiv forum last week, Zaluzhnyi – now Ukraine’s ambassador to London – said that his country had failed to exploit innovations “where yesterday we were ahead of the enemy. The enemy has already outpaced us.”

Analysts cite Russia’s growing use of short-range fiber-optic drones that can’t be jammed as one example of the technological race. Ukraine is yet to scale up the use of such drones, which rely on millimeters-thick, but miles-long, optical fibers.

Zelensky denied Ukraine was losing the drone war.

“We will have the same number of drones as the Russians, 300-500 per day – we are very close to it,” he said.

The issue was not production, Zelensky said – it was financial. As Ukraine seeks to produce more of its own weapons – often in association with Western manufacturers, Zelensky added: “I would like to see us receive $30 billion to launch Ukrainian production at full capacity.”

But that is a long-term goal.

Watling, from RUSI, envisages a tough few months for Ukraine that “will place a premium on the efficiency of Ukrainian drone and artillery operations, the ability of Ukrainian commanders to preserve their troops, and the continuity of supplies flowing from Ukraine’s international partners.”

The continuation of US supplies is unsure as Trump blows hot and cold about whether Washington should continue helping Ukraine defend itself.

Putin is “desperately seeking to prevent the future supply of Western military aid to Ukraine,” according to ISW, “as well-resourced Ukrainian forces have consistently demonstrated their ability to inflict unsustainable losses on Russian forces.”

Innovation and tactical agility will be as influential as brute force as the war enters its fourth summer.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

A one-two punch from the United States risks shattering the already fragile trade war truce between Washington and Beijing, with Chinese tech companies and students both dealt shock blows by the Trump administration Wednesday night.

Viewed from within China, things had been looking up after the world’s two largest economies agreed to dramatically roll back steep tariffs – a conciliatory step in a trade war that had threatened the entire global trading system.

Factories started whirring again. Long-delayed shipping containers began leaving Chinese ports, destined for the US. Chinese media celebrated the agreement as a national victory, while top officials adopted an upbeat tone in describing cooperation between the two superpower rivals.

But the two jabs from Washington on Wednesday will have far-reaching effects across China, angering families and authorities alike. They also throw into question the future of US-China trade talks; the temporary truce only lasts 90 days, and the clock is ticking to reach a longer-term agreement.

The first hit came in a Financial Times report on Wednesday that said moves by US President Donald Trump had effectively cut off some American companies from selling software used to design semiconductors to China.

These small chips – which power our smartphones, computers, automobiles and home appliances – have been at the fore of the US-China tech battle in recent years. The Biden administration had blocked China from accessing US-made semiconductors, and earlier this month, Washington warned companies against using AI chips made by Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The obstacles were infuriating for Beijing, especially since it has poured tens of billions of dollars into its semiconductor industry, aiming to boost production at home and become less reliant on the US and other countries.

But it was the second blow from the White House that landed right in the living rooms of Chinese families, with US State Secretary Marco Rubio saying the US will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students” – especially those in critical fields or with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

It’s hard to overstate the impact. There were more than 270,000 Chinese students in the US in 2024, and even more before the pandemic. While some hail from China’s political and business elites, many also come from middle-class families.

The path to the US is attractive, but arduous. Chinese families save for years and spend exorbitant amounts of money to send their kids abroad, with students attending cram schools or hiring tutors to polish their applications. Rubio’s announcement jeopardizes all of that – with students now facing potential deportation in the middle of their hard-won education.

Given China is a one-party state that reaches deep into nearly every aspect of society, it can be difficult or impossible for many students to disprove any claims that they’re connected to the Communist Party – especially if the State Department defines that term loosely.

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it “strongly opposes” the move, accusing the US of “unjustly” revoking visas “under the pretext of ideology and national security.”

Candy, a statistics student at the University of Michigan, who did not want to give her full name, said she feared her visa would be canceled before she graduates.

“Ending up with only a high school diploma is something I dread,” she said from China, where she’s visiting family. “I pray to make it through my undergraduate study safely and smoothly.”

“When I first heard the news, I wanted to curse Trump.”

While the visa threat comes as a shock, some argue the targeting of students may in fact be a boon to China in the end.

The number of Chinese students in the US had been declining in recent years, partly because of significant shifts in both policy and public perception. Experts say many Chinese students and families now worry about safety, racism and discrimination, and immigration difficulties in the US – especially as more competitive higher education options open in other countries, including in China itself.

Trump’s crackdown could see more Chinese scholars, including some of the brightest minds in their fields, return to their home country – or choose to stay in the first place, rejecting a US education for a Chinese degree instead.

And these researchers – including key leaders in technological fields – could be the key to China catching up with, or surpassing the US – the very thing many Trump officials are trying to prevent.

Wednesday did bring one bit of good news for China; a federal court blocked Trump from imposing most of his global tariffs, including the current 30% tariffs on China. But the administration immediately appealed the decision, leaving the status of those tariffs – and the trade war – up in the air.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

In this must-see market update, Larry Williams returns with timely stock market analysis, trading insights, and macroeconomic forecasts. Discover what’s next for the Federal Reserve, interest rates, and inflation — and how it could impact top stocks like Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), and consumer staples (XLP).

This video originally premiered on May 27, 2025. Watch on StockCharts’ dedicated Larry Williams page!

Previously recorded videos from Larry are available at this link.

In this video, Joe analyzes which sectors to focus on when selecting new stocks. He demonstrates how to use the 18-period simple moving average (SMA) on monthly, weekly, and daily charts to identify the strongest stock patterns and the best timeframes to trade. He then provides chart analysis on the QQQ, IWM, and Bitcoin, before reviewing this week’s symbol requests submitted by viewers.

The video premiered on May 28, 2025. Click this link to watch on Joe’s dedicated page.

Archived videos from Joe are available at this link. Send symbol requests to stocktalk@stockcharts.com; you can also submit a request in the comments section below the video on YouTube. Symbol Requests can be sent in throughout the week prior to the next show.

Walmart agreed to pay a small fine and promised to ensure its third-party resellers are unable to sell realistic looking toy guns to buyers in New York, after state Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday that the retail giant’s online store shipped them to the state.

The settlement comes nearly a decade after Walmart, Amazon, Sears and other retailers entered into a consent order and judgment with New York’s previous attorney general, in which they agreed to keep toy guns that resemble actual deadly weapons off their shelves statewide and they paid civil penalties that topped $300,000.

The 2015 order was part of a nationwide reckoning over realistic looking toy guns in the wake of the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12 year-old Cleveland boy who was killed by police in November 2014 while holding a pellet gun.

The New York law bans retailers from selling or shipping toy guns of certain colors — black, dark blue, silver, or aluminum — that look like real weapons.

A realistic-looking toy gun Walmart shipped to New York.New York Attorney General’s Office

Toy guns sold in the state must be “made in bright colors or made entirely of transparent or translucent materials,” with businesses subject to a fine of $1,000 per violation, according to James’ office.

James said on Tuesday that an investigation by her office found that Walmart’s online store had shipped at least nine realistic-looking toy guns sold by third-party sellers to New York City, Westchester County and Western New York.

But the investigation also found that between March 2020 and November 2023, at least 46 imitation weapons that violate New York state law were purchased by consumers in the state through the Walmart.com platform, the settlement revealed.

“Realistic-looking toy guns can put communities in serious danger and that is why they are banned in New York,” James said in a statement.

“Walmart failed to prevent its third-party sellers from selling realistic-looking toy guns to New York addresses, violating our laws and putting people at risk,” she said.

“The ban on realistic-looking toy guns is meant to keep New Yorkers safe and my office will not hesitate to hold any business that violates that law accountable.”

Walmart must pay $14,000 in penalties and $2,000 in fees under the settlement, the AG’s office said.

That total of $16,000 is a tiny fraction of the approximately $49 million in net income Walmart earned on an average day in the most recent financial quarter.

CNBC has requested comment from Walmart, which neither admitted nor denied the findings by James’ office in its investigation.

As part of the settlement, Walmart is required to prohibit third parties from offering for sale or selling any of the imitation guns covered by the state law to buyers in New York.

“Walmart shall terminate the ability of a third party from being able to list and sell toy guns and imitation weapons on Walmart.com when it has determined that a third party has engaged in conduct” that violates that restriction on three separate occasions, the settlement said.

And “Walmart shall implement and maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent such third parties from offering for sale, exposing for sale, or selling Prohibited Items on Walmart.com for importation, holding for sale, or distribution to New York,” the settlement says.

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23andMe on Tuesday announced it will voluntarily delist from the Nasdaq and de-register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a release.

The move comes after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said earlier this month that it will acquire “substantially all” of 23andMe’s assets for $256 million.

The drugmaker came out on top following a bankruptcy auction for 23andMe, a once high-flying genetic testing company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March.

23andMe said it will file a Form 25 Notification of Delisting with the SEC on or around June 6, which would subsequently remove the stock from listing and registering with the Nasdaq.

The company said the Nasdaq had originally informed the company that a Form 25 would be filed in March, but since the exchange has not yet submitted the filing, 23andMe is doing so voluntarily.

23andMe exploded into the mainstream because of its at-home DNA testing kits that allowed customers to examine their genetic profiles. At its peak, the company was valued at around $6 billion.

But after going public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021, the company struggled to generate recurring revenue and stand up viable research or therapeutics businesses.

Regeneron’s deal is still subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Pending approval, it’s expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Macy’s cut its full-year profit guidance on Wednesday even as it beat Wall Street’s quarterly earnings expectations, as the retailer’s CEO said it will hike prices of certain items to offset tariffs.

In a news release, the department store operator said it reduced its earnings outlook because of higher tariffs, more promotions and “some moderation” in discretionary spending. Macy’s stuck by its full-year sales forecast, however.

For fiscal 2025, Macy’s now expects adjusted earnings per share of $1.60 to $2, down from its previous forecast of $2.05 to $2.25. It reaffirmed its full-year sales guidance of between $21 billion and $21.4 billion, which would be a decline from $22.29 billion in the most recent full year.

In an interview with CNBC, CEO Tony Spring said about 15 cents to 40 cents per share of the guidance cut is due to tariffs. He said about 20% of the company’s merchandise comes from China.

Macy’s will raise some prices and stop carrying certain items to mitigate the hit from tariffs, he added.

“You’re dealing with it on both the demand side as well as the increased cost side,” he said. “And so navigating that, we have a series of different scenarios to try to figure out kind of what will be the reality, and we want our guidance to reflect the flexibility of that uncertainty, so that we can react in real time to how we serve or better serve the consumer.”

Spring said the company will be “surgical” with price changes.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of approach,” he said. “There are going to be items that are the same price as they were a year ago. There is going to be, selectively, items that may be more expensive, and there are items that we might not carry because the pricing doesn’t merit the quality or the perceived value by the consumer.”

Here’s how Macy’s did during its fiscal first quarter, compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

In the three-month period that ended May 3, the company’s net income was $38 million, or 13 cents per share, compared with $62 million, or 22 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales dropped from $4.85 billion in the year-ago quarter. Excluding some one-time charges including restructuring charges, adjusted earnings per share were 16 cents.

The company’s shares were down more than 2% in early trading on Wednesday.

Economic uncertainty — including President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff announcements — has complicated Macy’s turnaround plans. The New York City-based legacy retailer is more than a year into a three-year effort to become a smaller, but healthier business. It’s shuttering weaker stores and investing in stronger parts of the company, including luxury department store Bloomingdale’s and beauty chain Bluemercury. It has also tried to improve the customer experience, including by speeding up online deliveries and adding staff to stores.

Spring told analysts on the earnings call that the tariff impact on Macy’s outlook includes the additional costs of inventory previously imported under the 145% China tariffs, which have since dropped to 30%. He said the outlook does not include a potential increase in tariffs on the European Union or any other U.S. trading partner.

Trump recently threatened to implement, and then delayed, a 50% tariff on the EU.

Macy’s sells a mix of national band private brands, which are sold exclusively at its stores and on its website. Spring told CNBC that the company has reduced the share of its private brands that comes from China to about 27% — a drop from 32% last year and more than 50% before the Covid pandemic.

CFO Adrian Mitchell said on the company’s earnings call that Macy’s has taken action to blunt the impact of tariffs on national brands it sells, too. He said the company has renegotiated orders with vendors, canceled some orders and delayed others.

“We’ve been able to gain some vendor discounts, which has been helpful to us, but we’re absorbing some of that price as well,” he said.

And in some cases, Macy’s is keeping prices the same despite higher costs to appeal to value-conscious customers and gain market share from competitors, Mitchell added.

Spring said on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday that Macy’s sales were stronger in March and April compared to February, attributing some of that to improving weather. So far, sales trends in the second quarter have been above those in March and April, he added.

Macy’s plans to close about 150 underperforming namesake stores across the country by early 2027.

In the fiscal first quarter, Macy’s namesake brand remained its weakest. Comparable sales across Macy’s owned and licensed business, plus its online marketplace, declined 2.1% year over year.

When Macy’s took out the stores that it plans to shutter, however, trends looked slightly better. Comparable sales of its go-forward business, including its owned and licensed business and online marketplace, declined 1.9%

On the other hand, comparable sales at Bloomingdale’s rose 3.8% year over year, including its owned, licensed and marketplace businesses. Comparable sales at Bluemercury climbed 1.5% year over year.

To try to turn its namesake stores around, Macy’s has invested in 50 locations — dubbed the “First 50” — with more staffing, sharper displays and changes to its mix of merchandise. It has expanded that initiative to 75 additional stores, bringing the total to 125 locations that have gotten increased attention. That’s a little over a third of the 350 namesake locations that Macy’s plans to keep open.

Those 125 locations performed better than the overall Macy’s brand. Comparable sales among those revamped stores owned and licensed by Macy’s were down 0.8% compared with the year-ago period.

On Macy’s earnings call in March — before Trump made several sudden tariff moves that baffled companies and investors — Spring said the company’s guidance “assumes a certain level of uncertainty” about the economic outlook. He said even Macy’s affluent customer “is just as uncertain and as confused and concerned by what’s transpiring.”

Earlier this spring, Macy’s announced a few key leadership changes — including a new chief financial officer. Macy’s new CFO, Thomas Edwards, will begin on June 22. He previously served as the chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Capri Holdings, the parent company of Michael Kors. He will succeed Mitchell, who is leaving Macy’s.

As of Tuesday’s close, Macy’s shares are down about 29% so far this year. That trails the S&P 500′s nearly 1% gains during the same period. Macy’s stock closed on Tuesday at $12.04 per share, bringing the retailer’s market value to $3.35 billion.

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Dick’s Sporting Goods said Wednesday it’s standing by its full-year guidance, which includes the expected impact from all tariffs currently in effect.

The sporting goods giant said it’s expecting earnings per share to be between $13.80 and $14.40 in fiscal 2025 — in line with the $14.29 that analysts had expected, according to LSEG.

It’s projecting revenue to be between $13.6 billion and $13.9 billion, which is also in line with expectations of $13.9 billion, according to LSEG.

“We are reaffirming our 2025 outlook, which reflects our strong start to the year and confidence in our strategies and operational strength while still acknowledging the dynamic macroeconomic environment,” CEO Lauren Hobart said in a news release. “Our performance demonstrates the momentum and strength of our long-term strategies and the consistency of our execution.”

Here’s how the company performed in its first fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended May 3 was $264 million, or $3.24 per share, compared with $275 million, or $3.30 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items related to its acquisition of Foot Locker, Dick’s posted earnings per share of $3.37.

Sales rose to $3.17 billion, up about 5% from $3.02 billion a year earlier.

For most investors, Dick’s results won’t come as a surprise because it preannounced some of its numbers about two weeks ago when it unveiled plans to acquire its longtime rival Foot Locker for $2.4 billion. So far, Dick’s has seen a mix of reactions to the proposed acquisition.

On one hand, Dick’s deal for Foot Locker will allow it to enter international markets for the first time and reach a customer that’s crucial to the sneaker market and doesn’t typically shop in the retailer’s stores. On the other hand, Dick’s is acquiring a business that’s been struggling for years and some aren’t sure needs to exist due to its overlap with other wholesalers and the rise of brands selling directly to consumers.

While shares of Foot Locker initially soared more than 80% after the deal was announced, shares of Dick’s fell about 15%.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of fiscal 2025 and, for now, Dick’s outlook doesn’t include acquisition-related costs or results from the acquisition.

In the first full fiscal year post-close, Dick’s expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings and deliver between $100 million and $125 million in cost synergies.

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King Charles III used a significant speech in Canada’s parliament on Tuesday to underscore the country’s sovereignty following pressure from US President Donald Trump.

“Today, Canada faces another critical moment. Democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination, and freedom are values which Canadians hold dear, and ones which the Government is determined to protect,” the king said from the throne in the Senate chamber as he delivered a speech, which laid out the Canadian government’s legislative agenda for the year ahead.

Charles, 76, is on a two-day trip to Canada, the first time he has visited the country since assuming the throne in 2022. He is the head of state in Canada and 13 other Commonwealth realms, as well as in the United Kingdom.

It was the first time in nearly 50 years that a sovereign had delivered the address and was seen by many as a powerful show of support for Canada.

King Charles’ remarks comes as Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to annex Canada and make it the 51st state — a move which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly rebuffed.

During the roughly 26-minute address, which was written by the Canadian government, Charles spoke of the several challenges the nation faced. “The system of open global trade that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for Canadians for decades, is changing. Canada’s relationships with partners are also changing.”

King Charles discussed the changing relationship between Canada and the United States.

“The Prime Minister and the President of the United States, for example, have begun defining a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S., rooted in mutual respect and founded on common interests, to deliver transformational benefits for both sovereign nations,” he said.

Charles also referenced protecting Canada’s sovereignty, saying that the government would look at “rebuilding, rearming, and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces.”

He said the government “will boost Canada’s defence industry by joining ReArm Europe, to invest in transatlantic security with Canada’s European partners. And it will invest to strengthen its presence in the North, which is an integral part of Canada, as this region faces new threats.”

The monarch added: “The government will discharge its duty to protect Canadians and their sovereign rights, from wherever challenges may come at home or abroad.”

King Charles on Tuesday also emphasized that “the Crown has for so long been a symbol of unity for Canada,” adding that “it also represents stability and continuity from the past to the present.”

‘Delicate balancing act’

Charles and his wife, Camilla, made their way to parliament by carriage through the streets of the capital.

As the king formally opened a new session of parliament, he outlined some of Carney’s other priorities, which also focused on domestic issues such as more affordable housing, a tax cut for the middle class and the removal of barriers to interprovincial trade — themes the prime minister promised voters during the recent election campaign.

The king alternated between speaking in English and French – the two official languages of Canada – and received a standing ovation after wrapping up the speech.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, journalist and senior fellow at Massey College in Toronto, described the speech as a “delicate balancing act” after the recent unwanted attention from Trump, but one that touched upon key issues and tensions in Canada.

“Geography has been the greatest uniting force. But now under Prime Minister Carney, Canadians are looking overseas for a different set of connections without necessarily separating from the best connections that Canada has with the United States,” he continued.

“But it certainly was a message to the Trump administration that those days of Canada accepting everything that the United States tries to do, those days are over.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla were warmly welcomed on the tarmac as the couple touched down in Ottawa on Monday afternoon by Carney and Canadian Governor General Mary Simpson, the monarch’s representative in the country.

On Monday, Carney – who was elected in March largely on an anti-Trump platform – praised the “historic ties” between Canada and the United Kingdom which “crises only fortify.”

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Thousands of Palestinians overran a newly established aid site in southern Gaza on Tuesday that is part of a controversial new Israeli- and US-approved aid distribution mechanism that began on Tuesday after months of blockade.

Videos from the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showed large crowds storming the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of the crowd.

A diplomatic official called the chaos at the site “a surprise to no one.”

An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed the enclave’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis, with the first resumption of humanitarian aid trickling into the besieged enclave last week.

The GHF acknowledged the pandemonium, saying “the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties.” A security source said American security contractors on the ground did not fire any shots and that operations would resume at the site on Wednesday.

“It’s a big failure that we warned against,” said Amjad al-Shawa, director of Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network.

“If Israel believes that through this blockade and emboldening starvation, which violates humanitarian principles, that this distribution method would work, they are mistaken.”

GHF said it has distributed about 8,000 food boxes totaling 462,000 meals in Gaza so far. They say the flow of meals will increase each day, with a goal of delivering food to 1.2 million – 60% of Gaza’s population – by the end of the week.

The GHF claimed it began operating on Monday, but photos from the organization showed only a handful of people carrying boxes of aid, with pallets of boxes sitting at an otherwise empty lot.

GHF is readying three additional sites for the distribution of aid, two of which are in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza. All of the sites in the south are in an area that fell under a massive evacuation order one day earlier.

There are no distribution sites in northern Gaza – a point of criticism from many aid experts. The UN has previously warned that the fact the initial sites were only in southern and central Gaza could be seen as encouraging Israel’s publicly stated goal of forcing “the entire Gazan population” out of northern Gaza, as Defense Minister Israel Katz put it earlier this month.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel continues to deny it authorization to deliver food directly to families in Gaza, but they have thousands of trucks ready to enter the strip. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was ready, with other humanitarian organizations, “to distribute meaningful quantities of aid the moment we are allowed to.”

“The amount of supplies that were permitted to enter the Gaza Strip has been so minimal that they have not even reached families outside of one small area,” UNRWA said in a statement.

Israel and the US had declined to name the humanitarian organizations involved in the controversial new mechanism, but images from the GHF showed boxes labeled “Rahma Worldwide,” a Michigan-based non-profit organization that says it provides “aid and assistance to the most vulnerable communities in the world.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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