First Thing: Trump threatens EU with tariffs over membership offer to Canada

Good morning.

Donald Trump has threatened the EU with “serious tariffs” after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, invited Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member”.

The US president called the idea of Canada joining the EU “laughable”, and should the EU move forward with the plan, Washington could impose “very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe”. “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he said.

The US Federal Reserve voted on Wednesday to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023 as the central bank continues to fight to tamp down inflation, from 3.75% to 4%. “The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” said Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair.

The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, announced Wednesday that he would be sending lawmakers home one day early ahead of the midterm election recess – a decision that lets House members avoid voting on Republican Thomas Massie’s resolution to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and a frenzied attempt to propose legislation on artificial intelligence.

Last year was among the driest years on record for rivers across the world, with 36% of the global river basin area documenting river flows below or well below normal, according to an assessment of the global water cycle by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Overall, the amount of freshwater held on or under the ground was 42% below normal across the world last year.

The Guardian’s Filter US team looks into the best home upgrades worth considering to keep your home safe and secure.

Pacing is everything when it comes to children’s entertainment, writes Natalia Kucirkova, a senior lecturer in early years and childhood studies at Manchester Metropolitan University – something that should be especially concerning in an attention economy that overwhelms and overshouts. When media moves too quickly, it risks losing the time needed for a child to make meaning. A child watching a character comfort a friend may not be able to recognize the repair or imagine doing the same thing with his or her own cohorts if the scene moves too quickly. A child must notice that another person feels something different in order for the child to develop empathy, Kucirkova writes – something that takes time.

Renewed fighting in Yemen has displaced at least 125,000 people since the start of September 2026, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). “This war doesn’t differentiate between people. Rich or poor, high class or low class, we all fled our homes on the same day,” said Asma Taleb, a woman in her 50s who left her home last week with her two sons and five grandchildren.

Researchers found that the climate breakdown likely weakened the glacier that collapsed last month, causing catastrophic floods that killed hundreds of people in Nepal and Tibet. In the region where the collapse happened, July and August 2026 were the warmest on record locally, reaching 5C above the 30-year average in the days before the collapse. In this region, the climate breakdown has caused about 2C of warming since preindustrial times.

Three endangered African wild dog brothers in Zambia dodged cars and hunters while making a perilous, 2,500-mile odyssey in search of a new life. Scientists believe this to be the longest-ever recorded single journey of any mammal from the continent, made over the course of eight months.

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