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The United States said Wednesday that it welcomed investment from South Korea, which dispatched a plane to repatriate hundreds of workers arrested in an immigration raid that shocked the close US ally.South Koreans made up the majority of 475 people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in the US state of Georgia last week, according to immigration agents. The operation was the largest single-site raid conducted under US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, according to an investigating agent. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun flew to Washington where Secretary of State Marco Rubio met him behind closed doors and issued a statement saluting the endurance of the alliance with the South, formally known as the Republic of Korea.Rubio said the United States “welcomes ROK investment into the United States and stated his interest in deepening cooperation on this front,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.Cho has called the mass detention of South Koreans a “grave situation” and pledged to secure the workers’ swift return “in good health.”Before departing, Cho told South Korean MPs that “a tentative agreement” had been reached with US authorities to ensure the detained workers would not face penalties, such as a five-year ban on re-entry.A Korean Air Boeing 747-8I, which seats over 350 passengers, left Seoul Wednesday, a company representative told AFP.While no official time has been given for the return flight, South Korean officials said Wednesday it had been delayed “due to circumstances on the US side”,  without giving details.Local media had reposted it would leave Wednesday, US time.”We are maintaining close consultations with the US authorities to secure the earliest possible departure,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.”I feel a great responsibility that our citizens have been arrested in this manner,” Cho said during a meeting with South Korean business leaders in Washington on Tuesday. Diplomatic officials had been dispatched to Georgia to mount a “full-front response,” he added, with the consulate general in Atlanta in contact with local authorities.In addition to being a key US security ally, South Korea is Asia’s fourth-biggest economy and a major automaker and electronics producer, and its companies have multiple plants in the United States.Seoul also heeded Washington’s repeated call during tariff negotiations for global investment in the United States.The site of the raid is a $4.3 billion joint venture between two South Korean firms –- Hyundai and LG Energy Solution –- to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.Experts said most of the detained South Korean workers were likely to hold visas that do not allow for hands-on construction work.The case could provide momentum for Seoul officials to push for a special visa act tailored to South Koreans, said US-licensed attorney Yum Seung-yul.”Using this as a case in point, officials here could strongly push for the Partner with Korea Act in Washington,” he said, referring to a proposal that would create a quota of 15,000 visas for skilled professionals.

Canada’s record-breaking 2023 wildfires exposed more than 350 million people in North America and Europe to air pollution that likely contributed to tens of thousands of deaths, according to new estimates published Wednesday.The findings “underscored that severe wildfires do not have only local consequences” but can inflict real harm a continent away, said the scientists behind the world-first research.Extreme fire conditions, supercharged by climate change, fanned thousands of blazes across Canada between May and September 2023 that torched around 18 million hectares (44 million acres) — an area larger than England.The five-month wildfires were unprecedented in size and scale, releasing massive plumes of acrid smoke that turned skies yellow and triggered health warnings across North America.But the smoke drifted as far as Europe, causing spikes in harmful PM2.5 pollutants and a measurable decline in air quality thousands of miles from the heat and flames in Canada.In North America and Europe, an estimated 354 million people were exposed to levels of PM2.5 above the World Health Organization’s (WHO) safe limit, concluded a new study into the long-range impact of the wildfires, published in the journal Nature.This contributed to nearly 70,000 premature deaths on both continents — most from breathing polluted air over months and a smaller number from acute exposure to wildfire smoke.The findings were “striking” and surprised even the research team behind them, said Qiang Zhang, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at Tsinghua University in Beijing who led the study.”While we anticipated large impacts from the record-breaking 2023 Canadian fires, the magnitude of the population exposure and related attributable mortalities are higher than expected,” he told AFP.”These results underscore that such extreme wildfires are no longer just a regional environmental issue and they have become a global public health concern.”PM2.5 pollutants are fine, airborne particles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs, and are linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.- Widespread -The team separated acute and chronic premature deaths due to PM2.5 exposure because they represented two very different types of health impacts from wildfire smoke exposure, Qiang Zhang said.Acute deaths, he said, captured the short-term health impacts during “smoke days” when daily PM2.5 levels spiked “well above” WHO guidelines and could immediately trigger fatal events, such as heart attacks or respiratory failures.Some 4,100 acute deaths were estimated in the United States, downwind from the wildfires, and another 1,300 in Canada itself.Chronic deaths reflected the health burden of longer-term exposure, which increases the risks of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and leads to premature death over time.The study found that chronic health impacts from five months of breathing wildfire smoke were “substantial and widespread”, with 41,900 deaths estimated in North America and 22,400 in Europe.Such estimates were a first, Qiang Zhang said.But that created limitations for researchers who lacked earlier references on the specific impact of wildfires on health, he said, forcing them to use broader evidence to base their estimates on.The computer model they built, using satellite observations and machine learning, also could not account for the health impact of various pollutants in wildfire smoke, he added.The authors said more research into this “underexplored” cost would be crucial as climate change made wildfires bigger, fiercer and more frequent.

US producer prices unexpectedly fell in August, government data showed Wednesday, driven in part by a pullback in energy and trade — and prompting President Donald Trump to renew calls for lower interest rates.The producer price index (PPI) dipped 0.1 percent on a month-on-month basis, according to Department of Labor data — when analysts had expected a 0.3-percent increase.The last such monthly decrease was seen in April, and compared with a year ago, PPI was up 2.6 percent, cooling from July’s figure as well.”Just out: No Inflation!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform shortly after the data was published.He reiterated his calls for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower rates “right now,” calling the central bank chief “a total disaster.”The numbers come as policymakers try to gauge the effects of Trump’s sweeping tariffs on prices, and were reported just a week before the Fed is set to hold its next policy meeting on interest rates.Stubbornly elevated inflation could make it tougher for the Fed to cut rates.But relatively benign inflation, alongside a weakening labor market, has meant that traders widely expect the central bank to adopt a cut of 25 basis points this month.In recent months, Trump has been ramping up pressure on the independent central bank to slash rates, taking aim at Powell repeatedly for not doing so more quickly.A decline in services prices was a key factor behind the PPI drop in August, with margins for trade services in particular falling, said the Labor Department.Excluding food, energy and trade services, PPI rose 0.3 percent from a month ago, and 2.8 percent from a year ago — the largest 12-month advance since March.”The latest PPI data pose no obstacle to a Fed rate cut next week,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.He added that the August PPI report “paints a much less scary picture of prices of goods ‘in the pipeline’ than the July report.”Looking ahead, analysts will be eyeing the key consumer price index report due on Thursday.Matthew Martin, senior US economist at Oxford Economics, warned that underlying goods inflation “is likely to push higher from here.””The balance between willingness and ability of businesses to absorb tariff costs versus their ability to pass along these increases to their customers will be an important dynamic in the coming months,” he added.Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has imposed a 10-percent tariff on goods from almost all trading partners, alongside varying higher levels hitting dozens of economies.He has also slapped separate, steeper duties on sector-specific imports such as steel, aluminum and autos, and analysts warn it could take time for the cumulative effects to filter through to consumers.

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said it was “recklessness” to let Joe Biden run for a second term as president, in an excerpt released Wednesday from her upcoming memoir.Harris — who replaced Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump — admitted that the then-81-year-old got “tired” and was prone to stumbles that showed his age.She also lashed out at White House staff whom she accused of failing to support her — and sometimes actively hindering her — while she was Biden’s deputy, “‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” Harris said in the first extract from “107 Days”, published by The Atlantic magazine.”The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”Biden stunned the world by dropping out of the race in July 2024 after a disastrous debate with Trump sparked questions about his age and mental acuity.Harris denied that there had been any conspiracy to hide Biden’s condition but said it was clear there were issues with his age.”On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best,” she wrote. “But at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.”Harris also lashed out at White House staff whom she said failed to support her when she was vice president, saying that Biden’s team did not want her to outshine her boss.”When the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president’s inner circle seemed fine with it. Indeed, it seemed as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more,” Harris wrote.She added that she had “shouldered the blame” for Biden’s border policy, which Trump capitalized on in the election.Harris lost comprehensively to Republican Trump after the shortest presidential campaign in modern US history lasting just over three months — the 107 days in the title of her memoir.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday the release of Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov who was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023.While Iraq said a “group of outlaws” kidnapped Tsurkov, Trump announced she was released by the powerful pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah group.”As a culmination of extensive efforts exerted by our security services over the course of many months, we announce the release of the Russian citizen, Elizabeth Tsurkov,” Sudani said on X. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Tsurkov “was just released” by Kataeb Hezbollah “after being tortured for many months” and was now at the US embassy in Baghdad.Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, said later in a statement that “following extensive and high-level security and intelligence efforts… authorities succeeded, on September 9, in locating and reaching the site of her detention.”Tsurkov was delivered to the US embassy to “facilitate her reunion with her sister, a US citizen,” he added. The former captive’s sister, Emma Tsurkov, thanked Trump, his special envoy Adam Boehler, the US embassy in Baghdad and the non-profit group Global Reach for their roles in securing the release.”My entire family is incredibly happy. We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days,” she posted on social media.Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, went missing in Iraq in March 2023.She had likely entered Iraq on her Russian passport and had travelled to the country as part of her doctoral studies.Her research focused on the Levant, and she worked extensively on Syria during its civil war as well as on Iraq. She speaks English, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic.Numan said Tsurkov was kidnapped by a “group of outlaws” without naming any party, and added that Iraq’s security forces “will continue to pursue all those involved in this crime and ensure they are held accountable.”- ‘Peace through strength’ -In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release, saying US measures against hostage diplomacy played a key role.”Less than a week after @POTUS (Trump) signed an executive order to strengthen efforts against hostage diplomacy, Princeton student Elizabeth Tsurkov has been released,” Rubio wrote.”This is peace through strength in action,” he added, thanking Iraq’s Sudani for his support.Tsurkov was active on social media, with tens of thousands of followers on X. She describes herself as “passionate about human rights”.In Baghdad, she had focused on pro-Iran factions and the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr as part of her research on the region.She was abducted as she was leaving a cafe in the Iraqi capital’s Karrada neighbourhood, an Iraqi intelligence source told AFP in 2023.Israeli authorities blamed Kataeb Hezbollah for her disappearance, but the group implied that it was not involved.- Kataeb Hezbollah? -Kataeb Hezbollah did not claim in 2023 the abduction, but a source in the group told AFP Tuesday Tsurkov was released to spare Iraq any “conflicts”.She “was released according to conditions, the most important of which was to facilitate the withdrawal of US forces without a fight and to spare Iraq any conflicts or fighting,” the source said.”She was released and not liberated. No military operation was carried out to free her,” the source added.Like other armed groups trained by Iran during the war against the Islamic State group (IS), Kataeb Hezbollah were integrated into the regular security forces as part of the Hashed al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilisation force (PMF).However, the faction has developed a reputation for sometimes acting on its own.The group and other Iran-backed Iraqi factions have been calling for the withdrawal of US troops deployed in Iraq at Baghdad’s invitation as part of the anti-IS coalition. US forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria were repeatedly targeted by Kataeb Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.They have responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks have halted.The US and Iraq have announced that the anti-IS coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq in 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region in the country’s north.

A chartered plane left Seoul for the United States Wednesday to repatriate hundreds of South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid, flag carrier Korean Air told AFP.South Koreans made up the majority of 475 people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in the US state of Georgia last week, according to immigration agents. The operation was the largest single-site raid conducted under US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, according to an investigating agent. A Korean Air Boeing 747-8I, which seats over 350 passengers, left Seoul Wednesday, a company representative told AFP.While no official time has been given for the return flight, South Korean officials said Wednesday it had been delayed “due to circumstances on the US side”,  without giving details.Local media had repoted it would leave Wednesday, US time.”We are maintaining close consultations with the US authorities to secure the earliest possible departure,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.Seoul’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who is now in Washington for talks on the issue, has called the mass detention of South Koreans a “grave situation” and pledging to secure the workers’ swift return “in good health”.Before departing, Cho told South Korean MPs that “a tentative agreement” had been reached with US authorities to ensure the detained workers would not face penalties, such as a five-year ban on re-entry.”I can tell you that negotiations are going well,” he said.- ‘Great responsibility’ -The South Korean government is reportedly seeking to have the detained workers leave the United States under voluntary departure rather than deportation. Minister Cho is expected to raise the issue during his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday morning local time.”I feel a great responsibility that our citizens have been arrested in this manner,” Cho said during a meeting with South Korean business leaders in Washington on Tuesday. Diplomatic officials had been dispatched to Georgia to mount a “full-front response”, he added, with the consulate general in Atlanta in contact with local authorities.In addition to being a key US security ally, South Korea is Asia’s fourth-biggest economy and a major automaker and electronics producer, and its companies have multiple plants in the United States.Seoul also heeded Washington’s repeated call during tariff negotiations for global investment in the United States.The site of the raid is a $4.3 billion joint venture between two South Korean firms –- Hyundai and LG Energy Solution –- to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.Experts said most of the detained South Korean workers were likely to hold visas that do not allow for hands-on construction work.The case could provide momentum for Seoul officials to push for a special visa act tailored to South Koreans, said US-licensed attorney Yum Seung-yul.”Using this as a case in point, officials here could strongly push for the Partner with Korea Act in Washington,” he said, referring to a proposal that would create a quota of 15,000 visas for skilled professionals.

Viral videos on social media portray the moment protesters began jeering US President Donald Trump at a Washington restaurant Tuesday, shouting “Free DC! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!”The 79-year-old Republican approached the shouting protesters in the restaurant, pausing a few feet away from them for a few moments, nodding and smiling placidly without offering a response.Seconds later, Trump gestured for the area to be cleared out, saying “come on, let’s go.” Secret Service agents then moved the protesters, who waved banners of the Palestinian flag.Others in the restaurant can be heard booing or chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!”The Secret Service and DC Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment.Eating dinner in public is a rare event for Trump, but Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that he “and his team enjoyed crab, shrimp, salad, steak and dessert” for dinner at a restaurant blocks from the White House.Trump was joined by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Leavitt and others.In one video, Vance is seen shaking diners’ hands and telling them to enjoy their meal.Ahead of the meal, Trump told press “the restaurants now are booming” in DC, crediting his crackdown on the capital with National Guard troops.Pool reporters said he was greeted with loud cheers from people across the street and a smattering of boos.

A chartered plane departed Seoul for the United States Wednesday to repatriate hundreds of South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid, flag carrier Korean Air told AFP.South Koreans made up the majority of people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in the US state of Georgia last week, according to immigration agents. The operation was the largest single-site raid conducted under US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, according to an investigating agent. A Korean Air Boeing 747-8I, which seats over 350 passengers, left from Seoul Wednesday, a company representative told AFP.”The chartered plane left around 10:20 am for the US,” said the spokeswoman.”A timeline for the return flight has not been finalised,” she added.Local media broadcast footage showing what they described as the chartered plane taking off from Incheon International Airport.Citing diplomatic sources, Yonhap news agency reported that the plane would leave the United States with the workers at 3:30 am Thursday (1830 GMT Wednesday).Seoul’s foreign minister Cho Hyun headed to Washington on Monday for further talks, calling the mass detention of South Koreans a “grave situation” and pledging to secure the workers’ swift return “in good health”.Before departing, Cho told South Korean MPs that “a tentative agreement” had been reached with US authorities to ensure the detained workers would not face penalties, such as a five-year ban on re-entry.”I can tell you that negotiations are going well,” he said.In addition to being a key US security ally, South Korea is Asia’s fourth-biggest economy and a major automaker and electronics producer, and its companies have multiple plants in the United States.Seoul has also heeded Washington’s repeated call during tariff negotiations for global investment in the United States.The site of the raid is a $4.3 billion joint venture between two South Korean firms –- Hyundai and LG Energy Solution –- to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.Experts said most of the detained South Korean workers were likely to hold visas that do not allow for hands-on construction work.

A US federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s move to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as she challenges her ouster from the central bank.Judge Jia Cobb granted Cook’s request for an order to remain on the bank’s board while her lawsuit plays out — just a week before a highly anticipated Fed rate meeting.In her opinion, judge Cobb found that Cook was “substantially likely” to succeed in certain claims, including her argument that Trump violated the Federal Reserve Act as her removal did not comply with the statute’s “for cause” requirement.”The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favor of Cook’s reinstatement,” Cobb added.Trump did not respond to a question about the ruling asked by a reporter Tuesday night, as he exited a restaurant in Washington.Cook’s lawyer Abbe David Lowell praised the ruling, saying it “recognizes and reaffirms the importance of safeguarding the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political interference.” “Allowing the President to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law,” Lowell said.The Supreme Court suggested in a recent ruling that Fed officials can only be removed “for cause,” which could be interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.In Tuesday’s opinion, Cobb also noted that Cook’s case was the first such removal “in the Federal Reserve’s 111-year history,” and questioned the nature of the Trump administration’s accusations.”‘For cause’ thus does not contemplate removing an individual purely for conduct that occurred before they began in office,” Cobb wrote.Trump’s move to fire Cook also marked a dramatic escalation in his effort to exert control over the Fed, which he has repeatedly called on to lower interest rates immediately, going so far as to mock Chairman Jerome Powell as “Mr. Too Late.”But policymakers have been cautious in cutting rates as they monitor the effects of Trump’s tariffs on the economy.Trump recently said on social media that he was immediately removing Cook over claims of mortgage fraud.Cook faces allegations that she claimed two primary residences on mortgage documents in 2021 — one in Michigan and another in Georgia. A primary residence typically attracts better mortgage terms for a loan.Cook became the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board in 2022.