TODAY’S INTERNATIONAL story

Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spins

What happened
The European Union yesterday accused Russia of “reckless escalation” after Romania said Moscow had flown a drone over its territory for nearly an hour Saturday night. Poland last week shot down at least three of 19 Russian drones sent deep into its airspace, in NATO’s first military engagement with Russia during the Ukraine war. But Romania said its F-16s decided it was safer to only monitor the drone there.

Who said what
Russia claimed last week’s incursion over Poland was an accident and President Donald Trump also suggested it “could have been a mistake,” but Poland, other NATO countries and security analysts said Moscow was deliberately testing NATO’s resolve and defenses.

Trump said Saturday he was “ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations” have stopped “buying oil from Russia.” Most NATO nations did so after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, but not Turkey, Hungary and Slovakia, all of which are “led by Trump allies,” The Washington Post said. “Instead of looking for a solution,” former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told the Post, Trump seems to be “looking for a way out.”

What next?
Trump, who is “resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector,” also pushed NATO allies to slap steep tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, The Wall Street Journal said. Russia “remains the world’s second-largest oil exporter,” The Associated Press said, but Moscow has “paused gasoline exports” amid shortages from rising demand and “sustained Ukrainian drone strikes” on its oil refineries, including a hit early Sunday on the large Kirishi refinery outside St. Petersburg.

TODAY’S POLITICS Story

Fox’s Kilmeade sorry for ‘just kill’ homeless remark

What happened
Fox News morning host Brian Kilmeade yesterday read an on-air statement apologizing for saying on Wednesday’s “Fox & Friends” that mentally ill homeless people should be killed. His comment, which drew mounting criticism after spreading online, came hours before the murder of Charlie Kirk sparked nationwide condemnation of calls for political violence and demands from Kirk’s conservative allies to fire people who make light of his death.

Who said what
Kilmeade made his comment during a discussion about what to do with homeless people who rejected government intervention, after a conversation about a mentally ill man in North Carolina who fatally stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. His co-host Lawrence Jones suggested that homeless people needed to be “locked up in jail” if they refused mental health care. “Or, involuntary lethal injection — or something,” Kilmeade said. “Just kill ’em.”

Kilmeade yesterday apologized for his “extremely callous remark.” He said he was “obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina, and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.” Kilmeade’s “rare on-air apology” also served as Fox News’ response to the controversy, The Washington Post said, citing network spokespeople.

What next?
Kilmeade’s continued employment at Fox News stood “in sharp contrast” with commentators “deemed to have made offensive comments about Kirk’s death,” notably fired MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd, said The Guardian. The GOP warning to mourn Kirk “respectfully or suffer the consequences” has already led to at least 15 people losing their jobs or being suspended, Reuters said, and the “campaign to fire Kirk’s critics has not slowed.”

It’s not all bad

Australia has approved the rollout of a single-dose chlamydia vaccine for koalas. Scientists hope the first-of-its-kind vaccine will keep the endangered marsupials from going extinct in some parts of the country. The deadly disease is spread through mating and close contact, and the infection rate is as high as 70% in some colonies. Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast spent 10 years working on the vaccine and are seeking funding to distribute it to wildlife clinics and hospitals.

Under the radar

Mislabeled endangered shark is being sold in the US

Shark meat may not be what it seems. Many shark products sold within the U.S. are mislabeled, and some are endangered species. This misrepresentation can be harmful ecologically and also medically for humans consuming the meat.

The shark meat industry is worth about $2.6 billion and involves more than 200 countries and territories, according to a 2021 report by the World Wildlife Fund. However, “traceability is one of the biggest challenges facing the global shark meat trade,” said Forbes. A culinary delicacy in parts of Asia, Australia, Europe and South America, shark meat can “change hands multiple times and cross several borders,” making it “easy for illegally caught sharks or those from unsustainable fisheries to enter the supply chain.”

Shark meat in the U.S. is “often mislabeled as another species or generically labeled as shark,” said a study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. Of 30 shark products purchased for the study, 31% “turned out to be from four endangered or critically endangered species: great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, tope and shortfin mako shark.”

This isn’t just bad for sharks. Ambiguously labeled meat can be a health hazard for humans. Some of the shark species identified are “known to contain high levels of mercury and methylmercury, as well as arsenic,” said CBS News. These metals can “damage the brain and central nervous system,” and “lead to cancer,” said the study. All three have also been “implicated in the impaired cognitive development and death of developing babies.”

On this day

September 15, 1916

Britain became the first country to use tanks on the battlefield in World War I’s Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The Mark I tanks were rudimentary by modern standards and did not perform flawlessly, but they helped Britain and its allies gain a tactical victory over the Germans. Today, there are about 73,000 tanks worldwide, according to the World Population Review.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Trump on the sidelines’

“Russian drone production surge transforms war,” The New York Times says on Monday’s front page. “Putin, Netanyahu march on, with Trump on the sidelines,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Putin emboldened after Alaska, China summits,” The Washington Post says, while in the U.S., Trump’s “Guard surges vex big-city Democratic mayors.” Memphis mayor “says he does ‘not support’ deployment,” The Commercial Appeal says. “Charlie Kirk’s death testing limits of free speech at work,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. “Advocates decry A&M prof’s firing,” says the Houston Chronicle. “How will Kirk’s slaying alter security?” says the Los Angeles Times. “Shootings hark back to earlier era of political discord in U.S.,” says The Palm Beach Post.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Hope is evergreen

Pilgrims are flocking to a pine tree in La Paz, Bolivia, believing it has special powers after being struck by lightning. People bring offerings to the Miracle Tree — like coins, chocolates and flowers — asking for “love, work, health, children” and “even to bring back their lost pet,” local cemetery worker Javier Cordero told The Associated Press. While such rites date back to before Spanish colonizers arrived in Bolivia, many visitors show up now after finding out about the tree on TikTok.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.