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Service Canada has begun mailing out hundreds of thousands of passports that were held during the month-long Canada Post strike, but more delays could come. Employment and Social Development Canada told Global News on Monday that the strike had left approximately 215,000 printed passports and other passport program-related mail in the backlog since Nov. 8.As of Dec. 1, 185,000 passports were stuck in the mail as Service Canada put a temporary hold on mailing out passport packages ahead of the strike. That number went up to 215,000 passports by the time the labour disruption ended on Dec. 17.“Service Canada has worked with Canada Post on a plan for the resumption of mail service for passport delivery,” Liana Brault, an ESDC spokesperson, said in an emailed statement to Global News.Despite t...

The head of the North American Aerospace Defence Command says Chinese and Russian air co-operation in the Arctic has Norad’s “full attention.” Those two countries for the first time staged a joint patrol in the Arctic near the coast of Alaska last July.U.S. Gen. Gregory Guillot told The Canadian Press in a year interview that it potentially takes decades for two nations’ militaries to reach “full integration” at a level like the U.S. and Canada.“We see it right now as co-ordinated, meaning that they can safely operate in the same area (but) not near the level of integration that the Canadian Forces and the U.S. Forces have,” he said. “As they continue to operate up there more, it certainly has our attention and it’s something we watched very closely.”Norad’s strategic competitors — Russia,...

Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of Georgia on Sunday, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s European Union aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. Outgoing pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said Sunday morning that she would vacate her residence at the Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi, but insisted she was still the legitimate office holder.“I will come out of here, come out to you and be with you. … This presidential residence was a symbol as long as there was a president here who was legitimate. I bring legitimacy with me,” Zourabichvili told a crowd of supporters outside the palace.She called Kavelashvili’s inauguration a “parody.”Kavelashvili, 53, who was th...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-U.S. policy, state media reported Sunday, less than a month before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president. Trump’s return to the White House raises prospects for high-profile diplomacy with North Korea. During his first term, Trump met Kim three times for talks on the North’s nuclear program. Many experts however say a quick resumption of Kim-Trump summitry is unlikely as Trump would first focus on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. North Korea’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine also poses a challenge to efforts to revive diplomacy, experts say.During a five-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party that ended Friday, Kim called the U.S. “the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism ...