Politics

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy. 2:09 German snap election looms after finance minister fired, ruling coalition breaks Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag — a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — pub...

A former chief adviser and close friend to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday he doesn’t think Trudeau will stay on to lead the Liberals in the next election. Gerald Butts wrote in a Substack newsletter that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s surprise resignation from cabinet last week dealt Trudeau a staggering blow that loosened his already tenuous grip on the party.His post came the same day the Conservatives said they will move to bring down the government as early as the end of January, by first moving a non-confidence motion in a House committee that will sit Jan. 7.Trudeau is said to be thinking about his future during the holiday break, as an increasing number of current and former Liberal MPs publicly call on him to step down for the good of the party.Butts said Trudeau w...

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted December 27, 2024 5:20 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size A serial property flipper in British Columbia has been convicted of tax evasion and fined more than $2 million for failing to report nearly $7.5 million in earnings. The Canada Revenue Agency says in a statement that Balkar Bhullar of Richmond, B.C., was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day on Dec. 19 and fined about $2.15 million, matching the amount of unpaid federal income tax.The agency says Bhullar pleaded guilty on Aug. 3 last year to one count of tax evasion, relating to undeclare...

By The Staff The Canadian Press Posted December 27, 2024 10:04 am Updated December 27, 2024 11:43 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly are in Florida to meet with officials from president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. A statement from LeBlanc’s office says the duo travelled to Palm Beach, where they planned to use those talks to underscore “Canada’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking...

By Kyle Duggan The Canadian Press Posted December 27, 2024 11:27 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Conservative MP Jonathan Williamson says he’ll get the ball rolling early in the New Year on a no-confidence vote that could bring down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in a little more than a month. Williamson says in a social media post he will put forward his non-confidence motion at a public accounts committee meeting on Jan. 7.He says the committee can debate it and then kick the motion over to the House of Commons to deal with when it returns on Jan. 27. ...

The impeachment of South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo Friday has plunged the country into further political turmoil, coming less than two weeks after lawmakers impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. The successive impeachments that suspended the country’s top two officials are unprecedented, and the deputy prime minister and finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, is now South Korea’s new interim leader. Upon taking over power, Choi swiftly ordered the military to boost readiness to thwart potential North Korean aggressions and told diplomats to reassure key partners like the U.S. and Japan.“(Han’s) impeachment now creates an opportunity for external threats while causing Korea’s foreign partners to alienate it from the global community,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a...

Canadians preparing to head to the polls in the new year are likely to be voting with their wallets. Cost-of-living issues continue to dominate the list of priorities for Canadians, according to the findings of new Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News.The results of the poll, published Friday, found that one in four respondents ranked inflation and the cost of living as their top priority in Canada today, up five percentage points from a year earlier.While health care took the second spot (17 per cent, up three points from last year), other pocketbook issues dominated the rest of the list, according to Ipsos.Housing availability and affordability (14 per cent) rounded out the top three, followed by immigration (seven per cent), and the economy, unemployment and jobs (also se...

Clashes between Islamists who took over Syria and supporters of ousted President Bashar Assad’s government killed two Islamic fighters on Wednesday and wounded others, according to interim officials. The details of how the fighting erupted and who instigated the confrontation were not immediately known. Interim officials in Syria said two fighters were killed from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led the stunning offensive that toppled Assad earlier this month.Syria’s transition has been surprisingly smooth but it’s only been a few weeks since Assad fled the country and his administration and forces melted away. The insurgents who ousted Assad are rooted in fundamentalist Islamist ideology, and though they have vowed to create a pluralist system, it isn’t clear how or whether they plan ...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struck a conciliatory and hopeful tone in his annual Christmas message as he faces growing calls to resign and questions about his leadership future. Trudeau posted a video on X, formerly know as Twitter, Wednesday morning, wishing everyone a merry Christmas and urging Canadians to check in on those who may be going through a “very hard time.”“This is the time of year to slow down, to rest, and to connect with the people you love most,” Trudeau said.“It’s a moment to put our phones down, to put our politics aside, even when that one cousin makes it really hard and to focus on what matters.”Trudeau said while the holidays are a time of celebration, for people who are grieving, worried or alone, it can be the “toughest time of the year.” Story continues ...

King Charles thanked the medics who have cared for him and his daughter-in-law Kate, after they both underwent treatment for cancer this year, in a Christmas Day message that touched on global conflicts and the summer’s riots in Britain. In his third Christmas TV broadcast since becoming king, Charles struck an unusually personal tone for the royal seasonal message, a tradition that dates back to a radio speech by George V in 1932.The year has been traumatic for the royals after Buckingham Palace said in February the 76-year-old had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer detected in tests after a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate.A month later, Kate, the wife of his son and heir Prince William, said she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer that conclud...