The next leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party, Mark Carney, is expected to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister and wants to “rebuild” the country’s troubled relations with India. Additionally, the 59-year-old former central banker hopes to broaden Ottawa’s trading ties with New Delhi.
After receiving 85.9 percent of the vote in the Liberal Party leadership contest, Carney emerged victorious in the quest to succeed Trudeau as Canada’s top leader.
“What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trading relationships with like-minded countries, and there are opportunities to rebuild the relationship with India,” Carney said in a recent media appearance in Calgary, Alberta, prior to his election, in response to the US tariffs on Canada.
“That commercial connection requires a common sense of values, and if I am prime minister, I look forward to the opportunity to establish that,” he continued.
Carney’s understanding of Ottawa’s economic relations with New Delhi would be an additional benefit for India with him leading Canada. In addition to serving as the board chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, which has made investments in India’s infrastructure, renewable energy, and real estate markets, he had previously served as the head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. In January, he left the role.
In light of US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats that affect both nations, New Delhi is likely to appreciate any attempt by Ottawa to strengthen bilateral ties. Since Canada is one of the most popular places for Indians to migrate overseas, New Delhi might also bring up the subject of Ottawa’s tighter visa requirements and immigration restrictions with the country’s new administration.
Canada-India Relations After Trudeau claimed in September 2023 that Indians were responsible for the June 18 murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, relations between India and Canada fell to an all-time low. New Delhi called the accusations “baseless” and denied them on multiple occasions. The top diplomats from both nations were then expelled.
The Early Progress Trade Agreement, which was scheduled to be finalized in 2023, has also been put on hold by Ottawa.
For many Americans, daylight saving time has long been a source of annoyance due to frequent sleep disturbances and perplexing clock resets. Numerous politicians and leaders have demanded that this biannual custom be discontinued.
Daylight saving time has been a topic of discussion for many years. Elon Musk, a billionaire, and US President Donald Trump have expressed their thoughts on the issue. In the meantime, legislation to permanently end the twice-yearly clock-switch is being considered by the US Congress.
Some contend that the practice is antiquated and disruptive, while others are in favor of extending summer daylight hours and switching back to standard time in the winter. Making a lasting change has proven difficult, though, despite strong feelings on both sides.
Here is a look at the current controversy and the reasons why abolishing daylight saving time is so challenging.
Trump seemed to be in favor of abolishing daylight saving time at first, but his latest comments raise doubts about his commitment to the proposal.
“The Republican Party will utilize its best efforts to remove Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong support, but shouldn’t!” Trump said in a December social media post, criticizing the biannual clock shift. Daylight Saving Time is incredibly expensive for our country and cumbersome.
But a few months later, his position was less clear-cut. Trump recognized the lingering controversy during his signing of executive orders on Thursday, referring to it as a “fifty-fifty issue.” “A lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way,” he continued. “It is something I can do.”
Sunrise and sunset are moved an hour later due to daylight saving time, which interferes with everyday schedules. “I assume some would prefer to have more light later, but some want more light sooner because they do not want to take their kids to school in the dark,” Trump said, highlighting the differing views.
By asking users on X if they would prefer an earlier or later time adjustment if the practice were to be discontinued, billionaire Elon Musk sparked a discussion. 58% of the more than 1.3 million participants voted for a later shift, while 42% supported an earlier one.
Trump’s shifting position indicates that any possible adjustment is still up in the air while the fight over daylight saving time rages on.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who recently completed nine months at the International Space Station (ISS) with follow astronaut Butch Wilmore, recently revealed the hardest part of being stranded in space. For Williams, whose eight-day mission extended to over 270-day stay in space, the most challenging part wasn’t lack of gravity or the confined quarters, but the uncertainty over the timeline of her return–for her and her family waiting for her back home on Earth.
Addressing the press from the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, Williams said, “The hardest part is having the folks on the ground not know exactly when we’re coming back. It’s been a rollercoaster for them – probably more so than for us.” Long-time NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams embarked for the ISS on the Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024, for an eight-day stay. However, their spacecraft suffered multiple technical issues en route to space. resulting in NASA declaring the Starliner too risky to carry astronauts back home. The spacecraft returned to Earth without its crew in September, leaving the two astronauts without a ride home. Now, the American space agency is planning to bring both its astronauts back to Earth on March 19 or 20, but they will make their return with the help of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, aboard its Crew-9 return flight. The astronaut’s prolonged stay has also sparked controversy on the ground, with Musk claiming the astronauts were being left in space “for political reasons.” US President Donald Trump also echoed the sentiment, suggesting that the former Biden administration was deliberately delaying their return. However, both Williams and Wilmore gracefully sidestepped the political drama. When asked to comment on the matter, Williams on Thursday said, “We know what we’ve lived up here.” “We have the utmost respect for everyone trying to get us home,’ she added. Wilmore, meanwhile, said that he and Williams were left in the dark with “no information whatsoever” on what the Biden administration was doing to bring them back and therefore he believes Musk’s claim “That’s information that we simply don’t have, so I believe him,” Wilmore said.
Pope Francis, who is doing well on his pneumonia treatment, praised his medical staff on Sunday despite missing his fourth consecutive in-person Angelus prayer.
The 88-year-old, who has been in the Gemelli hospital in Rome since February 14, wrote an Angelus in which he praised the “closeness and kindness” of people who volunteer to help those in need.
“I also feel the consideration of service and the compassion of care, especially from the physicians and medical staff, for whom I am incredibly grateful,” he stated.
In the Vatican-published essay, he stated, “We need this, the’miracle of tenderness’ which accompanies those who are in hardship, bringing a little light into the night of pain.”
The head of the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide has already visited the Gemelli, most notably for a hernia operation in 2023 and colon surgery in 2021.
Francis’s multiple pulmonary crises during this hospital stay have raised concerns that the old pope may have to retire or that his recuperation would take a long time.
The Vatican reported on Saturday that the pope had finally shown “a steady, moderate improvement” and was responding well to treatment, marking a number of days free of crises.
According to an evening medical report, the pope’s physicians want to see the more encouraging results “in the coming days” before making a prognosis, even though he does not have a fever.
On Monday afternoon, the next bulletin is anticipated.
Francis has been taking breaks, praying, and working when he feels like it.
He was joined on Sunday morning by Edgar Pena Parra, an archbishop from Venezuela and a high-ranking Vatican official, and Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
His presence was greatly missed, according to many who gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, where Francis would typically stand at a Vatican window and read the Angelus to multitudes below.
Diana Desiderio, a volunteer for the Pescara civil protection service, stated, “He is a beautiful person who has contributed so much and I hope that he can return as soon as possible.”
Francis’ “come to the window again and bring calm and serenity to everyone, since we need it” is what she and other volunteers are hoping for, she told AFP.
The pope’s customary appeal for peace amid wars, “particularly in tortured Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” concluded the Angelus.
“I hope that they cease finally, with full respect for all ethnic and religious components of society,” he said, expressing concern over the return of violence in some parts of Syria.
Catholics have also been congregating at the Gemelli hospital to leave cards, flowers, and candles or to pray for Francis.
For the second consecutive Sunday, 74-year-old Giuseppe Antonio Perazzo was at the hospital, looking dapper in a coat and tie, hoping the pope might stop by the window.
The Argentine pope, who is known for being a stubborn patient, was advised to “keep doing what the doctors and nurses tell you to do” by a sign he held up in front of the windows of the pope’s apartments.
After a “armed confrontation” with law enforcement, the US Secret Service shot a man close to the White House in Washington, DC, just after midnight on Sunday (local time). At the time of the shooting, President Donald Trump was in Florida. The event took place on the west side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, approximately one block from the White House. Local police alerted the agents on Saturday about a supposedly “suicidal” man who was traveling from Indiana to Washington.
The Secret Service officers found the person’s parked car close to 17th and F Streets, NW, at around midnight. They also saw a person walking nearby who fit the description. According to a statement from the Secret Service, “the man displayed a pistol as police approached and an armed altercation followed, during which bullets were fired by our troops.” According to the Secret Service, the individual was admitted to the hospital and his health was “unknown.” According to the statement, no members of the Secret Service were hurt in the incident. The message also stated that as the Metropolitan Police Department is the main organization in charge of use-of-force occurrences in the District of Columbia, they will be looking into the matter.
After weeks of detention in a secluded camp in the Central American country, Panama has freed hundreds of migrants deported by the United States in response to international outrage. Many are unsure of their future after Panamanian officials gave them 30 days to choose their next move.
On Friday, Panama declared that 112 migrants who were deported from the United States will be granted 30-day permits. The administration has justified the action on humanitarian grounds, but human rights attorneys have voiced fears that this could be a ploy to shield the authorities from international criticism for how they have treated migrants while simultaneously endangering them.
Frank Abrego, Panama’s Security Minister, claims that temporary humanitarian visas have been issued to migrants, who come from a variety of countries, primarily in Asia. The liberated travelers must find their own lodging until their passes expire, at which point they must choose their next destination.
According to Abrego, the passes could be extended after their initial 30-day duration, as reported by the Associated Press (AP).
He stated on Friday, the day before migrants were released, that “they have exactly 30 days to find out how to leave Panama, because they rejected… to take help from the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency and claimed that they wanted to do it themselves.”
The administration of President Donald Trump has begun a huge crackdown on illegal immigration in the United States since taking office on January 20. Hundreds of people, many of whom were families with children, were transported by the government to Panama and Costa Rica as a stopover while officials worked out a plan to return them to their home countries.
When hundreds of deportees confined in a Panama City hotel displayed letters to their windows begging for assistance and stating that they were afraid to return to their home countries, the arrangement stoked human rights concerns.
In the face of growing human rights criticism, lawyers and human rights campaigners warned that Panama and Costa Rica were becoming “black holes” for deportees and claimed that their release was a tactic used by Panamanian officials to distance themselves from the deportees.
People who are escaping persecution or violence have the right to request for asylum under international refugee law.
Those who refused to go home were then taken to an isolated camp close to Panama’s border with Colombia, where they lived in substandard conditions for weeks. They were also denied access to phones, legal representation, and information about their next destination.
Now, a large number of the freed migrants remain stuck in Panama without any help or supplies. Hayatullah Omagh, 29, is one of them. He fled Afghanistan in 2022 after the Taliban gained power, leaving him in a legal limbo and frantically trying to figure out how to proceed.
The man told AP, “We are refugees. We have no money. We do not have any family, thus we can not afford a motel in Panama City.”
“Under no circumstances can I return to Afghanistan… The Taliban is in charge of it, and they intend to murder me. “How can I return?” Omagh bemoaned.
He said that he would be assassinated if he returned to Afghanistan under the Taliban’s authority, which retook power after the Biden administration left the country, because he is an atheist and a member of the Hazara ethnic minority. After years of trying to reside in Pakistan, Iran, and other nations but being refused visas, he finally traveled to the US.
After presenting himself to American officials and requesting and being granted asylum in the US, Omagh was deported.
Freedom was what I hoped for. Only freedom,” he declared. “They denied me the opportunity. I repeatedly requested to talk with an asylum officer, but they consistently refused.
Deportees will have the opportunity to extend their stay by 60 days if necessary, according to authorities, but many, like Omagh, are unsure of what will happen after that.
Many of the migrants were assisted in finding accommodation and other resources by human rights organizations and attorneys who supported them, while scores of others stayed in the camp. Many of the deported migrants were unable to return home because they were escaping oppression and violence in their native countries.
One of them was Nikita Gaponov, 27, who left Russia because of persecution for belonging to the LGBTQ+ group. He claims that despite being held at the US border, he was not let to apply for asylum. Gaponov declared, “I will be sleeping on the earth tonight once I get off the bus (with freed deportees).” The Panamanian government, which has stated that it wants to collaborate with the Trump administration “to send a signal of deterrence” to those who wish to migrate, released Omagh and Gaponov along with 65 other migrants from China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, and other countries after they had been held in appalling conditions for weeks.
Omagh said it was a relief to leave the camp, even though there was no way home. He and other migrants who spoke to the AP described the harsh Panamanian authorities, the lack of food, and the oppressive heat with little respite.
According to the report, which detailed the appalling circumstances in prison, a little brawl started when guards refused to give a migrant their phone. Later, armed guards put an end to it.
While Panamanian authorities refuted allegations regarding the circumstances in the camp, they also prevented media from entering the camp and canceled a scheduled press visit last week.
International relief agencies promised to arrange for anyone who refused to return home to fly to a third country, but Panamanian officials said that those who had been freed had already turned down assistance.
Omagh claimed that while in the camp, he was informed that if a third nation granted visas to Afghans, he might be moved there. Since few countries welcome visitors with an Afghan passport, he noted, that would be extremely challenging.
He claimed that authorities in the camp informed him repeatedly that “we do not accept asylum” when he asked if he could apply for asylum in Panama.
Many of those who have been released are looking north once more, claiming that after traveling around the world to get to the US, they had no choice but to keep going despite having already been deported.
“They all have no desire to remain in Panama. In an interview with the AP last month, Panama’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Ruiz-Hernandez, stated, “They want to get to the US.”
For others, such as a Chinese woman who talked to the AP under anonymity out of concern for possible reprisals from Panamanian officials, that was the case.
For the first time, North Korea displayed a nuclear-powered submarine that is currently being built; this weaponry could be a serious security risk to both the US and South Korea.
In its coverage of leader Kim Jong Un’s travels to significant shipyards where warships are constructed, the state media agency on Saturday published images of what it described as “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine.”
Kim was informed on the submarine’s construction, according to the Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, but no further information was provided.
According to Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Hanyang University in Seoul, the navy vessel looks to be a 6,000- or 7,000-ton class that can carry roughly ten missiles. According to him, the phrase “the strategic guided missiles” implied that it would be equipped with nuclear-capable weaponry.
According to Moon, “it would be absolutely threatening to us and the U.S.”
“We are aware of these reports and do not have any information to give at this time,” stated Brian Hughes, spokesman for the US National Security Council.
Hughes declared, “The U.S. is dedicated to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”
During a significant political gathering in 2021, Kim pledged to implement a long list of advanced weapons, including a nuclear-powered submarine, to address what he described as growing military threats from the United States. Other weapons included multi-warhead missiles, surveillance satellites, hypersonic weaponry, and solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles. Since then, North Korea has conducted a series of tests in an attempt to obtain them.
It is concerning that North Korea has improved its underwater missile firing capabilities since it makes it harder for its adversaries to anticipate such launches.
There have been concerns raised about how North Korea, a poor and heavily sanctioned nation, might obtain the resources and technology necessary to construct nuclear-powered submarines. According to Moon, the specialist on submarines, Russia may have given North Korea technical support to construct a nuclear reactor for the submarine in exchange for providing conventional weaponry and personnel to aid Russia in its fight against Ukraine.
In addition, he stated that North Korea may test the submarine’s capabilities before deploying it in a year or two.
North Korea possesses one of the largest fleets of diesel-powered submarines in the world, with an estimated 70 to 90 of them. But they are generally old ones that can only launch mines and torpedoes, not missiles.
North Korea claimed to have launched its first “tactical nuclear attack submarine” in 2023, but international analysts questioned the North’s claim and conjectured that it was probably a diesel-powered submarine that had been leaked in 2019. According to Moon, there is no proof that it has been used.
The same 2,000-ton-class submarine with a single launch tube has been used for all of North Korea’s underwater-launched ballistic missile tests since 2016. Rather of being an operational submarine in active service, many experts refer to it as a test platform.
Before their annual military exercises begin on Monday, North Korea has been intensifying its venomous rhetoric against the United States and South Korea in recent days.
Kim stated during his tours of the shipyards that North Korea wants to update its subsurface and water-surface vessels at the same time. According to KCNA on Saturday, he emphasized the necessity of forcing “the incomparably overwhelming warships complete their duties” in order to stop “the hostile forces’ habitual gunboat diplomacy.”
As armed men swept through the neighborhood, chasing members of Syria’s Alawite minority, Rihab Kamel and her family spent two days hiding in their toilet in fear.
The seaside city is located in the Alawite heartland of Syria, which has seen the worst violence since the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad in December.
“We hid after turning out the lights. We discovered the roads were clogged with dead when we managed to escape our Al-Qusour neighborhood,” 35-year-old mother Kamel told AFP.
She added that they intended to escape across the border after being hidden by a Christian family who subsequently assisted them in getting to the border with Lebanon.
“What offense were the kids guilty of? “Do they also favor the (overthrown) regime?” she asked. “Alawites like us are innocent.” The bloodshed started on Thursday as Syria’s new security forces were attacked by Assad-aligned terrorists. Both sides lost hundreds of people in the ensuing confrontations.
Security forces and affiliated organizations killed at least 745 Alawite civilians in the provinces of Latakia and Tartus, according to a subsequent report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the interim president of the Islamist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the lightning onslaught that overthrew Assad, urged on Sunday that “national unity (and) civil peace” be maintained.
“With God’s grace, we shall be able to coexist in this nation,” he stated at a Damascus mosque.
However, there were reports of systematic murders in coastal towns and villages.
As an Alawite, Assad attempted to portray himself as the defender of Syria’s minorities.
The rights of religious minorities will be protected during the inclusive transition, as the new leadership have frequently pledged.
Nevertheless, the decades of violent domination by the Assad clan have left the Alawite heartland terrified of retaliation.
Samir Haidar, 67, of Baniyas, told AFP that “armed groups” broke into people’s homes and killed two of his brothers and his nephew.
Despite being Alawite himself, Haidar was imprisoned for over ten years as a member of the communist opposition under the Assads.
He added that there were “foreigners among them” and that he started hearing gunfire and explosions on Friday morning as forces were being sent into the city.
He claimed, “They went into the building and killed my lone neighbor.”
However, he claimed that “if I had been five minutes late, I would have been slaughtered.” He was able to flee to a Sunni neighborhood with his wife and two kids.
One hundred meters (yards) away, armed men broke into his brother’s building that same day.
Haidar claimed, “They gathered all the men on the roof and started fire on them.”
“My brother was slain along with all the men in the building, but my nephew survived because he hid.”
He stated that all of the guys in their building were slain, along with a 74-year-old brother and a nephew.
Haidar remarked, “There are houses with four or five dead bodies in them,”
He added, “We have requested to be able to bury our deceased,” since he has not been able to bury his brothers himself.
Residents of the port city of Latakia testified to AFP that some Alawites were killed after being kidnapped by armed groups.
According to an AFP correspondent, one of them was Yasser Sabbouh, the leader of a state-run cultural center, who was abducted and had his body left outside his house.
A resident in Jableh, further south, told AFP in tears that armed men had taken over the town and were terrorizing them.
Together with my parents and brothers, there are six of us living in the house. For the past four days, there has been no water or electricity. Fearing for his safety, he added under condition of anonymity, “We have nothing to eat and we do not dare go out.”
“Over fifty members of my family and acquaintances have been slaughtered,” he continued. “They buried the victims in mass graves after gathering them with bulldozers.”
Jaafar Ali, a 32-year-old Alawite from the area, and his brother escaped to neighboring Lebanon.
When he said, “I do not think I am going back soon,” “We have no homeland and are refugees. We want nations to provide Alawites with humanitarian migratory routes.
The Dominican Republic’s authorities are looking for a 20-year-old student of Indian descent who vanished during a spring break excursion with her peers. Sudiksha Konanki, a University of Pittsburgh student, was reported missing on Thursday while traveling with a group in the resort town of Punta Cana, according to the New York Post. Ms. Konanki vanished while “walking the beach” and has not been seen or heard from since, according to Dominican Republic authorities.
A Loudoun County Sheriff’s agency representative told the Post on Saturday, “Our agency was called on Thursday evening regarding a missing girl from Loudoun County who was with a group of other persons traveling in the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana particularly.”
According to local officials, the 20-year-old disappeared while strolling down the shore in a bikini. She is 5′ 3″, with brown eyes and black hair, according to a missing person’s poster. She had on a brown bikini, large round earrings, a metal designer anklet on her right leg, steel and yellow bracelets on her right hand, and a multicolored beaded bracelet on her left hand when she vanished, according to the poster.
Officials from the University of Pittsburgh said in a statement that they were collaborating with the Virginia local government and Ms. Konanki’s family. According to the site, university spokesperson Jared Stonesifer stated, “University officials are in communication with Sudiksha Konanki’s family as well as authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia, and we have offered our full assistance in their efforts to find her and bring her home safely.”
On Saturday night, Defensa Civil, a Dominican Republic-based search and rescue squad, began searching for her; however, at approximately 8 p.m., the team decided to end the search for the day. The search for Konanki will resume on Sunday, according to Defensa Civil.
According to her LinkedIn page, Sudiksha Konanki is anticipated to receive her degree from the university in 2026. What her major is is unknown. She went to Alexandria, Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology before attending college.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a sarcastic joke about not dressed in a suit when he went to the White House to receive a dressing-down from Donald Trump.
Zelensky, a former comedian and actor, thanked the audience at the conclusion of his address at an awards ceremony and added, “Sorry I am not in a suit,” to cheers and clapping, according to a video published by the presidency.
Like the black clothing he wore during his heated exchange with the US president last month, the president’s attire featured Ukraine’s trident insignia.
Zelensky has substituted casual military clothing, including khaki or black T-shirts and fleeces, for suits since Russia invaded in February 2022.
This highlights the fact that his nation is engaged in a war and makes him stand out at any gathering of leaders. His group has taken after him.
However, Brian Glenn, a reporter for a right-wing channel, made fun of Zelensky for not wearing a suit during the Oval Office discussion.
Zelensky responded wearyly, “I will wear (a suit) after this conflict finishes,” in a widely circulated online debate.
According to sources cited by media outlet Axios, Trump was upset that Zelensky did not wear a suit to the meeting after US officials advised him that it would be more “respectful” to do so.
When Zelensky showed in, Trump said mockingly that “he is all dressed up today” before viciously attacking the Ukrainian leader.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed dismay at the discussion in a long commentary on the Oval Office meetings that aired on Russian television on Sunday. He asserted that monarchs have not used such cruel methods since “old times,” saying, “Being a diplomat by profession, I could not believe my eyes, not my ears.”
In the past, it was common practice to imprison or chop off the head of a state when its head traveled abroad. However, I believe that did not occur even during the medieval period,” he stated.
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