May, 2025
Ukraine, Russia appear set to engage in Istanbul-hosted talks without Zelenskyy, Putin
Russia’s Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey on Thursday, instead sending a second-tier delegation to planned peace talks, while the Ukrainian president said his defence minister would head up Kyiv’s team. They will be the first direct talks between the sides since March 2022, but hopes of a major breakthrough were further dented by U.S. President Donald Trump who said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Putin. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later echoed that view, tellingRead more
Trump wants to accept a Qatari jet for Air Force One. Here are the facts
A Qatari Boeing 747 sits at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida after U.S. President Donald Trump toured the aircraft on Feb. 15. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to accept a Qatari jet as an Air Force One replacement has raised a long list of legal, ethical and technical questions. Any deal to accept the plane has not been finalized, but since the weekend Trump has been adamant that he wants it. “They’re giving us a free jet,” he said, adding that only “a stupid person” wouldRead more
Ontario set to begin construction of Canada’s 1st mini nuclear power plant
Premier Doug Ford’s government has given Ontario Power Generation the green light to start construction on Canada’s first small modular reactor, a new nuclear energy technology to be built next door to the Darlington power plant. The small modular reactor (SMR) would provide 300 megawatts of power, enough electricity to supply about 300,000 homes, according to briefing documents from Ontario’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. It would be the first of four such reactors that OPG aims to build on the site, at a total project cost of $20.9 billion,Read more
Trump keeps 10% tariffs on U.K., cuts taxes on British autos, steel and aluminum in trade deal
U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on Thursday to cut tariffs on U.K. autos, steel and aluminum in a planned trade deal but played down the possibility of other nations getting similarly favourable terms on his import taxes, which are roiling the global economy. Under the framework agreement, the U.K. is to buy more U.S. beef and ethanol and streamline its customs process for goods from the United States. But Trump’s baseline 10 per cent tariffs against British goods are to stay in place, and the Republican president suggested that even higherRead more
Bill Gates set to give away $200B US by 2045, says Musk is ‘killing’ world’s poorest children
Bill Gates pledged on Thursday to give away $200 billion US via his charitable foundation by 2045 and lashed out at Elon Musk, accusing the world’s richest man of “killing the world’s poorest children” through huge cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget. The 69-year-old billionaire co-founder of Microsoft said he was speeding up his plans to divest almost all of his fortune and would close the foundation on Dec. 31, 2045, years earlier than previously planned. Gates said he believed the money would help achieve several of his goals, such as eradicating diseases like polio and malaria, ending preventable deaths among women and children, and reducing global poverty.Read more
Trump calls 1st American Pope a ‘great honour’ as world leaders welcome Leo XIV
Current and former world leaders were quick to congratulate Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, after his fellow cardinals chose him to succeed the late Pope Francis. “What excitement, and what a great honour for our country,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on social media, referencing the fact that the newly elected Pope was born in the United States. All four of the U.S.’s living past presidents offered congratulations to the 69-year-old, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, now known as Leo XIV — himself the first-ever, U.S.-born pope. Former U.S. presidentRead more
How will Carney contend with a minority — and what kind of Parliament do MPs want?
In his first news conference since Monday’s election, Prime Minister Mark Carney did not shy away from some of the rhetoric and ambition that carried him through the campaign. Canada would be embarking, he said, “on the biggest transformation of our economy since the end of the Second World War.” This country’s “old relationship” with the United States was “over.” The government would address the failures of the housing market by “unleashing the power of public-private co-operation at a scale not seen in generations.” “Now is the time for ambition,Read more
Northern Quebec Cree voters left behind despite promise of access
Elections Canada promises that anyone, anywhere, could vote during advance polls. However, voters in Northern Quebec Cree communities found that polling stations were closed. It’s the latest in a list of stories from community members in northern Quebec who say they had trouble voting or couldn’t do so at all. On election day, some Nunavik communities had polling stations that closed early or didn’t open at all. Guy Beaulieu, a resident of Whapmagoostui, arrived at the local sports complex with his spouse on April 19 expecting to vote, but discovered thatRead more
NASA faces cuts to rocket program and lunar space station in Trump’s 2026 budget
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to axe key parts of NASA’s moon program in favour of commercial alternatives and his Mars-focused agenda, targeting an array of established projects in a proposed $6-billion US cut to the space agency’s overall budget for next year. The “skinny” — or outline — version of Trump’s proposed 2026 budget, released on Friday, would cancel NASA’s over-budget Space Launch System (SLS), a gigantic rocket built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and its Lockheed Martin-built Orion crew capsule after its third mission in 2027 under theRead more
Prince Harry ‘gutted’ to lose U.K. security decision, confirms no communication with King Charles
Prince Harry told the BBC it was “impossible for me to take my family back to the U.K. safely” after he lost his legal challenge to the British government on Friday changing his security arrangements after he stepped down from royal duties. King Charles’s younger son, the Duke of Sussex unsuccessfully sought to overturn a decision by the Home Office — the ministry responsible for policing — which decided in 2020 he would not automatically receive the highest level of personal police protection in Britain. The prince told the BBCRead more