OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised President-elect Donald Trump that Canada would toughen controls over the long undefended joint border, a senior Canadian official said on Sunday. Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday to have dinner with Trump, who has promised to slap tariffs on Canadian imports unless Ottawa prevents migrants and drugs from crossing the frontier.
Canada sends 75 percent of all goods and services exports to the United States and tariffs would badly hurt the economy.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who sat at the head table with Trudeau and Trump, said the two men discussed additional security measures Canada would be introducing.
“We’re going to look to procure, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters, we’re going to redeploy personnel ... we believe that the border is secure,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“It’s important, I think, to show Canadians and the Americans that we’re stepping up in a visible and muscular way, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he added, promising more details in the days and weeks to come.
Canada, he said, would continue to make the case that tariffs would damage both nations, given how interconnected the two economies are.
“I’m confident that the Americans will understand that it’s not in their interest ... to proceed in this way,” he said, describing the dinner meeting as very warm and cordial.
Trump said on Saturday he discussed the border, trade and energy in a “very productive” meeting with Trudeau.
The friendly nature of the dinner contrasts with previous exchanges between the two men.
Trump called Trudeau “a far left lunatic” in 2022 for requiring truck drivers crossing the border to be vaccinated against COVID. In June 2018, Trump walked out of a G7 summit in Quebec and blasted Trudeau for being “very dishonest and weak.”
At the end of the dinner, LeBlanc said, Trump walked Trudeau to his car and said “Keep in touch. Call me anytime. Talk soon.”
Trudeau promised Trump tougher border controls, says top Canada official
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Trudeau promised Trump tougher border controls, says top Canada official
- Trump said on Saturday he discussed the border, trade and energy in a “very productive” meeting with Trudeau
Tens of thousands rally in Georgia as PM rebuffs calls for new election
- On Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities
TBILISI: Tens of thousands in Georgia on Sunday took part in a fourth straight day of protests against a government decision to shelve EU membership talks, as the prime minister rebuffed calls for new elections.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October 26 parliamentary polls that the pro-European opposition said were fraudulent.
The opposition is boycotting the new parliament, while pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili has asked the constitutional court to annul the election result, declaring the new legislature and government “illegitimate.”
Critics accuse Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, of having steered the country away from the EU in recent years and of moving closer to Russia, an accusation it denies.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities.
The interior ministry has said about 150 demonstrators have been arrested in this latest protest wave, while the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association put the number at 200.
Police in some instances have chased protesters through the streets, beating them and firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
Waving European and Georgian flags, tens of thousands rallied outside parliament on Sunday evening, AFP reporters saw.
Some demonstrators tossed fireworks and stones at riot police, while others banged on the metal door blocking parliament’s entrance.
Police later deployed water cannons, but were unable to disperse the crowds.
The leader of the opposition United National Movement party, Levan Khabeishvili, told journalists that he was attacked by around 15 masked police officers attempting to detain him, but he had managed to escape with the help of protesters.
“Georgian Dream... is a (pro) Russian government, and they must go,” said demonstrator Alexandre Diasamidze, a 32-year-old bartender.
Another protest took place outside the offices of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB), widely accused of acting as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.
The broadcaster conceded to the protesters’ demand to grant Zurabishvili airtime, which it had previously denied her.
Simultaneous protests took place in cities across Georgia.
Fuelling popular anger, Kobakhidze ruled out new parliamentary elections, saying that “the formation of the new government based on the October 26 parliamentary elections has been completed.”
Earlier this week, the party nominated far-right former football international Mikheil Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post of president.
But Zurabishvili told AFP in an exclusive interview on Saturday that she would not step down until last month’s contested parliamentary elections are re-run.
Brussels has not recognized the outcome of the October elections and demanded an investigation into “serious electoral irregularities.”
The European Parliament has called for a re-run and for sanctions against top Georgian officials, including Kobakhidze.
Zurabishvili on Saturday said that she was “the only legitimate institution in the country,” and that “as long as there are no new elections... my mandate continues.”
Constitutional law experts, including one author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, told AFP that any decisions made by the new parliament — including the nomination of Kobakhidze as prime minister and the coming presidential election — would be invalid.
That is because parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court ruling on Zurabishvili’s bid to annul the election results, they said.
Hundreds of public servants, including from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and education, as well as a number of judges, issued joint statements protesting Kobakhidze’s decision to postpone EU accession talks.
More than 200 Georgian diplomats criticized the move as contradicting the constitution and leading the country “into international isolation.”
A number of Georgia’s ambassadors resigned, while around 100 schools and universities suspended academic activities in protest.
The crackdown on protests has provoked international condemnation.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania jointly agreed to impose sanctions “against those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on social media.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Saturday condemned “excessive force used against Georgians exercising their freedom to protest.”
Poland border fence divides officials and rights groups
- Since 2021, Poland has seen thousands of migrants and refugees, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, attempting to enter the EU and NATO country through Belarus
MINKOWCE: An impenetrable barrier against irregular migration for some, a deadly trap for others: a metal fence erected on the Polish-Belarusian border is dividing Poland’s authorities and human rights groups.
At its foot, Polish soldiers, hooded and carrying machine guns, patrol the border — a flashpoint between Warsaw and Minsk whom Poland had blamed for orchestrating the influx of migrants.
“Migration is artificially directed here,” said Michal Bura, a spokesman for the Podlasie region border guards, joining the patrol in his four-wheel drive.
“The Belarusian services help the migrants, transport them from one place to another, and equip them with tools they need to cross this barrier, such as pliers, hacksaws, and ladders,” he added.
This month, the 5-meter-high metal barrier along the border built in 2022 has been reinforced with metal bars and another layer of barbed wire.
Warsaw has also installed new cameras every 200 meters along the fence to detect migrants before they even attempt to cross it.
SPEEDREAD
This month, the 5-meter-high metal barrier along the border built in 2022 has been reinforced with metal bars and another layer of barbed wire.
Since 2021, Poland has seen thousands of migrants and refugees, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, attempting to enter the EU and NATO country through Belarus.
Warsaw has called it a hybrid operation by Belarus and its ally Russia to increase migratory pressure and thereby destabilize the EU.
Bura said the modernization of the fence, due to be completed by the end of the year, was already having an effect.
“Crossings have decreased significantly” along the reinforced stretches, he said.
Fearing Russia, Poland has also announced it would spend over €2.3 billion on an “eastern shield” — a system of military fortifications along the border, which will make it even more difficult for migrants to cross.
But, according to border guards, while the overall number of crossings fell as winter arrived, it had already reached 28,500 by mid-November compared with 26,000 in total last year.
Right in the middle of the Europe’s largest primeval forest of Bialowieza, Aleksandra Chrzanowska packed into plastic bags what remained of a former makeshift migrant camp — a torn emergency blanket, medicines, shoes hidden under leaves wet from the snow.
“The border is about 20 kilometers away,” she said, pointing to the east and the thick forest.
“It takes migrants between 30 hours and a week to get here. It all depends on their physical condition, whether they have children with them, and what the weather is like,” said
Chrzanowska, a member of Grupa Granica, a nonprofit helping migrants in distress.
Its volunteers bring them water, food, dry clothes, and medicine.
In case of emergency or threat to life, they administer first aid, help migrants fill out asylum application forms or serve as translators in communication with the authorities.
“In the long term, this barrier, these electronic installations, do not change anything,” said Chrzanowska, who added no real migration policy was implemented by the government.
According to rights groups, migrants at the border are increasingly subjected to police violence, with some suffering injuries inflicted by dog bites or rubber bullets.
Some migrants have also injured themselves by jumping from the top of the fence.
“Half of the patients we treat have physical injuries and mental trauma resulting from crossing the border,” Uriel Mazzoli, head of Doctors Without Borders Mission in Poland, said.
More than 150,000 people displaced as Malaysia faces worst floods in a decade
- Malaysia’s met department maintains red alert warning for continuous heavy rain
- Authorities set up more than 600 relief centers using 82,000 personnel
KUALA LUMPUR: More than 150,000 people were sheltering in evacuation centers throughout Malaysia on Sunday after flooding forced them out of their homes as the Southeast Asian country faced its worst floods in a decade.
Torrential rain in the past week inundated areas on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, with at least three people dead in the worst-hit northeastern state of Kelantan and neighboring Terengganu, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
The government has set up at least 686 relief centers and used more than 82,000 officers in rescue and relief efforts, as the number of people affected grew from about 37,000 people on Thursday.
“Areas where the locals typically encounter waters that are a foot, maybe two-feet deep, now have chest-deep waters. They were not prepared for this,” Mohd Zulkifli Osman, chief of the fire and rescue department in Kelantan district of Tanah Merah, told Arab News in a phone interview.
Osman said the situation was worse than during the 2014 floods, when more than 118,000 people were displaced.
“Overall though, it’s worse,” he said. “(There are) areas that typically do not get affected by flooding, but this time it is badly hit.”
Videos posted on social media platforms showed overflowing rivers, submerged cars and houses.
But compared with 10 years ago, disaster management officials are more prepared to handle the floods, Osman said.
“Back in 2014, there were shortages of boats and even life jackets. At the time we had not encountered such flooding. But since then, they’re much better prepared and that is why the situation is so much better handled despite the flooding itself being much worse.”
Although weather authorities are expecting a possible ease in rainfall during the night, Malaysia’s Meteorological Department on Sunday afternoon maintained its red alert warning for continuous heavy downpours — indicating dangerous levels of rainfall.
Floods are common in Malaysia during the annual monsoon season from October to March, with thousands of people displaced each year.
In 2021, floods displaced more than 71,000 people across the country and killed at least 54 people.
Philippines plans to create jobs through new energy cooperation with UAE
- Philippines, UAE signed MoU on energy cooperation during Marcos’s Abu Dhabi visit
- Manila hopes to increase renewable sources to its energy mix to 50% by 2040
MANILA: The Philippines aims to create jobs and improve local expertise through a new energy partnership with the UAE, Manila’s energy secretary said on Sunday as he announced the signing of a preliminary agreement between the two countries.
The Philippines and the UAE agreed to strengthen ties during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first visit to the Gulf state on Tuesday, with the two countries signing new agreements in various areas, including investment, culture, artificial intelligence and digital economy.
Energy transition was one of the key agreements signed during that trip, Philippines Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said in a statement.
“At its core this partnership reflects the mutual recognition that energy lies at the heart of development,” Lotilla said.
The cooperation will combine the UAE’s leadership in innovative energy solutions with the Philippines’ ambitious drive for energy security and sustainability, he added.
“By attracting investments in energy infrastructure, the partnership will generate new jobs, enhance local expertise through technology transfer and capacity building, and support the development of a robust energy ecosystem.”
Under the new agreement, the Philippines and the UAE plan to collaborate in areas such as renewable energy, nuclear energy and emerging technologies.
“To operationalize this MoU (memorandum of understanding), an implementation agreement with a UAE state-owned company is expected by January next year,” Lotilla said, but provided no specific details.
In earlier discussions with his Emirati counterpart, Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al-Mazrouei, Lotilla said they agreed to foster business partnerships between their two countries and to position the Philippines as a “prime destination for Emirati investments in critical energy sectors,” which includes developing new energy infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
Manila has been exploring clean and sustainable options to generate power because the country regularly suffers outages and faces high tariffs. Coal is the main source of electricity in the Southeast Asian state, accounting for more than half of its power generation.
Under the Philippine Energy Plan, the government aims to increase the share of renewable sources in the energy mix from 22 percent currently to 50 percent by 2040.
Putin signs off record Russian defense spending
- Around 32.5% of the budget has been allocated for national defense
- Lawmakers had already approved the plans in the past 10 days
KYIV: Russian President Vladimir Putin approved budget plans, raising 2025 military spending to record levels as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine.
Around 32.5 percent of the budget posted on a government website Sunday has been allocated for national defense, amounting to 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion), up from a reported 28.3 percent this year.
Lawmakers in both houses of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and Federation Council had already approved the plans in the past 10 days.
Russia’s war on Ukraine, which started in Feb. 2022, is Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has drained the resources of both sides.
Kyiv has been getting billions of dollars in help from its Western allies, but Russia’s forces are bigger and better equipped, and in recent months the Russian army has gradually been pushing Ukrainian troops backward in eastern areas.
On the ground in Ukraine, three people died in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson when a Russian drone struck a minibus on Sunday morning, Kherson regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Seven others were wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, the number of wounded in Saturday’s missile strike in Dnipro in central Ukraine rose to 24, with seven in serious condition, Dnipropetrovsk regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak said. Four people were killed in the attack.
Moscow sent 78 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 32 drones were destroyed during the overnight attacks. A further 45 drones were “lost” over various areas, likely having been electronically jammed.
In Russia, a child was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, according to regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 29 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in four regions of western Russia: 20 over the Bryansk region, seven over the Kaluga region, and one each over the Smolensk and Kursk regions.
