It took Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum a single phone call to get Donald Trump to back off — at least temporarily — from his threat of tariffs.
Canada’s Justin Trudeau needed two.
Netanyahu and Trump meeting to focus on Gaza ceasefire deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected on Tuesday to become the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Donald Trump’s return to office.
The two leaders are set to discuss the state of the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas Islamists in Gaza and explore paths toward ending the conflict altogether.
Prior to his arrival, Netanyahu’s office announced that he would dispatch a delegation to participate in a new round of negotiations in Doha, Qatar, later this week.
Crombie, Stiles pounce on Doug Ford’s hot mic admission that he ‘100%’ wanted Donald Trump to win election
Doug Ford‘s hot mic admission that he “100%” wanted Donald Trump to win the U.S. presidential election has jolted the snap Ontario vote.
That’s because Ford framed the Feb. 27 campaign as a referendum on who could best deal with Trump’s threatened tariffs against Canada.
But the Progressive Conservative leader was caught Monday on a hot mic at his Etobicoke campaign office confiding that he had hoped the Republican Trump would beat Democrat Kamala Harris last November.
El Salvador offers to lock up US criminals in its mega-jail
El Salvador has offered to take in criminals deported from the US, including those with US citizenship, and house them in its mega-jail.
The deal was announced after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele during his visit to the central American nation.
Bukele – whose iron-fist approach to gangs has won him plaudits from voters but been heavily criticised by human rights groups – said he had offered the US “the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system”.
LILLEY: Trudeau gave Trump last-minute concessions to avoid tariffs
Why did it take so long?
Justin Trudeau got a last-minute reprieve from Donald Trump on the 25% tariffs that were set to take effect, but only after a lot of drama, a drop in the stock market and the Canadian dollar dropping briefly into 67-cent territory.
Why so long? Because Canada’s China class along with Justin’s Khalistan pals made out like bandits.
Canada is only at the third stage of Trump tariff grief
Unless nothing changes, President Donald Trump’s threat of imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canada will come to fruition on Tuesday. Barring last-minute negotiations between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the two countries are heading for a trade war.
Canada is now in the early phases of what might be called the Seven Stages of Tariff Grief.
It’s official: Islamic blasphemy laws have come to Britain
A man was arrested at the weekend after allegedly burning a copy of the Koran – no, not in Iran or in Saudi Arabia, but in Manchester, in the UK. Apparently, it can now be a criminal offence in 21st-century Britain to express your distaste for a seventh-century religion.
The arrest followed a livestream on social media that appeared to show a 47-year-old man setting light to the Koran, page by page, on Saturday. This was just two days after Salwan Momika, an Iraqi atheist, was assassinated in Sweden, seemingly as punishment for burning copies of the Muslim holy book in public.
Early elections are the best solution to tariffs, says Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet believes that early elections remain the best way to negotiate with the Donald Trump administration, which has just carried out its threat to impose customs tariffs on Canada.
Blanchet said he had not changed his position regarding the possible overthrow of the Liberal government on March 24. According to him, elections “as quickly as possible” will allow for a new Parliament that will be able to negotiate “in a sustainable manner” with the United States.
Someone has to beat this idea into Trudeau’s head.
Swedish school shooting … up to 10 dead
Update As many as 10 dead say police. No motive at this time.
Sweden school shooting: Five people shot at adult education centre in Orebro
Schoolchildren hiding in class rooms without knowledge of what's going on as a shooter is actively opening firearms at other people.
According to Swedish papers, the shooter has shot himself dead. #Sweden #School #Shooting #Orebro pic.twitter.com/hgJNK4e9mc
— Sani Zen (@ClarityCompass_) February 4, 2025
Drone attack kills youngest British fighter in Ukraine minutes into first mission
A Russian drone attack killed a British teenager on his first combat mission after joining the Ukrainian army.
James Wilton, who had recently turned 18 and was from Huddersfield, is the youngest Briton to have died defending Ukraine from Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
While walking across a field with a group of international fighters delivering supplies to the front line on July 23 last year, he was spotted and chased by three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
WTF?
Wow, Baier really did a number on Bob Rae here. pic.twitter.com/rHIZmcXHDl
— Blaise (@boehmerB) February 4, 2025
SNP drops idea of cat ban after mockery
The SNP has about-turned on a proposed ban on pet cats.
John Swinney, the First Minister, told reporters: “Let me just clear this up today. The Government [is] not going to be banning cats.”
On Sunday, the Scottish Government said it would “fully consider” an official report by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC), which suggested the ban.
SLOBODIAN: Tequila Sheila goes to new lows with her insult of Smith
Shelia Copps stooped to gutter talk to try to degrade Premier Danielle Smith’s integrity.
Classless. Baseless. A dirty move.
And certainly, far beneath the dignity of a former deputy prime minister of Canada.
Why Trump would win a tariff war
Europe is still in denial
If you want to know how to respond to Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, just think back to what happened between the EU and the UK after the Brexit referendum. The EU thought it could pressurise the UK either into reversing Brexit or accepting a bad deal. The EU, as the larger power, believed it had a stronger position — and the media concurred.
But the EU had a big trade surplus against the UK, and so had more to lose from a trade war. And this is how it played out. The single biggest victim of Brexit was not the UK economy, but German industry. Germany’s spectacular decline started in 2018, kicked off by Brexit and followed by a string of supply shocks including the pandemic and then Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump’s tariffs will be next. The overarching lesson here is that if you are the surplus country, no matter how large you are, you should not engage in trade warfare.