Donald Trump

Will Vatican City sit-down between Trump and Zelenskyy turn into peace? | Russia-Ukraine war News

The United States president says a deal is ‘very close ‘as he criticises Russia’s leader.

Donald Trump promised to end the Ukraine war on day one of his US presidency.

Then his special envoy promised to end it within the first 100 days.

The second self-imposed deadline is days away, with no deal in sight.

But Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since an Oval Office blow-up in February seems to have brought Washington and Kyiv a step closer.

So, how close is peace in Ukraine?

Presenter:

Elizabeth Puranam

Guests:

Oleksiy Goncharenko – Ukrainian member of parliament and opposition politician

Rachel Rizzo – Senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center

Alexander Bratersky – an independent journalist focusing on foreign policy

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Greenland will never be ‘piece of property’ to be bought, PM says | Donald Trump News

Repeated threats by US to seize Greenland loom over Nielsen’s first visit to Denmark since taking office.

Greenland’s prime minister and his Danish counterpart have presented a united front, criticising United States President Donald Trump’s administration for a lack of respect in its designs to seize the Arctic island, a self-governed Danish territory.

“We will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by anyone, and that’s the message I think is most important to understand,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen told reporters on Sunday at a joint news conference in Copenhagen alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Trump’s repeated threats to take over Greenland loomed large over Nielsen’s first visit to Denmark since taking office this month.

Nielsen’s visit follows one by Frederiksen to Greenland in early April when she told the US: “This is not only about Greenland or Denmark. This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations. You cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about security.”

Both Frederiksen and Nielsen, who leads Greenland’s new coalition government after his centre-right Democrats party won legislative elections in March, said they would be willing to meet the US leader for talks.

Tensions between the US and Denmark have soared after Trump repeatedly said he wanted to take control of resource-rich Greenland for security reasons, refusing to rule out the use of force to secure it.

“I think we need that for international peace, and if we don’t have that, it’s a big threat to our world. So I think Greenland is very important for international peace,” Trump told reporters on Thursday during a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

US has ‘not been respectful’

Nielsen also said on Sunday that Greenland was working on strengthening its relations with Denmark due to the US’s “disrespectful” rhetoric. “We are in a situation now where we need to stand together. The talk from the United States has not been respectful,” Nielsen said.

“I totally agree with that,” Frederiksen added.

Nielsen reiterated that Greenland was ready to deepen ties with the US.

“We are ready for a strong partnership, we are ready for more development, but we want respect,” he said. “You cannot have a partner where there is no mutual respect.”

US Vice President JD Vance paid a visit to Greenland in March, which officials both in Greenland and Denmark viewed as a provocation.

During his trip to the Pituffik US military base, Vance castigated Denmark for not having “done a good job by the people of Greenland”.

“You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass,” he said.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen responded on social media: “We are open to criticisms, but let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it’s being delivered.”

Nielsen himself has said: “The United States will not get Greenland.”

“We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future,” he added in a Facebook post.

During his two-day visit to Copenhagen, Nielsen will also meet Denmark’s King Frederik and representatives of the Danish parliament.

In a separate statement, Denmark’s Royal House said the king would accompany Nielsen back to Greenland for a visit.

Polls show a vast majority of Greenland’s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark but do not wish to become part of the US.

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In Canada’s election, voters appear on track to rebuke Trump’s trade war | Business and Economy News

Canadian voters are going to the polls on Monday amid one of the most dramatic campaign transformations in years.

January polls indicated the Conservatives were headed for a certain victory, but the Liberals have since flipped the race upside down, although the competition has narrowed in recent days. Early voting has shattered records with more than 7.3 million ballots cast.

“It’s pretty clear the Liberals are going to win this now,” said Frank Graves, president and founder of Canadian polling firm EKOS Research. “That would have been utterly unthinkable at the beginning of this year.”

Last fall, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who was seen as a Trump-like figure, tapped into rising populism in response to an affordability crisis and inflation under longtime Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

But the tide turned when Trudeau stepped down earlier this year on January 6, paving the way for new Liberal leadership, and President Donald Trump entered his second term, threatening Canada’s economy with a trade war. Suddenly, Canadians unified around their national identity and against Trumpism.

Populism – the belief that power must be taken back from the corrupt elite and returned to the people – led to the Brexit referendum in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US. Graves co-authored a paper that found 34 percent of Canadians have a populist outlook. This election, Graves said, Canadians watched Trump re-enter office and asked themselves, “Do we want to go down this populist path?”

If the Liberals win, it means Canadian voters are standing up to Trump, he said. “It will definitely be a rebuke to Trump, and to the kind of populism that they see on display in his administration.”

How the race changed

A change in US leadership has had a dramatic impact on its neighbour to the north.

At the beginning of the year, Poilievre enjoyed unchallenged popularity. An election would be called sometime in 2025, and it seemed likely that he would face off against Trudeau, who had been in power for nine years and had become deeply unpopular.

Post-pandemic, incumbent leaders in Western democracies faced tough elections due to pandemic restrictions, rising inflation, which had reached as high as 8.1 percent in June 2022, unaffordable housing and political polarisation. Trudeau was no different.

Poilievre was seen as a Trump-like figure in Canada; he had tapped into a “northern populism” that was a smaller share of the electorate than in the US, but still a powerful force, Graves said. Poilievre made Trudeau his punching bag, taking aim at his unpopular policies, like Canada’s carbon tax.

The question of Trudeau’s leadership came to a head when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland suddenly resigned. In a letter, she wrote that Trudeau was not up to the challenge of the incoming Trump “America First” economic nationalism and high tariffs. Trudeau had no choice but to resign, triggering a leadership race for the Liberals.

In Canada’s political system, Trudeau stepping down meant that the Liberals still held power, but the party had to elect a new leader to run in this year’s election.

While the party held a leadership race, Trump entered office and swiftly declared a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico. At the same time, Trump made repeated comments that Canada should become the 51st state.

The Liberals’ leadership race took place within weeks of Trump taking office, and the turn of events helped move the party “beyond the unpopularity of the Trudeau government,” said Lisa Young, a political science professor at the University of Calgary.

With Canada’s sovereignty and economy under attack, the Liberals on March 9 elected Mark Carney, who was perceived to be smart on the economy after previously serving as governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis and governor of the Bank of England during Brexit and the pandemic.

Carney, elected in a landslide, channelled his popularity by calling a snap election for April 28, the shortest election period allowed by law.

Canada faces Trump’s trade war

Trump’s sudden tariffs have plunged Canada’s economy into uncertainty. More than 70 percent of the country’s exports go to the US, including automotive parts, lumber, agricultural products and steel.

“We are very dependent on the US,” said Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, associate professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario. “There could be a major economic recession in Canada, because our economy depends largely on the US economy.”

In March, the second-largest steel producer in Canada, Algoma Steel, announced layoffs as a direct result of Trump’s tariffs. The steel plant is the main employer in the close-knit city of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, and the layoffs were felt deeply across the community. The Sault Ste Marie-Algoma district has been held by the Liberals since 2015, but last year, a steelworker dressed down Trudeau during a campaign stop. Since then, both Poilievre and Carney have made campaign stops in the city.

Afesorgbor said voters who are affected by tariffs, like steelworkers, will likely look at which party is offering a better economic cushion in case of job loss. They may ask themselves, “If there is an economic crisis because of the Trump tariffs, who will be in a better position to solve that?” He said it depends on how voters perceive each party leader’s ability to negotiate with Trump.

Afesorgbor said Canadian voters are “very particular” about the economy, and will choose the party they believe can handle a recession and Trump’s trade war. He said voters may perceive Mark Carney as the better candidate because of his record in the banking sector. “That has shifted a lot of support for the Liberals.”

Liberals take the lead

Trump’s policies towards Canada had more than just an economic impact. To many Canadians, it felt like a threat to their national identity.

“[The tariffs were] seen as an ally abandoning Canada, and then you add to it President Trump’s comments about making Canada the 51st state. So that sparked a wave of Canadian nationalism unlike anything that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Young told Al Jazeera.

The outlook was not so sunny for Poilievre. “That has essentially shifted the terrain politically, because a substantial proportion of the electorate is suspicious of [Poilievre] being too similar to Trump,” she said.

Graves saw a “profound transformation” in the polls. In February, the Liberals and Conservatives were essentially tied, but in early March, the Liberals pulled ahead to a five-year high as Canadians asked, “How do we deal with this existential threat coming from Donald Trump?” Graves said.

The surge in national pride has pushed voters towards Carney, who was seen as a candidate who could steer Canada through the turmoil caused by Trump. “The Liberals became the place for planting our flag and saying, ‘We are going to remain a sovereign nation’,” Graves said.

Canadian voters set to rebuke Trump

If the Liberals win, as projected, it will signal that Canada is charting its own path relative to Trump, as opposed to electing Poilievre, who is seen as more conciliatory to Trump, Young said.

Graves said Americans should pay attention to Canada’s election, which has raised similar questions about identity and what path to take amid swelling populism. Instead of asking the question of which party to elect, Graves said Canadians are asking, “What kind of country do we want to be?”

“Underneath that question are some of the issues about, do we want to go down this populist path? I think Canadians are pausing and looking and saying, ‘No, maybe that’s not where we want to take our country,’” Graves said.

Graves noted that it’s uncommon for a Western democracy to turn against rising populism. “Americans might find this as a possible prescription to their future, if they don’t want to continue down the path they’re going,” he said.

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Hegseth dismisses Pentagon advisory committees

April 26 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has dismissed the members of DOD advisory committees, the department confirmed in a statement on its website.

“Secretary Hegseth appreciates the members’ efforts on behalf of the department and the United States of America, but changes are needed to support the new strategic direction and policy priorities of the department and to ensure departmental resources are used efficiently,” the Defense Department statement reads.

The Pentagon also announced four promotions to senior advisor roles.

Hegseth has been under fire after allegations surfaced that he shared secret military plans with his wife and brother using a personal phone.

The 44-year-old blamed the media and “disgruntled” former employees for revealing posts on the encrypted Signal app.

Last month, Hegseth made headlines after accidentally leaking confidential military plans related to a then-pending military strike by accidentally including The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal group chat.

The Pentagon inspector general is now investigating that incident.

Hegseth did not mention the leaks in announcing the discharges of the advisory committees this week, instead pointing to the end of a 45-day review window.

“To support the new strategic direction and policy priorities of the Department, we require fresh thinking to drive bold changes,” Hegseth wrote in a memo Friday.

“The Deputy Secretary of Defense may retain individual members on a case-by-case basis upon determination that the member is required for uninterrupted committee operations necessary for national security reasons.”

President Donald Trump‘s administration has been searching for ways to address the leak issues related to Hegseth by finding a way to “right the ship,” NPR reported, citing a former White House official.

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U.S.-born child of ‘illegal immigrant mother’ deported to Honduras

April 26 (UPI) — A federal judge wants to straighten out the deportation to Honduras on Friday of a 2-year-old U.S. citizen with her mother and sister.

U.S. District Court of Western Louisiana Judge Terry Doughty scheduled a May 16 hearing at the Monroe (La.) Federal Courthouse after the child, who is identified as “VML,” was deported.

“The government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” Doughty wrote Friday in a memorandum order scheduling a hearing on the matter.

“The court doesn’t know that,” Doughty said. “Seeking the path of least resistance, the court called counsel for the government at 12:19 p.m. CDT, so that we could speak with VML’s mother and survey her consent and custodial rights.”

Doughty said he was aware the plane carrying VML and the child’s mother was above the “Gulf of America” when he placed the call and referred to the mother as an “illegal immigrant.”

An attorney for the federal government called at 1:06 p.m. and told Doughty it would be impossible to arrange a phone conversation because the mother and child already had been released into Honduras.

Doughty said prior federal court rulings affirm it is illegal and unconstitutional to deport a U.S. citizen, and the court on Thursday received a writ of habeas corpus and an emergency petition for a restraining order to halt the deportation of VML.

He scheduled the May 16 hearing “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”

VML, her mother and her sister were detained on Tuesday while checking in with immigration officials in New Orleans as required by her mother’s participation in ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, NPR reported.

The child’s father and her mother’s partner dropped off the pair and her sister at the location for the ISAP process.

About an hour later, he learned they were detained and subject to deportation.

The child’s father contacted his attorney, who then called immigration officials to tell them VML is a U.S. citizen, ABC News reported.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer called the father at 7:30 p.m. that same day to tell him they were going to deport the child and her mother.

The father contacted another ICE officer afterward and was told he could try to pick up his daughter, but he also would be taken into custody.

An attorney of a family friend obtained temporary provisional custody of VML on Thursday and filed the writ of habeas corpus and emergency petition seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the deportation process.

Doughty, who was appointed to his judicial position by President Donald Trump, did not receive the petition in time to stop the girl’s deportation.

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Third round of Iran-U.S. nuclear talks show progress, both sides say

April 26 (UPI) — The United States and Iran on Saturday concluded their third round of “indirect” nuclear talks mediated by host Oman with both sides seeing progress in reaching a deal.

U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Affairs Steve Witkoff again led American negotiators.

“The talks in Muscat were positive and productive. There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” a senior U.S. official said in a statement obtained by Axios.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters that he thinks “our progress so far has been good. We are satisfied with the course of the negotiations. Both sides are showing seriousness.”

He said talks have become more technical.

“We are now gradually moving from general topics to more specialized issues,” Araghchi said. “Today, we had economic experts present, and I expect that from the next session, an expert from the Atomic Energy Organization will also join.”

The two sides exchanged opinions in writing several times during this round. Omani officials served as mediators with the two sides in separate rooms like the previous two negotiations.

Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, headed the 12-member technical team of experts from U.S. government agencies

Leaders in both nations will review matters before the next meeting be in seven days. Oman will decide the next location. The first talks were in Muscar, Oman, on April 12 and the next in Rome on April 19. Technical talks also took place on Wednesday.

Iranian officials are “hopeful, but extremely cautious,” Araghchi said.

The talks only dealt with nuclear and Iran’s top diplomat said they “will not accept negotiating on any other issues.”

The mediator, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, posted on X the talks “identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments. Core principles, objectives, and technical concerns were all addressed.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said if a new deal isn’t reached, military action is threatened.

In an interview with Time magazine published Friday, Trump said “we can make a deal without the attack. I hope we can.”

During his first term, Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated during former President Barack Obama‘s presidency.

The agreement was reached in 2015 between Iran, the United States and other world powers for Iran to limit its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. Iran resumed its nuclear activities after the deal was scrapped.

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Trump unlikely to attend White House Correspondents Dinner tonight

April 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump is unlikely to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night in Washington, D.C.

The annual star-studded event will take place at the Washington Hilton, but will lack the traditional comedian host.

Trump on Saturday was at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis, where he also met face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The White House Correspondents’ Association President late last month confirmed writer and comedian Amber Ruffin would not host the event as originally planned.

“I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work,” WHCA President Eugene Daniels said at the time.

Last year, Saturday Night Live host and comedian Colin Jost hosted the event, which first took place in 1921.

Trump had not been expected to attend this year’s event.

The president skipped it three times during his first term in office, with the fourth canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924, every sitting president has attended at least one of the galas during their term in office.

Trump did attend the dinner in 2015, the year before he was first elected.

The night routinely draws celebrities and other big names and is the main source of revenue for the WHCA, which funds things like programs educating the public about the value of freedom of the press as well as scholarships.

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Ex-New Mexico judge arrested for helping illegal migrant

April 26 (UPI) — Federal authorities have arrested a former Magistrate Court Judge in New Mexico for allegedly helping an undocumented migrant, while also confirming charges against a Milwaukee judge arrested earlier for similar reasons.

“No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement issued by the Justice Department.

Former New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife Nancy Cano were arrested earlier this week, for allegedly providing housing to Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, an undocumented Venezuelan national on a property the couple owned.

Officials contend Ortega-Lopez has gang ties the two were aware of but ignored.

“The allegations against Judge Dugan and Judge Cano are serious: no one, least of all a judge, should obstruct law enforcement operations,” Bondi said in the statement.

“Doing so imperils the safety of our law enforcement officers and undermines the rule of law. The Department of Justice will continue to follow the facts — no one is above the law,” she said.

Ortega-Lopez was arrested with several other people at the end of February at a property owned by the Cano’s near Las Cruces, N.M. Authorities also recovered several firearms at the time.

Officials contend Ortega-Lopez has ties to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States.

Jose Cano faces one count of tampering with evidence while Nancy Cano was charged with one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence. Both face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities also officially confirmed charges against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan who was arrested in her courtroom Friday.

Dugan is charged with one count of “obstructing and impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States” and one additional count of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest,” for helping Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz avoid detention at the courthouse last week.

The two charges carry maximum prison sentences of five years and one year respectively.

FBI Director Kash Patel initially confirmed the arrest on X Friday before deleting the post, which later reappeared.

Patel also posted Friday evening a photo of Dugan in handcuffs.

“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” Patel wrote in the social media post, which also congratulates the FBI’s Milwaukee field office.

Federal agents later arrested Flores-Ruiz, who had previously been removed from the United States in 2013. He faces firearm charges and a maximum 15-year prison term if convicted.

President Donald Trump has made removing migrants illegally in the United States one of his administration’s priorities.

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In Saturday funeral mass, world gives final farewell to beloved Pope Francis

1 of 5 | Youssef Absi, Patriarch of Antioch and All the Orient, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem and head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church blesses the coffin during the funeral ceremony of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Saturday. Photo by Riccardo AntimianiEPA-EFE

April 25 (UPI) — Before scores of world leaders and Roman Catholic officials on Saturday, Pope Francis was laid to rest in a funeral mass live-streamed to the world less than a week after the pontiff died of a stroke and heart failure at 88.

This past week, tens of thousands of people paid their respects to Francis as “the people’s pope” lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.

After his coffin was nailed shut Friday night, at 10 a.m. local time Saturday his funeral mass began at St. Peter’s before he was taken taken to Rome and entombed at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

He was the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican in more than a century. Francis chose that site because he prayed there often. It also was a site he frequented often during the worst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Dignitaries attending Saturday’s funeral included U.S. President Donald Trump, former U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince William, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Nine days of official mourning began immediately at the conclusion of the funeral mass. Then, the College of Cardinals, made up of 252 representatives from countries around the world, will gather to launch the secret process to elect a new pope.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for frequent updates.

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Former Rep. George Santos gets maximum sentence of more than 7 years in prison

April 25 (UPI) — Former New York Rep. George Santos got more than seven years in prison Friday on federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft convictions. He must pay $373,000 in restitution.

U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert sentenced a tearful Santos to 87 months in prison and two years of supervised release.

Santos told the court, “My conduct betrayed my supporters and the institutions I swore to uphold.”

Santos committed wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as he conned and defrauded supporters while using stolen identities and endless lies to get elected to Congress.

Prosecutors dismissed Santos’ teary expressions of remorse at the sentencing and said he is a “pathological liar” who has no real remorse.

At sentencing prosecutors said “It is abundantly clear that, without a substantial deterrent, Santos will continue to deceive and defraud for years to come. That is especially true given Santos’s craven efforts to leverage his lawbreaking as a springboard to celebrity and riches.”

Santos’ defense lawyers argued for a two-year sentence.

In a court filing they said, “His conduct, though involving dishonesty and abuse of trust, stemmed largely from a misguided desperation related to his political campaign, rather than inherent malice.”

On his podcast earlier this month Santos was asked if would ask President Donald Trump for a pardon and he replied, “You bet your sweet a– I would.”

Prior to sentencing, the former Republican congressman told The New York Times he expected U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert to hand down a sentence closer to what federal prosecutors have requested and that he was resigned to it.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York argued Santos should serve an 87-month sentence for “unparalleled crimes.”

“Right now, my expectation is I’m going to prison for 87 months. I’m totally resigned,” Santos told The Times in a phone interview before Friday’s sentencing.

Santos last August pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to using donor money to purchase designer clothing, Botox injections and OnlyFans subscriptions and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.

He previously admitted to committing wire fraud in 2022.

Santos’ legal team had argued the 36-year-old should serve no more than the necessary 24-month minimum prison sentence.

“What I hope happens tomorrow is that the judge is fair, balanced, and even. And, unlike federal prosecutors who are trying to drop a anchor on my head … she is a lot more matter-of-fact and doesn’t take this … in a personal direction,” Santos said during a Thursday phone interview with former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, now a host with One America News Network.

Earlier in the week, Santos penned a letter to the judge in which he “accepted full responsibility.”

In a court filing Friday, prosecutors countered that Santos was not remorseful, citing social media messages related to his treatment by the Justice Department.

Santos told Gaetz he expects to serve the entirety of any prison sentence in solitary confinement because he fears for his safety.

“So it is definitely not an easy task, and it’s a monumental one to do,” he said during the interview.

Santos maintained innocence until days before his 2024 guilty plea.

In December 2023, the House of Representatives expelled Santos from Congress after serving less than a year. He later opened and then quickly dropped a bid to be elected in a different district.

Santos is the sixth member ever expelled from the House.

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‘Productive’ Trump, Zelenskyy meeting in Rome, first since Oval Office spat | Russia-Ukraine war News

The meeting during Pope Francis’s funeral was their first since an angry encounter in Washington, DC, in February.

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a “very productive” meeting in Rome, a White House official said – their first since a tense Oval Office meeting in February this year.

“President Trump and President Zelenskyy met privately today and had a very productive discussion. More details about the meeting will follow,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said on Saturday.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, described the 15-minute meeting as “constructive”, but did not give more details.

The two leaders were in Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Their meeting comes as efforts to negotiate an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict face increasing challenges.

Zelenskyy’s office released photos of the meeting in Rome, offering a rare glimpse into the private talks. In one photograph, the two leaders sat opposite each other in a grand marble hall, leaning in closely as they conversed.

No aides appeared alongside them.

Another image from the same setting shows the Ukrainian president standing in a tight circle with the US president, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy were on full display during their last meeting, when the Ukrainian president faced criticism from Trump and Vice President J D Vance over what they saw as a lack of gratitude for American support. A US reporter also accused Zelenskyy of disrespect for not wearing a suit.

Trump, who has pushed both Moscow and Kyiv towards a ceasefire, said on Friday that talks between his envoy and Russian officials had been “productive,” urging a direct meeting between the two sides to finalise an agreement.

However, divisions have emerged between Washington’s proposals and the positions of Kyiv and its European allies. One major sticking point is a US proposal for legal recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, a move Ukraine and European nations strongly oppose.

Disputes also remain over the timing of sanctions relief for Moscow, the nature of security guarantees for Ukraine, and how Kyiv would be compensated financially.

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Markets enjoy strong end to week, led by tech moves made by Apple, Alphabet

April 25 (UPI) — The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite stayed strong Friday as part of a winning week on Wall Street when stocks saw a three-day climb from Monday, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average flattened.

The S&P opened Monday at 5,232.94 and closed at 5,158.20, but from the Tuesday open to noon Friday, the market blossomed from 5,207.67 to 5,488.36, and was still on the climb.

The Nasdaq began its week with a Monday open of 16,052.76, and by Friday at noon it never looked back, with a 17, 227.34 that was also still on an upswing due in part to a strong week for Google parent company Alphabet.

Apple also saw an increase Friday after the Financial Times reported Friday that the company will reportedly shift assembly of all iPhones designated for sale in the United States from China to India in order to help dodge President Donald Trump‘s tariffs.

As for the Dow, it opened Monday at 38,906.04 and moved steadily upward, with a noon Thursday mark of 39, 876.11, but noon Friday sat at 39,919.84, which was down from the Friday open of 40,045.73.

According to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, consumer sentiment fell for the fourth straight month and is down 8% from March. It reports that while the April decline was modest amidst current conditions, the expectations index dove with decreases in both personal finances and business conditions.

The week has seen threats to market success, with the trade conflict between the United States and China still hot, as Trump claimed Tuesday that Beijing approached him personally to make a deal, which China flatly denied Thursday.

Trump also took an unofficial four-day social media moratorium on comments and threats of termination aimed at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which helped ease pressure on the markets.

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Jeffries wants Justice Roberts to reject Trump’s executive order targeting Smithsonian

April 25 (UPI) — U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wants Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to reject an executive order from President Donald Trump that seeks an end to the “influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” at the Smithsonian.

Roberts sits on the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents and serves as chancellor of the Smithsonian. The next board meeting of the Smithsonian, which includes Vice President JD Vance, is scheduled for June 9.

On March 27, Trump signed the executive order that targets the Smithsonian Institution.

“I write to express my strong opposition to President Trump’s Proclamation issued on March 27, which preposterously purports to restore ‘truth and sanity to American history’ by censoring ‘improper ideology’ at the Smithsonian Institution,” Jeffries, of California, wrote.

“It is imperative that you, along with your fellow Regents, continue the storied legacy of the Smithsonian that tells the American story honestly and completely. President Trump’s proclamation, which seeks to whitewash our history, is cowardly and unpatriotic. It must fail.”

The Smithsonian Institution includes 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian, founded in 1846, is the largest museum, education and research complex in the world, according to its website.

The Smithsonian contains an estimated 157 million objects, works of art and specimens in more than 2.7 million feet indoors in Washington. There are additional buildings in Maryland, New York and Virginia.

“The Smithsonian attracts tens of millions of visitors a year and works with the finest subject matter experts in virtually every field,” Jeffries wrote. “The fact that the Proclamation prominently singles out the National Museum of African American History and Culture speaks volumes about Donald Trump’s actual motivation. To be clear: Black history is American history. It cannot and will not be erased.”

Trump also mentioned the forthcoming American Women’s History Museum in his executive order as “celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women’s sports.”

The order directed Vance to work to eliminate those policies and “improper ideology” from the institution’s facilities.

In recent years, the Smithsonian, according to the executive order, has “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” that has “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”

“History is replete with dangerous efforts to manipulate cultural and historical narratives in order to consolidate power, including during twentieth-century regimes like those in the Soviet Union and 1930s Germany,” the top Democrat in the House wrote.

“That is not America. I strongly urge you to reject the Proclamation targeting the Smithsonian and to uphold the 175-year tradition that has made the Institution the preeminent museum, educational and cultural system in the world.”

Trump has signed other executive orders to remove so-called liberal ideas and representations from federal government institutions.

In February, the president targeted the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He appointed himself as chairman, ousted the executive director and named several new board members.

On March 14, Trump signed an executive order late that calls for the elimination of the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees the international state media network funded by the U.S. federal government. That includes the 83-year-old Voice of America.

Trump also has targeted for reduction the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is responsible for issuing grants to libraries and museums.

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FBI arrests Milwaukee judge, alleging she obstructed arrest of undocumented man

April 25 (UPI) — Federal authorities on Friday arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit Judge over allegations she helped an undocumented migrant evade capture.

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the news on X before deleting the post and later reposting it, in which he accused Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan of obstructing federal officials last week.

“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” Patel wrote in the now-deleted social media post, which also congratulates the FBI’s Milwaukee field office.

“Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.”

Dugan mainly presides over misdemeanor matters and has sat on the court for the last nine years. The judge ran unopposed in 2022, with her term set to expire in 2028.

Neither Patel or the FBI have commented publicly on why the director’s post was deleted.

Dugan was arrested inside her courtroom Friday, WTMJ-TV reported. Later she made an appearance before a federal magistrate judge and was released on bond. Reports stated that she has another court hearing scheduled for May.

The outlet also published a photo of a seemingly-related note posted on the exterior of the courtroom door.

“If any attorney, witness coordinator, or other court official knows or believes that a person feels unsafe coming to the courthouse to courtroom 615, please notify the Branch 31 clerk to request court appearance via Zoom,” the note in the photo read.

Earlier in the week, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported Dugan was under investigation by federal authorities for helping undocumented migrants avoid capture. The FBI did not confirm the investigation at the time.

The Sentinel reported U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers visited the courthouse last Friday with an arrest warrant but did not take anyone into custody.

President Donald Trump has made removing migrants illegally in the United States one of his administration’s priorities.

Earlier in the month, the Department of Homeland Security revoked the legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants temporarily in the United States, leaving them open to arrest and deportation.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 to pause deportations being carried out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Hundreds of Venezuelans held in northern Texas have been deported recently to El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center prison, using the Act as a justification.

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,157 | Russia-Ukraine war News

These are the key events on day 1,157 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Saturday, April 26:

Fighting

  • A senior Russian general was killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow’s eastern suburb of Balashikha, in what Russian investigators and Kremlin authorities said was a “terrorist attack”.
  • Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, a member of the Russian General Staff, was killed when a Volkswagen Golf exploded after an improvised explosive device was triggered.
  • The Kremlin swiftly blamed Ukraine for the car bomb, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures to be assassinated since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Kyiv did not comment on the claims by Moscow that it was behind the killing.
  • Russian war bloggers described Moskalik as a rising star. He had participated in several high-level Russian delegations that had met Western officials to try to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Ukraine.
  • Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine on Friday with a drone striking an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, killing three people and injuring 10 others,
  • A child and a 76-year-old woman were among the civilians killed in the nighttime drone strike on Pavlohrad, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
  • Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s air force reported. Authorities in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions reported damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the site of the deadly Russian attack in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv that killed at least 12 people on Thursday.
  • Zelenskyy said Russian forces used the attack on Kyiv as cover to launch almost 150 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the roughly 1,000-km (620-mile) front line.
  • President Zelenskyy also said that components manufactured by US companies were found in a missile used in the Kyiv attack.

Ceasefire

  • Speaking to reporters, Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine’s position on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula had not changed, as the United States was reported to be pressuring Kyiv to give up the territory as part of ceasefire talks with Moscow.
  • “Ukraine will not legally recognise any temporarily occupied territories. It seems to me that this is an absolutely fair position, it is legal not only from the point of view of the Constitution of Ukraine, first of all, but also from the point of view of international law,” Zelenskyy said.
  • “I agree with President Trump that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to regain control of the Crimean Peninsula with weapons. But we and the world have sanctions options,” he added.
  • Zelenskyy’s comments came as US President Donald Trump said in an interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia”, the latest example of how he was pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war.
  • President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow on Friday to discuss the US plan to end the war in Ukraine.
  • Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Witkoff and Putin had a “constructive” conversation, including “a discussion on the possibility of renewing direct negotiations” between Kyiv and Moscow. Ushakov said the meeting had brought the US and Russian positions on Ukraine “closer together”.
  • Trump said in a social media post after Witkoff’s meeting concluded that it was a good day of talks and called for a high-level meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close a deal.
  • “Most of the major points are agreed to,” Trump said in the post after landing in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday.

Diplomacy

  • Ukrainian Zelenskyy has suggested that he may not attend the funeral of the late Pope Francis in Rome on Saturday due to the increase in Russia’s attacks on his country and his attendance at a “military meeting”. Referring to the possibility of cancelling his trip to Rome, Zelenskyy said: “For me, it was important to be here.”
  • “If I cannot make it, Ukraine will be represented with dignity. The Foreign Minister [Andrii Sybiha] and the First Lady [Olena Zelenska] will be present,” Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv.
  • President Trump demanded on social media that Zelenskyy “IMMEDIATELY” sign a long-delayed agreement giving the US access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.
  • “Ukraine, headed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not signed the final papers on the very important Rare Earths Deal with the United States. It is at least three weeks late,” Trump said



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In Saturday funeral mass, the world will give final farewell to beloved Pope Francis

April 25 (UPI) — Before scores of world leaders and Roman Catholic officials on Saturday, Pope Francis will be laid to rest in a funeral mass to be live-streamed to the world less than a week after the pontiff died of a stroke and heart failure at 88.

This past week, tens of thousands of people paid their respects to Francis as “the people’s pope” lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Now, after his coffin was nailed shut Friday night, at 10 a.m. local time Saturday his funeral mass will begin at St. Peter’s before he later will be taken to Rome and entombed at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

He will be the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican in more than a century. Francis chose that site because he prayed there often. It also was a site he frequented often during the worst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Dignitaries scheduled to attend Saturday’s funeral include U.S. President Donald Trump, former U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince William, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Nine days of official mourning will begin immediately at the conclusion of the funeral mass. Then, the College of Cardinals, made up of 252 representatives from countries around the world, will gather to launch the secret process to elect a new pope.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for frequent updates.

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US charges Wisconsin judge for allegedly obstructing immigration agents | Donald Trump News

US Justice Department alleges Judge Hannah Dugan refused to turn over a man that immigration agents showed up to arrest.

Federal agents have arrested a Wisconsin judge on charges of obstructing immigration agents, escalating a growing struggle between the White House and courts over President Donald Trump’s hardline deportation policies.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Director Kash Patel said on Friday that the judge was arrested for allegedly helping an undocumented migrant evade federal agents.

In a criminal complaint, the US Department of Justice alleged that Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, refused to turn over the man after immigration agents showed up to arrest him in her court on April 18, and that she tried to help him evade arrest by allowing him to exit through a jury door.

“Thankfully our agents chased down the perp [undocumented migrant] on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel said.

The Justice Department has said that Judge Dugan became “visibly angry” when immigration officials arrived to arrest Flores-Ruiz in her court, and called the effort “absurd”.

Dugan appeared briefly at a federal court in Milwaukee to face charges of obstructing a proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, records show. She was released and is scheduled to enter a plea on May 15. A crowd formed outside the court, chanting “free the judge now.”

Dugan left the court through a side door following the hearing and was driven away in a black SUV, without comment.

Immigration and legal rights advocates have said that subjecting civic spaces, such as courts, to immigration enforcement operations could increase hesitation among people without legal status to take part in activities such as testifying in court about crimes.

“No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media.

The Trump administration has been locked in an escalating confrontation with federal judges, as several have issued rulings that limit its aggressive use of presidential power in immigration and other matters. State courts have played a less significant role in that dispute.

After making his announcement on social media, Patel deleted the post, which he had made before the case against Dugan was unsealed in federal court.

“Director Patel’s statement shows that Trump’s FBI is more concerned about weaponising federal law enforcement, punishing people without due process, and intimidating anyone who opposes those policies, than they are with seeking justice,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement.

Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown after taking office in January, and the Justice Department has directed federal prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against local officials who interfere with the effort.

Such resistance was widespread during Trump’s first 2017-2021 term in office.

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Rachel Reeves’ ill-advised comments on EU shows the dangers in trying to ride two horses at same time

Backing a dud

JUST a few hours ahead of meeting Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary for crucial trade talks, Rachel Reeves let the cat out of the bag.

With officials scrabbling to thrash out a vital transatlantic deal, the Chancellor revealed she thinks the EU is a more important partner to Britain than America.

Rachel Reeves speaking at the Semafor World Economy Summit.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed she thinks the EU is a more important partner to Britain than AmericaCredit: Getty

As the Pound dipped in response, Downing Street pointedly refused to back Reeves insisting “both are of incredible importance”.

But it was a telling insight into Labour’s thinking: that when push comes to shove, their hearts remain with the EU.

Why else would ministers risk American ire by considering taking rules on food imports into the UK from the European Court of Justice?

Or gamble with immigration by holding advance talks on an EU Youth Mobility scheme allowing under 30-year-old Europeans to come here freely — just a month after flatly denying any such plans.

America is the world’s biggest economy.

A trade deal that also wiped out Trump’s crippling tariffs would transform Britain’s economic fortunes.

So why give up the obvious advantage of Trump’s love of Brexit Britain by suggesting trade with him is inferior to the EU?

The Chancellor’s ill-advised comments have shown the obvious dangers in her strategy of trying to ride two horses at the same time.

Frack and ruin

BRITAIN has squandered the enormous potential power of fracking.

We are sitting on vast quantities of shale gas while the Government imports coal for British Steel from Japan, gas from Norway and electricity from France.

Sir Keir Starmer insists he can balance Donald Trump and closer ties with Europe despite looming US-EU trade war

Fracking is a cheap, safe solution to the problem of bridging the decades until green tech works efficiently.

Ed Miliband is too blinkered to do it.

So Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch must make it a key plank of her future energy policy.

Old boys club

AS if the football regulator wasn’t a bad enough idea, now Labour has stumbled into a cronyism row over it.

The Tories say they can’t be sure whether party donor David Kogan will be on the side of fans — or happier teaming up with friends in Government to do what ministers want.

This unnecessary row would quickly go away if Labour saw sense and threw the entire thing on their planned bonfire of quangos.

It’s another anti-growth policy that will stifle the Premier League — one of our biggest assets.

Kick it into touch, Prime Minister.

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As Trump looms over Canadian elections, affordability a key factor | Business and Economy News

Vancouver, Canada – When Leslie Macfarlane found out she and her husband were being evicted from a mobile home park in a Vancouver suburb last year, she said she felt “absolute rage” – then fear.

Her home was set to be demolished as part of a huge low-rise apartment complex redevelopment.

The 67-year-old retiree knew how difficult it would be to find rental housing in the notoriously expensive Lower Mainland region. She predicted correctly: Her housing hunt proved futile.

“We couldn’t afford anything,” Macfarlane told Al Jazeera.

The couple’s housing costs would have almost tripled, rocketing from about $1,100 to $3,000 for an apartment with half the space. The pair decided to move out of the city and back to Macfarlane’s hometown of Gibsons, a small coastal community in British Columbia.

“I remember when I was raising my children, if you had a job, you could afford a place to rent. It may not be a great place to rent, but you could afford something. That’s not the case any more,” Macfarlane told Al Jazeera.

Expenses in the small town, accessible only by ferry, are “higher on everything”, Macfarlane said, particularly for groceries.

As the cost of groceries goes up, she’s been buying less.

“It’s getting to the point where we’re buying hand baskets of food per week instead of carts.”

For Macfarlane, housing affordability and the rising cost of groceries are the two biggest issues of this year’s federal election set for April 28.

Post-pandemic inflation

Former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised “sunny ways” when first elected in 2015, but as the Canadian affordability crisis intensified over his tenure, many Canadians have been caught in an inflationary storm.

Since Trudeau’s re-election in 2021, the cost of consumer goods rose dramatically. In June 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the inflation rate was 8.1 percent more than the previous year, the largest yearly change since 1983, according to Statistics Canada. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem attributed the high inflation to shipping bottlenecks and pandemic-related delays, as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

While inflation has slowed since then, and is now at 2.3 percent, actual prices remain much higher than they were in 2020.

Canadians have struggled to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Consumers feel the effect more profoundly on regularly purchased items such as food and petrol, according to David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“People feel that inflation more personally,” he said.

Housing affordability in Canada has been a concern for years prior to the pandemic, but Macdonald said it got “much worse” as the Bank of Canada started raising interest rates.

Rates started rising in 2022, climbing to 5 percent in 2023. The Bank of Canada finally cut rates midway through 2024; the rate is now 2.75 percent.

“You weren’t safe anywhere,” Macdonald said. “It didn’t matter if you were renting, it didn’t matter if you owned; both sides were getting hit hard by much higher interest rates.”

In some key Canadian cities, like Toronto and Vancouver, Macdonald said rent increases have been “mind-boggling”.

Since March 2020, average asking rents across Canada have increased by almost 18 percent.

Inflation means bad news for politicians in power, according to Macdonald, regardless of country or political persuasion.

“[Inflation] didn’t just happen here; it happened everywhere,” Macdonald said. “If you were in power over that period, then you got pummelled at the election box in the next election.”

Immigration pressures

Some Canadians began to point to Trudeau’s high immigration targets as a reason for out-of-reach housing costs.

“They grew the population almost three times as fast as the housing stock,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said last year. He has lambasted the “massive uncontrolled population growth that put strain on our housing market, our healthcare and our job market” under Trudeau.

Trudeau had been elected on a platform that included changing the discourse around immigration to be more positive and multicultural, according to Irene Bloemraad, a professor of political science and sociology at the University of British Columbia and co-director of the Centre for Migration Studies.

Immigration numbers rose until 2020, when the pandemic caused a “dramatic drop” in the number of people coming to Canada.

As the economy began opening up in 2021, Canadian businesses, universities and provincial governments felt a huge need for more workers, students and others, especially after a period of little migration, Bloemraad said.

The federal government rapidly increased the number of temporary visas for workers and students.

“There’s an argument to be made that the government overshot, that they were just too aggressive in doing this,” she said, as the rapid influx of new people in certain metropolitan areas put pressure on those housing markets.

An Environics poll in late 2024 showed 58 percent of Canadians believed the country accepts too many immigrants, up from 27 percent in 2022.

“Immigration tends to be an easy target for people’s concerns, because it’s identifiable,” Bloemraad said. “People forget that housing prices were really high before COVID, too. It’s not like this just happened overnight.”

Trudeau’s government scaled back its immigration projections in October last year, setting a target for about 395,000 permanent residents in 2025, down from the planned 485,000 permanent residents in 2024. Bloemraad noted the numbers expected for 2025 are now a little higher than they were in 2019 and called the reduction more of a reset than a huge shift in direction.

A person passes graffiti covering the announcement of a condominium development in the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The rapid influx of new people in certain metropolitan areas in Canada put pressure on those housing markets [File: Chris Helgren/Reuters]

Affordability crisis compounds

Toronto resident Shahad Ishak said Trudeau may also have bitten off more than he could chew when it came to election promises.

“He sold a lot of promises to people,” she told Al Jazeera.

When she immigrated to Canada from Kuwait in 2013, she could have potentially bought a house.

“But from there, it got worse. At this point, never in my life will I buy a house.”

And it wasn’t easy settling in Canada.

In 2016, she had to use her savings and pay six months in advance because the landlord would not rent to her without a credit history. It was not the only time she faced barriers due to a lack of Canadian experience.

She had to take minimum wage jobs including one at a call centre with “very harsh conditions”.

She eventually got a job at a bank, but she was hired at the bottom of the career ladder, as a bank teller, despite having almost nine years of experience working in corporate banking in Kuwait.

The job paid little more than minimum wage, and her lack of seniority meant she had to work weekends. She eventually quit, because the weekend babysitter for her two children was so expensive it did not make sense to work. Ishak returned to school and is now a PhD student in sociology.

Four of her close friends, all engineers, left Canada due to the affordability crisis after immigrating.

“It makes me wonder,” Ishak said, “How do people survive here? Because the pay – it’s not enough.”

She hopes the next government will prioritise making rental housing more affordable.

This election feels different, according to Ishak, in part because of the affordability crisis, but also because foreign policy will be an important factor.

Trudeau calls it quits

In January, after political turmoil in the Liberal Party and dismal polling numbers, Trudeau announced his resignation as party leader.

Conservative Party leader Poilievre, who had aggressively campaigned on removing Trudeau, had been on track to sweeping victory and was favoured to win a “comfortable” majority, according to a Nanos poll.

Trudeau stepping down took much of the wind out of Poilievre’s sails. The Conservatives’ “huge” advantage began a freefall.

As anxiety has grown around United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Canadians have downgraded affordability on their list of election priorities.

Trudeau’s replacement, new Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, now leads in the polls, capitalising on public perception of being the best politician suited to negotiate with Trump.

Macdonald, the economist, said Trudeau quitting may have “washed this election” of inflationary anger – to some extent.

“Regular people are still really angry that prices are 30 percent higher on grocery store items than they were five years ago,” Macdonald said. However, Canadians at this point are likely angrier with the US, he added.

“But the cost of living is a close second in most places.”

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