Syria’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has hailed the start of a “new history” for his country, after signing into force a constitutional declaration regulating its five-year transitional period and laying out rights for women and freedom of expression.

The declaration comes three months after Islamist-led rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s repressive government, leading to calls for an inclusive new Syria that respects rights.

. . .

Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, said on Thursday he hoped the constitutional declaration would mark the beginning of “a new history for Syria, where we replace oppression with justice … and suffering with mercy”, as he signed the document at the presidential palace.

MBFC
Archive

President Trump is no fan of the European Union. He has repeatedly claimed that the bloc was created to “screw” America, has pledged to slap big tariffs on its cars, and this week enacted global steel and aluminum levies that are expected to hit some $28 billion in exports from the bloc.

But for months, E.U. officials hoped that they could bring the American president around, avoiding a painful trade war. They tried placating the administration with easy wins — like ramped-up European purchasing of U.S. natural gas — while pushing to make a deal.

It is now becoming clear that things won’t be that simple.

MBFC
Archive

Cybersecurity experts including the United Kingdom's former cybersecurity chief are pouring cold water over Elon Musk’s suggestion that a large-scale cyberattack on his social media site X came from Ukraine.

Musk on Monday said X had been deluged by a “massive cyberattack" involving "either a large, coordinated group and/or a country." The tech mogul and close ally of United States President Donald Trump later told the Fox Business channel that "there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system, with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area."

But cybersecurity experts were quick to push back.

MBFC
Archive

Crude oil tariffs in response to Trump's threats would cause pain on both sides

In Canada's arsenal of possible responses to a Trump tariff, the nuclear option is the threat to withhold, reduce or place export tariffs on Canadian energy.

Already, the mere suggestion of such a tactic has caused a split between the government of Alberta, on one side, and the governments of Canada and all other provinces on the other.

Tariffs on imports from the U.S. have the potential to cause pain to certain industries and regions, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself has acknowledged that the effect of Canada's import tariffs would be diluted by the size of the U.S. population and economy.

The withholding or tariffing of Canadian resource exports, on the other hand, has the potential to cause real, generalized discomfort to the U.S. — albeit at great cost to Canada as well.

In a sweeping interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, outlined a strategy for containing the measles outbreak in West Texas that strayed far from mainstream science, relying heavily on fringe theories about prevention and treatments.

He issued a muffled call for vaccinations in the affected community, but said the choice was a personal one. He suggested that measles vaccine injuries were more common than known, contrary to extensive research.

He asserted that natural immunity to measles, gained through infection, somehow also protected against cancer and heart disease, a claim not supported by research.

He cheered on questionable treatments like cod liver oil, and said that local doctors had achieved “almost miraculous and instantaneous” recoveries with steroids or antibiotics.

MBFC
Archive

The whole system of finding, diagnosing and treating tuberculosis — which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease — has collapsed in dozens of countries across Africa and Asia since President Trump ordered the aid freeze on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.

The United States contributed about half of international donor funding to TB last year and here in Kenya paid for everything from nurses to lab equipment. Trump administration officials have said that other countries should contribute a greater share to global health programs. They say administration is evaluating foreign aid contracts to determine whether they are in the national interest of the United States.

While some of the TB programs may ultimately survive, none have received any money for months.

MBFC
Archive

Ford's aggressive remarks earn the attention of Trump's commerce secretary

Doug Ford struck his most aggressive tone to date this week as he blamed Donald Trump for "causing chaos" with his tariff threats, and experts say the attacks from Ontario's Conservative premier and appeals to the president's Republican allies might be gaining traction.

. . .

According to a report from the Globe and Mail, confirmed by CBC Toronto, that tone sparked a call from Trump's own commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. He asked Ford to ease up with his rhetoric, a request the premier refused.

Conservative strategist Shakir Chambers said Lutnick's call shows that Ford has managed to grab the attention of people in the White House and his appeals have them concerned. He's also channeling the frustrations of many Canadians who are angrily watching the tariff threats unfold.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Ukraine would have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war.

Mr. Rubio spoke as he was flying to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for talks with senior Ukrainian officials, and 10 days after a contentious White House meeting between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. The Trump administration halted military aid to Ukraine after the blowup, which centered on Mr. Trump’s refusal to include any security guarantees in a proposed deal involving Ukraine’s natural resources.

MBFC
Archive

Surcharge will generate up to $400K per day to be used for worker, business supports: province

Ontario is imposing a 25 per cent surcharge on all U.S.-bound electricity as part of its retaliatory measures against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian goods.

The new levy took effect Monday and will add about $10 per megawatt-hour to the cost of power heading south, the province says. It will generate an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 per day, money that will be used to support workers and businesses hit by U.S. tariffs.

Liberal Party members have chosen former central banker Mark Carney to be their new leader and the next prime minister of Canada.

Carney secured enough votes in the first round of voting to win the job, party president Sachit Mehra announced.

Transgender women incarcerated in the US prison system have been transferred to men’s facilities under Donald Trump’s executive order, despite multiple court rulings blocking the president’s policy, according to civil rights lawyers and accounts from behind bars.

Trump’s day-one “gender ideology” order, one of several sweeping attacks on trans rights, said the attorney general “shall ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers” and that no federal funds go to gender-affirming treatment or procedures for people in custody.

The executive order was quickly challenged in court. In three lawsuits filed on behalf of trans women housed in women’s prisons, federal judges have ruled that the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) cannot withhold their medical treatment and was barred from moving them to men’s facilities. One judge said the plaintiffs had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm will follow”.

MBFC
Archive

Days after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a pause in sharing U.S. intelligence, the Ukrainian military has reported little effect from that decision on the front.

The pause is likely to have a higher toll on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, experts and military officials say.

. . .

Ukrainian officials said they are working on alternatives with foreign partners. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu confirmed that France is continuing to provide its intelligence to Ukraine.

“There is nothing unique about the United States’ intelligence capabilities. It is possible to replace them,” Mykhailo Samus, military expert and director of the New Geopolitics Research Network, told the Kyiv Independent.

MBFC
Archive