Karlheinz Schreiber, a former West German intelligence officer, lobbyist, arms dealer and political fundraiser, used a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday to support his onetime ally, former prime minister Brian Mulroney.
The House of Commons ethics committee summoned Schreiber, a German-Canadian citizen, in handcuffs from a jail where he was awaiting extradition to Germany on charges of tax evasion, fraud and bribery. It wanted an explanation for why he paid Mulroney, a Conservative, C$300,000 (US$296,000) in cash at a series of hotel room meetings beginning in 1993.
Mulroney has acknowledged the payments, but has said they were for helping Schreiber set up a pasta business in Ontario and an armored vehicle factory in Quebec, neither of which materialized. Mulroney is also expected to testify.
While Schreiber confirmed that he wanted Mulroney to help with the military vehicle project, he rejected the pasta business explanation on Tuesday, as well as widespread suggestions that the payments were related to the purchase of Airbus jets by Air Canada during Mulroney's tenure, a sale Schreiber helped to broker.
Schreiber said he was summoned to a meeting in June 1993 with Mulroney, two days before he stepped down as prime minister. Schreiber said Mulroney offered to lobby the government that he predicted would be formed by his successor, Kim Campbell.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS