CANADA
Firearms ban proposed
The government is proposing a ban on assault-style firearms that would apply once legislation now before parliament comes into force. Under the scheme announced on Monday, the government would make regulations through the Firearms Act to ensure that guns are classified correctly before entering the local market. “I want to make it clear that our government is not targeting hunters and law-abiding gun owners,” Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino told a news conference. “What we’re doing is protecting families, protecting our children, protection our communities.” The government also plans to recreate a firearms advisory committee that would make recommendations on the classification of guns on the market. Mendicino said the committee would include rural and northern residents, Indigenous people, industry leaders, law enforcement and gun control advocates. “Guided by the committee’s recommendation we will increase the classifications of firearms for ban,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Muslim mayor snubbed
The Secret Service on Monday said that it blocked a Muslim mayor from New Jersey from attending a White House celebration with President Joe Biden to belatedly mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Shortly before Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was set to arrive at the White House for the Eid al-Fitr celebration, he received a call from the White House stating that he had not been cleared for entry by the Secret Service and could not attend the celebration where Biden delivered remarks to hundreds of guests, the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Khairullah was not allowed into the White House complex, but declined to detail why. Khairullah was elected to a fifth term as the borough’s mayor in January. “While we regret any inconvenience this may have caused, the mayor was not allowed to enter the White House complex this evening,” Guglielmi said in a statement. “Unfortunately we are not able to comment further on the specific protective means and methods used to conduct our security operations at the White House.”
UNITED STATES
Transgender rights targeted
Oklahoma on Monday became the latest state to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors after Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill that makes it a felony for healthcare workers to provide children with treatments that can include puberty-blocking drugs and hormones. Oklahoma joins at least 15 other states with laws banning such care, as conservatives across the nation have targeted transgender rights. Stitt, who was re-elected in November last year, made the ban a priority of this year’s legislative session, saying he wanted to protect children. Transgender advocates and parents of transgender children say such care is essential.
UNITED STATES
Immigrant wins award
A Minnesota man who immigrated to the nation and built a successful food business was on Monday named the National Small Business Person of the Year. The honor for Abdirahman Kahin, chief executive and owner of Afro Deli & Grill in St Paul, was announced at an awards ceremony in Washington marking National Small Business Week. Kahin, who immigrated to the US in 1996, opened Afro Deli & Grill in 2014 as a fast-casual restaurant serving healthy, fresh African fusion cuisine.
CHINA
Qin visits Myanmar border
Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛) yesterday called for stability and a crackdown on criminal activity along the nation’s border with Myanmar, during an unusual visit to the volatile region. The 2,129km border runs through densely forested mountains and has long been notorious for drug smuggling into the nation from the “Golden Triangle” region where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. Qin said the local Chinese Communist Party and government departments, the People’s Liberation Army, police and civilian bodies should join in “strengthening the border defense system.” He called for improvements in “maintaining distinct and stable borders, and severely cracking down on cross-border criminal activities.” Fighting between Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups has also occasionally flared along the border, sending refugees and sometimes mortar fire into China.
UNITED KINGDOM
Starmer wavers on tuition
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer yesterday said he is likely to scrap his pledge to provide free university tuition, blaming economic circumstances for the probable U-turn. Labour pledged to ditch university fees as part of its campaign in the run-up to the last two national elections in 2017 and 2019, and Starmer stuck with the policy after becoming party leader in 2020. Abolishing the fees is estimated to come at a cost to the government of billions of pounds a year. “We are likely to move on from that commitment because we do find ourselves in a different financial situation,” Starmer told BBC Radio. Starmer is looking to prove his electoral credentials at local polls tomorrow, ahead of a national election expected next year. Scrapping the pledge to abandon tuition fees, which currently stand at a maximum ￡9,250 (US$11,527) a year for British students studying in England, could damage his standing with those on the left of the party.
MALAYSIA
Three missing in tanker fire
Maritime authorities were yesterday searching for three crew missing from a Gabon-registered tanker a day after the 26-year-old vessel caught fire in waters off the southern coast. The ship, Pablo, sailing from China to Singapore to pick up crude oil, was not carrying cargo and there were no reports of an oil spill, the Maritime Enforcement Agency said. However, it did not rule out the chance that the men, two Indians and a Ukrainian, could still be aboard, as smoke made it unsafe to inspect the vessel after the fire appeared to have stopped by afternoon. The remaining 25 crew were rescued, including 23 picked up by two ships nearby, authorities said. Four had serious injuries. Pablo Union Shipping, the Marshall Islands-based owner of the vessel, according to shipping databases, could not be located to seek comment.
NORDIC REGION
Winter weather to return
The Nordic region will get another bout of winter weather later this week. Temperatures in Stockholm are expected to plunge below zero, sinking to 8°C below the seasonal average on Friday, forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc said. Helsinki would be 7.2°C below the norm that day, while Oslo would be 5.4°C below. “Below, much below and strongly below-average temperatures overspread much of the region,” Maxar said in a daily note. The cooler conditions are likely to increase heating demand and energy prices. It is a stark change from a little more than a week ago, when temperatures topped 21°C in central Sweden.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
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