03 World

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney Flip-Flops After Anti-U.S. Rhetoric — Now Calls America “Our Most Important Security Ally” | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com
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Canada’s unelected Prime Minister Mark Carney has walked back his incendiary remarks declaring an end to the historic Canada-U.S. alliance—now hailing America as “our most important security ally.”

Carney, a former central banker parachuted into power by globalist elites without ever facing the Canadian electorate, made headlines just days ago for a blistering anti-American tirade.

At a press conference in Ottawa, the newly installed leftist leader had declared the “old relationship” with the United States to be “over,” lashing out at President Trump’s bold move to impose permanent 25% tariffs on Canadian auto exports—an America First policy aimed at protecting American workers and industries from foreign undercutting.

Carney: Our biggest challenge as a country is becoming the most urgent. Over the coming weeks, months, and years, we must fundamentally reimagine our economy. We will need to ensure that Canada can succeed in a drastically different world.

The old relationship we had with the United States—based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation—is over.

What exactly the United States does next is unclear. But what is clear is that we, as Canadians, have agency. We have power. We are masters in our own home.

We can control our destiny. We can give ourselves much more than any foreign government, including the United States, can ever take away. We can deal with this crisis best by building our strength right here at home.

It will take hard work. It will take steady focus and determination—from governments, from businesses, from labor, from Canadians. We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States.

We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible, at speeds we haven’t seen in generations.

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The European Parliament will send a fact-finding mission to Hungary in mid-April to assess the latest developments regarding the rule of law, and 19 EU member states are already ready to take away Hungary’s voting rights.

The EUobserver claims that “rule of law in Hungary continues to deteriorate,” which is why EU institutions are considering accelerating sanctions under Article 7 of the Treaty.

This claim comes even as Marine Le Pen is banned from running for office in France on trumped-up charges as well as the presidential frontrunner in Romania, Călin Georgescu, being banned from running for president and suffering a show-trial arrest. At the same time, Germany is working on banning the largest opposition party in the country, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), all in a clear breach of fundamental democratic rights.

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Denmark has become a participant in the Finnish-led Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) initiative with the Danish government outlining plans to acquire 130 CAVS units from Patria.

The financial commitment is equivalent to roughly €250m ($270.45m). The acquisition strategy involves procuring a smaller quantity of vehicles within the current year followed by a more substantial order in the subsequent year.

The country anticipates that the integration of CAVS vehicles will bolster its national defence capabilities. Furthermore, Denmark regards the CAVS programme as an efficient mode of collaboration among Nordic nations.

Denmark Minister of Defence Troels Lund Poulsen said: “With the purchase of armoured personnel carriers from Patria, we are strengthening the Army broadly with a contribution to both the light infantry battalion and the heavy brigade, so that Denmark’s defence is modernised and the soldiers have updated equipment. At the same time, it is important to strengthen the European defence industry – and that Denmark supports the industry by buying European. We are doing that with this purchase.”

 

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Washington is as active as ever in the military bloc, the secretary of state has said

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reassured NATO member states that Washington remains committed to the military bloc, insisting however that the members must drastically increase their defense spending.

Rubio made the remarks at NATO’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

President Donald Trump had previously threatened to withdraw the US from NATO if its member states failed to increase their military spending. He has pushed for a hike to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 2%.

France’s Le Pen convicted of embezzlement, barred from 2027 presidential race – The Tribune India
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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement on Monday and banned immediately for five years from running for public office, in a watershed moment that will rule her out of the 2027 presidential race unless she successfully appeals beforehand.

The French court’s ruling was a catastrophic setback for Le Pen, the National Rally (RN) party chief who has been a front-runner in opinion polls for the 2027 contest.

The judge also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence — two years of which are suspended sentence and two which will be served under home detention. She also received a 100,000-euro ($108,200) fine.

Danish PM heads to Greenland as Trump seeks control of the Arctic territory– abcnews.go.com
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NUUK, Greenland — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is traveling to Greenland on Wednesday for a three-day trip aimed at building trust and cooperation with Greenlandic officials at a time when the Trump administration is seeking control of the vast Arctic territory.

Frederiksen announced plans for her visit after U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited a U.S. air base in Greenland last week and accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory.

Greenland is a mineral-rich, strategically critical island that is becoming more accessible because of climate change. Trump has said that the landmass is critical to U.S. security. It’s geographically part of North America, but is a semiautonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark.

Frederiksen is due to meet the incoming Greenlandic leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, after an election last month that produced a new government. She is also to meet with the future Naalakkersuisut, the Cabinet, in a visit due to last through Friday.

“It has my deepest respect how the Greenlandic people and the Greenlandic politicians handle the great pressure that is on Greenland,” she said in government statement announcing the visit.

Greece to ban having children via surrogacy for single men and male same-sex couples– abcnews.go.com
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ATHENS, Greece — Men in Greece will be barred from having children via surrogacy if they are single or in a same-sex relationship, the justice minister said Tuesday, asserting that it’s intended to eliminate legal ambiguity over the concept of inability to carry a pregnancy.

Giorgos Floridis said the proposed changes will be submitted to parliament soon as part of broader civil code reform.

“We are now clarifying unequivocally that the concept of inability to carry a pregnancy does not refer to an inability arising from one’s gender,” Floridis told reporters. “In other words, a woman may be unable to carry a pregnancy whether she is in a male-female couple, a female same-sex couple or on her own.”

Greece legalized same-sex marriage last year — the first Orthodox Christian-majority country to do so. The marriage equality law was opposed by Greece’s powerful Orthodox Church and conservative groups. Parliament approved civil partnerships for gay couples in 2015.

In contrast to growing consensus in support of same-sex marriage, Europe’s legal landscape for surrogacy varies widely. Many countries prohibit all forms of the practice or impose restrictions.

Twenty-three states sue Trump administration over decision to rescind billions in health funding – live | Trump administration– www.theguardian.com
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Nearly two dozen states sue Trump administration over decision to rescind billions in health funding

A group of Democratic-led states have sued the Trump administration over its decision to cut $11bn in federal funds that they were allocated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the lawsuit, attorneys general and governors from 23 states and the District of Columbia argue that Department of Health and Human Services lacks the authority to unilaterally claw back funding the states had already built health programs around.

The “sudden and reckless cuts violate federal law, jeopardize public health, and will have devastating consequences for communities nationwide,” the lawsuit writes.

France’s Parliament Is Set to Debate Changing Rape Law to Include Consent – The New York Times
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After dozens of men were convicted of raping a drugged Gisèle Pelicot, lawmakers moved to require that consent be given for sex to be considered consensual.

Many countries require that consent be given before sex — and have written that into their rape laws. France is not among them.

Now two lawmakers hope to change that, and they got a step closer Tuesday night when the lower house of the French Parliament passed a bill that expands the definition of rape to include nonconsensual penetration.

Their cause gained traction after a horrific trial last fall in which dozens of men were convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was in a deeply drugged state.

“This is a starting point, not a final one,” Marie-Charlotte Garin, one of the two lawmakers who proposed the bill, told the National Assembly after the vote. “We are moving from a culture of rape to a culture of consent, and this is the first stone we are throwing against the wall of impunity.”

Tariffs may raise much less than White House projects, economists say– www.cnbc.com
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President Donald Trump says that tariffs will make the U.S. “rich.” But those riches will likely be far less than the White House expects, economists said.

The ultimate sum could have big ramifications for the U.S. economy, the nation’s debt and legislative negotiations over a tax-cut package, economists said.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Sunday estimated tariffs would raise about $600 billion a year and $6 trillion over a decade. Auto tariffs would add another $100 billion a year, he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Navarro made the projection as the U.S. plans to announce more tariffs against U.S. trading partners on Wednesday.

Economists expect the Trump administration’s tariff policy would generate a much lower amount of revenue than Navarro claims. Some project the total revenue would be less than half.

Roughly $600 billion to $700 billion a year “is not even in the realm of possibility,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “If you get to $100 billion to $200 billion, you’ll be pretty lucky.”