Politics
Following the victory of his Liberal Party in Canada’s election, Mark Carney, the prime minister, claimed a fresh mandate to negotiate with America over trade and security and said he would do so on “our terms”. Mr Carney and Donald Trump have agreed to meet soon. The Liberals fell just short of a majority, but it was still a stunning turnaround for a party that was 20 percentage points behind in the polls three months ago. Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, who was on course to become prime minister before the Liberals’ revival, lost his seat.
Two days before the election 11 people were killed when a man drove a car through crowds of people celebrating a Filipino festival in Vancouver. Police arrested the man, who has a long history of mental illness.
An election in Trinidad and Tobago was won by the United National Congress, returning the party to power for the first time since 2015. The government of the defeated centre-left People’s National Movement was beset by economic problems and rising crime.
Cuba re-arrested two leading dissidents, José Daniel Ferrer and Felix Navarro, just three months after releasing them from jail in a deal that was brokered by the Vatican and the Biden administration.
America and Ukraine signed a long-awaited agreement that gives America access to Ukraine’s natural resources and critical minerals, easing a source of tension between the two countries. Details were sketchy, but the deal provides for a reconstruction fund for Ukraine. Scott Bessent, America’s treasury secretary, signed the document for America and was unusually supportive of Ukraine, saying that it would boost a “peace process centred on a free, sovereign and prosperous” nation. He also said that no state or person who financed or supplied “the Russian war machine” would be allowed to benefit.
The Vatican announced that the conclave of cardinals to elect the next pope will start its deliberations on May 7th. Pope Francis’s funeral at St Peter’s Basilica was attended by more than 250,000 people, including scores of world leaders.
Electricity was gradually restored to Spain and Portugal after a widespread blackout that affected both countries. Trains came to a halt, lifts got stuck and phones and computers went offline during the outage. The Spanish authorities ruled out a cyber-attack. Investigations into the cause of the blackout continue, but speculation has fallen on a possible lack of grid and storage capacity for renewable energy, which Spain increasingly relies on.
At least 25 people were arrested across France in connection with a recent series of attacks on prisons, including the firing of an assault weapon at Toulon’s jail. The authorities say the trouble was caused by criminal gangs angered by a crackdown on drug-trafficking.
Passports are not for sale
The European Court of Justice ruled that Malta would have to end its golden-passport scheme, which grants Maltese citizenship, and thus rights in the European Union, to people who invest or buy property in the country. The court found that this amounted “to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction”. Other EU countries offer golden-visa programmes that grant residence permits to investors, but these too have raised legal concerns.
The International Court of Justice began hearings on Israel’s legal obligations to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel stopped allowing aid to enter the strip on March 2nd. It claims this is to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages. The UN and aid agencies say food is running out, which Israel denies.
Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, said he would stand down from the job on June 15th. Binyamin Netanyahu has been trying to sack Mr Bar, who is in charge of investigating corruption allegations against aides of the Israeli prime minister. Mr Bar has accused Mr Netanyahu of ordering the Shin Bet to spy on anti-government protesters.
The head of the Israel Defence Forces said his troops struck “operatives” who attacked Druze civilians in Damascus. He said Israeli forces would hit Syrian government targets if such attacks on the Druze, a religious minority, continued.
At least 70 people died in an explosion and fire at Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port. The interior minister blamed “non-compliance with safety precautions and negligence”.
The international Red Cross began escorting hundreds of unarmed Congolese soldiers and police from the UN base in Goma, the biggest city in eastern Congo, to Kinshasa, the country’s capital, which lies 1,600km (1,000 miles) to the west. Goma was captured by M23, a Rwandan-backed rebel group, in January. A South African-led peacekeeping force that had been fighting the rebels also began withdrawing from the region.
A national conference organised by Mali’s junta decreed that General Assimi Goïta, the military leader who last seized power in a coup in 2021, be named president until 2030. The meeting also recommended suspending political parties and electoral politics until peace had been achieved in the country. Like fellow military regimes across the Sahel, Mali’s junta is trying to quell jihadist attacks.
Japan’s prime minister, Ishiba Shigeru, visited Vietnam (and the Philippines) where trade was top of the agenda. In Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, the Vietnamese prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, said both countries would “uphold the global order of free trade”. Many Japanese manufacturers assemble their products in Vietnam. Amid Donald Trump’s trade war, diplomatic efforts have gathered pace in the region to strengthen ties. Japan hosted a top-level meeting with China and South Korea in March and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, recently visited Vietnam.
Tensions remained high between India and Pakistan following the massacre of 26 civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir in a terrorist attack that India says had cross-border involvement from Pakistan. Pakistan braced itself for India to retaliate through a military strike. The Pakistani government was also preparing to take legal action against India for suspending a treaty that distributes water from the Indus river to Pakistan.
Donald Trump signed more executive orders that crack down on illegal immigration, one of which directed the federal government to compile a list of “sanctuary cities”, or municipalities that enact policies to shield migrants from deportation. Meanwhile, the FBI arrested a judge in Wisconsin for allegedly trying to stop a man from being apprehended by immigration agents. The FBI claims the judge obstructed the arrest by allowing the man to escape by a side door. She will enter her plea to the allegation on May 15th.
Trump 2: Judgment Day
Mr Trump marked the 100th day of his second term in office with a speech in Michigan. The president said he had sparked a “revolution of common sense” and that opinion polls recording his waning popularity were “fake”. Mr Trump’s flurry of more than 200 executive actions include orders on tariffs, migration and diversity programmes, as well as this week, requiring that lorry drivers can read and speak English. The S&P 500 lost 7% of its value during Mr Trump’s 100 days, the worst start to a presidency since Gerald Ford’s in 1974.