Canadian PM Mark Carney the butt of jokes after cheeky Vancouver Pride parade snap goes viral
The straight-laced 60-year-old Liberal Party leader made a surprise appearance at Vancouver Pride this past weekend, mixing it up with the crowd and shaking hands amid a sea of rainbow flags.
3 Canadian PM Mark Carney made a surprise appearance at Vancouver Pride last weekend, appearing with a drag queen along the parade route.
AP
The crowd cheered as Carney marched about three-quarters of a mile along the parade route, which began outside of BC Place Stadium, before being handed a mic by a drag performer who towered over him.
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Carney said Pride celebrates diversity in a 'very positive way' and represents the 'essence of Canada.'
3 He was mingling with the crowd, including this man in a pink thong.
REUTERS
While making the rounds at the parade, Reuters snapped a photo of Carney with his arm around a man wearing little more than a pink thong. Carney appears to force a smile as the man's hirsute derrière catches the summer Vancouver air.
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The awkward photo quickly went viral, with many on social media poking fun at Carney.
'Canada summed up in one picture. This is [why] Trump doesn't take [Canada] seriously,' one X user quipped.
3 Photos of the straight-laced ex-central bank chief went viral, with some poking fun at the PM for the cheeky shot.
REUTERS
A large number of commenters raised doubts the picture was real, some questioning whether it was AI-generated.
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In fact, both Reuters and Associated Press ran a series of the images leading up to the embrace itself.
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CNN
a few seconds ago
- CNN
India's Modi is caught between Putin's cheap Russian oil and Trump's latest tariff threats
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been performing a tricky balancing act – maintaining close partnerships with US President Donald Trump and Russia's leader Vladimir Putin while insisting his country is a neutral party in the Russia-Ukraine war, to the dismay of Western nations who have sanctioned Moscow. But now, it seems, Trump has lost his patience – demanding that Modi finally pick a side, and using India's continued purchases of cheap Russian oil as leverage in his trade war. The conundrum pits Trump and Modi, two nationalist leaders who have often described their friendship in warm terms, increasingly against each other. On Monday, Trump vowed in an interview with CNBC to 'substantially' raise tariffs on India 'over the next 24 hours' because it's still buying Russian oil. It's not clear what the new tariff rate would be – or why he is now taking issue with something India has done for years. But the fresh threat comes after he had already announced a minimum 25% tariff on goods coming from India last week. 'Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!' Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. But for Modi, it's not so simple. While many other countries have scrambled to strike trade deals with the Trump administration, India – the world's fourth largest economy – has pushed back defiantly, saying it is being unfairly targeted and calling the measure 'unjustified.' The US and Europe, it pointed out, still trade with Russia on other products such as fertilizers and chemicals. Here's what you need to know about why India is reluctant to stop buying Russian oil. India has long been reliant on Russia for crude oil to support its booming economy and growing population, now at more than 1.4 billion people. The world's most populous nation is already the third biggest consumer of oil globally, and with India's consumption rate still growing rapidly, it is expected to surpass China by 2030, according to Reuters. India's transformation into an economic superpower has uplifted millions of households – which in turn have bought more cars and motorcycles, driving up the demand for gasoline. Russian crude oil accounts for 36% of India's overall imports, making Moscow the country's top supplier, according to Muyu Xu, a senior oil analyst at trade intelligence firm Kpler, who cited figures for the first six months of this year. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, European nations largely stopped buying Russian oil. It now flows primarily into Asia – with China, India and Turkey among Russia's big clients and is a vital revenue stream for Moscow. Delhi is buying Russian oil at a heavy discount, 'which otherwise would not have been given by the traditional oil and gas suppliers,' said Amitabh Singh, associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies. He added that India's continuing purchases were 'a purely economic or commercial decision' – something Indian authorities have also argued, but which has been met with derision and anger from Ukraine and its supporters. While India has diversified its oil sources over the years, cutting out Russian oil entirely would leave a gaping hole that's hard to replace. India imports 80% of its oil needs, and its domestic oil production isn't enough to make up the difference. OPEC, the coalition of the world's top oil producers, may have 'some spare capacity, but it's difficult to ask them to pump 3.4 million barrels overnight,' said Xu when she spoke to CNN in July, referring to Russia's daily seaborne exports. Its choices have also been limited by other US actions – India was forced to stop buying oil from Iran and Venezuela after Trump imposed sanctions and threatened tariffs against countries that bought from those places. Before it halted its purchases, India had been one of Iran's biggest clients, buying up to 480,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters. 'We have our hands tied at the back,' said Singh. 'There is very limited space in which the Indian oil economy or market can operate.' For now, he added, it's unlikely Delhi will bow to Trump's demands. Modi's administration will continue navigating trade talks with the US and explore the 'traditional route' of Middle Eastern oil while it works to wean itself off Russian crude – but this it 'cannot do overnight,' said Singh. Russia's oil also feeds India's economy, which plays a key role in the global oil trade. India argues that its purchases from Russia have kept global oil prices lower, as it's not competing with Western nations for Middle Eastern oil. When the Ukraine-Russia war kicked off during the Biden administration, 'everyone knew that India is buying oil from Russia,' said Singh – but added that Western nations had tolerated it 'because they knew that if India is not buying oil from Russia, then inflation will go up.' If India switches to importing oil from somewhere else at a higher cost, American consumers will likely feel the hit, too. Some of the Russian crude oil sent to India is then refined and exported back out to other countries – because sanctions on Moscow don't include products refined outside Russia. It's a loophole that has benefited both India's economy and other recipient nations. In 2023, India exported $86.28 billion in refined oil products, making it the world's second-biggest exporter of petroleum products, according to the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). Some of the biggest buyers of these refined products, made from Russian crude oil, include Europe, the US, and the UK, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The independent organization has urged G7 nations to close this loophole, arguing it would disincentivize third countries – like India – to import Russian crude. India and Russia's partnership goes beyond just oil and stretches back decades – another reason it's not so easy to dismantle. India was officially nonaligned during the Cold War between the US and the USSR. However, India began to lean towards the Soviet Union in the 1970s when the US began providing military and financial assistance to India's neighbor and longtime rival Pakistan. This was when Russia started providing arms to India. In recent years, India has drawn closer to Washington, and ramped up arms purchases from America and its allies, including France and Israel. Still, India remains the top recipient of Russian arms, according to SIPRI. And Modi remains friendly with Putin – even paying a controversial visit to Moscow last year, with the Russian president greeting his counterpart with a hug and personally driving him around. Trump and Modi, too, have previously hailed their friendship, with Trump declaring at a 2019 rally that India had 'never had a better friend as President than President Donald Trump.' Singh, the professor, said it was expected the friendship 'would continue' when Trump arrived at the White House for his second term. But things have soured this time around; India isn't happy with Trump claiming credit for a ceasefire in the latest India-Pakistan conflict, or with his accusations that their oil purchases are helping 'prop up a Russian war machine,' he said. Trump has lashed out too, increasingly frustrated at his inability to end the Ukraine-Russia war – something he'd promised to do on his first day in office. 'I don't care what India does with Russia,' Trump wrote in an irate post on Truth Social last week. 'They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.'
CNN
9 minutes ago
- CNN
India's Modi is caught between Putin's cheap Russian oil and Trump's latest tariff threats
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been performing a tricky balancing act – maintaining close partnerships with US President Donald Trump and Russia's leader Vladimir Putin while insisting his country is a neutral party in the Russia-Ukraine war, to the dismay of Western nations who have sanctioned Moscow. But now, it seems, Trump has lost his patience – demanding that Modi finally pick a side, and using India's continued purchases of cheap Russian oil as leverage in his trade war. The conundrum pits Trump and Modi, two nationalist leaders who have often described their friendship in warm terms, increasingly against each other. On Monday, Trump vowed in an interview with CNBC to 'substantially' raise tariffs on India 'over the next 24 hours' because it's still buying Russian oil. It's not clear what the new tariff rate would be – or why he is now taking issue with something India has done for years. But the fresh threat comes after he had already announced a minimum 25% tariff on goods coming from India last week. 'Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!' Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. But for Modi, it's not so simple. While many other countries have scrambled to strike trade deals with the Trump administration, India – the world's fourth largest economy – has pushed back defiantly, saying it is being unfairly targeted and calling the measure 'unjustified.' The US and Europe, it pointed out, still trade with Russia on other products such as fertilizers and chemicals. Here's what you need to know about why India is reluctant to stop buying Russian oil. India has long been reliant on Russia for crude oil to support its booming economy and growing population, now at more than 1.4 billion people. The world's most populous nation is already the third biggest consumer of oil globally, and with India's consumption rate still growing rapidly, it is expected to surpass China by 2030, according to Reuters. India's transformation into an economic superpower has uplifted millions of households – which in turn have bought more cars and motorcycles, driving up the demand for gasoline. Russian crude oil accounts for 36% of India's overall imports, making Moscow the country's top supplier, according to Muyu Xu, a senior oil analyst at trade intelligence firm Kpler, who cited figures for the first six months of this year. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, European nations largely stopped buying Russian oil. It now flows primarily into Asia – with China, India and Turkey among Russia's big clients and is a vital revenue stream for Moscow. Delhi is buying Russian oil at a heavy discount, 'which otherwise would not have been given by the traditional oil and gas suppliers,' said Amitabh Singh, associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies. He added that India's continuing purchases were 'a purely economic or commercial decision' – something Indian authorities have also argued, but which has been met with derision and anger from Ukraine and its supporters. While India has diversified its oil sources over the years, cutting out Russian oil entirely would leave a gaping hole that's hard to replace. India imports 80% of its oil needs, and its domestic oil production isn't enough to make up the difference. OPEC, the coalition of the world's top oil producers, may have 'some spare capacity, but it's difficult to ask them to pump 3.4 million barrels overnight,' said Xu when she spoke to CNN in July, referring to Russia's daily seaborne exports. Its choices have also been limited by other US actions – India was forced to stop buying oil from Iran and Venezuela after Trump imposed sanctions and threatened tariffs against countries that bought from those places. Before it halted its purchases, India had been one of Iran's biggest clients, buying up to 480,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters. 'We have our hands tied at the back,' said Singh. 'There is very limited space in which the Indian oil economy or market can operate.' For now, he added, it's unlikely Delhi will bow to Trump's demands. Modi's administration will continue navigating trade talks with the US and explore the 'traditional route' of Middle Eastern oil while it works to wean itself off Russian crude – but this it 'cannot do overnight,' said Singh. Russia's oil also feeds India's economy, which plays a key role in the global oil trade. India argues that its purchases from Russia have kept global oil prices lower, as it's not competing with Western nations for Middle Eastern oil. When the Ukraine-Russia war kicked off during the Biden administration, 'everyone knew that India is buying oil from Russia,' said Singh – but added that Western nations had tolerated it 'because they knew that if India is not buying oil from Russia, then inflation will go up.' If India switches to importing oil from somewhere else at a higher cost, American consumers will likely feel the hit, too. Some of the Russian crude oil sent to India is then refined and exported back out to other countries – because sanctions on Moscow don't include products refined outside Russia. It's a loophole that has benefited both India's economy and other recipient nations. In 2023, India exported $86.28 billion in refined oil products, making it the world's second-biggest exporter of petroleum products, according to the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). Some of the biggest buyers of these refined products, made from Russian crude oil, include Europe, the US, and the UK, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The independent organization has urged G7 nations to close this loophole, arguing it would disincentivize third countries – like India – to import Russian crude. India and Russia's partnership goes beyond just oil and stretches back decades – another reason it's not so easy to dismantle. India was officially nonaligned during the Cold War between the US and the USSR. However, India began to lean towards the Soviet Union in the 1970s when the US began providing military and financial assistance to India's neighbor and longtime rival Pakistan. This was when Russia started providing arms to India. In recent years, India has drawn closer to Washington, and ramped up arms purchases from America and its allies, including France and Israel. Still, India remains the top recipient of Russian arms, according to SIPRI. And Modi remains friendly with Putin – even paying a controversial visit to Moscow last year, with the Russian president greeting his counterpart with a hug and personally driving him around. Trump and Modi, too, have previously hailed their friendship, with Trump declaring at a 2019 rally that India had 'never had a better friend as President than President Donald Trump.' Singh, the professor, said it was expected the friendship 'would continue' when Trump arrived at the White House for his second term. But things have soured this time around; India isn't happy with Trump claiming credit for a ceasefire in the latest India-Pakistan conflict, or with his accusations that their oil purchases are helping 'prop up a Russian war machine,' he said. Trump has lashed out too, increasingly frustrated at his inability to end the Ukraine-Russia war – something he'd promised to do on his first day in office. 'I don't care what India does with Russia,' Trump wrote in an irate post on Truth Social last week. 'They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.'
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump envoy Witkoff urged to take tough approach with Putin in make-or-break meeting to end Ukraine war before sanctions
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin one more chance to show he's serious about ending his 41-month-old invasion of Ukraine. As more than six months have passed with no diplomatic progress, well-placed sources tell The Post special envoy Steve Witkoff has been encouraged to take a sterner approach with Moscow's leader ahead of Wednesday's make-or-break meeting — in line with President Trump's recent expressions of disgust at Putin's continued attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Whether Witkoff will take that advice remains unclear. Advertisement 3 President Trump is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin one last chance to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started over 3 years ago. via REUTERS A spokesperson for the special envoy declined to comment on the record for this story. Meanwhile, the White House national security team responsible for the Ukraine war held multiple meetings on Tuesday, trying to work out how Washington might best persuade Russia to silence its guns, according to people familiar with the matter. Advertisement Trump himself said Tuesday he would wait to see how the sitdown went before making a final decision on whether to enact secondary sanctions and slapping more tariffs on countries that provide Russia with its main source of income: oil purchases. 'We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow, we're going to see what happens. We'll make a determination at that time,' said the president, before denying that he had promised to set the additional rates at 100% — as he appeared to suggest last month. 'I never said a percentage, but we'll be doing quite a bit of that. We'll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time.' 3 U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will allegedly take a sterner approach in the crucial make-or-break meeting on Wednesday in an effort for the war in Ukraine to end for good. Getty Images Advertisement A source familiar with discussions insisted that sanctions are not inevitable when Trump's deadline is reached Friday, saying the administration is 'pushing hard for a deal. That's always the president's preferred outcome.' As part of his prep, Witkoff has been briefed on the historical motivations behind Putin's war on Ukraine — namely his desire to reconstitute as much of the former Soviet Union as possible, according to a US official. Last month, as Trump's rhetoric toward Moscow began to toughen, Special Presidential Envoy to Ukraine retired Gen. Keith Kellogg said that the president 'now realizes that Putin is not a business partner.' 3 President Trump said he'll see if tomorrow's sit-down will be effective before making a final decision on whether he'll slap more tariffs on Russia. REUTERS Advertisement The commander in chief — so often praised for his businesslike, transactional approach to politics — is up against a ruler who represents the opposite of that approach. That's why the earlier, more cordial approach — complete with Witkoff jovially greeting Putin at the Kremlin — did not work, according to one source. Subsequent offers of reduced sanctions and off-ramps for Russia to end its war were also not enough to persuade Moscow to change its calculus. Russia, for its part, is hoping for more of the same. Witkoff's Wednesday trip comes at the behest of the Kremlin, which invited the envoy after Trump threatened to levy the secondary sanctions. Meanwhile, as Trump's words toward Putin have grown increasingly harsh, Kremlin thought leaders have been denigrating the US president on X. Russian philosopher and Putin confidant Alexander Dugin declared Monday that Trump was crazy, an about-face from a year ago, when Dugin — nicknamed 'Putin's brain' for his purported heavy influence on the Russian leader — endorsed Trump for president in 2024. 'I come to very sad conclusion: Donald Trump is totally mad. It is the shame. We loved him,' Dugin posted to X. Last week, ex-Russian president and current deputy chair of the Kremlin's security council Dmitry Medvedev also blasted Trump for threatening sanctions.
