South Korea's leader says trade deal with US remains unclear ahead of Trump's deadline
Speaking at his first news conference since taking office last month, Lee also reiterated his intentions to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea, though he acknowledged that mutual distrust between the Koreas is too deep to heal anytime soon.
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Canada News.Net
26 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
Symbols take centre stage in debates about Canadian nationalism
The recent resurgence of Canadian nationalism is a response to explicit threats made by United States President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to make Canada the 51st American state. Canadian flag sales have skyrocketed, informal and formal boycotts of American goods are continuing and Canadians are being urged to stay home and spend their vacation dollars domestically. Even in Quebec, pro-Canadian sentiments are evident. Canadian nationalism is back. Yet only a decade ago, the newly elected Justin Trudeau labelled Canada the first "post-national nation" in an interview with The New York Times. In essence, the prime minister suggested, Canada was moving beyond nationalism to some new phase of social identity. Nationalism, like a step in the launch of a spacecraft, would be jettisoned now that it was a vestigial and outdated feature of Canadian society. As we argue in a recently presented paper to be published soon, Canadians are nowhere near either a homogeneous, popularly held identity, nor are they "beyond nationalism" as if it were an outdated hairstyle. Instead, Canadian steps toward a united, widely held nationalism continue to be stymied by both substantial constitutional issues (Quebec, western alienation, Indigenous aspirations to self-determination) but also by battles over banal symbols of national identity. Canadians are, in the words of journalist Ian Brown, "a unity of contradictions." In his influential book, Banal Nationalism, British social science scholar Michael Billig highlighted the role of symbols like stamps, currency and flags to identify barely noticed transmitters of national consciousness. Writing in 1995, at a time of ethnic nationalist resurgence in the former Yugoslavia, Billig contrasted the understated, reserved nationalism of citizens of established states like Canada with the dangerous, passionate expressions of nationalism in the Balkans. This genteel nationalism is barely noticed much of the time, but proposals to alter national symbols arouse debate - like during the great Canadian flag debate of the mid-1960s - and expose deep emotional attachments. Canadians, too, are nationalists. But they're also citizens of a liberal democracy where nationalistic narratives compete to define and unite the nation. Societies evolve and generational change can lead to new symbols reflecting changing values. The historical episodes of discontent pertaining to national symbols show how Canadian society has evolved since its drift away from Britain after the Second World War. During the flag debate, Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson said Canada needed a new flag that would present a united nation rather than a confusing amalgamation of different people. Conservative Leader John Diefenbaker, on the other hand, argued Canada should be "all Canadian and all British" during the debate, adding that any Canadian who disagreed should "be denounced." The leaders could not agree, with Diefenbaker opting for something like the status quo and Pearson for a complete redesign that would represent all Canadians, regardless of national heritage. In a 1964 La Presse article on the debate, columnist Guy Cormier crudely voiced Quebec's concerns that Pearson's handling of the flag debate was an attempt to "artificially inseminate" his agenda on the province. The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin reported on the debate, declaring that "tinkering with a nation's flag is sort of like playing volleyball with a hornets nest." As Canada became increasingly more multicultural in the 1980s, another symbol became the centre of controversy. A Sikh entering the RCMP wanted to be able to wear a turban instead of the traditional Stetson. Despite government and RCMP support, public opinion was mixed. Racist lapel pins were sold with the message "Keep the RCMP Canadian" as some argued the old uniform should remain and that new recruits should adapt to it. While few Canadians knew much about the design and history of the RCMP uniform, almost all Canadians consider it an iconic representation of Canada. Changes to it represent a threat to some, inclusion for others. Changes to O Canada, the national anthem, have been proposed over the past decades. Recently, a more inclusive version was drafted, changing "in all thy sons command" to "all of us command." Conservative MPs and some television pundits argued the change wasn't necessary and the anthem doesn't belong to a political party. Opponents argued that most people aren't offended by the anthem's lyrics, the anthem wasn't broken and was not in need of fixing. Ultimately, the change was made, with great praise from some and vexation from others. Removing images of the late Terry Fox in 2023 from the Canadian passport, a document few think about until checking its expiry date before a vacation, caused significant uproar. Other images from Canadian history were also removed, but Fox's removal was most notable since he was someone most Canadians consider the embodiment of a Canadian hero. The response to these changes ranged from mild - with those arguing that Canada needs more Terry Fox, not less, - to furious, as some accused Trudeau of being out of touch with Canadians and a "fault finder-in-chief." Far from trivial, these arguments over national symbols reveal how deeply some Canadians are attached to them. The nature of Canadian identity and nationalism will continue to be dated and contested. In that respect, Canadians are no different than the citizens of any other country.
Canada News.Net
27 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
China ups funding as UN climate body secures 10 percent budget rise
BONN, Germany: Despite widespread belt-tightening across the United Nations, nearly 200 countries agreed this week to increase the budget of the U.N. climate body by 10 percent—a move hailed as a rare show of unity and continued commitment to climate cooperation. The agreement was reached at climate talks in Bonn, Germany, where nations including Japan, Saudi Arabia, Fiji, and others approved a core budget of €81.5 million for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for 2026–2027. The figure represents a 10 percent increase from the current two-year cycle (2024–2025). The core budget is funded through government contributions. While the United States remains the largest donor (22 percent), China's share will rise to 20 percent, up from 15 percent, reflecting its economic growth. The U.S. delegation did not attend the Bonn talks, and much of its past funding has been replaced by Bloomberg Philanthropies, following a halt in support under President Donald Trump. In a statement, UN climate chief Simon Stiell called the budget increase "a clear signal that governments continue to see U.N.-convened climate cooperation as essential, even in difficult times." The increase comes at a moment when other U.N. agencies are facing steep cuts. The U.N. Secretariat is preparing to slash its US$3.7 billion budget by 20 percent, and the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development—with a staff of 400—faces reductions, in contrast to the UNFCCC's more modest staff of 181 funded through its core budget. The UNFCCC plays a key role in organising annual climate negotiations and overseeing the implementation of global pacts like the 2015 Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming. Still, the climate body has grappled with recent financial instability. Delayed payments from major donors, including China and the U.S., forced the cancellation of several events and triggered internal cost-saving measures. The approved increase signals an effort to stabilise operations and maintain momentum as climate action becomes increasingly urgent and geopolitically complex.
Winnipeg Free Press
44 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Vatican says leaked documents were only part of information Pope Francis used to restrict Latin Mass
ROME (AP) — Leaked documents seemingly undermining Pope Francis' stated reason for restricting the old Latin Mass provided an incomplete reconstruction of the evidence that informed his 2021 decision to crack down on the spread of the ancient liturgy, the Vatican said Thursday. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to explicitly confirm the authenticity of the documents, which were posted online this week by a Vatican reporter. But he said they 'presumably' were part of one of the documents forming the basis of Francis' decision. 'As such, it provides a very partial and incomplete reconstruction of the decision-making process,' Bruni told reporters. adding that successive confidential reports and consultations were taken into consideration. The publication of the documents this week revived the debate in the Catholic Church over the Latin Mass, suggesting that whoever leaked them aimed to put pressure on Pope Leo XIV to address the dispute just as his pontificate is getting under way. Leo has said his aim is unity and reconciliation in the church, and many conservatives and traditionalists have urged him to heal the liturgical divisions that spread over the Latin Mass, especially in the United States, during Francis' 12-year papacy. In one of his most controversial acts, Francis in 2021 reversed Pope Benedict XVI's signature liturgical legacy and restricted access for ordinary Catholics to the old Latin Mass. The ancient liturgy was celebrated around the world before the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which allowed Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular, with the priest facing the pews. Francis said he was cracking down on the spread of the old liturgy because Benedict's decision in 2007 to relax restrictions on its celebration had become a source of division in the church. Francis said he was responding to 'the wishes expressed' by bishops around the world who had responded to a Vatican survey, as well as the Vatican doctrine office's own opinion. 'The responses reveal a situation that preoccupies and saddens me, and persuades me of the need to intervene,' Francis wrote at the time. Benedict's relaxation had been 'exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division,' he said. The documents posted online, however, paint a different picture. They suggest the majority of bishops who responded to the Vatican survey had a generally favorable view of Benedict's reform. They warned that suppressing or weakening it would 'do more harm than good' and lead traditionalist Catholics to leave the church and join schismatic groups. The documents include a five-page 'overall assessment' of the survey findings, written by the Vatican's doctrine office, as well as a seven-page compilation of quotes from individual bishops or bishops' conferences. There is no letterhead or signature on the documentation, and it's not clear if its author cherry-picked the quotes. The documents contain some negative and neutral opinions and say some bishops considered Benedict's reform 'inappropriate, disturbing,' dangerous and worthy of suppression. But the Vatican's own assessment said the majority of bishops who responded expressed satisfaction. It cited the rise in religious vocations in traditionalist communities and said young Catholics in particular were drawn to the 'sacredness, seriousness and solemnity of the liturgy.' The documentation was prepared by the Vatican department that handled traditionalist communities and its authors may have been more sympathetic to their plight. That said, even the office's retired head backed Francis when he published the 2021 crackdown. The new documents have comforted traditionalists who felt attacked and abandoned by Francis. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 'The new revelations confirms that Pope Francis restricted the Traditional Mass at the request of only a minority of bishops, and against the advice of the dicastery in charge of the subject,' said Joseph Shaw, of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. In an email, he said Leo should address the issue 'urgently.' One way Leo can do so is by merely instructing the Vatican to more freely grant exemptions to bishops to allow Latin Masses to be celebrated in diocesan parishes. Such permission was recently granted to the diocese of San Angelo, Texas, according to the Rev. Ryan Rojo, the diocesan seminarian director. In a June 27 post on X, he thanked Leo and the Vatican liturgy office for extending permission for another two years. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
