Pope Francis showed ‘major sign of support' for successor, says expert
We're joined by Canadian writer Randy Boyagoda, who's also a professor at the University of Toronto.
He has written widely on Pope Francis and met him on two occasions.
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This Montreal bridge is lighting up in Oilers colours for the Stanley Cup final
Go, Canada, go! The Samuel-De Champlain Bridge is going to be lit up starting on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers. In honour of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the bridge will be illuminated in blue and orange as many Montrealers cheer on the remaining Canadian team in the finals. The bridge will be lit up in Oilers' colours for every Stanley Cup Final game except for Game 2 on Friday because the bridge has already been scheduled to be illuminated in other colours. In a city that worships the Montreal Canadiens, the act is to celebrate Canadian pride, to support a Canadian team, and to support Canada in general—especially considering everything that has happened with the U.S. this year. What was the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup? The Edmonton Oilers are hoping to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens did in 1993. Why are these hockey finals important for Canadians? With talk of turning Canada into the 51st state from the U.S. President Donald Trump, to increased anxiety around crossing the border thanks to the new U.S. travel rules (and safety advisories including registration and fingerprinting), this playoff could feel like Canada versus the U.S. Because of political tensions between Canada and the U.S. and verbiage testing the country's sovereignty, the series could take on a larger-than-life aspect.
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6 days ago
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How slaughter and starvation of Gaza's children are creating a sinister new world order
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The war of words between European and Canadian political leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provides a timely reminder of how any semblance of a positive vision for global governance continues to die in a world of division, anger, fear, and hate. October 7, 2023 is a date that will live in infamy. Israel has the right to defend itself and deal with Hamas following its attacks on that day. But Israel as a country is unfortunately hurtling towards pariah status in a world tiring of Netanyahu's apparent hatred of Palestinians and his desire to obliterate Gaza, annex the West Bank and destroy any prospects of a two-state solution. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Two other factors are placing Netanyahu on the wrong side of history. His political survival now depends on extending court proceedings about corruption charges for as long as possible and the support of far-right, anti-Arab, ultranationalists in his government. A girl appears to be in distress after receiving food at Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza City, earlier this month (Picture: Abood Abusalama) | Middle East Images/AFP via Getty The real pariah To suggest that Keir Starmer, Canada's Mark Carney and France's Emmanuel Macron, who called for Israel to halt its latest offensive, are in any way responsible for the tragic and brutal murders of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC and accuse them of emboldening Hamas speaks volumes about this desperate Prime Minister. Netanyahu is the real pariah in this story. Israel is a democracy, a friend and an ally. But Netanyahu is using claims of antisemitism – a real and unacceptable problem – as a shield to defend his government's indefensible actions. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad People are angry and sickened by the images of destruction and death being shown nightly on TV screens worldwide, but downplayed in Israel. This is a moral issue. Netanyahu should feel emotionally challenged by emaciated children and babies being starved to death in Gaza, a young girl smashed to smithereens in her wheelchair, hospitals and medical staff bombed and denied vital medicines, humanitarian aid halted, innocents slaughtered, whole families wiped out and homes turned to rubble, while the West Bank is terrorised by Israeli settlers. And yet on Netanyahu's watch, it goes on and on. Deaths are dismissed by the Israel Defence Force as 'targeted strikes'. Within the dark recesses of Netanyahu's mind, moral bankruptcy is imperilling his impressive country – and it is spreading. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Starvation of children deemed 'desirable' In a remarkable and distressing meeting in the Israeli parliament, its Foreign Affairs and Defence Sub-committee discussed Gaza. Israeli's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported the proceedings in an article headlined, 'Knesset debate reveals not everyone thinks starving Gazan children is a bad thing'. Giving evidence, Dr Sharon Shaul, of Israeli humanitarian organisation Natan, said she thought that 'even everyone sitting around this table doesn't want a suffering child to be unable to receive painkillers or minimal medical treatment'. This sparked a barrage of protest from MPs. 'I'm not sure you're speaking for us when you say we want to treat every child and every woman,' said one. 'You are the sickest doctor I've ever seen,' said another. Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson wrote that 'many around the table indeed thought that the starvation and torment of Gazan children is not only legitimate but even desirable'. Even more alarming was the comment of Moshe Saada, a Likud party MP and ally of Netanyahu, who told Israel's Channel 14 he was "interested" in starving an entire nation. "Yes, I'll starve Gazans, yes, this is our obligation,' he said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The failure of the League of Nations How should the world respond? History provides little in the way of hope. The League of Nations was established in 1920, following the First World War, to promote international cooperation, encourage disarmament, improve global living conditions and prevent wars. But it faced significant challenges. Europe remained unstable and, in Germany, resentment grew over the imposition of severe reparations by the war's victors. The weak League, which infamously failed to achieve its aims and stop another world war, was dissolved in 1946. We are now a few weeks away from the 80th anniversary of the signing of the 'Charter of the United Nations', the League's successor organisation, in San Francisco in June 1945. Comprising nearly 200 nations, the UN has, for decades, played an important role in peacekeeping, human rights, international law, refugee crises, health, education and climate change. United Nations' weakness But the return of a world of sovereign nations, powerful political alliances, an emphasis on national self-interest, growing military strength and populist leaders has made pursuing and enforcing international stability difficult and, at times, impossible. The world needs Abraham Lincoln's 'better angels of our nature' to show themselves if the UN is to find success. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The UN Security Council has 15 members but the five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – can veto any resolution. The International Criminal Court was designed to have global authority but has been hampered by the US, India, China, Türkiye, Russia and others not being signatories. Israel signed up but never ratified its membership, putting it outwith the court's jurisdiction. The crumbling of the international order into further chaos is likely to continue but let's hope the UN does not face the same fate as the League. And hopefully it will not take the threat or reality of a Third World War for countries to recognise again the need for order, and the benefits of peace, tolerance and respect. The prospects remain grim. Until a new way forward for international cooperation is found, we will have to depend on 'coalitions of the willing' forming in response to pressing issues in world affairs, like the statement issued by the UK, the EU and Canada on the situation in Gaza. This week US President Donald Trump has described Russia's Vladimir Putin as 'crazy' following a major attack on Ukraine, so what about Netanyahu? Does the systematic slaughter and the starvation of children in Gaza not meet the criteria for similar condemnation – or is it much worse? Welcome to the new international order.
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6 days ago
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Why Israeli PM is wrong about UK. We just want Gaza's children to be fed
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When the invitation arrived, my first thought surprised and frightened me, more than a little. 'Would I be safe if I accepted the invitation to the event at the Israeli Embassy.' It is not something that has ever crossed my mind about any of the events I have been invited to as an MP in the eight years since I was elected. But it was there, and very real. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I felt the same anxiety a few days ago when I heard of the murder of Israeli Embassy staff in Washington DC. Is anyone now safe? It is not that this outrage was any worse or any more deplorable than what we are seeing in Gaza, or the Israeli people experienced on October 7. A girl holds a container at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat camp for refugees in central Gaza Strip (Picture: Eyad Baba) | AFP via Getty Images Retribution upon restribution It has long passed the point where sufficient adjectives are available to encapsulate the horror. But this latest murder somehow felt like a harbinger of even worse to come, that the conflict is now way beyond the control or even influence of the international community. And in the Middle East, it seems that retribution upon retribution is being sought with ever worsening tactics. Food is now a weapon of war. Humanitarian aid is being used as some sort of means of controlling people who have been left with nothing else but to fight for life. For 12 weeks, Israel blocked aid to Gaza and while our government, and indeed all political parties, recognise that country's right to defend itself against Hamas, the situation has now gone far beyond that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Last week the UK Government, together with France and Canada, warned that they were not prepared to 'stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions'. And that if the renewed military action and further expansion in the West Bank did not stop, they would 'not hesitate to take further action including targeted sanctions'. No place for Hamas There will be those who will say that it is too little, too late and that too many people have died, both Israelis and Palestinians. I know that I have felt that the pursuit of peace and the two-state solution which so many of us crave has been increasingly hopeless. And my frustrations that the Israeli government is not prepared to listen even to its own citizens who want an end to this war reached new heights with Netanyahu's reaction to that joint UK, French and Canadian statement. They had, he claimed, 'effectively said that they want Hamas to remain in power'. That is so far from the truth as to be nonsense. Every political party in this country, my own Liberal Democrats included, have made it abundantly clear that there can be no place for Hamas in the future of Gaza. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad We do want peace, for both the Palestinians and Israel. We also want an end to both the resultant Islamophobia and antisemitism which has reached previously unknown levels in this country. Perhaps more than anything else, I want to see the children of Gaza fed and the families of the hostages enjoy shabbat with their loved ones again.
