48 hours left to live for thousands of babies in Gaza, says UN
The United Nations says 14,000 babies are at risk of dying if critical aid doesn't arrive immediately. Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on aid shipments and approved entry for 100 trucks on Tuesday, however the move is seen as 'insufficient' by world leaders and the UN who say it's a 'drop in the ocean.'
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Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Fraser apologizes, says comments on Indigenous consultation eroded trust
OTTAWA – Justice Minister Sean Fraser is apologizing today for comments he made about the government's duty to consult with Indigenous leaders on major projects. Fraser said Tuesday that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires consultation but does not amount to 'a blanket veto power' over projects. He says Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak called him to express her frustration with his comments last night and he has apologized. Fraser says his comments caused hurt and eroded 'a very precarious trust' with Indigenous people. He says the UN declaration requires a process based on respect and partnership between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown. Fraser says talking about the declaration in terms of veto power makes an assumption that the government and Indigenous people are working against one another. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025.
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Iran's Khamenei says abandoning uranium enrichment is against Tehran's interests
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was '100%' against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. After five rounds of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran's insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and Tehran's refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium – possible raw material for nuclear bombs. Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, said nothing about halting the talks, but said the U.S. proposal 'contradicts our nation's belief in self-reliance and the principle of 'We Can.'' Opinion: With instability on the rise, more countries could turn to nuclear weapons 'Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear program and the enemies have focused on the enrichment,' Khamenei said during a televised speech marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 'The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100% against our interests ... The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?,' he added. Tehran says it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and has long denied accusations by Western powers that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Reuters reported on Monday that Tehran was poised to reject the U.S. proposal as a 'non-starter' that failed to soften Washington's stance on uranium enrichment or to address Tehran's interests. Trump has revived his 'maximum pressure' campaign against Tehran since his return to the White House in January, which included tightening sanctions and threatening to bomb Iran if the negotiations yield no deal. Trump wants to curtail Tehran's potential to produce a nuclear weapon that could trigger a regional nuclear arms race and perhaps threaten Israel. Iran's clerical establishment, for its part, wants to be rid of devastating sanctions. During his first term, Trump ditched Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Iran responded by escalating enrichment far beyond the pact's limits. Iran's clerical establishment is grappling with multiple crises – energy and water shortages, a plunging currency, losses among regional militia proxies in conflicts with Israel, and rising fears of an Israeli strike on its nuclear sites – all intensified by Trump's hardline stance. Iran's arch-foe Israel, which sees Tehran's nuclear program as an existential threat, has repeatedly threatened to bomb the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran has vowed a harsh response.
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
We owe it to Vivian Silver to fight for peace
If you're fortunate enough to have a friend like this, you'll understand: someone who has been in your life for so long, you can't really remember a time when they weren't. For Lynne Mitchell, that friend was Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist – renowned and revered, a giant in the movement; adjectives that aren't often used to describe peaceniks. She co-founded and ran organizations. She was a strong feminist. She protested, peacefully. She drove sick children from Gaza to hospitals in Israel. 'She would march for her causes at noon and tuck us into bed at night,' recalled one of her two sons, Chen Zeigen, to the CBC. In Israel, Ms. Silver co-founded the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Co-operation; she was executive director of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development; and in 2014, she co-founded Women Wage Peace, which brings together Israeli and Palestinian women. Canadian activist Vivian Silver dedicated her life to peace. Her son has inherited her legacy 'Enough. We're no longer willing to do this. We must reach a political agreement,' Ms. Silver said in 2017, during a march calling for an end to the occupation. 'We've been told that only war will bring peace. We don't believe that any more. It's been proven that it's not true.' Ms. Silver grew up in Winnipeg, where she met Ms. Mitchell, who now lives in Toronto. They remained friends, and Ms. Mitchell visited her many times in Israel. On one visit, around 2000, just before the second intifada, Ms. Mitchell and her husband were staying with Ms. Silver at her home on Kibbutz Be'eri, very close to the Gaza border. They travelled to Gaza City to visit a Palestinian friend Ms. Silver knew from her advocacy work. 'We met his family, had lunch together, toured around, saw the beach, the hookah clubs, the market,' Ms. Mitchell recalls. 'It felt like peace was possible.' Sometimes on those visits, Ms. Mitchell slept in Ms. Silver's safe room, which doubled as an extra bedroom. That is where Ms. Silver was sheltering during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. That is where her remains were found and identified five weeks later – ending the belief/hope/fear that she had been taken hostage. Her house had been set on fire. Her bones were too damaged to be tested for DNA, but one matched an image of Ms. Silver's jaw in an old CT scan, the New York Times reported. She was 74. The irony was hard to miss: the peace activist killed in such a brutal campaign. But that is not how Ms. Silver would want to be remembered; this absurd, bitter paradox. Nor, God forbid, would she have wanted her death to be cited in a campaign for revenge. Even in a radio interview from her safe room on Oct. 7, she said the attack demonstrated the urgent need for a peace deal. Ms. Silver would want her legacy to carry on – her fight for peace. Her friends and family are using their grief to propel this work. Ms. Mitchell helped establish Women Wage Peace in Canada. On Wednesday in Toronto, the group will host 'In her voice: The Vivian Silver legacy event.' This is not a memorial, but an event to honour her vision. It will also raise funds for the new Vivian Silver Impact Award, given annually to a Palestinian and an Israeli. Ms. Silver's sons, Yonatan and Chen, will speak. The co-hosts are two young Canadian women – one Jewish, one Palestinian. Those attending are asked to wear a turquoise scarf, as Ms. Silver did. 'It's unbelievable to think that Vivian and her home in Be'eri and much of Gaza no longer exist,' Ms. Mitchell told me on Tuesday, the day before the event. 'But let's hope at least, that the possibility for peace still exists, in spite of all that has been lost.' Family, friends of missing Canadian in Israel recount harrowing last text messages What would Vivian do? I've seen this question more than once in reports about Ms. Silver. I've been wondering lately: what would Vivian think? Of all that has happened since she was forced from this life with such brutality; of the destruction of Gaza; of the fact that hostages are still being held in captivity. And, in the U.S., where she also once lived, of Jews being killed and firebombed. 'I think she would say just don't give up; you can't ever give up,' says Ms. Mitchell. 'You just have to keep doing what you're doing.' Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, I was approached by someone who suggested it was a hard time to be a peacenik. I disagreed then, and, in spite of it all, I still do. Ms. Silver's death should not be used to justify more violence, but to fight for peace. Even if it feels impossible right now.
