Why Trump's Gaza plan is being slammed as absurd
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to take over war-torn Gaza, resettle its population and create a 'Riviera of the Middle East.' CBC's Ellen Mauro breaks down how the shocking plan ignores Palestinians' deep sense of belonging to the land and runs counter to longtime American policy.
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Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
At least five Gaza aid workers dead in 'heinous attack' by Hamas, some possibly taken hostage
Hamas attacked a bus carrying about two-dozen members of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation team at about 10 p.m. in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with 'at least five fatalities, multiple injuries and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage,' the aid group stated. The 'local Palestinians,' who were 'working side-by-side with the U.S. GHF team,' were on the way to one of the U.S.-backed aid group's distribution centers west of Khan Younis, the foundation said. 'We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,' it stated. 'These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'Our hearts are broken and our thoughts and prayers are with every victim, every family and every person still unaccounted for,' the foundation said. The group, which vowed to continue its mission 'to provide critical aid to the people of Gaza' despite the 'heinous attack,' stated that 'tonight, the world must see this for what it is: an attack on humanity.' 'We call on the international community to immediately condemn Hamas for this unprovoked attack and continued threat against our people simply trying to feed the Palestinian people,' it said. The group, which is independent of the United Nations and tries to deliver aid to Palestinians without Hamas stealing the supplies, has endured threats from the terror group before, it said. 'This attack did not happen in a vacuum,' it said. 'For days, Hamas has openly threatened our team, our aid workers, and the civilians who receive aid from us. These threats were met with silence.' 'The GHF holds Hamas fully responsible for taking the lives of our dedicated workers, who have been distributing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people at the foundation's sites in central and southern Gaza,' it said. Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told JNS that 'we are monitoring closely concerning reports of Hamas once again doing whatever it can to thwart humanitarian distribution efforts.' 'The Hamas terrorist regime has zero care for Israelis and, as we continue to see, has zero care for the people of Gaza,' the ambassador told JNS. 'It's why they launch terrorist attacks from urban settings and civilian infrastructure.' AIPAC stated that 'Hamas murdered Palestinian aid workers who were distributing food to Gazans.' 'The terrorists are targeting and killing Palestinians to try to preserve their despicable aid profit machine,' AIPAC said. 'Anyone who has called for more aid to Gazans must loudly and unequivocally condemn Hamas.' Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote, 'Hamas killing Palestinians working to deliver aid to Palestinians. Will this get reported? Don't hold your breath.' David May, research manager and a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that 'the perverse incentives of the international community will punish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for having its staff murdered and reward Hamas for doing the murdering.' 'Hamas had threatened the GHF for weeks, and the world called to restore the aid channels Hamas was stealing from,' May said. The foundation noted that earlier in the day, it brought about 2.5 million meals into the enclave — its largest single-day delivery to date.
National Observer
an hour ago
- National Observer
Continued failure to consult on uranium exploration is a harmful mistake: Mi'kmaw Chiefs
Nova Scotia's continued failure to consult with First Nations on uranium exploration is a mistake that will further erode the province's relationship with Mi'kmaq communities, says the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs and a lawyer from Sipekne'katik First Nation. Pictou Landing First Nation Chief Tamara Young said the Mi'kmaq people were neither consulted nor notified when Nova Scotia introduced then passed a bill that opens the province up to potential uranium mining and fracking. 'The lack of consultation is unacceptable and goes against the UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples),' Young said in a statement to The Canadian Press on Wednesday. The assembly has said they will continue to oppose both uranium exploration and hydraulic fracturing until their environmental concerns have been addressed. The provincial government added uranium to its list of priority critical minerals May 14, and it issued a request for exploration proposals for three sites with known deposits of the heavy metal. Interested companies had until Wednesday to submit their proposals. Premier Tim Houston has said the legislative changes are needed to help the province withstand economic challenges from American tariffs. 'We recognize there are international pressures and influences affecting our economy, but any resource development in Mi'kma'ki must include our consent and participation as we are the rightful owners of these lands, waters and resources,' Young said in the statement, speaking as co-lead of the environment, energy and mines portfolio on behalf of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs. Rosalie Francis, a Mi'kmaq lawyer whose firm is based out of Sipekne'katik First Nation, said the province risks further damaging their relationship with Mi'kmaq communities and sabotaging the potential uranium industry by failing to consult adequately and early. 'By choosing not to consult, it scares away investors, destroys the relationship and gets us back to starting at zero,' Francis said in an interview Tuesday. 'It all comes down to trust, and this completely diminishes any kind of trust that's essential to the relationship between the first for the Mi'kmaq and the province.' Nova Scotia has opened up three plots of land for uranium project proposals: an 80-hectare site in Louisville in Pictou County; a 64-hectare site in East Dalhousie in Annapolis County; and a 2,300-hectare site in Millet Brook in Hants County. Much of this is on private land. The government has previously said companies selected by the province would have to seek permission from landowners to explore. However, Section 26 of the province's Mineral Resources Act allows the natural resources minister to intervene if there is a stalemate. A spokesperson with the Department of Natural Resources said if a company decides it wants to develop a mine on one of these sites, then there is duty to consult with Mi'kmaq communities. Francis said that position is backwards, and is not in line with case law on the matter. 'It's been clear that duty to consult begins when, in the minds of government, they're anticipating activity that will affect rights,' Francis said, adding that should happen before a company has made a decision on the site. The lawyer said it would appear the province has not learned from the fall out of the Alton Gas cavern project, which was officially scrapped in fall 2021. The Alberta energy company abandoned its plan to create huge salt caverns north of Halifax to store natural gas more than 13 years after starting construction. The company said at the time the project experienced challenges and delays, referring to opposition the project faced from Indigenous protesters and allies who opposed the company's plan to remove large, underground salt deposits by flushing them out with water from the nearby Shubenacadie River. The plan also called for dumping the leftover brine into the tidal river, where it would flow into the Bay of Fundy. In March 2020, a decision by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ordered the province to resume consultations with Sipekne'katik First Nation on the matter and determined the former environment minister was wrong when she concluded the province had adequately consulted with the First nation about the project. 'The province should have walked away from that decision and said: 'OK, lesson learned.' The project never went forward. All the gas investors looked at it and said: 'This is just a mess now. Let's just walk away,'' Francis said. The lawyer said it will be telling in the coming weeks if the province chooses to engage with Mi'kmaq communities or "if the province will march along in the same way it did before." "Either we'll have a success story or we'll have another Alton Gas play out," she said. Shiri Pasternak, a criminology professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and co-investigator of a research project called Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism, said the situation in Nova Scotia mirrors the expedited extraction movement that's happening across the country. "What's happening to the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia is really proliferating as an attack on Indigenous and environmental rights across the country right now," she said in an interview Tuesday. Pasternak said Nova Scotia is one of several provinces working to speed up extraction and development projects — moves that are supported by the federal government. "We have this sweep of fast-tracked legislation and policy changes to the Environment Assessment Act, both provincially in Nova Scotia and in other places, but also federally in terms of the Impact Assessment Act in order to expedite development and extraction — most of which will be against the desires and the consent of Indigenous people across the country."
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Iran to open new enrichment facility after censure by UN nuclear watchdog
The U.N. nuclear watchdog's board of governors on Thursday formally found that Iran isn't complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years, a move that could lead to further tensions and set in motion an effort to restore United Nations sanctions on Tehran later this year. Iran reacted immediately, saying it will establish a new enrichment facility 'in a secure location' and that 'other measures are also being planned.' 'The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,' the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a joint statement. U.S. President Donald Trump previously warned that Israel or America could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed — and some American personnel and their families have begun leaving the region over the tensions, which come ahead of a new round of Iran-U.S. talks Sunday in Oman. In Israel, the U.S. Embassy ordered American government employees and their families to remain in the Tel Aviv area over security concerns. Story continues below advertisement 7:41 Iran and U.S. hold second round of nuclear talks in Rome Nineteen countries on the International Atomic Energy Agency's board, which represents the agency's member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote. Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote. In the draft resolution seen by The Associated Press, the board of governors renews a call on Iran to provide answers 'without delay' in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. Western officials suspect that the uranium traces could provide further evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003. The resolution was put forward by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. Story continues below advertisement Iran lists steps in retaliation for the IAEA vote Speaking to Iranian state television after the vote, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that his agency immediately informed the IAEA of 'specific and effective' actions Tehran would take. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'One is the launch of a third secure site' for enrichment, spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said. He did not elaborate on the location, but the organization's chief Mohammad Eslami later described the site as 'already built, prepared, and located in a secure and invulnerable place.' Iran has two underground sites at Fordo and Natanz and has been building tunnels in the mountains near Natanz since suspected Israeli sabotage attacks targeted that facility. The other step would be replacing old centrifuges for advanced ones at Fordo. 'The implication of this is that our production of enriched materials will significantly increase,' Kamalvandi said. Story continues below advertisement According to the draft resolution, 'Iran's many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement.' 1:48 Trump 'not in a rush' to attack Iran over nuclear program Under those obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses. The draft resolution also finds that the IAEA's 'inability … to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.' The draft resolution made a direct reference to the U.S.-Iran talks, stressing its 'support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear program, including the talks between the United States and Iran, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran's nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy.' Story continues below advertisement Still a chance for Iran to cooperate with IAEA A senior Western diplomat last week described the resolution as a 'serious step,' but added that Western nations are 'not closing the door to diplomacy on this issue.' However, if Iran fails to cooperate, an extraordinary IAEA board meeting will likely be held in the summer, during which another resolution could get passed that will refer the issue to the Security Council, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue with the media. The three European nations have repeatedly threatened in the past to reinstate, or 'snapback,' sanctions that have been lifted under the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal if Iran does not provide 'technically credible' answers to the U.N. nuclear watchdog's questions. In a joint statement to the IAEA board of governors, the three European nations said that they would 'spare no efforts to work towards a diplomatic solution' but added that without a satisfying deal, they would 'consider triggering the snapback mechanism to address threats to international peace and security arising from Iran's nuclear program.' Story continues below advertisement 1:20 Trump says U.S. to have 'direct talks' with Iran at 'very high level' The authority to reestablish those sanctions by the complaint of any member of the original 2015 nuclear deal expires in October, putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its program before losing that power. The resolution comes on heels of the IAEA's so-called 'comprehensive report' that was circulated among member states last weekend. In the report, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that Iran's cooperation with the agency has 'been less than satisfactory' when it comes to uranium traces discovered by agency inspectors at several locations in Iran. One of the sites became known publicly in 2018, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed it at the United Nations and called it a clandestine nuclear warehouse hidden at a rug-cleaning plant. Iran denied this, but in 2019, IAEA inspectors detected the presence of uranium traces there as well as at two other sites. Story continues below advertisement —Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
