INTERNACIONAL
Canada says China executed 4 Canadians this year amid rising tensions between the countries
- Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said China has executed four Canadian dual citizens in recent months.
- Joly said she and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked for clemency in the drug-related accusations, but Beijing’s embassy noted that China does not recognize dual citizenship.
- Relations between China and Canada have been further strained recently as the countries impose tariffs on one another’s exports amid global trade tensions.
China executed four Canadians in recent months, Canada’s foreign affairs minister said Wednesday. Such executions of Westerners are relatively rare.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said she and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked for clemency in the drug-related accusations involving the dual citizens.
Beijing’s embassy in Ottawa said the executions were due to drug crimes and noted that China does not recognize dual citizenship.
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«We strongly condemn the executions,» Joly told reporters in Ottawa. «I asked personally for leniency … They were all dual citizens.»
Joly said Canada consistently asks for clemency for Canadians facing the death penalty abroad. She said the families have asked the government to withhold details of the identity of the four individuals.
Global Affairs spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod said they continue to provide consular assistance to families and requested that the media respect their privacy. She said Ottawa continues to advocate for clemency for Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said China executed four Canadians in recent months. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)
«China always imposes severe penalties on drug-related crimes,» a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said. «The facts of the crimes committed by the Canadian nationals involved in the cases are clear, and the evidence is solid and sufficient.»
China is believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, though the total is a state secret. Executions are traditionally carried out by gunshot, though lethal injections have been introduced in recent years.
The embassy spokesperson said Beijing «fully guaranteed the rights and interests of the Canadian nationals concerned,» and urged Canada’s government to «stop making irresponsible remarks.»
The two countries have some tensions. China imposed retaliatory tariffs on some Canadian farm and food imports earlier this month, after Canada imposed duties in October on Chinese-made electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products. The tariffs add to global trade tensions amid rounds of tariff announcements by the United States, China, Canada and Mexico.
«China is sending us a message that we have to take steps if we want to see an improvement in the relationship,» said a former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques.
Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to ex-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, posted on social media that it turns out «agricultural tariffs weren’t the worst part of the PRC response to EV tariffs.»
And opposition Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong said «executing a number of Canadians in short order is unprecedented, and is clearly a sign that Beijing has no intention of improving relations with Canada.»
China is Canada’s second largest trading partner, but relations have been bad since Canadian authorities in 2018 arrested a former Huawei executive who the U.S. had charged with fraud.
China jailed two Canadians shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request. They were sent back to Canada in 2021, the same day Meng returned to China after reaching a deal with U.S. authorities in her case.
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Many countries called China’s action «hostage politics,» while China described the charges against Huawei and Meng as a politically motivated attempt to hold back China’s economic and technological development.
Amnesty International condemned the executions and noted that China executed thousands of people in 2023.
«These shocking and inhumane executions of Canadian citizens by Chinese authorities should be a wake-up call for Canada,» the group’s head for English-speaking Canada, Ketty Nivyabandi, said Wednesday in a statement.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for rockets fired at Israel on Thursday.
«This launch is the resistance’s first response to the zionist entity’s violation of the ceasefire, which resulted over 710 martyrs in the last three days. It also comes after the IOF’s renewed ground invasion into Beit Lahia this morning, and the failure of the mediators and the world to curb the IOF’s aggression,» according to reports.
Strikes launched by Israel killed at least 58 Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to hospitals via the Associated Press.
The Jewish State resumed attacks across Gaza earlier this week, breaking a ceasefire, which reportedly killed over 400 Palestinians – mostly women and children – on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
Israel’s military indicated that it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels early Thursday before it entered Israel’s airspace, the AP reported.
ISRAEL LAUNCHES NEW GROUND OPERATION IN GAZA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives statements to the media inside The Kirya, which houses the Israeli Defense Ministry, after their meeting in Tel Aviv on Oct. 12, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
«Hamas refused offer after offer to release our hostages. In the past two weeks, Israel did not initiate any military action, in the hope that Hamas would change course. Well, that didn’t happen. While Israel accepted the offer of President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Hamas flatly refused to do so,» Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video shared to X on Tuesday. «This is why I authorized yesterday, the renewal of military action against Hamas.»
«Israel does not target Palestinian civilians. We target Hamas terrorists,» he declared. «And when these terrorists embed themselves in civilian areas, when they use civilians as human shields, they’re the ones who are responsible for all unintended casualties.»
Israel launched its war on Hamas in response to the terrorist group’s heinous attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
CEASEFIRE OVER AS ISRAEL STRIKES GAZA AFTER HAMAS REFUSED TO RELEASE HOSTAGES, OFFICIALS SAY
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., a staunch supporter of Israel, continued to express his support while visiting the foreign nation this week.
«Hamas does not want peace. I unapologetically, 100% stand with Israel, and demand the release of all remaining hostages. Sending this from Israel,» Fetterman said on X on Tuesday.
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Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said on X on Wednesday, «Hamas could end this war right now if it released the hostages held in Gaza. It could’ve done so months ago, but instead it’s brought devastation by prolonging this conflict. America must lead the world in pressuring Hamas to end this war and bring the hostages home.»
INTERNACIONAL
New search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 approved more than a decade after disappearance
Malaysia’s government gave final approval for a Texas-based company to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 more than a decade after the airplane’s disappearance.
Terms and conditions of a «no-find, no fee» contract have been agreed upon with Ocean Infinity to launch a seabed search operation at a new 5,800-square-mile site, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke. The company will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.
«The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,» Loke said in a statement.
The 2014 disappearance remains one of the most vexing mysteries in aviation. The Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur headed to Beijing on March 8, 2014, and disappeared around 90 seconds after leaving Malaysian airspace with all 239 of its passengers seemingly gone without a trace. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.
NEW CLUES 10 YEARS AFTER THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MH370
A young child watches the Malaysia Airlines planes on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in March 2014. (Joshua Paul/NurPhoto/NurPhoto/Corbis via Getty Images)
Ocean Infinity declined comment when reached by Fox News Digital Thursday morning. It told Fox News last year that it hoped «to narrow the search area down to one in which success becomes potentially achievable.»
An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to MH370’s location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing, although CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since then.
NEW THEORY ON THE VANISHED MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT
Ocean Infinity became best known for its work trying to locate wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared somewhere over the Indian Ocean in 2014 with 239 passengers on board. (Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated in December that January-April is the best period for the search.
«While the next of kin of the passengers and crew on board attempt to rebuild our lives, the threat to global aviation safety remains a live issue,» Voice370, a group of relatives of passengers from MH370, previously said in a statement.
Co-Pilot, Flying Officer Marc Smith looks out as he turns his Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft at low level in bad weather while searching for missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370 on March 24, 2014, off the southwest coast of Perth, Australia. (Richard Wainwright/Pool/Getty Images)
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«As long as we remain in the dark about what happened to MH370, we will never be able to prevent a similar tragedy. Accordingly, we believe that it is a matter of paramount importance that the search for MH370 is carried out to its completion.»
Fox News’ Greg Palkot, Peter Aitken and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
El presidente estadounidense Donald Trump firmará el jueves una orden ejecutiva para cerrar el Departamento de Educación, según un funcionario de la Casa Blanca, avanzando en una promesa de campaña para eliminar una agencia que ha sido durante mucho tiempo un blanco de los conservadores.
El funcionario habló bajo la condición de anonimato antes del anuncio.
Video
Las protestas contra del cierre del Departamento de Educación en Estados Unidos
Trump ha tachado al Departamento de Educación de derrochador y contaminado por la ideología progresista. Sin embargo, finalizar su desmantelamiento es probablemente imposible sin una ley del Congreso, que creó el departamento en 1979.
Un documento informativo de la Casa Blanca indicó que la orden dirigiría a la secretaria Linda McMahon “a tomar todas las medidas necesarias para facilitar el cierre del Departamento de Educación y devolver la autoridad educativa a los estados, mientras se continúa asegurando la entrega efectiva e ininterrumpida de servicios, programas y beneficios de los que dependen los estadounidenses”.
El gobierno de Trump ya ha estado desmantelando la agencia a través de despidos y recortes de programas. El departamento está trabajando para reducir a la mitad su fuerza laboral y disminuir la Oficina de Derechos Civiles y el Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación, que recopila datos sobre el progreso académico de la nación.
Los defensores de las escuelas públicas denuncian que la eliminación del departamento dejaría a los niños rezagados en un sistema educativo estadounidense que es fundamentalmente desigual.
«Esto no es arreglar la educación. Es asegurarse de que millones de niños nunca tengan una oportunidad justa. Y no vamos a dejar que eso ocurra sin luchar», declaró la Unión Nacional de Padres en un comunicado.
La Casa Blanca no ha explicado formalmente qué funciones del departamento podrían transferirse a otros departamentos o eliminarse por completo. En su audiencia de confirmación, McMahon prometió preservar las iniciativas básicas, incluido los fondos del Título I para las escuelas de bajos ingresos y las becas Pell para los estudiantes universitarios de bajos ingresos. El objetivo del gobierno, dijo, sería «un Departamento de Educación que funcione mejor».
El departamento envía miles de millones de dólares al año a las escuelas y supervisa 1,6 billones de dólares en préstamos federales a estudiantes.
En la actualidad, gran parte del trabajo de la agencia gira en torno a la gestión del dinero, tanto de su amplia cartera de préstamos estudiantiles como de una serie de programas de ayuda a universidades y distritos escolares, desde comidas escolares hasta ayudas a estudiantes sin hogar. La agencia también desempeña un papel importante en la supervisión del cumplimiento de los derechos civiles.
La financiación federal representa una parte relativamente pequeña de los presupuestos de las escuelas públicas: aproximadamente el 14%. El dinero a menudo apoya programas suplementarios para estudiantes vulnerables, como el programa McKinney-Vento para estudiantes sin hogar o el Título I para escuelas de bajos ingresos.
Las facultades y universidades dependen cada vez más del dinero de Washington, a través de becas de investigación y ayudas económicas federales que ayudan a los estudiantes a pagar sus matrículas.
Los republicanos llevan décadas hablando de cerrar el Departamento de Educación
Los republicanos llevan décadas hablando de cerrar el Departamento de Educación, alegando que malgasta el dinero de los contribuyentes e introduce al gobierno federal en decisiones que deberían corresponder a los estados y las escuelas. La idea ha ganado popularidad recientemente a medida que grupos de padres conservadores exigen más autoridad sobre la escolarización de sus hijos.
En su plataforma, Trump prometió cerrar el departamento «y devolverlo a los estados, que es donde debe estar». Trump ha tachado al departamento de semillero de «radicales, fanáticos y marxistas» que se extralimitan en sus funciones de orientación y regulación.
Al mismo tiempo, Trump se ha apoyado en el Departamento de Educación para promover elementos de su agenda. Ha utilizado la capacidad de investigación de la Oficina de Derechos Civiles y la amenaza de retirar la financiación federal a la educación para perseguir a las escuelas y universidades que incumplan sus órdenes sobre la participación de atletas transgénero en deportes femeninos, el activismo propalestino y los programas de diversidad.
Incluso algunos de los aliados de Trump han cuestionado su autoridad para cerrar la agencia sin la acción del Congreso, y hay dudas sobre su popularidad política. La Cámara de Representantes consideró una enmienda para cerrar la agencia en 2023, pero 60 republicanos se unieron a los demócratas para oponerse.
Durante el primer mandato de Trump, la entonces secretaria de Educación Betsy DeVos trató de reducir drásticamente el presupuesto de la agencia y pidió al Congreso que agrupara toda la financiación K-12 en subvenciones en bloque que dan a los estados más flexibilidad en la forma en que gastan el dinero federal. Fue rechazada, con el empuje de algunos republicanos.
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