Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, facing the loss of his Parliamentary majority in an election next week, traded attacks with his main rival on Saturday as a bad-tempered campaign entered the last few days.

Trudeau came to power in 2015 promising “sunny ways” and a new way of doing politics but saw his popularity drop earlier this year amid an ethics scandal. Images of him in blackface emerged last month, further hurting his Liberal Party ahead of the Oct. 21 election.

The 47-year-old prime minister, his voice increasingly hoarse, said Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer would slash spending and rip up Liberal plans to fight climate change.

Polls show the Liberals and the Conservatives in a dead heat, with neither able to capture a majority of the 338 seats in the House of Commons. This would leave the winner in a vulnerable position, seeking to govern with smaller parties.

“I am very excited and confident about the choice Canadians are making,” Trudeau answered when asked if he was worried about losing. “And the question they’re facing is with that vote do we stop conservative cuts? Do we invest in our families and in our future and make life more affordable for them?” Trudeau said after a rally in a fire station in the Ontario city of Hamilton, to the west of Toronto.

In the absence of an overriding narrative, dirty tactics and awkward moments have characterized the campaign.

A Nanos Research poll for the Globe and Mail and CTV released on Saturday put the Liberals at 32.6% public support and the main official Conservatives at 30.3%. The left-leaning New Democrats, who compete for the same voters as the Liberals, were at 18.4%.

Trudeau sidestepped questions about his plans if he did not win a majority. Minority governments in Canada rarely last more than two and a half years.

Scheer, speaking at a campaign event on Saturday, said Trudeau would spend his first 100 days negotiating a coalition with the New Democrats that would impose tax hikes.

“It’s quite clear that under Justin Trudeau region has been pit against region. Justin Trudeau has divided Canadians. He’s divided provinces. He’s failed to stand up for the types of big ideas, the big projects that can bring this country together,” he said during a pit stop in North York, Ontario.

Trudeau and Scheer made multiple trips to Ontario, which accounts for 108 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons. The Liberals hold 76 of those seats.

Trudeau was scheduled to make four stops in Ontario before flying later on Saturday to the western provinces of Manitoba and Alberta, where anger against the Liberals is rising over government environmental measures that critics complain will hobble the energy industry.

(Source: Reuters)

U.S. presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders returned to the campaign trail in New York City on Saturday, three weeks after suffering a heart attack, and pledged to resume at full throttle his battle against the business and political establishment, including members of his own Democratic Party.

“I am more than ready to assume the office of President of the United States. I am more than ready to take on the greed and corruption of the corporate elite and their apologists,” Sanders told a gathering of thousands of people holding aloft placards at the Queensbridge Park.

“To put it bluntly, I am back.”

Sanders, one of 19 Democrats fighting to take on Republican President Donald Trump at the polls in November 2020 was introduced by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the leaders of the party’s progressives and a frequent target of Trump’s attacks.

The congresswoman announced her support to Sanders’ campaign as his campaign battled to overcome the health scare and a surge in support for Elizabeth Warren, a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

Sanders, 78, the oldest candidate in the crowded Democratic field, has bounced back rapidly since the Oct. 1 heart attack that threatened to derail his campaign.

But Sanders, a U.S Senator from Vermont, was already running third behind Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden in most national polls, although Sanders raised more money for his campaign in the last quarter than any other Democrat.

The rally was Sanders’ largest of his 2020 campaign so far, with 25,872 people attending, his campaign said, citing a count by an outside company that managed the event, which Reuters was unable to independently verify.

The number would make the rally larger than one held in the city by Warren last month, Warren’s largest of the campaign.

“His supporters are so much more passionate” than other Democratic candidates, said Christina Martin, 29, from Manhattan, who came to the rally with her mother, also a Sanders supporter and a breast cancer survivor.

Both said Sanders’ proposal for government-run health care was his main draw, and credited him with focusing the Democratic Party on the issue.

“He moved the party so much in the past four years,” said Martin. “We wouldn’t be where we are without him. We wouldn’t be talking about Medicare for All.”

Endorsement

The backing of Ocasio-Cortez is expected to boost Sanders in his efforts to fight off Warren. The filmmaker Michael Moore also spoke to endorse Sanders’ campaign.

Ocasio-Cortez, better known by her initials AOC, was welcomed with chants of “Green New Deal”, a reference to her proposal for a transition to renewable energy sources that has been taken up by Sanders as part of his policy platform.

The New York native went from working as a poorly paid waitress as recently as last year to sitting in Congress, she said, crediting Sanders for her own political awakening and shaking up U.S. politics with his primary challenge of eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“It wasn’t until I heard of a man by the name of Bernie Sanders that I began to question and assert and recognize my inherent value as a human being that deserves healthcare, housing, education and a living wage,” she told the rally.

Ocasio-Cortez volunteered as an organizer for Sanders’ 2016 campaign before winning her own election to the House of Representatives last year representing a district close to the site of the rally.

Progressive platform

Sanders, after taking the stage to AC/DC’s “Back in Black” song, launched into a wide ranging critique of an unequal U.S. society beset by what he described as the corrupting influence of corporate power.

He noted the park he was speaking in sat beside the country’s largest public housing project, Queensbridge Houses, which he said was in urgent need of repair, while just across the East River lay the shining skyscrapers of Manhattan, where banks and multinational corporations are headquartered.

Sanders said he would invest in public housing and education and write off medical debts, but warned that elites in politics, business and the media were working against his plans to address inequality.

“They want us to believe that the only reality that we can live under is the status quo, that real change is impossible,” said Sanders, also slamming moderate Democrats who questioned the affordability of his proposals during a debate in Ohio on Tuesday night.

He would raise taxes on the rich to pay for his plans, Sanders said, including through a wealth tax on those with a net worth of more than $32 million.

David Cobb, 61, said that, like many at the rally, he was drawn to Sanders’ by his plans for healthcare reform.

Cobb had one arm in a sling from recent shoulder surgery and clutched a “Bernie” placard under the other arm. He was accumulating thousands of dollars of medical debt, he said, despite having some coverage through the existing Medicare plan for older Americans and a health maintenance organization.

“It’s corrupt,” said Cobb. “We’re the only industrialized country in the world that’s like this.”

(REUTERS)

Former Vice President Joe Biden expanded his lead over more than a dozen other candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination this month as US House Democrats looked into allegations that President Donald Trump tried to pressure a foreign leader to investigate him, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

The Oct. 17-18 opinion poll found that 21% of Democrats and independents said they would vote for Biden in statewide nominating contests that begin next year, up 3 percentage points from a similar poll that was conducted at the end of September.

Democrats in the House of Representatives are holding hearings to investigate whether Trump improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

The House could vote to impeach Trump later this year, which would trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate where a conviction and ouster seem unlikely.

Trump denies he did anything wrong.

So far, the inquiry does not appear to have shaken up public support for Biden or the other candidates for the Democratic nomination.

According to the poll, 16% of Democrats and independents said they would support US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and 15% said they would back US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, received about 5% support in the poll, and US Senator Kamala Harris and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke both received 3%.

With less than four months to go before Iowa holds the first nomination contest, the race for the Democratic nomination remains wide open. About 1 in 5 said they remain undecided, and nearly two-thirds of Democrats and independents said they could still change their minds.

Many of the candidates, including Buttigieg, O’Rourke and Harris, are still relatively unknown to a majority of Americans, and only about 1 in 10 said they watched this week’s Democratic debate in Ohio.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,116 adults in all, including 703 Democrats and independents. It has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4 percentage points.

(Source: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders cut short a meeting over Turkey’s war after the commander in chief experiences a “meltdown.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Wednesday that Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-rate politician” and as the result, the meeting in the White House deteriorated into a “diatribe.”

“What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown. Sad to say,” said Pelosi, who has launched an impeachment inquiry over the Ukraine scandal.

Drew Hammill✔@Drew_Hammill

Thanks for the new cover photo @realDonaldTrump!

Hoyer blasted the president’s treatment of Pelosi, suggesting that his behavior was unprecedented.

“I’ve been in many, many, many meetings like this,” he said. “Never have I seen a president treat so disrespectfully a co-equal branch of the government of the United States.”

Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham rejected the Democrats’ allegations.

US acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan is resigning and a new acting chief of the agency would be named next week, President Donald Trump says.

McAleenan, the fourth person to serve in the post since the Trump presidency began, submitted his resignation to the White House on Friday, the president announced on Twitter.

Trump said McAleenan, 48, who has served since April, “wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector.”

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. We have worked well together with Border Crossings being way down. Kevin now, after many years in Government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector..

McAleenan also on Twitter addressed his departure in a statement, saying “we have made tremendous progress mitigating the border security.”

Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan✔@DHSMcAleenan

I want to thank the President for the opportunity to serve alongside the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security. With his support, over the last 6 months, we have made tremendous progress mitigating the border security and humanitarian crisis we faced this year…

This comes a few days after McAleenan was forced to abandon a debate stage in the US capital after protesters drowned him out, condemning the crackdown on migrants and asylum seekers.

On Monday, just as McAleenan wanted to begin speaking at the event at Georgetown University in Washington, several demonstrators were standing and holding banners that read, “Stand with Immigrants.”

“When our immigrants are under attack what do we do? Stand up fight back,” the protesters chanted for several minutes.

Caravans of migrants from Central American countries have been traveling for months through various routes ending up in Mexico to reach the country’s border with the US, where they seek to apply for asylum and settle down.

However, the Trump administration has been blocking them at the border with Mexico. The Trump administration has even separated migrant children from their parents or deported those who have successfully crossed back to their home countries, where they face violence or economic difficulties

Source: Presstv

Russian and the United States have used their veto power at the United Nations Security Council to vote down a European statement against Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria.

The council held a closed meeting on Thursday to discuss Ankara’s military incursion, which began on Wednesday despite widespread warnings by world leaders.

Moscow and Washington had their own reasons to veto the statement by five European members — France, Germany, Belgium, Britain and Poland — who had called the meeting to end the bilateral military action.

In a joint statement after the discussions, the European called on Ankara “to cease the unilateral military action,” warning that the offensive threatens progress.

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said his country would only support UNSC motions that address broader issues, including the presence of foreign forces in Syria.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft, on the other hand, told reporters that as US President Donald Trump “has made it clear” Washington does not “in any way” endorse Turkey’s actions.

Later in the day, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar spoke with his French counterpart Florence Parly, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace over phone to fill them in on the latest developments.

The UNSC meeting came a day after Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, its third in a series of cross-border operations in northern Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims that the offensive only targeted militants affiliated with Daesh as well as the Kurdish militia called People’s Protection Units (YPG) in order to establish a Turkish safe-region there.

Ankara says the YPG is effectively the military of wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The YPG also forms the backbone of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has much of northern Syria under control.

Turkey, according of Erdogan, is trying to establish a safe zone in order to resettle millions of refugees in there.  

More civilians fall victim, Kurds push back

Meanwhile, human rights groups have been warning that a war of this scale would be deadly for civilians living in crowded cities on both sides of the border. There are also no exact data available on the real extent of the casualties.

Syrian sources reported late Thursday that at least four more Syrians were killed and four more were injured due to Turkish shelling in the border town of Ras al-Ayn.

Earlier, the SDF announced that nine more civilians had been killed in Turkish airstrikes.

Erdogan said Thursday that his country’s forces had already killed, injured or captured a total of 109 Kurdish forces. However, the SDF said the number was exaggerated.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which is based in London, said at least 16 SDF militants had been killed and dozens more injured.

The SDF announced on one of its Twitter accounts that the group had deterred Turkish forces east of the Jalab river, destroying three military vehicles and killing 22 soldiers.

In retaliation for the Turkish attacks against civilian targets, Kurdish militants fired at least three rounds into the Turkish city of Akcakale, killing two civilians.

The International Rescue Committee aid organization said at least 64,000 people had reportedly fled their homes and the number could surpass 300,000 if the offensive continued.

Turkey shells Daesh prison

Kurdish authorities have accused Turkey of attacking one of the several prisons Daesh militants are held in Qamishli in the east of the border region, in what they denounced as a “clear attempt” to help the terrorists escape.

More than 12,000 suspected Daesh militants, including many foreign nationals, are being kept in several SDF-run prisons across northern Syria. More than 58,000 of their family members live across SDF-controlled areas.

Source: Presstv

US President Donald Trump has “betrayed” the nation and “should be impeached,” says the top Democratic hopeful for the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden, whose ties with Ukraine are at the heart of impeachment efforts in the House of Representatives.

“Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts,” Biden told a crowd of supporters in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. “He should be impeached.”

He made the comments as the Trump administration was struggling with how to defend itself in the wake of the president’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he tied the US aid to an investigation into Biden and his son, Hunter.

“The Do Nothing Democrats are Con Artists, only looking to hurt the Republican Party and President. Their total focus is 2020, nothing more, and nothing less. The good news is that WE WILL WIN,” Trump said on Twitter.

The House of Representatives has set off a spiraling impeachment inquiry in the wake of a whistleblower complaint into the phone call.

“The so-called Whistleblower, before knowing I was going to release the exact Transcript, stated that my call with the Ukrainian President was “crazy, frightening, and completely lacking in substance related to national security.” This is a very big Lie. Read the Transcript,” Trump alleged.

In an appearance on Fox News Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he was going to ask other Senate Republicans to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying that they “do not believe the transcript of the phone call between the president and the Ukraine is an impeachable offense.”

“They’re about to destroy the nation for no good reason,” Graham said. “And I want Nancy Pelosi to know that Republican senators are not going to impeach this president based on this transcript, so she can stop now before she destroys the country.”

Trump himself stressed the transcript on Twitter, asserting that Democrats should apologize.

“No Pressure at all said Ukraine! Very congenial, a perfect call. The Whistleblower and others spoke BEFORE seeing the Transcript. Now they must apologize to me and stop this ridiculous impeachment,” said the president.

The White House has also announced that it would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.

“Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the executive branch cannot be expected to participate in it,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a letter to Pelosi (and the three House committee chairmen leading the impeachment inquiry.

Source: Presstv

American former General Colin Powell says the Republican Party “needs to get a grip on itself” amid the Ukraine scandal engulfing the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“The Republican party has got to get a grip on itself,” Powell told a crowd at The Jefferson Series, an event in New Albany, Ohio, on Monday. “Republican leaders and members of the Congress, both Senate and the House, are holding back because they’re terrified of what will happen to any one of them if they speak out.” 

The former secretary of state, who calls himself a “moderate Republican,” added that the US foreign policy is “in shambles right now.”

“I see things happening that are hard to understand,” he said.

Trump has apparently pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Jo Biden, his potential opponent for the 2020 presidential election, warning that he would not give Ukraine the promised military aid in case he refused.

Republicans have shown “blind partisan loyalty” to Trump, according to Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

“This entire country should be scared that at a moment when we need patriots, what we are getting is blind partisan loyalty,” Murphy said in an interview on “Meet the Press.”

Democrats controlling the House have launched an impeachment inquiry based on whistleblower complaints that accuse Trump of “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election.”

“I feel like this is a moment where patriots need to step up and try to save this country,” Murphy said. “And I think there are a lot of regular citizens out there that are going to demand that their members of Congress look at the facts, make a decision on the facts, not make a decision based on their loyalty to the cult of Donald Trump.”

Trump has dismissed the impeachment probe as an attempted “coup” and a “witch hunt,” and has even asked China to investigate Biden as well.

“You really think he was serious about thinking that China’s going to investigate the Biden family?” Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said on ABC. “I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this. Remember, this is the president who’s been tougher on China than any other president… You would think after … a few years of following this president, you would understand sort of how this guy communicates. I think that is what he’s doing.”

Biden has accused Trump of asking Ukraine to “manufacture lies” about him.

“In my experience, asking a foreign government to manufacture lies about your domestic political opponent is not ‘done all the time,’” said the former vice president.

He was responding to a Trump tweet that alleged: “As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!”

Source: Presstv

The rapidly escalating impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump is the latest and perhaps most serious threat to his presidency, and the White House is failing to contain the crisis, accoding to US media reports.

US Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, has become the public face of the impeachment investigation about the Republican president, which has has produced an intense partisan fight in Washington.

House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry in September after an unidentified whistleblower alleged Trump had sought to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former US Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Trump has branded the impeachment probe a “hoax” and has attacked Schiff as a “lowlife” and a “liar.”

“Schiff is a lowlife who should resign (at least!),” Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday. Hours later at a White House news conference, he described Schiff as a “stone-cold liar.”

Trump’s aggressive new strategy to thwart the Democrats’ impeachment offensive is already sinking under the weight of new revelations, CNN reported.

Text messages released on Thursday between US diplomats and a senior Ukrainian aide reveal that Zelensky was told he should open an investigation against Biden if he wanted an invitation to visit Washington.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Schiff accused Trump with “incitement of violence” in his combative response to the whistleblower complaint and inquiry.

“It’s hard to imagine a more corrupt course of conduct,” Schiff said of the phone call and the alleged efforts to keep private its contents.

“We’re not fooling around here,” Schiff said. “We don’t want this to drag on for months and months and months, which appears to be the administration’s strategy.”

Schiff also warned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently admitted to having participated in the call with Zelensky, that “any effort” to keep State Department officials from testifying before the House Intelligence Committee would be “evidence of obstruction.”

During a July 25 call, Trump asked Zelenskiy to speak with the Republican president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani about whether Ukrainian officials improperly dropped an investigation of a company that hired Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

Schiff, who represents a district in Los Angeles, California, was also  defender of the investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

A two-year investigation by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller that ended in March concluded that Moscow sought to influence the election in Trump’s favor and that his campaign worked to benefit from those efforts, but did not find evidence to establish a conspiracy.

US Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, said Schiff was a good choice to lead the impeachment probe because he could withstand the president’s attacks and is “not going to be deterred from doing his job.”

Source: Presstv

US presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders was treated for a blocked artery after experiencing chest discomfort and has canceled campaign events until further notice, an adviser said on Wednesday.

Sanders, 78, was in Las Vegas to campaign when he was taken to a hospital on Tuesday night for evaluation.

“He was found to have a blockage in one artery, and two stents were successfully inserted,” Sanders senior adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement.

“Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days. We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates,” Weaver said.

Sanders, the oldest of 19 contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, had visited a community healing garden in Las Vegas on Tuesday night and had been scheduled to hold a town hall and appear at a gun safety forum on Wednesday.

Aides did not offer any guidance on how long Sanders might be off the campaign trail. The first nominating contest is not until Feb. 3 in Iowa, but Sanders is one of 12 candidates scheduled to participate in the fourth Democratic debate in Ohio on Oct. 15.

Sanders thanked supporters for offering their well wishes and said on Twitter that he was “feeling good.” He then shifted to a plug for his signature Medicare for All healthcare insurance plan.

“I’m fortunate to have good health care and great doctors and nurses helping me to recover,” Sanders said. “None of us know when a medical emergency might affect us. And no one should fear going bankrupt if it occurs. Medicare for All!”

A democratic socialist, Sanders galvanized progressives during a 2016 run for president when he lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton, pushing the party to the left and popularizing ideas such as Medicare for All, a proposal for a government-run healthcare plan based on the system for Americans over the age of 65.

The U.S. senator from Vermont has been among the top contenders in the crowded field seeking the 2020 nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump.

His campaign canceled at least $136,000 in cable and $600,000 in broadcast television spending following the news, according to Medium Buying, a company that tracks political ad spending.

The incident could renew questions about Sanders’ age in a Democratic race featuring a generational divide between older candidates such as Sanders and front-runner Joe Biden, 76, and younger contenders.

In a letter made public during the 2016 campaign, Sanders’ doctor said he was in “overall good health” and had no history of cardiovascular disease.

The insertion of stents to open blocked heart arteries is a relatively common procedure, with as many as 1 million Americans a year undergoing it. After a balloon-tipped catheter is used to clear the blockage, stents – tiny, wire-mesh tubes – are used to prop open the artery.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both underwent the stent procedure after they left the White House.

In general, recovery takes a few days, but how quickly Sanders will bounce back depends on his symptoms before he got the stents, said Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

“People recover quickly, and assuming no complications, there is no reason why he could not get back on the campaign trail in a timely fashion,” Nissen said.

Sanders had been running in second place in the Democratic race behind Biden, the former vice president, until the last month, when a surge by fellow progressive and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts moved her ahead of Sanders in many opinion polls.

The campaign halt comes the day after Sanders reported a big $25.3 million fundraising haul for the third quarter, putting him in the early lead in the closely watched campaign money race.

Sanders’ Democratic rivals in the presidential race rushed to send him wishes for a speedy recovery.

“I hope to see my friend back on the campaign trail very soon,” Warren wrote on Twitter.

A former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders won a U.S. House of Representatives seat in 1990, making him the first independent elected to the House in 40 years.

In 2006, he won a U.S. Senate seat and in 2018 was voted in for a third six-year term. He remains an independent but caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.

(Source: Reuters)