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Earlier this month, the federal government announced an aggressive plan to take in 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025, with almost 1.5 million new immigrants coming to the country over the next three years. This plan would see Canada welcome about eight-times the number of permanent residents each year - per population - than the UK, and four-times more than its southern neighbour, the United States. But a recent poll shows that there is also anxiety about welcoming in so many newcomers. Canada bets big For many years, Canada has tried to attract permanent residents - landed immigrants who have the right to stay in the country indefinitely but who are not citizens - to keep the population and the economy growing. Last year, the country took in 405...

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised 125 anti-aircraft guns and other air-defense technology as he made an unannounced visit Saturday — his first — to Ukraine's snow-blanketed capital for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The air-defense package, which Britain valued at 50 million pounds ($60 million), comes as Russia has been pounding Ukraine's power grid and other key infrastructure from the air, causing widespread blackouts for millions of Ukrainians amid frigid weather. The package includes radar and other technology to counter the Iran-supplied exploding drones that Russia has used against Ukrainian targets. It comes on top of a delivery of more than 1,000 anti-air missiles that Britain announced earlier this month. The U.K. has been one of the staunchest W...

Elon Musk reinstated the Twitter account of former President Donald Trump on Saturday night. "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei," Musk tweeted, which is a Latin phrase that means "the voice of the people, the voice of God." Trump's account was reinstated after Musk posted an online poll asking users on Twitter if he should unban the former president. Trump himself posted on his own social media platform urging his supporters to vote for him in the poll, which he ultimately won. The final result was 51.8% of users voting yes and 48.2% voting no. It appears Trump's follower count was reset and it is unclear if they will be added back. Trump said earlier Saturday that he would not return to Twitter if reinstated ...

Leaders of French-speaking countries gathered Saturday on a Tunisian island to discuss debt relief, migration, food and energy shortages amid a soaring cost-of-living crisis across Africa, Europe and the Middle East due to Russia's war on Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the presidents of eight African nations were attending the 18th biannual meeting of the 88-member International Organization of Francophonie, which promotes relations among nations that use French as their primary language. European Council President Charles Michel also was in Tunisia for the two-day summit, the organization's first gathering in three years following pandemic lockdowns. Louise Mushikiwabo, the group's secretary-general and Rwanda’s former foreign mini...

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Saturday Russia’s invasion of Ukraine offers a preview of a world where nuclear-armed countries could threaten other nations and said Beijing, like Moscow, seeks a world where might makes right. Austin made the remarks at the annual Halifax International Security Forum, which attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies. “Russia’s invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. And it’s an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by the shadow of nuclear proliferation,” Austin said in a speech. “Because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s fellow autocrats are watching. And they could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons wou...

DAWWAYAH, Iraq and ILISU DAM, Turkey -- Next year, the water will come. The pipes have been laid to Ata Yigit’s sprawling farm in Turkey’s southeast connecting it to a dam on the Euphrates River. A dream, soon to become a reality, he says. Over 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) downstream in southern Iraq, nothing grows anymore in Obeid Hafez’s wheat farm. The water stopped coming a year ago, the 95-year-old said. The starkly different realities are playing out along the length of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin, one of the world’s most vulnerable. River flows have fallen by 40% in the past four decades as countries along its length — Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq — pursue rapid, unilateral development of the waters’ use. The drop is projected to worsen as temperatures rise from climate chan...