Chris Hall is the CBC’s National Affairs Editor and host of The House on CBC Radio, based in the Parliamentary Bureau in Ottawa. He began his reporting career with the Ottawa Citizen, before moving to CBC Radio in 1992, where he worked as a national radio reporter in Toronto, Halifax and St. John’s.
Category: World News
US policy change on Cuban migrants leaves many stranded
It took three months for Gabriel Marin and his wife, Yansiel, to make it from their home in eastern Cuba to this migrant shelter in Panama’s capital. The goal was the United States and now the door that spurred their odyssey has slammed shut.
New York Voting Process ‘Very Close to Failing,’ Advocate Says
Common Cause New York said the state lags far behind others in areas like early voting, allocating polling place resources and using electronic poll books. The organization led the federal suit against voter suppression in the city.
Confessions of a Megalomaniac
THE ARAB taxi driver who brought me to Ramallah had no trouble with the Israeli border posts. He just evaded them.
Obama ends visa-free path for Cubans who step onto U.S. soil
President Barack Obama announced Thursday he is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident. The repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy is effective immediately.
Democrats find Trump’s picks more reasonable than Trump himself
The lack of fireworks surrounding Senate consideration of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks may reflect a belief by minority Democrats that the people chosen are more reasonable than Trump. It could also be the residue of a surprising number of statements by Trump’s Cabinet choices contradicting the billionaire businessman’s oft-stated positions on issues running the gamut from Russia and NATO to nuclear weapons and Muslims.
Kerry visits Vietnam on last trip as US secretary of state
Secretary of State John Kerry met Vietnamese leaders Friday during his last trip as the top diplomat for the United States. Kerry later left for Ho Chi Minh City to meet a group of Vietnamese youth and is scheduled Saturday to tour the Mekong delta province of Ca Mau, where he fought during the Vietnam War almost 50 years ago.
Latest to disagree with Trump: His Cabinet nominees
America should not torture. Russia is a menace. A wall at the Mexican border would not be effective.
Kerry farewell tour starts in Vietnam in final Asia push
Vietnam has been at the centre of outgoing President Barack Obama’s Asia embrace, marked by the lifting of a wartime-era arms embargo, major growth in trade and the signing of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Government Office in Hanoi on Jan 13, 2017.
Top Cabinet nominees Tillerson, Mattis contradict Trump’s foreign policy
Toughness with Russia and China, support of the Iran nuclear deal, the quest for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Donald Trump’s diplomacy and military picks have outlined the incoming administration’s foreign policy in Senate confirmation hearings this week. And on many strategic issues, in particular the president-elect’s desire for improved ties with Russia, Rex Tillerson, the former head of ExxonMobil chosen for secretary of state, and James Mattis, the retired U.S. Marine Corps general chosen as defense secretary, contradicted Trump in the hearings Wednesday and Thursday.
Ron Paul: Will Barack Obama’s ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Continue?
Last week, as the mainstream media continued to obsess over the CIA’s evidence-free claim that the Russians hacked the presidential election, President Barack Obama quietly sent 300 U.S. Marines back into Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. This is the first time in three years that the U.S. military has been sent into that conflict zone, and it represents a final failure of Obama’s Afghanistan policy.
Trump’s Pentagon pick receives strong support in first vote
Retired Gen. James Mattis won overwhelming support Thursday in a first vote to allow him to run the Pentagon after telling senators he places Russia at No.
Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims mourn the end of the Obama era – and worry about Trump
Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims have been described as the most friendless people in the world. But for the past four years they had one powerful friend – and he lived in the White House.
US troops enter Poland, 1st deployment to Russia’s doorstep-Image7
American soldiers rolled into Poland on Thursday, fulfilling a dream Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have U.S. troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia. Soldiers in camouflage with tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland on Thursday morning from Germany and headed for Zagan, where they will be based.
Trump’s choice for top US diplomat talks tough on China
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,, right, pats Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson , left, on the shoulder after his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, less Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,, right, pats Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson , left, on the shoulder after his testimony before the Senate Foreign … more Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. questions Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson during the committee’s confirmation hearing Tillerson, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Japan’s Abe starts 4-nation trip with visit to Philippines
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reaches out his hand beside his wife Aika as they arrive at Manila’s airport, Philippines, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Abe is in the country for a two-day official visit.
Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 12 Jan 2017
The former MI6 officer who, as a private intelligence contractor, wrote the dossier on Donald Trump’s alleged links to Moscow is “terrified” for his and his family’s safety, the Daily Telegraph claims. Christopher Steele, 52, fears a “prompt and dangerous backlash from Moscow” and went into hiding on Wednesday morning, the paper says.
Too many U.S. presidents and far too many tweets
It is the first time in the 240 years of American history that the United States seems to have two presidents at once – Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Mind you, one is for real, the other is not yet.
Police reformers are pro-cop
At his confirmation hearing, U.S. attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions expressed sympathy for the nation’s police officers. They feel unfairly “blamed” and their “morale has suffered.”
Obama Ends Cuban Immigration Perk as Part of Opening
President Barack Obama ended a decades-old policy of granting residency to Cubans who enter the U.S. without a visa, a final step in the outgoing president’s move to reverse the Cold-War isolation of the Caribbean nation. Obama’s order now places President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned as an opponent both of current immigration flows and of normalizing relations with Cuba, in the position of either accepting another opening to Cuba or having one of his early actions in office be making it easier for immigrants to come into the country.
Religion Of Peace: Muslims Toss Gay Off Building to Start Off New Year
Highly disturbing images have emerged showing ISIS members throwing a man off the top of a building in Mosul as punishment for being gay. The twisted terrorists blindfolded their victim, believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s, carried his body to the top of a building and then hurled him off.
U.S. Senate Committee Backs Montenegro’s Bid To Join NATO
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution supporting Montenegro’s membership in NATO on January 11,sending it to the full Senate for a vote. The committee backed the small Balkan nation’s bid to join the military alliance last year, but it did not come up for a vote in the full Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required for approval of new NATO members.
U.S. Senate Committee Backs Montenegro’s Bid To Join NATO
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution supporting Montenegro’s membership in NATO on January 11,sending it to the full Senate for a vote. The committee backed the small Balkan nation’s bid to join the military alliance last year, but it did not come up for a vote in the full Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required for approval of new NATO members.
Ties with India strengthened during Obama administration: U.S.
Washington D.C. [U.S], Jan. 11 : Asserting that ties between India and America have been strengthened throughout the eight years of the Barack Obama administration, the United States has asserted that India plays an important role not is the region but in the global mix as well. [NK US] State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner praised the work of U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma, saying he has done a tremendous work, while stating that new administration was also recognizing the important of New Delhi’s role.
Cuba’s ‘civil society’ is as phony as Obama’s policy
President Obama’s Cuba policy has been a boon for the apartheid Castro regime, throwing the corrupt dictatorship a lifeline just as it had finished sucking all the blood it could out of Venezuela. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped the president and the White House from continuing to tout how their policy is “helping” Cuba’s civil society.
Confirmation Hearing Update: General “Mad Dog” Mattis, Defense Secretary
Up next we have General Mattis for position of Secretary of Defense. Typically this position must be held by someone who has been a civilian for at least 7 years, a qualification Mattis has not met since he just left uniform service in 2013.
Next 25 Articles
Gunfire has been heard outside a Turkish police station as suicide bombers cause mass casualties in Kabul. Two loud explosions rocked the Afghan capital killing an unconfirmed number of people, while local media in Turkey say a terrorist has been shot dead in an attempted attack in Gaziantep.
Obama says goodbye
NOVEMBER 16: U.S. President Barack Obama waves before descending from Air Force One upon his arrival on November 16, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. President Obama is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel tomorrow and hold talks with other European leaders on Friday as part of his last trip to Europe as President before continuing to Peru.
Palestinians await Israeli outpost’s evacuation
Once planted with tomatoes, cucumbers and okra, the wind-swept hilltop now hosts the white trailer homes of an Israeli settlement outpost that took root more than 20 years ago. Now, Abdel-Kareem and other Palestinian landowners are set to reclaim the property they watched stripped from them, hoping to finally put to rest a bitter, years-long legal saga on Feb. 8 – the latest court-ordered deadline for the evacuation of the Amona outpost.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Retail sales, Tesco, Whitbread
UK retail sales continued to grow at the end of last year as Britons made a late dash for Christmas gifts and festive foods, according to industry figures that add to signs the economy ended 2016 on a strong note. The British Retail Consortium pointed to challenges ahead from rising costs and political uncertainty but said its members went into the new year having enjoyed solid sales growth over the crucial Christmas period.
The – Reverse Kissinger’
When Richard Nixon went to China, he encouraged a Sino-Soviet split that redounded to America’s benefit. Today, Donald Trump could curb China’s ambitions by going to Moscow.
Australian police say they are helping with 1MDB investigations
The Australian Federal Police have said they are working with international law enforcement agencies to investigate companies associated with the 1MDB scandal. FILE PHOTO — A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, March 1, 2015.
UKa s Johnson woos Trump after May signals clean break with EU
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will meet with key congressional leaders in Washington on Monday as the U.K. seeks to strengthen ties with Donald Trump’s incoming administration a day after Prime Minister Theresa May signaled Britain may quit the European Union single market. The pound fell to a 10-week low after May said in a Sky News television interview on Sunday that leaving the EU will be about “getting the right relationship, not about keeping bits of membership,” suggesting Britain may opt for a so-called hard Brexit.
Response to 2011 deaths of US troops shed light on Trump Pentagon pick
The Iranian-supplied rockets were raining down on Gen. James Mattis’ troops throughout the spring and summer of 2011 with greater and greater intensity.
Obama warns NATO allies of Russian interference in national elections
Outgoing US President Barack Obama warned European NATO allies yesterday of an “accelerating” threat of Russian interference in their elections. Last week, a US intelligence report said Russian President Vladimir Putin directed a campaign, including cyber attacks, to hurt Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s bid and boost Donald Trump.
President Obama Opens Up About Sasha and Malia’s Time in the White House
One of the victims from Friday’s shooting attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was a doting great-grandmother active in h… — The man suspected of shooting a U.S. consulate officer outside the consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, has been captured and is from the United States, Mexican off… The American Soybean Association Awards Banquet is an annual event that brings together state affiliates and ASA members from across the country to recognize and celebra… Amherst Wrestling Invite Results 1-7 1. Amherst 202.0 2. Plainview 119.5 3. South Loup 92.0 4. Cambridge 77.0 5. Shelton-Kenesaw 74.0 6. Aurora JV 63.0 7. Arcadia/Loup … Cal fired Sonny Dykes, the school’s head football coach, after four seasons on Sunday.
President Obama Opens Up About Sasha and Malia’s Time in the White House
One of the victims from Friday’s shooting attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was a doting great-grandmother active in h… — The man suspected of shooting a U.S. consulate officer outside the consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, has been captured and is from the United States, Mexican off… The American Soybean Association Awards Banquet is an annual event that brings together state affiliates and ASA members from across the country to recognize and celebra… Amherst Wrestling Invite Results 1-7 1. Amherst 202.0 2. Plainview 119.5 3. South Loup 92.0 4. Cambridge 77.0 5. Shelton-Kenesaw 74.0 6. Aurora JV 63.0 7. Arcadia/Loup … Cal fired Sonny Dykes, the school’s head football coach, after four seasons on Sunday.
President Obama Opens Up About Sasha and Malia’s Time in the White House
One of the victims from Friday’s shooting attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was a doting great-grandmother active in h… — The man suspected of shooting a U.S. consulate officer outside the consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, has been captured and is from the United States, Mexican off… The American Soybean Association Awards Banquet is an annual event that brings together state affiliates and ASA members from across the country to recognize and celebra… Amherst Wrestling Invite Results 1-7 1. Amherst 202.0 2. Plainview 119.5 3. South Loup 92.0 4. Cambridge 77.0 5. Shelton-Kenesaw 74.0 6. Aurora JV 63.0 7. Arcadia/Loup … Cal fired Sonny Dykes, the school’s head football coach, after four seasons on Sunday.
Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea
In this undated file photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning berths in a port of China. China says it was routine combat drills, yet the deployment of the aircraft carrier Liaoning’s battle group in the Western Pacific and into the South China Sea has made neighbors jittery about Beijing’s flexing its muscles.
Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea
In this undated file photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning berths in a port of China. China says it was routine combat drills, yet the deployment of the aircraft carrier Liaoning’s battle group in the Western Pacific and into the South China Sea has made neighbors jittery about Beijing’s flexing its muscles.