The Pointy Boots
NEED TO KNOW
The Pointy Boots
CANADA
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was stepping down after nine years in office. For many, it wasn’t much of a surprise.
Over the past year, Trudeau had faced no-confidence votes and sinking support, becoming a figure so divisive that many believed it was only a matter of time – measurable in weeks – before he would step down.
As the Hill wrote, he had the grace to listen.
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election,” said Trudeau. “It has become clear to me that if I am having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”
“It’s time for a reset,” he added.
As a result, Canada will have to hold an election by October this year, one in which polls predict a landslide victory for populist Pierre Poilievre and his Conservative Party. In the meantime, Trudeau’s Liberal Party is fighting over who is taking over the party and the prime minister’s job: Candidates could include Chrystia Freeland, whose surprise resignation as finance minister in mid-December kicked off the firestorm that led to Trudeau losing support from his caucus. Other candidates are likely to be banker Mark Carney, foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly, and François-Philippe Champagne, the industry minister.
Still, whoever takes over may only have a few weeks to govern. Trudeau has suspended parliament’s return from the winter break until late March. Afterward, it’s likely the country will hold an election – or faces another no-confidence vote in parliament.
Regardless, the implosion of the government of Canada is coming at a tough time, say analysts.
The country faces a trade war with the United States amid a sluggish economy that could result in a recession, CBS News noted. And analysts attribute the sinking popularity of the prime minister to his failure to effectively deal with weak economic growth, high inflation, skyrocketing housing costs, and high levels of immigration which have driven the fastest population growth since 1957.
“I think the degree of uncertainty – domestic political uncertainty, along with the uncertainty in terms of what’s going to happen to the economy – this couldn’t be a worse period (to change leadership),” Fen Hampson, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, told NPR.
Trudeau, meanwhile, has fallen far from his meteoric rise a decade ago.
In 2015, he led his party from third place to an election victory by building a diverse, progressive coalition consisting of young voters, the working class, and members of minority groups, as well as the left and center voters.
Since then, his party has won three elections even as support declined particularly after the Covid pandemic. Today, polls show that the Liberal Party, which has been in power for 93 of the past 129 years, has seen its support fall to 16 percent, a record low. Polls have also found that almost half of those surveyed wanted Trudeau to resign.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are polling at about 45 percent.
The next election will decide who tackles the country’s unsolved issues and it will mostly likely be a change of direction for Canada, say analysts.
It will also be a battle over Canada’s identity.
“What Canadians have come to hate about Mr. Trudeau they have come to hate in themselves, which explains, at least in part, the intensity of the hatred,” wrote Canadian author and commentator Stephen Marche in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
“Canadians have a tendency to turn on their prime ministers every 10 years or so,” he added. “Mr. Trudeau’s departure is traditional: The way Canadians thank their leaders for their service is by kicking them out the door with the pointiest boots they can find.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Tiny Steps, Big Distance
ISRAEL/ WEST BANK & GAZA
Israel and Hamas are close to finalizing a ceasefire deal after 15 months of conflict, with a proposed agreement involving the release of hostages and Palestinian detainees, a temporary halt to the fighting, and steps toward broader negotiations to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Under the draft deal, Hamas would release 33 hostages, including women, children, injured individuals, and the elderly, in exchange for Israel freeing about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire would pause hostilities for six weeks. In this period, displaced Gazans could begin returning home, while additional negotiations would address the remaining hostages and Israeli military withdrawal.
As per the agreement, Palestinian detainees released from long sentences are to agree to live in exile with their families.
The proposed agreement – mediated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt – comes amid mounting pressure from hostage families in Israel pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure their release. The families have taken to the streets for months, fearing prolonged captivity risks their loved ones’ lives.
In the Gaza Strip, widespread displacement and worsening conditions in makeshift camps have fueled calls for a deal, with most of the population, which had numbered 2.2 million pre-war, now experiencing severe hardship, according to the United Nations.
Negotiators have faced a series of hurdles, including disagreements over the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza and the status of buffer zones.
A second phase of talks would address these issues and the remaining hostages 16 days into the ceasefire, NPR added. Mediators said recent breakthroughs have hinged on Hamas’ acceptance of verbal guarantees from the US and allies that Israel will negotiate a permanent truce after the first phase.
The deal would mark a pivotal step toward halting the bloodiest conflict between Israel and Hamas to date while providing much-needed relief to the civilian population.
However, reactions to the ceasefire talks have been mixed.
While outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the progress as a collaborative effort, analysts warned that the agreement could face resistance from hardline factions in Netanyahu’s administration, who emphasize that Hamas must be eradicated entirely. Israeli military officials, however, have said that is not an achievable goal.
Others cautioned that the deal remains fragile and key details are yet to be finalized.
The conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and its allies launched an attack in southern Israel that left about 1,200 people dead and saw around 250 others kidnapped. Israel’s response resulted in a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with more than 46,000 Palestinians killed to date, according to Gazan health officials.
Walking Fury
BOLIVIA
Thousands of supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales reached the country’s capital of La Paz after a 60-mile protest march Monday, part of ongoing demonstrations against deteriorating economic conditions and the administration of current President Luis Arce, France 24 reported.
The protesters – mostly Indigenous Bolivians – say that Morales had built an economy to help “humble people,” but that the current “traitorous government” is destroying that economy. They called on Arce to resign.
The protest also descended into violence with demonstrators launching handmade explosives at police officers, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Bolivia, over the past few months, has seen an escalation of protests and violence due to the bitter rivalry between Morales and his former ally Arce that arose after Morales announced he would challenge the incumbent for the nomination of the left-wing Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party in elections later this year.
Meanwhile, Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president, did not take part in the four-day protest march because he is in the central Bolivian region of Cochabamba to avoid being arrested on charges of rape, trafficking, and people smuggling. He says the charges are politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Bolivia’s interior minister said that Monday’s march had the sole motive of creating turmoil and obstructing a hearing Tuesday “to determine the legal situation” of Morales.
Regardless of the politics, the country is struggling economically: Inflation reached 9.9 percent in 2024 – the highest rate in 16 years – and its foreign currency reserves are worryingly low. Meanwhile, Bolivians complain about rising living costs, fuel shortages, and rising unemployment.
Filling the Tank
LEBANON
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun designated Nawaf Salam, head of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as the country’s new prime minister this week, signaling a major shift in Lebanon’s political dynamics and a blow to Hezbollah’s long-standing influence, Al Jazeera reported.
On Monday, Salam secured the backing of 84 out of 128 lawmakers, including Christian, Druze, and Sunni factions, as well as some previously aligned with Hezbollah.
His election follows that of Aoun – a US-backed former army commander – as president last week, marking the end of a two-year political vacuum and highlighting the waning influence of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which had supported caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Known as a respected judge and diplomat with extensive international experience, Salam’s backers view him as a reformist figure capable of addressing Lebanon’s manifold crises, including economic collapse and the rebuilding of areas devastated during the recent Hezbollah-Israel conflict.
The armed Shiite group has been severely weakened because of the war and the ousting of Syrian President Bashar Assad last month, an ally and who was close to Iran. Hezbollah now faces a US-brokered ceasefire requiring its withdrawal from southern Lebanon as the national army takes control.
Analysts said that Salam’s election underscores the ongoing power struggle within the country’s sectarian power-sharing system, Reuters noted. They also described these developments as a resurgence of US and Saudi influence in Lebanon, countering years of Iranian dominance via Hezbollah.
Even so, Salam’s government will face significant challenges, including postwar reconstruction and the implementation of reforms to stabilize the country’s economy, which has been in freefall since 2019.
Meanwhile, there are also concerns about sectarian divisions after Hezbollah lawmakers accused their opponents of seeking to exclude the group from power.
The group and its ally, the Amal Movement, did not name a prime minister candidate, a move suggesting that they do not plan to participate in Salam’s cabinet.
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad lamented that the group had “extended its hand” by electing Aoun as president last week, only to find the “hand cut.”
DISCOVERIES
Toxic Masculinity
Scientists at Australia’s Macquarie University are developing a novel genetic approach to combatting deadly mosquito-borne diseases.
Their proposal is to reduce the lifespan of female mosquitoes through the “Toxic Male Technique” (TMT), according to a new study.
“By targeting the female mosquitoes themselves rather than their offspring, TMT is the first biocontrol technology that could work as quickly as pesticides without also harming beneficial species,” Beach said in a statement.
Study authors Sam Beach and Maciej Maselko said the method works by engineering male insects to produce venomous proteins in their semen.
Once transferred during mating, these proteins significantly shorten female lifespans, curbing their ability to bite and transmit diseases.
Laboratory tests with fruit flies showed that females mated to TMT males had their lifespans cut short by as much as 60 percent compared with those paired with unmodified males.
Traditional methods of controlling mosquitos, such as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), focus on reducing mosquito populations by releasing sterilized males. However, these approaches rely on the next generation to see population effects, leaving female mosquitoes alive to continue spreading diseases.
In contrast, TMT aims for immediate results. Computer models predict as much as a 60 percent reduction in blood-feeding rates for species known to transmit diseases, such as Aedes aegypti – known for transmitting a myriad of deadly pathogens, including Zika and Dengue.
“There are about 3,500 species of mosquito, but there are only about five to 10 or so that spread disease in humans,” Beach told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The team believes the proposed method is also environmentally friendly because the venom proteins will target invertebrates exclusively, minimizing risks to mammals and non-target species.
“We still need to implement it in mosquitoes and conduct rigorous safety testing to ensure there are no risks to humans or other non-target species,” Maselko said.
Though the technology is still in its early stages, the authors envision a global impact: Facilities could mass-produce and freeze genetically modified mosquito eggs for quick deployment in outbreak-prone areas.
“We think there’s a lot of good that can be done overseas,” Beach told the Australian broadcaster. Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than a million people annually, mostly in lower-income countries.