Uncategorized
The Latest: Hungarian president expresses condolences to NZ
ANKARA, Turkey — The Latest on global reaction to the deadly shootings in two mosques in New Zealand (all times local):
3 p.m.
Hungary’s president has sent a telegram to New Zealand’s governor-general expressing all Hungarians’ condolences to the families and friends of the victims’ in the “ruthless attack” against the two Christchurch mosques.
President Janos Ader said he was “deeply shocked” by the news and wished the injured a speedy and full recovery.
Ader said that “in these difficult hours, we all express our sympathies with those who mourn their loved ones lost in this pointless terror attack.”
___
2:55 p.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expressing “warmest sympathy and best wishes” to the people of New Zealand after “the horrible massacre in the Mosques.”
Trump tweeted Friday as the White House issued a statement condemning the attacks at two mosques in the city of Christchurch that left at least 49 people dead.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders described the attack as a “vicious act of hate.” She says the U.S. stands in “solidarity” with the people of New Zealand.
New Zealand police said at least 49 people were killed Friday at two mosques in the picturesque South Island city. More than 20 were seriously wounded. Muslim leaders say the mass shooting was evidence of a rising tide of violent anti-Islam sentiment.
Trump tweeted that “innocent people have so senselessly died” and added: “The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!”
___
2:40 p.m.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sent a message to her New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, expressing her “deep shock” and condemnation of the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch.
Hasina’s press wing said the prime minister reached out to Ardern on Friday.
An international cricket match between New Zealand and Bangladesh has been
Bangladesh’s cricket board president says the team is safe in a locked hotel in Christchurch.
___
2:40 p.m.
Pope Francis is denouncing the “senseless acts of violence” in the Christchurch mosque shootings and is praying for the Muslim community and all New Zealanders.
In a telegram of condolences Friday, Francis offered his solidarity and prayers to the injured and those who are mourning lost loved ones, and noted that it was a particularly difficult time for security and emergency personnel.
He said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the injury and loss of life cause by the senseless acts of violence at two mosques in Christchurch, and he assures all New Zealanders, and in particular the Muslim community, of his heartfelt solidarity in the wake of these attacks.”
The message sent by the Vatican secretary of state ended by saying: “Commending those who have died to the loving mercy of Almighty God, Pope Francis invokes the divine blessings of comfort and strength upon the nation.”
___
2:35 p.m.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has sent his condolences to the victims of the mosque attacks in New Zealand that left 49 dead.
Conte on Friday called the attacks “dreadful,” noting that the victims were “hit while they were in a place of prayer. All forms of intolerance, hatred and violence are inacceptable.”
___
2:30 p.m.
Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned the attack on two mosques in New Zealand.
Iranian state TV Friday said a spokesman of the ministry, Bahram Ghasemi, condemned the shootings as a “terrorist attack.”
Iran’s ambassador to New Zealand, Jalaleddin Namini, told Iranian state TV that there were no Iranian nationals among those killed or wounded. However, Namini said he is still waiting for a confirmed list of the victims.
___
2:25 p.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has sent a telegram to the prime minister of New Zealand, expressing her condolences after the attack on two mosques in Christchurch.
“It is a perfidious attack on worshippers and their houses of prayer,” Merkel said Friday. “The attack on Muslim citizens is also an attack on New Zealand’s democracy and its open and tolerant society. We share these values and thus also the horror of the New Zealanders.”
Merkel says she sends her condolences to the relatives of the victims and is wishing the wounded speedy recoveries.
___
2:20 p.m.
Queen Elizabeth II has expressed her condolences to the people of New Zealand following the attacks on mosques in Christchurch.
The monarch sent a message to the governor general of New Zealand, saying she was “saddened by the appalling events in Christchurch today. Prince Philip and I send our condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives.”
The monarch paid tribute to the emergency services and volunteers offering support to the wounded.
She says “at this tragic time, my thoughts and prayers are with all New Zealanders.”
___
2:15 p.m.
The grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni learning, has condemned the mosque attacks in New Zealand, warning of the “grave consequences of hate speech.”
Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb said in a statement that today’s shooting “sounds the alarm about the importance of not tolerating racist groups” adding that the attack reflects “the grave consequences of hate speech, xenophobia, and the spread of Islamophobia.”
He called for more efforts in promoting the principles of tolerance among different religions and cultures, and expressed condolences to the victims’ families.
___
2:10 p.m.
Officials from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and the Islamic militant group Hamas have sharply condemned the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says he extends his “prayers and tears” to the families of the victims. Erekat denounced the “use of religion for political ends” on Twitter Friday, recalling past attacks targeting places of worship, including Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of Palestinian worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, and the assault on a Pittsburgh synagogue last year.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called the carnage in New Zealand “a heinous crime against worshippers in their mosques.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the attack confirmed “that terrorism knows no religion…it’s the result of incitement against Islam and Muslims.”
___
2:10 p.m.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says “irresponsible” politicians and media organs that encourage “xenophobia, Islamophobic tendencies and hate speech against Muslims” are as much responsible for the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand as the “despicable” assailants.
Speaking at a joint news conference with European Union officials in Brussels, Cavusoglu also said Friday that two Turkish citizens, identified as Mustafa Boztas and Zekeriya Tuyan, were hurt in the attack but were not in life-threatening conditions.
Turkish authorities were still trying to obtain information about a third Turkish citizen, he said.
Cavusoglu said: “The EU and European countries should not consider attacks and hate speech against Muslims and our religion as freedom of expression and democracy and should take precautions.”
___
2:05 p.m.
The world’s largest organization representing Muslim nations has condemned the attack on mosques in New Zealand that killed at least 49 people.
The secretary-general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Youssef al-Othaimeen, said in a statement Friday the attack “served as a further warning on the obvious dangers of hate, intolerance, and Islamophobia.”
Al-Othaimeen called on New Zealand “to provide more protection to the Muslim communities living in the country.”
He also offered his condolences for those affected by the mass shooting.
The OIC is based in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
___
2:05 p.m.
The prime minister of Norway, which saw 77 people killed in a far-right attack eight years ago, has expressed solidarity with New Zealand after deadly attacks on two mosques.
Erna Solberg told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that “although it is across the globe, this is a strong reminder of how important it is for all of us to help bring down tensions, work against extremism, and that we show solidarity with each other when something like that happens.”
In July 2011, confessed Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people. Like the presumed New Zealand attacker, he posted a manifesto online before the attacks.
“This looks like it is a terrorist attack from the extreme right against immigrants and refugees,” Solberg said, adding it is “a reminder that we have to fight extremism in all forms.”
___
1:10 p.m.
Gulf Arab states are condemning an attack on mosques in New Zealand that killed at least 49 people.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all offered their sympathies Friday over the attack.
Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens was lightly wounded in the attack, but survived.
Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, tweeted his condolences, noting that “on a day of peace like Friday and at a place of worship like the mosque, we witnessed the most heinous crime of religious hatred.”
Noon prayers on a Friday are an integral part of Islamic life, a day when all practicing Muslims join congregations to listen to a sermon.
___
1 p.m.
Japan’s top government spokesman has offered his condolences to the victims of mosque attacks in New Zealand and says Japan stands by the people of that country.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, in a regular news conference Friday, expressed “heartfelt condolences” to the shooting victims and their families, while extending sympathy for the injured.
Suga expressed “solidarity with the people of New Zealand.”
Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued an emergency safety advisory to Japanese nationals in the area, urging them to stay indoors and follow instructions from the local authorities.
The ministry also advised the Japanese in Christchurch to closely monitor local news “to secure your own safety.”
So far no Japanese have been affected by the attacks
___
12:55 p.m.
Malaysia’s government has slammed the attack on two mosques in New Zealand as an act of terror.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he regretted the incident and urged the New Zealand government to do its best to “arrest these terrorists.”
The foreign ministry said two Malaysians were wounded and have been hospitalized.
“Malaysia condemns in the strongest terms this senseless act of terror on innocent civilians and hopes that those responsible for this barbaric crime be brought to justice,” the ministry said in a statement.
___
12:25 p.m.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has tweeted that she was “shocked by the attack in Christchurch,” saying “we condemn terrorism in all forms.”
Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen also commented that “extremism has again shown its ugly face.”
Denmark’s Jewish community, which was targeted in a February 2015 attack where a guard was shot and killed, also expressed “shock” at the news of the New Zealand attack.
___
12:20 p.m.
France is increasing security measures at mosques and other religious sites after the deadly attack against two mosques in New Zealand.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner tweeted Friday that he ordered regional prefects to send patrols and reinforce surveillance of places of worship “as a precaution.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, also in a tweet, denounced the “odious crimes against the mosques in New Zealand” and said that France will work with international partners to fight terrorism.
The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris condemned the attack in Christchurch, which left at least 49 dead.
France is home to western Europe’s largest Muslim community. While French Muslim and Jewish sites are sporadically targeted by vandals, France has not seen a major attack on mosques of the kind that targeted New Zealand.
___
12:15 p.m.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has expressed solidarity with the people of New Zealand following attacks on worshippers attending prayers at two Christchurch mosques.
Khan, said in a statement Friday that the news is “heartbreaking.”
He says: “London stands with the people of Christchurch in the face of this horrific terror attack. London will always celebrate the diversity that some seek to destroy.”
Khan sought to reassure Muslim communities in London following the attacks, saying that the Metropolitan Police would be visible outside mosques.
London mosques have been targeted in the past. One man died and several others were injured in 2017 when Darren Osborne drove a van into people leaving evening prayers. Prosecutors say Osborne was motivated by a hatred of Muslims and been radicalized by far-right propaganda he found online.
___
12:10 p.m.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he’s shocked at the “terrible attacks” that killed dozens of worshippers attending Friday prayers in two mosques of New Zealand’s capital, Christchurch.
In a tweet sent on Friday, Sanchez sent condolences to the victims, its families and the government of New Zealand.
“We emphatically condemn violence and the lack of reason of fanatics and extremists who want to break our societies,” Sanchez has written.
___
12:05 p.m.
Germany’s foreign minister says the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch are a “brutal crime” that touches people of all religions around the world.
In two tweets, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Friday Germany’s sympathies were with the friends and families of the victims of the attack.
He says “the horrific terrorist attack in Christchurch targeted peacefully praying Muslims — if people are murdered solely because of their religion, that is an attack on all of us.”
Maas says “we stand at the side of the victims. Stay strong New Zealand!”
___
12:05 p.m.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling on Western nations to rapidly take measures to curb rising racism against Islam and Muslims, saying new attacks such as the mass shootings in New Zealand would otherwise be “inevitable.”
Speaking at the funeral of a former minister on Friday, Erdogan renewed his condemnation of the attack on two mosques in Christchurch.
Erdogan said: “It is clear that the understanding that the murderer — who also targeted our country, our people and my person — represented, has rapidly started to take over Western communities like a cancer.” It was an apparent reference to reports that a suspect had left behind a 74-page manifesto that also threatened Turks.
Erdogan continued: “I call on Western countries especially to rapidly take measures against this dangerous turn that threatens the whole of humanity.”
___
11:35 a.m.
Pakistan’s prime minister has condemned attacks on two mosques in New Zealand, saying he blames rising Islamophobia.
Imran Khan wrote Friday on Twitter that “terrorism does not have a religion.”
He added: “I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-
Pakistani officials say there are no Pakistani citizens among the dead.
Pakistan has witnessed several attacks on places of worship in the past decade, especially targeting its minority Shiite community.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen also tweeted her condolences.
Tsai said: “I’m utterly saddened by the mass shooting in Christchurch, #NewZealand. My thoughts go to the victims & their families.”
___
10:50 a.m.
A top diplomat in the United Arab Emirates is offering his condolences over an attack on mosques in New Zealand that killed at least 40 people.
Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, tweeted “heartfelt condolences” to New Zealand on Friday.
Gargash wrote: “Our collective work against violence & hate must continue with renewed
The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula, is home to expatriate workers from Australia and New Zealand. The country is a staunch Western ally.
___
10:25 a.m.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the attacks on mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch calling it the “latest example of rising racism and Islamophobia.”
Tweeting in English and Turkish on Friday, Erdogan said: “On behalf of my country, I offer my condolences to the Islamic world and the people of New Zealand, who have been targeted by this deplorable act.”
He also wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said 40 people were killed in the attack on two mosques.
Turkey’s private NTV news channel quoted Turkish embassy officials as saying there are no Turkish citizens among the dead.
The Associated Press
From the Fraser Institute
Earlier this year, a senior Bank of Canada official caused a stir by describing Canada’s pattern of declining productivity as an “emergency,” confirming that the issue of productivity is now in the spotlight. That’s encouraging. Boosting productivity is the only way to improve living standards, particularly in the long term. Today, Canada ranks 18th globally on the most common measure of productivity, with our position dropping steadily over the last several years.
Productivity is the amount of gross domestic product (GDP) or “output” the economy produces using a given quantity and mix of “inputs.” Labour is a key input in the production process, and most discussions of productivity focus on labour productivity. Productivity can be estimated for the entire economy or for individual industries.
In 2023, labour productivity in Canada was $63.60 per hour (in 2017 dollars). Industries with above average productivity include mining, oil and gas, pipelines, utilities, most parts of manufacturing, and telecommunications. Those with comparatively low productivity levels include accommodation and food services, construction, retail trade, personal and household services, and much of the government sector. Due to the lack of market-determined prices, it’s difficult to gauge productivity in the government and non-profit sectors. Instead, analysts often estimate productivity in these parts of the economy by valuing the inputs they use, of which labour is the most important one.
Within the private sector, there’s a positive linkage between productivity and employee wages and benefits. The most productive industries (on average) pay their workers more. As noted in a February 2024 RBC Economics report, productivity growth is “essentially the only way that business profits and worker wages can sustainably rise at the same time.”
Since the early 2000s, Canada has been losing ground vis-à-vis the United States and other advanced economies on productivity. By 2022, our labour productivity stood at just 70 per cent of the U.S. benchmark. What does this mean for Canadians?
Chronically lagging productivity acts as a drag on the growth of inflation-adjusted wages and incomes. According to a recent study, after adjusting for differences in the purchasing power of a dollar of income in the two countries, GDP per person (an indicator of incomes and living standards) in Canada was only 72 per cent of the U.S. level in 2022, down from 80 per cent a decade earlier. Our performance has continued to deteriorate since 2022. Mainly because of the widening cross-border productivity gap, GDP per person in the U.S. is now $22,000 higher than in Canada.
Addressing Canada’s “productivity crisis” should be a top priority for policymakers and business leaders. While there’s no short-term fix, the following steps can help to put the country on a better productivity growth path.
- Increase business investment in productive assets and activities. Canada scores poorly compared to peer economies in investment in machinery, equipment, advanced technology products and intellectual property. We also must invest more in trade-enabling infrastructure such as ports, highways and other transportation assets that link Canada with global markets and facilitate the movement of goods and services within the country.
- Overhaul federal and provincial tax policies to strengthen incentives for capital formation, innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth.
- Streamline and reduce the cost and complexity of government regulation affecting all sectors of the economy.
- Foster greater competition in local markets and scale back government monopolies and government-sanctioned oligopolies.
- Eliminate interprovincial barriers to trade, investment and labour mobility to bolster Canada’s common market.
From Canadians For Affordable Energy
The twenty-ninth edition of the U.N. Climate Change Committee’s annual “Conference of the Parties,” also known as COP29, wrapped up recently, and I must say, it seemed a much gloomier affair than the previous twenty-eight. It’s hard to imagine a more downcast gathering of elitists and activists. You almost felt sorry for them.
Oh, there was all the usual nutty Net-Zero-by-2050 proposals, which would make life harder and more expensive in developed countries, and be absolutely disastrous for developing countries, if they were even partially implemented. But a lot of the roughly 65,000 attendees seemed to realize they were just spewing hot air.
Why were they so down? It couldn’t be that they were feeling guilty about their own hypocrisy, since they had flown in, many aboard private jets, to the Middle Eastern petrostate of Azerbaijan, where fossil fuels count for two-thirds of national GDP and 90% of export revenues, to lecture the world on the evils of flying in planes and prospering from the extraction of oil and natural gas. Afterall, they did the same last year in Dubai and there was no noticeable pang of guilt there.
It’s likely that Donald Trump’s recent reelection had a lot to do with it. Living as they do in a media bubble, our governing class was completely blindsided by the American people’s decision to return their 45th president to the White House. And the fact that he won the popular vote this time made it harder to deny his legitimacy. (Note that they’ve never questioned the legitimacy of Justin Trudeau, even though his party has lost the popular vote in the past two federal elections. What’s the saying about the modern Left? “If they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.”)
Come January, Trump is committed to (once again) pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords, to rolling back the Biden Administration’s anti-fracking and pro-EV regulations, and to giving oil companies the green light to extract as much “liquid gold” (his phrase) as possible, with an eye towards making energy more affordable for American consumers and businesses alike. The chance that they’ll be able to leech billions in taxpayer dollars from the U.S. Treasury while he’s running the show is basically zero.
But it wasn’t just the return of Trump which has gotten the climate brigade down. After a few years on top, environmentalists have been having one setback after another. Green parties saw a huge drop off in support in the E.U. parliament’s elections this past June, losing one-third of their seats in Brussels.
And wherever they’ve actually been in government, in Germany and Ireland for instance, the Greens have dragged down the popularity of the coalitions they were part of. That’s largely because their policies have been like an arrow to the heart of those nations’ economies – see the former industrial titan Germany, where major companies like Volkswagen, Siemens, and the chemical giant BASF are frantically shifting production to China and the U.S. to escape high energy costs.
But while voters around the world are kicking climate ideologues to the curb, there are still a few places where they’re managing to cling to power for dear life.
Here in Canada, for instance, Justin Trudeau and Steven Guilbeault steadfastly refuse to consider revisiting their ruinous Net Zero policies, from their ever-increasing Carbon Tax, to their huge investments in Electric Vehicles and the mandates which will force all of us to buy pricey, unreliable EVs in just over a decade, and to the emissions caps which seek to strangle the natural resource sector on which our economy depends.
Minister Guilbeault was all-in on COP29, heading the Canadian delegation, which “hosted 65 events showcasing Canada’s leadership on climate action, nature-based solutions, sustainable finance, and Canadian clean technologies—while discussing gender equality, youth perspectives, and the critical role of Indigenous knowledge and climate leadership” and stood up for Canadian values such as “2SLGBTQI+” and “gender inclusivity.” Once again, in Azerbaijan, which has been denounced for its human rights abuses.
And no word yet on the cost of all of this – for last year’s COP28 the government – or should I say the taxpayers – spent $1.4M on travel and accommodations alone for the 633 member delegation. That number, not counting the above mentioned events, are sure to be higher, as Azerbaijan is much less of a travel destination than Dubai, and so has fewer flights in and available hotel rooms.
At the same time all of this was going on, Trudeau was 12,000 kms away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, telling an audience that carbon taxation is a “moral obligation” which is more important than the cost of living: “It’s really, really easy when you’re in a short-term survive, [to say] I gotta be able to pay the rent this month, I’ve gotta be able to buy groceries for my kids, to say, OK, let’s put climate change as a slightly lower priority.”
This is madness, and it underscores how tone-deaf the prime minister is, and also why current polling looks so good for the Conservatives that Pierre Poilievre might as well start measuring the drapes at the PMO.
He has the Trudeau Liberals’ obsessive pursuit of Net Zero policies in large part to thank for that.
The world is waking up to the true cost of the Net Zero ideology, and leaving it behind. That doesn’t mean the fight is over – the activists and their allies in government are going to squeeze as many tax dollars out of this as they possibly can. But the writing is on the wall, and their window is rapidly closing.
Dan McTeague is President of Canadians for Affordable Energy.
Trump has started negotiations to end the war in Ukraine
Delusional Rumour Driving Some Migrants in Mexico to Reach US Border
Freeland Resignation Reaction: Pierre Poilievre Speaks to Reporters in Ottawa
The White Pill: Big Government Can Be Defeated (Just Ask the Soviet Union)
Paul Wells: Perhaps Freeland isn’t the victim here. Perhaps it’s Freeland who set Trudeau up
Your towing rights! AMA unveils measures to help fight predatory towing
Massive growth in federal workforce contributes to Ottawa’s red ink
-
Frontier Centre for Public Policy1 day agoChristmas: As Canadian as Hockey and Maple Syrup
-
armed forces1 day agoCanada among NATO members that could face penalties for lack of military spending
-
Daily Caller1 day agoLNG Farce Sums Up Four Years Of Ridiculous Biden Energy Policy
-
National2 days agoConservatives say Singh won’t help topple Trudeau government until after he qualifies for pension in late February
-
Daily Caller2 days agoShoot Down The Drones!
-
Business1 day agoComparing four federal finance ministers in moments of crisis
-
Daily Caller19 hours agoFormer FBI Asst Director Warns Terrorists Are ‘Well Embedded’ In US, Says Alert Should Be ‘Higher’
-
Business10 hours agoFor the record—former finance minister did not keep Canada’s ‘fiscal powder dry’