Trump address to Congress gets global reaction
The day after United States President Donald Trump's first address to Congress, there were mixed reactions from the markets and analysts around the globe, saying the President finally looked presidential. Mr. Trump insisted on a "buy American" vision, including a promise for a $1-trillion (U.S.) infrastructure program that would prohibit Canadian companies from supplying good and services for it. Mr. Trump also went over his plans for overhauling the American immigration system, the health-care system, economic growth and defeating Islamic State, but what comes from this could boil down to the difference between what is talk and action in Washington. Canadians can take note of what Mr. Trump's speech – and upcoming months – can mean to them here.
Kelly Knight Craft vetted as Trump's pick for Canadian ambassador
The U.S. State department is vetting Republican activist Kelly Knight Craft as Mr. Trump's pick for ambassador to Canada. After The Globe and Mail first reported Ms. Knight Craft as a consideration on Friday, it was confirmed by sources Wednesday that she is the only name that is currently part of the internal review process. Ms. Knight Craft was a senior adviser to the U.S. ambassador at the United Nations under former president George W. Bush and is a well-known Republican activist.
White House supports renewal of surveillance law without reforms: official
In a speech to Congress, U.S. President Donald Trump praised Canada's "merit-based" immigration system. The same speech included tough rhetoric on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and the plan to build a wall between the America and Mexico.
The Trump administration supports renewing without reforms the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), governing how the U.S. government collects electronic communications, which is due to expire at the end of the calendar year. The law has been criticized by privacy and civil liberties activists as allowing broad, intrusive spying. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have said reforms to Section 702 of the law are needed, in part to ensure that the privacy protections of Americans are not violated.
Ex-ABC News staff urge strong stand against Trump limits on media access
More than 230 former ABC News correspondents, executives and producers signed a letter asking the network's current executive to "take a public stand. Refuse to take part in any future White House briefings based on an invitation list of who's in/who's out." This comes in response to when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held an informal briefing last Friday, excluding multiple news organizations that have "done stories angering Mr. Trump and his team." The petition was due to be delivered Wednesday.
Trump poised to lift federal coal ban, other green regulations: official
Mr. Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress are seeking to hand down an executive order as early as next week, targeting a handful of Obama-era green regulations, including a federal coal-mining ban and an initiative forcing states to cut carbon emissions. Legal experts said Mr. Trump could begin the process of killing the regulation by having the Environmental Protection Agency ask the courts to return it to the agency for review.
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Why we can't escape Trump news
Despite the negativity and often overwhelming amount of information, a lot of people check many times a day for news on Donald Trump, making him one of the most-searched subjects on Google Trends. As much as we may say we'd rather have positive news, as Dave McGinn reports, the truth is most of us can't help but look at reports about a car wreck, a killing, a train derailment or other horrible news. And with Mr. Trump, we keep tuning in to know what will happen next, like your favourite reality show.