Canada PM and wife separate after 18 years of marriage
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie said on Wednesday they were separating in an unexpected announcement that appeared to mark the end of the couple’s 18-year high-profile marriage.
The couple had talked frankly in the past about difficulties in their relationship and in recent years were seen less often together in public.
Mr Trudeau, 51, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 48, were married in May 2005 and have three children, aged 15, 14 and nine. On their anniversary in 2020, he described her as “my rock, my partner, and my best friend.”
For Mr Trudeau, there are also painful historical parallels. His father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, separated from his wife, Margaret, in 1977, when he was in office.
US 2018 synagogue shooter sentenced to death
Robert Bowers, an American truck driver, was sentenced to death on Wednesday for massacring 11 Jewish worshippers five years ago in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.
The 12-member federal jury unanimously ruled that Bowers should be executed for the Oct 27, 2018, mass shooting, multiple US news outlets reported.
President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has put a moratorium on federal executions, however, meaning it is not clear whether the sentence will ever be carried out on Bowers.
Trump supporters unfazed by new indictment
The indictment of former president Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election may be unprecedented in the annals of American history, but it appears to have done little to soften the resolve of Republican voters poised to support his bid for another term in the White House.
Not only do those voters remain ready to back Trump in next year’s presidential election - he is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden - but some also have said they plan to donate to his legal defence against what they see as politically motivated prosecutions.
“They want him gone, and I know they’re afraid of him,” said Mr Robin Bartholomew, 66, of Van Buren County, Iowa, the state that will hold the first Republican nominating contest next year. “I think all the indictments are just one thing after another to get rid of him.”
Ukrainians forced to become Russian citizens, research finds
Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territory are being forced to assume Russian citizenship or face harsh retaliation, including possible deportation or detention, US-backed research published on Wednesday said.
Yale University researchers said that as part of a plan by Moscow to assert authority over Ukrainians, residents of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are being targeted by a systematic effort to strip them of Ukrainian identity.
A series of decrees signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin compel Ukrainians to get Russian passports, in violation of international humanitarian law, the report said.
Yip Pin Xiu clinches third 100m backstroke S2 world title
Yip Pin Xiu got off to a winning start at the World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester as she retained the women’s 100m backstroke S2 world title on Wednesday.
The five-time Paralympic champion touched the wall at the Manchester Aquatics Centre in 2min 17.78sec, ahead of Italian Angela Procida (2:28.64) and Mexican Fabiola Ramirez Martinez (2:31.66).
This is the third consecutive time the 31-year-old has won the event and is her sixth world title.
