20/08/2025

WEDNESDAY | AUG 20, 2025

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Canadian Conservative leader seals comeback UK agrees to drop ‘backdoor’ mandate for Apple WASHINGTON: US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Monday the UK had agreed to drop its mandate for iPhone maker Apple to provide a “backdoor” that would have enabled access to protected encrypted data. Gabbard issued the statement on X, saying she had worked for months with Britain, along with President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance to arrive at a deal. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Washington on Monday. The UK government and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Gabbard’s statement. US lawmakers said in May that the UK’s order to Apple to create a backdoor to its encrypted user data could be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments. Apple, which has said it would never build such access into its encrypted services or devices, had challenged the order at the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal. The iPhone maker withdrew its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users in February following the UK

government to access backups of data in the company’s encrypted cloud storage systems. In a letter dated Feb 25 to US lawmakers, Gabbard said the US was examining whether the UK government had violated the CLOUD Act, which bars it from issuing demands for the data of US citizens and vice versa. – Reuters Air Canada to resume service as attendants end strike MONTREAL: Air Canada’s unionised flight attendants have reached an agreement with the country’s largest carrier yesterday, ending the first strike by its cabin crew in 40 years that had upended travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers. The airline said it would gradually resume operations and a full restoration may require a week or more, while the union said it has completed mediation with the airline and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge. “The strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you,”the Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a Facebook post, as the strike entered its fourth day. The carrier had earlier offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year, which the union deemed insufficient. The flight attendants walked off the job on Saturday after contract talks with the carrier failed. They had sought pay for tasks such as boarding passengers, which are not remunerated. They are now paid for time when the plane is moving. The CUPE, which represents Air Canada’s 10,400 flight attendants, wanted to make gains on unpaid work that go beyond recent advances secured by their counterparts at US carriers like American Airlines. In a rare act of defiance, the union remained on strike even after the Canada Industrial Relations Board declared its action unlawful. Their refusal to follow a federal labour board order for the flight attendants to return to work had created a three-way standoff between the company, workers and the government. Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu had urged both sides to consider government mediation and raised pressure on Air Canada, promising to investigate allegations of unpaid work, a key complaint of flight attendants who say they are not paid for work on the ground. Flight attendants have for months argued new contracts should include pay for work done on the ground. Air Canada and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. The airline is also the foreign carrier with the largest number of flights to the US. Its CEO had on Monday in an interview stopped short of offering plans to break the deadlock, while defending the airline’s offer of a 38% boost to flight attendants’ total compensation. – Reuters

order. Users of Apple’s iPhones, Macs and other devices can enable the feature to ensure that only they, and not even Apple, can unlock data stored on its cloud. US officials said earlier this year they were examining whether the UK broke a bilateral agreement by demanding that Apple build a backdoor allowing the British

o Poilievre returns as opposition leader

TORONTO: Canada’s Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre looked set to return to parliament yesterday, four months after losing his seat in a humiliating general election defeat. Poilievre had been on track to become prime minister in April’s elections until US President Donald Trump’s return to power upended Canadian politics with talk of annexing his northern neighbour. Poilievre’s Conservatives blew a massive polling lead as voters backed the new Liberal leader, Mark Carney, now prime minister, to confront Trump. In an added blow, Poilievre lost to a Liberal in his own constituency, an Ottawa-area district he had represented for two decades. He vowed to stay on as the Conservative party head, but needed a seat in parliament before he could return as leader of the opposition. The MP for Battle River Crowfoot, a rural district in the western province of Alberta where Conservatives dominate, offered to step down so Poilievre could run for his seat. National media projected a handsome victory for Poilievre, the favourite, soon after polls closed on Monday in the district, seen as one of Canada’s most right-wing. With 265 of 286 polls reporting, he led with 80% of the vote, far ahead of his two main rivals, public

Poilievre gestures alongside former MP Damien Kurek and their wives, Anaida Poilievre and Danielle Kurek, after winning the by-election. – REUTERSPIC

war, the countries have moved to mend ties. During talks on Monday with Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, Wang said the two countries should “view each other as partners”. He pointed to the resumption of “dialogue at all levels” and “maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas” as evidence bilateral ties were on a “positive trend of returning to the main path of cooperation”. Wang is also expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his three-day visit. – AFP find the correct name in the list. Experts say Poilievre, 46, may struggle to rebuild momentum in a political arena heavily shaped by Trump. Some voters still view Poilievre as a Trump-aligned figure, a major liability in Canada, where attitudes towards Washington are at historic lows since the US president’s return to power. – AFP

“We’ll put Canada first,” he said to cheers and applause in front of a giant national flag. Elections Canada was forced to use a special ballot after a protest group seeking electoral reform successfully nominated a dizzying 214 candidates for the vote. Voters had to write the name of their preferred candidate on their ballot, not tick a box, to help people

broadcaster CBC reported. In his victory speech, Poilievre vowed to oppose the policies of Carney’s government, which he said had sent crime, immigration and inflation “spiralling out of control”. “I am grateful that I will have the chance to be (your) humble servant, to fight every day and in every way for the people in this region,” he said in a video of the address posted on X.

China warms up to India BEIJING: Relations between China and India are on a “positive trend” towards cooperation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart in New Delhi.

The world’s two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia, and fought a deadly border clash in 2020. India is also part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China. But caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff

Police detain a Tibetan protester near the Chinese embassy on Monday.– AFPPIC