Politics
Afrikaners who fled to the U.S. are ‘cowards,’ says South African president – National TenX News
The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, said a group of white Afrikaners who chose to move to the U.S. as part of a resettlement program created by the Trump administration are “cowards,” stating he has no doubt they will return to their home country soon.
The cohort of about 60 Afrikaners, which included babies and children, landed in Washington, D.C. on a private charter jet on Monday after the U.S. government granted them expedited refugee status over claims they were facing racial discrimination on home soil.
Afrikaners were the leaders of the apartheid system of white minority rule that ended in 1994 and are descendants of predominantly Dutch and French settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 1700s.
Of the country’s 62 million people, about 2.7 million are Afrikaners, making it South Africa’s largest white group. More than 80 per cent of South Africans are Black, according to The Associated Press.
Two children, part of the first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to resettle in the U.S. as part of a program created by the Trump administration, play with balloons after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on May 12, 2025.
SAUL LOEB / Getty Images
Afrikaners are one of South Africa’s most economically privileged and culturally integrated minority groups. Many are successful business leaders and some hold government positions.
Their mother tongue, Afrikaans, is also widely spoken and recognized as an official language, while their way of life is reflected in churches and other institutions across the country.
But U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Afrikaner farmers are victims of a “genocide” at home, allegations South African authorities strongly deny, calling them “completely false.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gestures as he delivers the State of the Nation address at the Cape Town City Hall on Feb. 6, 2025.
Rodger Bosch / Getty Images
Nonetheless, the group had their immigration applications fast-tracked in February after Trump announced the relocation program.
In light of their resettlement, Ramaphosa chastised the group’s decision to leave.
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“As South Africans, we are resilient. We don’t run away from our problems. We must stay here and solve our problems. When you run away, you are a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act,” he said on Monday at an agricultural exhibition.
“We’re the only country on the continent where the colonizers came to stay and we have never driven them out of our country,” he told an Africa CEO forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the BBC reported, before writing off claims that Afrikaners were being persecuted — adding that the dozens of South Africans who arrived on U.S. soil “don’t fit the bill” for refugee status.
Farm attacks
Trump and his South African-born colleague, Elon Musk, have accused the South African government of enacting anti-white laws and policies, but the president’s claims of persecution and genocide pertain to a relatively small number of violent farm attacks and robberies on white people living in rural communities.
In February, a South African court dismissed claims of a white genocide in the country, saying they were “clearly imagined” and “not real,” as it blocked a wealthy benefactor’s donation to a white supremacist group called Boerelgioen, the BBC says.
In addition, a press release from the South Africa Police Service dated March 5 said “only one murder of a farm owner is reflected” in its most recent figures.
The statement came following a review of the initial data after claims by AriForum, an advocacy group for victims of farm attacks in South Africa, said that numbers were misrepresented in the findings.
South African police say its agencies “continue to address crimes affecting all communities, including those in rural and farming areas, with the seriousness they deserve.”
According to the BBC, Ramaphosa stated those who left South Africa were unhappy with efforts to address the past inequities of apartheid, labelling the move a “sad moment for them.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s decision to grant them American citizenship, according to The Associated Press, has left refugee advocacy groups puzzled as to why white South Africans are being prioritized.
The president’s welcoming of them comes at a time when some refugees belonging to racial minority groups in the U.S. are facing threats to their legal status in the country.
In March his administration deported a group of mostly Venezuelans, the majority without criminal records, to a maximum security prison in El Salvador on government sanctioned flights, and later ignored a Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a mistakenly deported Salvadoran man aboard one of the planes who had been living in Maryland with his wife and three children for more than a decade.
Trump is also detaining foreign students who are known to have taken part in pro-Palestinian rallies on U.S. university campuses as part of an effort, his administration claims, to curb growing rates of antisemitism, the most high-profile being Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently being held in a detention centre in Louisiana.
Khalil is a green card holder and is married to an American citizen. The couple has a son, who was born while Khalil was in detention.
— With files from The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Qatar has committed to “significant” investments for Canada’s major building projects, calling it a “new chapter” in bilateral relations.
Carney made the announcement Sunday following his meeting with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar.
The new measures will include the finalization of the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with Qatar, a deal that has seen years of stalled negotiations, Carney said.
“We are raising our relationship and our level of alignment by making friends with strategic partners,” Carney said. “To launch this new chapter in our relationship, I’m pleased to announce that Qatar has committed to make significant strategic investments in Canada’s nation-building projects.
“This capital will help the projects get built faster and supercharge our energy industries, while helping to create thousands of high-paying careers for Canadians.”
He also said the new agreement will help Canadian businesses to “more easily” expand operations in Qatar as well as attract investment from the country.
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According to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office, air services between Canada and Qatar will also be expanded and a defence attache from Canada will be posted in the country.
According to the PMO, the two countries have agreed to launch negotiations on a new framework focused on military, security and defence matters, and expand investment opportunities on areas such as AI.
The PMO said the two leaders agreed to stay in touch and Carney noted Sunday he had invited the Emir to visit Canada later this year and attend the World Cup match between their two countries with him.
The plans with Qatar are Carney’s latest in a slew of agreements and travel to other countries to discuss trade deals since his election last year.
Asked about his ongoing efforts to meet with countries interested in trade, Carney told reporters that multilateral relationships are “being eroded.”
“The consequence of that is there is a reduction in freer trade, much more trade is tariff-based or otherwise restricted and there is virtually no, with all due respect to those who are trying, virtually no multilateral progress,” Carney said.
“Where there is progress, and where Canada and like-minded countries are looking to make progress, is through pluriality deals… which is multiple countries but not all countries.”
On Friday, Canada announced that 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) would soon be imported each year with a lowered 6.1 per cent tariff after Carney struck a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Carney added on Sunday that Xi showed interest in expanding China’s trade relations with other countries, and that’s why Canada is establishing trade deals with other countries, such as Qatar.
“In this more uncertain and dangerous world, we’ve chosen to create greater stability, security and prosperity together,” Carney said.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
World leaders are raising alarm after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on European allies in an effort to pressure Denmark into negotiations over Greenland.
The move is sparking protests across the Arctic and sharp rebukes from Europe and Canada.
On Saturday, thousands of people marched through snow and ice in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, chanting “Greenland is not for sale,” waving national flags.
Police described the demonstration as the largest they have ever seen in the city.
About 825 kilometres away, dozens of people rallied in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in a show of solidarity with Greenlanders.
“Greenland is owned by the Greenlandic people,” protesters chanted in Inuktut as they marched for an hour in freezing, windy conditions.
The protests came as Trump announced he would impose a 10 per cent import tax starting next month on goods from eight European countries.
These nations include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, because of their opposition to U.S. control of Greenland.
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The tariff would rise to 25 per cent on June 1 if no deal was reached for what Trump called the “Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
The president suggested the tariffs were leveraged to force talks over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that Trump says is vital to U.S. national security.
French President Emmanuel Macron said France stands firmly behind Greenland’s sovereignty and rejected the use of trade threats.
“Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context,” Macron wrote on social media, adding that Europeans would respond “in a united and coordinated manner” if the measures are confirmed.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Greenland’s future is for Greenlanders and Denmark to decide.
“Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong,” Starmer said, adding the issue would be raised directly with the U.S. administration.
Bob Rae, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, also chimed in on Trump’s announcement.
The tariff threat could mark a significant rupture between the U.S. and its NATO allies.
Greenland already hosts the U.S.-run Pituffik Space Base under a 1951 defence agreement with Denmark, supporting missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance for the U.S. and NATO.
“There is no sign of the Trump war of aggression against Greenland and Denmark letting up. It is not about ‘security’ any more than Venezuela was about ‘narco-terrorism.’ They are both about seizing control and plunder.”
He further added, “No country, including my own, Canada, is safe or secure.”
The tariff threat could mark a significant rupture between the U.S. and its NATO allies.
Trump is expected to face questions about the proposed tariffs and Greenland later this week.
He is scheduled to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, alongside several European leaders he has threatened with tariffs.
— With files from The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Doha on Saturday as part of a push to attract foreign investment and deepen Canada’s economic partnerships beyond its traditional allies.
Carney’s visit comes on the heels of his visit to China and follows the recent presentation of a new federal investment budget aimed at positioning Canada as a stable, attractive destination for global capital.
In a news conference on Saturday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada is working to broaden its economic relationships as global trade patterns shift.
Qatar is viewed by Ottawa as a strategic partner, with officials pointing to the country’s significant investment capacity and growing influence on the global stage.
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“We need to reduce our dependence and increase our self-reliance to find a strategic path forward,” Champagne said.
“Engaging with the Middle East and China is necessary for Canada, just like our European partners have done,” Champagne added. “We buy more from the U.S.A. than anywhere else, but the trading climate right now is different.”
The conference highlighted Canada’s industrial capacity and trade advantages as key selling points for potential investors.
Champagne also said international engagement is critical as Canada works to raise its profile among global investors.
“We are one of the G7s with very big industries. We build cars, planes, ships, we have an abundance of energy, and we are the only one with free trade with all G7,” Champagne said. “With the way the world is changing, you better diversify, supply chain is changing and we need to adapt.”
Prime Minister Carney is expected to meet with senior Qatari officials, including Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as representatives of the Qatar Investment Authority.
His office says the talks will focus on expanding trade access and forging partnerships in artificial intelligence, infrastructure, energy and defence.
The visit comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the region, though officials say the schedule remains unchanged.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Qatar to invest in Canada’s major building projects, Carney says – National TenX News
“Unacceptable’: Allies react to Trump Greenland tariff threats – National TenX News
Canada talks trade with Qatar as Carney touches down in Doha – National TenX News
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