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Canada Working to Repatriate More than 2,000 Citizens from Middle East

A Canadian flag is pictured on Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut February 23, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File
A Canadian flag is pictured on Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut February 23, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File
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Canada Working to Repatriate More than 2,000 Citizens from Middle East

A Canadian flag is pictured on Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut February 23, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File
A Canadian flag is pictured on Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut February 23, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File

The Canadian government is working to repatriate citizens who are stranded in the Middle East by organizing seats on commercial flights, contracting charter flights and offering ground transportation options to neighboring countries, Canada's foreign affairs minister said on Wednesday.

More than 2,000 Canadians have requested assistance from the Canadian government to leave the region since the US and Israel attacked Iran, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said, with around half of those inquiries coming from Canadians in the United Arab ‌Emirates, 237 from ‌Qatar, 164 from Lebanon, 93 from Israel and 74 from ‌Iran.

Anand ⁠said she had ⁠directed her office to enter into contracts to charter flights out of the United Arab Emirates in the coming days, contingent on approval from the UAE government to use its airspace.

The government secured 75 seats on a flight leaving Beirut on Wednesday, and will be offering more seats in the coming days for people wishing to leave Lebanon, Anand said. Two hundred Canadians with plane tickets were being bussed from Qatar ⁠to Saudi Arabia, she said, and the government is "engaging" ground transportation ‌for other Canadians who want to leave ‌Qatar.

Officials are providing information to Canadians in Israel about a bus service to Egypt operated ‌by the Israeli government where passengers can be taken to open airports in ‌that country, she said.

Commercial air traffic remained largely absent across much of the region on Wednesday, with major Gulf hubs - including Dubai, the world's busiest airport for international passengers - largely shut for a fifth straight day, in the biggest travel disruption since the COVID pandemic.

Repatriation flights chartered ‌by other countries, including Britain and France, were due to leave on Wednesday, while the United Arab Emirates opened safe ⁠air corridors to ⁠allow some citizens to return home. Under normal circumstances, thousands of commercial flights would depart the region each day.

"I want to speak directly now to Canadians in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Your government is with you. We are working hard for you, and we are arranging options for you to leave the region," Anand said at a news conference.

Canada cannot arrange ground transportation out of Iran because it does not have a diplomatic presence there, but it has sent officials to border crossings to meet Canadians who cross the border and assist them with visas and onward travel, Anand said.

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World

Trump Taps US Senator Mullin to Replace Noem as DHS chief

(FILES) Subcommittee chairman US Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican from Oklahoma, looks on before the start of a Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing on "A Review of the FY2026 Budget Requests for the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Government Publishing Office" at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)
(FILES) Subcommittee chairman US Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican from Oklahoma, looks on before the start of a Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing on "A Review of the FY2026 Budget Requests for the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Government Publishing Office" at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)
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Trump Taps US Senator Mullin to Replace Noem as DHS chief

(FILES) Subcommittee chairman US Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican from Oklahoma, looks on before the start of a Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing on "A Review of the FY2026 Budget Requests for the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Government Publishing Office" at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)
(FILES) Subcommittee chairman US Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican from Oklahoma, looks on before the start of a Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing on "A Review of the FY2026 Budget Requests for the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Government Publishing Office" at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)

One of the top officials overseeing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, will leave her role, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday, a major staffing move that raises questions about the direction of the Republican president's immigration agenda.

"I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Noem will serve as "Special envoy for The Shield of the Americas," Trump said, according to Reuters.

Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Trump's most high-profile Cabinet secretaries with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language. She faced criticism in January when she quickly labeled two US citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as committing "domestic terrorism." Videos that emerged after the deaths undercut the assertion by Noem and other Trump officials that ⁠the two deceased - ⁠Renee Good and Alex Pretti - were violent aggressors.

The public backlash for deaths led the Trump administration to move to a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota after months of sweeps through US cities that led to violent clashes with residents opposing the crackdown.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives moved to impeach Noem and at least two Republicans in Congress called for her to lose her job after the incidents. During congressional hearings in March, Democrats and some Republicans criticized Noem for her approach to the immigration crackdown and management of DHS, including concern over a $220 million ⁠ad campaign that heavily featured Noem.

The staffing change raises questions about whether the Trump administration could seek to intensify its mass deportation push or retreat to a more targeted approach.

Under Noem's leadership, masked immigration agents surged into Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., scouring neighborhoods and Home Depot parking lots in search of possible immigration offenders.

The popularity of Trump's immigration approach fell as agents detained US citizens and tear-gassed streets in an attempt to drive up deportations, which last year fell short of the administration's goal of 1 million per year.

While Noem, 54, served as a prominent proponent of Trump's agenda, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a long-time Trump aide, controls Trump's immigration policy.

Noem was quickly confirmed to lead the 260,000-employee Department of Homeland Security in January 2025 after Trump took office.

On social media, she referred to immigrants convicted of crimes as "scumbags" ⁠even as the number ⁠of non-criminals arrested by immigration authorities rose under Trump. She joined immigration enforcement operations on the ground in New York City and visited a maximum-security prison in El Salvador where Venezuelan immigrants deported by the Trump administration were being held without charges or access to lawyers.

The number of migrants caught trying to illegally cross the US-Mexico border plummeted under Trump's restrictive policies, a steep drop after high levels of illegal immigration under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Noem, reflecting Trump's agenda, also took steps to cut legal immigration programs and increase vetting. She ended several Temporary Protected Status programs that provided work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Haiti and other nations, drawing legal challenges.

After an Afghan immigrant was accused of attacking National Guard members in Washington, D.C., Noem said she recommended that Trump place "a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."

Critics said Noem demonized immigrants and promoted an immigration enforcement strategy that targeted non-criminal, working immigrants and families. During Noem's tenure, the number of deaths in immigration detention rose to a two-decade high while staff in DHS oversight offices were slashed sharply.

World

Trump Renews Netanyahu Pardon Call, Saying Only Iran Should be Troubling Him

FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
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Trump Renews Netanyahu Pardon Call, Saying Only Iran Should be Troubling Him

FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called again on Israel's president to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pardon for corruption charges, saying the premier should have nothing on his mind but the war with Iran.

Trump, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, said in an interview with Israel's N12 television news: "President Herzog must give Bibi a pardon today. I don't want there to be anything troubling Bibi other than the war with Iran ... Herzog is a disgrace ... he promised ⁠me five times to ⁠give Bibi a pardon."

President Isaac Herzog's office said in response that while Israel is at war, he is not dealing with the matter of Netanyahu's pardon request, Reuters reported.

Herzog added that he deeply respects Trump's contribution to Israel's security and his position on ⁠Iran but that Israel is a sovereign state that abides by the rule of law.

"The president will examine the request according to the law, the good of the state, his conscience and free of any internal or external pressure," the statement from Herzog's office said.

03 March 2026, Israel, Palmachim Airbase: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) visits the Palmachim Airbase accompanied by Minister of Defense israel Katz (R) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (L). Photo: Maayan Toaf/Israel Gpo/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Netanyahu is Israel's first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime and denies bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 ⁠indictment.

Trump ⁠has called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu a pardon several times before.

Netanyahu submitted his pardon request in November.

Herzog has in the past disputed Trump's claim that he had promised to grant Netanyahu a pardon.

The United States and Israel on Saturday launched a joint bombing campaign against Iran.

Under Israeli law, the president has the authority to pardon convicts. But there is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial. The legal process of a pardon can be slow.

World

US Says Attacks on Alleged Drug Boats Have Spooked Traffickers

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at US Southern Command in Doral, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at US Southern Command in Doral, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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US Says Attacks on Alleged Drug Boats Have Spooked Traffickers

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at US Southern Command in Doral, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at US Southern Command in Doral, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The US campaign to hunt down and destroy boats allegedly bringing drugs from South America has been so successful it is now hard to find targets, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Thursday.

The United States began targeting these alleged smuggling speedboats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in early September and has since destroyed dozens of them, with at least 150 people killed.

The attacks have drawn criticism that they amount to extrajudicial killings.

Hegseth hailed them as he spoke at a conference on fighting drug cartels that was attended by officials from 18 Latin American countries.

"Last month, we went a few weeks without targeting a single boat. Why? Well, because we couldn't find a whole lot of boats to sink," Hegseth said.

"And that's the whole point, is to establish deterrence from narco-terrorists who have been able to traffic almost unfettered," AFP quoted Hegseth as saying.

President Donald Trump's administration insists it is effectively at war with what it calls "narco-terrorists" operating in Latin America.

But it has provided no definitive evidence that the vessels it targets are involved in drug trafficking, prompting heated debate about the legality of the operations.

International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings as they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.

Washington has deployed a large naval force in the Caribbean, where its forces have in recent months struck alleged drug-smuggling boats, seized oil tankers and carried out a stunning raid in which Venezuelan leftist leader Nicolas Maduro was captured and flown to New York for trial on drug trafficking charges.