Nation and world news in brief for January 6
Canada PM Trudeau to announce resignation as early as Today
(Reuters) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce as early as Monday that he will resign as Liberal Party Leader, The Globe and Mail reported on Sunday, citing three sources.
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The sources told the Globe and Mail that they don’t know definitely when Trudeau will announce his plans to leave but said they expect it will happen before a key national caucus meeting on Wednesday.
The Canadian prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
It remains unclear whether Trudeau will leave immediately or stay on as prime minister until a new leader is selected, the report added.
Trudeau took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.
Trudeau’s departure would leave the party without a permanent head at a time when polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
His resignation is likely to spur fresh calls for a quick election to put in place a government able to deal with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump for the next four years.
Guatemalan troops arrive in Haiti to fight gangs
(Reuters) — The last contingent of security forces from Guatemala arrived in Haiti on Saturday (January 4) to reinforce the ongoing multinational security support mission in the country.
The seventy-five military police members arrived at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport.
On Friday (January 3) another 75 officers arrived, bringing the number to the 150 elements promised by the Guatemalan government.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo had in September pledged to send 150 military police, three months after initially pledging in a letter to the U.N. an unnumbered contingent alongside personal equipment.
The mission is being led by Kenya, which deployed nearly 400 police in the middle of last year, far short of the 1,000 it had promised. The police were later joined by 24 Jamaican personnel and two senior officers from Belize.
Some 10 countries have together pledged over 3,100 troops for Haiti, but few have so far deployed.
Ecuador’s ex-VP Glas evacuated from prison after attempted killing
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (Reuters) — Ecuador’s former Vice President Jorge Glas has been evacuated from prison after an attempt on his life, his lawyer said on Sunday, blaming the government for the situation.
Sonia Gabriela Vera called for the United Nations and other international organizations to intervene after what she called an “attempted assassination” of Glas in La Roca prison.
Glas was detained in April after Ecuadorean security forces stormed Mexico’s embassy in Quito, where he was holed up after seeking asylum.
While Glas’ supporters say the arrest is politically motivated, the ex-vice president has been convicted for corruption on two other occasions.
Glas also faces charges of misusing funds collected to aid reconstruction of coastal Manabi province after a devastating 2016 earthquake.
