Hamas released Mengistu and Shoham during a propaganda ceremony in southern Gaza’s Rafah, while Cohen, Shem Tov and Wenkert were freed in a similar exchange in Nuseirat in the Palestinian enclave’s center. Al-Sayed was handed over in Gaza City. Read More

Thursday night saw Canada secure victory in Boston in the 4 Nations Face-Off, an NHL exhibition tournament that pitted teams of Finnish, Swedish, U.S. and Canadian players against one another. Canada's victory became a point of national pride as it occurred amidst threats of trade war and annexation from U.S. President Donald Trump. Read More

According to a newly leaked draft contract, the Trump administration wants to confiscate large swathes of Ukraine’s resources, in perpetuity, as “payback” for American military support. This deal, which would functionally turn Ukraine into an economic colony of the United States, should frighten Canada and other allies who rely on Washington for security support. Read More

Last Saturday in Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre delivered what many described as the most important speech of his life. For weeks, the Liberals have rapidly regained ground in the polls following Justin Trudeau’s announcement that he was leaving politics. Read More

The NHL's “4 Nations Face-Off” was only a facsimile of the Canada Cups of the 1980s, let alone the Olympics or the 1972 Soviet-Canada series. Yet Canadians instantly recognized that Connor McDavid’s overtime winner now belongs alongside the goals of Paul Henderson in 1972, Mario Lemieux in 1987 and Sidney Crosby in 2010. Read More

Ontario is going to the polls next week with a year remaining in the Ford government’s present term; voters don't generally like premature elections unless there is a good reason for them. Counterintuitively, the country did reelect Justin Trudeau in a premature election in 2021 on the basis of his handling of the Covid pandemic, which was in fact absurdly overreactive, authoritarian, and grossly expensive. He was assisted by the fact that the official opposition’s position was that they would establish a royal commission to evaluate the official reaction to the pandemic instead of coming out slugging and making the government pay at the polls for its poorly thought-out and executed response to the public health crisis. The current Ontario election is later in the mandate than the 2021 federal election was and the reason for the election call is to give Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government a strong mandate to deal with his province’s response to trade and related challenges arising from the United States government's threat of sharply increased tariffs. Read More

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany reunified for a few brief decades, only to find itself partitioned once again. This time, not by barbed wire and concrete, but by three small words: “Wir schaffen das!” (We can do this!). Read More

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States has proposed a draft UN resolution that stops far short of a European-backed statement demanding an immediate withdrawal of all of Moscow's forces from Ukraine. Read More

OTTAWA — Two Liberal leadership committees unanimously decided to disqualify former MP Ruby Dhalla in the race to become leader of the party on Friday, alleging that she breached no less than 10 violations of the rules of the race including inaccurate financial reporting. Read More

Two elderly inmates who walked away from an unfenced minimum-security prison in Ontario have been caught after just one day of freedom. Read More

OTTAWA — The federal government deemed MP Randy Boissonnault’s pandemic startup, Global Health Imports Corporation, ineligible for contracts on Friday, citing the company's “conduct.” Read More

Thursday was a special day in the life of any Canadian election campaign: the day advance polls open without any of the major parties having released a platform, costed or otherwise. (Green Party leader Mike Schreiner unveiled his last week.) Read More

Ontario’s NDP and Liberals are both pledging tens of billions of dollars in new spending to pay for their campaign promises, but are taking different approaches to the other side of the ledger, with the NDP proposing wealth taxes and the Liberals eyeing “efficiencies.” Read More

President Donald Trump is expected to sign a memorandum Friday that opens the door to levies in response to digital services taxes some countries impose on U.S. tech giants, people familiar with the plans said, the latest step to expand a tariff war aimed at addressing imbalances in global trade. Read More

U.S. tariffs and Canada's retaliation to them would have a devastating effect on the economy, pulling growth down while reigniting inflation, said Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem. Read More

Amid the threat of a tariff war, an overwhelming majority of Canadians (85 per cent) say they plan to — or already do — replace American products when shopping, according to a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute. Read More

MONTREAL -- A high-speed rail link between Toronto and Quebec City could deliver billions of dollars in economic benefits, a new report says. Read More

The choice of Wayne Gretzky as honorary captain of Canada's hockey team in Thursday night's game against America has upset fans of the sport. Read More

Canadian hockey fans took to social media after Team Canada's victory over Team U.S.A. at the final game of the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday evening. By Friday morning, the term "Premier Trump" had been used nearly 15,000 times on X, and the term "11th Province" nearly 25,000 times. Read More

A collection of Beatlemania photographs shot by Paul McCartney himself is headed to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Read More

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston are reaching out to state governors in Washington, D.C. as the deadline to avert U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs inches closer. Read More

National Post’s Chris Selley and National Post contributor Anthony Furey discuss the latest in the 2025 Ontario election. Watch the video or read the transcript. Read More

STRATFORD, NEW JERSEY — The closest Canadian stronghold to Donald Trump’s Trade-War-A-Lago is a bright, spacious fortress with plenty of free parking in the suburbs of Philadelphia, 230 kilometres northeast of the Oval Office. It is a command centre and commissariat where the True North is revered, the current American president is reviled, annexation will be strenuously resisted, and a Maple Dip costs US$1.81, tax included. Read More

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Liberal leadership frontrunner Mark Carney has unveiled his new slogan, “Spend Less. Invest More.” By which Carney actually means, spend more — spend much more than Trudeau is spending now and probably even more than what Trudeau was intending to spend in the future. Read More

OTTAWA — Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney's new pitch for separate federal operating and capital budgets has some Albertans feeling a tinge of déjà vu, and not the warm and fuzzy sort. Read More

NEW YORK (AP) -- The man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York City and leading authorities on a five-day manhunt is scheduled to be in court Friday for the first time since his December arraignment on state murder and terror charges. Read More

Maybe Donald Trump wants to take over Canada just so his country can finally win a hockey tournament again. And, of course, it was Connor McDavid who said: not yet. Read More

A 71-year-old Canadian man has been charged after allegedly flying a drone and taking aerial photography at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida. Read More

Our cookbook of the week is The Yearlong Pantry by recipe developer, writer and photographer Erin Alderson. Read More

First Reading is a daily newsletter keeping you posted on the travails of Canadian politicos, all curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Read More

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night ordered the military to conduct a “massive” counter-terrorism operation in Judea and Samaria, after three buses exploded near Tel Aviv and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a coordinated attack. Read More

This week, John Ivison is joined by academic Thomas Juneau to update predictions he made on the show nearly 18 months ago about the dangers of a second Trump administration. Read More

A group of prominent Canadian historians is regrouping after the Toronto District School Board decided this week to move forward with removing the names of Sir John A. Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson and Henry Dundas from three of its schools. Read More

The push to buy local is going strong. With the 25-per-cent tariffs on pause until at least March 5, Canadians continue to rethink their purchases, sharing their favourite local brands on social media and developing apps to help identify them. Yet there’s a rub for those who want to support homegrown products and the companies that make them. Buying local isn’t always straightforward, and selling local has its own challenges. Read More

Eventually, voters get sick of politicians. Read More

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B.C. lawyer James Heller is suing his own law society for libel, accusing it of “bad faith, high-handedness, arrogance, malice” and betraying its ethical duties. Read More

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