British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, best known for the 1980s festive hit "Driving Home for Christmas", has died at the age of 74, his family announced on Monday. Read More

A former university football player who sexually assaulted two women has been sentenced to just two years in prison because he is black and was feeling intense pressure around the time of the attacks, the judge said. Read More

In the aftermath of last week’s antisemitic massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia, the Jewish world is engaged in a seemingly endless procession of calls to action. Action on hate speech; action on education for young people who are terminally online and primed for Jew hatred; action on heightened security outside synagogues and Jewish day schools. Read More

A senior Russian general was killed in Moscow on Monday when a bomb planted under his car exploded, investigators said, making it the third general killed by a car bomb in the past year. Read More

Russia said a drone attack damaged infrastructure and vessels in the Black Sea port of Taman, yet another strike on the country’s commodities assets. Read More

A French court last week convicted a 42-year-old Algerian woman of poisoning her Jewish employers but cleared her of the aggravating circumstance of racist hatred, prompting protests from Jewish jurists. Read More

First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Read More

The two suspects in a deadly mass shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach carried out "tactical" training in the countryside, police alleged Monday, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologised to the country's Jewish community and vowed tougher laws against extremism. Read More

An important underlying purpose of the Combatting Hate Act is protecting communities of faith. Nobody should be intimidated or obstructed when they want to go pray. The act gives police clear tools to intervene when intimidation or obstruction of a community space occurs. It is an important signal that Parliament expects police and prosecutors to act to protect communities of faith. Read More

A year ago, Justin Trudeau was still determined to hang on as prime minister, still professing to believe he could win the next election against all odds and public evidence. Read More

Regina’s adoption of electric buses has been a disaster for the public. It's the latest Canadian city to find this out the hard way. Read More

The posh digs of the Canadian ambassador to the United States are set to welcome a new tenant early next year, following the recent announcement that Ambassador Kirsten Hillman – the first woman to serve as Canada’s top diplomat in Washington — is stepping down. Read More

Justice Department officials were protecting victims of Jeffrey Epstein when they removed several images from the agency’s release of files tied to the notorious sex offender, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said. Read More

A German woman engineer on Saturday became the first wheelchair user to blast into space, taking a brief ride on a Blue Origin flight. Read More

The Kremlin on Sunday denied that three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States were on the cards, as diplomats gathered in Miami for talks on ending the conflict. Read More

The U.S. is still in pursuit of a third oil tanker near Venezuela, according to a U.S. official, as President Donald Trump intensifies an oil blockade on Nicolás Maduro’s government. Read More

Allegations of a fresh cover-up over the Jeffrey Epstein files grew Sunday, as Democrats accused President Donald Trump of trying to protect himself by defying an order to release all files on the convicted sex offender. Read More

Australia was observing a nationwide moment of remembrance on Sunday for the victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah terrorist attack, one week after the massacre, with vigils taking place at 6:47 p.m., the time the shooting started. Read More

A young girl and Holocaust survivors were among 15 people shot and killed when gunmen opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah festival gathering on Australia's Bondi Beach a week ago. Read More

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach. Read More

We’re nearing year-end, and there’s much doom and gloom. Canada’s economy is falling behind its OECD peers while projected equalization numbers show all provinces from Manitoba east on the receiving end of federal transfers next year. Read More

Sport, a great equalizer, transcends politics. Or at least it should. Read More

Judaism is a Mediterranean religion — thus too is Christianity — but we forget that Mediterranean means northern hemisphere. Hanukkah’s candles are lit in the darkest days of the year, just as Christ’s birth is marked just as the days begin to get longer. Lights come into the world when the darkness is darkest. Read More

A husband and wife travelling from British Columbia to Toronto for the holidays say they were prevented from boarding a Flair Airlines flight when they showed up at the gate with two dogs and their 10-month-old daughter. Read More