
FAA bans drones over several New Jersey towns, New York infrastructure sitesCanada's Trudeau says he had an 'excellent conversation' with Trump in Florida after tariffs threat
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday he had an “excellent conversation” with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club after the president-elect’s threat to impose significant tariffs on two of America’s leading trade partners raised alarms in Ottawa and Mexico City . It was unclear, as Trudeau headed back to Canada from Florida, whether the conversation had alleviated Trump’s concerns. A person familiar with the details of the leaders’ hastily arranged meeting Friday night said it was a “positive wide-ranging dinner that lasted three hours.” The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said topics included trade, border security, fentanyl, defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast and pipelines, as well as the the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year. The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January. RELATED COVERAGE Biden’s Thanksgiving holiday is part of a longer farewell as Trump’s return to White House nears Trump and Republicans in Congress eye an ambitious 100-day agenda, starting with tax cuts Zelenskyy says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war As he was leaving his West Palm Beach hotel, Trudeau stopped briefly to answer a reporter’s question about the dinner meeting, saying it was “an excellent conversation.” Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions about what the leaders had discussed. What to know about Trump’s second term: Staffing the administration: Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far. Plus, a look at recess appointments and how could Trump use them to fill his Cabinet. Follow all of our coverage as Donald Trump assembles his second administration. Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election. “Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold move was in order. Perhaps it was a risk, but a risk worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. Among those at the dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, in line to lead the Interior Department; and Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be his national security adviser. Accompanying Trudeau were Canada’s public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, and Katie Telford, Trudeau’s chief of staff. Trudeau had said earlier Friday that he would resolve the tariffs issue by talking to Trump. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said a day earlier after speaking with Trump that she is confident a tariff war with the United States will be averted. Trudeau said Trump got elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now he’s talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. “It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said before his leaving for Florida. “Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added. To Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, Trump “doesn’t need convincing that new tariffs on Canadian products would not be in U.S. interests. He knows that, but cannot say it because it would detract from what he has said publicly. His goal is to project the image that he gets action when he talks.” Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries. Trump made the tariff threat Monday while citing an influx of migrants entering the country illegally, even though the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to those at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also spoke about fentanyl from Mexico and Canada, even though seizures from the Canadian border are few in comparison to the Mexican border. Canadian officials say lumping Canada in with Mexico is unfair but say they are ready to make new investments in border security. When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. ___ Gillies reported from Toronto.LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Cavan Reilly's 18 points helped Delaware defeat Rider 72-66 on Saturday. Reilly went 6 of 12 from the field (4 for 10 from 3-point range) for the Fightin' Blue Hens (4-3). Izaiah Pasha added 15 points while finishing 7 of 10 from the floor and also had six rebounds. Erik Timko shot 5 for 9, including 3 for 7 from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points. Jay Alvarez led the Broncs (4-4) in scoring, finishing with 17 points and six rebounds. TJ Weeks Jr. added 15 points, eight rebounds and two steals for Rider. Tariq Ingraham also put up 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday he had an “excellent conversation” with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club after the president-elect's threat to impose significant tariffs on two of America’s leading trade partners raised alarms in Ottawa and Mexico City . It was unclear, as Trudeau headed back to Canada from Florida, whether the conversation had alleviated Trump’s concerns. A person familiar with the details of the leaders' hastily arranged meeting Friday night said it was a “positive wide-ranging dinner that lasted three hours.” The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said topics included trade, border security, fentanyl, defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast and pipelines, as well as the the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year. The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January. As he was leaving his West Palm Beach hotel, Trudeau stopped briefly to answer a reporter’s question about the dinner meeting, saying it was "an excellent conversation." Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions about what the leaders had discussed. Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election. "Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold move was in order. Perhaps it was a risk, but a risk worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. Among those at the dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for commerce secretary; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, in line to lead the Interior Department; and Mike Waltz, Trump's choice to be his national security adviser. Accompanying Trudeau were Canada's public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, and Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff. Trudeau had said earlier Friday that he would resolve the tariffs issue by talking to Trump. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said a day earlier after speaking with Trump that she is confident a tariff war with the United States will be averted. Trudeau said Trump got elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now he's talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. “It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said before his leaving for Florida. “Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added. To Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, Trump "doesn’t need convincing that new tariffs on Canadian products would not be in U.S. interests. He knows that, but cannot say it because it would detract from what he has said publicly. His goal is to project the image that he gets action when he talks.” Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries. Trump made the tariff threat Monday while citing an influx of migrants entering the country illegally, even though the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to those at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also spoke about fentanyl from Mexico and Canada, even though seizures from the Canadian border are few in comparison to the Mexican border. Canadian officials say lumping Canada in with Mexico is unfair but say they are ready to make new investments in border security. When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. ___ Gillies reported from Toronto.A “mystery disease” recently struck the south-western corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing between 67 and 143 people over two weeks . The disease was reported to cause flu-like symptoms of fever, headache, cough and anaemia. An epidemiologist told Reuters that it was mainly women and children who were seriously affected by the disease. But little else is known about the disease so far. Health officials in the DRC are urgently investigating this incident to identify the cause of this deadly outbreak. Initially, they would consider possible diseases known to be endemic to the region such as malaria, dengue or Chikungunya . However, they are likely to face difficulties detecting the cause because of diagnostic testing infrastructure issues , as well as difficulties with sample collections, transport of those samples to laboratory and testing. In low-income countries, such as the DRC, many clinical laboratories can only test for common pathogens. Limitations in the quality and performance of some of their clinical laboratories are also a problem. If it is not one of the usual suspects, the detection of rarer pathogens often requires samples to be sent to more specialist laboratories that can do specialised tests, such as gene sequencing. This could mean that samples need to be sent to laboratories abroad. However, the international sharing of such biological samples is highly contentious over concerns that the benefits of doing so are often not fairly shared between countries. Another priority for local health officials is to understand the extent and severity of the outbreak. The high mortality and number of cases of people affected are alarming. However, it is not easy to work out the true extent of such outbreaks, as not all infected patients will be detected. Not all infected people seek care. Clinics may be few and far between, especially in remote areas, and are often understaffed. Indeed, the DRC has fewer than two doctors per 10,000 population (by comparison the UK which has more than 31 doctors per 10,000 population). Even if patients did attend a hospital or clinic, not all infections would be diagnosed. Not all patients would be tested for infection, and not all detected infections are reported to the health authorities. The lack of information about the cause, extent and number of infected people makes it hard to accurately assess the threat it poses. But this is not an isolated risk. Outbreaks of new infectious diseases have occurred regularly over the years . This is partly driven by climate change, changing population demography, urbanisation and deforestation that enables the “spillover” of infections from animals to humans. Unfortunately, our global infectious disease radar is broken. Disease surveillance is fragmented globally . In poorer countries, there will be many areas where diseases are not detected or are detected late. Surveillance services are often poorly resourced and understaffed, staff often lack training or supervision, and reporting may not be standardised. There is also often a significant delay from the time a person gets infected, and is diagnosed with the disease, to the time it is reported to the public health authorities . This in turn delays disease control responses to outbreaks. These problems are worse in resource-poor settings, such as in sub-Saharan Africa. What solutions are being tried? One World Health Organization (WHO) initiative being trialled in several countries across Africa, South America and south Asia, is the 7-1-7 initiative . This sets aspirational targets for outbreaks of infectious diseases to be detected within seven days, notified to public health authorities within a day, and seven days to complete an initial response. This is a laudable aim but it may still be too late for fast-moving outbreaks. Another solution is to better integrate and better coordinate existing surveillance activities and systems. One such WHO initiative is Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR), which has mainly been deployed in Africa over the past two decades. IDSR has had mixed success so far. A recent review found information technology system issues, financial constraints and data-sharing problems, as well as workforce gaps. Other global initiatives include the International Pathogen Surveillance Network brought together by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, and recent efforts to promote collaborative surveillance across different agencies and sectors (from human health to animal health and the environment) to work together and share information as well as expertise. The effectiveness of such initiatives remains to be seen, but they are a step in the right direction. Without better disease surveillance globally, we may not detect the next pandemic until it is too late. Andrew Lee has previously received research funding from the National Institute for Health Research. He is a member of the UK Faculty of Public Health and the Royal Society for Public Health, and has previously worked for Public Health England. He was previously funded by the International Association of National Public Health Institutes as a technical advisor for their global review of disease surveillance.