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8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 OctObEr 2015 News Trudeau promises sweeping reforms following surprise election victory The country Winston Church- ill once called "the linchpin of the english-speaking peoples" is set for a sweeping change as Jus- tin Trudeau was voted as Can- ada's new prime minister after his Liberal Party swept to power in a surprise electoral victory. ending nearly a decade of Con- servative Party rule, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau and leader of the Lib- eral party won a surprise major- ity, taking 184 of the 338 seats in parliament with representatives in every province and roughly 40% of the popular vote. After rousing his party from third in the polls to first place on voting day, Trudeau promised "sunny ways" for all Canadians. "This is what positive politics can do. This is what a positive, hopeful vision, and a platform and a team together can make happen," he said in his victory speech. Despite being an unknown quantity, Trudeau has prom- ised to reverse outgoing prime minister Stephen harper's neo- liberal economics and hawkish foreign policy. Among his first tasks will be to assemble a cabinet, which he promised in campaigning would contain an equal number of men and women. Trudeau is expect- ed to be sworn in before the G20 summit in Turkey, which starts on 15 November. his victory speech omitted any mention of his f lamboyant fa- ther who led Canada from 1968 to 1984, with one brief interrup- tion. "In Canada better is always possible," a hoarse but jubilant Trudeau told cheering support- ers at Liberal headquarters in Montreal's Queen elizabeth ho- tel. "Canadians from all across this great country sent a clear message tonight, it's time for a change in this country, my friends, a real change." Opinion polls before the vote had pointed to a hung parlia- ment, but in the event the elec- tion resulted in a resounding defeat for harper. his Conserv- ative party fell from 166 seats to about 101 as a red wave swept out Tory incumbents across the country. The Conservatives an- nounced they would be seeking an interim leader in the coming days. The Liberal victory was also a punishing defeat for the left- leaning New Democrats, which had started the 11-week cam- paign appearing to be within reach of power for the first time in its history, but ended up with just 42 seats. A Liberal Party's election promises include ending Can- ada's combat mission as part of the US-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and refocus- ing military efforts on training local forces and humanitarian efforts. Trudeau has also committed to bringing in 25,000 Syrian ref- ugees to Canada and investing $250m into refugee processing. he has committed to pull- ing Canada out of the new F-35 stealth fighter jet program, a 12-country partnership that includes the US, UK and Aus- tralia. The Liberals have also com- mitted to launching a national inquiry into missing and mur- dered indigenous women – something harper repeatedly refused to do – amending the Conservative's controversial anti-terrorism bill and legaliz- ing marijuana in Canada. Tru- deau also promised to eliminate the first-past-the-post electoral system before the next general election. Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Gregoire, celebrate his victory with Liberal supporters Israeli soldier stabbed and Palestinian attacker shot as violence continues AN Israeli soldier has been stabbed and a Palestinian at- tacker shot in the latest attack in a wave of violence in Israel and the occupied territories. It came as Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, journeyed to urge both Israeli and Palestin- ian leaders to end the "posturing and brinkmanship" and work to- wards a two-state solution. Ban also told Israelis that he understood their concerns and fears due to the security dete- rioration, but added there was no military solution to the situ- ation. earlier on Tuesday, a Palestin- ian man has been killed by Israeli forces near the city of hebron in the occupied West Bank after he allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier, as violence f lared in sev- eral other towns across the occu- pied territories. In a separate incident on Tues- day, an Israeli settler was killed when he was reportedly run over by a Palestinian man near hebron. Witnesses said the set- tler was attacking cars in the area before he was hit by one of the vehicles. Meanwhile, violent clashes broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces at a rally in Beit el near Ramallah, where Israeli forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds. Triggered by Israeli incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque com- pound last month, violence and protests against Israel's occupa- tion have increased in frequency across the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of Octo- ber, 45 Palestinians have been killed in shootings and clashes with Israeli forces in the occu- pied Palestinian territories and Israel, while eight Israelis have been killed in knife and gun at- tacks. An eritrean asylum seeker was killed after he was mistaken for a Palestinian attacker during a raid in southern Israel. Hamas leader arrested Tuesday's incidents came after Israeli security forces arrested hassan Yusef, one of hamas' top figures in the West Bank, in an overnight raid near Ramallah on Monday. "During the night, forces of the army and the Shin Bet [internal security service] arrested hassan Yusef, a hamas leader, in Beitu- nia, southwest of Ramallah," an army statement said on Tuesday. Yusef has been arrested by the Israeli authorities several times, starting from 1993, and became the visible leader of the second Intifada which started in 2000. In 2005, he was nominated to represent hamas during the elections as an absentee candi- date as he was in jail. Marine Le Pen charged with hate speech MARINe Le Pen, the leader of France's far-right Front Nation- al, yesterday appeared in court in Lyon, to answer charges of inciting racial hatred, for com- paring Muslims praying in the street to the Nazi occupation. Four anti-racism and human rights groups have brought a case against her on charges of "incitement to discrimination, violence or hatred towards a group of people on the basis of their religion". The trial is the first time Le Pen has faced charges for hate speech, although her father and party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has several convictions under the charge, including one for contesting crimes against humanity after saying the Nazi occupation of France was not "particularly inhumane". Le Pen made her comments in a speech during a party rally in Lyon in 2010. She referred to "street prayers" after there had been reports of Muslims praying in public in three French cities, including Paris, because of a lack of mosques or a lack of space in local prayer rooms. She said: "I'm sorry, but for those who really like to talk about the second world war, if we're talking about occupation, we can also talk about this while we're at it, because this is an oc- cupation of territory," she told supporters, prompting waves of applause. "It's an occupation of swaths of territory, of areas in which reli- gious laws apply … for sure, there are no tanks, no soldiers, but it's an occupation all the same and it weighs on people." When the european parliament lifted Le Pen's parliamentary immunity in July 2013, a prelim- inary inquiry was opened. The penalty for inciting racial hatred in France is up to a year in prison and a €45,000 fine. Le Pen's anti-immigration and anti-eU message is attract- ing growing support in France. her party is hoping to win two French regions in December lo- cal elections. Alarm at the rise of the Na- tional Front prompted Presi- dent Francois hollande to warn France not to take the risk of backing the far right. Le Pen took over the party's leadership in 2011 and has since tried to steer the party away from its racist and anti-Semitic past. Le Pen is banking on the weak- ness of hollande to beat him in the first round of voting in the 2017 Presidential election. That would lead to a rerun of 2002, when her father beat Socialist Lionel Jospin in the first round. he was then trounced by the centre-right incumbent Jacques Chirac after leftist voters held their noses and voted for Chirac to keep the elder Le Pen out. The far-right politician Marine Le Pen appeared in court after comparing Muslims praying in the street to the Nazi occupation