标签： North America

WASHINGTON — In a seismic shakeup that has thrown Capitol Hill into unprecedented chaos and drawn bipartisan condemnation, two sitting U.S. House of Representatives members submitted their resignations Monday, as two additional lawmakers face mounting pressure and the growing threat of rare expulsion votes over a cascade of overlapping personal and ethical scandals.

The first departure came from Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California, who announced his resignation in a post on the social platform X Monday morning. Swalwell, who had already dropped out of the 2026 California gubernatorial race, stepped down days after multiple women came forward with public allegations of sexual assault and professional misconduct.

Just hours after Swalwell’s announcement, Republican Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas revealed he would leave office immediately rather than finish his current term. Gonzales’s decision comes after he confirmed he had engaged in an extramarital affair with a former congressional aide who later died by suicide. Top House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, had already privately and publicly pressured Gonzales to abandon his reelection bid, and growing calls for his resignation left him with no path to remain in office.

The resignations have set off a broader reckoning in the chamber, where lawmakers are already preparing disciplinary action against two additional Florida-based House members: Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Republican Representative Cory Mills, who are each facing separate unconnected ethical controversies that have eroded cross-party support for their continued service.

New York Democratic Representative Nydia Velazquez, who has led the cross-party push for accountability, voiced the widespread sentiment of anger among rank-and-file lawmakers in a social media post Monday. “Congress should not tolerate representatives who abuse staff, betray public trust for personal gain, and generally violate their oath of office,” she wrote, adding that all four scandal-tarred lawmakers should step down voluntarily, and face expulsion if they refuse to leave.

Expulsion from the House is one of the harshest disciplinary actions the chamber can impose, requiring a two-thirds majority vote to pass. The threshold is so high that in the 237-year history of the House, Congress has only removed six sitting members via expulsion, reserving the penalty only for the most severe violations of public trust.

Swalwell’s scandal moved at a breakneck pace over the weekend, after major U.S. outlets the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN published detailed reporting outlining allegations from four separate women. One accuser, a former member of Swalwell’s congressional staff, told reporters he sexually assaulted her twice on occasions when she was too intoxicated to give legal consent.

Swalwell has pushed back against the most serious allegations, insisting all claims of sexual assault are completely false. He has, however, apologized publicly for what he describes as “mistakes in judgment” made during his time in office. “I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make,” Swalwell said in a statement announcing his resignation.

Even after Swalwell suspended his gubernatorial campaign, the backlash against him continued to build, with lawmakers from both major parties calling for him to leave Congress immediately. A scheduled expulsion resolution from Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna had been set for a vote Tuesday, and cross-party support for expulsion votes for all four implicated lawmakers has already been confirmed by lawmakers across the ideological spectrum.

The cascading scandals have created an unprecedented moment for the narrow divided House, where a series of vacancies and leadership fights have already slowed legislative work for months. The upcoming expulsion votes, which would be among only a handful in U.S. history, mark one of the most broad-ranging ethical purges in modern congressional history.

Following a series of landmark high-level exchanges between China and Canada, Canadian policy and academic experts say Ottawa is moving toward a distinctly pragmatic approach to resetting its strained bilateral relationship with Beijing, after years of diplomatic friction.

The turning point traces back to the January meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a gathering that former senior Global Affairs Canada official Jeff Mahon described as laying the groundwork for a “positive upward trajectory” in Canada-China relations.

Mahon, who previously served as deputy director of Global Affairs Canada’s China division, noted that both governments have already taken tangible, good-faith steps to advance cooperation. Most notably, the two sides have moved forward with commitments outlined in a preliminary agreement-in-principle, launching measures to roll back some of the restrictive trade barriers that have hampered bilateral commerce for years.

“While more work remains to be done in order to deepen and expand collaboration, these initial steps highlight the good-faith approach adopted by the two leaders,” Mahon told China Daily in an interview.

The most recent concrete demonstration of Ottawa’s outreach came with an official visit to Beijing by Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, a trip that experts frame as a direct follow-through on the January summit outcomes. To expand structured, institutional cooperation, Mahon explained that both countries are advancing joint initiatives aligned with a pre-agreed bilateral road map, and have formally agreed to establish a new financial working group. This new body will create dedicated channels for regulatory and policy officials to deepen collaboration across Canada’s competitive financial services sector, opening new doors for private sector engagement on both sides.

More frequent high-level dialogue has also emerged as a core pillar of the improved relationship, creating space for candid, constructive exchanges on thorny sensitive issues while creating momentum for expanded collaborative work, Mahon added. This shift, he noted, reflects a deliberate broader policy reorientation by the Canadian federal government in Ottawa.

Even as ties warm, both sides will need to manage existing differences with deliberate care, experts emphasize. Resolving long-running trade frictions remains a critical priority: this includes forging durable solutions to persistent trade irritants, particularly in the agricultural sector, and negotiating expanded mutual market access that benefits producers and businesses on both sides. Against a backdrop of widespread global economic uncertainty, sustaining this stable, constructive trajectory is essential for both economies, Mahon added.

Jiang Wenran, founding director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, explained that since Carney took office, Ottawa has made a deliberate push to rebuild closer bilateral ties and move past the diplomatic standoffs that defined Canada-China relations in previous years. This policy shift, Jiang noted, has earned broad support from most Canadian provincial premiers, the national business community, and a growing share of the Canadian public, though it still faces scattered political opposition. Security-focused policy debates remain one of the most prominent constraints on deeper bilateral engagement, he added.

Ottawa has formally moved forward with what it frames as a “new strategic partnership” with Beijing, and has begun implementing all agreements reached at the leaders’ summit, Jiang said. Early areas of expanding cooperation include electric vehicle supply chains, cross-border energy trade, and financial sector collaboration.

Against that backdrop, Champagne’s Beijing visit — which included a large delegation of Canadian business leaders — stands as a tangible step toward turning summit consensus into actionable cooperation. The trip also highlights Ottawa’s commitment to deepening financial sector collaboration, a field where Canadian financial institutions have long-standing global expertise and competitive advantages. Beyond bilateral ties, Jiang noted that the visit also fits into Canada’s broader strategy to diversify its international economic partnerships, reducing overreliance on a single trade partner.

A key sign of deepening institutional engagement, Jiang added, is the planned launch of a new bilateral policy forum: the China-Canada Economic and Financial Strategic Dialogue, scheduled to convene in the second half of 2026.

Jiang explained that Canada’s current approach aligns with what Prime Minister Carney has described as an independent “third path” in foreign policy. A sustainable, durable China policy requires Canada to pursue an independent diplomatic course, he noted — one that does not automatically align with the United States’ strategic containment approach toward China.

Fresh diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Iran are on the cusp of resuming this week in Pakistan, with US Vice President JD Vance confirming he will spearhead the push for a sweeping, comprehensive ‘grand bargain’ between the two long-adversarial nations. Vance laid out the administration’s negotiating goals during a public event hosted in Athens, Georgia, at the University of Georgia on April 14, 2026, just days after he led an initial 21-hour closed-door negotiating session with Iranian delegates in Pakistan over the weekend.

Decades of deep-rooted mistrust have separated Washington and Tehran, but Vance stressed that all stakeholders at the upcoming talks in Islamabad are aligned in their goal of reaching a viable final agreement. He emphasized that US President Donald Trump has rejected incremental, small-scale agreements in favor of a far-reaching deal that enshrines one non-negotiable core US priority: preventing Iran from developing an operational nuclear weapon.

According to a Tuesday CNN report citing anonymous sources close to the planning process, Vance will not be the only senior US representative at the potential second round of talks. He will be joined by two other high-profile members of the US negotiating team: Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law and former senior White House advisor Jared Kushner. While Trump confirmed the likelihood of new negotiations in the coming days, a senior anonymous US official clarified that no formal agenda or timeline has been finalized for the follow-up meeting, noting that logistical plans are still under active discussion.

Speaking in a phone interview with The New York Post earlier on Tuesday, Trump confirmed that the next round of talks could get underway within 48 hours in Pakistan. “Something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” the president told the outlet.

On Monday, Trump publicly identified the core sticking point in the initial round of negotiations: Iran’s nuclear program. He added that retrieving Iran’s existing stockpiles of enriched uranium is a top US priority for the talks. Initial proposals presented in the first session highlight the gap between the two sides’ positions, The New York Times reported Monday. Washington has tabled a proposal calling for a 20-year pause on all of Iran’s sensitive nuclear activities, while Tehran has countered with an offer to suspend its nuclear program for a maximum of five years.

The potential for a major breakthrough in US-Iran relations comes after more than 40 years of severed formal diplomatic ties, making these talks one of the most significant diplomatic overtures between the two nations in modern history. The outcome of the negotiations could have far-reaching implications for regional security in the Middle East and global non-proliferation efforts.

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) – In a recent interview with FOX News on Tuesday, former and current U.S. President Donald Trump made a striking announcement regarding the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, stating that the war is “very close” to being completed. The comment comes amid long-standing geopolitical tensions between Washington and Tehran that have escalated into open military conflict in recent years, drawing global concern over regional stability and energy market disruptions across the Asia-Pacific and beyond. While Trump did not elaborate on specific timelines or terms for a potential end to the conflict, his remark has sparked immediate analysis from international policy circles over what a nearing conclusion to the conflict could mean for global geopolitics, energy security, and diplomatic relations across the Middle East. This development arrives alongside a raft of other shifting global political dynamics, from changing regional policy approaches in Southeast Asia to debates over multipolar global governance that are reshaping international order.

In a major legal shift aligned with former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign pledges, the U.S. Department of Justice has formally requested a federal appeals court to dismiss the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 individuals connected to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

When Trump took office for his second term, he moved quickly to grant clemency to hundreds of people charged or convicted over their roles in the insurrection, issuing full pardons or sentence commutations to more than 1,500 individuals on his first day in office. Though Trump issued over 1,000 full pardons to January 6 rioters, he opted only to commute the sentences of the 12 rioters—most of whom are affiliated with the far-right militia groups the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. This commutation allowed the defendants to secure early release from prison, but left their felony convictions intact on their official criminal records.

In a court filing submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia stated that “The United States has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice.”

Among the 12 individuals seeking full expungement of their convictions is Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia. A former U.S. Army paratrooper and Yale-trained lawyer, Rhodes led a contingent of Oath Keepers members to Washington, D.C., on the day of the riot, where the group plotted to disrupt Congress’s formal certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump. Prosecutors proved during Rhodes’ 2023 trial that the group stored weapons in a Virginia hotel room across the Potomac River, and that while Rhodes never entered the Capitol building himself, he directed his followers’ actions from outside the building during the melee. He was originally sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of seditious conspiracy, the charge of attempting to overthrow the lawful U.S. government. The D.C. Circuit has set an April 17 deadline for all parties to submit formal filings in the expungement cases. If the court grants the DOJ’s request to throw out the convictions, it will eliminate the need for the Trump administration’s DOJ to defend the original convictions in ongoing expungement proceedings.

Notably, former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique “Henry” Tarrio, who was also convicted of seditious conspiracy over his role in organizing the riot and was originally sentenced to 22 years in prison, received a full pardon from Trump rather than a commutation, so he is not included in this latest request.

A successful ruling dismissing the convictions would mark a key symbolic victory for Trump, who centered a major campaign promise on supporting and pardoning rioters who participated in the insurrection aimed at overturning his 2020 election loss.

In a striking fusion of athletic competition and high-level diplomacy, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb took to the ice together for a friendly hockey game during Carney’s first official bilateral visit to Canada’s capital. The unlikely pairing of two heads of state on a hockey rink, with both leaders suiting up to join the Ottawa Charge amateur team, turned a routine diplomatic meeting into a memorable display of cross-national connection.

Diplomatic summits and formal bilateral talks often rely on carefully staged photo opportunities and rigid policy discussions, but this event broke with tradition. Carney, a Canadian leader with longstanding ties to the country’s beloved national sport, joined Stubb – an avid hockey enthusiast – for the casual game, showcasing the shared cultural love of hockey that unites both Nordic and North American nations.

The visit marks Carney’s first formal one-on-one bilateral engagement with a European head of state since taking office, making the informal athletic interlude more than just a recreational activity. Analysts view the moment as a deliberate, approachable gesture to strengthen people-to-people ties between Canada and Finland, two nations that already cooperate closely on Arctic security, climate action, and trade. By meeting on the ice rather than just in a cabinet room, the leaders signaled a willingness to build a more personal, open working relationship ahead of formal policy negotiations scheduled during the visit.

Local spectators at the Ottawa rink called the event a welcome break from typical stuffy political events, with many fans capturing photos of the two leaders skating alongside amateur teammates. The game itself remained low-stakes, focused on fun rather than competition, but the symbolic weight of the moment resonated far beyond the rink’s boards: it demonstrated how shared cultural passions can serve as a foundation for deeper diplomatic cooperation in an increasingly divided global political landscape.

In a seismic development that has sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, two sitting U.S. congressmembers — one Republican and one Democrat — formally stepped down from their congressional seats this week, exiting office amid mounting ethical pressure and public allegations of sexual misconduct.

Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzales was the second lawmaker to submit his resignation on Tuesday, capping weeks of growing controversy that began when he ultimately confirmed a years-long extramarital affair with a married congressional staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles. Santos-Aviles died by suicide in September 2025 near her Uvalde, Texas home after setting herself on fire, a finding confirmed by the local medical examiner and first reported by CBS News, the U.S. partner of the BBC.

The timeline of the scandal accelerated rapidly over the past month. Gonzales, who had initially dismissed the claims of an affair as a coordinated political blackmail campaign to force him out of office, had already announced he would not seek re-election in the November 2026 midterm vote. But as new details of his misconduct emerged and a formal congressional ethics probe was launched, pressure for an immediate departure grew overwhelming.

Parallel developments unfolded for California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell, who faced a separate set of public allegations ranging from sexual harassment to assault against a former member of his own staff. After the allegations became public over the weekend, a groundswell of bipartisan criticism erupted, and congressional leadership moved quickly to open a formal ethics inquiry and debate holding full votes to expel both men from office. Maneuvering to avoid a humiliating forced expulsion — which would have cost both lawmakers their post-congressional pension benefits — both lawmakers opted to submit voluntary resignations, effective immediately this week.

Swalwell, who had been running for the Democratic nomination for California governor before the allegations broke, dropped his gubernatorial campaign Sunday and announced his resignation Monday, even as he and his legal team have forcefully denied all claims against him. “These accusations are false, fabricated, and deeply offensive – a calculated and transparent political hit job,” said Swalwell’s attorney Sara Azari. In his final resignation letter submitted Tuesday, however, Swalales offered a muted apology, writing: “I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgement I’ve made in my past.”

Gonzales, for his part, offered only a brief farewell in his own resignation letter, noting: “It has been my privilege to serve the residents of Texas’s 23rd congressional district.”

The dual resignations, one from each major political party, have little impact on the partisan balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a narrow but stable majority. Even with the two vacancies, Republicans will retain their controlling grip on the chamber for the remainder of the 119th Congress.

The scandal has already reignited broader conversations about congressional accountability, workplace culture on Capitol Hill, and the leniency of rules that allow members accused of misconduct to resign voluntarily and retain taxpayer-funded benefits, rather than face expulsion and lose those privileges.