This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. In effect until 10 AM Tuesday morning along & west of I-35. Very large hail and isolated tornadoes possible RADARTrump's campaign insults complicate Merkel's visitby KEN THOMAS and JILL COLVIN WASHINGTON (AP) — If President Donald Trump wanted a close working relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel he had a funny way of showing it during his presidential campaign Trump, who will welcome Merkel to the White House on Friday, spent much of 2016 bashing the chancellor, accusing her of "ruining" Germany for allowing an influx of refugees from Syria. "You watch what happens to Angela Merkel who I always thought of as a very good leader until she did this I don't know what went wrong with her," said then-candidate Trump at an August rally in Virginia Trump may not ask the same question directly to Merkel as the leaders of the Western world's most influential counties meet face-to-face for the first time A snowstorm forced them to postpone their plans for a meeting on Tuesday The itinerary includes discussions on strengthening NATO fighting the Islamic State group and resolving Ukraine's conflict all matters that require close cooperation between the U.S The meeting will be capped with a joint news conference the sit-down could be a restart of a relationship complicated by Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail Then, Trump seemed to care little about the potentially awkward ramifications were he to win He invoked Merkel as a foil at his rallies of wanting to be "America's Angela Merkel." He lashed out at Time magazine when it named Merkel "Person of the Year" in 2015 instead of him When a television station in September asked him to name a world leader he admired In his meetings with world leaders since the inauguration Trump has adopted a more diplomatic public persona He recently spent a weekend bonding with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe golfing and dining with Abe at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida He has cultivated a closer friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu But Merkel is used to an altogether different type of American leader having shared a strong bond with President Barack Obama She was the last of Obama's key European allies still in power when he left office And as the leader of Europe's biggest economy and most stable government Merkel emerged in recent years as the leading voice for a continent struggling with slow growth identity issues and increased security threats after a string of terrorist attacks Obama and his wife called Merkel and her husband on the day before Trump's inauguration to thank her for "her strong courageous and steady leadership." It was Obama's final call with a foreign leader Merkel's first major encounter with Trump comes as she seeks a fourth term as chancellor in elections later this year She has acknowledged the contest could be difficult and has stressed a need for stability after Britain's decision to leave the European Union She reportedly has studied Trump's speeches and policies in advance of her trip a fellow with The German Marshall Fund of the United States said Merkel has little reason to dwell on Trump's past comments "Merkel is extremely pragmatic in her approach here but she's also going to have some situations in which it will be tough for her to give too much," Keil said Trump has rattled European leaders with his "America first" mantra He also backed Brexit and is skeptical of multilateral trade agreements Merkel is expected to reiterate her belief that a strong EU remains in America's strategic and economic interests a message she shared last month in Munich with Vice President Mike Pence She also is expected to bring with her a trade delegation that includes top executives of BMW and Siemens employers of tens of thousands of Americans Many live in Southern states that Trump won in the U.S Trump declared NATO "obsolete" before telling European leaders the alliance remains important But he is expected to reiterate calls for NATO members to meet a minimum commitment for defense spending and four other members currently reach the benchmark of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense "This is not a meeting to go through the list," said Heather Conley senior vice president for Europe at the Center for Strategic & International Studies "It's actually a really important meeting to set up the tone for the relationship in itself." Trump and Merkel's encounter held the promise of creating "a modus vivendi for these two leaders to really create a more stable framework for this critical relationship." Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin may have sparked a wave of commentary and analysis, but it was an offhand remark from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that gave birth to a meme Responding to questions about the National Security Agency’s PRISM program during a joint press conference with the U.S Merkel noted that the “Internet is new territory “And it also enables our enemies,” she continued And this is why we value cooperation with the United States on questions of security The web may not exactly be a new invention but governments around the world are still assessing its impact and capabilities especially after the recent revelations about American spying German Internet users are not so forgiving The German term Merkel used for “uncharted territory,” neuland (literally “new land”) conjured up images of 15th-century explorers discovering previously unknown lands the closest analogy for Americans might be former Alaskan Sen Ted Stevens’ infamous description of the Internet as a “series of tubes.” Germans are nothing if not avid web users (German Wikipedia is the third-largest edition of the online encyclopedia in the world even though German is only the 12th-most spoken language on the globe) and Merkel’s comments quickly spawned a full-blown Internet meme — replete with a hashtag Sign In Register Oak Ridges resident Aizick Grimman with his sons Atticus (front) and Thaddeus playing a few tunes on the piano Oak Ridges resident Aizick Grimman in his backyard Norma McCullough and husband Bill are from Oak Ridges ISSUE: Voters in Aurora — Oak Ridges — Richmond Hill react to Canada's election debateLOCAL IMPACT: Leaders cross swords but local voters aren't swayed and the information within may be out of date we’re focusing on you the voters and how you perceive the important issues The Richmond Hill Liberal and Aurora Banner recruited several local voters in the riding of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill to follow the campaign the English leaders’ debate was front and centre and our local voters were watching This piece is their take-aways from the debate This is the second of three stories about how voters in Aurora Oak Ridges and Richmond Hill feel about the candidates their platforms and the outcome of the 2019 federal election Aizick Grimman has been “waffling” for weeks “I have significant concerns about the Liberals and law and order polls show it will either go to Liberals or Conservatives It’s why he was keen to watch the debate “I was really hoping the Conservatives would get my attention.” But Grimman was disappointed to see Scheer focused on trashing Trudeau’s climate performance without facts It just added to his disappointment that “the local candidate (Leona Alleslev) didn’t even show up for the climate protest She took a flight instead of seeing what her constituents were up to.” he researched what Trudeau said about his climate and poverty platforms and determined “his numbers hold up.” It takes works to research beyond the headlines “We have three kids and a house and I run a business and my wife works full-time and is doing her masters — but we can still find the time We’ve got to participate or someone else will participate on our behalf.” There were times it felt like the tower of babble but Norma McCullough is glad she listened to the leaders I don’t remember past debates being like that … guttery like kids in a sandbox trying to out-insult each other.” she says she learned something — and what she learned did not change her mind she expects that if they do win this time around The debate helped her distinguish between the leaders Scheer bothered her with his immediate attack on Trudeau Singh gained some points with his clear and genuine-sounding presentation “It struck my heart when he spoke about living his whole life feeling different she says she had forgotten all about the Québécois believing they were a separate country and was startled to see leader Yves-François Blanchet there She was even more surprised to see Maxime Bernier with his polarizing words I could see the differences between all the candidates.” This was Katherine Loughlin’s first debate but he danced around the question of the Lavalin scandal and “I don’t understand how he can be pro-climate and be buying pipelines and promoting oil.” Yet she doesn’t trust Scheer and didn’t like how he focused on attacking Trudeau At least he sounded genuine and didn’t talk in riddles It would have been nice to have less shouting and more explanation about the parties’ policies “Anyone can do a presentation with all the gobbledygook “a spitfire” who impressed her with her confidence and knowledge The debate has prompted her to relisten to the federal debate and she plans to attend the local candidates event It’ a duty and privilege to be able to vote.” Josh D’Silva had been leaning toward Liberals and the debate didn’t cause him to stray too far but it did make him consider the NDP leader a viable candidate but I do question where the money will come from to fund all the social services he promises.’ Debates are a good way for leaders to differentiate themselves “It’s just part of the process … At the end of the day The federal debate came at the kids’ bedtime so Steven Olidis had to record and listen later “it felt like the leaders were behaving the same way Olidis had been wavering between NDP or Liberal with plans to vote strategically to defeat Conservatives But Olidis was unexpectedly impressed by the NDP leader I can see him having an allure to millennials It’s like he’s stuck on the same old regurgitated talking points.” “I liked how she told the PM he wouldn’t likely get a majority and told Scheer his cuts to foreign aid were the worst in his non-platform.” Olidis doesn’t’ think the debate will have pushed the needle for many people was keen to take part in this dialogue but when debate night rolled around she found herself sick in bed but it’s not something I’d normally watch anyway as I really don’t follow politics strongly I tend to rely on what I read about each party’s campaign and go from there.” You can hear your local all-candidates debate at the Richmond Hill Board of Trade event: As part of our election coverage focusing on you we reached out asking residents to share their views with reporter Kim Zarzour Several Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill voters stepped forward to get involved in our coverage is a former investigative/analysis reporter with YorkRegion.com Kim is author of several non-fiction books She has been education reporter and feature writer with the Toronto Star Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account With opinion polls indicating Angela Merkel is likely to win a fourth term in office she could go on to become Germany's longest serving Chancellor RTÉ News takes a look back at her journey so far she married fellow student Ulrich Merkel in 1977 Merkel later married chemistry professor Joachim Sauer Merkel holds a doctorate in physical chemistry After the peaceful revolution of 1989 which saw the fall of the Berlin Wall Merkel joined an opposition political movement which later merged with the Christian Democratic Union the party she has led for nearly two decades Merkel was elected to the constituency of Stralsund-Rügen-Grimmen in 1990 She became a protégé of former chancellor Helmut Kohl who later appointed her minister for women Merkel took over as leader of the CDU in 2000 who secured the right to be the bloc’s candidate for chancellor Here they share a drink at Oktoberfest days before the election which Stoiber lost to Gerhard Schröder and the Social Democrats (SPD) Merkel was confirmed as the bloc’s candidate The election was so tight that incumbent chancellor Schröder claimed victory and said he planned to stay in his role agreeing a coalition with Schröder’s SPD and the liberal Free Democratic Party becoming Germany’s first female chancellor Merkel and Polish leader Donald Tusk announced plans for the EU to proceed with ratification of the Lisbon Treaty despite Ireland rejecting it in a referendum After securing a major win with ratification of the Lisbon Treaty Merkel’s CDU was again returned as the largest party with a gain in seats enabling Merkel to form a government with the support of the CSU and the FDP In a speech to the youth wing of her party Merkel said that Germany’s policy of multiculturalism had “utterly failed” Merkel was under pressure following expensive bailouts in Europe Merkel shared a strong working relationship with former US president Barack Obama She was the last person he phoned as president After an immigration crisis in the summer of 2015 Merkel signalled a major shift in Germany’s refugee policy a move which won her international plaudits but attracted criticism at home Merkel poses for a selfie with Anas Modamani after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for migrants and refugees Merkel’s relationship with US President Donald Trump differs markedly from her relationship with Obama She has publicly disagreed with him on several key issues Merkel is strong favourite to secure a fourth term with a sizeable poll lead over Martin Schulz and the SPD RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.