The Pentagon is halting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender troops as it takes steps to remove them from the US armed forces.
“I am directing you to take the necessary steps to immediately implement this guidance,” Stephen Ferrara, the acting assistant secretary of defence for health affairs, said in a memo.
The Defence Health Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Trump said American businesses would “walk away with a lot of cheques” as he visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as part of a tour of the Middle East.
Among the deals already signed is “the largest defence sales agreement in history” worth $142 billion, the White House said. It includes providing Saudi Arabia with “state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen US defence firms”.
Elections Canada says it is investigating after a voter in a Quebec riding came forward with an envelope that had been returned to sender.
Inside was a vote for the Bloc Québécois in the Terrebonne riding, where, as it stands, incoming Liberal MP Tatiana Auguste was declared the winner by one vote after several recounts.
Elections Canada said the return address printed on this elector’s return envelope was incorrect — specifically, part of the postal code.
Good thread at the link, h/t Mauser
I expect that the BQ will contest the Terrebonne election, and the Terrebonne election will be annulled, leading to a by-election.
The story:
April 5: Elector sends mail ballot using Elections Canada pre-addressed envelope.
May 2: Ballot is returned due to incorrect postal code. https://t.co/kxdyCk7i7T— Election Watcher (@CdnElectWatch) May 12, 2025
The trial of American music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is accused of running a sprawling sex trafficking operation, has heard opening statements.
The 55-year-old was arrested last September and faces charges including racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
Mr Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations against him.
In the face of U.S. tariffs, Honda said on Monday that it would shift production of one of its popular vehicles from Ontario to a U.S. factory and postpone an $11 billion plan to make electric vehicles and batteries in Canada.
The announcement came less than a month after Honda denied a report in the Japanese media that President Trump’s tariffs would force it to pull back in Canada.
Video surfaces of an extremely long Toronto job fair lineup pic.twitter.com/uXMucx4MyI
— 6ixBuzzTV (@6ixbuzztv) May 13, 2025
Hi-ho, it’s back to the cinema for Disney’s flop live-action Snow White. Having originally crashed and burned in March, the movie misfired all over again after the House of Mouse re-released it in the US last week. Talk about putting the “grim” in Grimm Fairy Tale.
Disney’s apparent calculation was that that the advent of summer blockbuster season could give this dead-on-arrival feature a new lease of life. You can sort of appreciate the logic: after all, May saw the ailing Marvel Cinematic Universe return from purgatory when Thunderbolts proved a surprise hit.
OTTAWA — A prominent gun control group is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to act swiftly to implement key Liberal election commitments on firearms.
In a letter to Carney, PolySeSouvient says the mandate letter for the next public safety minister should include a commitment to “timely delivery” of promised reforms, especially the buyback of banned firearms.
PolySeSouvient includes students and graduates of Montreal’s École Polytechnique, where a gunman killed 14 women in 1989.
Episcopal Church ends federal refugee partnership because of “moral opposition” to Trump resettling white South Africans
H/T Patti Jo, DS and Mauser
In addition to selecting an interim Opposition leader in the House on May 6 while Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre remains without a seat in the House of Commons, Tory MPs also voted to invoke the federal Reform Act, which allows for a secret-ballot vote to review party leadership at any time.
While many Conservative MPs have expressed their support for Poilievre, the legislation could haunt him as he gets ready for the next federal election.
A former Pentagon contractor works with secretive sections of US special forces, then ups and moves to Russia. He gets married, radicalizes and starts popping up on Telegram channels as the leader of a neo-Nazi terrorist group recruiting Americans.
Soon, allegations swirl that he is a Russian spy.
While this sounds like something Tom Clancy would write, it is reality: Rinaldo Nazzaro, better known as the leader of the Base, once worked in drone targeting with the US Special Operations Command in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recently, the Guardian revealed allegations from inside the Base that he was long suspected of working with the FSB, one of Russia’s main intelligence services.
Japan’s Honda Motor Co. forecast a 59 per cent profit decrease in the current financial year and said it would put on hold a plan to build an EV supply chain in Canada, amid the uncertainty stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Honda’s forecast is the latest signal of the difficulty car makers are having navigating Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made automobiles at the same time the industry is being hit by the rise of Chinese EV producers.
Even the keenest of celebrity watchers may not have heard of Aaron De Niro before late last month. If they have since, it will likely be by a different name, as Oscar-winner Robert De Niro’s 29-year-old child says she now identifies as Airyn, a transgender woman.
“There’s a difference between visible and being seen,” she told online LGBTQ+ online publication Them in April about her transition. “I’ve been visible. [But] I don’t think I’ve been seen yet.”
De Niro, who has seven children in total, said he supported her decision. “I loved and supported Aaron as my son and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter,” the A-lister said, adding: “I don’t know what the big deal is…I love all my children.”
I believe the phenomenon to be a Biblical curse upon Hollywood’s denizens.
