The Washington Post this week reported that Xi Jinping, on the eve of his summit with President Donald Trump, is “confident in China’s power.” The country, from the outside, looks strong.
Xi’s inward-facing actions, however, betray a deep sense of insecurity. Trump can take advantage of it.
TORONTO — Education Minister Paul Calandra has denied a request to overturn a Catholic school board’s decision not to fly the Pride flag because he cannot interfere in denominational issues, even in boards under supervision.
Trustees at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board voted two years ago against allowing flags marking Pride and other events.
Gullible New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, always willing to see the best side of Saddam Hussein and fanatical Islamic radicalism and the worst side of democratic Israel, penned a long investigative column, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” alleging without corroboration that Israel soldiers, settlers, and especially prison guards have long committed sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. The most fantastical charge: Israel prisons train dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners.
A Montreal-based real-estate company has snapped up $30 million of unsold condo units in downtown Toronto, with a plan to buy $500 million worth over the next year.
Jesta Group, a family-owned global real-estate firm, recently bought a portfolio of condos in bulk at a recently completed building near Toronto Metropolitan University, said Anthony O’Brien, the firm’s senior managing director.
O’Brien said he’s not able to speak about the details or reveal the name of the building due to a confidentiality agreement. But the plan is to hold the units as rentals until the market turns around, which they predict will happen in three to five years.
Alex Murdaugh — the disgraced South Carolina legal scion who was found guilty of killing his wife and son — had his murder convictions sensationally overturned Wednesday by the state Supreme Court after it found that the local county clerk had “placed her fingers on the scales of justice.”
Murdaugh, 57, was serving two consecutive life sentences without parole for the grisly 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, following a dramatic, six-week trial that gripped the nation in 2023.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is avidly wooing the west — but will his own caucus trip him up? Last Friday, Carney met with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to reassure her that Ottawa’s got her back on a second bitumen pipeline from Alberta to Canada’s West Coast. After the tête-à-tête Smith said, “This morning I said ‘if’ a deal gets signed, and afterwards I said ‘when’ a deal gets signed,” describing it as “an indication of my improved level of confidence.”
It feels like California is the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) espionage playground. There’s been more than one rogue Chinese bio lab filled with germs, bugs, and diseases busted by law enforcement. Chinese spy balloons lazily hoovered up intelligence over sensitive U.S. installations across America. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s spymaster chauffeur and body man probably heard all manner of secrets from her days chairing the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Judiciary Committee, and the defense subcommittee, but no biggie. Nobody was arrested. Eric Swalwell was a dim city councilor until he met PRC honeypot Fang Fang, who propelled him to a congressional post where he dished bad intel to the American public and who knows what to Double Fang. And now we have the continuation of the curious case of the after-school tutor-turned-Arcadia mayor and her personal Double Fang handler. Oh, excuse me: fiancé.
The federal government and the Alberta government are nailing down a deal on industrial carbon pricing, largely considered Canada’s most important policy for driving down harmful greenhouse gas pollution.
CBC News has confirmed that both levels of government have agreed that Alberta’s effective carbon price would increase to $130/tonne by 2040
I guess Carney is happy.
Academy Award-winning director Christopher Nolan has defended his casting decisions for his upcoming epic The Odyssey following online backlash.
With the release of the newest trailer last week, online chatter attacked the film for some of the casting decisions, such as rapper Travis Scott. Speaking with TIME in a lengthy profile, the acclaimed filmmaker said he wanted Scott as a symbol for stories like Homer’s The Odyssey being passed down as oral poetry.
So far, four cabinet ministers have quit and 80 MPs — about 20% of his caucus — have called for him to resign, but British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he will stay on. Here in Canada, Mark Carney must be looking sideways and hoping that he isn’t next.
The Central Intelligence Agency vehemently denied reports of its participation in deadly operations against drug cartels in Mexico.
On Tuesday, CNN published a report alleging that the CIA had vastly expanded its operations in Mexico against drug cartels, including getting directly involved in assassinations of cartel figures. The most notable was its alleged facilitation of a car bombing on a busy Mexican highway that killed Francisco “El Payin” Beltran on March 28. CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons denied the report in strong terms, accusing the outlet of endangering American lives.
Are Canadians reaching their ‘breaking point’? New data shows more people filing for insolvency
More Canadians are filing for insolvency according to the latest data from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, as rising costs stretch consumers to their limits.
Some 37,121 Canadians filed for insolvency in the first quarter of 2026 — the highest number of consumer insolvencies since 2009, when North America was reeling from the financial crisis.
Compared to the same time period last year, insolvencies are up 8.5 per cent.
However, the population now is higher than it was in 2009. Insolvency trustee Doug Hoyes says when that population growth is factored in, the rates of insolvency are much lower than 2009 levels.
Hmmm … Brampton Leads Canada in Mortgage Delinquencies
VILSECK, Germany—A line of tattooed, beefed-up men with bushy beards and American accents formed at the bakery in this tiny Bavarian town on a recent May morning. U.S. muscle cars are driven down the medieval streets here, where Americans outnumber Germans 2 to 1.
Enclaves like this sprouted across Germany in areas occupied by U.S. forces after World War II, shaping the society around them for several generations. Elvis Presley served near here in the 1950s and performed at the local pub.
But Germany’s “Little Americas” are dying out.
Trans Americans with Canadian ancestry have been receiving expedited processing of their applications for Canadian citizenship certificates.
Proof of Canadian citizenship certificates, which are provided to individuals who qualify as Canadian citizens on the basis of their ancestry, have become a hot commodity this year in the United States, following changes to Canada’s Citizenship Act last December that removed the generational limit on inheritance.
h/t JL
The Trump administration is hosting an all-day prayer festival on the National Mall on Sunday that organizers say will reflect the country’s Christian origins and, they hope, spark “a movement of renewal” in America.
“Rededicate 250: National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” is partly funded by millions in public dollars earmarked for the nation’s 250th birthday celebration, organizers said. It will feature mostly evangelical Protestant leaders and members of the Trump administration, many of whom have embraced the message that America’s founders wanted the country to be explicitly Christian.
