News roundup, 7 May 2026

- The Trump regime is once again claiming that the war they helped start in Iran will be "over quickly"; they have offered another ceasefire proposal, which Iran says it is "considering". 

- The MV Hondius, that Dutch cruise ship with the hantavirus outbreak, has left Cape Verde en route to the Canary Islands after Spain granted the ship permission to dock there. This was done after three more infected people, two passengers and a crew member (reportedly the ship's doctor), were removed from the ship prior to setting sail to be flown to hospitals in Europe. And a flight attendant with KLM, who was briefly in contact with one of the patients who was flown to Johannesburg (and who later died) has now been hospitalized due to suspected hantavirus infection.

- Recent polling has the Ontario Liberals and PCs at a statistical tie in the wake of Doug Ford's incautious purchase of a private jet (nicknamed the "gravy plane" by critics). This marks the first time in quite a while that the Tories have looked vulnerable. The extent to which polls can be trusted is unclear, mind you; the "shy Tory factor" has been known for decades, and given that contemporary rightwing politics is full of paranoid conspiracy theorists, many people who might be inclined to vote for such parties would be too paranoid to answer a poll at all. Meanwhile in BC, support for David Eby's NDP has cratered in spite of any shy Tory factor (and in spite of the fact that the BC Tories are a party that any sensible person ought to be pretty shy about admitting a desire to vote for). As in Ontario, this seems to be driven largely by a single issue, in this case the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), which the Eby government has also partially backed away from after a couple of court rulings spooked some people about the possible impact on their property rights.

- A teenager has been charged with firing shots at two synagogues in Toronto and Vaughan in March. The shootings took place late at night and nobody was hurt. The suspect, reportedly of no fixed address, has not been publicly named because he was a minor at the time of the attacks.

- The resort community of Winnipeg Beach has been placed under provincial administration after the town's council, already short two members, lost quorum after the resignation of a councillor.

- The hospital in the town of Carman, Manitoba has cancelled all surgeries until further notice due to an infestation of ants. Southern Health, the regional health authority responsible for the hospital, insists that there is no threat to the health of patients or staff, or to the integrity of the building, but says that the facility does not meet the sterility standards for surgery. Meanwhile another hospital in southern Manitoba, this time in Morris, activated safety protocols after someone was threatened with what turned out to be a replica handgun. The suspects fled but crashed their vehicle into a road sign and were quickly tracked down.

News roundup, 21 April 2026

- A Canadian tourist was shot dead at a popular tourist site in Mexico. Another Canadian, as well as three Columbians (one of them a child), a Russian, and a Dutch national were wounded; the shooter, a Mexican citizen, killed himself. The motive for the attack is unknown.

- The continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatens to significantly disrupt food production around the world, due to the huge amounts of fertilizer shipped through the strait. In wealthy countries this will primarily mean higher prices, but in poorer countries it could very well lead to famine. 

- Florida's orange industry is undergoing a catastrophic decline, due to a combination of invasive pests, excessive glyphosate use, hurricanes and other weather events, as well as changing public tastes. The state produced 242 million boxes in 2003; this year's harvest is being optimistically projected at 12 million. 

- Doug Ford has abruptly backtracked on a plan to spend nearly $30 million of public money on a business jet to fly him around (dubbed the "gravy plane" by critics), while continuing to spout a torrent of whataboutery and claims of persecution regarding the matter. This includes a claim that Quebec did the same thing, when in fact the jets purchased by that province were for medevac purposes, not for the premier's use.

- Brokenhead Ojibway Nation has purchased a Winnipeg clothing manufacturer. Freed & Freed International Ltd. manufactures jackets for the Canadian Armed Forces as well as the RCMP and Canada Post; the First Nation hopes that this will provide their community with employment opportunities.

- The Rural Municipality of Alexander in eastern Manitoba attempted to ban a disruptive resident from council meetings, but a court has ruled that while they can remove him from a meeting if he actually behaves in a disruptive manner, they do not have the authority to ban him from future meetings, at least without an injunction or similar measure.

- Residents of the Rural Municipality of Sherwood in Saskatchewan are up in arms about the approval of a Bell Canada data centre in the municipality. Adding to residents' frustration is the fact that most of the councillors were appointed by the province to replace councillors who resigned en masse last month, leaving the council without quorum.

- An Israeli soldier took an axe to a statue of Jesus in the predominantly Christian Lebanese village of Debel. This was too much even for Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed that the soldier will be punished.