News roundup, 10 Sept 2026

- Donald Trump has promised every American adult $5,000 if the Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms this November. The effectiveness of this in winning votes, and its very legality, is far from clear.

- New York mayor Zohran Mamdani has released 170,000 previously suppressed documents regarding the impact of the 9/11 attacks on the city's air quality. This probably would be harmful to Rudy Giuliani's legacy were it not already in ruins as a result of his support of Trump.

- Canada and France are following the UK's lead in banning imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. A good move, if overdue; notably Pierre Poilievre is not mentioned at all in the article. This is rather interesting; you'd expect him to come out with an unhinged rant about the Liberals being antisemites, but maybe in these times he is counting on actual antisemites to support him and doesn't want to give them cause to reconsider their support for his party.

- The Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University has confirmed that a tornado touched down in Winnipeg's South River Heights neighbourhood over the weekend, the second to strike the city this year. While it caused substantial damage, no injuries were reported.

- One of the pilots of the Amazon Boeing 767 that overran the runway in Miami on the weekend, killing five people, reportedly recognized that they were coming in too fast well before touchdown, but his colleague did not give a "consistent verbal response" and they proceeded with the landing nonetheless. This probably will not serve the crew well at their next employee evaluation.

- Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were denied bail by a federal judge in Miami on Wednesday, concluding (not unreasonably) that they are dangerous and could pose a flight risk. The two face possible extradition to the UK, where they face numerous charges including rape and human trafficking. No doubt we'll see more of their fanboys doing pushups outside the jail as a form of protest like they did earlier this summer; unfortunately I fully expect Trump to veto the extradition.

News roundup, 9 Sept 2026

- The crew of the Amazon freighter that overran the runway in Miami on the weekend, killing five people in a vehicle, appear to have dithered on whether to abort their landing and perform a go-around. Investigators have yet to interview the pilots on the matter; I suspect that the pilots are not looking forward to this.

- Mark Carney is warning that there will be a cost for Canada's pivot away from the US, but that the costs of not doing so will be much greater. Carney also mentioned tariffs imposed by William McKinley's administration at the end of the 19th century, which he says were intended to "pressure us into dependence and eventually annexation by the United States". The Trump regime has responded to Canada's counter-tariffs with a ban on the import of motorcycles and alcohol from Canada as well as a series of new tariffs on various other products.

- UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has accused Israel of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories and has banned the import of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Predictably, his Conservative critic has warned against making Israel a "pariah state" and expressed concerns that the move will somehow lead to an increase in antisemitic violence in the UK (the fact that Miliband is Jewish is an inconvenient fact that critics will ignore, of course).

- Lab technicians and technologists with Dynacare went on strike on Tuesday morning, leading to disruptions in non-urgent diagnostic tests across Manitoba. Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino quickly filed an application with the Labour Board, requesting that the board issue an interim order that the 350 employees remain on the job in order to "ensure the provision of essential health services"; the request was quickly granted. Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, condemned the move.

- A fatal stabbing in Winnipeg in 2022 was solved after the killer's DNA was found on a beer can in the victim's home. The suspect was subsequently arrested on another matter and confessed to the killing; she has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison.

News roundup, 8 Sept 2026

- A Boeing 767 freighter operated by Amazon affiliate Prime Air overran the runway at Miami International Airport and collided with several vehicles on an adjacent road, killing five people.

- Canada's counter-tariffs against the US came into effect today; no further talks are currently scheduled. Meanwhile Donald Trump has declared that Bombardier will not be allowed to sell aircraft in the US unless it builds them there.

- The head of the Halifax International Security forum, a DC-based think tank, believes that the Republicans will do their utmost to steal this fall's midterms, and that even if the Democrats win Trump will have a good chance of undermining public confidence in the results. He notes that, in contrast to 2020, the agencies that run elections across the US have been stacked with Trump loyalists.

- The far-right AfD won a strong plurality, though not a majority, in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Whether Germany's traditional "firewall" will succeed in keeping them from government remains to be seen. During their campaign the party, among other things, railed against the famous Bauhaus art school, saying that the institution "always strove to avoid any sign of national rootedness". Notably, AfD's counterparts in the 1930s shut down the school for similar reasons.

- A storm that swept through southern Manitoba on Sunday caused substantial damage, most of which was concentrated in a small area of River Heights in Winnipeg.

- Thieves stole three paintings from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. A fourth painting was recovered after it was dropped by the fleeing suspects.