Halifax Regional Police (HRP), the Nova Scotia RCMP, and the province of Nova Scotia all use X to inform residents.

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Nova Scotia's municipal affairs minister is not ruling out new powers for Halifax's mayor. It's unclear what strong-mayor powers could look like in any future Nova Scotia legislation and whether the province would follow Ontario's lead.

The guardrails limiting government influence over research and teaching in our postsecondary institutions are there for good reason. Tim Houston’s government is taking them off in the name of accountability, but we need to ask: accountability to whom? 

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Police in Halifax are asking for help finding the driver involved in a hit and run in Bedford last month.

According to HRP, a youth was hit by a driver in the area of Lodge Drive and the Bedford Highway on the night of January 28. Upon arrival, officers found a youth laying on the ground but conscious.

The victim was taken to hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Police said the vehicle involved is described as a white SUV, possibly a Mazda CX-5.

Anyone with information is asked to reach out to police or Crime Stoppers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Voletta Wallace, the dedicated mother of the late great rapper The Notorious B.I.G., died Friday morning at 78.

Monroe County Coroner Thomas Yanac confirmed her death Friday to The Associated Press, saying she died at her home in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania after a stint on hospice care. She died of natural causes.

A representative for the estate of The Notorious B.I.G. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wallace was a dedicated keeper of the legacy of her son, born Christopher Wallace. When he first emerged on the scene as one of rap’s most distinctive talents with songs that expertly detailed street life in Brooklyn, she labeled his music “noise.”

Since his death, his gift took on a new meaning for her. She told AP in 2017, 30 years after his passing, “I remembered my son said, ‘Don’t listen to my music.’ And I never listened to his music. I heard it on the radio and it sounded good, because it was clean. But I said, ‘You know what, I have to. I have to listen to that music.’ And that’s what I did.”

“I cried so much that day just listening to the music. I remember I sat, I stood. I rested my head on the stereo and I just cried like a baby. And that was therapy for me. And I said, ‘Oh my God — that was a talented young man to put those words together.’ He had a beautiful voice. I love his voice,” she continued.

In 2021, Wallace worked as an executive producer on the Netflix documentary “Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell,” and told AP about her role in the public eye.

“They never knew me. The public never knew me. I was thrust into this environment, I should say, after he passed away, because I’m a very private person. Extremely private,” she said. “What he was doing out there, maybe I should have known. But honestly, I didn’t. And to this day, there are people who are saying, ’Oh, she knew. (whispers) But I never knew.”

The Notorious B.I.G., one of the rap’s music greatest performers, was shot to death at age 24 in Los Angeles in 1997. The case remains unsolved.

His 1994 debut album for Bad Boy Records, “Ready to Die,” has sold over 6 million units as of 2018, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, and included the hits “Big Poppa” and “Juicy.”

His sophomore album, “Life After Death,” released two weeks after his death, sold more than 11 million units. It launched multiple hits, including the timeless No. 1 hits “Mo Money Mo Problems” and “Hypnotize.”

Maria Sherman, The Associated Press

The Nova Scotia government tabled legislation Thursday intended to resolve disputes among neighbours over property access. The Temporary Access to Land Act creates a process where a property owner can apply to the Utility and Review Board for an order allowing temporary access to an adjacent property.

The province’s police watchdog said it has reasonable and probable ground to believe that an RCMP officer committed criminal offences in Sydney, N.S.

The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) charged Constable Sara Bennett with breaking and entering and mischief in connection to incidents with a man known to her.

“The RCMP takes all allegations of misconduct seriously; our employees are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that not only meets, but exceeds, the rightfully high expectations of Canadians,” a statement from the force reads.

According to the RCMP, Cst. Bennett has been an officer since June 2023 and has been placed on administrative duties.

“An internal code of conduct investigation has been initiated and is ongoing. Cst. Bennett’s duty status will be continuously assessed throughout both the court and internal processes,” the statement reads.

Bennett is scheduled to be in court in Sydney on February 28. SiRT said no further information would be provided while the matter is before the courts.

A man is facing many charges after the RCMP street crime unit executed a search warrant in Dartmouth.

On Feb. 20 in the afternoon, officers with help from Halifax Regional Police, arrested a 35-year-old man outside a Main Street business.

Police then searched a residence on Garnett Street where they found a loaded handgun.

They also found several other issues at the home and laid other charges such as:

• Careless use of a firearm
• Contravention of storage regulations
• Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
• Unauthorized possession of a firearm
• Unauthorized possession of a prohibited device (over capacity magazine)
• Possession of a firearm knowing its possession is unauthorized
• Possession of a prohibited device knowing its possession is unauthorized (over capacity magazine)
• Possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition
• Possession of a firearm obtained by the commission of an offence
• Possession contrary to firearm prohibition order (four counts)

Jarrem Gallant, of Toronto but formerly of Dartmouth, was held in custody and is scheduled to appear in court today.

Political observers and access to information experts say accountability and transparency may be affected under changes proposed by the Tim Houston government.

Cape Breton Regional Police are investigating after a woman in her 20s died as the result of a hit and run near Sydney on Thursday evening.

CHÂTEAUGUAY, Que. — Police say a 13-year-old girl who was found buried in snow in a Montreal suburb on Tuesday has died.

Const. Erika Grondin with the police in Châteauguay, Que., confirmed the girl’s death and said police would assist the coroner’s office in an investigation.

Police said emergency services were dispatched around 4 p.m. Tuesday after the girl was found unresponsive under a collapsed snowbank in front of a residence on Montreal’s South Shore.

First responders tried to revive the girl before transporting her to hospital in critical condition.

Châteauguay Mayor Éric Allard has said the girl had probably been trapped in a collapsed snow tunnel, after about 70 centimetres of snow fell in the Montreal region during two recent storms.

Grondin says police are still investigating and the coroner will determine the circumstances surrounding the death.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON — Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston are reaching out to state governors in Washington, D.C. as the deadline to avert U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs inches closer.

The premiers are to attend the National Governors Association winter meeting today, where Trump and key members of his team are set to give speeches.

Trump’s executive order to implement devastating duties on all Canadian imports to the United States was paused until March 4 after Canada agreed to introduce new security measures at the border.

The president said the pause would allow time to reach a “final economic deal” — but it’s still not clear what Trump ultimately wants.

Friday’s diplomatic push comes a week after all 13 premiers travelled to the U.S. capital, where they were warned by Trump’s aides that the president is serious about making Canada a U.S. state.

Trump’s first month in office has seen him push through changes at breakneck speed and use tariff threats in an attempt to realign global trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Republicans in Michigan may choose a MAGA activist leader who is charged with being a fake elector for Donald Trump to lead the party into the 2026 midterms, when the battleground state will hold several major races, including for a critical U.S. Senate seat.

Meshawn Maddock, known for her ardent dedication to President Trump, strong connections to his grassroots supporters and disputes with “establishment” Republicans, is seeking the party’s chair position during Saturday’s state GOP convention. She was endorsed by Trump for the chair position Thursday.

Her election would elevate a prominent denier of the 2020 election results to spearhead GOP efforts in Michigan, a state Trump won last fall and in 2016 but lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

“Michigan’s going to be the center of the universe,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the state party. “Who is in that position needs to be able to help raise money to meet some pretty ambitious goals.”

The case against Maddock

Maddock is accused of acting as a false elector for Trump after the 2020 election and faces eight forgery and conspiracy charges. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, has charged 14 other Republicans in the case. One of the original defendants had his charges dropped in a cooperation deal.

The defendants have insisted their actions were not illegal and Maddock believes the case will be dropped.

“If anything, I think that persuades people to support me even more because they know how we’ve been victimized,” she said.

Michigan was among seven battleground states where supporters of Trump signed certificates after the 2020 election that falsely stated he won their states, not Biden. Investigators have said the group in Michigan, which included Maddock, signed a document during a meeting at the state Republican headquarters in December 2020, falsely stating they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.”

Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes over President Trump in 2020, a result confirmed by a GOP-led state Senate investigation in 2021.

The group in the fake electors case is currently waiting on a county district judge to decide whether there is enough evidence to go to trial. A hearing for Maddock and other defendants is scheduled for March 28, about a month after the state GOP convention.

Who is Meshawn Maddock?

Maddock was an early Trump supporter from southeast Michigan. With a fiery MAGA attitude, the occasional headline-grabbing, offensive online post and direct line to Trump during the campaign season, her antagonistic brand has been directed at traditional GOP donors but is nevertheless popular.

“The reason you might think that I butted heads with the establishment is I was doing something that nobody had ever done before,” she said.

Maddock is running for the position against state Sen. Jim Runestad and Joseph Cella, a former Trump ambassador to Fiji.

The state of the Michigan GOP

The next party leader would replace Pete Hoekstra, a former congressman widely credited with bringing the state party out of inner turmoil to deliver Republican wins in November, including flipping a congressional seat and taking the majority in the state House of Representatives.

In 2023, a grassroots revolution ushered in political newcomer Kristina Karamo, who peddled election conspiracy, as state GOP chair. The party’s finances tanked under her leadership and an ensuing power struggle resulted in some Michigan Republicans, national Republicans and Trump installing Hoekstra in her place.

Hoekstra is not seeking the chair position again after Trump nominated him to serve as ambassador to Canada.

The stakes are high as the midterms take shape. Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters recently announced he is not seeking reelection, opening a competitive seat. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term limited and names are lining up to replace her. Control of the state House of Representatives and Senate are on the line as well as the offices of Attorney General, Secretary of State and two state Supreme Court seats.

Maddock’s plan for the chair race and beyond

Whether Maddock, a former party co-chair, has the same financial support and fundraising chops as Hoekstra has been a question in the chair race, with memories of Karamo’s tenure not far off.

Maddock said she’s brought on a team that will “reassure a lot of the older institutional Republicans, a lot of the older institutional donors that I’m going to run a really strong, solid party, no nonsense.”

Maddock’s plan to win elections starts with continuing relationships with the coalition that migrated toward Republicans in the 2024 election. She plans to establish and grow “ambassador” positions to Black, Indian, Muslim, Chaldean, and other communities in and around southeast Michigan.

“I want to be growing and expanding these coalitions right now into these communities,” she said.

Vance Patrick, chair of the Oakland County GOP, said Maddock’s pending criminal charges aren’t part of the discussion for delegates who will vote Saturday. Maddock is the strongest of the three candidates, he said.

Roe said while the charges may give some donors pause, to delegates, it’s a sign she is a fighter.

“We’ve reached a point now where none of these kinds of allegations carry weight anymore for a lot of reasons,” Roe said.

Isabella Volmert, The Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance has criticized Germany’s free speech laws during an appearance at a conservative gathering outside Washington, linking the country’s limits against hate speech to American troops stationed there.

German law sets restrictions on free speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial and any glorification of the country’s Nazi past.

The limits are an effort to curb extremism and incitement, and have led to authorities policing the internet for hate speech and arresting the people allegedly posting, and reposting, such comments.

“There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course they’re not,” Vance told activists gathered Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The U.S. military is stationed throughout Germany, according to U.S. European Command, including at Ramstein Air Base.

Vance’s remarks followed his speech earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference, where he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and free speech across the continent. His comments were met with rebukes from multiple European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Obviously we’re going to continue to have important alliances with Europe,” Vance told CPAC moderator Mercedes Schlapp. “But I really do think the strength of those alliances is doing to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction.”

Vance then claimed that “Germany’s entire defense is subsidized by the American taxpayers.”

The Associated Press

This is not about one election or another. Governments come and go, left, right, and centre. But never before have previous governments, even super-majority governments, made such radical changes in the institutions of government itself.

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RIOHACHA, Colombia (AP) — Climate change is rapidly altering the way of life of the Indigenous Wayuu people, a semi-nomadic Indigenous group living in the arid La Guajira region, which spans northern Colombia and Venezuela.

Prolonged droughts, intensified by climate change, have worsened water scarcity, straining the Wayuu’s already limited access to drinking water and resources for livestock and agriculture. As rainfall becomes more erratic, food insecurity rises, with crops failing and livestock struggling to survive.

Health risks also escalate, with heat waves increasing dehydration and extreme weather events leading to flooding and waterborne diseases.

Their way of life is also being threatened as companies and the government — who want to capitalize on the region’s wind potential — seek to build wind farms.

______

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.

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A lot of the Wayuu population preserve traditional, semi-nomadic ways of living on “rancherias,” which are thatched-like roofed huts, made from dried cacti and mud and herd cattle and goats. They also have a traditional governance system and laws based on their cultural and spiritual practices.

The worsening conditions have forced many Wayuu to migrate, either to urban centers or across borders, further intensifying their socio-economic struggles. This displacement threatens their traditional livelihoods of farming, fishing and herding. The impacts extend beyond economics, as the Wayuu’s cultural identity, rooted in their spiritual connection to the land, is also at risk.

—

Luciane Mengual, 22, a mother of two from the Wayuu community, lives with her 47-year-old mother, Nelly, in an informal settlement called Villa del Sur on the outskirts of Riohacha in northern Colombia. The family migrated from Maracaibo, Venezuela, near the border, seeking better opportunities amid economic hardships in Venezuela.

Their home, built from scrap materials like tin, wood, and plastic tarp, lies in an area recently devastated by extreme flooding. The usually dry region of La Guajira has been hit by increasingly frequent and intense floods, submerging makeshift homes that lack basic services like running water or sewage systems. Heavy winds, typical of the area, often tear off their roof, further threatening their fragile living conditions.

—

A Wayuu Indigenous family rested in a chinchorro, a traditional woven bed that many prefer over mattresses. Unlike a standard hammock, a chinchorro features an enclosed, elongated design with sides that gently wrap around the body, offering a cocoon-like feel. Wayuu people consider it more comfortable for sleeping than a hammock.

This family, also made up of Wayuu migrants from Venezuela, lives in an informal settlement, right beside Riohacha’s airport. Their house, with no running water, is prone to the severe floods and extreme heat that has ravished the La Guajira region in recent years.

—

Rosa Elena González, 45, is a Wayuu woman from Maracaibo, Venezuela. She has been living in the Somos Unidos informal neighborhood in Maicao, Colombia, for the past seven years, after migrating from Venezuela.

“When there are big weather events like huge downpours, the young and elderly get sick … most of them don’t have health insurance,” she said.

“Some families have roofs made out of plastic bags which break. In January, the wind got so strong that almost all of us lost our roofs.”

—

Alfredo Atencio, 69, is from the Wayuu community on the Colombian side of the border who lives in the Amanecer de la Paz neighborhood in Maicao with his daughter and her three children. His home, constructed from recycled materials and covered with zinc, lacks internal divisions and he says the strong wind and flooding has impacted him.

“It hits really hard, and when it’s really hot and there’s lots of sun, it’s tough too,” he told the Associated Press.

With support from a kit provided by the Danish Refugee Council, Atencio was able to expand his home using the wood and cement boards supplied, making significant improvements to his living space.

—

Kelmis Maria Gonzalez, 45, a Wayuu woman and teacher from Mayapo along the La Guajira coast, lives with her son, David. She is also trained in teaching about “Mother Earth.” Gonzalez says climate change, driven by multinational activities, is severely impacting the Wayuu people, particularly the traditional fishermen known as Apalaanchi. Coastal erosion is rapidly destroying the shoreline and the mangroves in her community, and she points to offshore gas production, visible in the distance, as a major culprit.

“It is a territorial and environmental crisis that deeply affects us as a people, especially from a spiritual perspective,” she told AP. “Our connection with nature is integral to our identity as Wayuu. We view the sea as our ancestral grandmother, who provides us with sustenance. But she also sends us a warning — our actions are harming her.”

Gonzalez blames “cultures that pursue what they call progress,” especially through the exploitation of natural resources.

—

In the remote Cabo de la Vela, the heartland of the Wayuu people, Luis Arturo Barliza, 48, represents the small community of Casa Eléctrica, where a wind farm has been proposed.

Several wind farm projects in La Guajira are currently on hold as the Wayuu communities struggle to reach a consensus on how these projects should proceed and what benefits they will receive. While Barliza does not oppose the wind farms himself and has signed agreements to allow turbines on his land, many in his community, and even his family, vehemently reject the companies behind the projects.

“It’s going to be very difficult to reach an agreement, it’s very complex,” Barliza says, acknowledging that the Wayuu communities have differing leaders and perspectives on the issue. Over 50 wind farm projects remain on hold due to resistance from the Wayuu people, according to Indepaz, a Bogota-based think tank.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Ivan Valencia And Steven Grattan, The Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — A bus carrying university students and a truck collided on a highway in southeastern Brazil, killing 12 passengers and injuring 21 others, authorities said Friday.

The truck driver, who was also injured, tried to flee the scene of the crash late Thursday night on a highway near Nuporanga, a city about 370 kilometers (230 miles) from the state’s capital, but was caught and hospitalized. He was later charged with attempting to flee the scene, involuntary homicide and bodily harm.

All of the dead were students from the University of Franca, officials said. The injured were taken to hospitals in the region.

Local television stations broadcast images from the crash scene showing the bus, its left side completely destroyed in the collision.

Gov. Tarcísio de Freitas declared three days of official mourning in the state of Sao Paulo, where the accident occurred.

“It is with great sadness and sorrow that we receive the news that our students had their dreams cut short in a tragic accident,” the university said in a statement.

In 2024, more than 10,000 people died in traffic accidents in Brazil, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

In December, another crash between a passenger bus and a truck killed 38 people on a highway in Minas Gerais state.

Last September, a bus carrying the Coritiba Crocodiles football team flipped on a road, killing three people. The bus was traveling from the southern city of Curitiba to a game in Rio de Janeiro, where the team was to play in the country’s American football championship. The game was canceled following the deadly accident.

The Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Security forces in Pakistan acting on intelligence raided a militant hideout in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwest on Friday, triggering an intense shootout in which six militants were killed, the military said.

The raid was carried out in Karak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, the military said in a statement. An operation was underway to eliminate any other militants found there.

The military provided no further details about the killed militants, but such operations are often conducted against the Pakistani Taliban, which are also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

The TTP is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has stepped up its assaults in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

A major operation is also ongoing in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where militants in recent months have frequently attacked Shiites and security forces escorting aid trucks for hundreds of thousands of besieged residents.

Authorities say that security forces this week arrested 48 suspects accused of recent attacks on the country’s troops escorting aid trucks. Some of the detainees were also involved in attacks on Shiites in the region, police said.

Kurram has been cut off from the rest of the country since November after the government blocked roads following clashes between heavily armed Shiite and Sunni tribes.

Authorities hope that they will soon restore order in the region, and reopen a key road leading to Kurram at the completion of the operation, which began this week, after insurgents killed five soldiers escorting aid trucks.

The Associated Press

Tesla is recalling more than 375,000 vehicles due to a power steering issue.

The recall is for certain 2023 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles operating software prior to 2023.38.4, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The printed circuit board for the electronic power steering assist may become overstressed, causing a loss of power steering assist when the vehicle reaches a stop and then accelerates again, the agency said.

The loss of power could required more effort to control the car by drivers, particularly at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.

Tesla isn’t aware of any crashes, injuries, or deaths related to the condition.

The electric vehicle maker headed by Elon Musk has released a free software update to address the issue.

Letters are expected to be sent to vehicle owners on March 25.

Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752 or the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.

The Associated Press

U.S. President Donald Trump has a plan to end the war in Ukraine. It’s basically, cut off support, and capitulate to Vladimir Putin.

It has been three years since Russia’s illegal invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have died defending their country.

This week, the Trump administration cancelled future aid for Ukraine and set up peace talks with Russia that excluded Ukrainian officials.

Host David Smith speaks with Russia expert Marcus Kolga about what will happen next at this critical juncture in the conflict.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An official with the committee preparing a national dialogue conference in Syria to help chart the country’s future said Friday that it has not been decided whether the conference will take place before or after a new government is formed.

The date of the conference has not been set and the timing “is up for discussion by the citizens,” Hassan al-Daghim, spokesperson for the committee, told The Associated Press in an interview in Damascus Friday.

“If the transitional government is formed before the national dialogue conference, this is normal,” he said. On the other hand, he said, “the caretaker government may be extended until the end of the national dialogue.”

The conference will focus on drafting a constitution, the economy, transitional justice, institutional reform and how the authorities deal with Syrians, al-Daghim said. The outcome of the national dialogue will be non-binding recommendations to the country’s new leaders.

“However, these recommendations are not only in the sense of advise and formalities,” al-Daghim said. “They are recommendations that the President of the republic is waiting for in order to build on them.”

After former President Bashir Assad was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive in December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the main former rebel group now in control of Syria, set up an interim administration comprising mainly of members of its “salvation government” that had ruled in northwestern Syria.

They said at the time that a new government would be formed through an inclusive process by March. In January, former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa was named Syria’s interim president after a meeting of most of the country’s former rebel factions. The groups agreed to dissolve the country’s constitution, the former national army, security service and official political parties.

The armed groups present at the meetings also agreed to dissolve themselves and for their members to be absorbed into the new national army and security forces. Notably absent was the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which holds sway in northeastern Syria.

There has been international pressure for al-Sharaa to follow through on promises of an inclusive political transition. U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said this week that formation of a “new inclusive government” by March 1 could help determine whether Western sanctions are lifted as the country rebuilds.

Al-Daghim said the decisions taken in the meeting of former rebel factions in January dealt with “security issues that concern the life of every citizen” and “these sensitive issues could not be postponed” to wait for an inclusive process.

In recent weeks, the preparatory committee has been holding meetings in different parts of Syria to get input ahead of the main conference. Al-Daghim said that in those meetings, the committee had heard a broad consensus on the need for “transitional justice and unity of the country.”

“There was a great rejection of the issue of quotas, cantons, federalization or anything like this,” he said.

But he said there was “disagreement on the order of priorities.” In the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, for instance, many were concerned about the low salaries paid to government workers, while in Idlib and suburbs of Damascus that saw vast destruction during nearly 14 years of civil war, reconstruction was the priority.

The number of participants to be invited to the national conference has not yet been determined and may range from 400 to 1,000, al-Daghim said, and could include religious leaders, academics, artists, politicians and members of civil society, including some of the millions of Syrians displaced outside the country.

The committee has said that the dialogue would include members of all of Syria’s communities but that people affiliated with Assad’s government and armed groups that refuse to dissolve and join the national army — chief among them the SDF — would not be invited.

Al-Daghim said Syria’s Kurds would be part of the conference even if the SDF is not.

“The Kurds are a component of the people and founders of the Syrian state,” he said. “They are Syrians wherever they are.”

Abby Sewell, The Associated Press

French President Emmanuel Macron said he intends to tell Donald Trump that it’s in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to “be weak” in the face of Russia’s Vladimir Putin amid U.S.-led negotiations to end the almost three-year war in Ukraine.

Macron is to travel to Washington to meet with Trump on Monday, the White House said.

In a one-hour question and answer session on his social media Thursday, Macron said he’ll tell Trump: “You can’t be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest. How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?”

Trump’s recent statements that echo Putin’s narrative and plans to have direct negotiations with Moscow have left European allies and Ukrainian officials worried. But Macron suggested Trump’s strategy to create “uncertainty” in talks with Russia could actually make Western allies stronger in these talks.

Putin “doesn’t know what he (Trump) is going to do, he thinks (Trump) is capable of anything,” Macron said. “This uncertainty is good for us and for Ukraine.”

Macron added he would seek to persuade Trump that U.S. interests and Europeans’ interests are the same, telling him: “If you let Russia take over Ukraine, it would be unstoppable.”

That means any peace deal must be negotiated with Ukrainians and Europeans around the table, Macron reaffirmed.

“We want peace, but we don’t want a ceasefire that means Ukraine surrendering, because that’s dangerous. And we know that would lead to Russia going further. We’ve already experienced it,” he said.

Macron also appeared ready to answer Trump’s call to boost defense spending. “Us, Europeans, we must increase our war effort,” he said.

Asked about whether he’s considering sending French troops to Ukraine, he said he would not send soldiers to fight in Ukraine but rather a security force meant to bring “guarantees” once a peace deal is achieved.

“We don’t rule out, within a framework planned with our allies, the possibility of having forces which, once peace has been negotiated, could contribute to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security,” he said.

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The budget resolution from Republicans was on the agenda in the Senate, but the late-night debate encompassed so much more.

Democrats used the overnight session that ended early Friday morning as a platform for their outrage over what President Donald Trump has wrought during his first month in office, and their warnings of what is still to come.

From the billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slicing through the federal workforce to Trump’s attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the GOP plan to extend tax breaks including for the wealthy and cut safety net programs, far more than the $340 billion budget framework on border security and deportations came under scrutiny.

Out of power in Washington, D.C., the Democrats instead brought to the Senate floor pages of amendments, keeping the chamber long into Thursday night and early Friday morning.

“People don’t send us here to make their lives worse. But that’s exactly what Trump and Musk are doing,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., launching the debate.

“They are looking at our most pressing problems — and making them so much worse. And this budget proposal will only add fuel to the fire.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, test-drove a new term — “Trumpflation” — and asked what in the president’s “big, beautiful, bill” would help Americans.

“Take this plan and put it in the ‘woodchipper,’” Merkley said, repurposing Musk’s quip about chopping up the federal government. “There’s nothing ‘beautiful’ about destroying programs families depend on.”

As the “vote-a-rama” dragged into the wee hours Democrats proposed amendments to bar tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires, reverse DOGE firings of public workers and program cuts to government services, preserve Medicaid, help Ukraine and on and on.

Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado offered an amendment to reinstate the fired federal employees at the Forest Service, National Park Service and other public lands agencies.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., sought to prevent reductions in government programs fighting avian flu at a time of soaring prices of eggs.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire wanted to ensure the U.S. commits to supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

But none of them were being approved.

Still, Democrats preferred talking about almost anything but Trump’s plans for deporting immigrants and beefing up border security, the main provisions of the $340 billion budget framework, which also includes funding for the Pentagon and Coast Guard.

Those immigration-related issues divide the Democrats, who struggled during the fall election to counter Trump’s deportation plans and still have not formed a ready response.

Republicans happily pointed out the disconnect as they marched their budget framework to passage. It was approved, 52-48, on a mostly party-line vote, a key step in the budget process. One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed it, as did all Democrats.

The package now must sync up with one from the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson is working up Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and up to $2 trillion in spending cuts.

Nearing daybreak, when Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., offered an amendment to prevent “unvetted and unaccountable” DOGE workers to access Americans’ private information in government databases, Republicans brought it down on a voice vote, with a thundering no.

After the various prohibitions on billionaire tax breaks didn’t pass, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tried to block breaks for those earning $10 million. It was turned back. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona suggested the cap be set at $100 million. It failed. Sen. Angus King of Maine tried $500 million. Nope.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana assessed the whole evening as comparable to “professional wresting” and chided Democrats for drifting off topic. He said the bill was about border security not the tax cuts, which would be addressed later.

At the start of the evening, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a former chairman of the Budget committee, spent some time discussing his own ideas, including his plan to expand Social Security benefits and extend Medicare health care coverage to provide seniors with access to dental, vision and hearing aid benefits.

The Vermont senator said it’s unacceptable that millions of seniors can’t afford eyeglasses, hearing aids or dentures.

“That should not be happening in the United States of America in the year 2025,” Sanders said.

Then he zeroed in on Trump’s remarkable suggestion it was Ukraine that started the war, rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country in 2022.

“Really?” an incredulous Sanders asked, urging fellow senators to speak out. “That is, as I hope every member of the Senate knows, an absolute lie.”

Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press

A CBC analysis of Statistics Canada data shows that the median Nova Scotia wage rose 1.8% in 2024 — the second consecutive year wages outpaced inflation. But, inequality remains with wages being the lowest in Canada.

Police and victim services workers are using well-known assessments to try to identify families or couples who are struggling before violence turns deadly.

There was a small drop in gasoline prices across Nova Scotia on Friday morning.

The province’s Utilites and Review Board used it’s weekly adjustment to lower the price for gas by 8/10ths of a cent to a new minimum price of 163.0.

Diesel prices were also lowered with the price for fuel declining by 1 cent to 191.6.

12 months ago we were paying 1.61 for gasoline and 1.93 for diesel.

British Columbia’s former chief coroner says she’s disappointed by the province’s overhaul of its program that provides prescription alternatives to toxic street drugs, a shift she says “feels like a really impulsive political decision.”

Lisa Lapointe said the move to a “witnessed-only” model in which people are supervised while consuming their prescription drugs appeared to ignore scientific evidence.

“(Driving) people away from the illicit black market by providing them access to a regulated supply of the drug that they’re dependent on keeps people safe,” said Lapointe, who retired from the chief coroner’s post in February 2024.

“It’s really disturbing that our politicians who we rely on to keep us safe are more likely to respond to ideological arguments than science.”

Health Minister Josie Osborne announced the change on Wednesday, saying it was aimed at preventing the diversion of take-home prescription opioids onto the street.

The issue of opioid diversion from the prescribed alternatives program, also known as safer supply, has dogged the NDP government of Premier David Eby.

Last March, both the RCMP’s commanding officer in B.C. and then-solicitor general Mike Farnworth said there was no evidence of “widespread” diversion.

But this month, a leaked Health Ministry briefing for police said a “significant portion” of opioids prescribed in B.C. were being diverted.

Opposition leader John Rustad of the B.C. Conservatives portrayed the policy shift as a “major policy victory” for his party.

“Eby’s NDP has caved on one of Eby’s signature policy proposals and made a major about-face on their failed radical left-wing safe supply policy,” he said on social media.

Lapointe said she had “so many questions” about the information on which B.C. officials based their decision to overhaul the program.

“What harms have we seen? If diversion is happening on the scale that allegedly it has been, why? You know, who’s looking at the pharmacy and the pharmacists and that’s the job of the College of Pharmacists,” she said in an interview.

“If widespread diversion is happening, is it because people aren’t getting the drug they need, and are these actually diverted prescribed medications? Or is this Dilaudid that’s been manufactured by organized crime to look like prescribed medications?” she said, referring to the brand name for hydromorphone, a commonly prescribed safer-supply drug.

Lapointe — who sometimes clashed with the government over drug policy and presented a report in 2023 that recommended expanding safer supply to people without prescriptions — said the province should share the evidence behind the witnessed-consumption-only strategy.

“If they feel confident in their finding, then release the data.”

Lapointe said the change would curtail access to prescription alternatives, making it “really onerous,” especially for those who require multiple doses each day.

DJ Larkin, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition based at Simon Fraser University, agreed and said people cannot go to a health provider’s office potentially multiple times each day in order to access prescription alternatives.

“Taken at face value, if this program is now to require people to attend every dose, it means the program will effectively disappear,” Larkin said in an interview Thursday.

“If you live in the Northern Health Region, the idea of travelling for daily dispensing and witness dispensing is impossible.”

Larkin said the new policy was “based on politics and not on evidence.”

Leslie McBain with the advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm said she was “blindsided” by what she also called a political move.

She said people who have stabilized their lives by participating in the program were being “put in an ugly position.”

“Instead of going to the pharmacy four times a day or three times a day to be witnessed, they will just go back to the black market, which is much easier, and then there will be more toxic overdoses and more fatalities,” she said.

B.C.’s new policy reflects recent recommendations by Addiction Medicine Canada, a group of addictions clinicians, who urged the province to adopt a supervised model.

Group member Dr. Robert Cooper, an addictions doctor and family physician in Toronto, said last month that “widespread” anecdotal reports alleging inappropriate use of prescribed opiates required such a policy shift.

“The concern here is where the programs are giving medications to patients who … are either using them inappropriately, so injecting or crushing and snorting and/or selling (them) or giving them to others, and using the proceeds to buy fentanyl.”

But Larkin said diversion has been happening for as long as prescriptions have existed, and it’s important to look at why it may be occurring in B.C.

“One answer is the drug supply is really scary for people right now, and so diversion to friends and family can be a way to keep loved ones safe by sharing your prescription with someone else,” Larkin said.

Dr. Ryan Herriot, an addictions medicine doctor and family physician on Vancouver Island, said he worried about politicization of care for those with substance-use disorders.

“I’m not saying this government would do that, but I worry that they are, maybe unbeknownst themselves, they’re actually making it easier for someone else in the future to further politicize other areas of medicine,” said Herriot, who is a member of the group Doctors for Safer Drug Policy.

Angie Gaddy, spokeswoman for the BC Pharmacy Association, said in an email the group was waiting for more details but “we do support the government’s decision as an element in addressing the diversion of prescribed alternatives.”

More than 16,000 people have died in B.C. since the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency in April 2016.

— With files from Darryl Greer in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

Ontario’s main political party leaders are entering the final stretch of their campaigns, with less than a week left until election day.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is set to make an announcement in Toronto this morning, while NDP Leader Marit Stiles has several stops scheduled in southwestern Ontario.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford will be absent from the campaign trail, as he heads to Washington, D.C., for the second time during this election campaign.

Ford will be in the U.S. capital for another round of meetings, after travelling there with other premiers about a week ago to push back against U.S. tariff threats.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will attend a local all-candidates debate, then meet with University of Guelph workers and visit the Guelph Muslim Society. He also has meetings with Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie and local teachers.

Advance voting is open until Saturday and election day is next Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

The Canadian Press

If U.S. President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on Canadian goods as he’s repeatedly threated to do, experts say Canada has a strong case to challenge it under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement.

The question, though, is how quickly any decision may come through the process — and more importantly, whether the U.S. would respect any decisions from the outcome.

“A rules-based system is only as good as the willingness of the government who’s subject to it, to comply with it,” said Wendy Wagner, a partner at Gowling WLG.

The free trade agreement is a nation-to-nation agreement, so there’s no one else to appeal to if a country decides not to respect a decision.

America’s past performance on adhering to trade decisions has been mixed. Areas of contention include complicated measures such as figuring out how much foreign content is in an automobile or the long-running softwood lumber dispute.

What Trump has threatened, though — blanket 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, with the exception of 10 per cent tariffs on energy — doesn’t contain much grey area, said Wendy.

“We’re not arguing around the edges here,” she said.

“There couldn’t be anything more offensive to a free trade agreement than a 25 per cent across-the-board tariff on all the products that originate from that country. It’s the most blatantly antithetical measure that you could impose.”

Enforcing the law

The blatancy of the threatened measures do bring into question whether any ruling through treaty channels will have much impact, Wagner said.

“There’s a larger issue about the extent of adherence to a rules-based system, both internationally and domestically.”

The U.S. has already shown a disregard to findings in the past. When it imposed metal tariffs in 2018 the World Trade Organization ultimately ruled in favour of China that the move wasn’t allowed, but the U.S. refused to comply.

Canada could also decide to challenge this round of tariffs at the WTO, as well as through CUSMA.

Based on the rules of the regional treaty, Canada could launch a challenge which would prompt mandatory consultations between countries within 30 days of filing the complaint.

If there’s no resolution through that step, the next would be to establish a dispute settlement panel. It acts as a sort of tribunal and goes through the process of hearing arguments and evaluating the evidence and produces a report on its findings.

The time it takes to get through a complaint varies, but past cases have generally run around a year to a year and a half, Wagner said.

The complaints process

The dispute panel’s report sets out what the offending country needs to do to fix the trade issue.

If the U.S. didn’t comply, then Canada would be allowed under the system to impose dollar-for-dollar counter measures.

This is something Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already said the government will do as soon as the U.S. imposes tariffs, but technically Canada will also be in violation of the treaty if it imposes counter-tariffs ahead of the process.

While Canada may have to get ahead of the process to respond given the scale of the threat, it’s still important it goes through the treaty steps to get to the same result, said Clifford Sosnow, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin.

“Ultimately the result of the (grievance) process is compliance, and if there’s no compliance, retaliation, and so in many ways, you’re back to square one,” he said.

“But symbolically and legally, it has important aspects to it, because it effectively for Canada is an affirmation of the importance of the agreement.”

Going through the process will also force the U.S. to participate and submit to the process. That makes it harder for it to say it’s abandoning the whole treaty, said Sosnow.

“Effectively it creates some stickiness between a president who’s already poorly disposed towards the agreement, and at the same time affirms the legitimacy of the agreement.”

Committing to the treaty

For Canada, following the legal steps also affirms that the legal structure is the way to resolve disputes, he said.

“In other words, a rules-based system as opposed to a power-based system. So there’s both strategic value to this (and) there’s symbolic value to it.”

A U.S. refusal to participate in the process would effectively renounce the whole treaty, a sharp contrast to Trump’s apparent position that he wants a better version of the treaty he originally agreed to when negotiations open up on June 1, 2026.

“It would be effectively a highly, highly controversial, and in fact I would suggest an unprecedented, repudiation of the agreement.”

A full abandoning of the treaty would be much more significant than Trump’s tariffs, which he claims to be doing over national security concerns at the border. While the claims are tenuous at best, Sosnow said, they’re at least still within the framework of the treaty.

“The logic of that is very poor, the logic of that is very weak, but that’s the tenuous connection to the agreement.”

When Trump last imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in 2018, the process was resolved through counter-tariffs and diplomacy, not through the treaty process.

The last round had Canada agree to several measures to limit exports of what the U.S. considered subsidized metal, but Sosnow said Trump has made it clear he’s not interested in a measured solution.

“That seemed to mollify the president (in 2018). Right now, the president is saying, ‘I won’t be mollified by that the second time around.’”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — An internal report blames a lack of communication for a debacle on a Canadian Armed Forces base last fall, when masked men taking part in active-shooter drill fired blanks at civil servants who didn’t know it was a training exercise.

During the drill, which took place on Nov. 12 at a service depot at CFB Longue-Pointe in Montreal, military police also confused a racialized employee with a drill participant playing an active shooter and wrestled him to the ground.

An internal report from the local garrison depot commander, obtained by The Canadian Press, says the incident resulted in two workplace injuries, multiple reports of near accidents, “frustration and anger” among local employees and a “strained relationship between management and the union executive.”

The report, authored by Col. Robin Chenard, says the employees had “never been exposed to a scenario of this magnitude” and blames the result on poor communications, planning and training.

“The training package, which consisted of a PowerPoint presentation and video, did not adequately prepare employees for an active shooter exercise of this nature,” it said.

The report also says the depot was “at no time” informed of the exact date and location of the exercise, and that “most of the coordination was done by email, in many instances using a wrong/outdated distribution list.”

An employee at the facility who was present during the incident — who The Canadian Press is not naming because they fear reprisal from their superiors for speaking out publicly — said they worried the incident was going to be swept under the rug.

The employee said they want to opt out of any future exercises like this, adding it seemed as if no one was in charge of the operation and it devolved into “total chaos.”

June Winger, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees, said many in the facility don’t work with computers and came into work after the long weekend having missed the memo about the drill that went out on the Friday before.

“Employees who weren’t aware that it was an exercise were in hiding and fearful for their lives, horrified, thinking they were witnessing the murder of their colleagues,” she said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Winger said a racialized person was physically assaulted and dragged throughout the workshop and “really, really extensively traumatized.”

“They tore his overalls and they pulled out his wallet, went through his personal papers in his wallet, spread it out on the floor,” she said. “They ripped his clothes, had him remove his work boots and then they dragged him outside … and then told him that he had to sit outside in the winter — no shoes on, no coat.”

Winger said the union had protested the event and even tried to shut it down ahead of time.

The exercise, called Bastion Verrouillé, is an annual emergency preparedness exercise meant to train soldiers to respond to an attacker with a firearm.

Unlike previous versions of the exercise, this one involved soldiers firing blanks.

The report says that “unlike the rehearsal, the exercise began without audible alarms” and employed blank rounds, representing a “significant increase in the scale and scope of the exercise from previous years without a commensurate increase in coordination, communication or training.”

The 23-page report summarizes an investigation launched on Nov. 25 into how the drill was organized at the 202 Workshop Depot (202WD), a military vehicle and equipment repair facility.

It’s one of three separate probes ordered following the incident. The 2nd Canadian Division, which organized the exercise, and the Canadian Forces Military Police Group also launched investigations.

“The misidentification of a civilian employee as the active shooter by the police was not attributable to any actions or inactions on the part of 202WD,” says the report.

Stéphane Goulet, president of the union local, said the man who was dragged to the ground and arrested “had really been tossed around” and “mistreated” and had to go on sick leave, while another employee who was present for the drill remains on sick leave.

He said a handful of other employees had to take time off afterward to see a doctor because they were suffering from panic attacks.

The report says the drill resulted in a Canada Labour Code complaint and a complaint to the Military Police Complaints Commission.

A document prepared for Defence Minister Bill Blair last year called it an “unfortunate occurrence” and said the government needs to “safeguard against anything like this happening again.”

Gwendolyn Culver, issues management director for Blair, said in an email response that the office recognizes the “seriousness of the incident” and apologizes “for the negative repercussions this person has suffered.”

Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff, said in an interview last month that the CAF will include the feedback from the investigation into planning for the next such drill, to “make sure that we don’t have the same mistakes” again.

“Those scenarios are run to make sure that our folks are ready to intervene if something happens,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

Kyle Duggan and Emilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Fefe Dobson has toured the world, achieved pop-punk stardom and found a new home in Nashville, but she’s never truly left Scarborough behind.

“I’ve seen the good and the bad of that part of the city,” the singer says of the east-end Toronto district where she grew up.

“Scarborough has always had its own energy. Its own community. I appreciate where I come from. I don’t think I’d be who I am if I didn’t grow up there. There’s a lot of stories and a lot of strength that comes out of Scarborough.”

When her friend Ron Dias reached out to her six years ago asking for help bringing those Scarborough stories to life via a film called “Morningside,” it was a no-brainer.

Opening in select theatres Friday, the film follows seven people whose lives converge at a community centre in Morningside Heights, Dobson’s childhood neighbourhood.

Dobson plays a nurse in the drama, joining Toronto actors Kiana Madeira and Lovell Adams-Gray as Scarborough residents navigating relationship turmoil, systemic barriers and the creeping effects of gentrification. The film also explores the ripple effects gun violence can have on communities.

Dias says he always wanted to make a movie about the diverse suburb he grew up in, but securing financing as a debut filmmaker proved challenging.

“We kept running into roadblocks, which helped us in a way, because the community came together to help us make this,” he says.

“Morningside” is the latest Canadian film to feature the region prominently, following 2021’s “Scarborough” and 2022’s “Brother,” which both won several Canadian Screen Awards. Perhaps because of this, Dias suggests local film financiers may have had some Scarborough fatigue.

Dobson says Scarborough natives tend to be proud of their community because “we’ve overcome a lot of stuff.” She recalls witnessing street violence in her neighbourhood growing up in the ’90s.

“Back then, it was rough. And to get out of tough situations, there’s something about that.”

Dias and his writing partner Joanne Jansen say they initially pitched the film to various financiers in Canada, including Telefilm and Canada Council for the Arts, but had no luck. Beyond hesitation backing first-time filmmakers, Dias says funders questioned the “profitability” of yet another movie about Scarborough.

“They asked, ‘Is there a market for these Scarborough movies?’ There sure is, but it was more of a show-and-prove. Even with ‘Scarborough’ out, even with ‘Brother’ out, it was still tough,” he says.

“It might be just too much Scarborough movies.”

So Dias and Jansen focused instead on making a lower-budget film, 2022’s “Bite of a Mango,” about four best friends navigating relationship struggles during the pandemic. It was picked up by U.S. streamer AllBlk, owned by AMC Networks, who eventually provided funding for “Morningside.”

“We couldn’t get attention from the Canadian industry, but the Scarborough community really came to our help,” says Jansen.

She adds local businesses, including burger joint The Real McCoy and Caribbean restaurant Mona’s Roti, offered filming locations.

Dias says Telefilm eventually provided funding after seeing the film, which was used for marketing.

Most of the cast grew up in the Greater Toronto Area and were encouraged to speak the way they normally do around friends. Characters use Patois-inflected slang, eat at Hakka restaurants and wear clothing by local streetwear brands like 100 Miles.

“It really is so true to how people in Toronto talk,” says Madeira, who grew up in Mississauga and starred in Netflix’s horror film trilogy “Fear Street.”

Madeira, who currently lives in New York, is eager for audiences beyond Canada to catch a glimpse of the GTA’s unique customs. The film will stream in the U.S. on AllBlk and open theatrically in Detroit with more cities potentially on the way.

“I think we have such a cool culture and I’m excited for people on this side of the border to get a taste of what we have to offer,” she says.

Dias describes “Morningside” as “emergency art.” He wants it to spark conversations about the systemic issues poverty-stricken areas continue to face.

But more than anything, he hopes it shows how “resilient” people from Scarborough are.

“It just comes back to even making the movie, and how we pushed for it. That’s just the Scarborough mentality: not giving up,” he says

“It’s a universal theme, to be honest with you.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.

Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press

She can sing. She can dance. She’s mastered a sultry gaze. She can write a smutty phrase. Is Tate McRae the new princess of dirty, breathy pop? (Sorry, Britney Spears. A new Gen Z star approaches.)

The “hardest working Canadian recording artist” award must surely go to McRae in 2025, who at age 21 has released her third studio album, “So Close to What,” and is gearing up for a world tour.

A trained dancer, McRae first garnered attention in 2016 when she was one of the finalists on the 13th season of “So You Think You Can Dance.” She’s added songwriting and singing to her resume since then, hoping to become a full-blown pop star. And on “So Close to What,” she makes a convincing effort. She just needs to find the tune that will propel her to higher echelons.

The generous, 15-track album offers an array of serviceably sexy pop songs that harken back to the early 2000s, but mostly skew modern. (Truth be told, the more she looks back, the better the track.) The standouts are the seductive ones that lure the listener in with an earworm chorus, the ones that recognize a good beat and are not afraid to use it: “Sports car,” “Purple lace bra” and the brassy “It’s ok I’m ok” among them.

“Miss possessive,” also the name of her upcoming tour, starts the album in force with a great choppy hook. “Revolving door” and “Means I care” — both energetic pop bops — are enhanced by dancehall production.

A duet with McRae’s boyfriend, The Kid LAROI, “I know love,” is contemporary romance with its trappy hi-hats and nonchalant energy.

The album’s verve starts to wane toward the last tracks like in the soft, casual “Green Light,” or “Nostalgia,” which breaks out the acoustic guitar and lets McRae really showcase her vocals.

Has she taken the crown of pop princess from Spears with this album? Not quite. But she’s close.

Cristina Jaleru, The Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Forensic scientists identified the remains of two Israeli child hostages handed over by Hamas but another body said to be their mother was “an anonymous, unidentified body,” the Israeli military said Friday.

The shock announcement regarding the mother, Shiri Bibas, came as a ceasefire that’s paused the fighting in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip remains shaky over a month after it began. Recovering the bodies of the Bibas family had been a major issue for the Israeli public, drawing flag-waving crowds along highways on a rainy day to honor the processional carrying the remains.

Central Israel rattled separately by a series of explosions Thursday on three parked buses, and the military restricted Palestinian movement and sealed off parts of the occupied West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement the Israeli military would “carry out an intensive operation against centers of terrorism” in the West Bank after the bus blasts, raising the specter of a further escalation there.

Hamas hands over four bodies

Hamas militants had turned over four bodies Thursday. One was identified as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Hamas attack that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

The remains of the young brothers, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, were identified by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with police and the family was notified, the Israeli military said in a statement. It said the boys were “brutally murdered” in captivity in November 2023, citing unspecified intelligence and forensics findings.

The identification process for the additional body determined it was not that of their mother, Shiri Bibas, or any other hostage, the Israeli military said.

“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages,” the military said. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”

Hamas did not immediately respond to Israel’s announcement that the body was not of the boys’ mother.

Israeli public mourns dead hostages

Hamas has said that all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes. But Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Lifshitz was killed in captivity by the Islamic Jihad militant group. The Israeli military statement also said the boys had been “murdered.”

Militants who handed over the bodies displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza Strip surrounded by banners, including one depicting Netanyahu as a vampire. On each coffin, a photo of one of the hostages was stapled to the side.

Large numbers of masked and armed militants looked on as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles before being driven to Israeli forces. The military later held a small funeral ceremony, at the request of the families, before transferring the bodies to a laboratory in Israel for formal identification using DNA.

In Tel Aviv where the bodies were transported, a double rainbow unfolded across the sky just before sunset. Thousands of people gathered at the city’s Hostage Square and recited traditional mourning prayers. Some held orange balloons, in honor of the Bibas boys, and the crowd swelled after sundown as musicians performed subdued ballads, matching the nation’s grief.

“Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”

Lifshitz’s family said after the handover that his remains had been officially identified. His son, Yizhar, told an Israeli TV station that it had brought some closure to the family.

“On a certain level, it closes the small chance that we had thought about,” he said. “It is also closure that he will be buried back on the kibbutz. It’s a difficult day.”

Infant was the youngest taken hostage

Kfir Bibas, who at 9 months was the youngest hostage, was a red-headed infant with a toothless smile when militants stormed the family’s home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother, Ariel, was 4. Video from that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the boys as militants led them into Gaza.

Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month.

Relatives in Israel have clung to hope, marking the boys’ birthdays.

A cousin of Shiri Bibas who lives in Buenos Aires, told the local Radio Con Vos station she has been reliving the trauma of the abduction. Romina Miasnik said she hoped her loved ones “can become a symbol of something new, of coexistence, of hatred no longer having a place.”

Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange — a reference to the two boys’ hair color — and a popular children’s song was written in their honor.

Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife, Yocheved, who was freed early in the war as an apparent humanitarian gesture.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages, including about 30 children, in the Oct. 7 attack, in which they also killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.

A devastating Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed over 48,200 Palestinians, local health officials there say, without distinguishing between combatants and civilians.

It’s not clear if the ceasefire will last

Hamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase. That will leave the militants with about 60 hostages, all men and about half believed to be dead.

Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he’s committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.

Trump’s proposal to remove about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and rebuild it, which has been welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.

Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes that the war will resume with the goal of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gaza’s population.

___

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Jahjouh reported from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Yocheved Lifshitz was released early in the war, not during the ceasefire in November 2023.

Melanie Lidman, Mohammad Jahjouh And Wafaa Shurafa, The Associated Press

The only daily TV news package to focus on Nova Scotians and their stories

OTTAWA — The Competition Bureau is doubling down on its claims that Rogers’ unlimited data promise is misleading.

In a response to Rogers’ recent defence filing, the Commissioner of Competition repeated the allegation that the company’s advertisements create a false or misleading impression that its “Infinite” wireless phone plans provide consumers with limitless data.

The bureau announced in December it was suing the carrier, saying unlimited data claims are misleading given that customers’ data service is severely throttled once a data cap is reached.

In Rogers’ defence filed earlier in February, the company said the bureau is unreasonably targeting the company for an advertising format that its competitors also use.

It also said the bureau ignored Rogers’ “ubiquitous disclosure” of key plan features and consumers’ “widespread” understanding of such plans, and said it presents a selective and misleading collection of advertisements as examples.

Rogers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.

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The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The moment that local officials in Washington have been dreading for months is finally here. President Donald Trump, one month into his second term, has publicly returned to one of his longtime talking points: a federal takeover of the District of Columbia.

It would take some doing, though — including, literally, an act of Congress. But the issue bubbled up again this week, the latest in the blizzard of initiatives that have surfaced since Trump took the oath of office Jan. 20.

Whether it was just a reminder that the president possesses the power to set off alarms with an off-the-cuff remark or by directing his administration to take concrete steps to make it happen remains to be seen. As with efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico, make Canada the 51st state or make Greenland a U.S. territory, a lot depends on what happens next.

Here’s a look at some of the questions surrounding the issue:

Could this really happen?

Yes, but Trump can’t do it alone. Congress, with both houses controlled by Republicans, could absolutely vote to repeal the 1973 Home Rule Act. That would be a deeply controversial vote which would likely test the strength of the three-seat GOP majority in the House of Representatives.

Why now?

That’s a bit of a mystery. Mayor Muriel Bowser has set a conciliatory tone ever since Trump was elected again. She traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, and said she looked forward to working with the new administration and emphasized the common-ground issues — such as their mutual desire to get federal workers back to their offices.

Trump, in his brief comments on Air Force One, said he and Bowser “get along great.”

Bowser responded with a posting on X, declaring D.C. “a world-class city” and listing the District’s virtues.

Trump was also responding to a specific question from a reporter, so it’s possible this was an off-the-cuff comment and not indicative of an immediate priority issue for him.

What can Trump do unilaterally?

Local government officials have been quietly predicting some sort of executive order imposing stiffer criminal penalties or a crackdown on homeless encampments, but a full “ takeover” would still require an act of Congress.

He could theoretically take over the Metropolitan Police Department — something that was considered during the 2020 mass protests over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Justin Hansford, a professor at D.C.’s Howard University School of Law, said such a step would need some sort of “justifying emergency.” Trump’s perspective on what constitutes such an emergency, Hansford said, “would absolutely be challenged in court.”

How bad are the problems he mentioned?

Violent crime rates, particularly homicide and car jacking, legitimately spiked in 2023, leaving officials publicly scrambling for answers. Those numbers came down significantly in 2024, in the face of a new public safety bill and a concerted MPD crackdown. They’re up a bit so far in 2025 but still down from their recent peak but also well below the late 1990s when D.C. regularly led the nation in per-capita homicides.

Graffiti in D.C. is common but not exactly a civic crisis. The city has worked to both clean up graffiti hotspots and transform young taggers into publicly sponsored muralists.

Multiple homeless encampments are a fact of life in Washington, but the District government is partially handcuffed by the fact that large swaths of the public greenspace, including many parks and traffic circles, are under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. The last few years have settled into a cyclical dynamic, with homeless encampments slowly growing into mini tent cities on NPS land, followed by a mass clearing with bulldozers once or twice a year.

What’s the history between Trump and DC?

It’s not positive.

During Trump’s turbulent first term, he and the local government publicly sparred multiple times — in tones ranging from playful to deeply personal. When Trump floated the idea of a massive July 4 military parade complete with tanks rolling through the streets, the D.C. Council publicly mocked him.

Trump accused Bowser of losing control of her city during protests over the murder of George Floyd. He backed down from a threat to take over the MPD, and eventually declared his own multi-agency lockdown that included low-flying helicopters buzzing protesters. Bowser responded by having “Black Lives Matter” painted on the street in giant yellow letters one block from the White House.

Trump’s feelings remained intense during the four years after leaving office. He repeatedly promised a federal takeover while on the campaign trail as part of an effort to stoke fears about violence in U.S. cities generally. In August 2023, when he briefly came to town to plead not guilty on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 electoral loss to former President Joe Biden, Trump blasted the capital city on social media, calling it a “filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation.”

What about Congress?

Activist Republicans in Congress have long used the House Oversight Committee as a forum to employ their power over the local government. During the crime spike in 2023, Bowser and members of the D.C. Council were regularly summoned for inquiries before the committee. That year, Congress also, for the first time in decades, fully overturned a D.C. law when it repealed a rewrite of the D.C. criminal code. But that required Congressional Democrats to join in, and then-President Biden to sign off on it.

Members of Congress have also repeatedly used budget riders to alter D.C. laws in minor ways, targeting everything from marijuana legalization to the city’s use of traffic cameras.

As an indication of just how personal and petty this dynamic has become, the bill previously introduced in Congress proposing to repeal D.C. home rule was titled to produce an antagonistic acronym. It’s called the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act or the BOWSER Act.

Is there any silver lining for D.C.?

Perhaps the most optimistic interpretation among D.C. officials is a quiet belief that Trump and Congress have no actual interest in the hassle that comes with managing a city of 700,000 residents — more populous that two U.S. states.

They expect a wave of budget riders from GOP members of Congress emboldened by Trump’s statements. But some observers believe Congress will stop short of assuming the responsibility and liability that would come with a full federal takeover.

“As a lawyer, I’m thinking about who I would sue if there’s a police brutality case,” said Hansford, the Howard law professor. “I don’t think Congress wants to deal with all that.”

Ashraf Khalil, The Associated Press

Officials say there are hundreds of derelict buildings in the municipality and many of the owners are not co-operating to fix them up or tear them down. Matthew Moore has the story.

Halifax police have charged four people in relation to a travelling home repair scam that was taking advantage of seniors in the region.

Between Jan. 5 and Jan. 10, RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment and Halifax Regional Police (HRP) responded to four reports of fraud where a group of men were canvassing door-to-door offering homeowners chimney repair services.

Now in a press release from officials, police say they have received reports of similar scams from Nov. 27, 2025 to Jan. 15.

A group of men were canvassing door-to-door throughout the city using different fake company names such as:

• Nova Construction and Masonry
• All Seasons Construction
• Firmway Construction
• Marshall’s Construction
• Rideau Masonry and Roofing

They convinced people, many of whom were seniors, to allow them to inspect their roofs and chimneys. They then would say repairs were needed and get a large sum of cash for the project.

“The information gathered indicates that the masonry company is fictitious and that victims were referred to a very convincing construction website, leading them to believe the company is real,” RCMP said in a previous press release.

The crew would then not return to the agreed upon project or would do a “subpar” job leaving the victim with damaged property.

Police obtained two search warrants for homes on Battery Drive in Halifax and one on Hazelhurst Street in Dartmouth. The first one on Feb. 12 is where officers found four men who were arrested for fraud. The second one on Feb. 13 saw police seize documents that led them to believe the suspects were in the process of opening a fraudulent business.

Luke, Charles, 23, Patrick Cash 38, Adam Lee Scott, 27, and Dan Thomas Doran, 18 were all charged with fraud under $5,000.

The investigation is ongoing police note.

Premier Tim Houston announced Thursday in Ontario that he plans to introduce legislation to make trade between Nova Scotia and other provinces and territories easier.

TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. says it has laid off employees from its customer service department amid a shift in customer habits.

The Toronto-based company says the cuts affect “a small percentage of roles in our customer service team,” however it declined to clarify how many employees were let go.

It says the majority of positions affected are based in Ontario.

Spokesman Zac Carreiro says Rogers is investing in digital tools and self-serve options that help customers “find what they’re looking for faster,” noting this reflects evolving customer habits.

He says those investments have reduced interactions with Rogers’ customer care chat team by 20 per cent over the past year.

Rogers, which has previously touted having its customer service team based entirely in Canada, also offers support through virtual assistant tools.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B)

The Canadian Press

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The prospect of banning the sale of so-called lab-grown meat might seem like a no-brainer in Nebraska, where beef is king, but some of the proposal’s staunchest opposition has come from ranchers and farming groups who say they can compete without the government’s help.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen — one of the largest pork producers in the country — is behind the push to ban cultivated meat, saying he wants to protect ranchers and meat producers. The Republican governor signed an executive order last August to keep state agencies and contractors from procuring lab-created meat, even though it could be years before such products are on store shelves.

A number of ranchers and meat industry groups are pushing back on the governor’s plan.

Dan Morgan is a fourth-generation cattle rancher from central Nebraska who supplies high-end beef to all 50 states and six countries. He welcomes companies seeking to produce lab-grown meat to “jump into the pool” and try to compete with his Waygu beef. Stifling competition in a free market should be anathema in a Republican-dominated state like Nebraska, he said.

“It sounds like a bunch of right-wing Republicans echoing a bunch of left-wing Democrats,” he said, adding that the government should be limited to regulating the new product’s labels and inspecting its facilities to ensure food safety.

“After that, it’s up to the consumer to make the decision about what they buy and eat.”

Nebraska is among about a dozen states that have introduced measures to ban the manufacture, sale or distribution of lab-grown products, according to . Two states — Florida and Alabama — have already enacted such bans.

The target of the bills is “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured” meat, which is grown from the cells of animals in bioreactor steel tanks. The cells are bathed for weeks in nutrients, prompting them to grow and divide, turning them into skeletal muscle, fat and connective tissues.

The push to ban cultivated meat comes well before the innovation could be considered an industry. While more than two dozen companies are working to develop such meat products, only two — Upside Foods and Good Meat, both based in California — have been approved by the federal government to sell cultivated chicken in the U.S. Even then, none of the companies are close to mass producing and selling the products on store shelves.

In recent weeks, supporters of the Nebraska bill have shifted their arguments from industry protection to questions of safety surrounding cell-cultured meat. That includes its sponsor, state Sen. Barry DeKay, a Nebraska rancher, and Sherry Vinton, the director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. Both testified in support of the bill at a committee hearing earlier this week, calling cultured meat “synthetic food” and voicing concern about possible health implications from eating it.

But it’s been no secret that the push for a ban is rooted in shielding Nebraska’s traditional meat industry. Nebraska tops all other states for beef production and beef exports, according to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.

Pillen named the ban among his top priorities during his State of the State address last month.

“The backers of these products are cut from the same cloth as the anti-farmer activists who want to put our agriculture producers out of business, and we need to recognize them as such,” he said.

The Association for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation, the lobbying group for the emerging cultured meat industry, disputes Pillen’s insistence that it’s a threat to the traditional meat industry, noting studies that show global demand for meat-based protein will double by 2050.

“We’re really a complementary component here,” said Suzi Gerber, executive director of the association. “So it’s a little bit mystifying to me why any individual stakeholder would see this as a threat.”

Several farm organizations, including Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Cattlemen and the Nebraska Pork Producers, agree they’re not worried about competition from the emerging industry. Those groups prefer a sister bill that would only require they be clearly labeled as lab-grown products to separate them from traditional meat. More than a dozen states have also issued similar labeling bills, and some — like Colorado — have seen ban efforts abandoned in favor of labeling measures.

Paul Sherman is an attorney with the Institute for Justice, which is representing Upside Foods in its lawsuit challenging the Florida ban. He said it’s no surprise most of the proposed bans are being pushed by those with connections to traditional agriculture.

“I think it certainly shows that the purpose of these laws isn’t about protecting public health and safety,” he said. “It’s about protecting traditional agriculture from economic competition. And that is not a legitimate use of government power.”

Margery A. Beck, The Associated Press

Legislation introduced by the Progressive Conservative government on Thursday would give Nova Scotia’s public works minister sweeping powers over transit and transportation infrastructure throughout the province.

Unions for federal workers have filed a lawsuit to block the mass firings of probationary federal employees by President Donald Trump’s administration, alleging that officials are exploiting and misusing the probationary period to eliminate staff across government agencies.

The unions allege in the complaint filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in California that the firings “represent one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”

The lawsuit says the administration’s Office of Personnel Management acted unlawfully by directing federal agencies to use a standardized termination notice falsely claiming performance issues. The unions seek an injunction to stop more firings and to rescind those that have already happened.

“This administration has abused the probationary period to conduct a chaotic, ill-informed, and politically-driven firing spree,” American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a news release. “The result has been the indiscriminate firing of thousands of patriotic public servants across the country who help veterans in crisis, ensure the safety of our nuclear weapons, keep power flowing to American homes, combat the bird flu, and provide other essential services.”

OPM did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The complaint contends that the firings were made on false pretenses and violate federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act.

“Overnight, tens of thousands of federal employees received the same termination letter citing ‘performance issues’ without any explanation or reasoning,” said a statement from Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President. “These mass firings are yet another unlawful attempt by this billionaire-run administration to gut public services.”

Congress, not OPM, controls and authorizes federal employment and related spending by the federal administrative agencies, the complaint said, and Congress has determined that each agency is responsible for managing its own employees.

___

Brian Witte, The Associated Press

Halifax police will get funds for new civilian positions and body-worn cameras, after councillors approved full budgets for both the municipal police and RCMP.

Halifax police say four men have been charged with fraud for allegedly posing as a chimney and masonry company and convincing homeowners they were in need of repairs.

The federal government says seven transnational criminal organizations are being listed as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code to fight fentanyl trafficking.

The move is the latest federal measure to bolster security in response to American criticism.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose widespread tariffs on Canadian products, citing the southbound flow of migrants and drugs, including fentanyl.

U.S. border patrol statistics show that less than one per cent of fentanyl seized is found at the northern border.

But Canadian officials have expressed a willingness to do more to fight the deadly synthetic opioid.

The designation essentially freezes a listed group’s assets and property, which are also subject to seizure or forfeiture.

Regional police say a man is dead following a shooting that took place in Halifax on Thursday morning.

At roughly 6:20 a.m., police responded to McFatridge Road where officers found an unconscious man on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound.

He was then transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police say it is being treated as a homicide while the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service conducts an autopsy.

Police do not believe this was a random event and are asking anyone who may have video from the area to contact HRP or Crime Stoppers.

A man who was shot and found by officers on a Halifax sidewalk early Thursday morning has died, according to police, who say the case is being investigated as a homicide.