Research pinpoints frailty as risk for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia

Global spy games heat back up

In 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed a massive dragnet of U.S. surveillance programs built to intercept the data and communications of targets worldwide. By comparison, human intelligence work suddenly seemed clumsy and antiquated. Perhaps even unnecessary.

Yet espionage is now making a comeback. Governments are rediscovering the value of covertly undermining rivals and dealing with risks abroad before they pose security threats at home.

Israeli and American forces swiftly decapitated Iran’s leadership in March thanks to Mossad agents penetrating the regime in Tehran and tracking officials’ daily movements beforehand. Russian and Ukrainian operatives have staged at least 150 assassination attempts on each other’s soil since 2022.

North Korean spies are using fake IT credentials and AI-generated profiles to get hired at Fortune 500 companies. The goal: steal trade secrets and divert lucrative tech salaries toward Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

Demolition ordered after fire in vacant city home

A Winnipeg firefighter was assessed by paramedics and an emergency demolition was ordered after a vacant house caught fire Thursday morning for the second time in less than three months.

The two-storey home, at Argyle Street and Disraeli Freeway, in South Point Douglas, was boarded up following a blaze that occurred June 1.

Firefighters returned to the house after flames were reported shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday. The house was engulfed when crews arrived.

“Due to heavy fire conditions, crews were unable to enter the structure,” a Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service spokesperson wrote in an email to the Free Press.

Downtown outage caused by construction mishap: Bell MTS

Some customers in downtown Winnipeg are experiencing a Bell MTS service interruption after telecommunications infrastructure was damaged Tuesday.

Bell MTS said on social media that a third-party construction crew accidentally cut a copper cable, causing the outage.

Contractors drilled through multiple underground ducts, causing significant damage to several cables and requiring extensive repairs.

A small number of buildings, mainly concentrated on Fort Street, Garry Street and York Avenue, may be experiencing landline or internet issues because of the damage, said Bell spokesperson Elise von Scheel.

Low-income residents of 114-year-old downtown block staggered by proposed rent hikes

Marcel Blanchette’s life has not travelled down a smooth road.

In 2014, he was violently assaulted in his home, an unprovoked attack that left him with severe injuries, including permanent brain damage. He underwent months of hospitalization and rehabilitation. During that time, he learned his possessions had been sold off when the Office of The Public Guardian and Trustee took over his affairs.

Twelve years later, he finds himself in another fight. This time, it comes in the form of a proposal from the new owners of the Conway Court apartment block that would nearly double his monthly rent. While he’s been able to live in the Kennedy Street unit with the support of disability income assistance for nearly five years, the sudden spike, he said, could leave him homeless.

“To go through that, and now I’m going through this, it’s another obstacle,” Blanchette told the Free Press. “I fought the Public Guardian and Trustee, and I’ll fight this too, with whatever I have.”

Cinematheque celebrates LGBTTQ+ director’s catalogue

As a distinct and important voice in queer cinema, director Gregg Araki’s sex-filled, nihilistic films about LGBTTQ+ life have left a lasting impact on indie films.

To end off the summer, Winnipeggers will have a rare one-week opportunity to experience the Los Angeles-born filmmaker’s work in theatres at Dave Barber Cinematheque from Aug. 28 to Sept. 6.

The series is to celebrate Araki’s newest movie, I Want Your Sex (which opens tonight and runs to Tuesday),and incorporates some of his more well-known works along with older films that aren’t usually screened, says Olivia Norquay, film programmer for Cinematheque.

One of the most important inclusions for Norquay is Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy, which includes Totally F***ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997).

Don’t buy U.S. booze if, when it’s back on Liquor Mart shelves: Kinew

Manitoba hasn’t agreed to put American liquor back on shelves despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s request while his government finalizes a trade deal with the U.S. to avoid new tariffs.