Visitors join shabbat service to support synagogue tagged with hateful graffiti

Non-Jewish visitors gathered for a shabbat service at a Winnipeg synagogue Saturday to demonstrate unity after it was tagged with hate symbols.

“We support the Jewish community. We wanted to show our support,” Rudy Fidel, pastor of Faith Temple, an evangelical congregation in the city, said before the service.

“It’s most distressing what happened,” Fidel’s wife, Gina, said of swastikas being spray-painted on Shaarey Zedek synagogue last week. “That’s why we are here.”

Todd and Kathy Picklyk also thought it was important to attend.

With Cuban ally Maduro ousted, Trump warns Havana to make a ‘deal’ before it’s too late

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Canadians join global protests in solidarity with Iranian uprising

MONTREAL - Demonstrations were held in several Canadian cities on Saturday to voice support for the Iranian people as a popular uprising sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark.

Protesters in Montreal and Ottawa demanded the fall of the Islamic regime and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran who has been in exile in the United States for 47 years.

A demonstration was also held in Toronto on Friday.

Katayoon Haghzadeh says she went to the Montreal event to be the voice of the Iranian people currently in the streets and facing down torture and death at the hands of the Iranian regime as they fight for change.

Iranian protests are growing. Israel is watching closely

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is “closely monitoring” the fallout from widespread Iranian protests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to attack Iran could escalate the protests within the borders of the Islamic Republic into a regional war.

“The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. He condemned the killing of civilians and said he hoped to rebuild relations between Israel and Iran once the country was “freed from the yoke of tyranny.”

Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke overnight Saturday about a number of issues, including Iran, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

But Israel’s military said there are no new guidelines for civilians to stay close to bomb shelters due to concerns about an attack of Iranian missiles, as there have been in the past when there were concrete threats.

Finding housing for encampment residents remains challenge: city

There have been 12 encampments cleared by city staff since the implementation of new protocols in November, but finding housing or shelter for people staying in them remains a “key struggle,” councillors heard Friday.

Winnipeg’s encampment response protocol, which brings enforcement officers, Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service staff, outreach organizations and other groups together to clear out people and connect them to housing and other supports, was put in place Nov. 17.

Since then, the city has inspected 72 sites and enforcement officers have put up 117 signs warning of bylaw violations.

“We have quite a large number of sites we’re working on presently, just monitoring and working with outreach teams to make contact and, hopefully, find housing for people at those sites,” Greg MacPherson, he city’s acting manager of community development, told councillors at Friday’s community services committee meeting.

Members of armed forces headed to help in Pimicikamak

Canadian soldiers are headed to a northern Manitoba First Nation devastated by the aftermath of a prolonged power outage, including damage to water and sewer systems.

Most rooming houses fail fire inspection: WFPS

Nearly every Winnipeg rooming house visited by fire prevention officers in 2024 failed its initial inspection, a new report tabled by the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service shows.

The fire service inspected 141 rooming houses that year, finding just 27 per cent were in compliance with fire prevention bylaws, WFPS Chief Christian Schmidt told the city’s community service committee Friday.

“Those are relatively low compliance percentages, and speak to the importance of this work,” Schmidt said.

“The good news is, through the work of the inspection unit and the relationships that they have developed with property owners over time, the inspection compliance on second inspection rises dramatically.”

Plowing shows city refuses to burn bridge with Arlington

Vehicles haven’t had access to it for two years due to severe structural issues, but the city continues to plow the Arlington Bridge.

A spokesperson said Thursday the city plows the bridge to facilitate inspections and reduce weight on the structure.

“We have to keep this weight — also called dead load — down to minimize further deterioration until we are able to decommission the bridge,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The bridge, which opened in 1912, closed suddenly on Nov. 21, 2023, due to structural concerns, raising questions about its future.

‘Profound physical and emotional suffering’: woman who injected son with saltwater sentenced to time in treatment centre

A Winnipeg woman whose untreated mental illness drove her to poison her young son with salt water and other substances for more than eight months has been sentenced to four and a half years custody.

“The resulting harm was severe, placing the child’s life in danger on multiple occasions, causing profound physical and emotional suffering,” provincial court Judge Jerilee Ryle said at a sentencing hearing Thursday, describing the 30-year-old woman’s actions as “sustained and deliberate.”

The woman previously pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault. She cannot be named to protect the identify of her now eight-year-old son.

The woman has been diagnosed with factitious disorder imposed on another, a mental disorder previously referred to as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Pair of Manitobans named to women’s Olympic hockey roster

A pair of Manitobans are heading to the Winter Olympics as members of the Canadian women’s hockey team.

Ste. Anne’s Jocelyne Larocque and Winnipegger Kati Tabin were included in the 23-person roster announced on Friday afternoon. Canada will look to repeat as gold medallists when the 10-nation tournament gets underway in Milan Feb. 5.

This will be the fourth straight Games for the 37-year-old Larocque, who currently patrols the blue line for the Ottawa Charge of the PWHL. She has gold medals from Beijing (2022) and Sochi (2014) and a silver from Pyeongchang (2018).

Tabin, 28, gets to compete on the biggest stage in sports for the first time. She is in her third season of playing defence with the Montreal Victoire of the PWHL.