Family from the Democratic Republic of Congo navigates chilly firsts alongside IRCOM supports

All Clever Ganza wants to do this winter is build a snowman.

He’s not yet had the chance, as it hasn’t been the right kind of snow — although to the eight-year-old, all snow is snow.

It’s his second winter in Winnipeg after arriving in Canada with his parents and younger brother Travor, 5, in December 2024.

Clever has acclimatized pretty quickly.

A forgotten chapter: The stories of Allied POWs in Nagasaki during the atomic bombing

NAGASAKI, Japan (AP) — Hundreds of prisoners of war from Allied countries were held at brutal Japanese camps in Nagasaki when the United States dropped an atomic bomb 80 years ago.

Their presence during the Aug. 9, 1945, bombing is little known, and family and researchers have been collecting and publishing testimonies to tell the stories of these often unrecognized victims.

In September, dozens of relatives of Dutch POWs and descendants of Japanese bombing survivors came together to commemorate both those who were abused at the camps and the tens of thousands of Japanese who were killed that day. The dead included at least eight captives at one of the Nagasaki camps.

Descendants and survivors reckon with a painful past

‘Canada is not for sale’ hat makers want to share domestic manufacturing tips

OTTAWA - One of the people behind the viral "Canada is not for sale" hat says he wants to help other companies get on board the made-in-Canada train.

Liam Mooney told The Canadian Press he and his fiancée and business partner Emma Cochrane felt distraught watching Ontario Premier Doug Ford tell U.S. President Donald Trump and American media in early January that — the president's musings about annexation notwithstanding — Canada would never be for sale.

A few days later the Ottawa-based pair, now married, stitched together a hat bearing the premier's message. Mooney called it a "creative rebuttal" in a form familiar to Trump.

But after a year of learning the ins and outs of domestic manufacturing — and seeing the lengths Canadian firms have to go just to get their products on local store shelves — Mooney said his goal in 2026 is to spread the "Canada is not for sale" ethos.

Canada wraps up G7 tech ministers’ meeting after signing EU, U.K. deals

OTTAWA - Canada ended a two-day meeting of G7 industry, digital and technology ministers Tuesday after signing agreements with European partners that are taking a tougher stand on regulating artificial intelligence than the United States.

The memorandums of understanding with the European Union, Germany and the U.K. focused on digital issues, including artificial intelligence. While the U.S. sent representatives to the meeting, no such deal with the United States was announced.

During the closing press conference, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Canada has a robust trade relationship with the U.S. but it is deepening its relationship with European countries.

"What we want to do strategically as well, as we move from reliance to resilience, is expand our trade. And we did that this past number of days," he said.

Churchill’s future has looked bright in the past, then politics dimmed the lights

The future of the often-troubled and chronically overlooked Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay railway looks exceedingly bright.

U.S. directs its embassies in Western nations to scrutinize ‘mass migration’

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has directed its embassies in Canada and other Western nations to scrutinize the impacts of "mass migration" — the Trump administration's latest push to reshape the geopolitics of America's longtime allies.

Last week's dispatch to embassies directed diplomats in Ottawa, New Zealand, Australia and countries in western Europe to report on the human rights implications and public safety impacts of large-scale mass migration, calling it an "existential threat to Western civilization."

In a Friday social media post shared by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the department said officials will "urge governments to take bold action and defend citizens against the threats posed by mass migration."

Officials will also report "policies that punish citizens who object to continued mass migration and document crimes and human rights abuses committed by people of a migration background," the department said.

Immigration minister extends pause on new private refugee sponsorships to 2027

OTTAWA - Immigration Minister Lena Diab has extended the pause on new applications through the Private Sponsorship for Refugees Program for another 12 months as the department works to clear its backlog.

New ministerial instructions were published in the Canada Gazette on Friday, along with a notice on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website.

The pause was to be lifted at the end of December but will now be in place for another year, until Dec. 31, 2026.

This pause applies to refugee sponsorships submitted by community organizations or groups of five or more individuals. These sponsors have to support the refugee for one year after they arrive or until they can support themselves, whichever comes first.

Former judge in Ukraine sacrifices career to be reunited with family in Winnipeg

Viktor Bratasyuk was walking the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court as part of an international judicial fellowship last fall. Today, the longtime Ukrainian judge is working part time at a beer vendor in St. Vital.

UN approves the Trump administration’s plan for the future of Gaza

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza won strong approval at the United Nations on Monday, a crucial step that provides international support for U.S. efforts to move the devastated territory toward peace following two years of war.

The U.S. resolution that passed the U.N. Security Council authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in Gaza, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

“This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the History of the United Nations, will lead to further Peace all over the World, and is a moment of true Historic proportion!” Trump posted on social media.

The vote endorses Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan and builds on the momentum of the fragile ceasefire he helped broker with allies. It marks a key next step for American efforts to outline Gaza’s future after the Israel-Hamas war destroyed much of the territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Almost Armageddon: a personal history

The fear that’s been buried for a couple of decades, albeit not very deeply, resurfaced with the bizarre demand from U.S. President Donald Trump to his military that nuclear testing be resumed. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.”

How Canada can regain its measles elimination status

TORONTO - Infectious disease experts say Canada's loss of measles elimination status shows how badly investment is needed in public health, rebuilding vaccine confidence and solving the primary care crisis.

On Monday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) revoked the measles-free status Canada has had since 1998 because an outbreak of the virus across several provinces has lasted for more than a year.

Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University, said cuts to public health funding, the lack of a national vaccine registry and a shortage of family doctors — all while misinformation about vaccines is circulating widely — have contributed to the rise of measles.

"There's no two ways about this. This will take money — a lot of money — and a lot of investment. And it will take a lot of political will," Bowdish said

A century later, Ukrainian church still helping new Ukrainians

When it was founded in 1925, St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in the North End was a welcoming and helpful place for immigrants seeking new lives in Canada.

As the church celebrates its centennial, it is still welcoming and helping Ukrainians fleeing war in their homeland.

“Helping each other never stops,” Eugene Hyworon, co-chair of the cathedral’s centennial committee, said.

A centennial gala will be held Saturday.

The road not taken: lowest number of Manitobans in three decades cross border at Pembina in July, August

Many Manitobans appeared to skip U.S. road trips over the summer as the number of southbound travellers hit at least a 30-year low — excluding COVID-19 pandemic years — at a major border crossing south of Winnipeg.

TikTok as a tool — but for whom?

Canada already considers TikTok a threat to national security and the lives of many Canadian youth who, a recent investigation showed, collect huge amounts of personal data on every one of its users.

Increase in number of doctors is only a start

Manitoba posted a record increase of new physicians this past year, a development that deserves recognition.

Will electric tractors gain traction? At a pilot event for farmers, researchers see possibilities

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — In the soft dirt of an indoor horseback riding ring last month, a group of farmers got ready to test drive a new piece of equipment: an electric tractor.

As they took turns climbing in — some surprised by its quick acceleration — they gave real-time feedback to the Michigan State University researchers who have been developing it for over two years.

The farmers remarked on the motor's quiet whir. Most were intrigued, or at least open to the idea. Some were concerned that the battery on the underside of the carriage would mean a lower clearance over the field, while others worried that it would simply be too expensive.

“What we hope to do when we retire is we want to get everything electric on the farm. The tractor is the last electric implement to get,” said Don Dunklee, one of the farmers to provide feedback. He runs a small organic vegetable farm that's relied on wind and solar for decades.

Blame game after acts of political violence can lead to further attacks, experts warn

DENVER (AP) — From the moment conservative activist and icon Charlie Kirk was felled by an assassin’s bullet, partisans began fighting over which side was to blame. President Donald Trump became the most prominent to do so, tying the attack to “the radical left” before a suspect was even identified.

It was part of a new, grim tradition in a polarized country — trying to pin immediate responsibility for an act of public violence on one of two political sides. As the nation reels from a wave of physical attacks against both Republicans and Democrats, experts warn that the rush to blame sometimes ambiguous and irrational acts on political movements could lead to more conflict.

“What you’re seeing now is exactly how the spiral of violence occurs,” said Robert Pape, a political scientist and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago.

On Friday, authorities announced they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah, in the shooting. While a registered voter, he was not affiliated with any party and had not voted in the last two general elections. Even so, officials said Robinson had recently grown more political and expressed negative views about Kirk.

Equatorial Guinea enforces yearlong internet outage for island that protested construction company

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — When residents of Equatorial Guinea's Annobón island wrote to the government in Malabo in July last year complaining about the dynamite explosions by a Moroccan construction company, they didn't expect the swift end to their internet access.

Dozens of the signatories and residents were imprisoned for nearly a year, while internet access to the small island has been cut off since then, according to several residents and rights groups.

Local residents interviewed by The Associated Press left the island in the past months, citing fear for their lives and the difficulty of life without internet.

Banking services have shut down, hospital services for emergencies have been brought to a halt and residents say they rack up phone bills they can't afford because cellphone calls are the only way to communicate.

Local engineer was a real game changer

Forty-seven years ago, George Klassen had an idea that improved the lives of millions of people in Bangladesh. It was for a hand-powered rower pump, a classic piece of simple, inexpensive and appropriate technology that poor farmers could use to irrigate their crops.

Today, an estimated 500,000 rower pumps are still in operation, benefitting more than 2.5 million people in that southeast Asian country — a legacy to Klassen’s vision, curiosity and ingenuity.

Klassen, who died on April 15 in Steinbach, spent his early years in Blumenort (near Gretna) before moving with his parents and 10 siblings to a farm near Steinbach. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with a B.Sc., he taught science and math in Nigeria with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for three years.

There, he became convinced the best way he could serve people in the global south was by assisting them with practical skills and knowledge. With that in mind, when Klassen returned to Canada he decided to go back to the University of Manitoba to study engineering.

A Lebanese dancer defies extremist threats and social norms with his sold-out performances

BEIRUT (AP) — Alexandre Paulikevitch put on his white dress and wig and danced his way to center stage, knowing that the extremist groups who had threatened him before his controversial recital might be waiting for him outside the theater.

The Lebanese dancer’s sold-out performance to a cheering crowd at a popular Beirut venue had angered fundamentalist movements ranging from the right-wing Christian Soldiers of God to Sunni Islamists.

The fundamentalists say Paulikevitch is “promoting homosexuality" because he wears dresses and corsets and undulates to classical Arabic music in a way which society largely sees as exclusive to women.

Paulikevitch says he’s breaking social norms and reintroducing forms of dance that were commonplace for men as recently as the early 20th century.

Amazon’s Zoox launches its robotaxi service in Las Vegas

Amazon's Zoox on Wednesday launched its robotaxi service in Las Vegas, offering free rides through parts of the entertainment mecca for anyone willing to gamble on the safety of a driverless vehicle that operates without a steering wheel.

The Las Vegas debut of Zoox's long-planned ride-hailing service reflects Amazon-owned robotaxi maker's confidence in the safety of its boxy vehicles after two years of testing them in the city.

The robotaxis initially were only available to employees in Las Vegas before gradually expanding to friends and family members. Now, anyone with the Zoox app will be able to request a ride to five designated locations, including Resorts World, the Luxor hotel and the New York-New York hotel. The longest distance the Zoox robotaxis will travel is about three miles (4.8 kilometers) while carrying up to four passengers.

All rides will be provided for free for at least the first few months to help promote the existence of the service in the perennially popular travel destination. Once it begins charging for rides in Las Vegas, Zoox says its prices will be comparable to traditional taxis and ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.