Carney calls for ‘maximum pressure’ on Russia as Putin issues threat to allies

OTTAWA - Canada and other allies need to maintain "maximum pressure" on Moscow, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to target foreign troops if they are deployed to Ukraine.

Putin "has not yet come to terms with the need for peace," the prime minister said in response to a question from a reporter at a news conference in Mississauga, Ont.

"Mr. Putin is the cause of this war, he's the reason for the killing," he said. "He is not going to dictate the terms of the peace."

Carney said allied pressure on Russia would include imposing new sanctions, ensuring Ukrainian forces are armed and that Ukraine is supported "when there is a cessation of hostility." He said the next round of sanctions is now being prepared by Ukraine's allies.

Carney delays electric vehicle sales mandate by one year, launches review

OTTAWA - The federal electric vehicle sales mandate will not be implemented in 2026 as planned, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday, pushing back by at least a year a policy that would have set minimum sales targets for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Introduced by the Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the mandate would have required 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Canada next year to be electric.

The standard as written is to rise steadily each year until 2035, by which point all new light-duty vehicles sold in Canada were to be fully electric or plug-in hybrids.

But at a press conference in Mississauga, Ont., Carney said he is suspending the mandate for 2026 and launching a 60-day review of the program to help find "future flexibilities and ways to reduce costs."

G7 speakers, officials gathering in capital region today

OTTAWA - Canada is hosting U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and other officials from G7 countries and Ukraine in the Ottawa area today.

Speaker of the House of Commons Francis Scarpaleggia will be in meetings with his counterparts until Saturday as part of Canada's G7 presidency.

Canada has invited the chair of Ukraine's parliament and major parliamentary officials from G7 countries, although Japan's House Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga won't be present.

Scarpaleggia's office says officials are gathering to discuss the challenges facing legislators worldwide and the importance of parliamentary diplomacy.

RCMP arrest 16, including ‘Queen of Canada,’ at conspiracy compound in Saskatchewan

REGINA - RCMP say 16 people, including self-proclaimed "Queen of Canada" Romana Didulo, were arrested Wednesday in southwestern Saskatchewan.

Followers of Didulo, who has promoted various conspiracy theories, set up a "Kingdom of Canada" compound in an old school in Richmound, west of Regina, in 2023.

Insp. Ashley St. Germaine said Mounties learned last week that a person was in possession of a firearm at the property and a police operations team was organized.

A search warrant was executed and the 16 were arrested in the building, in some of the eight recreational vehicles parked at the site, and at a home in the village.

C-SPAN announces deal for its service to be carried on YouTube TV, Hulu

NEW YORK (AP) — C-SPAN said Wednesday that it had reached a deal to have its three channels air on YouTube TV and Hulu's live television feed, ending a dispute that had led to a revenue squeeze for the public affairs network in the cord-cutting era.

The network said the streaming services would pay the same fee as cable and satellite companies, roughly 87 cents a year per subscriber, and that C-SPAN would continue its no-advertising policy on television.

Congress involved itself in the issue, passing a resolution this spring calling on the services' parent companies — Alphabet for YouTube and Disney for Hulu — to add C-SPAN to their programming mix. Because congressional sessions and hearings represent a big portion of C-SPAN's programming, the politicians faced diminished airtime without a deal.

At its peak a decade ago, C-SPAN was seen in some 100 million homes with television. The number of homes paying for TV has since dropped to some 70 million, with roughly 20 million of those consumers now getting television through services like YouTube and Hulu, and they weren't showing C-SPAN.

AI chatbots changing online threat landscape as Ottawa reviews legislation

OTTAWA - Wrongful death lawsuits citing the activities of artificial intelligence chatbots are underway in the United States, as reports emerge of mental health issues and delusions induced by AI systems.

These incidents are drawing attention to the changing nature of the online threat landscape — just weeks after the Liberal government said it would review its online harms bill before reintroducing it in Parliament.

"Since the legislation was introduced, I think it's become all the more clear that tremendous harm can be facilitated by AI, and we're seeing that in particular in the space of chatbots and some of the tragedies," said Emily Laidlaw, Canada research chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary.

The Online Harms Act, which died on the order paper when the election was called, would have required social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, and would have imposed on them a duty to protect children.

The defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting will get one of TV’s biggest prizes

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be honored with one of the television's top prizes even as it winds down its nearly 60-year work after the U.S. government withdrew funding.

The organization, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and TV stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” will be awarded the Television Academy's Governors Award, which honors those who have "made a profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television.”

It will be handed to Patricia de Stacy Harrison, the longest-serving president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Sept. 7.

“For more than half a century, CPB has been a steadfast champion of storytelling that informs, educates and unites us and ensures public media remains a vital space where diverse voices are heard and communities are served,” Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego said in a statement Tuesday.

Margaret Atwood takes aim at Alberta’s school library books ban with satirical story

EDMONTON - Margaret Atwood is taking aim at Alberta's controversial ban on school library books containing sexual content with a new, satirical short story after the famed author's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" was yanked from some shelves due to the province's sweeping new rules.

In a social media post on Sunday, Atwood said since the literary classic is no longer suitable in Alberta's schools, she has written a short story for 17-year-olds about two "very, very good children" named John and Mary.

"They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits," she said at the beginning of her story.

"They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex."

Supervised consumption site expected this year will ‘definitely’ open before NDP’s first term ends, addictions minister says

The province will have a supervised consumption site before the next election, Manitoba’s addictions minister promised Friday after unveiling a memorial stone to those who’ve died of drug overdoses.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith told reporters that the government isn’t going to rush the establishment of an overdose prevention site.

“We want to do our due diligence in terms of consulting, making sure that we’re getting it right,” Smith said on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature after an International Overdose Awareness Day rally.

Last month, Smith said the province was “forging ahead” with opening a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg this year. On Friday, she was asked again about an opening date — if it might not be until next year or later in the government’s four-year mandate, which is nearly half over.

Swastikas still linger on some flags in Finland’s air force, but are on the way out

GENEVA (AP) — Finland’s Air Force, now part of NATO, still flies swastikas on a handful of unit flags — but is preparing to phase them out, largely to avoid awkwardness with its Western allies.

The history of the Finnish air force’s use of the swastika, which since the 20th century has largely been associated with Nazi tyranny and hate groups, is more complex than at first appearance. It is an ancient symbol and Finland's air force began using it many years before the birth of Nazi Germany.

Change has been underway for years. A swastika logo was quietly pulled off the Air Force Command’s unit emblem a few years ago. But swastikas have remained on some Finnish air force flags, raising eyebrows among NATO allies, tourists and other foreigners who spot them at military events.

“We could have continued with this flag, but sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign visitors. It may be wise to live with the times, Col. Tomi Böhm, the new head of Karelia Air Wing air defense force, was quoted as saying in a report Thursday by the public broadcaster YLE.

Trump suggests more US cities need National Guard but crime stats tell a different story

President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years.

Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared to the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S.

Trump, who has already taken federal control of police in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasn't threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states.

John Roman, a data expert who directs the Center on Public Safety & Justice at the University of Chicago, acknowledged violence in some urban neighborhoods has persisted for generations. But he said there's no U.S. city where there “is really a crisis.”

What Americans think about Trump’s handling of crime, according to a new poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — As armed National Guard troops patrol the nation's capital as part of an unprecedented federal takeover of Washington's police department, handling crime is now a relative strength for President Donald Trump, according to the latest AP-NORC poll.

Americans are generally not happy about the Republican president’s handling of issues like immigration and the economy but are more positive about his tough-on-crime approach, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Indeed, the vast majority of Americans, 81%, see crime as a “major problem” in large cities — a concern Trump has seized on as he has deployed the National Guard to the District of Columbia and threatened to expand that model to cities across the country. Despite that perception, data shows that violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low. But Trump’s approach appears to be helping him, at least for the moment: His overall approval rating has increased slightly, from 40% in July to 45% now.

But the poll shows there is less public support for federal takeovers of local police departments, suggesting opinions could shift over the coming weeks or months, depending on how aggressively Trump pursues his threats.

bbno$, the Beaches warn approaching TikTok Canada closure will hurt homegrown artists

Several Canadian artists are worried about losing social media support that can make or break their careers as TikTok prepares to comply with a federal order to shut down its operations in Canada.

Norwegian police say pro-Russian hackers were likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam

Russian hackers are likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam in Norway in April that affected water flows, police officials told Norwegian media on Wednesday.

The director of the Norwegian Police Security Service, Beate Gangås, said cyberattacks are increasingly being carried out against Western nations to stoke fear and unrest.

The Associated Press has plotted more than 70 incidents on a map tracking a campaign of disruption across Europe blamed on Russia, which Western officials have described as “reckless.” Since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents, ranging from vandalism to arson and attempted assassination.

Intelligence officials told the AP that the campaign is becoming more violent.

‘No safety rules’: Concerns grow as AI-generated videos spread hate online

At first it appears to be a quirky video clip generated by artificial intelligence to make people laugh.

In it, a hairy Bigfoot wearing a cowboy hat and a vest emblazoned with the American flag sits behind the wheel of a pickup truck.

“We are going today to the LGBT parade,” the apelike creature says with a laugh. “You are going to love it.”

Things then take a violent and disturbing turn as Bigfoot drives through a crowd of screaming people, some of them holding rainbow flags.

Ontario’s proposed updates to municipal code of conduct rules flawed, critics say

As the Ontario legislature considers a bill that would give municipal councils the power to remove misbehaving and unethical members, some critics say the proposed legislation has serious flaws that must be addressed to ensure accountability.

The Progressive Conservative government's bill seeks to standardize municipal codes of conduct and give councils the power to vote on vacating the seat of a councillor who has violated the code.

For years, municipalities have voiced the need for updated laws to deal with problematic councillors.

Under current rules, municipalities establish their own codes of conduct and appoint an integrity commissioner, said John Mascarin, a partner at Aird & Berlis in Toronto who specializes in municipal law.

Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” said Friday that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding.

The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small transition team will stay until January to finish any remaining work.

The private, nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation. It now ends nearly six decades of fueling the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and emergency alerts about natural disasters.

Here's what to know:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down after being defunded by Congress, targeted by Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cornerstone of American culture for three generations, announced Friday it would take steps toward its own closure after being defunded by Congress — marking the end of a nearly six-decade era in which it fueled the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and even emergency alerts.

The demise of the corporation, known as CPB, is a direct result of President Donald Trump's targeting of public media, which he has repeatedly said is spreading political and cultural views antithetical to those the United States should be espousing. The closure is expected to have a profound impact on the journalistic and cultural landscape — in particular, public radio and TV stations in small communities across the United States.

CPB helps fund both PBS and NPR, but most of its funding is distributed to more than 1,500 local public radio and television stations around the country.

The corporation also has deep ties to much of the nation’s most familiar programming, from NPR’s “All Things Considered” to, historically, “Sesame Street,” “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood” and the documentaries of Ken Burns.

Creating realistic deepfakes is getting easier than ever. Fighting back may take even more AI

WASHINGTON (AP) — The phone rings. It's the secretary of state calling. Or is it?

For Washington insiders, seeing and hearing is no longer believing, thanks to a spate of recent incidents involving deepfakes impersonating top officials in President Donald Trump's administration.

Digital fakes are coming for corporate America, too, as criminal gangs and hackers associated with adversaries including North Korea use synthetic video and audio to impersonate CEOs and low-level job candidates to gain access to critical systems or business secrets.

Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, creating realistic deepfakes is easier than ever, causing security problems for governments, businesses and private individuals and making trust the most valuable currency of the digital age.

Trump signs bill to cancel $9 billion in foreign aid, public broadcasting funding

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a bill Thursday canceling about $9 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting and foreign aid as Republicans look to lock in cuts to programs targeted by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The bulk of the spending being clawed back is for foreign assistance programs. About $1.1 billion was destined for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS, though most of that money is distributed to more than 1,500 local public radio and television stations around the country.

The White House had billed the legislation as a test case for Congress and said more such rescission packages would be on the way.

Some Republicans were uncomfortable with the cuts, yet supported them anyway, wary of crossing Trump or upsetting his agenda. Democrats unanimously rejected the cuts but were powerless to stop them.

Banishing a reporter: Trump escalates battle with Wall Street Journal over Epstein story

President Donald Trump on Monday followed up his lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over last week's Jeffrey Epstein story by banishing one of the newspaper's reporters from Air Force One for an upcoming Scotland trip.

The moves reflect Trump's aggressiveness toward media who displease him — even a media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, with outlets that have been friendly to him in the past.

Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Journal and Murdoch on Friday because of the newspaper's article about a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump's name that was included in a 2003 album compiled for alleged sex trafficker Epstein's birthday. The president has denied having anything to do with it.

On Monday, the White House said it was removing a Journal reporter from the pool covering the president's trip this weekend to his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen in Scotland. The Journal's Tarini Parti had been scheduled to cover him on the trip.

Premier Smith’s panel makes changes to three surveys to fix ‘oversight’

EDMONTON - Alberta is making changes to its online citizen survey following criticism that the original version was a slanted push poll designed to stir up discontent with the federal government.

Smith’s office confirmed Thursday they are making changes to three of the six surveys launched three weeks ago to gauge public opinion on Alberta distancing itself from Ottawa oversight and control.

They're part of Smith’s touring town hall panel, dubbed Alberta Next, pitching strategies that could lead to possible referendums.

Three of the six surveys asked respondents to comment on the province creating its own pension plan, police force and tax collection agency. But those who filled out those surveys weren’t allowed to disagree with the concept. That is changing, said Smith's spokesman.

Native American radio stations at risk as Congress looks to cut $1B in public broadcasting funding

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders.

The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency's plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month.

“For Indian Country in general, 80% of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio,” said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. “If the claw back happens, I would say a good 90% of those stations will cease to exist.”

Native American communities rely on local radio stations