From Barcelona to Paris, cities thrive with women in charge. It’s all about sharing public space | Melissa and Chris Bruntlett Female mayors have had notable successes in making transport in urban areas benefit everyone, write Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, co-authors of Women Changing Cities

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

panicking.

"We must not forget that we already have an agreement in place with the United States," a Canadian source said.

Washington demanding 'entry fee' from Ottawa before trade talks: sources | CBC News The Trump administration is demanding what amounts to an "entry fee" from Canada to engage in trade talks toward a revised Canada-United States-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (CUSMA), four sources told R...

Typically Trump. “U.S. President Donald] Trump wants us to make a lot of concessions before we sit down at the table," Charest told Radio-Canada. "Meanwhile, he wouldn’t make any." www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Spain is crushing it ⚡🇪🇸

Solar is delivering the equivalent of 27 nuclear plants during the day. Pumped hydro stores ~3 nuclear plants worth. Batteries already stepping in.

This isn’t a generation problem anymore. It’s storage scale.

Energy scarcity → energy timing. #BESS #Solar

JD Vance could yet save his political skin. But it will mean turning on Trump – and soon | Simon Tisdall The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take? asks Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall

“The vice-president US has endured his most damaging week as Trump’s fall guy.Three losing battles in the past week:with Iranian negotiators,Hungarian voters and Pope Leo. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Good insight, good read.

Photo shows a heap of older style phones with the text “Planned obsolescence is now outlawed in France. It is a crime to intentionally reduce the lifespan of a product to force customers to replace it.”

Love France 🇫🇷 They understand the importance of the battery life of a Nokia 3310

Amazing! This is the line to get into Peter Buttigieg’s town hall in Tulsa tonight.

🔥SEN. @ossoff.senate.gov : “Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner’s on the Saudi payroll for $2 BILLION— as he leads 🇺🇸 diplomacy + asks sheikhs for billions more… Never have we seen so little effort to hide so much corruption. The Mar-a-Lago mafia taking corruption to spectacular new heights.”

"I don't think people are sufficiently prepared notwithstanding what happened in 2021, for the possibility that he will try to fuck with this election. And he will. He's already basically telling us that's what he's going to do, just the same way he told us he would do that in 2020."

Drone wars: The strategic convergence between Ukraine and Iran | CNN Politics Seeing Ukraine and Iran as interconnected can help the US better prepare for future wars and remain steps ahead of its adversaries.

“If Trump wants his Iran campaign to carry an enduring legacy, he might look to Zelensky — the one leader who showed up to help during the hottest phase of the war”. www.cnn.com/2026/04/17/p...

Japan’s Bioeconomy Breakthrough: Turning World-Class Science into Global Business In Japanese, the word “shinobi” evokes the ninja — blending into the background, unseen. Today, that same idea is inspiring a breakthrough in regenerative medicine.

Shinobi Therapeutics shows how Japan is rewriting its biotechnology narrative — from a nation known primarily for research excellence to one defined by speed, scale and successful commercialization. www.reuters.com/plus/japans-...

Going to hell in a hand basket

France is switching from Microsoft to Linux

"We must become less reliant on American tools and regain control of our digital destiny. We can no longer accept that our data, our infrastructure, our strategic decisions depend on solutions whose rules, pricing, evolution, and risks we do not control."

Trump slams Pope Leo following American pontiff's comments on Iran war | CBC News Pope Leo told Reuters on Monday that he plans to continue speaking out against war after U.S. ‌President Donald Trump's direct attack the previous day on the leader of the 1.4-billion-member church.

Trump met his “Waterloo”. Pope: “I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among ⁠the states to look for just solutions to problems, www.cbc.ca/news/world/t...

Celebratory dance in Hungary

More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says Researchers say hardship is a direct legacy of welfare benefit cuts imposed by Tory governments in recent years

The policies pursued by the Conservative party in their time in power saw too many children and families suffer. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Congratulations to Péter Magyar on a decisive election victory in Hungary.

The Hungarian people have chosen a new path. We are ready to work with you, and our European allies, to deepen our cooperation in trade, defence, and security.

Hungarian opposition ousts Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power Péter Magyar’s Tisza party wins election as prime minister concedes defeat, in result likely to reshape ties with EU

Péter Magyar’s Tisza party wins election as prime minister concedes defeat, in result likely to reshape ties with EU www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Humanity at its best.

For contrast: somewhere on an island in Canada!

Let’s see if the Russian tanks roll in this time? I’m old enough to remember!
1500 tanks and250,000 soldiers.

Cartoon by
Robert Ariail

Amazon wants all the control of an employer without any of the responsibility. It’s time to pass the Delivery Protection Act to say goodbye to Amazon’s union busting loopholes.

The shared excitement over NASA’s recent mission compared to the general indifference to SpaceX missions speaks to the power of something seen as the product of communal human effort rather than just the ego and avarice of one obnoxious dork.

“We want to live in a free, European Democracy. After 16 years of sorrow, corruption and Russian influence. We have had enough”

The organisers & singers at the massive Budapest concert told me why Orban has to go.

But yet, Russia has effectively rejected a 30-day unconditional truce proposed last year by the U.S. and Ukraine. They stop to acknowledge Jesus’s death…then continue the killings! www.cbc.ca/news/world/u...

According to a judgment issued last month by Quebec’s College of Physicians, Dr. Roberto Fernandez repeatedly humiliated, ignored, and didn’t listen to his patients. www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...

Woman with three deadly diseases has ‘remarkable’ recovery after cell therapy Treatment reset wayward immune system of patient with life-threatening conditions, say scientists, in a world first

“A 47 year old woman who lived with three life-threatening autoimmune diseases for more than a decade has returned to a near-normal life after a cell therapy reset her wayward immune system.” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...