News

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The 41st annual Kiwanis Walleye World Derby is in the books.
Over 2,000 anglers signed up this year, coming from as far away as New Brunswick. Paul Weller caught the biggest walleye at 12.27 pounds and Chris Cox reeled in the biggest pike which weighed in at 14.1 pounds.

U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on threats to make Canada the 51st state as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares for a crucial White House meeting and insists Canadian sovereignty is not up for discussion. “You don’t even realize what a beautiful country it would be. It would be great,” Trump told NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday. “I’ll always talk about that. You know why? We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year,” Trump added, reiterating his false claim over the U.S. trade deficit with Canada. When asked if he’d consider using military force to annex Canada, Trump said he thinks “we’re not gonna ever get to that point” but “something could happen with Greenland” — the autonomous Danish territory which he’s also mentioned absorbing. The U.S. president’s renewed threats come as Carney prepares to meet him in-person on Tuesday for a comprehensive set of discussions on tariffs and the broader Canada-U.S. relationship.

Senior members of the federal NDP say they expect an interim leader to be appointed by the end of the week, after Leader Jagmeet Singh announced his resignation on election night. Mr. Singh, who has been leader since 2017, told supporters last Monday that he would be stepping down after leading the party into its worst election performance in its history. NDP national campaign director Jennifer Howard, who was also Mr. Singh’s chief of staff, said the federal council is supposed to meet this week to discuss interim leadership and they expected an interim leader by the end of the week. Ms. Howard said one of the first jobs of the interim leader would be figuring out a path to regaining recognized Party status in the House of Commons. The New Democrats have called the 12-member threshold arbitrary and want the rules changed so they are included.

A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward Israel yesterday landed near the country’s main international airport, sending a plume of smoke into the air and causing panic among passengers in the terminal building. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, who claimed responsibility for the missile strike, have recently intensified missile launches at Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate. “We attacked in the past, we will attack in the future,” he said in a video circulated by his office. Claiming responsibility for the strike, the Houthis’ military spokesperson said Israel’s main airport was “no longer safe for air travel’, but a spokesperson for the Israel Airports Authority said takeoffs and landings had resumed and that operations at Ben Gurion had returned to normal, after reports of air traffic being halted and access routes to the airport being blocked.

Finally, Brazilian police said yesterday that they had thwarted a bomb attack planned for Lady Gaga’s historic concert that drew more than two million people to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro state, working in co-ordination with the Justice Ministry, said the plot was orchestrated by a group promoting hate speech and the radicalization of teenagers, including self-harm and violent content as a form of social belonging. The operation was based on a report by the ministry’s Cyber Operations Lab following a tip-off from Rio state police intelligence, which uncovered digital cells encouraging violent behaviour among teenagers using coded language and extremist symbolism. According to the Rio city hall, 2.1 million people attended the free concert of the American pop icon.

Sports

Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Mitch Marner was the only member of the team to miss practice yesterday, but he had a good excuse. His wife Stephanie gave birth to their first child, a baby boy. Hopefully the birth puts some pep in Marners step, as the Buds face the Florida Panthers tonight in game 1 of their second round playoff matchup.

There was just one game left in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to play yesterday – the Winnipeg Jets welcomed the St. Louis Blues for game 7, and what a game it was. The Blues were up 3-1 at the end of the second, but Cole Perfetti scored at 19.57 of the third to put the game into OT. Adam Lowry scored at 16.10 of the second overtime frame to give the Jets a 4-3 win and passage into the second round, where they’ll face Dallas.

Gabriel Arias’s two-run single was part of a three-run fourth inning as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 yesterday afternoon in the rubber match of a three-game series. The Blue Jays replied with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the fourth, but their bats then went silent for their second straight loss.
Back to hockey, the PWHL has released the start dates for their first-round playoff schedule. The Toronto Sceptres will play their first two games at home, this Wednesday and Friday. Their first-round opponent is the defending champion Minnesota Frost.

The Formula One circus travelled to Miami this weekend for the first of three races in the US this season. Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen outdrove his car Saturday to take pole position, but gave way to the McLarens early in the race Sunday. Championship leader Oscar Piastri took a comfortable victory over team mate Lando Norris. Mercedes driver George Russell finished a distant third.