Pulendran told the BBC: “This vaccine, what we term a universal vaccine, elicits a far broader response that is protective against not just the flu virus, not just the Covid virus, not just the common cold virus, but against virtually all viruses, and as many different bacteria as we’ve tested, and even allergens.
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Edmonton fire crews were called out around 5 a.m. on Thursday to reports of a fire in the old Jasper Place Hotel, located at 15326 Stony Plain Rd.
Responding firefighters kept a steady stream of water on the flames and smoke billowing out of the windows of the abandoned hotel.
Large pools of water also began forming on the streets and sidewalks around the burning building.
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Edmonton police were also called in to block off several streets in the area and people were asked to avoid the area to give emergency crews room to work.
The hotel previously caught fire in December of 2019 while there were still 41 people living in it.
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The damage from that fire resulted in it being declared unfit for human habitation by Alberta Health Services.
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Some of the building materials were also confirmed to contain asbestos that was damaged by the fire.
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Yellowknife RCMP say a 31-year-old man was arrested after a break and enter at a hotel earlier this week.
Police say they received a report that a man had “forcibly” entered the banquet hall of the Chateau Nova on Tuesday night just after 11:30 p.m.
They say the man was found about an hour later and arrested at an apartment building.
Police say the man had three separate probation orders at the time of his arrest because of previous break and enter offences at other properties.
They say the man was arrested in relation to an alleged theft from downtown’s Independent Grocer on Feb. 12.
They say he was also being sought for an alleged theft from Shopper’s Drug Mart on Tuesday morning.
The man faces three counts of theft under $5,000, breaking and entering, and six counts of failure to comply with a probation order.
Police say the man is being held for a bail hearing.
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Province House will be bustling Monday as MLAs return for a sitting of the legislature, but NDP Leader Claudia Chender says for most of the year, the building “might as well be a museum.”
Chender held a news conference Thursday at Province House ahead of the sitting and criticized Premier Tim Houston for a “lack of transparency and availability” that she called “shocking.”
“This government has not delivered what they promised, and they have not been accountable for their choices,” she said.
Chender highlighted the Progressive Conservative government’s short sittings — MLAs were at the House last year for only 30 days — and limited media availability with the premier.
Houston has not been available to the press gallery for more than five weeks. Chender noted that during that stretch of time the province was dealt a downgrade by one of the major credit rating agencies and Houston has yet to respond publicly.
“I really believe that this government is hiding from Nova Scotians,” she said.
Chender said her party will table legislation this sitting for a legislative budget officer, which she said will hold the government accountable for its “historic levels” of spending. Houston said last month the deficit had risen to $1.4 billion.
A new budget is expected to be tabled next week, and Houston has cautioned that cuts to programs and the civil service will likely be needed to contend with mounting financial pressures.
Interim Liberal Leader Iain Rankin also held a news conference Thursday, also proposing a budgetary watchdog for the legislature.
“We’ve never seen in this province the kind of reckless spending that we’re seeing,” he said.
Meanwhile, he committed that a Liberal government would invest provincial money into child care to bring fees down to an average of $10 a day. The PCs admitted last week they will not achieve that target as planned because they’ve run out of money from Ottawa.
“This is about priorities,” Rankin said.
The premier’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Independent MLA Becky Druhan says she’ll table legislation this session “to modernize and strengthen Nova Scotia’s conflict of interest framework, with a focus on transparency, enforceability, and public confidence in democratic institutions.”
In a news release, the former PC cabinet minister said the current legislation hasn’t been comprehensively reviewed in over a decade.
“This is not about questioning the integrity of people who are trying to do good work,” she said. “It’s about ensuring the accountability systems that support them and protect public trust are strong, clear, and up to date.”
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As Stratford continues to grow, some say it’s time for the P.E.I. town to revive a group that supports local business owners.
The town had a business group in the past, but it dissolved after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Certainly the connection for everybody is much needed,” said Leigh Read, a resident and member of the former Stratford Business Group.
“When you’re running a business or you’re part of a business, you always feel like you’re on your own, and sometimes there are things that you need to discuss and share, and you can within this group.”
Island Morning6:54Stratford business group
The Town of Stratford says it needs to renew its local business group. Jill Chandler, a town councillor, and Leigh Read, a resident and member of the former Stratford Business Group, join us to talk about the need to support local businesses.
Read moved to P.E.I. in 2016, and said the business group’s support gave him peace of mind and a sense of comfort in knowing that others were going through similar experiences.
“It’s really important as the Town of Stratford grows … that we look after each other,” he said.
“We’re willing … to stand up and support and look after businesses, and embrace new businesses coming to the area because we have the ability to grow.”
The town is hosting a planning session Wednesday to try to bring the Stratford Business Group back to life, and discuss plans to help the business community thrive.
It will be held at the Stratford Town Centre at 6:30 p.m.
The growth of the business community in Stratford is “kind of constant,” said Coun. Jill Chandler.
Between brick-and-mortar and home-based operations, Chandler said it’s hard to put a number on exactly how many businesses there are in the town — but officials expect to see the growth continue.
The biggest benefit of a business group like the one the town is hoping to revive, she said, is that it helps connect people and businesses.
“The Town of Stratford has done a great job in connecting to specific audiences, and we’ve had … record levels of engagement over the past year,” Chandler said, adding that building and maintaining relationships with the business community is important for the town to know how best to support members and residents.
“Being open and receptive to those conversations and recognizing that they’re important is a big positive.”
Before the sleds move an inch, there’s a moment when the noise and crowd fade into the background.
What’s left is the simplest version of the sport — a musher, a team of dogs and a winter trail that has carried people through the North for generations.
That’s the heart of the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race, the largest of its kind in Saskatchewan, now based out of La Ronge.
Eleven teams took off in biting cold on Tuesday morning for the 10-dog, 322-kilometre (200-mile) qualifier — a long push that stretches over multiple days.
By the evening, however, conditions on the trail had deteriorated. Visibility dropped in blowing snow, prompting organizers to shorten the race by 80 kilometres (50 miles) for safety.
For reigning champion Garrick Schmidt, the focus of the story isn’t the distance or the placement, it’s the dogs.
“The relationship that we have with the dogs, they’re not just a working animal,” he said, holding back tears. “They’re our family.”
Schmidt is Métis, from Indian Head, and rides with the dogs from his own kennel, Eagle Ridge Sled Dog Kennel.
Garrick Schmidt, from Indian Head, Sask., says his love of dog sledding is grounded in traditional and spiritual connections to animals and the land.
He says he got into mushing about seven years ago, and this year marks his fifth time racing the Canadian Challenge.
He’s a firm believer that the sport requires a deep understanding of your team, he said.
“This sport, what we do, it’s all about the dogs. Our care and everything that we do, our own needs as mushers are second.”
Before the race, Schmidt went through a routine that included smudging his dogs and gear — a ceremonial Indigenous practice he described as part of how he and his community carry tradition into daily life.
That connection to tradition is also tied to the land itself, to running trails that feel bigger than the sport, he said.
That’s where the Canadian Challenge carries its deeper meaning, said Dexter Mondor, a Métis dog handler with Schmidt’s kennel.
“It’s a traditional way of travel, right?” he said.
“Some of these trails are the original freight routes, the original trap lines that our Métis ancestors travelled, our Cree relatives travelled. So it’s kind of cool that they get to be on those trails and connect with nature in the land.”
Mondor was also in La Ronge to support his 17-year-old daughter, Monroe Mondor, who raced in this year’s competition.
This is her fourth year racing. In the first year, she served as a handler for Schmidt, then decided she wanted to try the trail herself.
Mondor remembers sending her out at 13 years old on the 80-km race, alone with a team of dogs.
“The first few times, it’s tough when they leave because I got no control,” he said.
She’s come a long way since then.
Monroe finished fifth out of 11 teams this year, a strong showing in a race where conditions can change quickly and finishing is never guaranteed.
Mondor said that’s also why the mushing community can feel like family, with people checking in on each other and offering gear or help when someone needs it.
Race marshal Sid Robinson said the “dog first” mindset is exactly what officials are watching for.
Robinson is in his first year as marshal. He told CBC he ran the Canadian Challenge about 20 times himself — including the inaugural race in 1998 — and joked that he’s best known for bringing up the rear.
“I’m a little bit famous for coming in last most of the time,” he said. “I’ve got a whole collection.”
Robinson said his priority now is keeping the dogs healthy and the teams safe, especially when weather turns and visibility drops.
Despite the weather this year, the finish still came early Thursday morning, not long after the clock struck midnight.
Ontario’s Jesse Terry crossed first at 12:20 a.m. CST, followed minutes later by his wife, Mary England at 12:32 a.m.
Schmidt — last year’s champion — claimed third place at 1:06 a.m., despite racing with a younger team of dogs this year.
As of publication time, three mushers were still out on the trail. They have until 7 p.m. to pass the finish line.
Eleven teams took off from La Ronge, Sask., in biting cold on Tuesday morning for the 10-dog, 322-kilometre (200-mile) Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.
This article is a part of CBC Saskatchewan’s Land of Living Stories. CBC will be back in La Ronge from March 3 to 7 to hear and share more of your stories.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday accepted President Donald Trump’s offer to help fix the massive sewage spill outside the city, making an unusual request for Trump to declare the area a disaster and pay for repairs.
Bowser’s request came days after Trump tried to blame the spill on her and other Democrats and said that if they want federal help “they have to call me and ask, politely.”
Bowser signed her letter “Respectfully” in asking for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to offset all “costs incurred” by the city and regional sewer authorities following the Jan. 19 collapse of a sewer line in Montgomery County, Maryland. FEMA usually pays 75 percent of disaster repairs unless damage is extreme.
Bowser’s office did not respond to questions Thursday morning about why she was making the request now. In addition to seeking assistance, the three-term mayor — who is not seeking reelection — declared a local public emergency and asked the federal government to support several other water quality and flood protection projects in the city.
No president has approved a disaster declaration for a sewage spill, according to an E&E News analysis of FEMA records dating to 1953.
President Barack Obama approved an emergency declaration in 2016 for water contamination in Flint, Michigan, that began in 2014. FEMA provides limited aid for emergencies.
But presidents have authority to approve disasters for a wide range of events. In his first term, Trump approved disaster requests for every state to cover their costs of handling the Covid-19 pandemic. FEMA has given states roughly $140 billion for pandemic costs.
Bowser’s letter contains no cost estimates — which governors routinely include in their multipage disaster requests — and acknowledges aid would help residents outside her jurisdiction, in Maryland and Virginia.
Federal law says that disaster requests “shall be made by the Governor of the affected State” — or by a government leader such as a tribal chief, territorial governor or the mayor of Washington, and that a disaster request must be based on a finding that a jurisdiction cannot handle an event by itself. Bowser’s letter to Trump makes no such claim.
Neither Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland nor Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, both Democrats, have requested disaster aid from Trump. DC Water, the sewer authority, operates the sewer line that extends from as far as Dulles International Airport to a treatment plant in the city and did not respond to a request for comment.
“Maryland will not be seeking an emergency declaration because the responsibility for the repair and subsequent clean up does not fall to Maryland,” said Rhylan Lake, a spokesperson for Moore, in an email. “Since Maryland owns neither the infrastructure nor the land, Maryland does not anticipate needing supplemental resources at this time.”
Neither the White House nor FEMA responded to questions Thursday about whether they planned to grant D.C.’s assistance request.
Considered the largest raw sewage spill of its kind in U.S. history, the broken sewer line has released over 250 million gallons of raw sewage in the Potomac River. Environmentalists have been raising concerns for weeks about the spill, which could render the river unsafe for fishing and boating and undermine longstanding efforts to repair the Chesapeake Bay.
Local environmentalists said they would welcome federal funding to help with the cleanup, but that the priority should be to increase water quality monitoring and better notify the public about whether it’s safe to use the river.
“Going directly from zero comments on it to an emergency declaration after the fact seems like an unusual pathway,” said Betsy Nicholas, president of Potomac Riverkeeper Network. “We haven’t heard anything from the mayor or the mayor’s office on this for an entire month, which in and of itself was a little surprising and frustrating.”
Representatives for the utility have previously noted that they are working to accelerate a previously planned rehabilitation project to fix the sewer line. The line dates to the early 1960s.
Trump administration officials and local authorities have traded jabs in recent days over who is responsible for the spill, with the exact cause still undetermined.
Trump has primarily cast blame on Moore, with the White House describing the state as responsible for protecting water quality in the Potomac. But both Moore’s office and Bowser say that EPA is the primary regulator of DC Water.
A FEMA report Thursday morning says DC Water “is engaged with” EPA, FEMA, environmental agencies in the District, Maryland and Virginia, and the National Park Service, which owns the wooded parkland where the spill occurred next to the Potomac.
“Since the incident was first reported, DC Water has provided daily updates,” the FEMA report says.
За його словами, завершено “етап безумовних привілеїв”.
Президент Польщі Кароль Навроцький підписав документ, який передбачає перенесення всіх інструментів підтримки українських біженців до загального Закону про надання захисту іноземцям. Про це пише PAP.
За його словами, завершено “етап безумовних привілеїв”. Він наголосив, що Польща й надалі підтримує Україну у війні проти РФ, однак новий закон має впорядкувати систему допомоги та захистити державні фінанси.
Варто зазначити, що так званий закон про спеціальну допомогу для українців, з 2022 року, створив окрему правову систему, яка спростила правила проживання, роботи, отримання пільг та освіти для біженців з України.
Новий закон поступово скасовує цю систему, а ключові інструменти підтримки будуть включені до загальних положень про захист іноземців. Крім того, підписаний документ подовжує легальність перебування в Польщі громадян України, які втекли від війни, до 4 березня 2027 року.
Що змінюється:
Важливо, що закон набуде чинності 5 березня 2026 року.
Голова Палати депутатів Чехії та очільник SPD Томіо Окамура заявив, що міністри від руху “Свобода і пряма демократія” проголосують в уряді проти проєкту постанови, згідно з яким біженці з України повинні мати можливість подати заявку на спеціальний дозвіл на довгострокове проживання цього року.
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks, announcing new nutrition policies during a press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., Jan. 8, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Donald Trump’s executive order spurring the domestic production of the weedkiller glyphosate, as his Make America Healthy Again movement reels from the president’s embrace of the chemical they despise.
Trump on Wednesday night signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to compel the domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides. Glyphosate is the chemical in Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup and is the most commonly used weedkiller for a slew of U.S. crops. Trump, in the order, said shortages of both phosphorus and glyphosate would pose a risk to national security.
Kennedy backed the president in a statement to CNBC Thursday morning.
“Donald Trump’s Executive Order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” he said. “We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it. When hostile actors control critical inputs, they weaken our security. By expanding domestic production, we close that gap and protect American families.”
But Kennedy’s MAHA coalition that supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election hates glyphosate, which has been alleged to cause cancer in myriad lawsuits. Now, the executive order threatens to unravel that coalition ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that could loosen the president’s grip on Washington.
“Just as the large MAHA base begins to consider what to do at midterms, the President issues an EO to expand domestic glyphosate production,” Kelly Ryerson, a prominent MAHA activist known as Glyphosate Girl, said in a post on X. “The very same carcinogenic pesticide that MAHA cares about most.”
Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, a watchdog that has pushed back against chemicals in food for years, said in a statement that he “can’t envision a bigger middle finger to every MAHA mom than this.”
“Elevating glyphosate to a national security priority is the exact opposite of what MAHA voters were promised,” Cook said. “If Secretary Kennedy remains at HHS after this, it will be impossible to argue that his past warnings about glyphosate were anything more than campaign rhetoric designed to win trust — and votes.”
Kennedy, a former environmental attorney, notably once won a nearly $290 million case against Monsanto for a man who claimed his cancer was caused by Roundup. The executive order came down one day after Bayer proposed paying $7.25 billion to settle a series of lawsuits claiming Roundup causes cancer.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., knocked Trump for signing “an EO protecting cancer causing Glyphosate in our foods.”
Glyphosate is a critical chemical to American agriculture. It’s applied to many key cash crops, such as corn and soybeans, and has been defended by agricultural trade organizations. Phosphorus is a key input to the creation of glyphosate, which the White House argues is necessary to maintain food security. Elemental phosphorus is also used in the manufacture of some military materials.
“Thank you, President Trump, for acknowledging the importance of glyphosate-based herbicides in American agriculture,” the House Agriculture Committee said Wednesday night in an X post. “This is a vital step forward in ensuring a domestic supply of this critical crop input remains available for our producers.”
House Agriculture Chair Rep. G.T. Thompson, R-Pa., is trying to push a farm bill through Congress this year — a legislative package that covers federal farm support and nutrition subsidies. He’s also come under fire from MAHA recently for a provision in that bill that would block state and local pesticide regulations from differing from federal guidance.
;Resize=620 "Canadian Challenge mushers race in Saskatchewan’s biggest dog sled event | CBC News")
