The head of Metrolinx is acknowledging the provincial transit agency has spent too much time embroiled in legal battles with its contractors, pledging a new approach after finally finishing the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

The light rail route carried its first passengers on Feb. 8, roughly six years after it was originally scheduled to open, bringing to a conclusion a messy period of Metrolinx’s history marked by delays, cost overruns and legal skirmishes.

The consortium building the Crosstown, Crosslinx Transit Solutions, took the government to court over delays during the COVID-19 pandemic and again over how the TTC had involved itself in testing for the line.

The group behind the Finch West LRT also took Metrolinx to court over how the TTC was involved in testing the line. Meanwhile, the consortium currently working on the Hurontario LRT found itself involved in legal battles with its subcontractors.

On Thursday, Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay said one of the key lessons from the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was to work more collaboratively with the construction firms — and only head to court as a last resort.

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“It’s part of the reason we have a more progressive form of contracting now, where we’re sitting investing with the private sector partner in design, identifying constructability issues,” he told reporters. “That’s probably the most important thing to avoid downstream claims.”

Lindsay replaced former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster last year, moving from another Crown corporation, Infrastructure Ontario.

“We have to always remember that our primary objective is to bring these transit lines into being as opposed to sitting on our rights, insisting on a legal strategy,” he added.

“That’s the thing that we are trying to do as we show up in these projects. And to the credit of our private partners, I think they’re trying to do the same.”

The lessons will be tested in real time for Lindsay, with several major transit projects still in the ground.

The Scarborough Subway Extension is currently halfway through tunnelling, while a western extension to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is also being built. Stations are being hollowed out underground for the Ontario Line, and work is also taking place to extend the Yonge Street subway into Markham.

Lindsay insisted that avoiding legal claims would not result in the government or Metrolinx rolling over to the demands of builders, prompting cost overruns.

“We’re never being disrespectful of taxpayer money,” he said. “There’s a balance here that needs to be struck between insisting upon the performance that we have contracted for and dealing with unknown issues when they arise.”

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A 13-year-old girl who was seriously injured in a tragic chairlift mishap during a school trip to a western Quebec ski hill is in hospital, according to a news release from Centre Vorlage.

Sgt. Martin Fournel, a spokesperson for the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, said the incident occurred as the student was riding a chairlift alone on Wednesday afternoon at a resort near Wakefield.

“The girl was alone on the chairlift. She had almost reached the summit and when it came time to get off, a piece of clothing got caught in the chair; the 13-year-old girl got tangled up in the chair and so wasn’t touching the ground,” Fournel said.

“No one got there quickly enough to get her out of that sad situation. I’ll spare you some of the details, but at one point, there was a decision to reactivate the lift and bring the girl back down to the bottom of the hill, where our officers and first responders took over.”

Fournel did not provide any additional updates on the girl’s condition.

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In a statement, the ski hill said first responders were called to the unloading area of ski lift B at approximately 2:10 p.m.

“We have been informed that the victim was transported to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO),” the statement said.

“The Centre Vorlage team is deeply saddened by this accident that occurred today,” said Alexandre Gaboury, co-owner of the resort.

“Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones.”

The resort said it is cooperating with police as the investigation continues.

In a statement to Global News, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said supports have been put in place for students and staff.

“Our thoughts are with the student, their family, and the entire school community during this deeply difficult time,” said Diane Pernari, the board’s general manager of communications and public relations.

“Student well-being is always paramount, and we have taken immediate steps to support those affected, including ensuring mental health professionals were available to assist students and staff following the trip and in the days ahead.”

The incident is currently under investigation.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Amanda Lathlin, the MLA for the northern Manitoba riding of The Pas-Kameesak, will be taking time off to deal with health concerns, the NDP caucus says.

Lathlin has represented The Pas-Kameesak since 2015

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A northern Manitoba MLA will be taking time off to deal with health concerns, the NDP caucus says.

The Pas-Kameesak MLA Amanda Lathlin is currently experiencing health complications, caucus chair Robert Loiselle said in a statement Friday. The statement did not provide details on the health complications.

Lathlin was first elected to represent The Pas in a 2015 byelection. She won the newly created Pas-Kameesak riding for the NDP in 2019, and was re-elected in 2023. She’s a former band councillor for Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

Loiselle said the caucus stands with Lathlin and her family, asking the public to respect her privacy at this time.

Lathlin’s office will remain open as staff continue to support her constituents, he said.

Keir Starmer will say the UK and Europe need to step up their commitments to Nato and avoid the risk of overdependence on the US for defence, as he sets out one of the main planks of his foreign policy vision on Saturday.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, the prime minister will warn against the idea of the UK turning inwards on security, instead calling for a focus on what he will call the “sleeping giant” of shared European defence capabilities.

The speech warns that voters will need to be primed to expect greater spending on defence, and to be told the reasons why, or face the “peddlers of easy answers” such as Reform UK and the Greens risking national security.

Downing Street officials stress that Starmer’s call is not being made over fears that the US is no longer committed to Nato, and is more a response to demands from Washington that European nations commit more to defence.

The speech will, however, be seen in the context of last year’s main US address to the conference in Germany, by Donald Trump’s vice-president, JD Vance. He used his speech to lambast European leaders for supposedly blocking free speech and being soft on migration, questioning whether such values were compatible with a US guarantee of mutual security.

Trump has regularly questioned the value of Nato, including the claim in January that European nations “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines” while supporting US troops in Afghanistan, comments that prompted a rare direct rebuke from Starmer.

In extracts of the speech released in advance by No 10, Starmer said he was setting out “a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal, but answers the call for more burden-sharing in full, and remakes the ties that have served us so well”.

In another pushback against the politics of Brexit, he condemned UK politicians who would rather avoid ties with Europe, after the Conservatives expressed scepticism about some defence-based links.

“We are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more,” the speech says. “Because we know that, in dangerous times, we would not take control by turning inward – we would surrender it. And I won’t let that happen.

“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history – and it is today’s reality too.”

Calling for better cooperation on defence procurement, the speech says the UK should help create a new era for the continent.

“As I see it – Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia’s, 10 times over,” Starmer will say.

“We have huge defence capabilities. Yet, too often, all of this has added up to less than the sum of its parts. Across Europe, fragmented industrial planning and long, drawn out procurement mechanisms have led to gaps in some areas – and massive duplication in others.”

Ministers must, he said, “level with the public and build consent for the decisions we will have to take to keep us all safe”.

The PM will go on: “Because, if we don’t, the peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right are ready. They will offer their solutions instead. It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia and weak on Nato – if not outright opposed.

“The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen.”

King’s opener came after a sustained spell of pressure from the Wire with Hopoate prospering from a wayward goal-line drop-out, with George Williams going on to provide the offload for King to power over the line.

If that was good, their second try was even better – after picking the ball up deep in his own half, Taylor-Wray raced in from 70 metres and outran Saints full-back Welsby to the line.

Taylor-Wray was in the mix once more as he showed incredible pace to weave his way through the St Helens defensive line as the Wire went on to feed Hopoate through to score at the corner.

Saints thought they had hit back when Welsby went over but, under new rules brought in this season, the try was reviewed by video referee Chris Kendall after the fact despite being given on the field.

Upon viewing the try again, however, Kendall ruled it out having judged that David Klemmer obstructed Kelepi Tanginoa in the build-up and Saints had another chalked off soon after following an Alex Walmsley double movement.

Saints continued their pressure and were rewarded when Welsby dummied Liam Byrne to go over but, as he extended his right arm out during grounding, he suffered what looked to be a painful shoulder injury which ruled him out for the final 20 minutes.

Jackson Hastings missed the extras but atoned soon after when he put in a pinpoint kick towards Sailor who dotted down under the posts with ease.

But Hastings’ night got worse soon after when the former Man of Steel and St Helens debutant was sent to the bin for barging into Taylor-Wray shortly after he offloaded for Thewlis to score Warrington’s fourth try of the evening.

A record number of illegal aliens are leaving the United States, proving the effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s financial incentives to those who self-deport.

According to figures reviewed by CBS News, in 2025, almost 3-in-10 deportation cases ended with illegal aliens choosing to self-deport from the U.S. — the highest share of self-deportations in such cases on record.

“That figure only appears to be climbing as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown widens and detention populations swell,” CBS News reports:

The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. The analysis does not include those who were not given a hearing before an immigration judge, such as immigrants in expedited removal proceedings. [Emphasis added]

Last year, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced stipends for illegal aliens who self-deport via the administration’s CBP Home app, along with a free flight back to their native country.

In January, DHS officials said they were upping the stipend to $2,600 in addition to a free flight home for illegal aliens. Officials have suggested that about two million illegal aliens have self-deported within the last year.

“To celebrate one year of this administration, the U.S. taxpayer is generously increasing the incentive to leave voluntarily for those in this country illegally — offering a $2,600 exit bonus,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said. “Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading the U.S. delegation to the high-profile Munich Security Conference — one year after Vice President JD Vance took the German stage in a speech that stunned many in Europe and became one of the defining moments of Trump’s early second term abroad. 

“President Trump has assembled the most talented team in history, including Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio, who are working in lockstep to notch wins for the American people,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital ahead of Rubio’s speech. 

“The President and his team have flexed their foreign policy prowess to end decades-long wars, secure peace in the Middle East, and restore American dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The entire administration is working together to restore peace through strength and put America First.”

The Munich Security Conference is an annual high-level forum in Germany that draws hundreds of senior decision-makers — including heads of state, top ministers, military leaders and policy influencers — for closed-door and public talks on global security crises. 

VANCE, RUBIO CHEER ON TEAM USA WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY IN THEIR WINTER OLYMPICS OPENING WIN

Vice President JD Vance took the German stage one year ago in a speech that stunned many in Europe and became one of the defining moments of Trump’s early second term abroad.  (Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California are among notable Democrats attending the conference, in addition to Rubio. 

Vance became one of the central figures at the 2025 Munich gathering after a widely publicized speech that drew heavy attention and applause from conservatives following the Biden administration. It also sparked backlash among some European officials who viewed his remarks as confrontational. 

Rubio’s attendance at the 2026 meeting follows a lengthy history of the State Department chief earning a series of different roles under the second administration, including acting national security advisor, secretary of state, acting archivist of the United States and acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

Amid rising trans-Atlantic tension, the secretary of state issued a warning to Europe as he departed for his trip to Germany Thursday. 

VANCE, RUBIO GREET AMERICAN WINTER OLYMPIANS IN ITALY

“The Old World is gone,” Rubio told reporters as he departed for Europe Thursday. “Frankly, the world I grew up in, and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be.”

President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly have put Europe on notice for allegedly devolving into a culture of political correctness, speech policing, and a security system that heavily relies on U.S. funding and military might. Amid the rhetoric on Europe, the administration has continued to underscore the importance of U.S.-Europe relations, including Rubio on Thursday. 

“We’re very tightly linked together with Europe,” he told reporters. “Most people in this country can trace both, either their cultural or their personal heritage, back to Europe. So, we just have to talk about that.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to explain President Donald Trump’s policy toward Venezuela following the U.S. military raid that ousted then-President Nicolas Maduro, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Vance used his Munich Security Conference speech to deliver a blunt warning to Europe’s political class 2025, arguing the continent’s biggest danger is not Moscow or Beijing, but what he described as internal democratic decay that has festered due to political correctness and censorship. 

RUBIO WARNS NATO ALLIES US IS ‘NOT SIMPLY FOCUSED ON EUROPE,’ DOESN’T HAVE UNLIMITED RESOURCES

He accused European governments and institutions of drifting toward censorship, citing policies he said police speech, curb religious expression and pressure online platforms. He also argued elites allegedly were trying to manage elections and debate by dismissing unwelcome outcomes and branding dissent as “misinformation” to sideline populists and blunt voter backlash.

“What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America,” Vance said in 2025 in the speech that left many European leaders stunned, according to reports at the time. 

Vance also is overseas this week, holding meetings with Armenia and Azerbaijan, including signing a peaceful nuclear cooperation with Armenia and a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan. 

That trip followed both Vance and Rubio joining a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier in February in Italy, and Vance leading a delegation that included Rubio during the Olympics’ opening ceremony in Milan. 

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that there were never plans for the vice president to attend the 2026 conference in Munich. 

TRUMP HAILS RUBIO AS DIPLOMATIC MENTOR AS SECRETARY OF STATE’S POWER GROWS

Vance’s foreign policy footprint became subject of political media scrutiny earlier in 2026 when the U.S. military successfully captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Vance was not among high-profile U.S. leaders who joined Trump at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort to monitor the operation, unlike Rubio who was with the president. 

The VP’s office brushed off media alarm over his absence, citing  Trump and Vance limit the “frequency and duration” of time they spend together outside the White House due to “increased security concerns.” 

The vice president is by no means is expected to attend the Munich Security Conference each year, with former Vice President Mike Pence, for example, attending the conference twice under the first Trump administration, and former Vice President Kamala Harris attending three times under the Biden administration. Previous secretaries of state such as John Kerry, Antony Blinken and Hillary Clinton have attended and addressed the body in previous years. 

Vance additionally attended a separate Munich Security Conference event, the Leaders Conference, in Washington, D.C., in May 2025.

Trump praised Vance’s 2025 speech as “brilliant” in a statement to reporters at the time, remarking that “they’re losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech” in Europe and that Vance made a strong case against much of Europe’s lax immigration polices. 

Since then, Trump’s team repeatedly has echoed the same critique in official channels, including a State Department push that has blasted European speech restrictions and targeted the European Union’s Digital Services Act as “Orwellian” censorship, alongside new visa restrictions aimed at foreign officials accused of censoring Americans online.

President Donald Trump holds up his signature on the founding charter during a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2026. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Just in December 2025, Trump blasted European nations for not being “recognizable” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, teeing up what could be another fiery speech from Americans on European soil on Saturday. 

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“I don’t want to insult anybody and say I don’t recognize it,” Trump said during his special address in Davos. “And that’s not in a positive way. That’s in a very negative way. And I love Europe and I want to see Europe do good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment on the address Friday. 

Lord Peter Mandelson has been asked to testify to the US Congress over his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

A letter from two Democrat members of the House of Representatives called on the former British ambassador to Washington to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee as part of their probe into Epstein.

The disgraced peer’s links with Epstein have led to calls for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister.

The prime minister’s judgement has been questioned by critics over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador, a role considered the most prestigious posting in British diplomacy.

The letter to Lord Mandelson, signed by representatives Robert Garcia and Suhas Subramanyam, said: “While you no longer serve as British ambassador to the United States and have stepped down from the House of Lords, it is clear that you possessed extensive social and business ties to Jeffrey Epstein and hold critical information pertaining to our investigation of Epstein’s operations.

“Given the appalling allegations regarding Epstein’s conduct, we request that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff regarding the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

The letter added: “Numerous pieces of evidence have come to light demonstrating your close ties to Jeffrey Epstein over the span of multiple years.”

Among the evidence, it listed Lord Mandelson’s “handwritten note” in a 50th birthday book for Epstein in which he described him as his “best pal”.

It also highlighted the peer’s stay at Epstein’s New York apartment in 2009 while Epstein was serving an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor.

Also cited were photographs of Lord Mandelson in his underwear in the latest Department of Justice release from the Epstein files.

The letter gave Lord Mandelson a deadline of 27 February to respond to the two US politicians “due to the urgency and gravity of this matter”.

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Lord Mandelson served as US ambassador between February and September last year before he was sacked by Sir Keir over his relationship with Epstein.

Lord Mandelson has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.

He previously apologised for maintaining his relationship with Epstein, which he admitted went on for too long.

Last year, the two US representatives made a similar request to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was then a prince.

A former au pair who conspired with her married employer-turned-lover to murder his wife and a stranger has been jailed for 10 years in the US.

Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 25, shot Joseph Ryan dead while her lover, Brendan Banfield, 40, was fatally stabbing his wife, Christine, in the couple’s home in northern Virginia in February 2023.

The Brazilian woman might have been released after giving evidence against Banfield in return for accepting a downgraded charge of manslaughter, under a deal she struck with prosecutors in 2024.

Instead, Fairfax Chief Circuit Court Judge Penney Azcarate handed her the state’s maximum possible sentence for the crime on Friday, telling her she didn’t deserve anything other than “incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and his family. May it weigh heavily on your soul”.

Calling it the “most serious manslaughter scenario” the court had ever seen, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC, the judge rejected a sentencing recommendation of time served because the pair’s plan “did not work without your full involvement”.

In a statement to the victims’ families, Magalhaes, who waited months before agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Banfield, said: “I know my remorse cannot bring you peace.

“I lost myself in a relationship, and left my morals and values behind. I hope someday I can be forgiven, as I hope to be able to forgive myself.”

Prosecutors said they continued their affair for months after the killings.

Banfield was found guilty of the aggravated murder of his wife and Mr Ryan earlier this month, and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Magalhaes told her own trial that she and Banfield, an IRS agent, used his wife’s laptop to set up an online account in her name on a sexual fetish website in a catfishing scheme.

Mr Ryan responded, and he was persuaded to come to Banfield’s home for what he believed to be a fake-rape fantasy involving a knife with Ms Banfield.

The lovers took Banfield’s four-year-old child to the basement, and then went to the bedroom, where she said Banfield shot Mr Ryan and stabbed his wife in the neck.

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When she saw Mr Ryan moving, Magalhaes said she fired the second shot that killed him from point-blank range.

She was arrested eight months later, and only agreed to talk to detectives as her own trial date approached.

The plotters planned to tell police they shot Mr Ryan after he stabbed Ms Banfield, Magalhaes said in court.

Mr Ryan’s mother, Deidre Fisher, said her son’s life “was used and thrown away, seen as worthless and utterly disposable”.