A cap on international students in being blamed for a decrease in ridership on Grand River Transit (GRT), a new report says.

The report going before a Region of Waterloo committee meeting Tuesday says there were 4.1 million fewer riders in 2025 compared with 2024.

It remains to be seen what 2026 will bring. According to the report: “While ridership appears to be stabilizing, 2026 ridership projections will be updated before the mid-year council report when new enrolment numbers are received from post-secondary partners.”

“The upcoming academic year is anticipated to be impacted by new immigration policies and revised international student caps announced by the federal government in late 2025,” the report said.

The report going before the sustainability, infrastructure and development committee Tuesday also highlights plans to increase the number of riders by improving the experience for the public.

The breakdown

The report notes the reduction in ridership went from 26 million in 2024 to 22.1 million riders in 2025 — a 16 per cent decrease.

Neil Malcolm, the acting director of transit services, says while ridership is down the statistics were actually better than what they forecast.

“So we forecast through the rest of the year thinking we’d be at about 21.9 million and then by the end of 2025 we got up over 22 million,” said Malcolm.

“Overall there was some really unanticipated changes to overall student population in the region. And we just had to be flexible and kind of respond with our service level to make sure that we were providing the right level of service for this changing population.”

When you break down the numbers from the services GRT provides, MobilityPLUS saw the biggest increase in ridership of 16 per cent up from 2024, delivering almost 200,000 trips.

The investment

The report also boasts of upgrades that were made to transit infrastructure and other improvements along transit routes.

Malcolm says they also want to improve on GRT’s time performance.

“[Buses will] get through signals more quickly, stay on time, which is really important to customers, having buses that arrive at a stop on time. They know when to be at the stop and when they’re going to get to their destinations.”

Last year, GRT upgraded 62 bus stops with concrete landing pads and installed 21 shelters at certain stops. They also increased midday summer service for Route 201 by 10 minutes for consistent year-round schedules. As well they matched the Route 302 ION bus service to match weekday ION LRT for connections between the three cities in the region.

As well two new routes were introduced — Route 50 which provides coverage to residential neighbourhoods in the Myers Road and Branchton Road area. And a new route to connect the ION train and 302 ION bus at Fairway to Chicopee Ski and Summer Resort.

A man arrested last week in connection with the violent abduction of a woman in the northern Manitoba community of Pimicikamak Cree Nation has been formally charged.

Joshua Paupanekis, also known as Albert Allan Joshua McKay, is charged with kidnapping, assault with a weapon and failing to comply with prior release orders.

His first court appearance took place on Monday in Thompson.

RCMP were called around 5:40 a.m. on Feb. 5 to a residence in Pimicikamak, about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

RCMP said Paupanekis had entered a home, struck a 24-year-old man with a hammer, then abducted a 20-year-old woman from the residence. Paupanekis was also armed with a knife.

The incident prompted RCMP to issue a dangerous person alert, which triggered alarms on mobile phones across the province. It said police feared the woman was in immediate danger.

Multiple RCMP units from Manitoba and Saskatchewan were sent to Pimicikamak. Paupanekis was located the following morning, around 11:15 a.m., inside a vacant property in the community.

The woman, who had suffered minor injuries, was also located there and taken to the nursing station as a precaution. She was treated and later released.

RCMP say their major crime services continue to investigate.

King Charles has expressed his “profound concern” over allegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and will “stand ready to support” the police if approached over the claims, Buckingham Palace has said.

Thames Valley police confirmed on Monday they were assessing claims that Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential reports from his role as a government trade envoy with the child sex offender and financier in 2010.

Mountbatten-Windsor is suspected of forwarding official reports about overseas trips to Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Vietnam in 2010 and 2011, allegations which have emerged after the release of emails by the US Department of Justice earlier this month.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Monday evening: “The king has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct.”

The spokesperson added that the “specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address”, but said that “if we are approached by Thames Valley police we stand ready to support them as you would expect”.

“As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse,” they said.

Thames Valley police previously confirmed it was also assessing a report that a second woman claimed she was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with the then prince, which allegedly occurred at his former Royal Lodge residence in 2010. The woman, who is not British, was in her 20s at the time.

The release of documents includes emails indicating that on 7 October 2010, the then Prince Andrew sent Epstein details of his official upcoming trips to Singapore, Vietnam, Shenzhen in China and Hong Kong. After the trip, on 30 November, he appears to have forwarded official reports of those visits sent by his then special assistant, Amit Patel, to Epstein, five minutes after receiving them.

It is unclear if the documents contained market-sensitive information about British trade deals or whether the then prince had signed the Official Secrets Act.

Government guidance stresses that the role of a trade envoy carries a duty of confidentiality regarding sensitive information. This may include “sensitive, commercial, or political information shared about relevant markets/visits”, the guidance reads. “This duty of confidentiality will continue to apply after the expiry of their term of office. In addition, the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1989 will apply.”

Earlier on Monday William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, were said by a spokesperson to be “deeply concerned” by continuing revelations from the Epstein files.

In a statement, a Kensington Palace spokesperson said: “I can confirm that the Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continued revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”

William arrived on Monday in Saudi Arabia for a three-day tour of the country, and Kensington Palace is said to have wanted the position of the prince and princess to be known to allow William to focus on the tour. Much of the work of the royal family has been overshadowed since the release by the US Department of Justice of more than 3m documents associated with Epstein.

Previously disclosed emails have suggested that the former duke had lobbied on behalf of Epstein during an official visit to the United Arab Emirates with his parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, in 2010.

The messages concerning overseas trips were sent after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Others appear to have been sent after the December 2010 date that Mountbatten-Windsor said in a BBC Newsnight interview in 2019 that he had cut off contact with Epstein.

On Christmas Eve 2010, Andrew looped Epstein in on a confidential brief on investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Telegraph reported. In one email, with the subject line “Afghanistan International Investment opportunities”, Mountbatten-Windsor is said to have written: “I am going to offer this elsewhere in my network (including Abu Dhabi) but would be very interested in your comments, views or ideas as to whom I could also usefully show this to attract some interest.”

In another, on 9 February 2011, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to tell Epstein he had visited a private equity firm the week before and “thought of you as =ou [sic] were looking for somewhere for money to go. A”.

Mountbatten-Windsor, who served as the UK’s special representative for trade and investment between 2001 and 2011, has always denied any wrongdoing. He has been approached for comment.

Graham Smith, the chief executive of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, said he had reported the allegations to police. “I cannot see any significant difference between these allegations and those against Peter Mandelson,” he said in a post on X.

The former prince features numerous times in the latest release of documents, including images that appear to show him crouched over an unidentified woman in what appears to be Epstein’s New York mansion, while another document appears to confirm that the picture of him with Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that Mountbatten-Windsor had sex with her three times while she was a teenager, is real.

Prince Edward was the first royal to speak publicly since the Epstein documents were released, saying last week that it was important to “remember the victims” when asked how he was coping since the revelations.

William’s visit, at the request of the UK government, will include talks with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.

The visit aims to strengthen ties with one of the UK’s closest Middle East allies, with London and Riyadh hopeful the two men, who have met before, will develop a connection.

Prince Mohammed is a controversial figure to the west, as the de facto head of an absolute monarchy whose regime has been accused of human rights violations. His reputation was badly damaged by a US intelligence claim he had ordered the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which he denied.

A CNN anchor who has pushed fake news in the past is accused of doing it again after the Super Bowl on Sunday evening.

Screenshots show CNN’s Jim Scuitto retweeted a post from Ed Krassenstein who claimed a child who appeared in the half-time show featuring rapper Bad Bunny was Liam Ramos, the five-year-old leftists accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of detaining in January.

The X account Western Lensman posted the screenshots with the caption, “A CNN anchor retweeting blatant Krassenstein misinformation is just too perfect. Stellar stuff.”

At the bottom of the screenshot featuring the child, the post said it was not Ramos who appeared during the performance but a child actor named Lincoln Fox.

Indeed, an Instagram profile that appeared to belong to Fox shared photos of the boy during the half-time show.

“An emotional, unforgettable day being cast as the young Benito — a symbolic moment where the future hands the past a Grammy. A reminder that dreams come true and that it’s never too early to dream big,” the post read, adding, “Sending love to Liam Ramos. We all deserve peace and love in America, a country built by and home to so many hard-working immigrants.”

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party secured a sweeping win in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, capturing about 316 seats in the 465-member lower house and achieving a governing supermajority alongside allies. The result gives her a strong mandate to advance a conservative agenda focused on defense, immigration and economic reforms, the Associated Press reported.

A heavy metal fan and drummer, Takaichi — who has long cited former British PM Margaret Thatcher as a personal and political inspiration — expressed gratitude for President Trump’s support, thanking him for his congratulatory message following the victory and signaling continued alignment with Washington.

Trump praised her leadership in a post after the results were announced. “Congratulations to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Coalition on a LANDSLIDE Victory in today’s very important Vote,” Trump wrote on social media, “Sanae’s bold and wise decision to call for an election paid off big time. Her Party now runs the Legislature, holding a HISTORIC TWO THIRDS SUPERMAJORITY — The first time since World War II. Sanae: It was my Honor to Endorse you and your Coalition. I wish you Great Success in passing your Conservative, Peace Through Strength Agenda. The wonderful people of Japan, who voted with such enthusiasm, will always have my strong support.”

SANAE TAKAICHI BECOMES JAPAN’S FIRST FEMALE PRIME MINISTER, CITING THATCHER INSPIRATION

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrive to speak to troops aboard USS George Washington at Fleet Activities Yokosuka on Oct. 28, 2025 in Yokosuka, Japan.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The election outcome represents one of the strongest performances for the ruling party in years and solidifies Takaichi’s position only months after taking office as Japan’s first female prime minister.

Following the results, Takaichi said she was prepared to move forward with policies aimed at making Japan “strong and prosperous,” as she seeks to implement reforms and bolster national security, the Associated Press reported.

Her agenda includes boosting defense spending, revising security policies and stimulating economic growth, while maintaining a tougher posture toward regional threats such as China. Known for her hawkish stance on Beijing, Takaichi is expected to maintain Japan’s close alignment with the United States.

“Takaichi’s landslide win shows other leaders that defiance of China can be popular with voters. Nobody has to appease or please Xi Jinping anymore,” Asia analyst Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital.

JAPAN’S PRIME MINISTER TAKAICHI PLANS TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT AND CALL EARLY ELECTION TO STRENGTHEN COALITION

Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister, is seen playing drums in Tokyo on Sept. 24, 2021, when she was the internal affairs minister. (Kyodo via Reuters)

U.S. officials also welcomed the outcome. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described aid on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” that Takaichi is a strong ally and emphasized that her leadership strengthens the strategic partnership between Washington and Tokyo.

Takaichi’s victory is widely seen as a geopolitical signal as well as a domestic political triumph. Analysts say the strengthened mandate could deepen cooperation with the United States on security and economic policy at a time of rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

The snap election, called just months into her premiership, was widely viewed as a referendum on her leadership. With the opposition fragmented, voters delivered a decisive result that now gives Takaichi political space to pursue her agenda through the remainder of the parliamentary term.

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Lawmakers applaud Sanae Takaichi during a lower house session in Tokyo on Oct. 21, 2025, after she was elected Japan’s first female prime minister. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Takaichi backs strengthening Japan’s defense posture and supports constitutional revision to expand the role of the military. Economically, she has praised the stimulus-driven policies associated with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Her public thanks to Trump underscores how central the U.S. alliance remains to Tokyo’s strategy moving forward, experts say, as she prepares to translate electoral momentum into legislative and security action at home and abroad.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Suffolk Police have apologised to the only surviving victim of serial killer Steve Wright over how she feels her case was dealt with – but refused to commit to an inquiry.

Wright, known as the Suffolk Strangler, was jailed last week for the murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall, who disappeared on 19 September 1999 in a village on the outskirts of Felixstowe.

Only the night before, Wright had attempted to abduct newlywed Emily Doherty, then aged 22, who ran, hid and sought refuge in a couple’s house to escape.

Ms Doherty told Sky News last week how Wright tried to kidnap her in Felixstowe, and how she was made to feel like a “silly little girl” after reporting the incident to police.

And she said officers failed to follow it up with a full investigation even after Ms Hall’s body was later found.

Wright went on to murder five women in the Ipswich area in 2006, and on Friday was jailed for murdering Ms Hall and trying to abduct Ms Doherty after admitting both crimes.

Ms Doherty told Sky News: “You can’t help thinking, if they had taken me seriously, Vicky could have survived, but certainly if they had found him sooner the five other women would still be here.”

Assistant Chief Constable of Suffolk Police Alice Scott said: “We’re really sorry that Emily doesn’t feel that she had the service she wanted back in 1999.”

Ms Scott said the information Ms Doherty gave to officers was “part of the circumstantial evidence that has enabled the constabulary” to secure Steve Wright’s conviction last week for the murder of Ms Hall, and Ms Doherty’s abduction.

However, when asked if Suffolk Police would back an inquiry, Ms Scott only said “we will review where we’re at to see if there’s anything we can learn from this case”.

Ms Doherty told Sky News’ Emma Birchley that “the damage has been done,” but that Ms Hall’s family “need to know why they didn’t get answers sooner”.

“There would be people still alive. There would be families not grieving now. It has been troubling me for 26 years.”

Despite apologising, Ms Scott insisted that “the constabulary was appropriately resourced at the time” of the original investigation and “support was provided when it was required”.

Though she admitted that “it was probably one of the biggest cases at the time that the constabulary had experienced”.

The assistant chief constable also confirmed that Wright is not an active suspect in any unsolved crimes, but that the force remained “open-minded”.

The senior officer said the force would “absolutely” take a report like Ms Doherty’s seriously if it were made today – saying that advances in technology, forensics and CCTV would assist any modern investigation.

Read more from Sky News:
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Judge tells ‘Suffolk strangler’ he will die in prison

Although critical of the original police response, Ms Doherty says the police team she has worked with since they reopened the case has “been nothing but supportive”.

She added that they “could not be more apologetic to me”.

When asked if she thought there should be an inquiry, Ms Doherty said the decision wasn’t for her to make.

“It’s for the family (of Victoria). I’m here. I survived.”

Ms Scott said that a huge amount of material had been reviewed by the current investigation team, saying she was “proud” that they had been commended by the judge at the end of the trial.

Input. Output. Targets met. Value created. Performance delivered. Strip work down to its essentials and for many people, this is what remains: a machine-like focus on producing, performing and optimising.

The system keeps moving – often with little concern for the human energy, attention and resilience required to keep it running. Over time, this can lead to stress, ill-health, disengagement and burnout. Almost half of employees worldwide say they’re currently burned out and nearly three-quarters of US workers report that workplace stress affects their mental health.

But exhaustion isn’t a personal failing – it’s built into the system. Indeed, this way of organising work is not accidental. It has deep roots in how modern workplaces were designed.

Much of this thinking dates back to the late 19th century and the work of Frederick Taylor, a US engineer whose ideas helped shape modern management. Taylor was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency, by treating workers as parts of a machine – measured, paced and optimised.

Obviously, a lot has changed since Frederick Taylor’s time – we understand far more about mental health and people’s capacity for work. Yet, many workplaces still operate in this way – with a strict focus on performance and goals.

A new way of viewing work

These high levels of stress, ill-health and burnout made us reflect. As concern grows about exhausting natural resources in the name of profit, we began to question whether workplaces are doing the same to people – using them up for productivity, with little thought for the long-term cost.

While organisational psychology highlights motivation, engagement and well-being as drivers of performance, it often overlooks a crucial issue: what happens to people’s time, energy, skills and relationships once they are spent at work?

Many models of work assume these human resources are limitless, focusing on outputs rather than what is left behind. But without opportunities to recover and regenerate, this way of working leads to depletion, disengagement and ultimately burnout.

But what if work didn’t have to use people up to get results? What if productivity and well-being weren’t in competition, but part of the same system?

Drawing on ideas from the circular economy, along with management theory and organisational psychology, we propose a different way of thinking about work. We call it circular work.

Circular work flips the usual logic. Instead of treating people’s time, energy and skills as resources to be consumed, it sees work as a cycle – where effort is matched with recovery, learning and renewal. The goal isn’t just short-term output, but work that people can sustain without burning out.

At its core, circular work connects employee well-being and organisational performance and is built around four simple ideas:

• all human work resources are connected – energy, skills, knowledge and relationships affect each other

• it’s possible to recover and regenerate spent work resources – rest, support, and learning help employees bounce back

• work can build or drain resources – how work is designed determines whether people thrive or are thwarted

• sustainable work grows from protected and renewed resources – investing in well-being and development helps to sustain people and organisations.

Humans not machines

The idea of renewing people’s energy and skills can sound radical in today’s target-driven work culture.

But renewal isn’t a luxury. It starts with a simple truth: people are not infinite or endlessly replaceable. Work can drain our energy, attention and health –sometimes in ways that take years to undo. Designing work as though this doesn’t matter comes at a real cost.

In practice, regeneration shows up in everyday management. Decisions about workload, autonomy, recovery time, recognition and support determines whether work depletes people or helps them recover and grow. Put simply, human needs and well-being have to sit at the centre of how work is organised.

Psychological safety is part of this. Regenerative workplaces are those where people can speak up, raise concerns and take reasonable risks without fear of blame.

This is where leadership really matters. Organisations need to ask hard questions about the true impact of management practices: do they drive absence, presenteeism and turnover – or do they enable learning, growth and renewal? Rewarding managers and teams who protect well-being reduces stress, retains talent and makes organisations places people want to work.

The bottom line is, as long as work is designed like a machine to maximise output, burnout will remain its most predictable outcome. But sustainable performance is possible. It just means actually designing workplaces that protect — and renew — the people working in them.

This article was commissioned as part of a partnership between
Videnskab.dk and The Conversation.

Some residents are unable to shower or do daily chores due to a lack of water.

Thousands are still facing water problems as a result of a “complicated” pipe repair. People in Chatteris continue to be left with “very low” water pressure as a result of damage to a pipe in the water supply.

Anglian Water previously told CambridgeshireLive around 2,700 residents were affected. Residents have been experiencing problems since January 29. These were due to be fixed on February 1.

However, they have now been told the issue is not expected to be resolved until 5.30pm on Friday (February 13). Demi Scott, who previously told CambridgeshireLive she was unable to work as a result of the lower pressure, is still experiencing problems.

She said: “There is not enough water to clean the house such as clothes washes, dishwater or hand washing.” She and her family are also unable to shower.

Demi added: “We are behind on daily house work. There is no shower water available for us to shower and I am worried about work and not having water.”

Lawrence Weetman said water pressure has been “noticeably lower than usual”.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said it apologises for people still experiencing problems.

The spokesperson added: “These problems are all knock-on issues from a third party contractor damaging one of our large diameter water mains on January 29. The damaged pipe helped supply the Chatteris area, so while it’s out of action while we repair it, we’re having to take water from other parts of the surrounding network to keep everyone on water.

“On a couple of occasions our pumps, which help to push water around the network, have struggled to cope with the amount of water coming through the smaller pipes and they’ve tripped. While our teams were able to get the pumps back online within three hours on both occasions, to reduce the chances of it happening again, we’ve made some adjustments and popped additional monitors around our network so we can keep a close eye on what’s happening.”

The spokesperson said the repair is more “complicated” than expected. They added: “Our priority is always keeping our people safe, and to get this work done our teams not only need additional equipment but also to work under much stricter health and safety rules. This means it’s taking longer than usual to do our work.”

Anglian Water has received requests from people for bottled water during the last two disruptions. A spokesperson added: “While we know it’s really frustrating for your water supply to keep being affected like this, it’s important for you to know that we don’t routinely provide alternative water supplies unless there’s an interruption lasting 12 hours or more.”