The Artemis II mission has at times left Jenni Gibbons feeling tense — and tired.

But the sometimes bated breath and fatigue aren’t hindering the Calgary-born astronaut from taking in the historic mission from deep inside a NASA control room in Houston.

“I’m truly so tired,” she told The Canadian Press late Monday. “But when I wake up, I think that there’s no place I would want to be other than Mission Control and following Jeremy and my other colleagues.”

On Monday, fellow Canadian Jeremy Hansen and his three American crewmates — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — looped the moon in a six-hour lunar flyby, going farther into space than any humans before, breaking a distance record set by Apollo 13.

It’s a step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years.

The mission is a highlight of NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo flights of the 1960s and ’70s, and Gibbons got a second-row seat after days, weeks, months and years of planning.

“Today was the payoff day,” she said. “It was an awesome experience.”

2:33
Giant leap: Artemis II astronauts pass far side of moon, set distance record

Gibbons was to fly in Hansen’s place in the event he couldn’t. Since last week’s launch on April 1, she has been a voice link from Earth to space — coaching Hansen and the other astronauts on key mission objectives.

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She said inside Mission Control, moments felt particularly tense in the lead-up to — and immediately after — the Orion capsule losing the radio signal as it travelled behind the moon, entering an expected communications blackout.

“Obviously, you want all the systems to work perfectly and sometimes it just takes a little while,” Gibbons said. “So, we were lucky today.

“A couple moments of tension, but overall super positive.”

The four-person crew were tasked with capturing images and other geological observations of the moon. They’re now on their way home and are set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, California on Friday.

Gibbons said she’s eager to see images from the flyby and is particularly keen to see those of a total solar eclipse that the crew described as something out of “sci-fi.”

She is also curious to see a pair of fresh moon craters — one named “Integrity,” after the Orion spacecraft, and the other named for Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll. The commander wept as Hansen put in the request to Mission Control.

“(Reid)’s a really wonderful person who brings a lot of light, so hearing his family be honoured in that way was special,” Gibbons said.

1:58
How and why Artemis II’s astronauts are taking their own cells around the moon

The Artemis mission is unique, she said. Those on board the capsule observed parts of the moon never before seen — something she noted remote robotic sensing just can’t match.

Findings from this mission will help shape the future of space exploration, she said.

Gibbons said she would love her own trip to space “when the time is right,” but for now she is content with seeing Hansen through his.

“This has always felt like Jeremy’s mission to me and he’s a very dear friend,” she said.

“I adore him and his family and seeing him live his dream has just been such a highlight for me.”

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

If you feel like vehicle headlights are too bright these days and are blinding your eyes on the road, Transport Canada wants to hear from you.

The federal agency is conducting a survey on headlights that have gotten a lot brighter over the years, with some experts saying they’re a safety concern.

Bright LED lights on the road is becoming a more common trend that semi-truck drivers are noticing first-hand.

Bill Fries has been a trucker for 30 years and said the stronger headlights can be useful, but harsh on the eyes.

“LED lights are extremely bright, they don’t really have distance. They’re intense, and if the drivers don’t adjust them, quite often I wear those yellow glasses, nighttime driving glasses that kill the glare and take a lot of the blue light out,” said Fries.

Vehicle lighting expert Daniel Stern says headlights getting stronger isn’t a myth.

“Headlights are brighter in the sense that they’re putting out more light at wider beam patterns, they’re also growing smaller and smaller and bluer and bluer,” said Stern.

“All three of those things make them more glaring.”

He added the colour temperature — warm vs cool lighting — makes a difference.

“For any given intensity, blue, white light like we get from LED headlights, spurs a lot more glare. Fifty to 60 per cent more discomfort glare than that same amount of light in a warmer, white light colour with less blue in it.”

4:21
Vancouver wants limits put on headlight brightness

That increased glare is a key part of Transport Canada’s national survey. It’s asking Canadians how headlight glare affects them and their experience on the roads at night with bright lights, at times creating dangerous situations.

“You put LED bulbs into a halogen headlamp, you turn it into a glare monster. It feels like they’re much brighter, but you’re not getting the right amount of light to the right places to see safely, so that’s a lose-lose deal,” said Stern.

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Edmonton auto repair shops say a very common concern they hear from customers is that their lights aren’t bright enough, but brand-new LEDS aren’t always the trick.

“A lot of the times it’s really difficult to see in front of you. I mean, if you could imagine yourself on a narrow highway and there are vehicles all around you and you have oncoming traffic that’s nearly blinding you, one miscalculation can cause an accident,” said Moe Araji with Fat Dog Automotive.

“There’s a misconception about bright headlights, though; just because the headlight’s bright doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to give you better visibility.”

As Transport Canada seeks potential solutions to headlight glare, local mechanics and Stern say they hope light inspections are part of the conversation.

“We really need to bring back vehicle inspections, at least lighting inspections. Not only are the lights badly aimed, but also you walk through any parkade, you see a lot of cars with cloudy, hazed headlight lenses. It happens with age, and that diffuses the beam so light that should be going down towards the road instead is going up towards other drivers’ eyes,” said Stern.

“Glare control measures that were adequate in the past, they no longer do the job. So what we have is headlamps much more glaring than they used to be, that are still legal according to the regulations, which haven’t changed.”

The survey is available on Transport Canada’s website and is open until April 20.

1:50
Brampton considers installing LED lights on roads to increase safety

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Residents living along the Port Alberni, B.C., harbour say the constant noise from generators at the shipyard is affecting their way of life.

“It is just constant hums, it’s the diesel generators running their power,” resident Ray Russell said.

They said the issue is that the Port Alberni Port Authority only has the capacity to power one vessel. Currently, the coast guard ship, which is in refit, is plugged in.

The other ships all run on generators.

1:46
Port Alberni businesses fed up with ongoing crime

In February, 45 people signed a petition, calling on the federal government to fund more shore power at the loading docks to alleviate the constant noise.

However, it is ultimately up to the port authority to make the request.

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“So we did ask before. I mean, we were sort of in queue, there was other ports that are much bigger and in far greater need than what we have, that get some funding, they got some funding and we will of course ask again,” Zoran Knezevic with the Port Alberni Port Authority told Global News.

“I think there is some funding plus potentially coming down the pipe as well that we will do. Mind you, though, because being a small port, we don’t necessarily have a standard type of vessel coming down here. So when we talk about shore power, the shore power that we have for this smaller vessel, it’s not gonna work for the larger ones.

“And so there is some technical issues that we need to overcome there in order to get to the point of everybody being plugged. However, we’ll be working towards that.”

However, the port authority said this is simply the sound of industry following the closure of several mills in the area due to high operating costs and fibre shortages.

Knezevic said they do apologize, however, and are trying to work with residents.

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The president of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union says its workers are doing everything they can to keep ferries running.

It has been another frustrating weekend for passengers of BC Ferries, with cancellations and delays after breakdowns and vessels undergoing scheduled maintenance.

Only 40 minutes after re-entering service, several sailings of the Queen of Surrey were cancelled on Sunday due to a mechanical issue.

The Spirit of Vancouver Island broke down on Tuesday after only being in service for two days.

“I think what we’re seeing here is the result of multiple things coming together,” Eric McNeely, the president of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union, told Global News on Sunday.

“That’s an ageing fleet, maintenance that’s under pressure and planning that really hasn’t kept pace with the demand. So our engineering crews are working as much as they can to get the vessels back into service. But as vessels get older, they require more maintenance and they require the resources to do that.”

McNeely said the union has highlighted the need for a buffer period when vessels return to service to ensure they are ready.

“The duration for which vessels are in a refit has been compressed, meaning that more work has to be done in shorter periods of time,” he added. “I speak with the people at our maintenance facility, and they’re working seven days a week, you know just trying to get as many vessels through the maintenance system as possible.”

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Last March, the British Columbia Ferries Commissioner approved four new major vessels for its fleet to replace the aging Queens of Alberni, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Cowichan, which are the oldest major ships still in use.

BC Ferries applied for five new diesel-battery hybrid, all-electric-ready ships, but the independent British Columbia Ferries Commissioner approved four.

BC Ferries has said the need for that fifth vessel is great.

2:14
BC Ferries Queen of Surrey vessel breaks down again immediately following recent refit

However, McNeely said this is a problem that has been decades in the making.

“There’s no surprise that vessels had to be replaced,” he said.

“The Queen of New Westminster is over 60 years old, and that’s very uncommon in salt water and in a ferry fleet that’s been running that long. So we’re looking right now at addressing a programme that’s existed or has been known to exist for a long time. And that includes planning that began back in 2016, 2017, about beginning to replace these large major vessels in 2022, 2023.”

The new vessels, being built in China, are not expected to be in B.C. until 2029 and 2031.

“I think that’s a challenge with leadership both within BC Ferries, the authority board, the commissioner and the province,” McNeely said.

“I think there needs to be a real look at how funding is provided to BC Ferries as a public service as part of the highway system. Both federally and provincially. Sort of in the short term, what I think there could be is, you know, there needs to be a bit more money for refits, a bit more time for refit, and we need to look at what does the future look like for building vessels and maintaining vessels here in Canada?”

McNeely acknowledged that it is a challenging time for BC Ferries, with multiple vessels needing maintenance and potable water issues on board some vessels.

“If you think it’s stressful trying to travel to a family event or a friend event or get away for the long weekend. Imagine going to work and having a vessel that isn’t there or imagine jumping ships because your ship broke down or being in a ticket booth where you’re trying to tell hundreds or maybe thousands of people, ‘I’m sorry, your plans are no longer possible and it’s outside my control’,” he said.

“And the vast majority of people that work at BC Ferries that wear a uniform, those are unionized workers. And they’re not the ones who have the ability to say yes or no or make long-term planning decisions, or provide finances for a refit or a maintenance project. We’re left sort of facing the public without the ability to make the changes that our members see are necessary.”

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There are thousands of miles between Majid Kermani and his family, but they couldn’t be closer to top of mind as the war in Iran rages on.

“All the bombing and internet disconnection and all the hardship that this war has brought them, it’s very hard to live in that situation,” Kermani told Global News.

He says communication with his family is sparse amid the internet blackout in Iran.

“It’s a very stressful situation,” he said.

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“Every day that you wake up, we don’t know if our family members or many people that are in Iran are safe or not.”

It’s a similar scenario for Bijan Babaie, who moved to Manitoba from Iran in 2021.

“In the last 40 days, only three times we have received a call from home in Iran, and all the call is this, ‘Don’t worry, we are safe.’ Only this. And it’s cut and you cannot hear anymore,” Babaie told Global News.

He says the impact of the war is difficult to fathom.

“We lived in war, we about 30 years ago had a war with Iraq, we lived in war,” Babaie said.

“War is a special situation. You cannot imagine. (It’s) a special situation and every day and every night we are thinking from our family now.”

Kermani is hoping for a peaceful resolution that can help keep innocent loved ones, like this 79-year-old mother, out of harm’s way.

“You feel the pain, but you have no remedy for it,” Kermani said.

“Like my mom, she’s under this pain and I can’t do anything for it. That’s very sad.”

2:22
Trump issues profane threat to Iran, gets slammed for ‘war-crime’

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Voters in two ridings in Ontario and one in Quebec have until the end of the day to head to advance polls in upcoming federal byelections that could give Prime Minister Mark Carney a majority government.

Last month, Carney announced byelections in the two Toronto-area ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale and the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne set for April 13.

Advance polls in the three ridings opened last Friday and will close at 9 p.m. Monday, and voters can also cast ballots at their local Elections Canada office before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The byelection in Terrebonne comes after the Supreme Court nullified the Liberal candidate’s one-vote federal election win in the riding, after the Bloc Québécois candidate challenged the results when a supporter complained she tried to vote by mail using a special ballot that wasn’t counted.

Meanwhile, the University-Rosedale seat was left vacant after former Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland departed to serve as an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and become CEO of the Rhodes Trust.

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Bill Blair, also a former Liberal MP, left the riding of Scarborough Southwest vacant after he was appointed Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom.

1:53
3 byelections called as Liberals near majority

The Toronto ridings are considered to be safe seats for the Liberals, while Terrebonne was held by a Bloc Québécois MP before the last federal election.

Liberal wins in the two Toronto ridings would bring the party to 172 seats in the House of Commons, which is enough for a majority.

But because the Speaker does not typically vote, a government with 172 seats still needs at least one opposition member to vote with them or abstain from voting to pass legislation — which means all eyes will be on the race in Terrebonne, which could give the Liberals a critical extra seat.

Polling aggregator 338 Canada has said Terrebonne is a toss-up between the Liberals and Bloc.

Residents in the three ridings can also cast their vote by mail, if they apply to do so by Tuesday.

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What appears to be a prank has led to some backlash from a First Nation and the climbing community.

Along the Sea to Sky Highway, hanging from the rockface of The Papoose near Shannon Falls, a hollowed-out red Volkswagen Beetle is hanging on the cliff face.

The Squamish Nation does not find it amusing.

“To utilize such a sacred mountain that’s ever so precious to our people and its history and the connectivity we have to the land as Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people, but not only that, B.C. Canadian residents of such beauty, and at a time of protecting the environment and looking at how we take care of not only each other but taking care of the land and the beauty that it is,” Sxwíxwtn, Wilson Williams, council chairperson of the Squamish Nation, said.

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Though no one has taken responsibility, UBC engineering students have a long-standing tradition of these stunts. Volkswagens have hung from the Lions Gate and Golden Gate Bridge, the PNE Rollercoaster and the UBC Clock Tower.

The Papoose is popular with climbers and the area is now closed until the vehicle is removed.

2:28
UBC engineering students behind interesting stunts in the city

Some in the climbing community aren’t impressed with the stunt.

“If you’re walking along the trail at the bottom, well, OK, 10 seconds and you’re underneath it and then you’re gone,” climber Anders Ourom said.

“I don’t think I’d be climbing under it right now, especially if it was a windy day or something like that.

The Ministry of Parks told Global News that this is a serious incident, and B.C. Parks is taking appropriate steps to address it and has asked the RCMP and park rangers to investigate.

B.C. Parks says it is working on a plan to remove the vehicle, which is expected to be done within the next few days

There is no word yet on how much it will cost and who will pay the bill.

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

U.S. President Donald Trump last year acknowledged he wouldn’t be able to easily annex Canada as he has repeatedly threatened, according to a British Royal biographer who cites Trump’s praise for King Charles III as a factor.

In an excerpt of Robert Hardman’s upcoming biography of Queen Elizabeth II published Monday in the Daily Mail, Hardman recounts meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December 2025, where the two discussed Trump’s multiple state visits with both the Queen and her son and heir as president.

During one of their conversations, Hardman writes, Trump “mischievously” asked if he should “go to war with” Denmark, a NATO ally, in order to take over Greenland.

“I replied that this would probably destroy NATO and, while we were on the subject, could he please leave Canada alone, too,” Hardman writes.

“It had been a staunch ally throughout history, a gallant D-Day partner and attempting to acquire it would undoubtedly make the King of Canada unhappy.”

According to Hardman, Trump paused and then asked, “Do they still recognize the King? Or have they stopped doing that?”

After Hardman confirmed the British monarch remains Canada’s head of state, Trump went on to complain about Canada’s “terrible politicians.”

“They’re nice to my face and then they say bad things behind my back,” Trump told Hardman, who then writes the U.S. president noted a majority of Canadians live just above the Canada-U.S. border due to the cold weather in northern Canada.

“The problem is some guy drew that straight line to make a border,” Hardman says Trump told him. “He should just have drawn it 50 miles further north and then there wouldn’t be a problem.”

However, Hardman writes that Trump conceded redrawing that border would be a difficult task to achieve during his final term as president, and acknowledged Canada’s history and sovereignty.

“I suppose Canadians have got 200 years of history and all that, ‘Oh, Canada’ thing,” Trump told Hardman. “You can’t deal with that in three-and-a-half years. I guess it’s not going to happen!”

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“This was the closest I had heard to an acknowledgement that, as long as Canada had the King, Mr. Trump was not going to usurp him,” Hardman then writes.

2:42
Trumps given royal treatment in 2nd UK state visit

King Charles and Queen Camilla will undertake a state visit to the U.S. late this month, Buckingham Palace and Trump have announced. It will come after the royals hosted Trump for a state visit in London last September.

Trump praises both Queen Elizabeth and King Charles throughout the book excerpt, calling them “unbelievable” and “fantastic,” as well as Prince William and Princess Kate.

The excerpt mentions King Charles’ historic throne speech in Canada’s Parliament last year at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s invitation, which came at a time when Trump’s threats to make Canada the “51st state” were at their peak.

“The True North is indeed strong and free,” the King said during the speech, a line that drew a sustained standing ovation.

Although Trump’s threats to annex Canada have subsided since last year, Canadians remain on edge about the possibility of a U.S. takeover attempt.

Asked by Ipsos in January to what extent they agreed or disagreed with various statements on a possible U.S. military invasion, 56 per cent of Canadians said they either strongly agree (16 per cent) or somewhat agree (40 per cent) that the U.S. would never invade.

However, the same number said they were fearful an invasion could happen, with 17 per cent strongly agreeing and 39 per cent somewhat agreeing with the statement: “I am fearful Trump will use military force against Canada.”

That same month, Trump raised alarm bells in Canada by posting an AI-generated image of himself in the Oval Office with a map showing the American flag covering Canada, the U.S. and Greenland, as well as Venezuela and Cuba.

The Economist and the Globe and Mail reported at the time that Canada’s military planners have gamed out what an American military invasion could look like — and how long the Canadian side could hold out.

1:59
‘It’s not easy’: Carney speaks frankly about dealing with Trump

Trump’s relationship with Carney has deteriorated somewhat since the two leaders held multiple friendly in-person meetings last year, including two at the White House and one at the G7 Summit in Alberta.

Trump reacted angrily to Carney’s widely praised speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, where Carney declared an end to the rules-based international order and urged middle powers like Canada to band together against large “hegemons.”

Although Carney did not mention Trump or the U.S., the speech was seen as a reaction to Trump’s global trade wars and aggressive approach to diplomacy, as well as his threats against NATO allies.

Trump told the World Economic Forum the next day that “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Trump has also begun referring to Carney as “governor” in social media posts, a title he used for former prime minister Justin Trudeau while threatening to make Canada a U.S. state.

Carney and Trump have continued to speak, however, most recently on Wednesday when the two discussed the successful Artemis II space launch and the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Carney acknowledged during an event in Australia last month that “it’s not easy” to deal with Trump, particularly in negotiations around trade.

Those trade talks are ongoing ahead of the scheduled review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement this summer.

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