• Antipope's Charlie Stross wonders if the politics of Trump might mean an end to the British nuclear deterrent.
• Centauri Dreams shares Andrew LePage's evaluation of the TRAPPIST-1 system, where he concludes that there are in fact three plausible candidates for habitable status there.
• Dangerous Minds shares the gender-bending photographs of Norwegian ( Read more... )

CBC News' Cameron MacIntosh has a wonderful story examining how Icelandic-Canadians still make vinarterta, a classic Icelandic Christmas cake that is now more popular among descendants of Icelandic emigrants in Canada (and elsewhere) than in Iceland.

Now what actually constitutes a vinarterta is an open and sometimes passionate debate. It's ( Read more... )

CBC News' Cameron MacIntosh reports on the continuing economic decline of northern Manitoba. How can Canada call itself a northern nation with issues like these?

It's a long drive, twisting through seemingly endless forest, past lakes, down a long two-lane highway that alternates between patches of broken pavement and gravel ( Read more... )

The Toronto Star carried the Brandon Sun's report about the end of direct flights between Toronto and Brandon, Manitoba's second city. I have been told that the flights were inconveniently timed, scheduled in the early morning even, so no surprise there. Still, as someone who enjoys the Toronto-Charlottetown link in summer, I'm saddened this tie ( Read more... )

The National Post carries this brief Canadian Press article. I hope The Pas has something to fall back on.

A last-ditch offer to save hundreds of jobs in The Pas has failed, at least for now ( Read more... )

Scott Gilmore of MacLean's wrote in the atmospheric Abandoned Churchill" about the distress of people in the northern Manitoba port of Churchill, a perpetually promising port on Hudson's Bay, that their port is being shut down.

I flew up to Churchill in a small private plane, with a map in my lap so I could trace our progress north ( Read more... )

• ABC reports on the Sudanese-Australian basketball players who are transforming the game in Australia.
• Bloomberg reports on the potentially transformative scope of China's New Silk Road project.
• Bloomberg View likes the new Star Trek movie's shift beyond speciesism.
• CBC reports on the strength of pro-Trump support among non-voting Amish in Pennsylvania ( Read more... )

• Bloomberg notes the advance of Catalonian separatism, looks at the economic catastrophes hitting Mozambique, and looks at how Africa is getting more people online by devising apps for non-smartphones.
• Bloomberg View examines at length the implications of Donald Trump's not quite criminal call to have Russia hack more E-mails.
• The CBC notes young ( Read more... )

The Globe and Mail carries James Turner's Canadian Press report.

A former member of a religious colony told the first Pride parade ever held in this small Manitoba city how important it is for gay people to speak up and share their stories ( Read more... )

• Bloomberg notes the decline of Japan's solar energy boom with falling subsidies, suggests 1970s-style stagflation will be back, looks at how an urban area in Japan is dealing with overcrowding, looks at Russia-NATO tensions, and examines how Ireland is welcoming British bankers.
• Bloomberg View looks at the return of Russian tourists to Turkey, notes ( Read more... )