As May brings sunnier weather to Canada, many will mark the season by firing up their lawn mowers. Before you dutifully join the grass-cutting hordes, I encourage you to take heed of the No Mow May movement, which encourages a month-long pause in this well-intentioned yardwork for the sake of insects like bees and butterflies.
Stephen Lewis is fighting for his life. He has inoperable cancer.
I was privileged to document his heroic work as UN HIV/AIDS envoy to Africa, for three documentaries made for the CBC. I filmed as he set up the Stephen Lewis Grandmother to Grandmother Foundation, and as he relentlessly advocated for cheap and generic drugs for the 16 million Africans who were dying needlessly during that pandemic.
The latest roundup of pandemic findings gathered by The Tyee.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and some of his allies are moving quickly to nudge GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney from her leadership post, publicly criticizing her and privately lining up a potential successor. During a Tuesday interview on Fox News, McCarthy gave his strongest signal yet that he would support a new attempt to oust Cheney from the No. 3 spot in leadership, saying his members have voiced concerns about her “ability to carry out” her job duties.
The white former Minneapolis police officer convicted last month of the murder of the black man George Floyd has requested a new trial. Derek Chauvin's legal team have filed court documents alleging misconduct by both prosecutors and jurors. Chauvin, who was captured on video kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, was found guilty of murder and manslaughter. The rare verdict against a police officer was considered a milestone in the racial history of the US and was widely applauded by Americans. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison.
Donald Trump has launched a new "communications" website, which says it will publish content "straight from the desk" of the former US president. Mr Trump was banned by Twitter and suspended by Facebook and YouTube after the Capitol riots in January. The former president has since been releasing statements by press release - which the new website will now host. Users will be able to like posts - and also share them on Twitter and Facebook accounts. The website is reportedly built by Campaign Nucleus, a digital services company created by Mr Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale. Several posts on the site repeat debunked claims that last year's presidential election was rigged.
The Morrison government faces calls to cancel an agreement between Western Australia and the same Chinese government agency that was the partner in the now-vetoed Victorian belt and road deals. Under the agreement, originally struck by previous Liberal premier Colin Barnett, WA and China’s National Development and Reform Commission pledged to work together to find investment opportunities, including infrastructure and in the state’s significant resources sector.
French fishers are threatening to blockade the ports in the Channel Islands in an escalation of a post-Brexit row in which the French maritime minister has backed calls to cut off Jersey’s electricity supply. French officials have also said they will close their offices in Jersey and stop products from the island entering France. The Jersey Evening Post has reported that the possibility of stopping all commercial vessels accessing French ports and cutting off the electricity was discussed at two protests in France.
Federal government documents obtained by the Guardian show a wide range of explosives, flamethrowers and incendiary devices found by law enforcement agencies outside political conventions, public buildings and protests during 2020 and 2021. The extent of the weaponry – including timed devices deposited as part of a suspected pro-Trump bomb plot –reveals the perils and potential violence circulating through American politics in the grip of unrest linked to pandemic shutdowns, anti-racism protests and rightwing activism and insurrection that culminated in the attack on the Capitol in Washington.
Donald Trump’s Facebook account should not be reinstated, the social media giant’s oversight board said on Wednesday. Facebook suspended Trump’s account after the Capitol attack of 6 January, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed Congress in an attempt to overturn the former president’s defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Trump was initially suspended from Facebook and Instagram for 24 hours, as a result of two posts shared to the platform in which he appeared to praise the actions of the rioters. The company then extended the president’s ban “at least until the end of his time in office”.