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A sign calling for the protection of ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farms is displayed in Edgewood, B.C., Canada, on May 17, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Trump officials fight ostrich culling, Mark Carney wants to ReArm with Europe, Wildfires in Manitoba, Golden Dome price set
300: Senior Trump administration figures, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, are lobbying Canada to spare over 300 ostriches set to be culled due to bird flu concerns at a British Columbia farm. The farm’s owners dispute the extent of the outbreak, arguing most birds are healthy. Oz has offered to relocate the ostriches to his Florida ranch. Canadian officials insist they must be killed to protect public health and the poultry industry, as avian flu outbreaks spread across both countries.
5: Currently, 75 cents of every dollar Canada spends on defense goes to the US defense industry. But Prime Minister Mark Carney says he wants Canada to join ReArm Europe — a major European defense initiative — by July 1, in order to reduce reliance on US military spending. ReArm Europe aims to increase member nations’ defense spendings to 5% of GDP and, crucially, to do so without heavily importing from US arms manufacturers.
17,000: Over 17,000 people are being evacuated in Manitoba amid the province’s worst start to the wildfire season in years. There are 134 active fires across Canada — half of them burning out of control — in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, while the country braces for another deadly fire season.
$61 billion: US President Donald Trump says he has told Canada it will have to pay $61 billion to be part of his proposed Gold Dome missile defense system — or it can be included for free if it becomes the “cherished 51st state.”
A view of the Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on April 15, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Trump tries to ban foreign students at Harvard, Pensioners revolt in Argentina, Escaped bird ponders long flight home & more
7,000: The White House has scrapped Harvard University’s authorization to enroll foreign students, putting the school’s roughly 7,000 foreigners at risk of having to transfer elsewhere or go home. The Trump administration accuses Harvard of fostering antisemitism and violence, and of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.” Harvard plans to appeal the move, which could affect a major source of income, as foreigners typically pay full tuition.
331: Dozens of people were injured in a protest by pensioners and activists outside the Argentine Congress on Wednesday. At issue are demands to raise the current pension level of $331 per month. President Javier Milei has opposed pension hikes as part of his “chainsaw” austerity drive.
81: US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he has gathered 81 co-sponsors for a bill that would impose a draconian 500% tariff on any countries that buy Russian energy. The biggest of those buyers is, of course, China. Trump reportedly told European leaders on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to end the war, although the White House has disputed that account.
344%: The murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., has shined another light on the burgeoning wave of antisemitism in the United States and beyond. Antisemitic incidents across the US have increased by 344% in the last five years. Australia, Belgium and France have experienced similar surges, too.
27: A top Maoist leader was among 27 rebels killed by security forces in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, part of a government crackdown against this far-left insurgency. Nambala Keshava Rao was the highest profile rebel killed in decades. New Delhi has said it wants to end the insurgency in Chhattisgarh entirely by March 2026.
9,000: The Great Escape, bird edition: A juvenile East African crowned crane, known for its distinctive crown of golden feathers, broke out of a zoo in Washington state. If the bird is planning to return to its eponymous home, it will have to travel nearly 9,000 miles.Chevron and Hess logos.
Hard Numbers: US firms go on a Canadian energy run, Taiwan strait drama continues, Russian sanctions-busters busted, Names are for the birds
3.2 billion: So far this year, US firms have spent $3.2 billion acquiring Canadian oil and gas companies, the highest figure in a dozen years. Lower valuations for Canadian energy producers are drawing interest from south of the border.
2: Never a dull moment in the Taiwan Strait these days, as the US and Canada have sent two ships through the waterway for the second time in as many months, prompting China — which regards self-governing Taiwan as one of its own possessions — to put its troops on “high alert.”
3: US authorities have charged three people — including two Canadian citizens — with scheming to send millions of dollars' worth of blacklisted technology to Russia. All three of the defendants, who carry Russian passports, were accused of exporting items that Russia has used as part of its invasion of Ukraine.
80: The American Ornithological Society will change the official nonscientific names of as many as 80 US and Canadian bird species named after historical bird nerds who owned slaves, exploited Indigenous people, or held other beliefs that the society says “don’t work for us today.” Wilson’s Warbler for example – named for 19th century naturalist Alexander Wilson – will now go the way of the thick-billed Longspur, formerly named for Confederate Gen. John P McCown. The society says it’s time to “redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs.”
Panty-stealing crows driving Melaka residents nuts, dozens of reports lodged
MELAKA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Crows have become menace here, driving residents to despair while leaving one local councillor trying to figure out why the birds are targeting women's undies.