No Cheers: Tokyo Olympic Village considering ban on alcohol

Near-future U.S. the setting for surreal dual-world storyline

It’s not every day you encounter a seriously intended literary novel that attempts to dramatize a mind-bending physics theory like quantum entanglement.

But then the B.C.-born-and-raised Emily St. John Mandel is not your everyday Canadian literary writer.

In her late 40s, she has lived in the U.S. for her entire writing career. She is best known for her 2014 dystopian novel Station Eleven, about a Shakespearean acting troupe navigating a pandemic-ravaged America.

Her new outing, her seventh, Exit Party, shares DNA with detective and sci-fi genres more than with conventional literary fiction.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Aries.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

The moon in your sign is lined up with stern Saturn, which can make you feel isolated from others. Domestic problems might surface. Possibly, you might feel cut off from your emotions. You might even feel a tinge of guilt. This is fleeting.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Chen tops Hanyu to win men's free skate at World Team Trophy

OSAKA, Japan - Three-time world champion Nathan Chen won the free skate at the figure skating World Team Trophy on Friday to continue his dominance of two-time Olympic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu.

First after the short program, Chen opened with a quadruple flip and landed a quad salchow in the first half of his routine set to a selection of music by Philip Glass.

Winner of the past five U.S. titles, Chen landed two more quadruple toeloops as part of combination jumps to score 203.24 points.

Hanyu, who was second after the short program, opened with a quad loop but could only manage a single salchow instead of a planned quad salchow on his second jump. He added two quad toeloops later in his program and finished with 193.76 points.

Biden says 'we have to act' after Texas school shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms Tuesday night after a gunman shot and killed 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure — and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

'“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children, though not to gun violence, spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

The end of the road

St. Louis and the end of the trade route

Pallister’s ego behind carbon tax flip-flop

It doesn't make any sense.

Earlier this week, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister stunned onlookers inside and outside the province with a decision to abandon his own $25-per-tonne carbon tax — the core lever in a complex, provincewide plan to curb carbon emissions.

The premier told reporters Wednesday he was throwing out nearly two years of work on a homegrown climate change plan because Ottawa did not "respect" Manitoba's desire to hold carbon taxes at about half the level demanded by the federal government.

It was not clear what Pallister meant by respect; the two levels of government disagree about the level at which carbon taxes should be set. Up until this week, the two levels of government disagreed over policy and methodology.