Early relationship boldness may not bode well

Trump’s graceless own goal sabotaged World Cup’s spirit of fair play

Like many Canadians, I have avoided crossing the U.S. border in the last couple of years. For me, it was a mixture of defiance and uncertainty. What if border guards ask me what I think about President Donald Trump? I would fail the lie detector test.

But the World Cup is going on, and I had a pass for the Seattle stadium. I needed to take advantage of it. After all, I love soccer and I love the World Cup. I see it as one of the great peace movements of our time.

But the irony of travelling to the U.S. for the World Cup wasn’t lost on me. Led by their FIFA Peace Prize-winning president, the country is dropping bombs on World Cup participant Iran. Referee Omar Artan was refused entry into the U.S., where he was to become the first Somali to referee at a World Cup. Fears of ICE raids sent shivers through international communities. Even players were harassed at border points.

It was fair to wonder: what would my experience be like?

Original Sorrento's restaurant still flinging pizzas, pastas after 45 years

The original Sorrento's Italian restaurant is still flinging pizzas, pastas and parmigiana more than 45 years later.

Occupied Ukraine holds Kremlin-staged vote on joining Russia

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Kremlin-orchestrated referendum got underway Friday in occupied regions of Ukraine that sought to make them part of Russia, with some officials carrying ballots to apartment blocks accompanied by gun-toting police. Kyiv and the West condemned it as a rigged election whose result was preordained by Moscow.

Meanwhile, in a grim reminder of the brutality of the 7-month-old invasion, U.N. experts and Ukrainian officials pointed to new evidence of Russian war crimes. Kharkiv region officials said a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izium held hundreds of bodies, including at least 30 displaying signs of torture.

The referendums in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions were widely seen as a prelude to Moscow annexing the regions. The voting, which was overseen by authorities installed by Russia, is scheduled to run through Tuesday and is almost certain to go the Kremlin's way.

Authorities in the Kherson region said residents of a small Moscow-controlled area of the neighboring Mykolaiv province also will be able to vote, and that small area was “incorporated” into Kherson until all of Mykolaiv is taken over by Russian forces.

Former late-night host brings new series to Netflix

When he left, he said he was glad to be gone; that he had nothing left to say on late-night television.

Two-and-a-half years later, it’s clear David Letterman still has a few things on his mind. And that TV remains the forum in which he feels best suited to say them.

Letterman, 70, returns to the small screen — and, for that matter, any other device on which you consume streaming content — this week with the debut of the new Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. The six-part, 60-minute series finds the still-bearded, but business-suit-attired Dave sitting down for extended conversations with subjects whom the host thinks sufficiently interesting to be worthy of an extended chat.

It’s obvious now, as this new effort unfolds at a decidedly measured pace (a new instalment will be made available on Netflix each month), that it wasn’t television in general that Letterman had grown tired of, after 30-plus years behind a talk-show desk; rather, it was the formatted nature of his past endeavours, the repetition, the daily grind and the requirement, because of the cross-promotional nature of the genre, to suffer through the endless stream of conversations with showbiz types with not all that much to say beyond pre-packaged quips about a latest movie or TV show.

Better friendships begin with a better you

Our friendships are among the most important, formative, joyful and fulfilling relationships we can have as humans. As the saying goes, friends are the family we choose.

Still, despite how vital those social bonds are, there’s not much of a framework for when our friendships are emptying our proverbial cup instead of filling it. There’s all manner of advice — and formal therapy — for navigating romantic relationships, but what about our best friends forever?

How do you manage conflict — or even simple disagreements — constructively with your pals? How do you navigate (instead of avoid) difficult conversations? How do you make new friends outside of school or work, especially as an adult?

And how, if it comes down to it, do you break up with your friends?

Tax cuts may not add up to support for Stefanson

New budget. New premier. Same old fiscal madness.

Faced with a crisis in health care and plummeting support, Premier Heather Stefanson needed to deliver a budget that repaired the damage done by her predecessor Brian Pallister, while breathing new life into the Progressive Conservative brand.

Instead, Stefanson drew up a budget that Pallister would be proud of.

Despite all of the rhetoric in the budget documents about “rebuilding” and “restoring” the economy and government services, Stefanson’s 2022-23 budget plan remains stubbornly committed to starving core services in favour of lavish tax cuts.