Montreal Gazette

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah -- the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza -- over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. Read More

LONGUEUIL — A Quebec court judge has ruled that the case against a former RCMP officer charged with helping China conduct foreign interference can go ahead in the province. Read More

OTTAWA — Canada's energy minister is defending carbon capture and storage technology as both effective and affordable, after an Alberta power company walked away from a planned project and a study found that another project got public subsidies to cover more than three-quarters of its costs. Read More

Quebec experienced a three-per-cent drop in the number of births between 2022 and 2023, according to data published Wednesday by the Institut de la statistique du Québec. This brings births to their lowest level since 2005. Read More

As police in the United States continue to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampments at universities and arrest protesters, police in Montreal and across Canada have taken a more hands-off approach. Read More

ComediHa!, which runs Quebec City's annual comedy festival, announced Wednesday it will hold a Montreal festival July 18-28, filling the hole left by Just For Laughs when it announced its 2024 edition was cancelled due to financial difficulties. Read More

Hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin is motivated by the opportunity to compete in the playoffs, no matter the opponent. Read More

The city's transit agency needs to be upfront with Montrealers and divulge the plans to manage its bus fleet between now and the year 2030, says opposition Ensemble Montréal. Read More

WASHINGTON — Police used pepper spray to clear a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested dozens of demonstrators on Wednesday just as city officials were set to appear before hostile lawmakers in Congress to account for their handling of the two-week-old protest. Read More

Quebec plans to pass a bill that would prohibit insurance companies from demanding medical notes from doctors, to free the physicians from unnecessary paperwork. Read More

OTTAWA — A new national dental-care plan denies independent hygienists equal reimbursement for the same services offered in dentists' offices -- and the federal health minister said this week he isn't convinced by the rationale that led to that disparity. Read More

OTTAWA — Jewish students from major Canadian universities appeared on Parliament Hill Wednesday to raise the alarm about a rise in antisemitism on their campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war. Read More

OTTAWA — Public service unions say they’ll launch further legal challenges and grievances over new rules that federal employees must work from the office at least three days a week. Read More

MEULABOH, Indonesia — The boat glided across waters that were dark and still, under a night sky that was cloudless and calm. But on board, the 12-year-old girl quaked with fear. Read More

Billions of people are using different kinds of energy each day and 2023 was a record-breaking year for renewable energy sources — ones that don't emit planet-warming pollutants like carbon dioxide and methane -- according to a report published Wednesday by Ember, a think tank based in London. Read More

WASHINGTON — Facing heat over its military support for Israel's war, the Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on delivery of aid have violated international and U.S. laws designed to spare civilians from the worst horrors of war. Read More

Jewish students in Canada have launched a democratic organization aimed at representing Jewish interests on campus and communicating with the media. Read More

A Quebec Superior Court judge raised questions Wednesday about how a jury reached a unanimous decision to convict Lachine resident Véronique Manceaux of first-degree murder before he confirmed the automatic sentence she received two Saturdays ago. Read More

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — An immigration lawyer in Toronto says new figures from the federal government show just how “grudging” Ottawa’s efforts have been to rescue Canadians’ family members from the war in the Gaza Strip. Read More

Wild turkey sightings are on the rise in Montreal, where this spring alone one was seen picking a fight with a car in a Dollard-des-Ormeaux driveway, another hanging around the Verdun Hospital and a third wandering around Pointe-St-Charles for several days in a row. Read More