TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

Well, another cloudy morning 😔 but still the predicted high is on the mild side, 43° F. and overcast. The forecast calls for cooler weather, with some snow and clouds beginning tonight. YUCKY SNOW! Stick my finger down my throat! If I were ten years younger, I would get a snowmobile. I should have started building an Earth Ship home back then. We would be settled in it by now. If I had an Earth Ship home, you bet I would be spending most of my time in the greenhouse during the winter.

From here at the kitchen table, looking out at the trees and my Green Space on the balcony, when it's bright and sunny, it looks cheerful and welcoming. We may not have a river running through it 😉 But we do have a creek running through the woods below, only about 400 feet from the edge of the woods. I used to spend a lot of time sitting by the creek or under the giant weeping willow on the other side, or just walking the park trail, which is at least 10 miles long, partly follows the Welland Canal, and ends at Lake Ontario.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

ONTARIO'S POTENTIAL:

The longer summers are what make the Niagara Region such a good place to grow fruit and grapes. My tropical balcony is as close as I'll ever get to going back to Tennessee or Florida. With a bit of ingenuity and imagination, I have decorated my balcony and the interior of my home to feel bright and balmy 😊

If our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT can ever learn to SMACK ITSELF IN THE BUTT WITH BOTH HANDS, it would make for a reasonably good climate, worth checking into to encourage newcomers with specialized skills and professions relocating from the U.S. to Canada. The peninsula between the southern shore of Lake Ontario and the eastern end of Lake Erie is, in my opinion, the best place to live in Canada, thanks to its microclimate and proximity to Ontario's industrial base. Weather-wise, we only get about 2 months of snow and cold, and even then, it's on and off, with thawing in between.

And if Ontario Premier Ford continues to honor the deal with the federal government through Prime Minister Mark Carney over access to the Ring of Fire, there will be job opportunities all the way north from Niagara Falls to the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario. "Hey, You!" Do you like wilderness, winter sports, curiosity, and adventure? If I were younger, I would like to go there for curiosity, then come back where it's warm ♨️ 😁

- Google Search -

ONTARIO'S POTENTIAL

Ontario's potential lies in leveraging its vast natural resources, particularly critical minerals for green tech, strategic investments in clean energy (nuclear, storage, grid), skilled workforce, and innovation to boost its economy, attract investment, create jobs, and secure its position in global supply chains, especially in advanced manufacturing and technology sectors, while balancing economic growth with environmental stewardship.

Or is this just another air sandwich? 🥪

I Beg You Pardon? 😲

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eclUz-RYI

BREAKING NEWS:

There is so much news today that I will be abbreviating each news item for you to choose to read.

Iran vows to punish protesters as Trump warns against executions

What We Know

• Iranian officials have pledged to swiftly try and punish anti-government protesters, with officials warning that anyone arrested in the past few days is considered guilty of waging “internal war” against the regime...

Read More:

Updated 10:30 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

Some US personnel told to leave Qatar base as Iran vows to punish protesters

What We Know

• Some personnel have been urged to leave a US military base in Qatar as a “precaution,” as President Donald Trump considers taking military action against Iran. He warned the regime against executing protesters and said the US would take “strong action” in response...

Read More:

Updated 10:49 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

New documents shed light on Renee Good’s ties to ICE monitoring efforts in Minneapolis

The woman killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis last week served on the board of her son’s school, which linked to documents encouraging parents to monitor ICE and directing them to training. The documents shed new light on Renee Good’s connection to efforts to monitor and potentially disrupt ICE operations – an association that federal officials have made clear is at the center of their review into the deadly incident that occurred as she partially blocked ICE agents in the street with her SUV.

But four legal experts who reviewed the documents for CNN said they largely describe nonviolent civil disobedience tactics practiced at American protests for generations – far from the sinister depiction of extremism and domestic terrorism portrayed by Trump administration officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance. “There’s nothing in there that suggests attacking ICE agents or engaging in any other form of physical harm or property damage,” said...

Read More:

Updated Jan 14, 2026, 12:13 AM ET - 10 hr ago

- CNN -

Vance and Rubio to hold meeting on Greenland as Trump faces Venezuela war powers vote

What We're Covering

• Greenland meeting: President Donald Trump said this morning that “anything less” than US control of Greenland is “unacceptable.” Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials today.

Read More:

Updated 11:05 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

Vance and Rubio to hold meeting on Greenland as Trump faces Venezuela war powers vote

What We're Covering

• Greenland meeting: President Donald Trump said this morning that “anything less” than US control of Greenland is “unacceptable.” Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials today.

Read More:

Updated 11:05 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

ArcelorMittal Dofasco quietly extends 'green' steel timeline from 2028 to 2050, gets $50M more from Ottawa

Dofasco says while its timeline has been 'drawn out,' it has the same decarbonization ambitions

ArcelorMittal Dofasco has quietly extended its timeline by 22 years to phase out coal for "decarbonized" steelmaking, says a federal government document, aiming for 2050 instead of 2028.

Ontario’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases is also receiving $50 million more from the federal government for the project, according to an amendment posted to the Government of Canada's website last March. It was posted after the U.S. first imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and shortly before the federal election. The change brings Ottawa’s total contribution to $450 million...

• Hamilton residents request Ontario investigate ArcelorMittal Dofasco for releasing emissions far above limits
• Iron production moving to Quebec:
• 'No one knows what's really planned':
• ArcelorMittal Dofasco misses key milestones in $1.8B 'green' steel project promised for 2028
• Ford government eyes 'green steel' as way to catch up on cutting carbon emissions

Read More:

Posted: Jan 14, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

- CBC -

Carney lands in Beijing, kicking off China trade mission

Visit is first by a Canadian PM to China since 2017

Prime Minister Mark Carney has landed in Beijing, marking the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China in eight years. Carney will meet with senior communist leaders on Thursday, ahead of a Friday meeting with President Xi Jinping and a business banquet.

It's the first visit by a Canadian prime minister since China detained two Canadians for nearly three years in 2019 in retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant...

• Carney heads to Beijing to talk trade after years of diplomatic strain with China
• As Carney heads to China to talk trade, Ontario premier still '100% dead against' rolling back EV tariffs
• Carney wants to 'recalibrate' Canada-China relations with visit: PM's parliamentary aide
• Conservatives accuse Liberals of 'kowtowing to Beijing' as 2 MPs cut Taiwan trip short

Read More:

- CBC -

CBC News further expands local journalism, bureaus

Historic investment in local journalism comes at critical moment, with local news in steep decline in Canada

We use this editor's blog to explain our journalism and what's happening at CBC News. You can find more blogs here. Two weeks ago, we rang in the new year across Canada with a CBC News live countdown special that celebrated the midnight turnover of the calendar — repeated six times, across each of this country's time zones.

It was only the second year we've done the New Year’s Eve special as a rolling, 7.5-hour live event, and already we've seen significant audiences, as several million Canadians tuned in at various points in the night across TV, CBC Gem, YouTube, TikTok, CBC Radio One and our streaming channels...

The 11 new CBC News bureaus are (from west to east): LIST Included:

Read More:

Posted: Jan 14, 2026 11:25 AM EST | Last Updated: 32 minutes ago

- CBC -

VOTE FOR DAFFY DUCK FOR PRESIDENT!

 

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTARY

SCIENCE:

'Stranger Things' and 5 other places Einstein-Rosen Bridges have wormed their way into sci-fi

From the Upside Down through the Devil's Anus and beyond. Here are 6 times these theoretical wormholes turned up in sci-fi shows and movies.

The final episodes of "Stranger Things" turned the Upside Down, well, upside down.

Having spent the best part of a decade believing it was a freaky parallel dimension populated by sinister creatures of the night, we learned it was actually an Einstein-Rosen Bridge linking Hawkins, Indiana, to another planet — the original home of the evil Mind Flayer.

More commonly known as wormholes, the existence of Einstein-Rosen Bridges was predicted by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in a 1935 paper. These tunnels have a characteristic hourglass shape, with a "throat" connecting two distant points in the universe, theoretically providing a shortcut through the curvature of spacetime — if, of course, these inherently unstable objects stay open long enough for anything to travel through them...

"While the existence of wormholes is entirely theoretical, they have captured the fascination of scientists and science fiction writers alike," science teacher Mr Clarke (Randy Havens) tells a Hawkins Middle School class, and he's not wrong. Below we've assembled a list of sci-fi movies and TV shows that have used Einstein-Rosen Bridges as an explanation for interstellar — or interdimensional — travel.

We've kept this list to TV shows and movies that mention Einstein-Rosen Bridges by name, which is why "Interstellar" and "Stargate" don't make the cut, despite their wormhole-based plots. Spoilers ahead.

The Black Hole (1979):

Posted: January 12, 2026

- Space - com -

 

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

Well, now, it was a beautiful sunrise this morning, the first I've seen for a while, so much cheerier 🌞 but short-lived. It's now 8:35 AM, and the clouds are moving in. It was nice while it lasted 🤕 Well, here I am again in the Newsroom, to entertain, learn, teach, and discuss world events and world news, and anything from the scientific to the spiritual. I wear many hats. 🎩🧢👒🎓⛑️🪖👑👨‍🚀👼compared to Trumpo The Typo's brain scan ➡️⬅️⬆️⬇️↗️↘️↙️↖️↕️↔️↪️ and getting nowhere.

Well, at least I know where I'm going this morning, in karate they call it "go for the throat!" The crotch is the best if you have an opening. Yeah, I dabbled in karate back in my thirties.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

2.1M temporary residents will have expired or expiring permits this year. But will they leave Canada?

Experts say it's a false assumption that people with expiring permits will return home

Abhishek Parmar has spent more than six years making Windsor-Essex his new home. But now he is one of the 2.1 million temporary residents who may have to leave Canada this year. “I have never even thought of leaving this place," he said. "And now, things are coming to an end. It is not a good feeling."

The 25-year-old arrived in Windsor-Essex in 2019 from India to pursue mechanical engineering technology at St. Clair College. After having spent more than $80,000 on tuition and living expenses, Parmar said he landed a job at an automotive company in LaSalle. He filed for permanent residence (PR) in 2024 with an Ontario immigration pathway...

• Temporary residents must leave Canada at the end of their stay IRCC:
• ‘This is going to be a very painful process’ immigration lawyer:
• ‘Math isn’t mathing’:

Posted: Jan 13, 2026 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

- CBC -

W.T.F.!!! Is Canada turning into another Trumpo The Typo's 💩 HOLES!!! Getting rid of all the IMMIGRANTS and REFUGEES? Well, pluck my butt feathers, spit down my throat, and shout out loud, "Oh Lordy! Hallelujah! I gots me another immigrant in the wood pile!!!"

WHO WILL BE THE CANADIAN ICE or DUNCE CADETS for the federal government? That is simply what it would boil down to, in my opinion, *Mr. Prime Minister Mark Carney. It sure sounds like that. If I'm wrong, I would love to be proved wrong on this one, thank you. Everybody is on pins and needles as it is, then our dear government DROPS THIS BOMB SHELL on us! PROBABLY MORE THAN 75% of those people are going back to nowhere-land to die. THINK ABOUT THAT! Like war-torn 💩 holes, living under torn rags for a tent. W.T.F. did the COMPASSION & EMPATHY GO TO?

I'd better get off this topic before I blow a fuse. I never thought CANADA would follow King Orange Pus Bag over the precipice of ruination and dishonor, while holding the Nazi flag. And have a good 💩 in your diaper, Mr President Trumpo The Typo.

COMPLIMENTS FROM THE PUBLISHER AND EDITOR OF THE TREE HOUSE NEWS.

Average 1K views per day across 3 networks with counters.

BREAKING NEWS:

Why Powell is fighting back against Trump: The US economy is at stake

Washington

—

The gloves are off in the heated clash between Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and President Donald Trump. As extraordinary as a criminal investigation of a sitting Fed chair is, Powell’s rebuke of Trump was in some ways even more shocking.

For years, Powell has remained mum even as Trump called him every name and used every insult in the book, repeatedly threatening to fire him. Powell’s playbook has been to remain neutral, saying his one and only focus was on the Fed’s politically independent mission to maintain maximum employment and low inflation. Everything else was a distraction, Powell maintained.

Trump forced Powell’s hand after the Justice Department served him with subpoenas. But in Powell’s remarkable show of defiance, he didn’t focus on his own actions but on defending the Fed against the Trump administration’s attack on its independence — and, more broadly, the US economy...

• An emboldened Powell:
• Fed remains independent, for now:

Read More:

Updated Jan 13, 2026, 6:55 AM ET - 3 hr ago

- CNN -

Trump administration under pressure to restore funding to groups supporting internet freedom in Iran

The Trump administration is under pressure to step up its efforts to support internet freedom in Iran after it cut funding backing that work last year, as widespread technology blackouts have hampered the efforts of anti-government protesters facing violent crackdowns through Iran.

Experts say the days-long digital blackout, imposed in response to sweeping anti-government protests, may be the most severe in Iran’s history. The Iranian government is accused of cutting off internet access in order hide evidence of its killings and repression of protesters across the country.

Last year, the Trump administration slashed US funding to organizations that work on internet freedom issues amid a dramatic reduction in US foreign assistance across the board and as the State Department eliminated offices working on democracy-building and human rights. It also cut funding for efforts to provide circumvention tools like VPNs to help Iranians get around government censorship, sources told CNN...

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump and Musk had discussed the topic of Starlink access in Iran, which provides access to the internet through the use physical terminals and a network of orbiting satellites.

Read More:

PUBLISHED Jan 12, 2026, 7:00 PM ET - 15 hr ago

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

U.S., NATO have long history of not being serious about Greenland. That's about to change

Once seen as a risk of provoking of Putin, alliance now has the Arctic in focus

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's don't-poke-the-bear approach to dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump was on full display Monday as he threaded his way around questions about the possible introduction of European troops in Greenland. There were reports over the weekend that a group of countries — led by the U.K. and Germany — are discussing a military presence on the Arctic island as a hedge against American annexation.

Trump's approach of doing something about Greenland "whether they like it or not" and threats of using military force against the semi-autonomous Danish territory — whether it breaks NATO or not — have turned the spotlight on issues that both the alliance and United States have long overlooked...

*AnalysisWith Trump's Venezuela move and Greenland threats, are Canadians vulnerable?

• (A U.S. takeover of Greenland could be 'shattering of NATO,' warns Canada's former military commander
• Long a non-starter:
• Ukraine scrambles to repair ruined Kyiv power grid after latest Russian attack
• Russia is using its hypersonic missile to send a political message. How dangerous is the Oreshnik?

WATCH | A closer look at the Greenland issue:

• Read More:

Posted: Jan 13, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

- CBC -

Torrential rains flood tents, collapse homes in Gaza killing 6: health officials

Hospital officials say 3 family members were killed after 8-metre-high wall collapsed onto tent

A rainstorm swept across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, flooding hundreds of tents, collapsing homes sheltering families displaced by two years of war and killing at least six people, local health officials said.

Medics said five people, including two women and a girl, died when homes collapsed near Gaza City’s beach, while a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold in a tent in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Tents were torn from their stakes, some flying dozens of meters before crashing to the ground. Others lay crumpled in muddy pools as families scrambled to salvage what they could...

• At least 31 winter-related deaths reported:

Posted: Jan 13, 2026 9:24 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

- CBC -

🙏My Prayer For The Day🙏

I pray my following view is wrong.

MISERY, MISERY, MISERY! Everywhere you look is more MISERY; More misery, doom, and gloom everywhere, like a low-lying grey poisonous cloud, everywhere in the world, and no sunlight or fresh air in sight for any respite anytime soon. It would appear as though, just looking outside my window, listening to the radio, TV, cell phone, laptop, etc., that the world is turning into a pile of 💩 💩 💩 and a pile of 💩 💩 💩 is a pile of 💩 💩 💩 big period that's it •<-

Please, G-d, before they turn the entire world into a pile of 💩 💩 💩 it's time for intervention, human, alien, or spiritual, Lizard People, it don't matter as long as they have a heart and as long as sanity returns 👽 🤝 👩 Don't forget cousin Zigetra from Mars 🐙🟠 Hmmm, I may have an infinite number of intergalctic collection of my own cousins just in this universe 🎆 alone, that I don't even know about, yet 😳 🤨Go find your own alien 👽 🤖

THE ALIENS ARE COMING!

 

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

It's partly cloudy again this morning 🌥️, and the expected high for today is 37° F. That's not bad. The normal here for January is an average high of 40F and a low of 20° F. That's a high and low of +5 and -5 in Celsius. Compared to the Peninsula, it can be as low as -13° to -20° F (-25 ° to -29 ° C), just north of Toronto and south of Niagara Falls, especially in Buffalo, Ohio, and New York. It gets harsher than the microclimate here. I'll stay right here for now. You're gonna have to do the Grandma Clampet thing to move me from here. Like tie me to my recliner couch on the roof of the Jeep!

I like this microclimate; it reminds me of Tennessee, with its mild winters, except for in the hills. It's so pretty up there in the Smokies. Good morning, and G-d bless Morristown and Washburn, Tennessee. 😉 👩 💝 I wanted to know what it would be like to live independently out in nature, and I picked Tennessee to find out. That was an adventure, just my truck, camper, and me in the hills.

I built my own dock, cleaned out a space I called my yard, and homesteaded alongside a small river with the landowner's permission. Yeah, a small river ran through it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsIolBViUmc

The kids used to come a'sneakin' to get a peek at what a Canadian looked like. I looked half-Spanish and Native American back then, being in the sun a lot, even through late fall and early spring, in halter tops and bikini tops. The local kids knew Canada primarily through hockey games on TV; I must have looked odd compared to the hockey players. Long story. All those beautiful memories of the people and places I met and saw in those travels; my heart and prayers go out to them.

It's now time for the discussion of the day. Thank you very much for reading the Tree House News.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION

WHAT IS HUMAN STOCK?

- Google Search -

"My Question:" Are humans not of the same stock because of nationality and skin color differences?

From a biological and scientific perspective, all humans belong to the same stock and species, Homo sapiens [1]. Differences in nationality and skin color are superficial variations and do not reflect fundamental biological divisions.

• Here is a breakdown of why:
• Genetics:

Genetic studies consistently show that all human populations share the vast majority of their DNA [1]. The genetic differences between individuals of different nationalities or skin colors are minimal compared to the overall genetic similarity of the human species. In fact, there is often more genetic variation within a single population than between different populations

• Evolution:

Skin color is an evolutionary adaptation to different levels of sunlight exposure around the world. It is a polygenic trait, meaning it is influenced by multiple genes, and it evolved to regulate the production of vitamin D and folate. These variations are adaptations to the environment, not indicators of a different biological "stock".

• Nationality:

Nationality is a social and political construct, not a biological one. It refers to the country in which a person is a citizen. Borders and nationalities have changed frequently throughout history and do not correlate with a person's biological makeup.

- Read More - Google Search:

On The Opposite Side of The Coin

Honestly, in my opinion, I believe that Trumpo the Typo, if his tertiary encephalopathic fried brain got a hold of this word, "Stock," he and his Butt Kissing Dunce Cadets and MAGAt followers would believe he was dealing with Human Stock like in *livestock,* so it's OK to slaughter stock. He then orders his Dunce Cadets to do his dirty work.

Remember what he said about demonstrators? Why not sh--t them in the legs? Now they came up with a better one, sh--t them in the face.

BREAKING NEWS:

Cuban leader says ‘no one dictates what we do’ as Trump tells regime to make a deal

Cuba’s leader has pushed back on Donald Trump’s demand that the Caribbean nation “make a deal” with Washington, as the US president warned that Havana would be cut off from the Venezuelan oil and money that it’s relied on for decades. “No one dictates what we do,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Sunday on X, responding to Trump’s insistence that the communist nation do a deal “before it’s too late.”

Cuba has long received massive aid packages from oil-rich Venezuela, but the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro during a US operation, and Trump’s announcement that Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, is expected to leave Havana with an economic challenge. “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela...

• Reactions From Cuba:

Read More:

PUBLISHED Jan 12, 2026, 1:05 AM ET - 9 hr ago

- CNN -

Why Elon Musk's Mars Plan is SCIENTIFICALLY Impossible | Brian Cox

12,831 views Jan 2, 2026 #BrianCox #ElonMusk #SpaceX

The universe is 13.8 billion years old. Mars sits 225 million kilometers away. Elon Musk promises a million-person colony by 2050. NASA targets crewed missions in the 2030s. But when you examine the physics, the biology, and the economics, a darker truth emerges: Mars colonization will not happen in your lifetime. Not because we lack ambition, but because the universe has rules that don't bend to dreams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvLhj69BuU

 

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

It's partly cloudy this morning 🌥️, and it's mild at 37° F. Not bad, I guess, for this time of year. At least we're not getting snowed on like a lot of other places all around us have. I drank a glass of sour milk this morning; it didn't taste sour, but it all curdled up when I put it in my coffee. I hope it doesn't upset my finicky stomach. I don't need that today, thank you. What a horrible thought 👺 🔱 👿 🤢 🤮 That's about all of the personal events I have to report from the Newsroom this morning.

🙏 PRAYER 🙏

My prayer for the day is that the Great Spirit watches over you all, and that you be blessed and guided to do what your heart tells you is the right thing to do. May this day be a better day than yesterday, one day at a time. G-d Bless.

- Google Search -

People write "G-d" with a dash instead of an "o" out of reverence, stemming from Jewish tradition to avoid writing or destroying God's holy names.

- Me -

For me: The dash - means that the entity in question, the Great Spirit, is infinite and cannot be contained within a finite descriptor or in a word; G-d with a dash is an appropriate way to show respect to the GREAT SPIRIT.

Be well, be safe, and be blessed.AMEN! 🙏

TODAY'S DISCUSSION

The Hot Topic of the day:

CRITICAL MINERALS

"These critical minerals include a mix of commodities, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, lead and nickel. The list also includes 15 rare earth elements, such as scerium, dysprosium, neodymium and samarium. Rare earths refer to a category of 17 specific metallic elements.

These commodities are essential inputs in everyday technologies, such as phones, batteries and TV screens, as well as military and defense equipment, such as lasers, fighter jets and missiles."

Taken from the article below.

BREAKING NEWS:

Venezuela has a ton of oil. It also has something else America needs

New York

—

President Donald Trump says US companies will now have access to Venezuela’s vast *oil reserves*. But the country’s other commodities have also caught his administration’s attention. Venezuela has unverified amounts of minerals, metals and potentially *rare earth elements,* experts say. These raw materials are indispensable for industries from defense to technology, and the administration has repeatedly stressed their importance for US national security.

But while Washington might aspire to secure Venezuela’s critical elements, it’s a tall order, experts say, and wouldn’t do much to bolster America’s supply chain. The quantity and economic viability of Venezuela’s mineral resources are uncertain. Companies also face major risks mining in Venezuela without sustained security guarantees.

Many of these regions have guerrilla soldiers and armed groups engaging in illegal gold mining, experts say. Energy-intensive rare earths mining can also *harm the environment*...

• China’s role in the supply chain:
• Critical minerals and rare earth elements:
• Critical minerals in Venezuela:

Read More:

PUBLISHED Jan 11, 2026, 4:00 AM ET - 5 hr ago

- CNN -

Then we have The Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario, and the Hudson Bay area. Shovels are in the ground for road and railway beds this summer.

- Google Search -

No, major construction hasn't fully started yet, but significant agreements and approvals are in place, with plans aiming for road construction to begin in *mid-2026 (around June)* for the Webequie Supply Road, following federal-provincial streamlining of environmental reviews, paving the way for mining development in the Ring of Fire region.

- UPDATE -

- Google Search -

In 2026, the Ontario and Canadian governments are working to accelerate the development of the Ring of Fire road through a new "one project, one process" agreement, with a goal of potentially starting construction in August 2026.

Key news regarding the Ring of Fire road in 2026 includes:

Regulatory Streamlining: In December 2025

“With this historic agreement, our two governments are working together to protect Ontario and Canada by removing the unnecessary red tape and regulatory duplication that has stood in the way of nation-building projects for too long,” said Premier Doug Ford. “I want to thank Prime Minister Carney for his leadership in speeding up major projects that will create good-paying jobs, build a more competitive and self-reliant economy and help us unlock the enormous economic opportunity of the Ring of Fire.”

From News article below:

Ontario and Canada Sign Historic Cooperation Agreement to Eliminate Federal Duplication and Unlock the Ring of Fire

*New ‘One Project, One Process, One Decision’ model will remove duplication, attract investment, and get shovels in the ground years faster*

TORONTO — Ontario and Canada have signed a historic cooperation agreement that will significantly streamline environmental approvals for major infrastructure and resource projects through a new ‘one project, one process, one decision’ model that is now in effect...

Read More:

December 18, 2025

- News-Ontario-ca -

Other Breaking News:

Iran warns against potential US involvement as protesters defy crackdown

Where Things Stand

• Eyewitnesses have reported violence on the streets of Iran as the country enters its third week of anti-government protests which have spread across all of its 31 provinces. Two people reported security forces armed with rifles killing “many people” while another saw “bodies piled up on each other” in a hospital.

• In a warning to the US, Iran’s parliamentary speaker said American military and commercial bases will be treated as targets for retaliation if Washington intervenes militarily. President Donald Trump yesterday said the US was ready to help the Iranian people.

• At least 78 protesters have been killed and more than 2,600 people arrested, according to a US-based human rights group. Iran has now been offline for more than 60 hours after the authorities shut down internet access and telephone lines amid the turmoil...

Read More:

7 min ago

"Never, ever seen such a thing." Iran's internet shutdown is unprecedented in its reach, expert says

More To Read:

Updated 10:04 AM EST, Sun January 11, 2026

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

How a 1st year resident in St John's helped solve a medical mystery, and didn't stop there

A new episode of Atlantic Voice tracks east coast innovations for a rare disease

Ian Gillies Sr. still can't look at the pictures he took during his son's two-month stint at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's. Remembering what happened is enough for him, and for now — he's trying looking ahead.

"We've been through hell and back, and it really gives you a different perspective," he said. That hell began in the summer of 2023. Ian Gillies Jr. had just graduated from the College of North Atlantic...

LISTEN | East coast innovations in a rare disease:

• Stumping the experts:
• 'Kind of a nerd':
• First diagnosis in N.L.:
• The breakthrough:
• 'A whole life':

Posted: Jan 11, 2026 4:30 AM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

- CBC -

Illegal drugs advertised on social media; more airline competition taking off: CBC Marketplace cheat sheet

The consumer news you may have missed this week.

We're back!

Good morning!

'It's like on Amazon': Illegal drugs advertised online, delivered by Canada Post:

WATCH | Websites are selling illegal drugs online. Here's why it's so hard to stop them:

Viral video on WestJet plane sparks debate over passenger legroom, calls for more regulation:

WATCH | WestJet goes viral over new, tightly configured seating plans:

Canadian airlines could be forced to 'up their game' as Ottawa allows more competition from Middle East

WATCH | Eased restrictions on Middle East flights puts pressure on Canadian airlines:

Posted: Jan 11, 2026 8:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

- CBC -

Ford urges Carney not to cut Chinese EV tariffs ahead of Beijing visit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgxbTMU33og