Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen, of Canada, connects live from the Orion spacecraft and speaks with Canadian media along with NASA astronauts Victor Glover, left, and Reid Wiseman in a Saturday, April 4, 2026, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP — Handout, Canadian Space Agency (Mandatory Credit)

By The Canadian Press

In the news today: Artemis II lunar flyby, Canada-E.U. poll, Runway safety

Apr 6, 2026 | 1:26 AM

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Artemis on track to break record set by Apollo 13 during lunar flyby

The Artemis II mission is expected to complete a record-breaking lunar flyby today.

The Canadian Space Agency says astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his three American crewmates will have ventured farther into space than anyone before, surpassing a record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

For a little over five hours, the crew is expected to take turns observing and photographing geological features on the moon, like impact craters and ancient lava flows.

Physician Shortage

Maternity patients at Peace Arch, Ridge Meadows Hospitals temporarily diverted again

37m ago

Locked and Unloaded

[VIDEO] Firefighters, wildlife rescuers untangle two bald eagles from power line in Surrey neighbourhood

1h ago

Power Outage

Over 1,400 customers lose power in Langley Monday morning

2h ago

On Tuesday, the Orion capsule will leave the lunar sphere of influence en route back to Earth and aim for a splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego on Friday.

Canada in the European Union? Poll suggests broad openness to the idea

New polling suggests a majority of Canadians think Canada ought to explore joining the European Union during a fraught time for geopolitical relations.

A survey of 4,000 people conducted by Spark Advocacy’s polling arm in March found that one in four respondents thought it would be a good idea for Canada to formally join the economic and political bloc of European nations — and a further 58 per cent said it was a proposal worth exploring further.

Spark’s chief strategy officer Bruce Anderson says the survey suggests Canadians are increasingly open to finding ways to buck Canada’s reliance on the United States after more than a year of tariffs under President Donald Trump’s second administration.

France’s foreign minister last month openly floated the idea of Canada joining the EU, while Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he’s looking to deepen trade and security ties with the continent but not as a formal member of the bloc.

Runway safety incidents on the rise in Canada, but very close calls level off

The number of safety incidents on Canadian runways is on the rise, having reached new highs in recent years, even as the tally of extremely close calls seems to be levelling off.

Data from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada shows that so-called runway incursions — when a plane, vehicle or person is on or near a runway when they shouldn’t be — hit a record 639 in 2024, the latest year for which it has statistics.

However, the number of incidents categorized as high-risk has settled down to about one per year on average since 2018, well below figures from the preceding decade.

The issue of runway safety garnered renewed attention last month after an Air Canada Express jet plowed into a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing both pilots and sending dozens to hospital.

Toys ‘R’ Us Canada not playing around in various battles over its trademarks

Toys “R” Us Canada is battling tech giant Acer, a Calgary swingers club and a Russian business over trademarks the struggling retailer says will cause confusion with its own branding.

The toy chain is opposing applications from the three businesses that want to trademark a backwards R, the phrase “Club R” and the word “Wonderlab” in their products or marketing.

Toys “R” Us Canada has said in its creditor protection filings that it is opposing the use of names and symbols linked to its brand to protect its proprietary rights and goodwill.

The trademarks could be sold to help the company with its severe cash crunch, as it owes at least $120-million to suppliers alone and says its landlords are also out “substantial” amounts.

Airstrikes on Iran kill more than 25 as new ceasefire proposal is shared

Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people, and Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz loomed.

Explosions rang out in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for hours as the capital was pounded, and thick black smoke rose near the city’s Azadi Square after one airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology.

Among those killed in one of the attacks was the head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media and Israel’s defense minister.

Under pressure at home, Trump gave Tehran a deadline that expires Monday night, saying if no deal was reached to reopen the strait, the U.S. would hit Iran’s power plants and other infrastructure targets and set the country “back to the stone ages.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2026.

The Canadian Press