In the news today: U.S.-Iran tensions, B.C. wildfires, positivity in Ontario town

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

US and Iran exchange intensifying fire across Mideast, threatening ceasefire deal

The United States has launched new airstrikes against Iran, and Tehran responded by targeting Gulf countries.

Back-and-forth attacks have repeatedly threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Middle East, but Thursday’s appeared bigger all around.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening salvos of the war, was laid to rest early Friday after days of public mourning.

The strikes came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signalled the end of a fragile ceasefire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they didn’t stop.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney drinks a coffee as he participates in a welcome ceremony in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Carney’s Saudi Arabia trip a ‘high-water mark’ for relations: Business leader

Prime Minister Mark Carney is on his way home after meeting Thursday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as he seeks to deepen bilateral trade and investment after years of diplomatic strain.

Carney’s trip — the first to the country by a Canadian prime minister in 26 years — also saw him meet with business leaders in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea.

Jeff Steiner, chair of the Canada-Saudi Arabia Business Council, told reporters in Jeddah that Carney’s visit to the kingdom is a “high-water mark” for relations between the two countries.

Canada has been working to mend bilateral ties following a diplomatic row in 2018, when the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau sharply criticized the kingdom’s justice system and treatment of women, resulting in Saudi Arabia shuttering trade talks.

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A helicopter drops water while fighting the Brunswick Creek wildfire in Boston Bar, B.C., on Thursday, July 9, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Boston Bar, B.C., residents look on as wildfire burns near small highway community

Jagdip Singh Bihal says he’s opening his highway-side restaurant in Boston Bar, B.C., earlier than usual to accommodate wildfire crews battling a growing blaze near the small community.

Bihal runs JB’s Drive-In Restaurant, just a few hundred metres down Highway 1, where the route has been closed due to wildfires spreading out of control with high winds on either side of the Fraser River.

Bihal says he’s not seen anything like it in the four years he’s been running the diner.

The Ainsley Creek wildfire started earlier this month and is considered out of control, standing at roughly 170 square kilometres in size, while the nearby Brunswick Creek blaze is more than 25 square kilometres in size.

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An RCMP logo is seen on the shoulder of a superintendent during a news conference in St. John’s, N.L., on Saturday, June 24, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Amber Alert for six-year-old Alberta boy expands to all of B.C., most of N.W.T.

The search continues for a six-year-old boy who was taken this week from an area of northwestern Alberta.

RCMP near the Alberta-B. C. boundary say an Amber Alert for Lanakai Morrison has been expanded to all of B.C. and into much of the Northwest Territories or the Yukon.

Mounties say the boy was taken on Tuesday from the hamlet of Valhalla Centre, roughly 63 kilometres northwest of Grande Prairie, Alta.

Police say Lanakai was last seen in Fort St. John, B.C., on Thursday morning, and that the boy may be with his mother, 35-year-old Krista Morrison, and her 35-year-old partner, Daniel Ludwig, and another child.

RCMP believe the couple is driving a 2006 red Ford F350 with an Alberta licence plate and that anyone who sees them should not approach, but instead call 911.

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‘It’s infectious’: Optimism a priority for Ontario town’s chief positivity officer

Jamie Boyle, the chief positivity officer serving the town of Newmarket, says his happiness-spreading mission has no end in sight.

Boyle has been in this unusual role since the COVID-19 pandemic, but Mayor John Taylor says the longtime customer service supervisor has brought sunshine to the community long before he was appointed.

Boyle sent out popular weekly newsletters to the town’s workforce with inspirational quotes and feel-good videos, worked the megaphone at town s and helped create a large mosaic sign to thank health-care workers.

While Newmarket is home to about 100,000 people, the mayor says Boyle’s work extends much further, as he has received calls from leaders around Canada and the world who hope to pull off a similar feat in their own communities.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2026.

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