Alberta's US Bid: Canada Faces New Separatist Threat

Portugal's Socialist Party secured a landslide victory in the presidential election on February 8, 2026, while Israel's security cabinet approved new rules to increase control over the occupied West Bank, drawing condemnation from Palestinian authorities. Elsewhere, thousands of Nepalese cricket fans transformed Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium into a vibrant display of support for their team in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. Meanwhile, conservation efforts have led to the thriving of a button-sized snail once feared extinct in Bermuda, and in Canada, a separatist push for Alberta to join the US is raising concerns.

Antonio Jose Seguro of the centre-left Socialist Party won a five-year term as Portugal's president, according to partial results, with 66 percent of the vote, beating his far-right rival, Andre Ventura, who garnered 34 percent. In the West Bank, the Israeli security cabinet's decision, reported by local media, aims to strengthen Israeli control, prompting the Palestinian presidency to call the move "dangerous."

The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis), once believed extinct, is now thriving after conservationists bred and released over 100,000 of the molluscs, as reported by The Guardian. The snail was found in the fossil record but vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago until a remnant population was discovered.

In Mumbai, India, the Wankhede Stadium felt closer to Kathmandu than India's southern metropolis as thousands of Nepalese fans sang, danced, and supported their cricket team in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, according to Al Jazeera. The stadium, with a capacity of 33,000, was filled with a sea of red and blue replica shirts.

Canada is also facing a new challenge. A separatist push for a referendum on independence from Canada is underway, with meetings between unelected Albertans and US officials sparking accusations of treason, according to The Guardian. First Nations protesters and allies gathered outside the legislature in Edmonton on May 3, 2025, to oppose the Rally for Alberta Independence.