[NEWS] Five migration notes: Syrians, Iranians, Ukrainians, Central Americans, Americans

• Transitions Online reports on how Syrian refugees are increasingly finding new homes in Turkey.


• Iranian families divided by the Trump visa ban now meet in a library on the Québec-Vermont border. Reuters reports.


• Poland, this Le Devoir report observes, now attracts more immigrants in absolute numbers--many more in relative terms--than Germany.


• What, this Open Democracy essay asks, will the Honduran refugees in Tijuana do next?


• This Reihan Salam suggestion at The Atlantic that Mexico should start to encourage American retirees to settle, with the hope of diminishing the political weight of Latin American migration to the United States, actually makes a lot of sense.

[PHOTO] AIDS Memorial in red and white at night, 1 December 2018 (#worldaidsday)

Fresh red and white carnations are woven among the panels as citylight gleams in the background.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Crooked Timber takes a look at "abusive legalism".


• D-Brief looks at unusual Type 1A supernova ASASSN-18bt, which exhibited an odd early burst of light.


• The Dragon's Tales reports on a Dutch government report that Russia has developed a new cruise missile in violation of the INF treaty.


• Drew Ex Machina takes a look at the latest thought on habitable moons.


• Far Outliers notes how Korean, Taiwanese, and Okinawan prisoners in American prisoner of war camps for Imperial Japanese soldiers distinguished themselves (or not) from their ethnic Japanese counterparts.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing considers the metaphor of the cave in the digital era. Do data scientists truly understand the online world?


• JSTOR Daily looks at the different estimates as to the size of the legal cannabis market in Canada.


• Language Log links to a podcast that takes a look at the Philadelphia dialect of English.


• Out There makes the argument that Cubesats are perfectly suited to conducting surveys of asteroids.


• Drew Rowsome reviews the one-man show Obaaberima, performed by Tawiah Ben M'Carthy, currently playing at Buddies in Bad Times.


• Window on Eurasia notes a demographer's argument that any future population growth in Russia will need to be driven by immigration.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: #GrowthtoWatchFor, TTC, serial killer, Stella Vanzant, Viryl vinyl

• Urban Toronto notes that it will be bringing back its Growth to Watch For series in 2019.


• The Province of Ontario has made a formal request for the TTC's data to determine the organization's worth, preparing for a takeover. The Globe and Mail reports.


• The trial of the Church and Wellesley serial killer is expected to start in 2020. The Globe and Mail reports.


• What happened to the body of young pioneer girl Stella Vanzant, buried in a location now somewhere in the Financial District? The Globe and Mail looks at the question.


• blogTO takes a look at Viryl Technology, a local manufacturer of vinyl pressing plant equipment, with photos, here.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Hamilton, Halifax, Sydney, Kiruna, Kigali

• CBC Hamilton reports on patterns of misconduct by members of armed forces units in the Hamilton, Ontario, area.


• That the Cape Breton Post, main newspaper of that island, may no longer be printed in Halifax says much about that city's growing dominance of Nova Scotia (and, too, of Cape Breton's decline). CBC reports.


• Building a new library on the waterfront of Sydney, in Cape Breton, might well anchor a wider revitalization of that city. CBC reports.


• Guardian Cities shares the story of how the Swedish iron ore-mining town of Kiruna, facing subsidence, is literally moving kilometres away.


• The Inter Press Services notes that the Rwandan capital of Kigali will have a downtown ecotourism park.

[NEWS] Five Canadian politics links: Harry Leslie Smith, Simard, Jolibois, Bernier, NAFTA

• Rabble noted late last week the death, at 95, of anti-poverty activist Harry Leslie Smith.


• Amanda Simard, the only Franco-Ontarian MPP in the Ford government and representing a Francophone-majority riding, left the Ford government over the issue of its cuts to Francophone services. The Globe and Mail reported.


• MacLean's looks at Georgina Jolibois, a MPP who represents a vast riding occupying most of northern Saskatchewan, and sees how she accomplishes this.


• The National Post considers if Maxime Bernier has any chance of making his People's Party of Canada a viable political movement.


• The Canadian reaction to Trump's decision to force Congress to choose between accepting the new NAFTA deal or else risk a collapse of the entire project as the old treaty expires is muted. CBC reports.