NewsReutersIranian officials split over response to U.S. demands
By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - For all of Iran's fierce verbal response to fresh U.S. threats of tougher sanctions, some senior officials in Tehran believe the door to diplomacy should stay open. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented a list of sweeping demands for Iran, including abandoning nuclear enrichment, its ballistic missile program and its role in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, or face "the strongest sanctions in history". Four senior Iranian officials contacted by Reuters interpreted Pompeo's remarks as a "bargaining strategy", similar to Washington's approach to North Korea.
NewsReutersCanada granting refugee status to fewer illegal border crossers
By Anna Mehler Paperny TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada is rejecting more refugee claims from people who crossed its border illegally as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government seeks to dissuade, block and turn back thousands more, according to new data obtained by Reuters. Forty percent of such border crossers whose claims were finalized in the first three months of this year were granted refugee status, down from 53 percent for all of 2017, according to data provided by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. The Immigration and Refugee Board said on Tuesday it has received no directives or guidance on how to deal with these border crossers.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Energy wells plugged as Hawaii's volcano sends lava nearby
Production wells at a geothermal plant under threat by lava flowing from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano have been plugged to prevent toxic gases from seeping out. Ten wells were "quenched," which cools them with enough cold water to counter the pressure of volcanic steam coming from below, said Hawaii Gov. David Ige. "All wells are stable at this point," said Ige.
- NewsCBC
No new charges as alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur appears in Toronto court
Bruce McArthur, the alleged serial killer charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, seemed solemn and slightly confused during a Wednesday morning video link court appearance in Toronto. Toronto police did not lay any new charges against McArthur, but the investigation is ongoing. McArthur, a 66-year-old self-employed landscaper, has been charged in connection with the disappearances of a number of men, many of them connected to Toronto's Gay Village: Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, Andrew Kinsman, 49, Selim Esen, 44, and Abdulbasir Faizi, 44, Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, Dean Lisowick, 47, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, and Majeed Kayhan, 58.
- NewsCBC
Stung by pipeline dispute, Alberta refuses to sign statement at western premiers meeting
As western premiers met in Yellowknife Wednesday to discuss pharmacare, infrastructure, justice and community safety, the dispute over Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline still loomed large.
NewsReutersPakistani girl killed in Texas school shooting buried in Karachi
A Pakistani exchange student killed in a mass shooting in Texas last week was buried in her home town of Karachi on Wednesday, her coffin draped with Pakistan's green and white flag. Sabika Sheikh, 17, was among eight students and two teachers killed in Texas when Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston, on Friday joined a grim list of U.S. schools and campuses where students and staff have been gunned down, stoking a divisive debate about gun laws. Sheikh's body arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday night and the funeral was held at a graveyard near her home in Karachi in the middle class Gulshe-e-Iqbal neighborhood.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Summits give aged North Korean spies hope of returning home
He's spent nearly six decades trapped on enemy soil, surviving 29 years in a prison where he was tortured by South Korean guards before being released to a life of poverty and police surveillance. Now, 89 years old and bedridden with illness, former North Korean spy Seo Ok-yeol just wants to go home. "People have a need to die in a place where they are respected," Seo said, though he worries it could be too late to finally be reunited with the wife and children he left behind.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Amazon urged not to sell facial recognition tool to police
Amazon's decision to market a powerful face recognition tool to police is alarming privacy advocates, who say the tech giant's reach could vastly accelerate a dystopian future in which camera-equipped officers can identify and track people in real time, whether they're involved in crimes or not. It's not clear how many law enforcement agencies have purchased the tool, called Rekognition, since its launch in late 2016 or since its update last fall, when Amazon added capabilities that allow it to identify people in videos and follow their movements almost instantly. The Washington County Sheriff's Office in Oregon has used it to quickly compare unidentified suspects in surveillance images to a database of more than 300,000 booking photos from the county jail — a common use of such technology around the country — while the Orlando Police Department in Florida is testing whether it can be used to single out persons-of-interest in public spaces and alert officers to their presence.
NewsReutersIsrael's defense expertise drives tech boom for autonomous cars
By Tova Cohen and Steven Scheer SHFAYIM, Israel (Reuters) - Technology that has helped Israel's military drive tanks, guide and intercept missiles, and keep its computer systems secure is being redeployed in the development of driverless cars. U.S. chipmaker Intel, German auto supplier Continental, Samsung, Daimler, Ford Motor Co and GM are among those to have bought startups or set up their own development centers in Israel. Israeli auto tech startups still raised almost as much as similar U.S. companies last year.
NewsReutersFoxconn's unit targets raising $4.3 billion in biggest China IPO since 2015
TAIPEI/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Foxconn Industrial Internet , a subsidiary of the world's largest contract manufacturer Foxconn , announced plans to raise up to 27.1 billion yuan ($4.26 billion) in what will be mainland China's biggest IPO in almost three years. With 10 percent of its enlarged capital offered in the initial public offering (IPO), Shenzhen-based FII would have a valuation of about $43 billion at listing. Bookbuilding for the IPO is on May 24.
NewsReutersMobile payment firms struggle to dethrone cash in Southeast Asia
By Aradhana Aravindan and Khanh Vu SINGAPORE/HANOI (Reuters) - Bui Mai Phuong is an avid online shopper, ordering anything from clothing to personal-care products from her smartphone. "I have never tried using mobile payments because I don't know how to use it and it seems a bit complicated to use," said Phuong, 36, a manager at a construction material supplier in Vietnam.
- NewsCBC
David Byrne, Belle and Sebastian, Steve Earle among CityFolk 2018 stars
The 25th anniversary edition of Ottawa's folk festival will feature the likes of David Byrne, Steve Earle and Belle and Sebastian, CityFolk has announced.
- NewsCBC
Councillors cut down proposed 6-storey building in Westboro
City councillors shaved down a proposed six-storey building in Westboro Tuesday, worried the building would cast too much of a shadow over its neighbours. Domicile Developments wanted to build a six-storey building on Roosevelt Avenue, but councillors at the city's planning committee voted to restrict the building to four storeys. "It would look great on Richmond Road, but it is being put well down a residential street," he said.
- NewsCBC
Montreal homeowners living on contaminated land accuse city of delaying legal proceedings
A group of property owners who live on contaminated land near Baldwin Park in the Plateau–Mont-Royal borough say they are fed up with lagging legal proceedings — and they accuse the city of intentionally stalling their case. "From a moral standpoint, I don't see how the Plante administration can wash its hands of the environmental impact of this," said homeowner Pascal Cormier. Cormier is one of 14 property owners in nine buildings suing the city for $7 million, claiming the city knew the properties were built on contaminated land but never informed them.
- NewsCBC
Pilots push for shorter flight times as government finalizes new safety regulations
When two Air Canada pilots mistook a San Francisco taxiway for a runway and almost crashed their plane into four fully-fuelled airliners awaiting takeoff last summer, they told investigators they were fatigued at the time. Next month, the federal government is expected to roll out new regulations to limit how long pilots can fly. Under the draft regulations, a pilot could fly for 10 and a half hours through the night before breaking the rules.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
10 Things to Know for Wednesday
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:
- NewsCBC
Pot 101: Weed in the workplace and what needs to evolve
With recreational marijuana set to be the law of the land in just weeks, employers will have to develop human resource policies that recognize this significant shift, an HR professional says. "They need to review their HR policies to prepare for this new challenge," Daniel Boucher told The Homestretch on Tuesday. Boucher is the regulatory affairs and research director at Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of Alberta.
- BBC News
How to speak volcano like a pro
Terms like vog, laze and pahoehoe are flying around like lava bombs, so we asked volcanologist Evgenia Ilyinskaya to help us make sense of them
- NewsCBC
Michael DiPietro reflects on IIHF World Championship experience
Windsor Spitfire goalie Michael DiPietro is back from Copenhagen, Denmark where he was the third goalie for Team Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championship. Canada came home without a medal for the first time in four years after losing to the United States 4-1 in Sunday's bronze-medal game.
- NewsCBC
Flood debris pickup at Grand Lake has company working flat-out
A Minto company hired by the provincial government to pick up flood debris in the Grand Lake region has been inundated with work. Alternate Waste Management has had 25 crew members working 12 hours a day for the past eight days and is about to add a night crew so it can operate around the clock. "We've worked on all the long weekend and it appears like we're going backwards, there's more [garbage] out," said Mills, who was in Whites Cove on Tuesday.
- NewsCBC
Hikers flock to Quarry Rock despite North Van plan to curb crowds
It rose to the top of the Vancouver subreddit like a casual hiker ascending the Quarry Rock trail on a sunny holiday Monday: A photo of the view from North Vancouver's Quarry Rock — the inlet below and the hills extending into the distance — completely obscured by a crowd of people. Officials plan to monitor the crowds and at peak times keep people from setting out until other hikers have emerged at the trailhead. For hikers tackling the relatively short but exceedingly popular trail on Tuesday, there were still crowds but nothing like the long weekend.
- NewsCBC
Pot sales permits in Edmonton up to lottery draw
Cannabis retailers hoping to set up shop in Edmonton will have to bank on the luck of the draw. The city's urban planning committee voted in favour of a lottery system Tuesday to choose who will get a development permit to sell pot. "What we're trying to do is create a sense of fairness," Walters said after the decision.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Renaming of Emily Carr painting spurs debate about reconciliation in art
The painting depicts a colonial structure in an Indigenous setting, but it's the name of the work that's spurred a debate about how the art world should address reconciliation. The Art Gallery of Ontario has renamed a painting by Canadian artist Emily Carr as part of a broader effort to eliminate culturally insensitive language from titles in its collection, a curator says. Carr exhibited the painting as "Indian Church," and for nearly nine decades, the name stuck.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Parents go to court to boot 30-year-old son from home
In a real-life case of "Failure to Launch," an upstate New York judge Tuesday ordered a 30-year-old man to move out of his parents' house after they went to court to have him ejected. Michael Rotondo told the judge he knows his parents want him out of the split-level ranch they share. State Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood rejected that as outrageous, the Post-Standard of Syracuse reported.
- NewsCBC
Province extends Lions Place subsidy after seniors concerned over rent increase
Manitoba Housing will extend a 35-year subsidy agreement with a Winnipeg seniors building to stave off rent increases for some residents anticipated to start this summer. In January, residents at Lions Place seniors building near downtown told CBC News they were worried about paying rent come Aug. 1, when a long-standing agreement tied to the building's mortgage was scheduled to end and some tenants would see their costs jump by $169. On Tuesday, the province said Manitoba Housing and Families Minister Scott Fielding reached an agreement with the Lions board to prolong the agreement another two years.
What to Read Next
What you need to ask yourself if you're thinking about investing in cannabis
Yahoo Canada Original Videos