Weird light orbs caught on camera over the Feldberg in Germany. What are they?!
The debate about the U.S. Electoral College pits those who think the president should be chosen via popular vote versus those who believe the interests of small and large states must be balanced.
MOSCOW — Russia’s prison service said opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport after returning from Germany on Sunday. The prison service said he was detained for multiple violations of parole and terms of a suspended prison sentence and would be held in custody until a court makes a decision in his case. Navalny had spent the previous five months in Germany recovering from a nerve agent attack that he blamed on the Kremlin, and the prison service earlier said that his being outside the country violated terms of a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. The plane carrying Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny landed Sunday in Moscow, where he faces the threat of arrest. But the flight landed at a different airport than had been scheduled, a possible attempt to outwit journalists and supporters who wanted to witness the return. Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent and determined foe, was returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from poisoning by a nerve agent, which he blames on the Kremlin. Russia’s prison service last week issued a warrant for his arrest, saying he had violated the terms of suspended sentence he received on a 2014 conviction for embezzlement. The prison service has asked a Moscow court to turn Navalny’s 3 1/2-year suspended sentence into a real one. After boarding the Moscow flight in Berlin on Sunday, Navalny said of the prospect of arrest: “It’s impossible; I’m an innocent man.” The Kremlin has repeatedly denied a role in the opposition leader’s poisoning. Navalny supporters and journalists had come to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, where the plane was scheduled to land, but it ended up touching down at Sheremetyevo airport, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) away. There was no immediate explanation for the flight diversion. The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests, said at least 37 people were arrested at Vnukovo Airport, although their affiliations weren't immediately clear. Vnukovo banned journalists from working inside the terminal, saying in a statement last week that the move was due to epidemiological concerns. The airport also blocked off access to the international arrivals area. Police prisoner-detention vehicles stood outside the terminal on Sunday. The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and opposition social media reported Sunday that several Navalny supporters in St. Petersburg had been removed from Moscow-bound trains or been prevented from boarding flights late Saturday and early Sunday, including the co-ordinator of his staff for the region of Russia’s second-largest city. Navalny fell into a coma while aboard a domestic flight from Siberia to Moscow on Aug. 20. He was transferred from a hospital in Siberia to a Berlin hospital two days later. Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent. Russian authorities insisted that the doctors who treated Navalny in Siberia before he was airlifted to Germany found no traces of poison and have challenged German officials to provide proof of his poisoning. They refused to open a full-fledged criminal inquiry, citing a lack of evidence that Navalny was poisoned. Last month, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he said he made to a man he described as an alleged member of a group of officers of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, who purportedly poisoned him in August and then tried to cover it up. The FSB dismissed the recording as fake. ___ Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Jim Heintz in Moscow, contributed to this report. Mstyslav Chernov, The Associated Press
Un immense projet d’exploitation de charbon métallurgique à ciel ouvert dans les Rocheuses, signifiant ni plus ni moins la « décapitation » des montagnes, fait débat en Alberta. Une filiale de la compagnie Riversdale Resources Limited, Benga Mining Limited, propose de construire et d’exploiter une mine pour produire de l’acier, près de Crowsnest Pass, à sept kilomètres au nord de la communauté de Blairmore, dans le sud-ouest de l’Alberta. Le projet Grassy Mountain, s’il aboutit, produirait 4,5 millions de tonnes de charbon métallurgique par an, et ce, durant 25 ans. Ce projet minier trouve actuellement un écho négatif dans la province. « Il n’a pas fait l’objet d’une consultation publique auprès des Albertains », déplore Leor Rotchild, directeur de l’association professionnelle Canadian Business for Social Responsability, basée à Calgary. Cependant, le gouvernement fédéral a annoncé le 19 mars 2020 le début d’une période de consultation publique, qui se terminait vendredi. Le 1er juin dernier, afin de faciliter le projet, le premier ministre, Jason Kenney, a levé l’interdiction d’une réglementation environnementale datant de 1976. Le gouvernement albertain a décidé en effet de ne pas la renouveler en la laissant expirer. Cette réglementation interdisait jusqu’à présent les compagnies de charbon d’extraire du minerai à ciel ouvert le long des pentes des montagnes Rocheuses. Dans certaines zones, l’exploitation souterraine était elle aussi limitée, en fonction des effets qu’elle pouvait occasionner en surface. La ministre de l’Énergie, Sonya Savage, avait salué la nouvelle, voyant dans cette décision un moyen « d’attirer de nouveaux investissements pour une industrie importante ». Cependant, Leor Rotchild, l’entrepreneur écomilitant, y voit un manque de vision. « Je comprends que le gouvernement cherche à créer désespérément de l’activité économique en Alberta, mais le désespoir est une mauvaise stratégie », lance-t-il. Pour ce faire, il faudrait décapiter le haut de la montagne, à l’instar du projet minier de Teck Resources à Elk Valley, se situant entre l’Alberta et la Colombie-Britannique. « Quand tu élimines le haut d’une montagne, c’est très mauvais pour le tourisme, surtout en période de crise économique, car ce secteur est important ici. Ça sera difficile de continuer comme avant », explique Joseph Vipond, président de l’Association canadienne des médecins pour l’environnement. Cependant, il n’y a pas que le secteur touristique qui risque des dommages collatéraux. La faune est elle aussi en danger, l’habitat des caribous, des grizzlys, ainsi que celui de certaines espèces de truites étant menacés. En Colombie-Britannique, d’après le Dr Vipond, « il a déjà été démontré que ces mines de charbon à ciel ouvert rejettent de fortes concentrations d’un élément appelé sélénium, que l’on retrouve dans le bassin de la rivière Elk ». Aujourd’hui, « ce qui effraie vraiment les Albertains, c’est la contamination de l’eau potable. On retrouve maintenant dans toutes les rivières du sud-est [de la Colombie-Britannique] cet élément qui tue tous les poissons. C’est un phénomène qu’on devrait éviter ici », alerte-t-il. Ces concentrations de sélénium dans l’eau inquiètent aussi les éleveurs de l’Alberta quant aux effets sur l’agriculture et leur élevage. « La qualité de l’eau a une répercussion sur les bovins », précise Joseph Vipond. Le Conseil des Canadiens, une organisation citoyenne, s’est exprimé clairement sur son compte Twitter en invitant les gens à répondre jusqu’à vendredi à la consultation publique lancée par l’Agence d’évaluation d’impact du Canada. « Décapiter les montagnes et ouvrir de nouvelles mines de charbon ne devraient pas être une option en 2021, l’audition pour le projet de mine de charbon de Grassy Mountain dans les montagnes Rocheuses continue d’avancer. Dites non au charbon », tweetent-ils. Les professionnels du charbon, eux, se déclarent satisfaits, a indiqué Robin Campbell, président de l’Association canadienne du charbon et ancien ministre provincial de l’Environnement. Ce projet de mine, s’il voit le jour, créerait dans la région de Crowsnest Pass, ancienne ville minière, 500 emplois durant sa construction et 385 postes à plein temps durant son exploitation. Selon l’Association canadienne du charbon, l’estimation des recettes fiscales de Grassy Mountain s’élèverait à plus de 1,7 milliard de dollars de redevances et de taxes gouvernementales, sur environ 25 ans. Les taxes municipales devraient, elles, s’élever à 1,5 million de dollars par an, soit 35 millions de dollars en un quart de siècle. Cependant, il faudra encore attendre le résultat des consultations publiques sur ce projet qui divise l’opinion publique.Hélène Lequitte, Initiative de journalisme local, Le Devoir
It's perhaps one of the more unusual trends to emerge from TikTok, the video-sharing app popular largely among teenagers and young adults, but a sudden interest in sea shanties has taken the internet by storm. Newfoundland musician Séan McCann had taken a break from writing music as he and his wife worked on a new book, but was eager to return to songwriting with a renewed focus on sea shanties. Initially, his kids were less than impressed. "I started to write some new shanties and I thought they were cool, and I sang a couple for my kids," said McCann, who began penning new music just before Christmas. "And I sang it for my kids, who are 15 and 13, and they were like, 'Dad, that's so lame. That's not cool. They're old songs.'" That attitude changed this week, said McCann, when his son showed him a TikTok video with millions of views, of a sea shanty. "All of a sudden, I'm the cool dad again," McCann said. "So now, apparently, I've got to get on TikTok to be super cool." What will we do with a trending sailor A far cry from the digital age, the traditional sea shanty dates back to the time of tall ships, and are perhaps seen in the popular imagination today as catchy tunes that were sung by sailors at work. Fergus O'Byrne says there's more to it than that. The Irish-Canadian folk musician said there are historically three distinct types of sea shanties: a capstan chant, a halyard shanty and one for a short-haul. Each of these, said O'Byrne, corresponded to a specific duty. "So, for example, for the capstan, for those people who don't know, a capstan was like a great big round wheel with spokes coming out of it to haul up the anchor back in those days," he said. Something as simple as hauling an anchor could take well over an hour, said O'Byrne, and so the capstan shanty was integral in keeping the work moving. "There'd be a whole bunch of men on the shanty on the wheel, walking around and singing," O'Byrne said. "So a song like General Taylor, for example, was a capstan, sometimes called 'a-stamp-and-go', and they'd stamp and they'd go and they'd walk around." Scroll the old chariot along While the origins of the sea shanty come as practical work songs, sung by sailors who were doing the physically demanding labour needed to keep their vessels moving, most sea captains didn't care what was being sung about so long as the work got done. While this led to a few X-rated songs, said McCann, shantys like General Taylor were also an opportunity for sailors to voice their opinions. "A lot of them were political too," McCann said. "We used to sing a song called General Taylor that we sang with great joy, and people love to sing along with it. But, the reality is, that song is not about celebration of a man, General Taylor, it's about people wanting to find and kill General Taylor." Though new to TikTok, McCann, a long-time champion of the traditional sea shanty, said it's an interesting fascination, and he can understand why this new trend has picked up, even if it's just another internet blip. "They've got strong melodies, they say things that matter and they help people work through difficult times," McCann said. "And I think that's why they're popular again. I think they have a role to play." Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
C’est au travers d’images et de témoignages saisissants que nous redécouvrons Solidarność, cette contestation polonaise ouvrière contre le régime communiste, devenue un mouvement international.
Small groups of right-wing protesters — some of them carrying rifles — gathered outside heavily fortified statehouses around the country Sunday, outnumbered by National Guard troops and police brought in to prevent a repeat of the violence that erupted at the U.S. Capitol. As darkness fell, there were no reports of any clashes. Security was stepped up in recent days after the FBI warned of the potential for armed protests in Washington and at all 50 state capitol buildings ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. Crowds of only a dozen or two demonstrated at some boarded-up, cordoned-off statehouses, while the streets in many other capital cities remained empty. Some protesters said they were there to back President Donald Trump. Others said they had instead come to voice their support for gun rights or decry government overreach. “I don’t trust the results of the election,” said Michigan protester Martin Szelag, a 67-year-old semi-retired window salesman from Dearborn Heights. He wore a sign around his neck that read, in part, “We will support Joe Biden as our President if you can convince us he won legally. Show us the proof! Then the healing can begin.” As the day wore on with no bloodshed around the U.S., a sense of relief spread among officials, though they were not ready to let their guard down. The heavy law enforcement presence may have kept turnout down. In the past few days, some extremists had warned others against falling into what they called a law enforcement trap. Washington State Patrol spokesman Chris Loftis said he hoped the apparently peaceful day reflected some soul-searching among Americans. “I would love to say that it’s because we’ve all taken a sober look in the mirror and have decided that we are a more unified people than certain moments in time would indicate,” he said. The security measures were intended to safeguard seats of government from the type of violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when far-right Trump supporters galvanized by his false claims that the election had been stolen from him overran the police and bashed their way into the building while Congress was certifying the Electoral College vote. The attack left a Capitol police officer and four others dead. More than 125 people have been arrested over the insurrection. Dozens of courts, election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have all said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential race. On Sunday, some statehouses were surrounded by new security fences, their windows were boarded up, and extra officers were on patrol. Legislatures generally were not in session over the weekend. Tall fences also surrounded the U.S. Capitol. The National Mall was closed to the public, and the mayor of Washington asked people not to visit. Some 25,000 National Guard troops from around the country are expected to arrive in the city in the coming days. U.S. defence officials told The Associated Press those troops would be vetted by the FBI to ward off any threat of an insider attack on the inauguration. The roughly 20 protesters who showed up at Michigan’s Capitol, including some who were armed, were significantly outnumbered by law enforcement officers and members of the media. Tensions have been running high in the state since authorities foiled a plot to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year. At the Ohio Statehouse, about two dozen people, including several carrying long guns, protested outside under the watchful eyes of state troopers before dispersing as it began to snow. Kathy Sherman, who was wearing a visor with “Trump” printed on it, said she supports the president but distanced herself from the mob that breached the U.S. Capitol. "I’m here to support the right to voice a political view or opinion without fear of censorship, harassment or the threat of losing my job or being physically assaulted,” she said. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said he was pleased with the outcome but stressed that authorities "continue to have concerns for potential violence in the coming days, which is why I intend to maintain security levels at the Statehouse as we approach the presidential inauguration.” Utah's new governor, Republican Spencer Cox, shared photos on his Twitter account showing him with what appeared to be hundreds of National Guard troops and law enforcement officers standing behind him, all wearing masks. Cox called the quiet protests a best-case scenario and said many ”agitating groups" had cancelled their plans for the day. At Oregon's Capitol, fewer than a dozen men wearing military-style outfits, black ski masks and helmets stood nearby with semiautomatic weapons slung across their bodies. Some had upside-down American flags and signs reading such things as “Disarm the government.” At the Texas Capitol, Ben Hawk walked with about a dozen demonstrators up to the locked gates carrying a bullhorn and an AR-15 rifle hanging at the side of his camouflage pants. He condemned the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and said he did not support Trump. “All we came down here to do today was to discuss, gather, network and hang out. And it got blown and twisted completely out of proportion,” Hawk said. At Nevada's Capitol, where demonstrators supporting Trump have flocked most weekends in recent months, all was quiet except for a lone protester with a sign. “Trump Lost. Be Adults. Go Home,” it read. More than a third of governors had called out the National Guard to help protect their capitols and assist local law enforcement. Several governors declared states of emergency, and others closed their capitols to the public until after Biden's inauguration. Some legislatures also cancelled sessions or pared back their work for the coming week. Even before the violence at the Capitol, some statehouses had been the target of vandals and angry protesters during the past year. Last spring, armed protesters entered the Michigan Capitol to object to coronavirus lockdowns. People angry over the death of George Floyd under a Minneapolis police officer's knee vandalized capitols in several states, including Colorado, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin. Last last month, crowds in Oregon forced their way into the Capitol in Salem to protest its closure to the public during a special legislative session on coronavirus measures. Amid the potential for violence in the coming days, the building's first-floor windows were boarded up and the National Guard was brought in. "The state capitol has become a fortress,” said Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, a Democrat. “I never thought I’d see that. It breaks my heart.” ___ Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in Columbus, Ohio; Gillian Flaccus in Salem, Oregon; Mike Householder and David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; Sam Metz in Carson City, Nevada; Marc Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report. David A. Lieb And Adam Geller, The Associated Press
TORONTO — Ontario hasn't seen the last of inspectors who fanned out across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Areas this weekend and uncovered dozens of COVID-19-related violations at big box stores. Labour Minister Monte McNaughton says the province will expand and continue its blitz, which is meant to get the virus under control. McNaughton says 50 inspectors visited 110 retailers on Saturday alone and found 31 violations of COVID-19 prevention protocols. They issued 11 formal warnings and 11 tickets and found 70 per cent of the retailers they visited were in compliance with COVID-19 rules. McNaughton said the most common violations inspectors found were linked to screening of customers and staff, masking protocols and physical distancing problems. McNaughton offered few details about the expanded blitz, but says it will take place across the province in the days and weeks to come. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2021. The Canadian Press
A Saskatchewan man is braving the winter elements in a bid to raise awareness of the opioid epidemic. Ilajah Pidskalny is cycling from Saskatoon to Vancouver and shares the details of his journey so far.
ISTANBUL — Canadian forward Cyle Larin played provider Sunday, helping set up league-leading Besiktas' insurance goal in stoppage time for a 2-0 win over Istanbul rival Galatasaray. French winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou was the beneficiary after a poor touch by Galatasaray' defender Christian Luyindama, attempting to cut out a Besiktas pass, sent the ball straight to Larin. The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., dribbled into the penalty box before unselfishly sending the ball to an unmarked Nkoudo to knock in in the 91st minute. Larin, who came into the game having scored six times in his previous three outings, is second in the Turkish Super Lig scoring race with 11 goals. He also has three goals in other competitions. Veteran Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson also started Sunday for Besiktas, which went ahead in the 79th minute on a goal by Brazil's Josef de Souza. The game was played at Besiktas' Vodafone Park. Besiktas (12-4-2) pulled three points ahead of rival Fenerbahce in the league standings. Fenerbahce hosts Ankaragucu on Monday This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2021 The Canadian Press
Ce sont 19 nouveaux cas de COVID-19 qui s’ajoutent au bilan régional ce dimanche. Au total, depuis le début de la pandémie, ce sont 8 559 cas qui ont été déclarés dans la région. On répertorie quatre nouveaux décès liés au virus ce dimanche au Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Le total depuis le début de la pandémie est de 244 décès. On retrouve actuellement 20 hospitalisations, dont six aux soins intensifs. Janick Emond, Initiative de journalisme local, Le Lac St-Jean
La pandémie a donné un coup de frein à la mobilité étudiante dans le monde. Les universités américaines en sont bien sûr affectées. Mais elles font face aussi à une baisse des inscriptions nationales.
WASHINGTON — The Latest on President Donald Trump's impeachment, President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration and the fallout from the Jan. 6 attack of the Capitol by pro-Trump loyalists (all times local): 9:05 a.m. Actor-playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and rockers Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen are among the stars who will highlight a prime-time virtual celebration televised Wednesday night after Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president. Biden’s inaugural committee announced the lineup Sunday for “Celebrating America,” a multinetwork broadcast that the committee bills as a mix of stars and everyday citizens. Miranda, who wrote and starred in Broadway’s “Hamilton,” will appear for a classical recitation. Musicians John Legend, Demi Lovato and Justin Timberlake, among others, will join Springsteen and Bon Jovi. Actresses Kerry Washington and Eva Longoria will act as hostesses, with former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also scheduled to appear. The segments will include tributes to a UPS driver, a kindergarten teacher and Sandra Lindsey, the first American to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial. The broadcast is in lieu of traditional inaugural balls. Biden plans still to be sworn in on the Capitol's West Front, but with a scaled-down ceremony because of the coronavirus and tight security after the Jan. 6 violent insurrection on the Capitol as Congress convened to certify his victory. ___ HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IMPEACHMENT, THE INAUGURATION AND THE FALLOUT FROM THE JAN. 6 RIOTING AT THE CAPITOL: Across the country, some statehouses are closed, fences are up and extra police are in place as authorities brace for potentially violent demonstrations over the coming days. The safeguards will remain in place leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. Biden plans to roll back some of President Donald Trump’s most controversial policies and take steps to address the coronavirus pandemic hours after taking office. Read more: — Deceptions in the time of the ‘alternative facts’ president — Biden outlines ‘Day One’ agenda of executive actions — Gen. Milley key to military continuity as Biden takes office — Guard troops pour into Washington as states answer the call — Harris to be sworn in by Justice Sotomayor at inauguration — Biden to prioritize legal status for millions of immigrants — Will Trump’s mishandling of records leave a hole in history? — Biden says his advisers will lead with ‘science and truth’ — More backlash for GOP’s Hawley as Loews Hotel cancels event ___ HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON: 8 a.m. Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris will resign her Senate seat on Monday, two days before she and President-elect Joe Biden are inaugurated. Aides to the California Democrat confirm the timing and say Gov. Gavin Newsom is aware of her decision. That clears the way for Newsom to appoint fellow Democrat Alex Padilla, now California’s secretary of state, to serve the final two years of Harris’ term. Padilla will be the first Latino senator from California, where about 40% of residents are Hispanic. Harris will give no farewell Senate floor speech. The Senate isn’t scheduled to reconvene until Tuesday, the eve of Inauguration Day. ___ 3 a.m. The threat of extremist groups descending on state capitals in a series of demonstrations Sunday prompted governors to roll out a massive show of force and implement tight security measures at statehouses across the country. Fencing, boarded-up windows and lines of police and National Guard troops have transformed statehouse grounds ahead of expected demonstrations leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. The stepped-up security measures were intended to safeguard seats of government from the type of violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when a mob supporting President Donald Trump overran the building while Congress was certifying the Electoral College vote. The FBI has warned of the potential for armed protests in the nation’s capital and all 50 state capitals. Some social media messages had targeted Sunday for demonstrations, though it remained unclear how many people might show up. The Associated Press
An 18-year-old is facing a second-degree murder charge following the death of a woman on Ermineskin Cree Nation in early December. Maskwacis RCMP were called to assist EMS at a residence in the the central Alberta community at about 1:50 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2020. Police say first responders found a woman who was already deceased and who appeared to have been injured. The community is about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton. The major crimes unit took over the investigation, and on Jan. 15 arrested and charged an 18-year-old man with second-degree murder in the case. Police say he was taken into custody at his residence on Ermineskin Cree Nation without incident. He is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 28.
Comment se met en place la résistance aux médicaments ? Pourquoi la résistance aux vaccins est-elle si rare ?
A Vancouver strip club is turning heads, raising eyebrows and stopping traffic with its tongue-in-cheek marquee. The Penthouse has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic, but one of its bartenders is keeping the sign current, hoping a little humour can carry the club through the toughest time in its 73-year-history. Recent creations have said "Pfizer now makes my two favourite things," "Better security than the U.S. Capitol," and "No glory holes, stop asking" — a wink to the BCCDC's updated guidelines for safe sex. "It started with trying to make my bosses laugh," said Benjamin Jackson. "It just really went viral." Since it opened in 1947, the club has seen decades of bad behaviour, a major fire, police raids, and even a murder. It's known for exotic dancing, but it's also a supper club, theatre, and live music venue, with names like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Sting gracing the marquee over the years. The advent of social media changed their marquee strategy. In 2016, the mobile phone app Pokemon Go had just launched with huge success, luring players into all areas of the city in search of mythical digital creatures. Jackson changed the marquee to say: "Rare Pokemon inside, Tues-Sat 9 p.m. to late." It worked, or backfired — depending on who you ask. "We had people lined up, all ages trying to get in the club," Jackson said. "We had parents trying to pay for their kids just to go catch the Pokemon and come back." Jackson has since had a long-running list of ideas and free rein over the marquee, with one initial rule: keep politics and religion out of it. Then, Donald Trump was elected president and soon afterward, cannabis was legalized in Canada. "The politics ones were too good to pass up," Jackson said. "So we changed the rule a bit." 'You have to be creative in order to survive in this business' Owner Danny Filippone said he's trusted Jackson to strike the right tone. So far, it's been good for business and kept them relevant during the closure. "My father and uncle Joe, when they were running the bar back in the '70s and the '60s, one thing that they had always taught me before I started was, you have to be creative in order to survive in this business," he said. Some of his favourite signs over the years include "Happy Father's Day we've got it from here," "Lost and found: wedding ring" and "Back to school special: clothing 100 per cent off." Not everyone has appreciated the Penthouse's humour. The club had a particularly pointed marquee when former president Bill Clinton was visiting town several years back, referencing the scandal with Monica Lewinsky. "His motorcade was scheduled to come down Seymour Street," Filippone said. "I got, personally, a phone call from the secret service and they asked us to remove the sign." WestJet also sent the club a cease and desist letter for a sign that said "We take off more than WestJet." When nightclubs were ordered to close temporarily last year due to COVID-19, Filippone said he never dreamed they'd still be closed almost a year later. Instead of reopening with a stripped-back business plan, he spent the past several months renovating the club, giving it a new look for whenever the doors can reopen. Filippone expects Vancouver's nightlife will come roaring back once the pandemic is over. "The Penthouse will survive," he said. "When Bonnie [Henry] gives everyone the green light that you can go back to bars without having to wear your mask, without having to be six feet apart, I'm very confident that ... once it gets going, it's going to kick right back off."
KENOVA, W.Va. — Griffith & Feil Drug has been in business since 1892, a family-owned, small-town pharmacy. This isn't their first pandemic. More than a century after helping West Virginians confront the Spanish flu in 1918, the drugstore in Kenova, a community of about 3,000 people, is helping the state lead the nation in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. West Virginia has emerged as an unlikely success in the nation's otherwise chaotic vaccine rollout, largely because of the state's decision to reject a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens and instead enlist mom-and-pop pharmacies to vaccinate residents against the virus that has killed over 395,000 Americans. More shots have gone into people’s arms per capita across West Virginia than in any other state, with at least 7.5% of the population receiving the first of two shots, according to federal data. West Virginia was the first in the nation to finish offering first doses to all long-term care centres before the end of December, and the state expects to give second doses at those facilities by the end of January. “Boy, have we noticed that. I think the West Virginia model is really one that we would love for a lot more states to adopt,” said John Beckner, a pharmacist who works at the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Community Pharmacists Association, which advocates for pharmacies across the country. It's early in the process, but that has not stopped Republican Gov. Jim Justice from proclaiming that the vaccine effort runs counter to preconceived notions about the Mountaineer State. “Little old West Virginia, that was thought of for hundreds of years, you know, as a place where maybe we were backward or dark or dingy,” Justice said last week. Instead, it turns out that “West Virginia has been the diamond in the rough,” Justice said on CBS’ "Face the Nation" on Sunday. Rather than relying on national chains, 250 local pharmacists set up clinics in rural communities. The fact that residents who may be wary of the vaccine seem to trust them makes a difference. “As my uncle always told me, these people aren’t your customers, they’re your friends and neighbours,” said Ric Griffith, the pharmacist at Griffith & Feil in Kenova, a town near the Kentucky state line. A chatty raconteur and former mayor of Kenova, he can recall generations of patrons frequenting the shop, which is almost unchanged since the 1950s, with a soda fountain and jukebox in the front and prescriptions in the back. Griffith, 71, began taking over the pharmacy from his father in the early 1990s and was elected to the House of Delegates as a Democrat last year. His daughter, Heidi Griffith Romero, 45, followed into the family business and is also administering shots. Holding a vaccination clinic at the town high school, he recalled his uncle telling him he lost four classmates to the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed more than 50 million people worldwide. “And it was a tragedy that I thought I would never be involved with,” he said, taking a break from giving vaccines to teachers aged 50 and over. When Mark Hayes, a middle school guidance counsellor in Kenova, walked up to receive his first dose, he spotted Griffith, who holds local celebrity status for hosting an extravagant annual Halloween pumpkin-carving party that attracts thousands. “I recognized him right away,” Hayes said. “‘The Pumpkin King? Are you giving me the shot?’” Kevin Roberts, a 59-year-old school bus driver in Kenova, said “it makes a difference” for a pharmacist he knows to administer the shots. “I hope that a lot of these skeptics change their mind,” he said. Officials also credit a 50-person command centre at the state’s National Guard headquarters in the capital of Charleston. Inside a cavernous hall, leaders of the vaccine operation and state health officials sit between plexiglass dividers to oversee shipments of the precious doses to five hubs. From there, deliveries go to drugstores and local health departments. CVS has so far declined to work with state officials on vaccinating people at its stores, but Walgreens is participating and has joined in to hold clinics at some nursing homes, officials said. The federal partnership involving both companies would have allowed Washington officials to dictate the terms of nursing home vaccinations, said Marty Wright, the head of the West Virginia Health Care Association, which represents health care companies. “If the state would've activated the federal plan, the state would've had zero control over the situation,” Wright said. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar praised West Virginia's efforts to vaccinate the elderly. “Expanding eligibility to all of the vulnerable is the fastest way to protect the vulnerable,” Azar said Tuesday at an Operation Warp Speed meeting. He also highlighted Connecticut as a bright spot in the vaccine rollout. Given West Virginia's success so far, leaders are now seeking more doses so they can open vaccinations for more groups. The Griffith & Feil store has had to decline shots for out-of-state customers who caught word of West Virginia's success. The governor recently lowered the age of eligibility for members of the general public to 70. The efforts have not been without errors. The Boone County Health Department was barred from distributing the vaccine last month after it mistakenly gave 44 people an antibody treatment instead of vaccines. The state began vaccinating school workers aged 50 or older less than two weeks ago. The governor wants in-person learning to resume at as many schools as possible by Tuesday, long before teachers will have received their second vaccine doses. As of Sunday, over 130,100 first doses have been administered, and 23,066 people have received both shots in the state with a population of about 1.78 million people. Nearly 55,800 of the first doses have gone to residents aged 65 and older. Mitchel Rothholz, who leads immunization policy at the American Pharmacists Association, said other governors would be wise to enlist local pharmacies. “Especially at a time when you have vaccine hesitancy and concerns in vaccine confidence, having access to a health care provider like a community pharmacist provides a comfort level to the patients and communities,” Rothholz added. ___ Associated Press Writer John Raby contributed to this report. Cuneyt Dil, The Associated Press
Canada's ambassador to the United States said on Sunday that while the two countries have shared vision on many issues, President-elect Joe Biden's economic policy is slightly more protectionist than what Canada would like. While Ottawa has been quick to embrace of Biden in an effort to turn the page on the Donald Trump era, the incoming U.S. administration's "buy America" policy is worrying to Canada.
If time is a flat circle, then it's only fitting that a second Liam Neeson movie is ruling over the U.S. box office during the pandemic. Months after his action thriller "Honest Thief" led domestic charts, another Neeson (you guessed it!) action thriller "The Marksman" has debut at No. 1 with $3.2 million in ticket sales. Robert Lorenz directed "The Marksman," about a rancher and retired Marine living in Arizona who helps a young boy escape a Mexican drug cartel.
The Trump administration notified Huawei suppliers, including chipmaker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications firm, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The action - likely the last against Huawei Technologies under Republican President Donald Trump - is the latest in a long-running effort to weaken the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, which Washington sees as a national security threat. The notices came amid a flurry of U.S. efforts against China in the final days of Trump's administration.
A local official from India's ruling Hindu nationalist party on Sunday registered a police complaint against an Amazon Prime web series alleging it insults Hindu gods and goddesses, and threatened to launch a protest at the company's office in Mumbai. Protests against Amazon.com have been organised for Monday to warn it not to show scenes insulting Hindu gods and goddesses, Ram Kadam, a BJP member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, said in a tweet after filing a complaint with police in Mumbai on Sunday. The political drama "Tandav" also drew the ire of other lawmakers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), causing fresh controversy for the e-commerce giant which last year had to withdraw dozens of rugs and doormats depicting Hindu gods from its international Amazon.com platform after a backlash in India.
