Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting
The World Health Organization's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has suggested that racism is behind a lack of international attention being paid to the plight of civilians in Ethiopia's war-shattered Tigray region. Calling it the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world", with 6 million people unable to access basic services, Tedros questioned in an emotional appeal why the situation is not getting the same attention as the Ukraine conflict. "Maybe the reason is the colour of the skin of the people," Tedros, who is from Tigray, told a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The day after Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters fired all nine members of the state commission that oversees public defense, she said Tuesday that she was appointing four new commissioners and reappointing five commissioners from the previous group. Walters had fired the commission members out of frustration that hundreds of defendants charged with crimes and who cannot afford an attorney have been unable to obtain public defenders to represent them. “This c
LANGLEY, B.C. — The Greater Vancouver Zoo says a "small number" of its wolves are unaccounted for after the animals were believed to have been released as a result of "malicious intent," but there is no danger to the public. The zoo says on its website that a number of wolves were discovered outside their enclosure in the morning and it's working with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service to "contain" the animals, while the Langley RCMP investigate what appears to be a case of unlawful entry and
WASHINGTON (AP) — Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading reproductive health care provider and abortion rights advocacy organization, plans to spend a record $50 million ahead of November's midterm elections, pouring money into contests where access to abortion will be on the ballot. The effort, which breaks the group's previous $45 million spending record set in 2020, comes months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that created a constitutional right to hav
Provincial regulators agreed Tuesday to delay proceedings into Nova Scotia Power's proposed 10 per cent electricity rate increase. The pause was requested by the company and supported by the Nova Scotia government to give them more time to discuss ways to protect ratepayers from sharply higher fuel costs. The company is allowed to automatically pass those costs to customers, through a yearly fuel adjustment mechanism. "Given the potential impact that an increase in fuel and purchased power costs
Environment Canada is continuing to issue heat warnings for Calgary and much of southern Alberta with daily high temperatures expected to reach 30 C for the rest of the week. Daytime temperatures in some parts of the province are forecast to range from 29 to 34 C. The heat should taper off Monday night and Tuesday before rising again on Wednesday, the agency said on its alerts page. As of 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, the heat warnings covered these areas: Calgary. Okotoks, High River, Claresholm. Drumh
Musk has a history of being unconventional, posting irreverent tweets. Below are some other tweets by Musk - who has more than 103 million followers - which have taken investors, Twitter users, Twitter's board and the rest of his audience by surprise. May 13, 2022: "Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users."
The George Black ferry in Dawson City won't be operating until further notice due to mechanical issues. On Tuesday afternoon, Krysten Johnson, a spokesperson with the Department of Highways and Public Works, said it will take at least two full days to fix. "The ferry will not be in operation until these repairs can be completed," she said. "We're ... recommending that people make alternative travel arrangements at this time, because that is an unfortunate amount of time to wait." The ferry shut
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin is fighting to keep his seat as a New Mexico county commissioner as he faces possible removal and disqualification from public office for his participation in last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Griffin was previously convicted of a misdemeanor for entering Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served. Three residents of Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties filed a lawsuit seeking
Some Island farmers say a looming increase in the price of dairy products is necessary to make up for skyrocketing costs. Dairy prices will be going up by 2.5 per cent starting Sept. 1 following an adjustment by the Canadian Dairy Commission. The Crown corporation that oversees supply management in Canada usually adjusts prices once a year in February, but farmers had called for an increase in June to account for rapidly rising costs. That's in addition to the 8.4 per cent increase at the beginn
While inflation may be hurting ordinary Quebecers' pocketbooks, it's done the opposite for a provincial government that has seen its projected deficit shrink by billions of dollars, according to a report released Monday ahead of the fall election campaign. The government's projected finances are "plausible" despite global economic uncertainty that threatens to darken the rosy picture, said auditor general Guylaine Leclerc, who was tasked with reviewing a pre-election financial report by Quebec's
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials saw signs that the U.S. economy was weakening at their last meeting but still called inflation “unacceptably high’’ before raising their benchmark interest rate by a sizable three-quarters of a point in their drive to slow spiking prices. In minutes from their July 26-27 meeting released Wednesday, the policymakers said they expected the U.S. economy to expand in the second half of 2022. But many of them suggested that growth would weaken as higher rat
Ontario is seeing far fewer forest fires this year than the 10-year average, and only a fraction of what it experienced last summer, when fires tore through a record amount of land in the province, according to the provincial government. There have been 179 fires so far this year, with 2,416 hectares of land burned, Evan Lizotte, a fire information officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources, said in a recent interview. That's compared with the 10-year average of 669 fires and 174,196 hectare
Public Health is contact tracing to try to limit the spread of monkeypox in New Brunswick. The province's first confirmed case of the virus, announced last Friday, had not travelled out of New Brunswick, said Dr. Yves Léger, the deputy chief medical officer of health. This "reasonably" means the person got the virus either from a New Brunswick resident or somebody travelling in the province, Léger said in an interview Tuesday on Shift. To limit the spread of the virus, Public Health has been fol
Canada's environment minister says releasing treated oilsands tailings into the environment isn't the only solution being considered to clean up the massive, toxic ponds. Steven Guilbeault says that even though his government is developing regulations on how the tailings could be drained into the Athabasca River, other solutions are also under review. Guilbeault's comments come as investigators from UNESCO arrive in Alberta to consider threats to Wood Buffalo National Park, which could be placed
Demand for housing in the Windsor area is already outstripping supply, and the region will need 30,400 new homes by 2031, according to new research. Getting there would require creating new housing more quickly, according to Mike Moffatt, an economist and senior director of the Ottawa-based think-tank, the Smart Prosperity Institute, which published the report. Moffatt says it about 3,000 homes per year need to be added to the region, more than double the level of construction we've seen over th
The Ambassador Bridge's permit to build a second span expires at the end of the month. Windsor West MP Brian Masse does not want the federal government to renew it. Instead, he wants residents and business owners to receive financial assistance from Ottawa to revitalize the community. "The federal government recognized their order-in-council froze the area for five years and caused problems here, including the boarded up homes and the extension of this issue to the community," said Masse. "There
(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday a day after hitting an over two-month high as technology and material stocks fell, although a rebound in oil prices boosted heavyweight energy shares and capped overall losses on the index. At 10:55 a.m. ET (1455 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 86.42 points, or 0.43 percent, at 20,183.55. The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners, lost 1.3% as gold futures fell 0.2% amid jitters ahead of minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's July policy meet.
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the world Tuesday to honor civilians who were killed when Russian ground forces tried to invade Ukraine's capital and eventually retreated from the area surrounding Kyiv. Ban, a former South Korean diplomat who served as secretary-general between 2007 and 2016, visited Bucha, a city northwest of the Ukrainian capital where hundreds of civilians were found dead after the Russian withdrawal in late March. “It’s hard to expre