News bulletin 2023/01/14 07:11
News bulletin 2023/01/14 07:11
News bulletin 2023/01/14 07:11
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Debt-stricken Sri Lanka’s Central Bank chief said Wednesday that the country is making good progress in talks with its creditors to obtain financial assurances for debt restructuring, an important step toward finalizing an International Monetary Fund rescue plan. Sri Lanka is bankrupt and has suspended repayment of its $51 billion foreign debt, of which $28 billion must be repaid by 2027. It has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a $2.9 billion rescue pack
After persisting into Thursday afternoon, the snowfall warning for the Ottawa-Gatineau region have ended. Earlier in the day, snowfall warnings ended in the Bancroft, Belleville, Kingston, Maniwaki, Renfrew County, Lanark County, and Prescott-Russell areas. Further east, warnings remain for the Brockville and Cornwall areas. The capital received more than 15 centimetres of snow at its main airport Wednesday. Environment Canada said some parts of the Ottawa area had 26 centimetres by late Thursda
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada plans to rule today on the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences in cases involving armed robbery and recklessly firing a gun. In one case, Jesse Dallas Hills pleaded guilty to four charges stemming from a May 2014 incident in Lethbridge, Alta., in which he swung a baseball bat and shot at a car with a bolt-action rifle, smashed the window of a vehicle and fired rounds into a family home. Hills argued the minimum four-year sentence for recklessly d
MONTREAL — Sean Bérubé said he thought it was a joke when he was first asked to help assemble a team of Ukrainian preteen refugees, displaced by war and spread out across Europe, to play in a renowned Quebec City hockey tournament. Bérubé, a businessman from the Quebec City region, was having a beer last March in Bucharest with Evgheniy Pysarenko, whom he played hockey with in Ukraine as a teenager. The businessman — with the help of Pysarenko — had just travelled to Ukraine to help his former U
A feisty Texas low eyeing Atlantic Canada will bring heavy snow for some, heavy rain for most, and sweep the region with gusty winds all the while.
Halifax's new commercial tax system will shift the burden to business parks so big-box stores pay more, but it's possible small businesses will get caught up in the change. During a budget committee meeting Wednesday, city staff gave council an update on what the new zone-based tax system with tiered rates could mean for this fiscal year, since the new rules come into place April 1. Municipal commercial taxes in three of the parks — Dartmouth Crossing, Bayers Lake and Bedford Commons — will be t
LANSING, Mich.. (AP) — Just three months ago, Rep. Elissa Slotkin was one of the most vulnerable Democrats in Washington, fighting an expensive campaign for reelection in a Michigan district that Republicans were sure they could retake. That was all a distant memory recently as Slotkin sat beaming next to Sen. Debbie Stabenow at a Lansing luncheon commemorating Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Fresh off a surprisingly comfortable 5 percentage-point victory, Slotkin was eager to praise Stabenow, the d
Coquitlam RCMP have confirmed a 21 year-old woman who went missing on Jan. 13 has been found safe. The woman's family, friends, and community members have also confirmed via posts on social media that she was located alive in Victoria, B.C., on Jan. 25 Police did not issue a missing-persons alert when the woman's disappearance was first reported, upsetting advocates pleading for her safety. RCMP say they received a report on Jan. 13, and the case remained a priority. A news release is issued if
CALGARY — Alberta's justice minister says he felt sad and disappointed when he discovered someone he considered to be a friend was behind a social media post targeting him and his wife. The Law Society of Alberta didn't complete its hearing Thursday into allegations that Tyler Shandro violated the profession's code of conduct. Three complaints date back to his time as the United Conservative Party government's health minister early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawyers for both sides are working to
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican state lawmakers on Thursday filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, hoping to preserve elements of their impeachment case against an elected progressive Philadelphia prosecutor. The appeal asks the state's highest court to review last month's decision regarding the legality of the Legislature's impeachment and trial of Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner. It seeks clarity on whether the trial can move forward with certain articles and takes i
The Municipality of Yarmouth is changing the way it enforces the rules around illegal dumping. Last week, officials said the municipality would enforce the reverse onus clause of its solid waste bylaw starting April 1. In a statement, the municipality said that a person whose name or address is found in the illegally dumped waste is deemed to own the material. If they fail to prove someone else dumped the garbage, they'll be on the hook for cleanup and served with a summary offence ticket that c
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Germany apologized on Thursday for using a leopard emoji in a jibe at Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Twitter that ended up offending some Africans. The German foreign ministry poked fun at Russia's top diplomat during his tour of Africa when it tweeted that he wasn't there looking for leopards, but using the trip to try and justify Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The tweet, and the leopard emoji the foreign ministry used on its official account,
One of the founders of the movement that led to the creation of Qalipu First Nation says he was booted from the band after enrolment criteria changed — and he argues the controversy over membership is antithetical to his original vision. In 1972, John Oliver helped form the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, the organization that fought for recognition of Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland and eventually led to the creation of Qalipu First Nation in 2008. "As an aboriginal it was very important to get rec
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians marked the 235th anniversary of British colonization Thursday with a public holiday that evokes anger at Indigenous injustice, focusing national attention on a new government push to acknowledge Australia's first inhabitants in the constitution. The government joined several large corporations in allowing staff the choice of taking the holiday off or working Thursday and taking another day off instead, in recognition of growing public unease at celebrating
HALIFAX — Liberal Angela Simmonds says she is resigning her seat in the Nova Scotia legislature effective April 1. Simmonds, who was first elected to represent Preston in the August 2021 general election, was the first Black woman to be named deputy Speaker in Nova Scotia. In a statement released by the party today, Simmonds says she needed to step down to “stretch out the legacy of changemakers” and lift up new voices. She says she will spend the next few months with her family and community wh
Two more men have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Justin Breau last summer. On Thursday afternoon, Donald Robert Walker, 50, and Dustin Trey Walker-Hammond, 24, were charged with first-degree murder. A day earlier, a third man, Charles William Shatford, 47, was also charged with Breau's first-degree murder. The Crown objected to the release of all three, so they will remain in jail until after bail hearings can be held. On Thursday, Walker and Walker-Hammond were both order
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved a resolution Wednesday expressing solidarity with people in Iran who have been risking imprisonment and even death to protest against the country’s theocracy. The 420-1 vote marked the latest round of international condemnation against Iran's government, which has engaged in a brutal crackdown of its citizenry since the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. “It is vital that we in the U.S. House of Representatives,
PRAGUE (AP) — A retired army general who backs military support for Ukraine and a euroskeptic billionaire who has questioned NATO's collective defense clause are contesting for the ceremonial but prestigious post of Czech president in a runoff starting Friday. Former Gen. Petr Pavel and Andrej Babis advanced to a second round of voting because none of the eight initial candidates received an absolute majority in the first round two weeks ago. The polls favor Pavel, an independent candidate who c