Weather tracker: ‘Pineapple express’ atmospheric river deluges California

Weather system brings heavy rainfall, strong winds and mudslides. Elsewhere, Nova Scotia declares state of emergency

During the first week of February two storms hit California in quick succession, both featuring intense precipitation thanks to the “pineapple express” atmospheric river.

Atmospheric rivers are long narrow channels of very moist air that flow through the atmosphere, transporting impressive amounts of water vapour that eventually fall as heavy rain or snow. The pineapple express is a famous recurring atmospheric river that forms near the Hawaiian Islands and flows northe-east to the Pacific coast of North America.

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Nova Scotia attacks: police heavily criticised for failures in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting

RCMP response condemned after gunman drove a fake police car around for more than 13 hours, evading capture and killing 22 people

A cascade of failures within Canada’s federal police worsened the country’s deadliest mass shooting, a public inquiry has concluded, in a damning indictment that found the force has shown little interest in reforming in the years since.

The Mass Casualty Commission, a joint provincial and federal inquiry, was investigating the 2020 shootings in Portapique Nova Scotia, in which a gunman driving a fake police car spent more than 13 hours evading capture and killing 22 people.

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Painting traded for a cheese sandwich in 1973 sold at auction for C$350,000

Maud Lewis sold her paintings on Nova Scotia roadsides but found a larger audience after a documentary chronicled her life and work

A Canadian painting that was swapped 50 years ago for a grilled cheese sandwich has sold at auction for an “astounding” C$350,000 (US$272,000).

Black Truck by the folk artist Maud Lewis sold for 10 times its assessed value, setting a new high mark for a painter whose popularity has surged in recent years.

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Canada shooting: gunman kills 16 people after rampage in Nova Scotia

Gabriel Wortman suspected of shooting spree in the coastal town of Portapique before he died during standoff with police

A gunman in Canada posing as a police officer has killed 16 people after a 12-hour shooting rampage across Nova Scotia in the worst act of mass murder the country has seen in modern times.

Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, police said, and several homes were set on fire. Bodies were found at other locations and one police officer was also among the dead.

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Axelrod’s advice to Liberals: convince voters you still represent change

Re-election campaigns - like the one the Trudeau Liberals will embark on next year - hang on a government's ability to convince voters that it still represents positive change, Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist David Axelrod said Friday. David Axelrod and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics in February.

PC leader wants Clayton Miller investigation reopened

Karla MacFarlane, interim leader and justice critic for the Progressive Conservatives, says if she ran the Justice Department she would reopen the investigation into the 1990 death of Clayton Miller. Karla MacFarlane, the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party's justice critic and interim leader, says if she were the province's justice minister, she would reopen the file into the 1990 death of Clayton Miller.

Seven stories in the news for today, June 15

A parliamentary committee studying Canada's slumping media industry will reportedly call for a five per cent tax on broadband Internet services to boost a sector struggling to adapt to technological changes and evolving consumer habits. Function lights are illuminated on a modem in Chelsea, Que., July 11, 2011.

Europeans anxious about Trump outreach to Putin

The annual Halifax International Security Forum brings together senior Canadian, European, and U.S. military and civilian officials, and you can guess what was on everyone's mind this year: To be more specific, the crowd was eager to pump U.S. participants, including a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators, about whether Trump would turn his back on NATO and cozy up to Vladimir Putin. Many asked whether the president-elect might hold an early meeting with Putin even before getting together with NATO allies - which would send a dangerous signal.

Halifax conference ends on uncertain note

After three days of discussion, the Halifax International Security Forum ended with a collective shrug as political thinkers from around the globe expressed uncertainty about how the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. might affect the international order. Canadian politicians made it clear that whatever the president-elect's foreign policy may entail, the country is prepared to hold its own on the world stage - with or without its neighbour.

Vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine expected to attend Halifax security forum

Less than two weeks after Republican Donald Trump's stunning electoral victory, the Democratic contender for U.S. vice-president, Tim Kaine, is scheduled to attend an international foreign affairs and defence conference in Halifax. Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, is among a list of high-profile political and military leaders expected to join the weekend meeting, which will include U.K. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Robert Work and France's defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Chretien says no pill for stupidity in thinly veiled shot at Donald Trump

Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Dr. Kent MacDonald, President of St. Francis Xavier University, speak to press prior to the University's annual national dinner and fundraiser in Toronto on Wednesday, October 19, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov Former prime minister Jean Chretien says U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is "taking away the dignity of public life."

Shannon Graham

The man she accused of raping her was convicted of sexual assault - but a Nova Scotia woman says she regrets going to the authorities. Shannon Graham, 22, told police that her common-law spouse, Jared Beck-Wentzell, sexually assaulted her in their home in Bridgewater, N.S. in July 2014.