Coronavirus could starve Canada zoo’s pandas as bamboo supply chain snaps

Calgary Zoo has warned that it may soon be unable to provide its two pandas with the 40kg of fresh bamboo they each need daily

A Canadian zoo is warning that its giant pandas could go without fresh bamboo as the Covid-19 pandemic limits imports from China and domestic supplies run short.

Calgary Zoo said in May that it planned to return Er Shun and Da Mao to China, after coronavirus disrupted bamboo supply lines, but on Tuesday the zoo announced that due to the pandemic, it was still unable to secure travel permits.

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Landmark obesity guidelines in Canada treat problem as chronic illness

Guidelines appear to be first to urge handling health issue as complex disease, not just a question of weight loss

Pioneering guidelines on obesity management published on Tuesday in Canada are challenging doctors to consider the health problem as a complex chronic illness rather than something a little diet and exercise can cure.

The guidelines – believed to be the first of their kind in the world – were developed over three and a half years by a committee of 62 professionals led by Dr Sean Wharton, a Toronto internist specializing in weight management. The document advocates for approaching obesity as a complex chronic disease, rather than an issue of weight loss.

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Justin Trudeau tells MPs he did not intervene to award contract to charity

  • Canadian PM’s family had done paid work for We Charity
  • Trudeau: ‘I did absolutely nothing to influence’ decision

Justin Trudeau has told parliament he did not intervene to make sure a charity his family did paid work for would win a government contract.

Related: Justin Trudeau faces calls for criminal investigation into family's charity links

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Meng Wanzhou lawyers say documents will prove Canada plotted with FBI

  • Huawei CFO is fighting extradition to US
  • Lawyers demand release of unredacted spy service documents

Lawyers for the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou have demanded the release of unredacted Canadian spy service documents they say would reveal a plot between the FBI and Canada to “trick” their client.

Meng, the Chinese telecom giant’s chief financial officer, was arrested on a US warrant in December 2018 during a stopover in Vancouver. She is charged with violating US sanctions against Iran, and has been fighting extradition ever since.

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‘Not safe’: Niagara Falls tour boats show US and Canada’s different responses to Covid-19 – video

Footage of Niagara Falls tour boats highlights the stark differences in physical distancing between Canadian and US-managed companies. 

Canadian tour company Hornblower Niagara Cruises's ships can carry up to 700 people but Ontario’s strict rules to prevent the spread of coronavirus have permitted them to carry only six passengers at a time.

In contrast, the US-owned Maid of the Mist boats, which usually carry around 500 people, are operating at 50% capacity

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Niagara Falls tour boats highlight US and Canada’s stark Covid-19 divide

New York state boats have ferried many more tourists than their Ontarian counterparts, where distancing has been far stricter

Every day, Mory DiMaurizio looks out his window at Niagara Falls and sighs in frustration.

Not at the sight of the falls – one of the most stunning natural wonders of the world – but rather at the prospect of US tour boats with blue-ponchoed Americans.

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Most polar bears to disappear by 2100, study predicts

Melting Arctic sea ice could cause starvation and reproductive failure for many as early as 2040, scientists warn

Scientists have predicted for the first time when, where and how polar bears are likely to disappear, warning that if greenhouse gas emissions stay on their current trajectory all but a few polar bear populations in the Arctic will probably be gone by 2100.

By as early as 2040, it is very likely that many polar bears will begin to experience reproductive failure, leading to local extinctions, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.

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Coronavirus sheds light on Canada’s poor treatment of migrant workers

Covid-19 has surged on farms that employ foreign workers, aided by a lack of legal protections and shoddy oversight

Early this year, months before the coronavirus outbreak had been declared a pandemic, Erika Zavala, 35, and Jesus Molina, 36, arrived in Canada. With few opportunities in Mexico, the couple had found jobs under a federal program for seasonal farm workers, and planned to send money home to their family.

Related: Canada: three killed in glacier tour bus crash in Alberta

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Canada: three killed in glacier tour bus crash in Alberta

The bus was on the steep road to the famed Athabasca glacier when it lost control and rolled

A glacier tour bus rolled over in Canada’s southern province of Alberta, killing three people and injuring several, according to reports.

A sightseeing bus carrying 27 passengers overturned en route to the glacier near the Columbia Icefield in Alberta’s Jasper National Park, according to a report by CBC.

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Canada police investigate vandalism of monument to Nazi troops as hate crime

  • Anti-hate network chair: ‘I’m frankly dumbfounded’
  • Cenotaph commemorating Ukrainian SS division graffitied

Graffiti spray-painted on a monument to Nazi soldiers in a small Canadian city is being investigated by police as a hate crime – a move that has prompted disbelief among human rights advocates.

Around 21 June, the words “Nazi war monument” were spray-painted on to a cenotaph commemorating soldiers in the 14th SS Division in an Ontario cemetery, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

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Killing nearly 500 wolves in a year failed to protect endangered caribou – study

  • British Columbia performed cull as part of caribou recovery plan
  • Focus on wolves ignores complex web of factors, researchers say

With their ability to glide silently through snow drifts and vanish into forests, mountain caribou have been called the grey ghosts of western Canada’s alpine region.

But in recent years, a steep drop in their population has raised fears the knobby-kneed ungulates may disappear forever.

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Trudeau apologizes over contract for charity with ties to his family

Canadian prime minister faces third conflict-of-interest investigation in just over three years

Justin Trudeau has apologized for taking part in a cabinet decision to use a charity he and his family have worked with to administer a C$900m (US$663m) student grant program.

The Canadian prime minister is facing a third investigation for conflict of interest in a little over three years after his government tapped WE Charity Canada on 25 June to manage the program. The charity backed out about a week after the contract was announced.

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Iran report on downed Ukrainian jet blames misaligned air defence system

Missile defence operators had failed to recalibrate their systems, Tehran says

A report from Iranian investigators on the shooting down in January of a Ukrainian jet has blamed a misaligned air defence system giving wrong information to its operators, who did not seek authorisation to fire before killing all 176 people onboard.

Iranian officials initially blamed the crash of Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 near Tehran on the morning of 8 January on technical problems with the aircraft, but days later admitted their own missiles had mistakenly downed it.

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Justin Trudeau faces calls for criminal investigation into family’s charity links

WE Charity, which was awarded multimillion-dollar government contract, paid PM’s mother and wife for appearances at events

Political rivals of Justin Trudeau are calling for a criminal investigation after it emerged that members of his family were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a charity to which his government recently awarded a substantial contract.

The multinational WE Charity confirmed on Thursday that Trudeau’s wife, mother and brother had been paid for appearances at charity events over the years. Margaret Trudeau, the prime minister’s mother and wife of the former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, has been paid nearly C$250,000 (US$182,000) since 2016 — far more than any other family member.

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‘It’s like night and day’: Trudeau’s and Trump’s Covid-19 responses fuel wildly different outcomes

The US president stokes division as the virus rages, while the prime minister of Canada – where the outbreak appears to be stabilizing – has fostered a shared sense of duty

Donald Trump marked the Fourth of July with an apocalyptic speech at Mount Rushmore in which he stoked partisan grievance and deployed racist dog whistles, ignoring calls for unity as coronavirus cases surge.

Three days earlier, Justin Trudeau chose a more low-key location to celebrate Canada’s own national holiday. The prime minister and his family were photographed harvesting vegetables at an Ottawa food bank farm.

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Canada: armed man who rammed gate threatened Justin Trudeau, police say

  • Corey Hurren, 46, was carrying multiple firearms, police allege
  • Suspect accused of crashing his truck through gate in Ottawa

A military reservist who allegedly crashed his truck through a gate on the grounds where the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, lives was armed with two shotguns, a rifle and a revolver, and threatened Trudeau, according to prosecution documents made public on Monday.

Police allege that Corey Hurren brought a prohibited M-14 rifle, plus the shotguns and a revolver when he entered the grounds on 2 July. He is also accused of having a prohibited high-capacity magazine.

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Justin Trudeau snubs Nafta meeting with Trump in Washington

  • Mexico’s president to meet Trump on Wednesday
  • Canada PM had spoken of concern about US tariffs on metals

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has declined an invitation to visit the White House this week to celebrate a new North American free trade deal, amid worsening coronavirus figures in the US and lingering tensions with Donald Trump.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obradoris due to meet Trump in Washington on Wednesday, and had urged Trudeau to attend the meeting.

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Armed man roamed Justin Trudeau’s grounds for 13 minutes after ramming gates

Canadian police confirm man had ‘several’ weapons and will face multiple charges

Canadian police say the armed man who rammed a truck through the gates of the prime minister’s residence was loose for 13 minutes before authorities finally spotted him.

Media reports have identified the intruder as Corey Hurren, a reservist in the Canadian Rangers, a branch of the military that typically operates in remote and coastal regions.

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Nova Scotia gunman was paranoid survivalist – but not informer, say police

Gabriel Wortman frantically stockpiled supplies amid coronavirus fears but had no ‘special relationship’ with RCMP

Police in Canada believe the gunman behind the country’s worst-ever mass shooting was a “paranoid survivalist” who frantically stockpiled supplies as fears grew over the looming coronavirus pandemic.

Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people across the province of Nova Scotia in the 13-hour shooting spree that started on 18 April. Wortman, who was dressed in a police uniform, was eventually shot dead by officers after a standoff outside a gas station.

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China criticises Canada for ‘irresponsible remarks’ over two men charged with spying

Beijing denounces ‘megaphone diplomacy’ over jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and arrest of Huawei executive

China has sharply criticised Canada over its comments about two Canadians charged with spying, blaming its leaders for “irresponsible” statements and calling on Ottawa to end its “megaphone iplomacy”.

Chinese prosecutors this month charged Canadians Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, over allegations of espionage and providing state secrets.

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