Category Archives: Canada

It’s a botch-up! Monkey Christ and the worst art repairs of all time

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As another religious painting restoration goes horribly wrong, we take a look at some of the finest examples of butchered statues, art installations and frescoes

In the latest instalment of the greatest genre of art news – and I write that as a lover of art – another restoration has gone awry. The word “awry” is being generous.

This is the revelation that a private collector, based in Valencia, paid €1,200 (£1,070) for a restoration job on baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables. It is no longer immaculate. It now looks like an e-fit issued by a local police force, with those thin eyebrows popular in the 90s. What’s more, the restorer (who it turns out was a furniture restorer by trade) made two attempts – the second significantly worse than the first. That one, the e-fit one, has the Virgin Mary staring straight ahead, which isn’t even the same position as the original, which has Mary looking to the heavens.

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Exclusive: Saudi dissident warned by Canadian police he is a target

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Omar Abdulaziz, who was close to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told of threat posed by Saudi Arabia

A prominent Saudi dissident who is living in exile in Canada said he was recently warned by Canadian authorities that he was a “potential target” of Saudi Arabia and that he needed to take precautions to protect himself.

Omar Abdulaziz, a 29-year-old activist who had a close association with Jamal Khashoggi, the murdered Washington Post journalist, told the Guardian that he believed he was facing a threat to his safety and that the Canadians had credible information about a possible plan to harm him.

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‘Horror scene’ in Canada after 38 dead puppies found on plane

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Bodies of French bulldogs were among about 500 dogs discovered on flight from Ukraine at Toronto airport

Canada has launched an investigation after some 500 puppies – 38 of them dead – were found on board a Ukraine International Airlines plane at the Toronto airport, officials said Saturday.

The surviving French bulldogs, a popular breed in Canada, were suffering from symptoms including dehydration, weakness and vomiting when they were found on the flight from Ukraine that landed at Toronto Pearson airport on 13 June, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a statement.

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Canada’s failed UN security council bid exposes Trudeau’s ‘dilettante’ foreign policy

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Second failed attempt to win seat raises questions about messaging and clarity in Canada’s foreign policy, experts say

When Justin Trudeau was first elected in 2015, he promised that his victory would help Canada vault back on to the world stage, and reclaim a global influence that had eroded in previous years.

“To this country’s friends all around the world, many of you have worried that Canada has lost its compassionate and constructive voice in the world,” Trudeau told a raucous crowd on election night. “Well, I have a simple message for you. On behalf of 35 million Canadians: we’re back.”

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Americans reportedly find ‘loophole’ to violate Canada’s Covid-19 border closure

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Officials investigating reports that US citizens are crossing border on pretext of visiting Alaska, only to stay in Canada

For some Americans, the prospect of visiting the Rocky Mountains without hordes of visitors cramming its picturesque trails and alpine towns, is so tempting that they’re prepared to risk arrest.

Canadian officials are investigating reports that American tourists are making covert forays into the country, violating a border closure imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus.

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First Nations chief shown being punched by Canadian police in video

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Chief Allan Adam of Fort Chipewyan First Nation alleges police assaulted him in parking lot in March

Canadian police tackled and punched a prominent First Nations chief in the parking lot of a casino as they accused him of resisting arrest.

On Saturday, Chief Allan Adam of Fort Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta alleged he was assaulted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) during the incident in early March. It began over an allegation of an expired licence plate but quickly escalated into what Adam claims was a clearcut instance of excessive force.

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Canadian conservation officer fired for refusing to kill bear cubs wins legal battle

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Casavant shot mother black bear under province policy but was suspended and eventually fired for not killing cubs

A conservation officer in Canada who was fired for refusing to kill two black bear cubs has won a protracted legal battle over his termination.

“I feel like the black clouds that have hung over my family for years are finally starting to part,” Bryce Casavant told the Guardian. “But the moment is bittersweet – my firing should have never happened in the first place.”

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‘I raised hell’: how people worldwide answered the call of World Oceans Day

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From protecting fishing communities to regrowing coral reefs, Guardian readers and environmentalists share how they’re working to defend the ocean

World Oceans Day, which took place on Monday, is marked by hundreds of beach cleans and events globally. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, environmentalists and readers from around the world shared how they are continuing to work to protect the ocean, and told us about the local marine issues that matter to them.

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Coronavirus live news: Argentina records more than 1,000 daily cases for first time

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WHO official walks back asymptomatic transmission comments; world faces worst food crisis in 50 years; UK NHS waiting list could hit 10m

Japan’s lower house of parliament has approved an emergency budget worth nearly over £230bn, doubling the scale of measures to pep up the world’s third-biggest economy after the coronavirus tipped it into recession, AFP reports.

Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.

New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.

Related: 'Like a Stephen King movie': feral chickens return to plague New Zealand village

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Coronavirus live news: Africa passes 200,000 confirmed cases after Burundi president dies of suspected Covid-19

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Asylum applications in Europe fall to lowest level for a decade as borders closed; world faces worst food crisis in 50 years

Louise Taylor and David Conn report:

Premier League clubs should be braced for a collective £500m loss of revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic, Deloitte has warned.

Related: Premier League clubs set for £500m collective loss due to coronavirus

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak so far today include:

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Canada doubles weapons sales to Saudi Arabia despite moratorium

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  • Canada sells nearly C$3bn of military equipment in 2019
  • Ban on new exports in place over human rights concerns

Canada sold a record amount of military hardware to Saudi Arabia in 2019, despite sharply criticizing its poor human rights record and placing a moratorium on any new exports to the kingdom. 

Newly released figures show Canada sold nearly C$3bn (US$2.2bn) worth of military equipment to Saudi Arabia in 2019 – more than double the total of the previous year, reported the Globe and Mail. The bulk of the exports were light armoured vehicles, part of a deal with the Saudis worth C$14.8bn.

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Black boxes of downed Ukrainian plane of ‘no help’, Iran claims

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Tehran says it will transfer boxes of Flight 752 abroad but insists investigation is nearly complete

The black boxes of a Ukrainian plane that was mistakenly downed near Tehran airport will be of “no help” in any investigation, but Iran is ready to transfer them abroad, state media said Saturday.

Flight 752, an Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by a missile and crashed shortly after taking off from the Tehran airport on 8 January.

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Canadian First Nations chief says mounted police assaulted him

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Allan Adam claims police attacked him and his wife after he was stopped over licence tag

A prominent First Nations chief in Canada has said he and his wife were assaulted by police officers over an expired licence plate, an incident that came as the country grapples with continued violence against ethnic minorities at the hands of police.

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a well-known businessman whose community has extensive operations in Alberta’s oil sands, said he and his wife, Freda Courtoreille, had a violent encounter with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on 10 March that has left the community in anguish. 

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Justin Trudeau takes a knee but is silent on reforms to policing

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Canadian PM attends Ottawa rally but would not be drawn on new policies to tackle racism

Justin Trudeau took a knee in solidarity with anti-racism demonstrators on Friday, but remained silent at the event as his government faces questions over how it plans to address police violence. 

Wearing a black mask and surrounded by bodyguards, the Canadian prime minister made a surprise appearance at the No justice = No peace rally in Ottawa.

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Justin Trudeau takes a knee at anti-racism protest in Ottawa – video

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Justin Trudeau took a knee in solidarity with demonstrators at an anti-racism protest in Ottawa on Friday. Wearing a black cloth mask, the Canadian prime minister kneeled after protesters asked him to. Trudeau said earlier this week that Canadians were watching what was unfolding in the US with horror and consternation, and he paused for 21 seconds when asked about Donald Trump and the use of teargas against protesters to clear the way for a photo opportunity

  • Justin Trudeau takes a knee at Ottawa anti-racism protest
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Canada police under scrutiny after two women die after encounters with officers

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Agency faces criticism over its capacity to de-escalate situations involving racial minorities or those with mental health issues

Police in Canada are facing growing scrutiny after two women – both members of ethnic minorities and both suffering mental health problems – died following encounters with officers. 

The deaths come as tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the US in protest over police violence against racial minorities, prompted by the police killing of George Floyd.

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Many of the 300 plants and animals endemic to Canada at risk, report finds

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Ours to Save identified 308 species and subspecies but only 10% considered ‘globally secure’ or ‘apparently secure’

There are few animals more iconically Canadian than the moose and the beaver, and few plants more closely associated with the country than the maple leaf.

But while those species have long considered part of the nation’s ecological identity they are also found elsewhere.

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Justin Trudeau lost for words over Trump handling of George Floyd protests

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Canadian prime minister pauses for 20 seconds before saying: ‘We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States’

Justin Trudeau, when asked about US president Donald Trump threatening to use the military to quell protests over the police killing of George Floyd, paused for more than 20 seconds before responding that Canadians were observing events in the US with horror.

“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States,” the Canadian prime minister said on Tuesday at a daily news briefing, after a reporter pressed him on Trump’s idea of using soldiers against protesters.

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Trudeau speechless at Trump’s reaction to Floyd protests – video

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The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was silent for 21 seconds in reaction to a question on Donald Trump's handling of protests across the US over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer.

Trudeau said Canada also had to face up to 'systemic discrimination' and become allies against it

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Trudeau: Canadians watching US unrest and police violence in ‘shock and horror’

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Prime minister condemned racism and called on Canada to ‘stand together in solidarity’ against racial hate as protests continue in US

Canadians are watching unrest and police violence in the United States in “shock and horror”, Justin Trudeau said on Friday – but the prime minister cautioned that his country also has entrenched problems with racism. 

The city of Minneapolis has been rocked by a third night of violent protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, after a white police officer knelt on his neck as he lay on the ground following arrest. 

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