The women were abducted in Kumasi, and security sources have suggested it was a kidnapping for ransom
Two Canadian women who were volunteering with an international development organisation have been abducted in Ghana, a rare attack in a country seen as one of the most secure in the West African region.
The Canadians, who are ages 19 and 20, were taken on Tuesday evening in Kumasi, Ghana’s second city, some 200km (125 miles) north-west of the capital Accra.
Continue reading...Tourist hails ‘lucky guess’ after random numbers open 900kg container sealed for decades
When Stephen Mills spotted a dusty old safe in a museum in Canada, he thought he’d try to crack the code, “just like in the movies”. But when he began turning the dial, he wasn’t expecting a Hollywood ending.
For years, anyone who visited the Vermillion Heritage Museum in Alberta would have passed by a large, black metal box. Staff knew it had come from the long-gone Brunswick hotel and was donated to the museum in the 1990s. But its code and contents remained a mystery for decades – until Mills unexpectedly cracked the combination.
Continue reading...Project with Google’s Sidewalk Labs comes under increasing scrutiny amid concerns over privacy and data harvesting
A “smart city” project in Canada has hit yet another snag, as mounting delays and privacy concerns threaten the controversial development along the Toronto’s eastern waterfront.
The 12-acre Quayside project, a partnership between Google’s Sidewalk Labs and the city of Toronto, has come under increasing scrutiny amid concerns over privacy and data harvesting.
Continue reading...Canadians can no longer turn a blind eye to the “genocide” of Indigenous peoples in the country, a landmark report on missing and murdered women has concluded.
Indigenous communities across the country have for decades attempted to convey the depth and scope of a tragedy that has haunted thousands of families.
Continue reading...Government’s inquiry into disappeared women and girls to be published Monday
Three decades of missing and murdered Indigenous women amounts to a “Canadian genocide”, a leaked landmark government report has concluded.
The document, titled Reclaiming Power and Place, was compiled over more than two and a half years. Canada’s CBC News was given a copy of the report, which is due to be released on Monday, on Friday. Its contents were confirmed to the Guardian by an individual working within the inquiry.
Continue reading...Container ship M/V Bavaria, with tonnes of garbage on board, has left Subic Bay on a 20-day journey to Vancouver
The Philippines has made good on a threat by President Rodrigo Duterte and put 69 containers of what its officials called illegally transported garbage on a ship that is heading to Canada.
The nation is one of two in south-east Asia that have protested being treated like dumpsites by wealthier countries.
Continue reading...Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould were expelled from Canada’s ruling party in April
Two former ministers in Justin Trudeau’s administration will run as independent candidates in this year’s federal election, reopening wounds from a recent political scandal that has damaged the prime minister’s popularity and cast doubt on the Liberal party’s ability to form a government in October.
In separate events held on either side of Canada on Monday, former ministers Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould announced they would hold no party affiliation as they run for parliament.
Continue reading...Use of terms ‘climate crisis’ and ‘global heating’ prompts reviews in other newsrooms
The Guardian’s decision to alter its style guide to better convey the environmental crises unfolding around the world has prompted some other media outlets to reconsider the terms they use in their own coverage.
After the Guardian announced it would now routinely use the words “climate emergency, crisis or breakdown” instead of “climate change”, a memo was sent by the standards editor of CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster, to staff acknowledging that a “recent shift in style at the British newspaper the Guardian has prompted requests to review the language we use in global warming coverage”.
Continue reading...Two friends’ playful kiss rekindles suppressed feelings in a film swept along by rattling dialogue and simmering tensions
Xavier Dolan’s unstoppably garrulous, sweet-natured new movie is a coming-of-age film, or possibly an approaching-thirtysomethinghood film. Or perhaps it’s a portrait of a bunch of friends for whom things would never be the same again after that summer. It is not exactly a sexual awakening tale because the sexuality in question never really went to sleep. But it is a love story.
Related: Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood review - Tarantino's dazzling LA redemption song
Continue reading...Fungus is half a billion years older than previous record holder found in Wisconsin
Tiny fossils found in mudrock in the barren wilderness of the Canadian Arctic are the remains of the oldest known fungus on Earth, scientists say.
The minuscule organisms were discovered in shallow water shale, a kind of fine-grained sedimentary rock, in a region south of Victoria island on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.
Continue reading...Conflicting accounts say victims travelling on private plane off Roatán island were from US or Canada
Five foreign tourists died on Saturday after a private plane they were traveling in crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from the island of Roatán, near the Atlantic coast of Honduras, local authorities said.
Related: Australian man one of six dead after midair seaplane collision in Alaska
Continue reading...The Trump administration moved to cool the simmering trade war with its major trading partners on Friday, ending tariffs on metal imports from Canada and Mexico and announcing a pause on planned tariffs on cars and car parts.
“I’m pleased to announce we’ve just reached agreement with Canada and Mexico,” Donald Trump said. “We’ll be selling our product into those countries without the imposition of tariffs.”
Continue reading...Four Americans and a Canadian also among those killed after crash involving cruise ship sightseeing planes
An Australian man has been confirmed as among six people killed after two sightseeing seaplanes crashed midair in Alaska.
Four Americans and one Canadian were also among those killed when two planes carrying 16 people – including the two pilots – collided and plunged into the icy cold waters of a inlet near the south-eastern Alaskan town of Ketchikan on Monday, the US coast guard said.
Continue reading...Biosecurity concerns raised over import from Canada as Australia’s winter crop forecast to drop 20% below 20-year long-term average
Australia is planning to import wheat for the first time in 12 years after drought across the eastern states saw grain production fall 20% last year.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources confirmed this week it had issued a bulk import permit to allow wheat to be brought in from Canada to be processed for the domestic market.
Continue reading...The NBA playoffs have been swept up in diplomatic drama, with US senator Ron Wyden expressing concern for the safety of Portland Trail Blazers player Enes Kanter if his team play the Toronto Raptors in the NBA finals.
Kanter is a fierce critic of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him the “Hitler of our Century”. The Turkish authorities in turn have accused Kanter of having links with an armed group behind a failed coup in the country in 2016. Last year, Kanter missed a trip to London with his then team the New York Knicks, saying he feared he could be “killed by Turkish spies”.
Continue reading...Lawyers fighting executive’s deportation from Canada to US say president’s comments prove case is politically motivated
Huawei’s chief financial officer intends to seek a stay on extradition proceedings, in part based on statements by Donald Trump about the case that her lawyers say disqualifies the United States from pursuing the matter in Canada.
Meng Wanzhou, 47, who faces charges related to Iran sanctions violations, was appearing at a Vancouver courthouse on Wednesday to set a timetable for her upcoming extradition hearing.
Continue reading...Islamic extremists vow to pursue Christian acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan
Asia Bibi has arrived in Canada hoping to start a new life after her years on death row. But although there is huge relief among campaigners for religious freedom that she is out of Pakistan, her ordeal may not be over.
Islamic extremists have pledged to pursue the Christian woman and kill her for the act of blasphemy of which she was accused and later acquitted. Bibi may spend the rest of her days looking over her shoulder in fear of an international assassin.
Continue reading...Christian woman freed last year after spending eight years on death row for blasphemy
Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy before she was freed last year, has flown to Canada where she has reunited with her family, her lawyer has said.
“It is a big day,” Saiful Malook told the Guardian. “Asia Bibi has left Pakistan and reached Canada. She has reunited with her family. Justice has been dispensed.”
Continue reading...An organisation founded in the 90s and revived in 2014 is now 1,100 volunteers who walk the streets looking for ways to help
In a small room in a Winnipeg community centre, dozens of volunteers strap on bright yellow vests and ready themselves for night patrol. Some will pick up syringes along the way, others will hand out fresh fruit and water – all under the banner of protecting the city’s most vulnerable.
“We are the boots on the ground,” said James Favel, the founder of Winnipeg’s Bear Clan. “We are the direct action that our nation has been crying for for decades.”
Continue reading...Thousands evacuated from eastern Canada as Justin Trudeau admits urgent action necessary to improve climate preparedness
News footage showed people boating where they once walked, homes and cars filled with muddy water, volunteers searching for lost pets. Thousands of people in eastern Canada have been forced from their homes as heavy rains and meltwater cause unprecedented flood evacuations.
One of the worst-hit areas was a Montreal suburb where more than 6,000 people were evacuated after a dyke burst on Sunday. A further 3,000 people were evacuated in other parts of Quebec, and in Ontario and New Brunswick, hundreds more are waiting out the floods in hotels and shelters.
Continue reading...