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US denies Chinese claim it drove away American destroyer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The United States denied Chinese claims Thursday that its military had driven away an American guided-missile destroyer from operating around disputed islands in the South China Sea, in an incident that comes as tensions in the region between the two powers continue to rise.The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said that a statement from China’s Southern Theatre Command that it had forced the USS Milius away from waters around the Paracel Islands — called Xisha by China — was “false.”“USS Milius is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and was not expelled,” said Lt. j.g. Luka Bakic in response to a query from The Associated Press. “The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” Bakic added. Bakic would not comment on whether the ship had been operating in immediate proximity of the Paracel Islands, which are in the South China Sea a few hundred kilometers (miles) off the coast of Vietnam and the Chinese pro...

‘On tour in hell’: Wounded Ukrainian soldiers evacuated

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Their hands are blackened and grimy from the fight. Some are still wearing their combat boots, small flecks of black soil from the battlefield clinging to their torsos, bare under the emergency blanket.With bandaged heads and splinted limbs, the wounded soldiers are stretchered into the waiting medical evacuation bus by members of the Hospitallers, a Ukrainian organization of volunteer paramedics who work on the front lines in the war in Ukraine.The soldiers were all wounded recently in fierce fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have been pressing advances. The battle in Bakhmut, a city now encircled on three sides by Russian troops, has been particularly bloody, with soldiers describing endless days of combat, often at close quarters. “We’ve been on tour in hell,” said Yura as he lay on a bed in the specially equipped medical bus. Blood stained the heavy bandages around his right forearm, held together by metal rods used...

In The News for March 23: Liberal MP quits caucus amid Chinese interference claims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of March 23 …What we are watching in Canada …Han Dong, the member of Parliament at the centre of allegations of Chinese meddling in Canadian affairs, has resigned from the Liberal caucus and will sit as an Independent.“I’m taking this extraordinary step because to sitting in the government caucus is a privilege,” Dong told the House of Commons Wednesday night. “And my presence there may be seen by some as a conflict of duty and the wrong place to be as an independent investigation pursues the facts in this matter.”Global News, citing unnamed security sources, published a report Wednesday night alleging that Dong advised a Chinese diplomat in Toronto in February 2021 on the cases of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.At the time, the two Canadian men had been detained in China for just ove...

Logging, forest loss may have awakened ancient B.C. landslides, at cost of about $1B

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

A series of ancient landslides have been “reawakened” in British Columbia’s Cariboo region, costing hundreds of millions in federal disaster assistance funds and prompting warnings thatlogging is connected to the problem.The slides and flooding in spring of 2020 and 2021 washed out roadways surrounding Quesnel, where geotechnical studies have also linked ongoing land movement beneath hundreds of homes with historic, slow-moving landslides. The financial scale of the problem is revealed in a document obtained through a freedom of information request, showing the B.C. government estimated that damage caused by the landslides throughout the Cariboo would be eligible for federal disaster assistance of $995 million.The briefing note was prepared for B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth in December 2021.In response to a question about the estimate, B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management said the province has so far received $405 million in advance payments f...

From pastries to policy, here’s a look at a century of presidential visits to Canada

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

OTTAWA — It remains to be seen whether the president’s Irish eyes will be smiling in Ottawa this week, but Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau will almost certainly have a more pleasant get-together than the last visit by a U.S. leader to his northern neighbour.It’s been nearly five years since Donald Trump flew to La Malbaie, Que., for a G7 summit — a meeting that was later characterized as ending in “disarray.”A memorable image courtesy of the official Instagram account of then-German chancellor Angela Merkel summed up the talks. In the photo, Trump sits on one side of a table with his arms crossed, glancing up at those who surround him with a half-smirk. Leaning toward him from the opposite side is a stern Merkel, whose hands are flat on the white tablecloth, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who seems to have Trump’s attention. Shinzo Abe, then prime minister of Japan, is in the centre of the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. Trudeau isn’t captured...

An unbreakable friendship: A look at past U.S. presidential addresses to Parliament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

OTTAWA — United States President Joe Biden is set to deliver a speech to Parliament on Friday, becoming the ninth president to address Canadians in Ottawa.Here’s a look back at past presidential speeches and the eras that defined them. Aug. 25, 1943 — Franklin Roosevelt In his speech, Roosevelt envisioned future after the Second World War, where the Allies defeat the Nazis. He also celebrated a victory in Italy, weeks before the country surrendered to American, Canadian and British Allies in Sicily.“There is a longing in the air. It is not a longing to go back to what they call ‘the good old days.’ I have distinct reservations as to how good ‘the good old days’ were. I would rather believe that we can achieve new and better days.”June 11, 1947 — Harry S. TrumanTruman addressed Parliament during the post-war era, when he pushed for the building of both countries’ military defence and trade, adding that they jointly “face the futur...

Ontario budget to bring ‘targeted investments’ but no more paid sick day program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

TORONTO — It’s budget day in Ontario and the finance minister says he’s prepared a plan with “targeted investments” to ensure the province’s economy stays resilient in the face of uncertainty.One investment that won’t be in the budget, however, is a sick day program.Government sources told The Canadian Press on the eve of the budget that a program to give workers three paid sick days during the pandemic won’t be renewed after it expires at the end of this month.The Opposition NDP has pushed for the establishment of 10 permanent paid sick days and leader Marit Stiles says people should never be forced to go to work sick just to put food on the table.  Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has been signalling that his budget will feature restraint, after years of big spending on COVID-19-related programs, but has said that won’t equal program cuts.Bethlenfalvy says the budget will be a plan to attract jobs and build – he and the premier ha...

Firm handshakes, hard lines: Trudeau, Biden to talk protectionism, Haiti, migration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

WASHINGTON — He’s hell-bent on restoring blue-collar American manufacturing to its former glory, considers free trade a dirty word and wants Canada to wade voluntarily into a failed, gang-ravaged state that’s a quagmire waiting to happen. To be sure, Joe Biden is no Donald Trump. But he doesn’t always make it obvious. The U.S. president arrives in Ottawa tonight on a whirlwind 24-hour visit — a significantly less elaborate itinerary than first envisioned in the Prime Minister’s Office — two full years since becoming commander-in-chief.“This will be the first true, in-person bilateral meeting between the two leaders in Canada since 2009,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. The first year of Biden’s term focused on rebuilding Canada-U.S. relations following Trump’s divisive term in office. The second focused on meeting obligations, “including prioritizing orderly and safe migration through regular path...

Budget 2023 to detail crackdown on ‘junk fees’ for consumers: federal source

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

OTTAWA — A federal source says the coming budget will detail how the Liberals plan to go after hidden or unexpected consumer fees, following the United States announcing its own crackdown on these charges.Often referred to as “junk fees,” they can include those tacked on to the initial price of a product or service that hide, and inflate, the total cost.The government official, who was granted anonymity to discuss matters not yet public in next week’s budget, says the Liberals plan to work with regulatory agencies, provinces and territories to cut down such fees.These agencies would include the Competition Bureau, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. No legislative changes regarding the charges are expected in the budget, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has said will include “targeted inflation relief” as part of efforts to make life more affordable.While the budget is expe...

Pope Francis’ tour came with a minimum $55-milliion price tag for Ottawa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:53 GMT

A family member of residential school survivors says the minimum $55-million price tag for Pope’ visit to Canada last year feels like another slap in the face for Indigenous people. “Think of all the money that could have gone to survivors, all of the money that could have gone to healing, all of the money that was rightfully supposed to be given to folks who survived genocide,” Michelle Robinson, who is Sahtu Dene, said from Calgary. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under freedom of information laws show the federal government spent a minimum of $55,972,683 for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Canada over six days last July.   Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools during stops in Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut.Indigenous Services Canada earmarked about $30 million. Those funds were to be used for travel, local programs and healing initiatives.Crown-Indigenous Relations spent $5.1 million, the majority for a $3.9-million c...