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A Chinese Australian journalist detained for 3 years in China returns to Australia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Chinese Australian journalist who was convicted on murky espionage charges and detained in China for three years has returned to Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday.Cheng Lei, 48, worked for the international department of China’s state broadcaster CCTV. She has reunited with her two children in Melbourne, Albanese said.Albanese said Australia had traded nothing with China for Cheng’s release.“Her release follows the completion of judicial processes in China,” he said.China’s Ministry of State Security said that Cheng had been approached by a foreign organization in May 2020 and provided them with state secrets she had obtained on the job in violation of a confidentiality clause signed with her employer. A police statement did not name the organization or say what the secrets were.A court in Beijing convicted her of illegally providing state secrets abroad and she was sentenced to two years and 11 months, the statement s...

Malaysia’s wildlife department defends its use of puppies as live bait to trap black panthers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s Wildlife Department defended its use of puppies as live bait to capture black panthers spotted at a Malaysian village after animal rights groups protested the method and appealed to the government to use other means.The department resorted to using puppies after earlier attempts to lure the panthers with a goat failed. It’s standard procedure to use live animals, Wildlife Department Director General Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said in remarks published Tuesday, noting that the puppies were not physically harmed in the process.“In this particular case, there was indication that the panther had attacked dogs (before), so we used the puppies for their barking and scent to attract the panther,” he told the Free Malaysia Today online news portal. Farmers in a village in southern Negeri Sembilan state were terrified after spotting a panther near their home in September. Villagers lodged a complaint with the Wildlife Department after a panthe...

Israel strikes neighborhood after neighborhood in sealed-off Gaza as war appears set to escalate

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip scrambled to find safety Wednesday, as Israel hammered neighborhood after neighborhood in the tiny coastal enclave in retaliation for the deadly mass incursion by Hamas militants and vowed an even more punishing escalation. Airstrikes smashed entire city blocks to rubble, leaving unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris, and continued even as Hamas militants hold dozens of captives seized during their shocking attack into Israel over the weekend.Israel has vowed an unprecedented offensive against the Islamic militant group ruling Gaza after its fighters broke through the border fence and stormed into the country’s south, gunning down hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. They dragged an estimated 150 people – soldiers, men, women, children and the elderly – into captivity in Gaza.As Palestinians crowded into U.N. schools and a shrinking number of safe neighborhoods, h...

In the news today: Health ministers in Charlottetown and key convoy trial decision

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Health ministers to meet in CharlottetownFederal Health Minister Mark Holland is set to sit down with his provincial and territorial counterparts in Charlottetown on Wednesday to discuss how they’re going to grow the health workforce. Holland, who was shuffled into the health portfolio this summer during what many advocates have called a crisis in health care, as health workers struggle to keep the provincial and territorial systems afloat. Bringing new workers into the industry and retaining those who are already there is the priority, Holland said.“We have to look at our foreign credentials, we have to look at pan-Canadian licensure,” he said at a press conference in British Columbia on Tuesday.The ministers will also talk about improving the integration of health data from one province to the next, which is a condition of the health accord ...

Judge to decide if Ottawa locals can testify in ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers’ trial

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

OTTAWA — The criminal trial of two prominent “Freedom Convoy” organizers is expected to resume today with a ruling on whether the court will hear testimony from local Ottawa residents. Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are facing charges related to their role in organizing the protest that brought thousands of big-rig trucks to Ottawa, where demonstrators remained for three weeks.Lich’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon asked the judge not to let the locals testify, arguing their testimony would be irrelevant.Lich and Barber have already signed admissions that the actions of certain individuals who participated in the protest interfered with public transit and the lawful use and enjoyment of property and businesses.The Crown has maintained that it prefers to call its case as it sees fit, and wants local witnesses to tell the court how disruption, intimidation and obstructions caused by the protest manifested on the streets.The first 13 days of the trial took place in September ...

Health ministers converge in P.E.I. as governments negotiate final deals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal Health Minister Mark Holland is set to sit down with his provincial and territorial counterparts in Charlottetown on Wednesday to discuss how they’re going to grow the health workforce. Holland, who was shuffled into the health portfolio this summer during what many advocates have called a crisis in health care, as health workers struggle to keep the provincial and territorial systems afloat. Bringing new workers into the industry and retaining those who are already there is the priority, Holland said.“We have to look at our foreign credentials, we have to look at pan-Canadian licensure,” he said at a press conference in British Columbia on Tuesday.The ministers will also talk about improving the integration of health data from one province to the next, which is a condition of the health accord the prime minister offered premiers in February.  The meeting in Prince Edward Island comes a day after British Columbia signed the first bilateral funding ...

War crimes inquiry research sheds fresh light on Canadian screening, policies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

OTTAWA — When an individual suspected of taking part in the Second World War murder of Jews in western Ukraine applied for admission to Canada in 1951, immigration officials did not follow up with potential witnesses who might have provided crucial details.In another case, a Slovak leader hoping to unite émigrés under his leadership was allowed to visit Canada repeatedly in the 1950s and ’60s, despite a record of war crimes.In 1962, the RCMP learned that a Soviet trial of concentration camp guards in what is now called Belarus had named two people living in Canada as active participants in the execution of civilians during the war.These are among several unsettling vignettes in the latest, more revealing version of a September 1986 study prepared for a landmark federal commission of inquiry on war crimes.Even though the cases are labelled with letters of the alphabet, not names of suspects, they were excised from the original version of researcher Alti Rodal’s study, ini...

Conservationists raise concerns over B.C.’s proposed grizzly bear stewardship plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

Grizzly bears seen starving in the rainforests of British Columbia’s south coast because there isn’t enough salmon to sustain them raises alarm bells for wildlife biologist Wayne McCrory, who’s known as a leading bear expert in Canada.The science is “crying out” for greater habitat protections for the iconic species as industrial activities eat away at the landscapes the bears depend on, he said.“There’s a huge amount of protection work that needs to be done that isn’t happening, so you can say it’s in a crisis mode,” he said in an interview.McCrory said the province’s draftplan to adjust grizzly management doesn’t meaningfully address habitat loss and could prove “disastrous” for the bears.He is among the signatories of an open letter sent to provincial officials last week as public engagement closed for the draft grizzly stewardship framework.The letter published by Pacific Wild and signed by more ...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit fire-ravaged Northwest Territories

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

HAY RIVER, N.W.T. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to visit areas ravaged during a record wildfire season in the Northwest Territories today.Trudeau is scheduled to meet with local leaders in Hay River and visit sites affected by recent wildfires.A fast-moving wildfire in August tore through the hamlet of Enterprise, about 40 kilometres south of Hay River, destroying nearly all of the community’s homes and structures.Burnt trees, scorched homes and melted vehicles remain throughout the community of about 100 located along a highway north of the Alberta boundary.Around 20 people have returned, but many remain elsewhere in the territory and other parts of Canada after their homes were destroyed.The territory saw nearly 70 per cent of its population displaced during the fire season, including a three-week evacuation order that forced around 20,000 people to flee Yellowknife.Wildfires have burned a record area across the territory since flaring up in the spring. Ninety-five were s...

Daily horoscope for October 11, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:32 GMT

Moon Alert: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The Moon is in Virgo.Happy Birthday for Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023:You like to socialize. You’re easygoing, friendly and well-liked. You are also ambitious. This is a year full of opportunities for you because it’s the beginning of a new nine-year cycle, which means you can explore new avenues and open any door. Be courageous!ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★This is a productive day. Others will be helpful, especially co-workers and colleagues. Work-related travel is likely for many of you. Nevertheless, no matter what you do, this is a happy day, because people will be generous and warm to each other. (It makes a huge difference!) Tonight: Check your finances.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★★This is the perfect day to meet friends for a long, enjoyable lunch or hang out with the gang at happy hour. Sports events and fun activities with kids will appeal to you. This is also a warm, fun-loving, romantic d...