Author: Carlos White

Intelligence officials suspect Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek of colluding with the far-right Freedom Party on Moscow’s behalf. VIENNA — The coup began with the sound of a doorbell. Just after 8 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2018, Austrian police Commander Wolfgang Preiszler pressed the buzzer at the headquarters of the country’s domestic intelligence service and held his ID up to the security camera. Within minutes, dozens of his colleagues armed with Glock pistols and a battering ram fanned out through the building in bullet-proof vests and balaclavas, seizing confidential data stored on the agency’s servers and sensitive documents lying on desks.…

Larry Persily doesn’t believe the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas Project, the long-envisioned gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay, will happen. And he thinks Alaska will probably need to import natural gas in the future. That was the thesis of his lecture, “Gasonomics,” delivered Thursday evening at Kenai Peninsula College. Persily — a longtime Alaska oil and gas observer and journalist — drew a full room for his lecture, billed as an evening of “blunt economics and humor on the state of natural gas.” “I haven’t felt this popular in 20 years, when one of my jobs at the Department of Revenue…

Health Canada has authorized an adapted vaccine from Novavax to prevent COVID-19 in people age 12 and older. Novavax’s product — Nuvaxovid XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant COVID-19 vaccine — uses a more traditional approach to defend the body against severe infection, hospitalization and death. It is also authorized as a booster for those 18 and older, according to Health Canada’s webpage. Novavax said it expects to have doses available across the country. Novavax’s first vaccine to protect against COVID-19, known as Nuvaxovid, was authorized for use in Canadians 18 and over by Health Canada in February 2022. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines have also been updated to target XBB.1.5…

Concern is growing over Ukraine’s ability to continue its defence against Russia should delays of Western funds persist. Uncertainty is growing over Western backing for Ukraine amid Russia’s intensifying campaign to knock out the country’s energy infrastructure. The White House has warned the United States Congress that funds designated for providing aid to Ukraine would run out by the end of the year, in a letter made public on Monday. The European Union is also facing difficulties in agreeing on a new 50 billion euro ($54bn) lifeline for Kyiv. “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end…

I’m Laureli Ivanoff. I am Inupiaq and Yup’ik. I am from and continue to make my home in Unalakleet, and I am the executive director of Native Peoples Action. NPA is a statewide advocacy organization — we work to protect Alaska Native hunting, fishing and harvesting rights. The traditional harvesting culture in Alaska Native communities remains strong, vibrant and necessary, not only for our livelihood, but for the health, sense of identity, and the food sovereignty we rely upon to pass down a way of life central to who we are as Indigenous Alaskans. The rivers, the land, and the…

Some Palestinians who fled their homes in the north of Gaza are starting to return because of the dire situation in the south, a senior UN official says. Israel told 1.1 million residents of Gaza City and other northern areas to leave for their own safety last week. But the UN official said they were struggling to find shelter, food and drinking water in the south. The Hamas-run health ministry also said hundreds had been killed there in Israeli air strikes over the past day. The Israeli military said it had hit hundreds of military targets belonging to Hamas across…

The White House says that a three-year-old American whose parents were killed by Hamas is among the hostages in Gaza. President Joe Biden raised the issue of hostages, including the toddler, with a call with Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar on Sunday. It comes as the White House says “urgent” efforts to free hostages taken after the 7 October attack by Hamas are continuing. The US says there are 10 Americans still unaccounted for since the attack. According to a readout of the call between Mr Biden and Sheikh Tamim released by the White House, the president…

In its ham-fisted rush to issue its 2022 “ranking” of B.C.’s elementary schools using only the results of the Education Ministry’s controversial Foundations Skills Assessment, the Fraser Institute — a conservative ­public policy “think tank” — may have backed itself into an uncomfortable corner in this time of Orange Shirt Days and truth and reconciliation initiatives.A 2021 ministry report on the performance of ­Aboriginal students in the public school system, ­entitled “How Are We Doing?,” counted 1,405 of B.C.’s K-7 schools as having 72,149 Indigenous students. The Foundations Skills Assessment is administered to all Grade 4 and Grade 7 students,…

Sequins, rhinestones, platform heels, glitter and feathers filled Montreal’s Palais des Congrès during the first day of Canada’s first ever drag convention on Saturday. Over 100 drag artists from all over the country — and some contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race — bustled around the venue, meeting with fans in between lip syncs, cabaret performances and conference panels. The convention’s goal is to increase visibility and showcase different kinds of drag through workshops, makeovers and shows over the weekend. Montreal drag legend Rita Baga, who competed on Canada’s Drag Race and hosts Drag Race Belgium, said the city was the…

Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and that fishery will remain closed for a second straight year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday. “The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the prior two seasons were closed based on low abundance and particularly low abundance of mature-sized female crabs,” said Mark Stichert, the state department’s ground fish and shellfish management coordinator.…