Author: Todd Cox

The effects of a summer of environmental catastrophes were felt everywhere in Canada, from its vast boreal forests to a river on Vancouver Island once fished by Hollywood royalty. The salmon were once so plentiful in the river that old-timers talk about having been able to cross on the backs of fish so thick they were like steppingstones. Such was the renown of the Cowichan River, flowing east on Canada’s Vancouver Island, that its fly-fishing conditions were posted in fishing clubs in London. John Wayne and Bing Crosby were regulars in Cowichan Bay. So when hundreds of young salmon and trout were found…

The patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet “Vasily Bykov” discovered the dry cargo ship “Sukra Okan” under the flag of Palau, the ship was heading to the Ukrainian port of Izmail, warning fire had to be opened to stop it, the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry said . A Russian ship discovered a foreign cargo ship in the southwestern part of the Black Sea on Sunday, August 13, around 6:40 Moscow time. According to the defense department, the captain of the ship did not respond to the request to stop for inspection for the transport of prohibited goods. Then a warning…

Canada’s Veterans Affairs minister is condemning vandalism to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France. In a statement, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, who is also the Associate Minister of National Defence, said she was “appalled” to hear of the vandalism. “As all Canadians know, this is a sacred place commemorating the sacrifice of the 60,000 Canadians who gave their lives in order to protect the freedoms of the citizens of France and Belgium over 100 years ago during the First World War,” she said. “The memorial bears the names of those who died in France with no known grave and stands…

Since 2019, Lethbridge has had the highest rate of severe crime of any Canadian city but 2022 numbers released by Statistics Canada tell a new tale. The city dropped from first to third on Statistics Canada’s annual Crime Severity Index report, or CSI. It calculates the volume and seriousness of crimes in a community. The decline includes an eight per cent decrease in crime severity and a five per cent drop in crime rate in 2022. “As the crime and CSI is increasing across the country and in the province, we are showing a downward trend in both those categories, which…

A US senator has acknowledged that “white nationalists are racists”, changing course on his previous comments. In a CNN interview this week, Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, said it was “some people’s opinion” that white nationalists are racist. That statement was condemned by both sides of the US political spectrum. In several recent media interviews Mr Tuberville had repeatedly declined to call white nationalists racist. Organisations that track extremist groups in the US largely define white nationalism as an ideology that seeks to create an “ethno-state” with white identity at its heart. During an interview with CNN on Monday, Mr…

Former US national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar has been stabbed at least 10 times at a Florida prison. Nassar, serving up to 175 years for molesting gymnasts, was attacked by another inmate on Sunday. He is reportedly in hospital in a stable condition and is said to have suffered a collapsed lung. The 59-year-old was jailed for sexually assaulting athletes, and possession of child pornography. Hundreds of accusers have come forward. During the assault, Nassar was stabbed twice in the neck, twice in the back and six times in the chest, a prison union leader told CBS News, the…

Washington intends to transform India into a major hub for maintenance and resupplying of its warships in the South Asia region as part of a military partnership pact aimed at countering Beijing, according to a report. US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to comprehensive defense and economic partnerships when Modi visited the White House in late June for a summit with Biden. “The US-India Major Defense Partnership has emerged as a pillar of global peace and security,” the joint statement from the summit reads. The US will provide India with support to develop infrastructure that…

Alaskans who rely on natural gas are on the verge of a shortage, as Hilcorp, the one big producer in Cook Inlet is running out of easily accessible gas and warns it might not sign future contracts with utilities. The State of Alaska says demand for gas might outpace supply as soon as 2027. KDLL’s Sabine Poux has been covering the looming shortages and reports that they don’t come as a surprise — and that, in fact, Alaska has seen them coming for decades. Sabine Poux: Basically, a lot of Alaskans are dependent on natural gas. Many of us use it to heat…

Ukrainian president says renewed push against Russian forces might ‘cost Ukraine dearly’ The Ukrainian armed forces are now ready to launch a counteroffensive, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. “I do not know how long it will take (to launch an offensive). To be honest, it can go in different ways, completely different ways. But we intend to do it, and we are ready,” he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He added that this counteroffensive might “cost Ukraine dearly.” Asked about his hopes Ukraine will join NATO, Zelenskyy said that if Kyiv is not given a…

The May 3 state visit of President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon to Kazakhstan showed that the strategic cooperation will grow in the coming years, Yersultan Zhanseitov from the Institute of World Economy and Politics said in an interview with Jibek Joly TV Channel. “I believe the main goal of the visit is purely economic. Trade is one of the biggest topics alongside other topics such as transport corridors as the way to develop our bilateral trade, also politics and geopolitics like matters of Afghanistan and Central Asian integration,” the expert said. According to him, regional integration will play a major…