Author: Warren Gerard Bishop

Construction on a wildlife overpass project east of Canmore, Alta., has been delayed due to design and safety issues.  The overpass is set to be the first wildlife overpass along the Trans-Canada Highway outside of Banff National Park — designed to be built over the stretch of highway where dozens of elk have been killed by vehicles driving through Alberta’s mountains. In an emailed statement Monday, Alberta Transportation said the project has halted due to construction challenges.  “Some of the work done by the contractor does not meet our design and safety standards. Work will continue in the spring to…

Russia’s Ministry of Defence has called the publication by media about a regrouping of its troops in Ukraine a “provocation”. The ministry said that the reports by two state news agencies on Monday, discussing Russian troop movements in Ukraine, were “false”. The reports were quickly withdrawn after publication. “The transmission of a false report about the “regrouping” of troops in the Dnipro area, allegedly on behalf of the Russian Defence Ministry’s press centre, is a provocation,” the ministry said, according to the RBC news outlet. The reports, by the RIA Novosti and TASS agencies, had said that Russian troops were being…

Police in Montreal are investigating possible hate crimes after two Jewish schools in the city were hit with gunshots overnight. Bullet holes were found on the doors of both schools on Thursday morning, police said, along with bullet casings. No-one was in the buildings at the time of the shooting and no-one was injured. The incidents have shaken Montreal’s Jewish community, who say they are concerned about a rise in hate crimes amid the Israel-Gaza war. “The Jewish community, with close to 300 years of history in Quebec, is under attack,” Yair Szlak, head of Montreal-based Jewish organisation Federation CJA,…

Valencia, Turin, Madrid (28/11 – 25) Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia retained his MotoGP world title with many records; there are nevertheless signs that the Ducati rider will face sterner competition next season. The Italian rider won the 2023 season-ending MotoGP Grand Prix in Valencia on Sunday to clinch his second world title in a row. The protege of Valentino Rossi becomes the third rider to take back-to-back MotoGP titles since the introduction of the class in 2002. Only Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez previously managed to do that. Bagnaia is the first rider to successfully race and defend #1 in the…

At least 17 people have died with many others injured after two trains collided in eastern Bangladesh, authorities say. A freight train smashed into the rear coaches of a passenger train in Bhairab, 80km (50 mile) north-east of Dhaka on Monday afternoon. A signal error likely caused the collision, a railway official who asked not to be named told BBC Bengali. Train mishaps are not uncommon in Bangladesh due to poor infrastructure. Fourteen people on board the passenger train named Egarsindhur Twilight died on the spot after Monday’s collision at the Jagannathpur rail crossing caused three carriages to overturn, BBC…

The city of Whale Pass in Southeast Alaska doesn’t have much: a few dozen residents, a road, a school and a few lodges, among other businesses. But what it does have is a lot of trees. The town, nestled in a cove on the north end of Prince of Wales Island, has been the site of logging camps since the 1960s. Like the rest of Southeast Alaska, the area is covered by the Tongass National Forest, the United States’ largest national forest. Now, Whale Pass residents are fighting a pending timber sale in their town, pushing for the area to…

Iranian human rights activist Nargis Mohammadi has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her “struggle against the oppression of women in Iran and for promoting human rights and freedom for all.” The Nobel Committee reports this. Nargiz Mohammadi is currently in an Iranian prison. Iranian authorities arrested her 13 times, tried her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 154 lashes and 31 years in prison. Mohammadi is an employee of the human rights center, which is headed by another Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2003), Shirin Ebadi. Nargiz Mohammadi received her first multi-year sentence in 2011 for helping political…

Extreme weather caused by climate change — droughts followed by heavy rains — wreaked havoc with the pumpkin harvest across Canada this year.Nova Scotia pumpkin farmer Danny Dill said the spring planting season was extremely dry. A spell of hot weather and then nearly two weeks of historic wildfires in late May and early June left behind more than 235 square kilometres of scorched ground. “It was just like a dust bowl there,” said Dill, owner of Howard Dill Enterprises, in Windsor, N.S. But starting in June, heavy rains poured in, which made his farm resemble a waterbed and kept…

The Peace River Regional District says the sudden closure of the Alaska Highway News and Dawson Creek Mirror has left a communication gap in Northeast B.C, but will explore options to reach rural residents and satisfy community bylaws. Internet connectivity isn’t a guarantee in the Peace Region, and many residents relied on the local newspapers to access public notices advertised by the PRRD. “The primary reason that a newspaper was one of the accepted means for this, is that it did actually get out to almost all of the residences that have an address,” said Area B Director Jordan Kealy…

The Russian Orthodox church on the outskirts of Alaska’s biggest city is packed with treasures for the Christian faithful: religious icons gifted by Romanov czars, panels of oil paintings and jewel-studded incense burners. But outside the hand-hewn log sanctuary, dozens of miniature Alaska Native spirit houses sit by aging gravesites alongside Orthodox crosses poking from the cemetery grounds. The narrow church with white-framed windows near Anchorage is a vestige of Russia’s nearly 150-year attempt to colonize Alaska and the Indigenous people who lived here. But over time, St. Nicholas Church became an important touchstone for Alaska Natives as well. The…