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Germany marks 70th anniversary of uprising against Communist dictatorship in east

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s parliament on Friday commemorated the 70th anniversary of a popular uprising in the Communist east that was brutally crushed by its Soviet-backed dictatorship.Worsening economic conditions and political repression in East Germany had prompted months of protests, starting in rural areas, that culminated in a call on June 16, 1953, for a general strike.The following day more than half a million people took to the streets across East Germany, including the capital, Berlin. About 50 people were killed and thousands were arrested by Communist secret police with the help of Soviet troops. Dozens of Soviet soldiers who refused to shoot protesters were executed.The East German regime branded the uprising a “fascist putsch” instigated by the West, a claim for which there was no evidence.It was the first revolt against Soviet rule in eastern Europe. Others would follow in Hungary and what was then Czechoslovakia.“The uprising of June 17 was not only directed agai...

African leaders set to meet with presidents of Ukraine, Russia in bid to end war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of a delegation of African leaders and senior officials seeking ways to end Kyiv’s 15-month war with Russia.Ramaphosa’s press service said that he was met by a Ukrainian special envoy and South Africa’s ambassador at a rail station near Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets following Russian forces’ withdrawal last spring. The Bucha visit was symbolically significant, as its name has come to stand for the barbarity of Moscow’s military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The brutal Russian occupation of Bucha left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves.The African delegation also includes senior officials from Zambia, Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and the Comoro Islands. Ramaphosa said last month that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin ...

In The News for June 16 : Manitoba grieving after deadly highway crash kills 15

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 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 June 16 …What we are watching in Canada …Residents in Dauphin, Man., are anxiously waiting for word on the identities of 15 people killed in a fiery bus crash.Mounties say the group of mostly seniors was heading to a casino when the bus they were on crashed with a semi-trailer near the town of Carberry, west of Winnipeg.Ten people were also sent to various hospitals.RCMP say they are working as fast as possible to identify the victims and get information to their families.They say those on the bus were from Dauphin and the nearby area.Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak says everyone in the city of about 8,600 knows someone who was on the bus, and there’s a collective feeling of shock.The drivers of the bus and truck are among the survivors.RCMP Supt. Rob Lasson says it appears the bus was crossing the Trans-Canada H...

Some Chinese Canadians embrace ‘white people food’ movement, others are baffled

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

VANCOUVER — Cheese sticks and a bagel. A boiled egg with raw broccoli. A fat ball of burrata cheese sitting atop a pile of green grapes.Welcome to the divisive world of “white people food,” a movement that has exploded in popularity among Chinese Canadian communities, both as an internet hashtag and lifestyle philosophy.At its core are depictions of simple — some might say depressing — meals. Plain, often raw, and devoid of sauces and flourish, the meals are a source of bafflement for some but inspiration for others. It echoes the recent Chinese social movement to “lie down flat.” A rejection of the relentless pace of the so-called 996 lifestyle, working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, that was once seen as an essential ingredient of Chinese success.University of British Columbia sociology professor Amy Hanser said the “white people food” movement symbolizes a mindset shift among younger Chinese, and a counter to a life of long toil.“It’s not a...

‘Hero to me’: Kyiv’s memory wall a reminder of losses in Ukraine-Russian conflicts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine — Yuri Pisarenko reaches high up on the Memory Wall of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, pulls down a faded portrait of his grandson and reverently puts an identical photo in its place. Timofy Pisarenko, 19, was killed by a landmine a day after Easter. The wall, created in 2014, has been updated over the past decade to honour victims of Ukraine’s wars against Russia. While the original panels were neatly structured with orderly military pictures, that changed after the beginning of the Russian invasion in February of last year.Grieving family members have been placing hundreds of personal photos.“It’s very important because of what it represents,” Yuri Pisarenko tells The Canadian Press through an interpreter. He shows pictures of his grandson and of a memorial he has at his home.“It’s important because so (many) people died for the freedom of Ukraine. There is some anger.”Pisarenko says the wounds remain fresh, especially ahead...

Thousands allowed back home, but officials say wildfires still leaving many displaced

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

People in parts of Alberta and British Columbia are returning home after wildfire evacuation orders were lifted Thursday.Thanks to recent rain and favourable winds, roughly 2,000 residents from Tumbler Ridge, B.C., were allowed to return home.An evacuation order was also lifted for the town of Edson, Alta., and surrounding area, allowing more than 8,000 to return. The ending of the order in Alberta comes six days after flames jumped fireguards outside the town 200 kilometres west of Edmonton and forced residents to get out.A statement on Edson’s website says residents should remain ready to leave with four hours’ notice, and an evacuation alert status will remain in place.Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says many people in Alberta, B.C. and Quebec have been able to return home, but thousands remain displaced due to fires across the country. Blair says rain and cooler weather have helped improve the fire situation significantly in the Maritimes and parts of Q...

RCMP working to confirm identities of 15 killed on bus heading to Manitoba casino

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

CARBERRY, Man. — Residents in Dauphin, Man., are anxiously waiting for word on the identities of 15 people killed in a fiery bus crash.Mounties say the group of mostly seniors was heading to a casino when the bus they were on crashed with a semi-trailer near the town of Carberry, west of Winnipeg.Ten people were also sent to various hospitals.RCMP say they are working as fast as possible to identify the victims and get information to their families.They say those on the bus were from Dauphin and the nearby area.Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak says everyone in the city of about 8,600 knows someone who was on the bus, and there’s a collective feeling of shock.The drivers of the bus and truck are among the survivors.RCMP Supt. Rob Lasson says it appears the bus was crossing the Trans-Canada Highway, heading south on Highway 5, when it was struck Thursday morning.He declined to speculate on the cause or circumstances of the crash, but said the investigation continues and criminal charg...

Supreme Court to rule on constitutionality of Safe Third Country Agreement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s top court will deliver the final word Friday on whether the pact between Canada and the United States to control the flow of asylum seekers violates their fundamental rights.The Safe Third Country Agreement, which came into effect in 2004, recognizes Canada and the U.S. as safe places for potential refugees to seek protection.Under the agreement, refugees must seek asylum in the first of the two countries they land in, making it illegal to cross the border and seek asylum in the other country.Opponents of the treaty asked the top court to declare that the legislation underpinning the pact violates the right to life, liberty and security of the person, saying the U.S. is not actually safe for many asylum seekers.The Canadian government argued to Supreme Court justices that returnees have access to fair asylum and detention processes south of the border.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to expand the treaty in March so that it wo...

Temporary foreign workers need more paths to immigration, experts say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

TORONTO — As hotel and restaurant owners increasingly turn to temporary foreign workers to fill labour gaps, there are growing calls to give those workers more paths to permanent residency.“If there are particular occupations where there’s a real need and we’ve become dependent on temporary foreign workers … we should include them in a permanent system,” said Naomi Alboim, a senior policy fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University.While the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the labour picture for the accommodation and food service industry, the use of temporary foreign workers in the sector has been rising for years. According to Statistics Canada, their share of the workforce more than doubled from 4.4 per cent in 2010 to 10.9 per cent in 2020.That share is expected to keep rising as companies struggle to fill tens of thousands of jobs amid record low unemployment, pandemic-accelerated early retirements and workers leaving for other sectors, said Adrienne Foster, vice-presi...

Bulgarian authorities dismiss chief prosecutor amid anger over failure to tackle corruption

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:13 GMT

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has dismissed the country’s chief prosecutor amid public anger over his failure to tackle high-level corruption, the presidential press office said Friday.Radev signed a decree to remove Ivan Geshev from his post after the Supreme Judicial Council earlier this week voted to oust him for “undermining the prestige of the judiciary.” The decision referred to his remark during a news conference demanding the removal of “political trash” from Parliament.Geshev, 52, who was halfway into his seven-year term, had sweeping powers to oversee the work of all prosecutors. But since his appointment, he has faced protests by people accusing him of shielding corrupt politicians and businessmen instead of bringing them to justice.His appointment in 2019, when he was the sole candidate for the job, was believed to be the result of political backing by the then ruling GERB party. His dismissal now comes after a deal between GERB and its main poli...