More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The head of the European Union's executive arm vowed Wednesday to introduce checks on key EU infrastructure, including energy, after the suspected sabotage of natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the damage last week to the Nord Stream pipelines that run from Russia to Germany has "shown how vulnerable our energy infrastructure is" and a comprehensive plan is needed to ensure the safety of key EU networks, including for data.
"We need to stress test our infrastructure," von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. "We need to identify whether we have weak points and where these weak points are." She also said that satellite surveillance will be used to detect potential threats.
Amid Russia's seven-month war against Ukraine and Western military support for the Ukrainian government, undersea explosions last week ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which were built to carry gas from Russia to Germany.
Because member countries are responsible for overseeing energy and other basic infrastructure within the EU, von der Leyen said her safety push would involve national capitals.
"We will work with member states to ensure effective stress tests in the energy sector," she said. "This, then, should be followed by other high-risk sectors, such as the offshore digital and electricity infrastructure."
The Danish and Swedish governments have said that several hundred pounds of explosives were used to damage the twin pipelines at two locations off Sweden and two off Denmark last week. The leaks discharged large amounts of methane into the air.
"The detonations must be seen in the light of the deteriorating security situation in Europe. We have every reason to believe that this is deliberate sabotage," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Wednesday. "At present, we cannot ensure which actor is responsible."
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Friday of attacking the pipelines, which the United States and its allies vehemently denied.
Danish authorities said the two leaks they were monitoring in international waters stopped over the weekend. One of the leaks off Sweden also appeared to have ended.
The Swedish coast guard said Wednesday the size of the remaining leak from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was "somewhat smaller" and "gives the impression of decreasing."
Sweden has deployed a vessel capable of advanced diving missions above the leak, although it was unclear when either a diver or a submarine would go down to do an inspection.
Sweden's coast guard has one of its vessels on site around the clock to monitor sea traffic in the area.
Sweden's prosecuting authority and the Swedish Security Services are heading an investigation. Copenhagen police were in charge of an inquiry in in close cooperation with Denmark's energy authorities, the National Police and the Danish Police Intelligence Service.
Also in Strasbourg on Wednesday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell predicted that the bloc's 27 national governments would agree to hit Russia with new sanctions in response to its illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine that make up around 15% of Ukrainian territory.
The planned new penalties include a price cap on Russian oil, curbs on EU exports of aircraft components to the country and limits on imports of Russian steel. EU member-state diplomats were aiming to approve the new package as soon as Wednesday in Brussels.
The new penalties build on already unprecedented European sanctions against Russia as a result of its war against Ukraine since February.
EU measures to date include restrictions on energy supplies from Russia, bans on financial transactions with Russian entities including the central bank and asset freezes against more than 1,000 people and over 100 entities.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”