El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
The United States closed the book Friday on the legal saga of Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese tech executive whose arrest in Canada in 2018 triggered a global standoff with foreign-policy implications that reverberate to this day.
A federal judge in New York formally dismissed the last remaining indictment against Huawei's chief financial officer after prosecutors agreed Meng had abided by the terms of her deferred prosecution agreement.
"It is hereby ordered that the third superseding indictment in the above-captioned matter as to the defendant Wanzhou Meng is hereby dismissed with prejudice," District Judge Ann Donnelly said in a written decision.
The order came four years after Meng was first detained in Vancouver in December 2018 as part of a controversial U.S. extradition request that dragged Canada into the middle of an intractable legal dispute with China.
It's the final stage of the agreement, or DPA, that saw Meng released from custody in September 2021, nearly three years after she was arrested at the behest of the U.S. to face fraud charges related to American sanctions against Iran.
Prosecutors accused Meng and Huawei of stealing secrets and using Skycom, a Hong Kong communications firm, to sell tech equipment to Iran in defiance of sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Her detention quickly spiralled into a tense, protracted three-way dispute after two Canadian nationals, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were arrested in China in an apparent act of retaliation.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, pleaded not guilty to all charges as part of the agreement. In exchange, she agreed to a statement of facts acknowledging, among other things, that Skycom -- which she had claimed was a partner with Huawei -- was essentially a wholly owned subsidiary.
The agreement made it clear she would be in violation of the deal if she tried to contradict or deny the statement, which would then be admissible in any future court proceedings.
U.S. attorney Carolyn Pokorny filed the request to dismiss the indictment Thursday, four years to the day after Meng's detention in Vancouver.
"In the absence of information that (Meng) has violated any terms of the DPA through Dec. 1, 2022 … the government respectfully moves to dismiss the third superseding indictment in this case," Pokorny wrote.
Spavor and Kovrig, who came to be known around the world as "the two Michaels," were freed by Chinese authorities at almost the precise moment that Meng was being flown home.
China has long denied any link between the two cases, despite the timing of both the initial arrests and their eventual release.
Their detention complicated Canada's efforts to enunciate a position on China in general and Huawei in particular as a potential national security threat.
In May, the federal Liberal government announced it was banning the company and another Chinese vendor, ZTE, from participating in the development of Canada's next-generation mobile networks.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly finally unveiled Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, in the very city where Meng was first detained. The Liberals had first promised it back in 2015.
It described China as "an increasingly disruptive global power" and included plans for an international summit on "arbitrary detention," as well as efforts to draft new efforts to push back on human rights violations and "economic coercion."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2022.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
Thieves killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico in order to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.