DEVELOPING Defence rests without Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
Over the last decade, Canada has experienced increasingly worse wildfires as the impacts of climate change fuel the conditions for raging fires. Natural Resources Canada reports more than 6,000 fires have scorched 16.5 million hectares of land in 2023 alone.
As wildfires worsen year-over-year, a new study has found Canada, along with Australia and the U.S., aren't effectively preparing their citizens in wildland communities for these extreme events.
The review, published on Monday by Ontario's York University, found that these nations are failing to implement effective changes to the structure of homes in vulnerable areas and providing maintenance to ensure they're able to avoid tragedy when disaster strikes.
Associate professor of disaster and emergency management and study co-author Eric B. Kennedy explained the 78 journal articles reviewed by him and co-author Sarah Cowan show there are solutions to this issue, but various factors are stalling effective change.
Wildfire mitigation begins with the physical structure of a home or building, Kennedy told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday, but many homes built after disaster are designed the same way they were before, without taking into account future fire prevention.
These changes can be costly to homeowners, and with rising inflation and frequent wildfires impacting home insurance premiums, these challenges aren't making wildfire mitigation any easier on residents, Kennedy explained.
"It's not just one problem but it's a problem multiplied by a problem, multiplied by another problem and all of those factors multiplying on each other leads to the kinds of tragedies we see today," Kennedy said.
Amid Canada's worst wildfire season on record, the federal government introduced various programs focused on firefighting training, wildfire monitoring systems and investing in wildland communities. Kennedy said while wildfire response initiatives are essential to the cause, there needs to be collaborative efforts made across all levels of government and private sectors like insurance companies to protect residents from natural disasters.
Kennedy recommends improving housing guidelines to include quality construction for not only new homes but for the maintenance of pre-existing homes in wildland communities. Insurance companies in particular, he said, also have the opportunity to support residents by covering costs to rebuild a more durable home after a wildfire or even help a homeowner prepare for disaster.
"There are almost pressures from the way insurance payouts are made to build back with the same kind of construction that led to loss in the first place and so I think there are really exciting opportunities for companies to be part of the solution" he said.
Additionally, providing help with home maintenance can alleviate some of the burden for homeowners, particularly Indigenous communities who live in remote areas and have been disproportionately impacted by the wildfires or residents who have physical ailments and are unable to complete home repairs themselves.
"How do we make these mitigations inclusive so that everyone can do them? So, there's a real opportunity for Canada to be a leader on these challenges and based on the fire season we saw this year, it's going to be important," he said.
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.
As the month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores wears on, small independent food retailers and alternative grocery options say they're seeing a boost in traffic and sales.
For those who go to their local libraries often, they know there’s much more to their library than just borrowing books. Local libraries in Atlantic Canada are now renting out a broader range of items for people.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.