Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
The Kennedy Center Honors returned to tradition this year with a real-life gala Sunday night and the presence of the president for the first time since 2016.
The lifetime achievement awards for artistic excellence were presented to Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, "Saturday Night Live" mastermind Lorne Michaels, actress-singer Bette Midler, opera singer Justino Diaz and folk music legend Joni Mitchell.
This year's event at the Kennedy Center's main opera house represented a return to political normalcy, with U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attending.
U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump skipped the show the first three years he was in office after several of the artists honoured in 2017, his first year in office, threatened to boycott a White House reception if he participated. Last year, the pandemic forced a delay and major changes to the program.
The Bidens drew a sustained standing ovation when they entered the presidential box at the opera house. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed the national anthem and encouraged the audience to sing the final lines together.
The theatre was packed to capacity and there were no social distancing restrictions, but vaccinations and recent negative COVID-19 tests were required for all who attended.
The tributes featured testimonials and performances that were kept secret from the honorees.
Mitchell's tribute featured performances of her songs by Nora Jones, Brandi Carlile, Ellie Goulding and Brittany Howard. Diaz was honoured with a performance from the opera "Carmen" and a song from his two daughters, Katya and Natascia.
For Michaels, organizers put together three "Weekend Update" segments onstage with multiple generations of mock news anchors -- Kevin Nealon, Seth Myers and Amy Poehler, and the current duo of Michel Che and Colin Jost.
Che joked that Biden would be asleep before the end of the show and Poehler poked at the Toronto-born Michaels by proclaiming that Joni Mitchell had been declared "the best Canadian of all time."
Midler received testimonials from close friends Goldie Hawn and Barbara Hershey, and a performance by Tony Award winner Billy Porter of her iconic song, "The Wind Beneath My Wings."
Gordy's career was celebrated with performances of multiple Motown hits by Andra Day and Stevie Wonder and an extended tribute from close friend Smokey Robinson. The event ended with several of the night's performers joining for a performance of Wonder's hit "Higher Ground."
Prior to the Kennedy Center event, Biden revived another tradition that had gone dormant under Trump and held a White House reception for the honorees.
"We welcome everyone back," he told a crowd of about 150 seated in the East Room, decked out with Christmas trees and wreaths. Guests included Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Caroline Kennedy, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chita Rivera, Steve Martin and Herbie Hancock.
"Our nation is stronger, more dynamic and more vibrant because of you," Biden told the honorees.
Biden praised the work of the artists, their "sixth sense" that helps them create and move so many people, saying: "I don't think you fully appreciate what you do for so many people."
He spoke of Diaz's "sound of soul," Gordy's creation of "one of the most iconic businesses" in American history with Motown Records.
With Michaels, he joked: "Finally, it's my turn to say something about him," poking fun at Michaels' SNL show, which routinely mocks presidents, including the current commander in chief.
"You make me laugh at myself a lot," Biden said, then went on to say Michaels was auditioning actors right now to play him next on SNL. Biden asked Steve Martin to stand as an example of the type of talent Michaels has cultivated over the past decades.
Martin paused and asked the president, "Do you want me to play you?" The crowd erupted in laughter.
Biden then professed his admiration for both Mitchell and Midler, telling Midler that "people will never forget how you make them feel. That's your gift, it's incredible."
And lastly: "Joni. Your words and melodies touch the deepest parts of our soul," Biden said.
Last year, the pandemic forced organizers to bump the annual December ceremony back to May 2021. Performance tributes to the artists were filmed over several nights and at multiple locations on campus.
This year's main COVID-related modification was shifting the annual Saturday ceremony, where honorees receive their medallions on rainbow-colored ribbons, to the Library of Congress instead of the State Department.
Sunday's ceremony, which will be broadcast Dec. 22 by CBS, is the centrepiece of the Kennedy Center's 50th anniversary of cultural programming. The centre opened in 1971.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
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 mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
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.