Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
China's ruling party called for strict adherence to the hard-line "zero-COVID" policy Tuesday in an apparent attempt to guide public perceptions after regulations were eased slightly in places.
The People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, said in an editorial that China must "unswervingly implement" the policy that requires mass obligatory testing and places millions under lockdown to try to eliminate the coronavirus from the nation of 1.4 billion people and the world's second-largest economy.
That comes as China reported 17,772 new cases over the previous 24 hours and follows slight changes to quarantine and other anti-virus restrictions announced last week to reduce cost and disruption.
The major provincial capital of Shijiazhuang just outside Beijing has also reopened free testing centres after just one day of closure. The move to require residents to pay for tests underscored the growing economic cost the policy is inflicting on local governments.
Beijing has also closed some testing sites in recent days, but was reopening many on Tuesday. While case numbers remain relatively low in the city of more than 21 million, a recent increase has led to some restaurants and other businesses being forced to close and villages that largely house blue-collar workers placed under lockdown.
Most parts of the city require a negative test result to gain access to public places. In some cases, that test must have been taken within the previous 24 hours. Fewer testing sites had produced long cold weather waits.
Some lockdowns on residential compounds and entire city districts remain in place around China, including in parts of the crucial southern financial manufacturing hub of Guangzhou and other cities whose industrial bases are closely tied to global supply chains.
Some Guangzhou residents angered by restrictions have reportedly clashed with authorities. Over the summer, sporadic protests had broken out in China's largest city, Shanghai. Many Chinese have complained that such heavy-handed measures have led to food shortages and increasing poverty, with factory and service workers losing their jobs because they are prevented from leaving their homes.
In the latest indication of the economic toll, Chinese consumer spending contracted in October and factory activity weakened, government data showed. Retail sales sank 0.5% compared with a year ago, down from September's 2.5% expansion, as millions of people were confined to their homes.
Chinese economic growth rebounded to 3.9% over a year earlier in the three months ending in September from the first half's 2.2%, but economists say activity already was cooling. They have cut forecasts of annual growth to as low as 3%, which would be among the weakest in decades.
Local party officials are under immense pressure to curb new outbreaks, but directions from the central government have lately become harder to gauge. China appears to be cautiously attempting to join the rest of the world while refusing to drop policies in which the party and leader Xi Jinping have deeply invested their authority and reputation.
Xi himself is in Indonesia for the Group of 20 summit this week after being absent from most global gatherings throughout the pandemic.
Xi met Monday with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting and is expected to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later in Bangkok.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported "noticeable progress" in ongoing cease-fire talks with Israel while an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war.
Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his Charlotte, N.C., home on Monday as law enforcement with high-powered rifles descended into his yard and garage, using a car as a shield as they were met with a shower of gunfire from the direction of his neighbor's house.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
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.