Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
The sound of artillery still crashes through the air in Kharkiv, only now it’s outgoing, as Ukrainian forces drive the Russians back towards their own border. The chase is on.
For nearly three months, it was mostly in the other direction as Russia unleashed its armies, and this old, historic city was among the first to come under attack. The border is only a half-hour drive away.
Church bells, air raid sirens and periodic shelling break the stillness. War and prayer co-mingling. Only a few of the traffic lights are working. Most businesses remain closed. The nights are black and lightless.
The Russians advanced as far as the outer ring road but never managed to encircle and occupy Kharkiv. Instead, they sought to subdue and punish it from a distance. Shelling. Rockets. Air strikes.
Rows of apartment buildings became an unexpected line of defence, simply because of their location. Inside one, 39-year-old Maxim Karachensev wept as he scavenged through the remains of his family life. A new television mounted on wall survived a missile strike, as did jars of pickles and jam.
His wife and two children left in the early days of the war and ended up in the Netherlands. They are safe; he is broken.
“I think it’s over now for Kharkiv,” he says, “but not for Ukraine.” The apartment he inherited from his grandmother is reduced to memories of scorched walls and broken furniture.
The destruction is here and there, some of it precisely targeted; some that appears random. The Alliance of Trade Unions offices. A police and security building at the university. Kharkiv’s regional government headquarters.
But also the block of flats where Clavdia Petrona lived, and still lives. Her apartment was only slightly damaged. Mostly it’s her nerves that suffered.
“One night it was horrible,” she told me. “I packed all my stuff and went towards the metro station, but a big bomb went off and I couldn’t leave.”
There is a presumption of victory in Kharkiv and officials say a couple thousand people are returning to their homes every day. Then again, if you drive 20 kilometers up the road, Ukrainian and Russian artillery batteries continue trading fire. It is that close.
The Russians are retreating, that’s obvious, but it’s a fighting retreat which is hampering Ukraine from declaring the whole northern zone “liberated.” It’s still not safe enough for people to return to their villages, which are largely deserted.
Adding to the legend and mist of war, a Ukrainian detachment pulled off a sneaky propaganda triumph by making a run for the Russian border and uploading the results on social media. A dozen soldiers, for all to see, planting a marker in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag.
It wasn’t long before a beaming Ukrainian president, Volodomyr Zelenksyy, posted his own video congratulating the “fellows from Kharkiv” for their daring feat.
“I'm very grateful to you, on behalf of all Ukrainians,” he said. “My gratitude has no limits. I wish all of you to stay healthy. Take care of yourselves. …You did a great job.”
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
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.
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.
Australian police arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney on Wednesday, as a judge extended a ban on social media platform X sharing video of a knife attack on a bishop that started the criminal investigation.
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.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.