Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
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.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Monday blamed historic protests this weekend on U.S. "economic asphyxiation" and social media campaigns by a minority of counter-revolutionaries while U.S. President Joe Biden said he stood with the Cuban people.
The protests erupted amid Communist-run Cuba's worst economic crisis since the fall of former ally Soviet Union, with the tightening of decades-old U.S. sanctions exacerbating shortages of food and medicine as well as power outages amid a surge in COVID-19 infections.
"In the last few weeks the campaign against the Cuban revolution has increased in social media, drawing on the problems and shortages we are living," Diaz-Canel said in a televised address alongside his Cabinet.
A minority of counter-revolutionaries were fomenting unrest, he said, denouncing vandalism that took place across various cities on Sunday in Cuba's biggest anti-government demonstrations in decades.
"They threw stones at foreign currency shops, they stole items ... and at police forces, they turned over cars - a totally vulgar, indecent and delinquent behavior," he said.
The streets of Havana appeared quiet on Monday morning, although special forces patrolled its seafront boulevard.
Biden in a statement on Monday said the United States stands with the people of Cuba in their call for freedom and relief from the coronavirus pandemic and decades of repression.
"The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected," Biden said.
"The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves," said Biden, who during his White House campaign promised to ease sanctions but has yet to do so.
The United States had tightened sanctions on Cuba under Donald Trump, Biden's predecessor, including restricting key remittances in the middle of the pandemic.
Diaz-Canel did not directly address the U.S. statement, issued during his address. But he attacked what he called Washington's hypocrisy for expressing concern when it was fueling the crisis in Cuba with its trade embargo.
"Is it not very hypocritical and cynical that you block me ... and you want to present yourself as the big savior?" he said. "Lift the blockade .. and then we will see what this people, that has achieved an immense social work despite what is practically a war economy, is capable of."
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gave Cuba backing on Monday, saying the U.S. economic embargo on the island should be ended to help its people.
"The truth is that if one wanted to help Cuba, the first thing that should be done is to suspend the blockade of Cuba as the majority of countries in the world are asking," Lopez Obrador told a news conference.
Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Marc Frank in Havana; Editing by Howard Goller.
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.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
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.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
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.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
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.