More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Early results Sunday in Russia's parliamentary election showed the dominant pro-Kremlin party well in the lead, but it was unclear if the party will retain the two-thirds majority of seats that allow it to change the constitution.
The election is widely seen as an important part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to cement his grip on power ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which control of the State Duma, or parliament, will be key.
Results from about 30% of the country's polling stations gave the pro-Kremlin United Russia party 45% of the vote for the 225 deputies apportioned by party lists, according to the elections commission. Another 225 lawmakers will be chosen by individual races, and the elections commission said early results showed United Russia candidates leading in 179 of those single-constituency seats.
The election Sunday lacked significant opposition presence after Russian authorities declared organizations linked to imprisoned Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's most prominent foe, to be extremist. The voting was also marred by numerous reports of violations, including ballot-stuffing.
The early results showed three other parties that almost always support Putin returning to the State Duma, as well as the New People party, which was formed last year and is regarded by many as a Kremlin-sponsored project.
The Communist Party received about 22% of the party-list vote, a sizeable improvement from the 13% it got in the last election in 2016. United Russia got about 54% five years ago, so the early results indicate a substantial falloff in support.
The Communists "are gaining everywhere where they were able to field a strong campaign and that's great. It's not great because we love the Communist Party, because we don't, but because it increases the level of political competition in Russia," said Leonid Volkov, a top Navalny aide.
Ahead of the election, Putin expressed hope that the United Russia party would retain its dominance in the parliament, where it held 334 seats out of 450. But although the party is Putin's power base, it is far less popular than the president himself.
The vote this year saw most opposition politicians and activists barred from running as Russian authorities unleashed a massive effort to suppress protests and dissent.
Reports of ballot violations from Russian media, opposition politicians and election observers in the three-day vote have been flowing since Friday morning, when unexpectedly long lines formed at polling stations in Moscow and other cities. Some of those in line told reporters they were forced to vote by their employers, often a state-run institution.
Over the weekend, multiple videos of ballot-stuffing circled on social media. In some regions, incidents of "carousel voting" were reported -- groups of voters casting ballots multiple times at different polling stations -- as well as clashes between election monitors and poll workers.
Russia's Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova confirmed at least eight incidents of ballot-stuffing in six Russian regions. In all, the commission has so far invalidated 7,465 ballots in 14 regions.
In recent months, authorities have unleashed a sweeping crackdown against opposition politicians and the Smart Voting strategy devised by Navalny to consolidate the protest vote against United Russia. Smart Voting increases opposition candidates' chances of winning by telling voters which candidates in specific areas have the best chances at defeating ones backed by the Kremlin, and the authorities have made numerous attempts to wipe it off the internet.
About 50 websites run by Navalny have been blocked, including the one dedicated to Smart Voting.
On Friday, Apple and Google removed an app which features Smart Voting from its online stores for Russian users under pressure from the authorities. The founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, on Saturday also blocked a chat bot dedicated to Smart Voting. And YouTube blocked access to several videos listing the candidates endorsed by Smart Voting.
Navalny's allies ascribed the crackdown on Smart Voting and the reports of voting violations to the Kremlin's lack of confidence in getting the result it wants.
"Either they're so insecure and fear Smart Voting so much ... or the ratings are even worse than we've seen, or they failed to keep their nerves in check -- but the level of blatant falsifications have turned out to be even higher than in 2011," Navalny's top strategist, Leonid Volkov, wrote on Facebook.
Reports of mass vote rigging in Russia's 2011 parliamentary elected triggered months of anti-government and anti-Putin protests.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
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.
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.”