Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou began a 12-day tour of China with a symbolism-laden visit to the mausoleum where a founding figure revered in both China and Taiwan is entombed.
Ma visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, the capital when Ma's Nationalist Party (Kuomingtang) ruled China in the early part of the 20th century. The party claimed to be the legitimate ruler of China for decades and is seen as more sympathetic to integration or unification with the mainland than the ruling Democratic People's Party.
There, he paid tribute to Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China and the Nationalist Party, giving a short speech and then bowing in front of the memorial.
"The people of both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese nation, are children of Yandi and the Yellow Emperor," he told a group of Chinese and Taiwanese reporters who had been allowed to follow him on the trip, referring to mythical emperors revered as founders of China's dominant Han ethnicity.
Ma's tour of China comes as tensions between Taiwan and China rise, aggravated by an antagonistic U.S.-China relationship. Taiwan, where the Kuomingtang retreated after losing the civil war in China, is today a self-governed democracy and the U.S. is its largest unofficial ally. China, however claims the island as its own.
Ma's tour comes a few days after Taiwan lost yet another diplomatic ally to China, which has spent the past seven years pressuring countries to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.
He has framed the trip as an effort to lower tensions by promoting exchanges, bringing Taiwanese college students with him on the visit, and has said he hopes that his trip could help lower tensions. Observers expect the visit to be more symbolic than substantive.
"Both sides must pursue peace, otherwise, neither will have a future," he said.
Ma praised Sun, who advocated for a modern Chinese nation and the overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It was Sun who founded the Republic of China in 1912, and ruled over the mainland, very briefly. After the retreat to Taiwan, the Kuomingtang continued to call their nation the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the Communist Party took over the mainland in 1949, and renamed the country the People's Republic of China.
Outside the mausoleum, a crowd of curious onlookers and tourists gathered in the morning to see if they could catch a glimpse of the former President.
Most of the regular tourists expecting to be able to see the mausoleum and the surrounding park found themselves blocked from entering, though a lucky few who had reserved in advance were allowed to enter the site.
"Even though there are some difficulties on the official front, as long as there are benefits to the public and you can build a good foundation, then this will be good for the unification of both sides," said Chen Shao'an, who had come to the mausoleum to see Ma.
Ma is also visiting the China Modern History Museum, which is the site of the old Presidential Palace in Nanjing.
---
Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan. Olivia Zhang in Nanjing contributed to this report.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
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.”
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.