Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Thousands of people braved a morning chill Wednesday on a ceremonial boulevard in India's capital to watch a display of the country's military power and cultural diversity, but the colourful annual Republic Day spectacle was curtailed amid COVID-19.
Nearly 500 schoolchildren, folk dancers, police and military battalions, floats and stunt performers on motorbikes paraded from the presidential palace down the refurbished tree-lined boulevard of Rajpath.
President Ram Nath Kovind received salutes from the marching columns, which included a camel-mounted regiment with its mustachioed riders led by shiny brass bands with tubas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, government ministers and foreign diplomats applauded the performers.
The 90-minute parade ended with a flypast featuring 75 air force fighters, including Rafale jets, transport planes and helicopters.
Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country's constitution on Jan. 26, 1950. India won independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
The parade started half an hour late to ensure better visibility for participants and of the flypast. Authorities also shortened the parade route, which normally culminates at the 17th century Red Fort after marching through various districts.
The number of people watching the parade was limited and included only fully vaccinated adults and children over 15 who have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. All spectators were required to wear masks and observe social distance.
Omicron infections have begun declining in big cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and authorities are now focused on curbing infections in smaller cities, towns and villages.
On Wednesday, the Health Ministry reported 285,000 new cases, including both delta and omicron variants, and 665 deaths across the country in the past 24 hours, with a test positivity rate of 16.16%.
India's government also announced civilian awards in art, trade, literature, science, social work and other fields. Satya Narayana Nadella and Sundararajan Pichai, the Indian-born American CEOs of Microsoft and Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, respectively, were among those honoured.
Indian media reports said the country had planned to invite leaders of five Central Asian countries -- including Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan -- as guests at the Republic Day parade, but cancelled the plan due to the pandemic. Modi will hold a virtual summit with the leaders of these countries on Thursday to discuss the evolving regional security situation, including with regard to Afghanistan.
India traditionally invites foreign leaders to witness the parade. Former French President Francois Hollande was the guest of honour in 2016 and former U.S. President Barack Obama viewed it in 2015. Ten Southeast Asian leaders watched the parade in 2018.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
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.