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.
An independent inquiry into the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia released on Thursday has found that the Maltese state “has to bear responsibility” for the assassination due the culture of impunity that emanated from the highest levels of government.
Caruana Galizia's family had sought the inquiry into the Oct. 16, 2017 car bombing near the family home in Malta. The murder in the small EU country sent shockwaves felt not just in Malta, but throughout Europe.
The inquiry found that there was no evidence that the state played a direct role in the assassination, but said the state “has to bear responsibility ... by creating an atmosphere of impunity, generated from the highest levels in the heart of the administration of (the prime minister's office) and, like an octopus, spread to other entities, like regulatory authorities and the police, leading to a collapse of the rule of law.”
The report said the state and its entities had failed to recognize the real risk to Caruana Galizia's life, given the threats she had lived under, and also failed to take measures to avoid the risk, the report found.
The Caruana Galizia family said in a statement that the inquiry's findings confirm the family's conviction “that her assassination was a direct result of the collapse of the rule of law and the impunity that the state provided to the corrupt network she was reporting on.
“We hope that its findings will lead to the restoration of the rule of law in Malta,” the family added.
Yorgen Fenech, a prominent businessman who had ties with some government officials, is alleged by prosecutors to have been the mastermind of the killing. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of alleged complicity in the killing and allegedly organizing and financing the bombing.
In addition, three men have been charged with carrying out the attack, two with providing explosives and another with being the middleman. Trials are under way. One of those charged with carrying out the attack has admitted his role, as has the middleman.
Joseph Muscat, Malta's former prime minister, stepped down in late 2019 following protests that pressed for the truth about the assassination of the investigative journalist, whose reports targeted Muscat's administration but also the opposition.
In a statement on Facebook, Muscat sought to distance his administration from “the state of impunity” mentioned in the report.
He noted that the arrests of the alleged hitmen within two months and the alleged mastermind a few months later “disproves any impression of impunity that the alleged perpetrators may have had.” And he pointed the finger at previous administrations, during which he said “high profile crimes were committed, but nobody was every prosecuted.”
The inquiry report made a number of recommendations to improve laws and better protect journalists in Malta.
During a press conference, Prime Minister Robert Abela, who took office last year, apologized to Caruana Galizia's family for the state's “serious shortcomings.”
He said earlier that lessons must be taken from the report and reforms need to be pursued “with greater resolve.”
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.”