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.
A court in Myanmar on Thursday extended the pretrial detention of Danny Fenster, a U.S. journalist employed by an online news magazine in the military-led Southeast Asian nation who was arrested in May on an incitement charge that carries a penalty of up to three years' imprisonment.
Fenster, who is the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, was detained at Yangon International Airport on May 24 as he was trying to board a flight to go to the Detroit area in the United States to see his family.
Fenster's lawyer, Than Zaw Aung, told The Associated Press that the 37-year-old journalist was in good health but appeared to have lost some weight at Thursday's hearing at the special court at Yangon's Insein Prison, where he is being held. He asked that his wife send him medicine and food. Two consular officials from the U.S. Embassy also attended the hearing, the lawyer said.
The next hearing is scheduled for July 15, but the case will not come to trial then because the court has too many cases backed up, he said.
Fenster's court appearance came a day after authorities began a release of about 2,300 prisoners who were charged in connection with protests that erupted after the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February. The new government has tried to silence independent news media by withdrawing their licenses and by arresting journalists.
Those released included protesters as well as journalists. Most were being held on the same charge as Fenster. Because there is no official list of freed detainees and the releases are taking place over several days, the exact number of journalists freed is not known.
An unofficial tally kept by Myanmar journalists says of 88 journalists who were arrested after February's military takeover, 49 have been released, including 14 on Wednesday.
In June, a court released U.S. journalist Nathan Maung, who was arrested in March while working for Kamayut Media, a local online news platform. The charges against him were dropped, his case dismissed and he was deported to the United States.
“The Myanmar junta's continued detention of journalist Danny Fenster is outrageous and unacceptable. Independent reporting of what's happening on the ground in Myanmar should not be considered a crime,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in an emailed statement.
“The authorities should immediately drop all charges against Fenster, and permit him to leave the country if that is what he wants to do. The junta should also unconditionally free the more than 50 Burmese journalists who are still in detention and lift the license revocation orders imposed against numerous local media outlets,” Robertson said. Myanmar is also known by its old name, Burma.
Than Zaw Aung said Fenster is charged in connection with his work at a previous job, as a reporter and copy editor for the online news site Myanmar Now.
Myanmar Now, along with several other media outlets, had its license revoked in early March, banning it from publishing on any platform. However, it has continued to operate online.
Fenster resigned from Myanmar Now in July last year and joined Frontier Myanmar a month later, so it is unclear why he was arrested, his lawyer said.
“I don't know in detail. What I can say is that he was accused as a staff member of Myanmar Now. I'm not clear if it concerns a story posted on Myanmar Now or not.”
Fenster's family in the United States, led by his parents and brother Bryan, have rallied support for his release with a website, an online petition and contacts with their representatives in Congress to keep pressure on the State Department to push Myanmar on the case. The U.S. government has made repeated pleas for media freedom in Myanmar and for Fenster's release.
The Irish rock band U2, which has long taken an interest in the fight for democracy in Myanmar, on Wednesday tweeted its support for Fenster's release.
“Journalism is not a crime. We join RepAndyLevin and bryanfenster in urging the immediate release of journalist Danny Fenster from detainment in Myanmar and thank heroic organizations like pressfreedom for fighting to protect journalists everywhere -- #BringDannyHome,” it said.
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.”