Ontario to ban use of cellphones in school classrooms starting in September
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Hackers linked to the Chinese government launched a state-sponsored operation that targeted New Zealand's Parliament in 2021, the country's security minister said Tuesday.
New Zealand's allegation comes a day after American and British authorities announced a set of criminal charges and sanctions against seven hackers, all believed to be living in China, who targeted U.S. officials, journalists, corporations and pro-democracy activists, as well as the U.K.'s election watchdog.
"The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable," Judith Collins, the defense minister responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau, said in a statement.
Collins said the agency had also established links between a state-sponsored entity linked to China and malicious cyber activity targeting parliamentary entities in New Zealand.
The bureau's National Cyber Security Centre "completed a robust technical assessment" following a compromise of the Parliamentary Counsel Office and the Parliamentary Service in 2021, and has attributed this activity to a PRC (China) state-sponsored group known as APT40," Collins said.
"Fortunately, in this instance, the NCSC worked with the impacted organizations to contain the activity and remove the actor shortly after they were able to access the network," she added.
Collins said New Zealand will not follow the U.S. and U.K. in sanctioning China because New Zealand does not have a law allowing such penalties, nor were there plans to introduce legislation.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed New Zealand's concerns had been conveyed to Chinese Ambassador Wang Xiaolong.
"Foreign interference of this nature is unacceptable, and we have urged China to refrain from such activity in future," Peters said in a statement Tuesday. "New Zealand will continue to speak out -- consistently and predictably -- where we see concerning behaviors like this."
Peters met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on March 18, and said the countries share a "significant and complex relationship."
"We cooperate with China in some areas for mutual benefit," he said. "At the same time, we have also been consistent and clear that we will speak out on issues of concern."
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian dismissed the allegations as "typical political manipulation" concocted by the U.S. and U.K., with whom it is in conflict over issues including Taiwan, the South China Sea, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and a wide range of trade disputes.
"For some time, the U.S., for geopolitical purposes, has encouraged the Five Eyes Alliance, the world's largest intelligence organization dominated by the U.S., to fabricate and disseminate all kinds of disinformation about threats posed by Chinese hackers," Lin said at a daily briefing Tuesday, citing the alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and U.S. to collect and share sensitive information.
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Anyone who has a Gen-Z person in their life is likely familiar with the popular social media app TikTok, but a new bill in the U.S. may soon take it off of the American market.
U.S. President Joe Biden is out to win votes by scoring some laughs at the expense of Donald Trump, unleashing mockery with the goal of getting under the former president's thin skin and reminding the country of his blunders.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall for a specific chocolate brand sold in Ontario and Quebec.
Quebec is investing $603 million over the next five years to counter what its French-language minister describes as the decline of the French language in the province.
One person has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man who fell from a balcony following an altercation inside a Toronto apartment building.
Ukraine's troops have been forced to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the embattled east, the country's army chief said Sunday, warning of a worsening battlefield situation as Ukrainian forces wait for much-needed arms from a huge U.S. aid package to reach combat zones.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
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.”