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.
Scott Morrison said his conservative government had left Australia in a robust condition, even as voters on Saturday punished him for his handling of issues including climate change and the pandemic that helped return the centre-left opposition to power for the first time in almost a decade.
Morrison, 54, said he would step down as head of the Liberal party -- the senior member of the conservative coalition that had ruled since 2013 -- after conceding defeat to the Labor party and its leader Anthony Albanese.
A former tourism marketer before switching to politics, Morrison was labeled the "accidental prime minister" in 2018 when his government colleagues chose him to replace then-leader Malcolm Turnbull. Morrison sprung a major surprise by leading the coalition to victory in a 2019 election said to be unwinnable.
He has since been deeply criticized for dragging the chain on climate change and for not establishing a promised integrity and corruption watchdog overseeing national politicians.
He was also scorned for taking a vacation in Hawaii during Australia's major bushfire crisis in the summer of 2019-20, for his government's bungling of the country's COVID-19 vaccination program, and more lately, for being at the helm while South Pacific neighbors, the Solomon Islands, struck up a strategic partnership with China.
Morrison was also widely condemned for a perceived lack of empathy in relation to the treatment of women in Australian society, an issue that drew intense scrutiny through damaging revelations of sexual harassment scandals that rocked federal Parliament. Analysts pointed to this area as part of the reason for such a strong vote for the so-called teal independents in Saturday's election, the majority of whom were women.
Still Morrison, after congratulating Albanese, struck a proud and defiant tone in defending his and his government's record, focusing on the economy, his administration's work to stop refugees coming to the country by boats, and on bolstering the nation's defenses.
"We hand over this country as a government in a stronger position than when we inherited it when we came to government (in 2013)," Morrison told a gathering of Liberal supporters in Sydney late Saturday night.
"Unemployment today is at the lowest level in 48 years," he said, referencing a rate of 3.9%.
"Australians leaving school, leaving university, getting their trades, know they have the confidence of being out there and able to get a job and to be able to realize their aspirations, and that's what I wish for them, that's what I wish for this country," he said.
"We leave government, having secured our borders many years ago, and we leave government having restored our nation's defenses," he added, mentioning the recently created security alliance known as AUKUS that also includes the United States and the United Kingdom.
Morrison also praised his government's work on health issues, particularly mental health.
He said it had been a "privilege to lead this great party and lead this great nation" but that he, as leader, would "take responsibility for the wins and the losses".
"As a result I will be handing over the leadership at the next party room meeting, to ensure that the party can be taken forward under new leadership," he said.
"It's a night of disappointment,but it's also a time for coalition members and supporters all across the country to hold their heads high. We have been a strong government. We have been a good government. Australia is stronger as a result of our efforts over these last three terms."
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.”