Shooting at Michigan splash pad leaves 'nine, maybe 10 victims': authorities
Gunfire erupted at a splash pad in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, leaving as many as 10 people wounded, authorities said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the latest target of international sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, with the United States, Canada and European allies all announcing they are adding direct measures against him and his foreign minister.
With Russian forces on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital early Saturday, diplomatic appeals appeared to come second to imposing financial pain on Russia as global condemnation grew.
Asked if U.S. President Joe Biden has planned any more direct diplomatic overtures toward Putin, White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday told reporters he hadn’t, but “it does not mean we have ruled out diplomacy forever.”
Psaki said the U.S. was preparing individual sanctions on Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, likely to include travel bans. The announcement came hours after the European Union announced it intended to freeze Putin’s assets, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told NATO leaders his country would sanction Putin and Lavrov.
Psaki said the U.S. would also newly sanction the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which functions as a sovereign wealth fund meant to draw capital into the Russian economy. The U.S. and European allies earlier announced sweeping asset freezes and other penalties against Russia’s banks, state-owned enterprises and elites.
The U.S. measures block Putin and Lavrov, whom the Treasury Department’s formal announcement of the sanctions described as Putin’s “chief propagandist,” from access to any assets within reach of U.S. officials, and bar anyone in the United States from doing business with them. Members of Russia’s security council also were sanctioned.
The sanctions to be imposed would not ban contact between, for example, Putin and Biden, or U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lavrov.
It was unclear what the practical impact on Putin and Lavrov would be and how important their assets in Europe were.
EU ministers have said further sanctions are possible, including kicking Russia out of SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions. Separately, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada supports the removal of Russia from the SWIFT banking system.
Russia has imposed its own tit-for-tat measures, banning British flights to and over its territory in retaliation to a similar U.K. ban on Aeroflot flights. Russian authorities also announced the “partial restriction” of access to Facebook after the social media network limited the accounts of several Kremlin-backed media.
Russia also vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops.
The international measures against Russia have included an extraordinary visit by Pope Francis to the Russian Embassy to “express his concern about the war,” according to the Vatican. In the sports world, the UEFA Champions League final — the Super Bowl of European soccer — was stripped from St. Petersburg. Formula One dropped this season’s Russian Grand Prix.
And in pop culture, the wildly popular Eurovision song contest banned Russia from the May finals in Italy.
Countries in Asia and the Pacific have joined the U.S., the EU and others in sanctioning Russian banks and leading companies and setting up export controls aimed at starving Russia’s industries and military of semiconductors and other high-tech products.
Australia on Saturday said it is imposing sanctions against all 339 members of the Russian parliament as well as eight Russian oligarchs close to Putin and is considering sanctions against Putin and Lavrov.
Japan and South Korea on Saturday said their foreign ministers had spoken with Blinken. But Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to say whether Japan plans to impose sanctions on Putin or Lavrov. South Korea’s foreign ministry said Blinken thanked South Korea over its willingness to participate in international sanctions against Russia, without details.
But China has continued to denounce sanctions against Russia and blamed the U.S. and its allies for provoking Moscow. Beijing, worried about American power in Asia, has increasingly aligned its foreign policy with Russia to challenge the West.
Gunfire erupted at a splash pad in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, leaving as many as 10 people wounded, authorities said.
Canadians would get more than $1 billion in unclaimed benefits each year through an automatic tax filing system, according to a report published by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).
The owner of a northern Ont. camp is continuing to clean up after an intense storm that prompted a tornado warning Thursday ripped through the area breaking his dock and downing trees.
The City of Calgary declared a local state of emergency Saturday morning in response to the latest developments in a major water main break that is impacting the city.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has concerns with how conclusions were gathered in a spy watchdog report.
London put on a display of birthday pageantry Saturday for King Charles III, a military parade that marked the Princess of Wales ' first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis early this year.
Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers is set to begin at Rogers Place.
36-year-old Daniel Callihan was arrested Thursday after a 35-year-old mother was found dead and her two abducted daughters were later discovered in Mississippi – one dead and the other alive – in what investigators say may be a human trafficking case.
Vancouver police are warning the public that the man who stabbed a stranger in a downtown coffee shop in January 2022 has been released and will be living in the city again.
Fancy Pokket owner Mike Timani has decided to create a 220-foot long flat bread to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
If certain goals that are in the Paris Climate Accord aren't met, the existence of polar bears in the Hudson Bay may come to an end.
In an attempt to invite one of the most popular recording artists in the world to the land of living skies – the City of Swift Current has offered to rename itself in honour of Taylor Swift.
More than a dozen dogs arrived by Cargojet early Thursday morning to the People for Animal Wellbeing Shelter to find a permanent place to call home in New Brunswick.
Peggy's Cove, N.S., is one of the most famous locations in the Maritimes. Recent visitors were treated to more than just the iconic landmark.
Hundreds of fans lined up to meet the Trailer Park Boys in Dartmouth, N.S., Tuesday, as Ricky, Bubbles and Julian promoted their new brand of potato chips.
Car break-ins plague Canadians across the country, but instead of worrying about theft, a northern Ontario woman is cleaning up a big mess that she says will not be covered by insurance after a black bear broke into her Honda Civic and took a nap.
Members of a Hutterite colony in southern Alberta have potentially built the world's tallest structure made of Popsicle sticks.
A dog who spent the first three-and-a-half years of his life suffering and almost a year at a shelter has found his forever home, according to the BC SPCA.