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.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have marked the start of "a third world war," and Russian President Vladimir Putin must be defeated "as soon as possible" if the world wants to preserve civilization.
That was the stark message that Hungarian-born billionaire and philanthropist George Soros delivered on Tuesday to attendees at the 2022 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"Even when the fighting stops, as it eventually must, the situation will never revert" to where it was before, warned the 91-year-old Soros.
"Other issues that concern all of humanity -- fighting pandemics and climate change, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining global institutions -- have had to take a back seat to that struggle. That's why I say civilization may not survive."
The former hedge fund manager, who is chair of Soros Fund Management LLC and founder of the Open Society Foundations, is famous for using his wealth to help foster open societies and create inclusive democracies with governments that are held accountable.
But after the events of September 11, he noted, the tide began to turn against open societies. As a result, "repressive regimes are now in the ascendance and open societies are under siege," he said Tuesday. "Today, China and Russia present the greatest threat to open society."
Open societies have governments that are diametrically opposed to governments in closed societies, Soros noted. "[In an] open society, the rule of the state is to protect the freedom of the individual. [In a] closed society, the role of the individual is to serve the rulers of the state."
Speaking about Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping, Soros said: "They rule by intimidation, and as a consequence they make mind-boggling mistakes."
He pointed to China and Russia as the greatest threats to open societies aided by the development of digital technologies and especially artificial intelligence. "In theory, AI ought to be politically neutral -- it can be used for good or bad. But in practice the effect has been asymmetric. It is particularly good at creating instruments of control that help repressive regimes and endanger open society," Soros said.
The billionaire also criticized China's "zero Covid" lockdown policy, saying it has had "disastrous consequences, pushing the Chinese economy into a freefall since March," with "negative results" for the global economy.
On a more uplifting but still somber note, he commended Ukraine for fighting for the western world's values.
"I think Ukraine today is rendering a tremendous service to Europe and to the western world and to open society and our survival because they are fighting our fight," Soros said. "They have a really good chance of winning...[W]e must give them all the support that they ask for."
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.
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.
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.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
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.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
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.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
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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.
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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.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.