Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Ukraine’s president warned Tuesday that Russia’s just concluded “sham referendums” and attempts to annex Ukrainian territory rule out any talks with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin remains president, and called for Russia’s “complete isolation” and tough new global sanctions.
Speaking to the UN Security Council by video link over Russian objections, Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged additional military and financial support to defend Ukraine “so the aggressor would lose,” and “clear and legally binding guarantees of collective security” for his country in response to Russia’s latest grab for Ukrainian territory.
The referendums, denounced by Kyiv and its Western allies as rigged, took place in the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Kherson regions, and in occupied areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. They are widely viewed as a pretext for announcements that Russia is annexing the territories, just as it annexed Crimea in 2014.
Pro-Moscow officials said later Tuesday that residents in all four occupied areas of Ukraine voted to join Russia, a likely prelude to annexations possibly within days that would set the stage for a new and potentially more dangerous phase in the seven-month war following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of its smaller neighbour.
Ukraine called the emergency meeting of the Security Council to respond to the referendums, and the expected annexation announcements from Russia.
“Any annexation in the modern world is a crime, a crime against all states that consider the inviolability of border to be vital for themselves,” Zelenskyy said.
He accused Russia of destroying “the main body of international law,” and responding to “any proposals for talks with a new brutality on the battlefield, with even greater crisis and threats to Ukraine and the world.”
“Russia’s recognition of these sham referenda as normal, the implementation of the so-called Crimean scenario and another attempt to annex Ukrainian territory, will mean that there is nothing to talk about with this president of Russia,” Zelenskyy said. “Annexation is the kind of move that puts him alone against the whole of humanity.”
Many Security Council members denounced the referendums and stressed that any annexation of territory would never be recognized.
UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo said voting on the referendums took place in polling centres and “de facto authorities accompanied by soldiers also went door-to-door with ballot boxes."
“They cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will," she told the council. “Unilateral actions aimed to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the attempted acquisition by force by one state of another state's territory, while claiming to represent the will of the people, cannot be regarded as legal under international law."
Britain's deputy ambassador, James Kariuki, called the referendums “illegal and illegitimate" and a violation of the Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the principles of the UN Charter.
Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha said the referendums are a replay of the script Russia used in Crimea, are against the Ukrainian constitution and “have nothing to do with democracy, nothing to do with free will of Ukrainians."
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that the U.S. and Albania will soon circulate a Security Council resolution that would condemn “the sham referenda,” call on all countries not to recognize any altered status to Ukraine, and demand an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.
The resolution is certain to face a Russian veto, “but we’re hoping to see the rest of the council stand strong and refusing to accept the redrawing,” she said.
The U.S. ambassador said she expects a Security Council vote on the resolution late this week or early next week.
Thomas-Greenfield said if Russia does use its veto, the U.S. and Albania will take the resolution to the 193-member UN General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, “to send an unmistakable message to Moscow.”
The assembly overwhelmingly adopted two resolutions in March, with support from about 140 countries, demanding an immediate end to Russia’s military operation and withdrawal of its forces, and blaming Moscow for the humanitarian crisis that has now hit many countries especially in the developing world with food and energy shortages, higher prices and rising inflation.
Explaining why the U.S. was moving ahead with the resolution, Thomas-Greenfield quoted U.S. President Joe Biden speaking to the annual meeting of world leaders at the General Assembly last week and saying “if nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences, then we put at risk everything that this institution stands for everything.”
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, claimed that 100 independent international observers from 40 countries observed the referendums, “and they were particularly surprised by the enthusiasm of the people.”
He accused Ukrainian forces of using Western “military might” in stepping up artillery strikes and shelling towns where there was a referendum “to sow panic among citizens and to make vain attempts to undermine the vote.”
Nebenzia claimed the West’s aim in supporting Ukraine and coming up to Russia’s borders “is to weaken and bleed dry Russia as much as possible."
“Their dream is to break up Russia and subject it to its own will,” he said.
Alluding to the possibility of more referendums and annexations, he called the situation in Ukraine “dire” and claimed Kyiv had been rejected not only by the people of Crimea and Donbass but the Kherson and Zhaporizhzhia regions.
“This process is going to continue if Kyiv does not recognize its mistake and its strategic errors and doesn’t start to be guided by the interests of its own people, and not blindly carry out the will of those people who are playing them,” Nebenzia said.
Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador, responded, “I have no doubts in my mind that they will attempt to do it."
She reiterated Biden's unwavering support for Ukraine, saying “that's why it’s so important that we stand against this immediately -- and that we will do.”
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.