'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
West African leaders attended a summit Sunday as their regional bloc pursues its efforts to resolve the political impasse in three coup-hit nations and stem the growing threat of extremist violence.
A summit last month of the Economic Community of West African States put off imposing further economic and financial sanctions on Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. They were suspended from the bloc following military coups and are under international pressure to hold democratic elections.
Malian authorities recently announced a transition roadmap that includes scheduling a presidential election for February 2024 and a constitutional referendum in March 2023.
It remains to be seen if participants at Sunday's summit in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. will accept the proposal.
ECOWAS sanctioned Mali in January by shutting down most commerce with the country, along with its land and air borders with other countries in the bloc. The measures have crippled Mali's economy.
The juntas in Guinea and Burkina Faso have proposed three-year transition periods, which ECOWAS rejected as too long a wait for elections.
The wave of military coups began in August 2020, when Col. Assimi Goita and other soldiers overthrew Mali's democratically elected president. Nine months later, he carried out a second coup, dismissing the country's civilian transitional leader and assuming the presidency himself.
Mutinous soldiers deposed Guinea's president in September 2021, and Burkina Faso's leader was ousted in a January coup.
The political upheaval came as many observers started to think that military power grabs were a thing of the past in West Africa, an increasingly restive region that also faces growing danger from Islamic extremist fighters.
Some leaders who spoke at Accra's one-day summit urged action as armed groups expand their footprint in the region.
"These terrorist attacks are now not only focusing on the Sahel, but also expanding to the coastal states in our region," Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. "It is imperative for us to continue to implement our regional action plan against terrorism and to coordinate our various security initiatives."
In the first half of 2022, the region recorded a total of 3,500 deaths from 1,600 extremist attacks targeting countries including Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, said Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, an Ivorian politician who has been serving as president of the ECOWAS Commission.
In Burkina Faso, where attacks blamed on Islamic extremist fighters are soaring, gunmen killed at least 55 people in the country's northern Seno province last month.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.