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.
A Thai protest leader on Tuesday renewed calls for the reform of the country's monarchy and suggested that time was running out for the powerful institution to respond.
"This year shall be the last year that we will discuss monarchy reform. After this, whatever will happen, will happen. You can't stop the sun rising. You can't control what people believe in," Arnon Nampha said at a candlelight rally in downtown Bangkok by about 200 people who defied coronavirus regulations to attend.
The civil rights lawyer dressed as Harry Potter, a reference to what he and other proponents of change see as the opaque world of the palace. Arnon is widely considered the protest movement's most senior figure.
The rally marked one year since Arnon delivered a speech that shook the country with its unprecedented challenge to the status of the monarchy, which is widely considered to be an untouchable bedrock element of Thai nationalism.
It sparked a series of large-scale rallies demanding that the palace be made more transparent and accountable. The protests, which also called for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and the amendment of the constitution, raised the political temperature significantly, leading to clashes with royalists and police and the arrests of protest leaders.
The rallies died down this year due to legal action, a lack of unity in the movement and fears over the coronavirus. But in recent weeks protesters have returned to the streets, prompted by a worsening COVID-19 outbreak for which many people blame the government.
They've largely targeted Prayuth's government but Arnon's speech on Tuesday suggests the monarchy will once again be a focus of Thai political debate.
"We are here to fight to build a better future together," he said. "This year we will fight with strategies. We will fight with goals. Not only will we fight through protests to bring pressure, we will also fight to propose laws in Parliament."
Arnon, who is currently free on bail, faces more than 10 charges under a stringent royal defamation law that mandates prison terms of up to 15 years for perceived insults. Human rights defenders say it is routinely used to stifle public discussion of the monarchy and to jail political activists. Its abolition is a key demand of the reform movement.
Many people still revere the monarchy, and the military, a major power in Thai society, considers its defense a key priority.
Questioning of the monarchy's position has grown since the 2016 accession to the throne of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, whose much admired father, King Bhumibhol Adulyadej, ruled for seven decades.
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.”