A powerful rainstorm that wreaked havoc on the desert nation of the United Arab Emirates last week was likely made more intense because of climate change, a team of international scientists has found. The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, composed of researchers from around the globe, said rain storms like the one that struck last … Read more
Plans are settling into place for an attempt to rescue a young killer whale calf stranded in a tidal lagoon near the Vancouver Island village of Zeballos within four or five days, says the area’s First Nation chief. Ehattesaht Chief Simon John has previously said the plan to remove the female orca calf from the … Read more
O.J. Simpson, the football star, actor and pitchman whose shocking arrest for double murder and subsequent acquittal at trial shone a light on American race relations, has died. He was 76. “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the family said in a statement posted to Simpson’s X … Read more
Eleanor Catton is among the five North American authors shortlisted for the second iteration of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. The $150,000 USD ($203,971.50 Cdn) prize recognizes the best fiction book by a woman or non-binary writer from the U.S. and Canada. It is presently the largest international literary prize for women writers. Each of the four remaining finalists will … Read more
The strongest earthquake in a quarter-century rocked Taiwan during the morning rush hour Wednesday, killing nine people, stranding dozens of workers at quarries and sending some residents scrambling out the windows of damaged buildings. The quake, which also injured more than 1,000, was centered off the coast of rural, mountainous Hualien County, where some buildings … Read more
Plans are now underway to airlift a stranded killer whale calf out of a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island in an effort to reunite the young orca with its extended family. Fisheries Department and First Nations officials say the plans involve placing the two-year-old calf into a sling, lifting it out of the … Read more
An international environmental organization is calling on the federal government to step up protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales beyond the 2023 measures it’s opting to repeat this year, noting birth rates are already below expectations for the season and at least three of the 19 calves born so far are believed to have died. Oceana Canada campaign director Kim … Read more
Astronomer David Lane, who created the world’s first telescope controlled by social media at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, died late last month following a nine-month battle with brain cancer. Lane was born in Germany in 1963 before moving to Hebbville, N.S., where he grew up, according to his obituary. He worked at Saint Mary’s University for 29 years, starting … Read more
A military unit of foreign fighters in the Ukraine war had taken up covert missions against Russia when its Canadian commander was killed, says a researcher who studies war in the former Soviet Union. Jean-François Ratelle, who led the Norman Brigade under the nom de guerre Hrulf, was one of two Canadians to die within … Read more
M. Emmet Walsh, the character actor who brought his unmistakable face and unsettling presence to films including Blood Simple and Blade Runner, has died at age 88, his manager said Wednesday. Walsh died from cardiac arrest on Tuesday at a hospital in St. Albans, Vt., his longtime manager Sandy Joseph said. The ham-faced, heavyset Walsh often … Read more
