At new Madrid restaurant Pecados, the main attraction is not so much its fusion food as the young Ukrainian-born chef running it – a Gen Z social media star who shot to fame teaching recipes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Elias Dosunmu, 27, has 9.6 million followers on TikTok, nearly five million on YouTube and two … Read more
Flydubai, a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based budget airline, has suspended flights from Dubai to two Russian cities—Sochi and Mineralnye Vody—starting December 28 to January 5, 2025, because of security concerns. The announcement comes after Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed near Aktau, killing 38 people and injuring 29 others on Wednesday, December 25, en route to … Read more
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced it will pause all upcoming screenings of the film Russians at War. The first-person documentary by Russian Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova spurred protest from Ukrainian officials and community groups who say the film amounts to propaganda. The feature was set to have its North American premiere at the Scotiabank Theatre at 2:30 p.m ET Friday. Additional … Read more
The Toronto International Film Festival says it’s not pulling a controversial documentary about Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine from its schedule, despite outcry from Ukrainian officials and community groups who say the film amounts to propaganda. TIFF’s statement comes a day after Ontario’s public broadcaster TVO, which helped fund Russians at War, announced it was no … Read more
The affidavit of an FBI special agent, and the Russian documents attached to it, offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a vast Russian network of disinformation. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted two Russians — both employees of state broadcaster RT — accused of illegally funnelling $9.7 million into a Tennessee media company. … Read more
Liberal MPs are calling for a committee investigation of Canadian connections to U.S. allegations that Russia has used state-run media, unwitting influencers and websites to spread disinformation. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment against two Russian nationals accusing them of setting up a conservative media outlet as a front for pro-Kremlin propaganda. … Read more
A beluga whale that was suspected of spying for Russia after being discovered in Norwegian waters five years ago has been found dead, according to the non-profit organization that had been monitoring the whale. The body of Hvaldimir — a combination of the Norwegian word for whale and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin — was spotted floating in the … Read more
It initially took Canada four months to get into the queue after deciding to join a plan by the United States to buy urgently needed National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine. Defence Minister Bill Blair insists the lag did not contribute to the slow pace of acquiring the high-tech defensive capability, which is … Read more
Washington: The US will ban the sale of antivirus software made by Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky. The company’s operations in the US presented a national security risk “due to the Russian government’s offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky’s operations,” the US Department of Commerce said in a statement on Thursday. “Kaspersky … Read more
Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, says his country is in urgent need of weapons and wishes the air defence system Canada promised more than a year ago was already in Ukraine. Canada announced plans in January 2023 to donate a $406-million surface-to-air missile defence system, but there’s still no delivery date. “Of course, we … Read more
