Author: Press Room

At the end of his figure skating performance, when the last note of his parents’ favorite song played in an arena packed with spectators and heavy with sorrow, Maxim Naumov dropped to his knees at the center of the ice. He remained there for what seemed like forever, awash in a spotlight, looking lost and sobbing.And in row after row, section after section, inside Capital One Arena on Sunday in downtown Washington, the crowd of about 15,000 people climbed to its feet, applauded — and cried with him.Naumov was one of the skaters featured at the benefit Legacy on Ice,…

Descrease article font size Increase article font size The Toronto Zoo says it is issuing its final notice from a cyberattack on its systems in early January 2024. The zoo said a copy of transaction data was taken and leaked online but that “the way the data was leaked has made it difficult to download.”“It is currently not published, though this could change,” the zoo said.The zoo said the data includes information about people who engaged in general admission and membership purchases between 2000 and April 2023. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign…

The United Kingdom, France and other countries are looking at a number of options to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer says, after French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a limited initial one-month truce.Macron said on Sunday that his idea was for a one-month ceasefire in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure.”There are clearly a number of options on the table,” Starmer’s spokesman said on Monday when asked about that proposal.”I’m just not getting into a running commentary on the options.”But Starmer is clear that any peace deal “must be lasting, it must…

GENEVA: The UN rights chief voiced deep concern on Monday (Mar 3) over the United States’ “fundamental shift” in direction since Donald Trump returned to power, and decried the “unchecked power” of “unelected tech oligarchs”. Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk voiced the UN’s strongest rebuke to date of the dramatic about-face in the United States in recent weeks. “We have enjoyed bipartisan support from the United States of America on human rights over many decades,” he said, before adding: “I am now deeply worried by the fundamental shift in direction that is taking place domestically…

Oscar-winning documentary film No Other Land was a collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted vaccine skeptic, voiced support for the measles vaccine Sunday amid a deadly outbreak in the Southwest, mainly in Texas.An unvaccinated child who died in late February in Texas was the first U.S. fatality from the highly contagious disease in a decade.Recently confirmed as health secretary, Kennedy has previously made numerous false and misleading claims about the safety of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and had downplayed the growing outbreak, saying annual outbreaks were “not unusual.” But on Sunday, Kennedy said he was “deeply concerned about the recent measles…

Federal agents arrested two Guatemalan men on Friday accused of operating one of the largest human smuggling operations in the United States.The two were picked up near downtown Los Angeles and are accused of moving 20,000 illegal immigrants into the U.S. from Guatemala since 2019.Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul and Cristobal Mejia-Chaj each appeared in federal court hours after their arrests, and a judge ordered each held without bond. If convicted, they could each face the death penalty.”These smuggling organizations have no regard for human life and their conduct kills,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally. “The indictment and arrests here have…

Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods imposed by the U.S. government are expected to take hold on Tuesday, marking the start of a North American trade war. President Donald Trump signed the order to impose the devastating levies on his northern and southern neighbours on Feb. 1, saying the measures would help stop “illegal migration” and the smuggling of opioids into U.S. territory.In early February, Trump delayed the start date on the tariffs by 30 days after two phone calls between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump, and a Canadian promise to introduce new security measures at the border.Since the…

Hours after Elon Musk reassured Cabinet members on Wednesday that efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Uganda had only been “accidentally canceled very briefly,” the Trump administration terminated at least four of the five contracts for Ebola-related work in that country.The four canceled contracts were a tiny fraction of the 10,000 contracts and grants at the United States Agency for International Development and the State Department that the Trump administration ended on Wednesday.But they were important: Since January, Uganda has experienced a serious Ebola outbreak, from which the country is only just emerging. The contracts funded Ebola screening at…

Zoe Saldaña stood in the middle of Vanity Fair’s Oscars after-party Sunday night, holding an In-N-Out burger in one hand and her best supporting actress statuette in the other.She hugged Cynthia Erivo twice and then grinned for a selfie with Gayle King. Queen Latifah applauded as she twirled at the center of a dance circle.If Adrien Brody had similar moves, he kept them to himself. He brought along his Oscar for best actor and his parents, who were asked over and over about how proud they must be of their son.“We’re so ashamed,” his father, Elliot Brody, deadpanned.At Vanity Fair’s…