Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, has repeatedly run into trouble with both the Kremlin and Western officials as he cast himself as a champion of free speech. On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, accused him of aiding what it called terrorist activities. It also said it […]

Water Not Coal is asking people contacted by Elections Alberta during petition signature verification to share their experiences, as the campaign weighs a legal challenge with a filing deadline of Aug. 2. “We’re still gathering our information. We’ve put out a public call,” campaign proponent Corb Lund says. “We want to understand their experience and […]

A citizen initiative petition proposing a referendum on Alberta becoming an independent country has been declared successful after Elections Alberta verified enough signatures to satisfy the requirements of the Citizen Initiative Act. The agency announced Friday that statistical verification estimated 222,597 valid signatures from an initial submission of 286,593 signatures, surpassing the required minimum of […]

NEW YORK (AP) — A school district in a rural corner of upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom after state education officials, teachers and local residents raised concerns, including the maker’s ties to a company that produces hyper realistic sex bots. The Salamanca City […]

The United Nations official left to oversee not just children’s welfare but also water and sanitation in the Gaza Strip is praising Canada’s support for Palestinians — but warns that some of its aid money is being squandered by Israel’s attacks on water facilities and restrictions on aid groups. Jonathan Veitch, the head of UNICEF […]

Norman Wapachee was born around a decade after his sister Hattie, but he never got to meet her. Instead, he grew up hearing their mom tell stories about her brief time on Earth.  In 1955, Wapachee’s parents took their seven-month old daughter to a hospital in Roberval, QC to treat her pneumonia. Soon after, the […]

CBC/Radio-Canada won’t disclose how much participating in the Eurovision song contest could cost. A government document, obtained through access to information law, says information about other countries is limited but total costs ranged from about $400,000 for Portugal to $1.5 million for Israel in 2025. The Canadian Heritage document also says that because the Broadcasting […]

COCHRANE — After two consecutive years of record-breaking demand, the Cochrane Food Bank is cautiously optimistic that 2026 could mark the first signs of stabilization. From January through June, the food bank served 1,961 individuals across 1,029 households, according to manager Ardis Proulx-Chedore. While there are still six months left in the year, she said […]

A second Peel municipality has awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to the same Ontario-based on-demand transit provider with a limited operating history, just days before The Pointer entered an adjudication process with Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner to obtain the City of Brampton’s agreement with the company. On June 25, Argo Transit announced a 15-month micro-transit […]

Razan Abu-Ghoush filed her Canadian citizenship application on July 2, 2024. Two years later, she’s still waiting. That shouldn’t be happening. IRCC’s own published processing-time data shows citizenship grants — the standard path for permanent residents applying to naturalize — have been improving this year, even as the separate citizenship-by-descent queue has ballooned. Application decisions […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was removed from office on Friday, nearly two years after sexual misconduct allegations against him first emerged. The ouster of Karim Khan comes at a time when the court is already facing daunting challenges, including a campaign by the United States to “dismantle” […]

The City of New Westminster has established an AI working group to tackle the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence. City council recently received a report outlining the work staff have done to date on the development of appropriate AI usage guidelines and upcoming work.  The July 13 report said publicly available Generative AI (GenAI) […]