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North Korean defectors urge the UN to hold the country’s leader accountable for rights abuses
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Eunju Kim, who escaped starvation in North Korea in 1999, was sent back from China and fled a second time, told the United Nations on Tuesday that the country’s leader must be held accountable for gross human rights violations. Gyuri Kang, whose family faced persecution for her grandmother’s religious beliefs, fled…
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Despite data that show they’re safe, residents of Oakville neighbourhood torn between facts and feeling
Late last year, Mario Zelaya never expected his TikTok post would stir such emotion across an upscale east-end Oakville neighbourhood. Nor did he anticipate being targeted by the town’s mayor. It has been seven months since that initial post, when Zelaya detailed what he believes to be a serious public health threat linked to decades…
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Hackers strike UK’s legal aid agency and compromise data of lawyers and clients
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s justice department said Monday that it shut down online services for legal aid recipients and the lawyers paid to help them after a cyberattack compromised personal information including criminal records, national insurance numbers and payment details. The Ministry of Justice said it learned on April 23 that online digital services at…
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South Carolina’s new all male highest court reverses course on abortion, upholding strict 6 week ban
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s newly all-male Supreme Court reversed course on abortion Wednesday, upholding a law banning most such procedures except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. The continued erosion of legal abortion access across the U.S. South comes after Republican state lawmakers replaced the lone woman on the court, Justice Kaye Hearn,…
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New Mexico State preaches anti hazing message as student athletes return for fall season
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Top administrators at New Mexico State University wanted to find just the right wording to announce that they were pulling the plug on the men’s basketball season following reports of alleged hazing involving team members. It was a busy afternoon in February — Super Bowl Sunday, in fact — as university…
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The initial online search that spurred a raid on a Kansas paper was legal, a state agency says
MARION, Kan. (AP) — The initial online search of a state website that led a central Kansas police chief to raid a local weekly newspaper was legal, a spokesperson for the agency that maintains the site said Monday, as newly released video showed the publisher’s 98-year-old mother protesting a search of their home. The raids…
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‘There’s a lot of misinformation’: Huntsville drone operator
Huntsville resident Steve Kubay has developed a taste for drones in recent months. He usually takes his drone to appropriate locations to take photos or record videos of the Muskoka landscape. Despite the pleasant experience, Kubay says drone operation requires responsibility and knowledge on the matter. “A drone, it’s an aircraft in Canada, and I…
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Feds put home appliance energy efficiency update on hold to align with forthcoming U.S. regulations
The federal government has delayed implementing energy-efficiency regulations for major home appliances in order to align with new stringent standards announced by the U.S. Department of Energy. A briefing note obtained by Canada’s National Observer through a federal access-to-information request reveals how Natural Resources Canada is adapting to the U.S.’s new plan to increase energy-efficiency…
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White House science adviser calls for more safeguards against artificial intelligence risks
When President Joe Biden has questions about artificial intelligence, one expert he turns to is his science adviser Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prabhakar is helping to guide the U.S. approach to safeguarding AI technology, relying in part on cooperation from big American tech firms like Amazon,…
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Court documents suggest reason for police raid of Kansas newspaper
The police chief who led the raid of a Kansas newspaper alleged in previously unreleased court documents a reporter either impersonated someone else or lied about her intentions when she obtained the driving records of a local business owner. But reporter Phyllis Zorn, Marion County Record Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer and the newspaper’s attorney…
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Rail whistleblowers fired for voicing safety concerns despite efforts to end practice of retaliation
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hours before a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio and erupted in fire in February, a judge ruled a former railroad employee could proceed with a lawsuit claiming he had been harassed for years by managers who said he reported too many flaws in rail cars he inspected and had his…