Author: Our Newsroom

PLYMOUTH, Mass. - Four centuries after white Europeans stepped off the Mayflower and onto America’s shores, some descendants of the colonists are wrestling with the complicated legacy of their ancestors amid a global racial reckoning. There is immense pride among those who can trace their families back to the passengers who boarded the ship in Plymouth, England, in 1620 to flee religious persecution and realize a better life. Yet for some, the devastating impact that the Pilgrims’ landing in New England had on Native Americans weighs heavily in this moment of unrest over systemic racism. In interviews with The Associated Press, Americans and Britons who can trace their ancestry either to the Pilgrims or the indigenous people who helped them survive talked openly about the need in 2020 to

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - The archbishop of San Francisco performed a short exorcism ceremony Saturday outside a Catholic church where protesters had earlier toppled a statue of Father Junipero Serra, saying the ceremony was intended to drive out evil and defend the image of Serra. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed the ritual before some 150 supporters before holding a special Mass inside St. Raphael Catholic Church and an expected march to a Planned Parenthood clinic, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Serra was an 18th-century Spanish missionary priest and the father of the California mission system. The Franciscan priest has long been praised by the church for bringing Roman Catholicism to what is now the western United States, but critics highlight a darker side to his legacy. ...

Covid-19 tests Thai-Myanmar ties The surging numbers of Covid-19 infections in Yangon and northern Myanmar over the past few weeks is putting the excellent Thai-Myanmar relations under great stress. At this point, the 2,401-kilometre border between both countries is more heavily guarded than ever before. Concerns about imported infections reached frenzied proportions when reports about workers from Myanmar sneaking through the porous border into Thailand emerged -- along with photos of alleged Covid-19 victims on the streets of Myawaddy, right across from Tak province. The news from the western border doesn't augur well for plans to jumpstart the economy, especially as the Thai government is now mulling whether to allow foreigners to enter the country with fewer restrictions. At present...

Rocket and artillery barrage hit residential areas in Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday hours after the United States hosted top diplomats from Armenia and Azerbaijan for talks on settling their decades-long conflict over the region. The heavy shelling forced residents of Stepanakert, the regional capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, into shelters, as emergency teams rushed to extinguish fires. Local officials said the city was struck with Azerbaijan’s Smerch long-range multiple rocket systems, a devastating Soviet-designed weapon intended to ravage wide areas with explosives and cluster munitions. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said other towns in the region were also targeted by Azerbaijani artillery fire. There was no immediate information about casualties. Officials in Azerbaijan claimed that the

SRINAGAR, India - Indian government forces killed a top rebel commander in Kashmir during a gunbattle Sunday in the disputed region’s main city, police said, calling it a major success against the rebels’ long fight against Indian rule. The dead commander, Saifullah Mir, was the chief of operations of the region’s largest rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, which has spearheaded an armed rebellion against Indian rule for decades. Inspector-General Vijay Kumar said police and paramilitary soldiers launched an operation Sunday in Srinagar in a neighbourhood in the city’s outskirts based on a tip that Saifullah was sheltering there. He said a gunfight ensued in which the militant commander was killed and his suspected associate was nabbed. Kumar said the killing was a major victory for India’s

November is Woman Abuse Awareness and Prevention month in Ontario, a time when women’s shelters use all the tools in their toolbox to increase awareness around abuse against women, how it affects us all and what we can do as a society to end it. In Kincardine, Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey is using social media and partnering with many local businesses to help raise awareness, foster prevention, and raise funds to help them provide the support that the women and children that reach out to them need to rebuild their lives. In place of the purple scarves traditionally sold during November, shelters have opted to offer a “Stay Safe” mask to the public. The masks will be sent out for a $20 donation, to “help you Stay Safe while you are joining us to work towards eliminating violence a

Suu Kyi forecast to triumph in virus-hit Myanmar election The election will be just the second since Myanmar nation emerged from nearly half a century of junta rule in 2011. YANGON: Polls opened in Myanmar on Sunday morning for a vote expected to return to power the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains a hero at home in spite of a reputation abroad shattered by the Rohingya crisis. The election will be just the second since the Southeast Asian nation emerged from nearly half a century of junta rule in 2011. Five years ago Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory, but was forced by the constitution into an uneasy power-sharing agreement with the still-mighty military. This time the civilian leader -- in a bid to maintain an absolute majority -- has i...

Law not enough to protect disabled A women's rights group has found that girls with disabilities are more likely to be sexually abused, especially by those closest to them. The problem has persisted despite the enforcement of the Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act, said Vijita Rachatanantikul, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Women's Affairs and Family Development. She was talking during a seminar on sexually-abused women with disabilities in Bangkok on Thursday. She said the empowerment legislation focused on the rights of disabled people rather than the issue of sexual abuse. The department's collaboration with the non-profit group Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation (WMP) found that strong communities and leaders are key to the prevention of sexual abuse...

BEIRUT - Lebanon’s parliament speaker met Thursday with a visiting U.S. official, a day after Beirut began indirect negotiations with Israel over their disputed maritime border. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, the top American diplomat for the Middle East, did not speak to reporters after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Berri has been the main Lebanese official dealing with U.S. mediators regarding the dispute with Israel over the past decade. On Wednesday, Schenker attended the opening session of U.S.-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel in a U.N. compound in the border area known as Ras Naqoura. A joint statement released Wednesday by the U.S. State Department and Jan Kubis, the U.N. special co-ordinator for Lebanon, sai