Politics

For all the travel-starved Canadians dreaming of standing in security lines and browsing duty-free, Megan Rapinoe has a dispatch from the future: “Airports are still the same,” the soccer superstar says with a laugh. “They’re just less crowded.” After a year-long break brought on by the pandemic, clearly things are not quite back to the way it was. “Life is quite strange right now,” Rapinoe muses. “We’re all pretending like we’re going back to normal, but nothing is really the same.” Still, she’s glad to be back at work, although “it’s a bit of a rude awakening, because it was really nice not to be on a plane all the time.” Like, say, across the world to Japan. Along with her “day job” as forward for the Tacoma, Washington-based pro team OL Reign, Rapinoe is of course a key member of the

House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, left, receives the censure motion from opposition leader Sompong Amornwiwat at the parliament on Aug 16. (Parliament photo) A four-day no-confidence debate, the third of its kind against the government, kicks off on Tuesday with a long list of allegations ranging from flawed management to corruption. The grilling will revolve around the government's handling of Covid-19 and related issues such as the national vaccine rollout and economic fallout from the crisis. However, academics believe the censure debate is unlikely to topple the government and more or less aims to seek support from anti-government protesters who are taking to the streets to call for Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down from his position. Yutthaporn Issarachai, a political s...

A group organizing protests outside Stephen Lecce’s house discussed pooling cash to hire private detectives to “dig up dirt” on the education minister, took pictures of his backyard and mused about gaining access to his daily schedule, the Star has learned. The COVID-19 vaccine and lockdown protesters used encrypted messaging app Telegram to co-ordinate opposition to Lecce’s back-to-school rules, as well as to the Ford government’s forthcoming vaccination passport program. It was the same group of more than 500 members that has been attempting to disrupt Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s federal campaign. The Star monitored the channel between Saturday morning and Monday evening, when it appeared to have been deleted. “We need to show Lecce that we DO NOT support vax clinics at schools,”

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Tuesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available. 6:47 p.m.: With Ontario seeing more than three straight weeks of growth in daily COVID-19 cases — primarily in people who have not been vaccinated — the province is “most definitely” in a fourth wave, says a top doctor with the government’s science advisory table. And with the number of new cases currently doubling every 10 days, Dr. Peter Juni, scientific director of the science table, warns the province could see as many as 1,200 new cases per day by the time school resumes in less than a month. That’s up from a current average of just over 300. Full story here from Kenyon Wallace and Ed Tubb. 6:40 p.m.: Toronto is in the early

In the twilight of the twilight, Manny Pacquiao is doing the same things in the same place. The autograph hunters still gather outside Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, crowding into the shopping plaza at the corner of Santa Monica and Vine. The workouts inside resemble those from 10 years ago, right down to the bamboo stick that’s jabbed into his abdomen. The differences now, though, are striking and important. They speak both to why he’s still fighting and why that choice is dangerous—even more than usual, in the most dangerous of sports. They illuminate the boxer’s future plans, on horizons near and far. And they point to grand political ambitions, even beyond the senatorial office he’s held since 2016. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that when he meets Yordenis Ugas for a