Tag: Canada

Categories
World News

Canada Guarantees to Resettle 20,000 Refugees From Afghanistan

Canada Promises to Resettle 20,000 Refugees From Afghanistan

Canada has promised to resettle more than 20,000 Afghan citizens from groups it considers likely targets of the Taliban, including women leaders, rights workers and L.G.B.T.Q. individuals, as many nations scramble to evacuate their nationals and help Afghans flee.

Canada’s immigration minister, Marco Mendicino, announced the resettlement process at a news conference on Friday, adding that Canada could “not stand idly by” as the Taliban seized control of cities and provinces. The rapid advance has prompted a surge in refugees and stirred fear among those who have worked with Western governments or organizations, or with the current authorities.

Some 250,000 Afghans have been forced to flee their homes since late May, most of them women and children, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.

Several European countries announced on Friday that they were withdrawing embassy workers and evacuating Afghan nationals who had worked for them. Most of them reiterated calls for their nationals to leave the country urgently.

Norway and Denmark announced that they were temporarily closing their embassies, and Spain said it would repatriate its diplomatic staff and evacuate Afghanistan translators “as soon as possible.”

Britain has said it will send 600 troops to help evacuate its citizens, and Denmark is also offering evacuation to all Afghans who worked for its embassy or armed forces in the past two years.

Canada did not provide a timeline for its resettlement program. On Friday, it was continuing to repatriate those who had worked with its diplomats and armed forces in Afghanistan, according to government officials.

“We owe them a debt of gratitude, and we will continue our efforts to bring them to safety,” the country’s foreign minister, Marc Garneau, said.

Categories
Health

Moderna, Canada agree on constructing manufacturing plant

Moderna, Canada agree on building manufacturing plant

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, listens during a press conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on Friday June 4, 2021. Trudeau said 65% of eligible Canadians received a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

David Kawai | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Moderna said Tuesday it had reached an agreement with the Canadian government to build a “state-of-the-art” manufacturing facility in Canada to manufacture Covid vaccines and possibly vaccines for other respiratory viruses after the country suffered from supply shortages earlier this year.

The facility is designed to give Canadians access to domestically manufactured mRNA vaccines against respiratory viruses, including Covid, seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and possibly other vaccines, pending approval, the U.S. drugmaker said.

It is also to be used “urgently” to aid the country with health emergencies with direct access to vaccines, the company said.

Moderna said it was in talks with other governments about similar collaborations.

“We are very excited to expand our presence and continue our long-term relationship with Canada,” said Patricia Gauthier, Moderna’s head of Canadian business, in a statement. “With our industry-leading mRNA technology platform and rapid drug development capabilities, we look forward to being an active participant in Canada’s robust life science ecosystem.”

Canada has suffered repeated delays and supply shortages of Covid vaccines this year as it struggled to get the vaccines from other countries that manufactured them. The problem forced the government to postpone the second vaccinations for up to 16 weeks and advise residents to “mix and match” vaccines.

The Biden government, under pressure from allies worldwide to share vaccines, announced plans in March to ship about 4 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine that it was not using to Mexico and Canada.

Vaccine supplies and the pace of vaccinations have increased since then, Canadian health officials said, and residents have since received their second doses.

Moderna shares fell about 3% on Tuesday just before the announcement. The stock is up more than 360% since the beginning of the year.

Categories
World News

Tidal energy undertaking in Canada secures assist of Japanese companies

Tidal power project in Canada secures support of Japanese firms

Laszlo Podor | Moment | Getty Images

Two Japanese companies have entered into a joint development agreement with Ireland-based DP Energy to work on the initial stages of a tidal energy project in Canada.

In statements released earlier this week, Chubu Electric Power and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, or “K” Line, said the agreement related to the Uisce Tapa Tidal Energy project. The development is located at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy in the Bay of Fundy, a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Both Chubu Electric Power and “K” Line called it “the first tidal power project that a Japanese company will participate in overseas”.

According to DP Energy, the first phase of Uisce Tapa – Irish for “fast water” – revolves around three 1.5 megawatt turbines. The second aims to increase the capacity of the project to 9 MW.

Uisce Tapa is backed by a 15-year power purchase agreement with Nova Scotia Power Incorporated, which amounts to Canadian dollars 530 (approximately $ 422) per megawatt hour. It also benefits from a grant of approximately $ 30 million Canadian dollars from Natural Resources Canada.

In its announcement on Wednesday, DP Energy described the Bay of Fundy as “home to some of the highest tides in the world”. At the highest surface speed, the tidal currents are “capable of exceeding 10 knots” or 5 meters per second, he added.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the project is being considered for approval by Chubu Electric Power and “K” Line. If everything goes according to plan, the first turbine would go into operation in 2023, followed by two more in 2026.

The news comes the same week that tidal energy company Nova Innovation said it was able to move ahead with a project focused on increasing the production of tidal turbines after receiving funding from the Scottish government.

The £ 2 million ($ 2.77 million) funding increase announced on Thursday will be used to support the Volume Manufacturing and Logistics for Tidal Energy project, also known as VOLT.

According to Nova, VOLT will “develop the first European assembly line for the mass production of tidal turbines” and also “test innovative techniques and tools to ship, deploy and monitor turbines around the world”.

Last week, another company, Orbital Marine Power, announced that its O2 turbine had started producing electricity on-grid at the European Marine Energy Center in Orkney, an archipelago north of mainland Scotland.

The 2 megawatt O2 is known as the “strongest tidal turbine in the world”, weighs 680 tons and is 74 meters long.

Categories
World News

The Blue Jays Lastly Return to Canada

The Blue Jays Finally Return to Canada

TORONTO – When the coronavirus shut down the world in the spring of 2020, the area around the Rogers Center in the heart of downtown Toronto became a desolate wasteland. The familiar noises of the game day walk-up crowd and screaming scalpers have been replaced by socially distant outdoor yoga groups, residents taking their daily walks with their pets, and the occasional tennis enthusiast batting their foreheads against the brick wall next to the stadium entrance .

If a tumbleweed had rolled through, no one would have noticed.

For 161 regular season and playoff games over two seasons, the Toronto Blue Jays left their nest and cited without a real home after the Canadian government denied the team’s request to play in Toronto during the pandemic Concerns About Crossing Border Travel To and From The United States.

While all the other Major League Baseball teams stayed in their hometown and welcomed the fans back to their stadiums earlier this season, the majors’ only Canadian team stayed on the streets, initially playing supposed home games at the tiny TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, and then at Sahlen Field, a retrofitted Class AAA ballpark in Buffalo, NY. In mid-July, the Jays were finally given permission to return to Canada.

Baseball is a sport of statistics. From batting averages to home runs to on-base and slugging percentages to wins over replacements, no sport communicates through numbers more than America’s pastime. On Friday, when the long-dormant stadium in downtown Toronto finally came to life, only one number was on everyone’s lips: 670.

It has been 670 days since the Blue Jays last played a game at the Rogers Center. The number seemed to be everywhere on Friday, from teammates in shirts referencing it to the team’s social media account reminding fans how long they waited for this reunion.

Officially, a baseball game between the Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals was played in Toronto. But what happened at the ballpark on Friday was more than that. The pandemic has stolen most of the people’s daily lives. On the way back to their old way of life, some pieces of normality are picked up. The ballpark was filled with many of these pieces on Friday.

Almost three hours before the first pitch, George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took turns tossing baseball out of the park during batting practice. In between they laughed and danced with manager Charlie Montoyo and soaked up the return to Canada. At the field level, the team’s President and Chief Executive, Mark Shapiro, kept a close eye on the team and members of the news media and welcomed them back to the stadium.

The Jays returned as a very different team. The last time they played at the Rogers Center in 2019, fans emotionally said goodbye to first baseman Justin Smoak – he played his last game with Toronto – and the team ended a 67-95 season. They returned with Guerrero, who established himself as one of the most exciting stars in the game, a line-up that leads the majors on home runs, and a team with the fourth best run differential in the American League that gives them high hopes for improvement on an overwhelming 51-48 record.

You also return to a completely different world. According to the guidelines the Province of Ontario set in Phase 3 of its reopening plans for outdoor venues, the Jays are only allowed to have 15,000 fans per game (about 30 percent of the stadium’s 49,286-person capacity). The 500 level, generally reserved for the die-hard and the occasional belligerent fanatic, remained closed. The cardboard cut-outs that occupy certain sections at this level were just one of the reminders that normal remains a relative term.

Masks were compulsory for all fans (although some tried their luck by wearing them well below the intended level on their faces). The WestJet Flight Deck, a midfield standing area for the loudest fans, has been reduced to a maximum of six socially distant people at a time.

However, the crowd felt far larger than the listed attendance of 13,446. Fans formed long lines in each team store. Springer and Hyun-jin Ryu jerseys appeared to be the top sellers (which gave the sea of ​​Guerrero Jr. jerseys some competition). The $ 25 price tag didn’t stop many fans from ordering Canadian classics: poutine and beer.

Just as the team reunited with their hometown, the fans were reunited too. Groups of people ran into each other at every corner of the stadium. Some got engaged with hugs. Others just shook hands and paused to catch up.

After a pre-game soundtrack that included “The Boys Are Back in Town,” and Coldplay’s Chris Martin sang the chorus of “Homecoming,” the Blue Jays finally took to the field while medical staff from Toronto General Hospital greeted them as they passed Waving team flags.

This ballpark has seen many iconic moments, from Joe Carter’s walk-off home run of the 1993 World Series to Jose Bautista’s emphatic bat-flip against the Texas Rangers in a Division Series game in 2015. Those moments took the stadium right through Mark shaken. The ovation the Blue Jays received on Friday when they entered the field failed to reach that decibel level, but a sense of amusement and relief swept through the stadium. From the media area to the fans in the stands, only a few eyes remained dry during a fan assembly on the large jumbotron in the midfield. With the first of many “Let’s Go, Blue Jays” chants a liberation from emotions followed.

For the next several hours it was just another typical baseball game on a brisk Friday night at the Rogers Center, give or take a few standing ovations and “MVP” chants for Guerrero Jr., who got the biggest reception from the crowd all night.

The Jays officially returned home at 7:28 pm when Ross Stripling delivered a first blow to Whit Merrifield. A home run by Teoscar Hernandez in the second inning put the home team on the map. A double homer from Bo Bichette in the seventh inning gave Toronto a 6-2 lead. The third baseman Santiago Espinal scored the final in a 6-4 win with a bare-handed catch and was the perfect end to a picture-perfect return.

After a final standing ovation for the home team, the fans dispersed and made their way to the exit, with the first game of an 11-game home stand. Outside the stadium, just a few minutes later, the honking of the cars and the clashing conversations of the departing crowd reminded one last time that the stadium, which had slumbered as a reminder of an interrupted life for the past two years, was back in operation.

Categories
World News

U.S. Reaffirms Land Border Restrictions with Canada and Mexico

U.S. Reaffirms Land Border Restrictions with Canada and Mexico

Nonessential travel restrictions from Canada and Mexico do not apply to air, freight rail or sea, and traveling by land is still allowed for many reasons, including business, medical purposes and education. All international air travelers into the United States have to present a negative coronavirus test taken within three days of departure or proof of recovery from the virus within 90 days.

Canada made the decision to reopen its border based on its vaccination progress — more than three quarters of the country has received at least one dose of vaccine, according to governmental data, a far higher percentage than the United States, where a little more than 56 percent of the population has received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Residents within the United States and across its land borders have pressed for reopening, and more than 2,800 people have joined a private Facebook group organized by Let Us Reunite, an advocacy group.

One of the group’s members is Heather Kienle, a U.S. citizen who lives in Montreal. Crossing the border has not been a problem for Ms. Kienle, but her husband, a Canadian, cannot.

So Ms. Kienle, who is six months pregnant, often drives alone or with her 4-year-old daughter more than eight hours to West Babylon, N.Y., to care for her mother, who has endometrial cancer.

“It was just very stressful because I had to travel by myself, without my husband, and I had to take care of my daughter in the back seat,” Ms. Kienle said on Wednesday.

U.S. politicians from both parties have also objected to the restrictions.

Brian Higgins, a congressman who represents a district in Western New York that borders Canada, said in a statement on Wednesday that “today’s decision by the Biden administration harms economic recovery and hurts families all across America’s northern border; this is completely unnecessary.”

Categories
World News

Lots of Extra Unmarked Graves of Indigenous Kids Present in Canada

Hundreds More Unmarked Graves of Indigenous Children Found in Canada

CALGARY, Alberta – The remains of 761 people, mostly indigenous children, were discovered on the grounds of a former school in Saskatchewan province, a Canadian indigenous group announced Thursday, rocking a nation that has been experiencing widespread and systematic abuse for generations by indigenous people.

The biggest discovery to date came weeks after the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves on the grounds of another former boarding school in British Columbia.

Both schools were part of a system that took indigenous children in the country, some by force, from their families over a period of around 113 years and placed them in boarding schools, where they were not allowed to speak their language.

A national truth and reconciliation commission established in 2008 to investigate, expose and document the history and consequences of boarding schools called the practice “cultural genocide”. Many children never returned home and their families were given vague or no explanations about their fate. Canada had approximately 150 boarding schools and an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children attended the schools between their opening in 1883 and their closure in 1996.

It is unclear how the children died in the church schools that were ravaged by disease outbreaks a century ago, and where children were exposed to sexual, physical and emotional violence and violence. Some former students of the schools have reported that the bodies of infants of girls who were impregnated by priests and monks were cremated.

The commission estimates that around 4,100 children are missing in schools across the country. But an indigenous former judge who headed the commission, Murray Sinclair, said in an email this month that he now believes the number is “well over 10,000”.

The discovery in Saskatchewan was made by the Cowesss First Nation at the Marieval Indian Residential School, about 87 miles from the provincial capital, Regina.

“There was always talk, speculation, and stories, but seeing that number – it’s a pretty significant number,” said Bobby Cameron, head of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the provincial association of indigenous groups. “It’s going to be difficult and painful and heartbreaking.”

He added, “This is what the Catholic Church in Canada and the then government of Canada forced upon our children.”

For Canada’s 1.7 million Indigenous citizens, who make up approximately 4.9 percent of the population, the discovery is a haunting reminder of centuries of discrimination and abuse that resulted in intergenerational trauma for boarding school survivors and their families.

It’s also a strong endorsement of their testimonies. While recent evidence has increased awareness of the subject, Indigenous peoples’ oral traditions had indicated for decades that thousands of children had disappeared from schools but were often met with skepticism. “There’s no denying it: all of our survivors’ stories are true,” said Chief Cameron.

The latest evidence is likely to deepen the country’s debate over its history of indigenous peoples exploitation and bring attention back to the horrors of schools, a flaw in the history of Canada, a country that has often, fair or not, been perceived as a bastion of progressivism and multiculturalism.

In September 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the past “humiliation, neglect and mistreatment” of the country’s indigenous people and vowed to improve the lives of the country’s indigenous people in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. The recent discoveries will put pressure on him to accelerate these efforts, which many indigenous people complain have been neglected.

When Mr. Trudeau took office in 2015, he made the 94 recommendations of the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission a top priority. But progress has been slow, in part because some of them are beyond the control of the federal government. The Indian Act, a nineteenth-century set of laws governing the lives of indigenous peoples, remains in place despite Trudeau’s promise to transform it into a new system under their control. Chief Cameron and several other Indigenous leaders hope that discovering the children’s remains will speed the process.

The remains of the 215 children were discovered using ground penetrating radar at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Similar to an MRI scan of the body, the technology creates images of anomalies in the ground.

An official with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said the latest analysis, based on the same technology, began about three weeks ago, not long after the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced preliminary results on the Kamloops School.

The search at Kamloops School continues, and First Nation leaders said they expected the number to continue to spike.

When the commission tried to investigate the issue of missing indigenous children, the then Conservative government rejected its request for funds to fund searches. Since Kamloops was discovered in late May, several Canadian governments have offered to pay for the searches.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced that it would allocate just under $ 4.9 million Canadian dollars (about $ 3.9 million) to indigenous communities in Saskatchewan to search for graves. The provincial government had previously pledged Canadian dollars ($ 1.6 million).

In a statement, Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Moe predicted the remains of more children would be found elsewhere. “Unfortunately, other First Nations in Saskatchewan will experience the same shock and despair as the search for graves continues,” he wrote.

Like Kamloops, Marieval School, which opened in 1899, has been run by the Roman Catholic Church for the Canadian government for most of its history. A marked cemetery still exists on the site of the school, which was closed in 1997 and then demolished. The commission, based on testimonials from former students and archive materials, listed the Marieval School as a likely location for unmarked graves.

The commission asked for a papal apology for the role of the church, which ran about 70 percent of the schools. (The rest were led by Protestant denominations.) But despite a personal appeal from Mr. Trudeau to the Vatican, Pope Francis has still not taken this step. In contrast, the leadership of the United Church of Canada, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, apologized in 1986 for its role in running the schools.

Former Saskatchewan residential school students have been particularly active in litigation against the government that led to financial settlements and the establishment of a commission that over six years heard more than 6,700 witnesses testify.

Since the Kamloops announcement, Chief Cameron said he has toured the province where agriculture and mining are major industries and looked at former school sites.

“You can see with the naked eye the indentation in the floor where these corpses can be found,” he said of some places. “These children are sitting there waiting to be found.”

Vjosa Isai contributed to the research.

Categories
Politics

What Brazil, Japan, Canada, others pledged

What Brazil, Japan, Canada, others pledged

Heads of state and government of countries like Brazil, Canada and Japan pledged on Thursday to curb domestic greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change during President Joe Biden’s climate summit.

The pledges come shortly after Biden’s pledge to cut U.S. emissions by at least 50% by 2030, more than doubling the country’s previous commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The President convened the summit to promote global cooperation on climate change. “It’s an encouraging start,” Biden told world leaders during the summit. “We’re really starting to make real progress.”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro promised to end illegal deforestation in the country by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Bolsonaro previously criticized the protection of the country’s forests and threatened to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Brazil has asked the Biden government to allocate $ 1 billion for conservation efforts in the Amazon rainforest.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the country will pledge to cut emissions by 46% by 2030 compared to 2013. Japan, the world’s fifth largest emitter, had previously committed to a 26% reduction, a target that has been criticized as insufficient.

“Japan is ready to demonstrate its leadership role in global decarbonization,” Suga said at the summit. Japan, like the US, has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, flanked by Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, attends a meeting of the Government’s Task Force to Combat Global Warming in Tokyo, Japan on April 22, 2021.

Kyodo | via Reuters

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged that Canada will cut emissions by 40% to 45% by 2030 compared to 2005, a significant increase from its previous 30% pledge.

“We will continuously strengthen our plan and take even more measures on our way to zero by 2050,” said Trudeau during the summit.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not set a new target, but re-affirmed the country’s promise to install 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.

Modi also announced a partnership between India and the US on the Climate and Clean Energy Agenda for 2030. India is the third largest emitter in the world after China and the USA

CNBC policy

Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin broadly pledged to “significantly” cut the country’s emissions over the next three decades, saying Russia was making a major contribution to absorbing global carbon dioxide.

Putin also said the country had almost halved its emissions from 1990 and called for a global reduction in methane, an 84 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and a major driver of climate change.

“The fate of our entire planet, the development prospects of each country, the well-being and quality of life of the people largely depend on the success of these efforts,” Putin said at the summit.

China’s President Xi Jinping reiterated its commitment to increase emissions before 2030 and become climate neutral by 2060. The US and China have agreed to work together on climate change despite the divide on issues such as trade and human rights.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be attending a virtual global climate summit via video link on April 22, 2021 in Brasilia, Brazil.

Marcos Correa | Reuters

South Korean President Moon Jae In said Korea would end public funding of overseas coal-fired power plants and plans to make a stronger pledge to reduce emissions.

Some countries praised Biden for hosting the summit and bringing the US back into the Paris Agreement. Former President Donald Trump’s administration stepped out of the deal and halted all federal efforts to reduce emissions.

“I am very pleased that the USA is working with us again on climate policy, because there is no doubt that the world needs your contribution,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel at the summit.

The nations under the Paris Agreement will announce updated emissions targets for the next decade at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November.

Categories
World News

US to Ship Thousands and thousands of Covid-19 Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada

US to Send Millions of Covid-19 Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada

Die Vereinigten Staaten planen, Millionen Dosen des AstraZeneca-Impfstoffs nach Mexiko und Kanada zu schicken, sagte das Weiße Haus am Donnerstag, ein bemerkenswerter Schritt in die Impfstoffdiplomatie, gerade als die Biden-Regierung Mexiko stillschweigend drängt, den Strom von Migranten, die an die Grenze kommen, einzudämmen.

Jen Psaki, Pressesprecherin des Weißen Hauses, sagte, die Vereinigten Staaten planten, 2,5 Millionen Dosen des Impfstoffs mit Mexiko und 1,5 Millionen mit Kanada zu teilen, und fügte hinzu, dass der Impfstoff “noch nicht fertiggestellt, aber das ist unser Ziel”.

Dutzende Millionen Dosen des Impfstoffs wurden in amerikanischen Produktionsstätten eingesetzt. Während ihre Verwendung bereits in Dutzenden von Ländern, einschließlich Mexiko und Kanada, zugelassen wurde, wurde der Impfstoff noch nicht von den amerikanischen Aufsichtsbehörden zugelassen. Frau Psaki sagte, dass die Lieferungen nach Mexiko und Kanada im Wesentlichen ein Darlehen sein würden, wobei die Vereinigten Staaten in Zukunft Dosen von AstraZeneca oder anderen Impfstoffen erhalten würden.

Die Ankündigung der Impfstoffverteilung erfolgte zu einem kritischen Zeitpunkt in den Verhandlungen mit Mexiko. Präsident Biden ist schnell vorgegangen, um einige der von Präsident Trump unterzeichneten Einwanderungsrichtlinien abzubauen, den Bau einer Grenzmauer zu stoppen, die rasche Vertreibung von Kindern an der Grenze zu stoppen und einen Weg zur Staatsbürgerschaft für Millionen von Einwanderern in den Vereinigten Staaten vorzuschlagen.

Aber er hält an einem zentralen Element der Agenda von Herrn Trump fest: sich darauf zu verlassen, dass Mexiko eine Welle von Menschen auf ihrem Weg in die Vereinigten Staaten zurückhält.

In Erwartung eines Anstiegs von Migranten und der größten Besorgnis amerikanischer Agenten an der Grenze seit zwei Jahrzehnten fragte Biden den mexikanischen Präsidenten Andrés Manuel López Obrador in einem Videoanruf in diesem Monat, ob laut Mexikaner mehr getan werden könne, um das Problem zu lösen Beamte und eine andere Person informierten über das Gespräch.

Die beiden Präsidenten diskutierten auch die Möglichkeit, dass die Vereinigten Staaten Mexiko einen Teil ihrer überschüssigen Impfstoffversorgung schicken, sagte ein hochrangiger mexikanischer Beamter. Mexiko hat die Biden-Regierung öffentlich gebeten, ihm Dosen des AstraZeneca-Impfstoffs zuzusenden.

Bei einer Pressekonferenz am Donnerstag sagte Frau Psaki, dass die Diskussionen über Impfstoffe und Grenzsicherheit zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und Mexiko “nicht miteinander verbunden”, aber auch “überlappend” seien.

Auf die Frage eines Reporters, ob die Vereinigten Staaten mit ihrem Angebot, Mexiko Impfstoffe zu verleihen, „Bedingungen“ verbunden hätten, antwortete Frau Psaki, dass in den Diskussionen „mehrere diplomatische Gespräche – parallele Gespräche – viele Gesprächsebenen“ im Spiel seien.

“Es gibt selten nur ein Thema, das Sie mit einem Land gleichzeitig besprechen”, sagte Frau Psaki. „Sicher ist das in Mexiko nicht der Fall. Dies ist in keinem Land der Welt der Fall. Und deshalb würde ich nicht mehr darüber lesen als über unsere Fähigkeit, Impfstoffdosen bereitzustellen – zu verleihen -. “

Mexikanische Beamte sagen auch, dass die Bemühungen um die Sicherung von Impfstoffen von den Verhandlungen über Migration getrennt sind, und lehnten die Vorstellung ab, dass es sich um eine Gegenleistung handele.

“Dies sind zwei getrennte Themen”, sagte Roberto Velasco, Generaldirektor für die Region Nordamerika im mexikanischen Außenministerium, in einer Erklärung, in der er sich auf das Engagement der beiden Länder in Bezug auf Migration und Impfstoffe bezog.

Aber mexikanische Beamte erkennen an, dass die Beziehungen zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und Mexiko, das eine der tödlichsten Coronavirus-Epidemien der Welt erlitten hat, durch eine Lieferung von Dosen nach Süden gestärkt würden.

“Wir suchen nach einem humaneren Migrationssystem und einer verstärkten Zusammenarbeit gegen COVID-19 zum Nutzen unserer beiden Länder und der Region”, fügte Velasco hinzu.

Mehrere europäische Länder haben diese Woche die Verwendung des AstraZeneca-Impfstoffs ausgesetzt, eine Vorsichtsmaßnahme, da einige Personen, die den Schuss erhalten hatten, später Blutgerinnsel und starke Blutungen entwickelten. Am Donnerstag erklärte die europäische Arzneimittelbehörde den Impfstoff für sicher. AstraZeneca sagte auch, dass eine Überprüfung von 17 Millionen Menschen, die den Impfstoff erhielten, ergab, dass sie weniger wahrscheinlich als andere gefährliche Gerinnsel entwickeln.

Ein Beamter der Biden-Regierung lehnte es ab, sich weiter zu den Verhandlungen mit Mexiko zu äußern, stellte jedoch fest, dass beide Länder ein gemeinsames Ziel hatten, die Migration durch die Bekämpfung ihrer Grundursachen zu verringern, und sagte, sie arbeiteten eng zusammen, um den Zustrom von Menschen zur Grenze einzudämmen.

Die Regierung von Biden steht unter starkem Druck und bemüht sich, Schutz für eine wachsende Anzahl von Migrantenkindern und -jugendlichen zu finden, die in amerikanischen Haftanstalten entlang der Grenze festgehalten werden.

Mehr als 4.500 von ihnen saßen am Donnerstag in Haftanstalten fest. Die Regierung von Biden arbeitete daran, sie in ein Kongresszentrum in Dallas, ein ehemaliges Lager für Ölarbeiter in Midland, Texas, und möglicherweise einen NASA-Standort in Kalifornien zu bringen.

Die Regierung hat außerdem fast ein Dutzend anderer Standorte identifiziert, einschließlich Einrichtungen des Verteidigungsministeriums, an denen Kinder und Jugendliche möglicherweise untergebracht werden können, bis sie bei einem Sponsor untergebracht werden können. Dies geht aus einem Regierungsdokument der New York Times vom März hervor. Einer der Standorte – in Pecos, Texas – könnte 2.000 Betten aufnehmen.

Aktualisiert

18. März 2021, 15:22 Uhr ET

Mexiko hat sich bereit erklärt, seine Präsenz an der südlichen Grenze zu Guatemala zu erhöhen, um die Migration aus Mittelamerika zu verhindern, sagte einer der Regierungsbeamten, und lokale mexikanische Beamte sagten, ihr Land habe kürzlich seine Bemühungen verstärkt, Migranten an der Nordgrenze zu den Vereinigten Staaten zu stoppen auch.

Es gibt aber auch Anzeichen dafür, dass Mexikos Engagement für die Überwachung der Migration – eine zentrale Forderung von Herrn Trump, der die Drohung von Zöllen auf alle mexikanischen Waren ausübte, sofern die Migration nicht gebremst wurde – in den schwindenden Monaten der Trump-Regierung nachgelassen haben könnte.

Von Oktober bis Dezember letzten Jahres ging die Zahl der von Mexiko festgenommenen Zentralamerikaner zurück, während die Inhaftierungen amerikanischer Agenten nach Angaben der mexikanischen Regierung und Daten des Washington Office on Latin America, einer Forschungsorganisation, die sich für Menschenrechte einsetzt, zunahmen.

“Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass die scheidende Trump-Regierung erneut Zölle droht, war gering, so dass Mexiko einen Anreiz hatte, zu seinem Standardzustand geringer Besorgnis zurückzukehren”, sagte Adam Isacson, Experte für Grenzsicherheit im Washingtoner Büro für Lateinamerika.

Der Appell der Biden-Regierung, mehr gegen die Migration zu tun, hat Mexiko in eine schwierige Lage gebracht. Während Herr Trump Mexiko stark bewaffnet hat, um die Grenze zu militarisieren, argumentieren einige mexikanische Beamte, dass seine strenge Politik zuweilen dazu beigetragen haben könnte, ihre Last zu verringern, indem sie Migranten davon abhielten, die Reise nach Norden anzutreten.

Es ist weniger wahrscheinlich, dass Herr Biden auf Zolldrohungen zurückgreift, um sich durchzusetzen, sagen Beamte und Analysten. Aber jetzt wird Mexiko gebeten, die Linie gegen einen Anstieg von Migranten zu halten – während die Biden-Regierung signalisiert, dass die Vereinigten Staaten Migranten willkommener sind.

“Sie sehen aus wie die Guten und die Mexikaner wie die Bösen”, sagte Cris Ramón, ein Einwanderungsberater aus Washington, DC

“Alle positiven humanitären Maßnahmen werden von der Biden-Regierung durchgeführt.” Herr Ramón fügte hinzu: “Und dann bleiben die Mexikaner mit der Drecksarbeit zurück.”

In Bezug auf Kanada drängten ihn mehrere politische Gegner von Premierminister Justin Trudeau wiederholt, sich bei der neuen Biden-Regierung für die Freigabe von Impfstoffen einzusetzen. Viele Kanadier haben Bestürzung darüber zum Ausdruck gebracht, dass die Vereinigten Staaten keine Lieferungen mit Kanada geteilt haben, wo keine Coronavirus-Impfstoffe hergestellt werden.

Bis Donnerstag stammte die gesamte kanadische Impfstoffversorgung aus Europa oder Indien, und die Einführung Kanadas verlief im Vergleich zu den USA und vielen anderen Ländern nur schleppend.

“Gott segne Amerika, sie kommen zu unserer Rettung”, sagte Doug Ford, der Premierminister von Ontario, Kanadas bevölkerungsreichster Provinz, einer Pressekonferenz.

Während sich die Biden-Regierung verpflichtet hat, einem großen Impfstoffhersteller in Indien zu helfen, sind die Vereinigten Staaten im Wettlauf um die Verwendung von Impfstoffen als diplomatisches Instrument weit hinter China, Indien und Russland zurückgefallen.

Peking liefert Impfstoffe in Dutzende von Ländern, darunter einige in Afrika und Lateinamerika. Russland hat seinen Impfstoff nach Ungarn und in die Slowakei geliefert. Herr Biden hat auch Kritik daran geübt, dass es ärmeren Ländern nicht leichter fällt, Zugang zu generischen Versionen von Coronavirus-Impfstoffen und -Behandlungen zu erhalten.

Mit Mexiko hat die Biden-Regierung das Land aufgefordert, mehr von den amerikanischen Behörden vertriebene Familien aufzunehmen und die Durchsetzung an der südlichen Grenze Mexikos zu Guatemala zu verstärken, so zwei mexikanische Beamte und zwei weitere, die über die Diskussionen informiert wurden.

Herr López Obrador versucht auch, einen Weg zu finden, um die Kapazität für die Unterbringung von Migranten in Notunterkünften zu erhöhen, die aus allen Nähten platzen. In einer Erklärung vom Dienstag sagte der Sekretär für innere Sicherheit, Alejandro Mayorkas, er arbeite mit Mexiko zusammen, um dies zu tun.

“Die Unterkünfte stehen kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch”, sagte Enrique Valenzuela, leitender Koordinator der Migrationsbemühungen der Regierung des Bundesstaates Chihuahua.

Lokale Regierungsbeamte in Ciudad Juárez und Betreiber von Notunterkünften sagen, Mexiko wähle Operationen aus, um Migranten entlang der Nordgrenze zu fangen und zu deportieren. Fast täglich, so zwei von ihnen, halten die mexikanischen Behörden mit Familien gefüllte Lieferwagen und Kleintransporter mit Vieh an – zusammen mit Migranten, die auf dem Boden hocken, um nicht entdeckt zu werden.

Ein Grund dafür, dass Mexiko bereit ist, weiter vorzugehen, ist, dass es, obwohl es ein Land ist, das seit langem Menschen nach Norden schickt, viel Ressentiments gegen zentralamerikanische Migranten gibt.

“Die negative Einstellung gegenüber Migrantenströmen ist gestiegen, sodass keine politischen Kosten entstehen”, sagte Tonatiuh Guillén, der im ersten Halbjahr 2019 das mexikanische Nationale Migrationsinstitut leitete. Aber mit Trump haben wir nichts verhandelt – wir haben ihnen viel gegeben und sie haben uns nichts zurückgegeben “, fügte er hinzu und argumentierte, dass die Strategie bei Mr. Biden anders sein sollte.

Trotz der sehr öffentlichen Spannungen mit Mexiko unter Herrn Trump war Herr López Obrador der Biden-Regierung gegenüber besorgt, weil sie eher bereit sein könnte, sich in innerstaatliche Fragen wie Arbeitsrechte oder Umwelt einzumischen.

Stattdessen, so sagen mehrere mexikanische Beamte, hat seine Regierung die Vereinigten Staaten dazu gedrängt, Mittelamerikaner von der Migration abzuhalten, indem sie nach zwei Hurrikanen, die diese Länder verwüsteten, humanitäre Hilfe nach Honduras und Guatemala schickten und nach Ansicht vieler Experten noch mehr Menschen zur Migration drängten .

Mexikanische Beamte haben die Vereinigten Staaten auch gebeten, mehr in den Vereinigten Staaten festgenommene Honduraner und Guatemalteken direkt in ihre Heimatländer zu schicken, anstatt sie nach Mexiko freizulassen, was es für sie noch schwieriger macht, erneut zu versuchen, die Grenze zu überschreiten.

Der Bedarf an Impfstoffen in Mexiko ist klar. Ungefähr 200.000 Menschen sind im Land an dem Virus gestorben – der dritthöchsten Zahl der Todesopfer der Welt – und die Impfung der Bevölkerung war relativ langsam. Dies stellt ein potenzielles politisches Risiko für Herrn López Obrador dar, dessen Partei im Juni vor entscheidenden Wahlen steht, die bestimmen, ob der Präsident an der Kontrolle des Gesetzgebers festhält.

“Mexiko braucht die Zusammenarbeit der USA, um seine Wirtschaft anzukurbeln und Impfstoffe zu erhalten, um aus der Gesundheitskrise herauszukommen”, sagte Andrew Selee, Präsident des Instituts für Migrationspolitik in Washington. “Es gibt also Raum für die beiden Länder, Vereinbarungen zu treffen, die auf abgestimmten Interessen und nicht auf offensichtlichen Bedrohungen beruhen.”

Michael D. Shear, Ian Austen, Noah Weiland, Sharon LaFraniere und Eileen Sullivan trugen zur Berichterstattung bei.

Categories
World News

How Canada Has Grow to be a Pilgrimage Web site for ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Followers

How Canada Has Become a Pilgrimage Site for 'Schitt's Creek' Fans

GOODWOOD, Ontario – Joe Toby was recently walking a young couple through his workshop when the man sprinkled rose petals on the concrete floor and fell to one knee.

It turned out that the woman was a huge Schitt’s Creek fan and excited to get into the building, which also doubled as a mechanic’s shop on the series, he said.

“And here I thought it was just my workshop,” said Mr. Toby, a retired machine builder who uses the space to build custom beds for disabled children. “I think it’s special.”

“Schitt’s Creek” is a satire about a fabulously wealthy family who lose all their money and are forced to settle in a town the patriarch bought as a joke because of his name. She’s a cult hit for her quirky humor, haute couture costume design, and the fictional city’s improbable embrace of gay love. It won a record of nine Emmys awards, including one for best comedy.

Nowhere is its sudden popularity more felt than in Goodwood, a sleepy commuter village 28 miles north of Toronto that was filmed over six seasons.

The hamlet feels like a postcard from ancient times, with historic houses in less than a dozen streets and farmland on either side. The last census counted 663 residents – mostly retirees and young professionals with families who commute to work.

Prior to Schitt’s Creek, Goodwood’s notoriety was much more pedestrian – potatoes grown on nearby farms and the surrounding gravel pits, which produce the raw material for building highways and downtown buildings.

Now it has become a place of pilgrimage for fans who call themselves “Schittheads” who arrive in droves at the hamlet’s main intersection to snap selfies in front of the buildings that served as the backdrop for the series. Some arrive in character, disguised as Moira, the dramatic matriarch who named her precious wigs like children, or Alexis, the celebrity daughter. They spend money in the local bakery and general store, but also look in windows, clog parking lots and in some cases go into houses, locals say.

“You’re rude,” said Sheila Owen, whose house doubled for the house of the minor character “Ronnie”. “They come and expect us to be the same people depicted on the show – that we are hicks who are stupid.”

This feeling is not general. Eleanor Todd, 87, got dressed with her granddaughter to stroll into the now famous corner and, like all tourists, take photos. It’s the busiest intersection since Goodwood’s glory days when there were two hotels, four general stores, an ice skating arena, and both a cobbler and tailor. That was in 1885.

“I get a kick out of it,” said Ms. Todd, a former schoolteacher who wrote and self-published the hamlet’s definitive story, Burrs and Blackberries from Goodwood.

The development of the hamlet was severely restricted because it is located on an ecologically sensitive land, the Oak Ridges Moraine. As a result, it has retained its quaint smallness and avoided the spread that affects so many cities in southern Ontario. According to their location manager Geoffrey Smither, this attracted the makers of “Schitt’s Creek”, Eugene and Dan Levy.

“They liked that feeling – this is the city, there is the country,” said Mr. Smither, who toured 28 small towns looking for the perfect setting for the show. “None of them come and go like Goodwood.”

When he appeared before the local councilors to apply for filming permission, they burst out laughing and agreed.

“It would put us on the map,” said Bev Northeast, a former longtime town councilor who lives in Goodwood.

According to the locals, fans showed up in 2016, a year after the show premiered on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national broadcaster, but really got kicked up after Netflix recorded “Schitt’s Creek” in 2017. By the summer of 2019, two chartered buses arrived at the intersection and spilled people in matching T-shirts and lanyards with the words “SchittCon” on them. (This is short for “Schitt’s Creek” Convention.)

But nobody was prepared for the flood of fans who descended after “Schitt’s Creek” swept the Emmys in September.

So many people flocked to the local Annina bakery that the owner, Marco Cassano, hired two security guards to control the crowd. Since Annie Murphy – who plays Alexis, the celebrity daughter with the heart of gold – told talk show host Seth Meyers about the bakery’s delicious butter tarts that night, he has received orders from the USA.

“It means I’ve stayed open across Covid and kept most of my staff,” said Mr. Cassano, who oversaw the crew over five seasons.

Across the street, Mr. Toby was inspired by the crowd of Schittheads asking for tours of his workshop to build a donation box on the front door. He raised $ 270 for the local hospital and historic center over one weekend, he said.

“I was the best kept secret in Goodwood for years,” said Toby, 75, a natural storyteller who loves to keep court. “Nobody knew what I was doing here.”

He knows some of his neighbors think differently, and that’s in part because of the pandemic. In the window of the building across the street, a residence that has been converted into a café for the series, a handwritten message is taped into a window: “Please stay away from the property during a pandemic, we are immunocompromised.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, the show’s co-creator Dan Levy asked fans to stay away. “The cities we filmed Schitt’s Creek in were so beautiful and accommodating to us,” he tweeted. “Please show them the same respect. Visiting the moment is a threat to the health and safety of residents. “

That did not hold up the pilgrimage any more than the rising layers of snow.

Marilyn Leonard owns the building that was Goodwood’s general store for more than a century. In “Schitt’s Creek” it was transformed into the hipster “Rose Apothecary”, who sold body milk and cat hair scarves. Ms. Leonard decided to close it permanently last month.

“It’s too revealing for me,” said Ms. Leonard, 74, who plans to convert the space into a gallery for appointments only. “I have to stay away from people.”

The motel that served as the backdrop for the family’s new residence in the series is not in Goodwood, but in Mono, about 50 miles west. One day so many people crowded around the motel that the owner called the police.

“At least 100 cars an hour tried to get in,” said Jesse Tipping, pointing out that his motel, which has been out of service for years, has received dozens of satirical reviews on Google Maps. “At some point I saw someone on the roof. They stole numbers from the doors and took the welcome mats. “

Mr Tipping, who is currently selling the motel, said he asked Dan Levy about selling paraphernalia on the property. However, the show has signed an exclusive merchandise deal with ITV Studios in London.

That means no one at Goodwood gets rich from sudden fame. Plans to do a “Schitt’s Creek” tour with the Local Heritage Railroad were thwarted by the pandemic. Dave Barton, the mayor of Uxbridge Township, which also includes Goodwood, admitted that the 145-year-old yellow-brick town hall, which had not held a council for nearly 50 years, would be the perfect place for a guided tour. Unfortunately, the community sold the building a year ago to a couple who are converting it into a private home.

“Nobody expected ‘Schitt’s Creek’ to be the most famous Canadian show forever,” said Barton.

Categories
Business

Air Canada Boeing 737 Max ferry flight diverts after engine subject

Air Canada Boeing 737 Max ferry flight diverts after engine issue

An Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is towed in while another Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is seen on the ground at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 13, 2019.

Chris Helgren | Reuters

An Air Canada Boeing 737 Max ferry flight to Montreal was diverted earlier this week due to an engine problem in Arizona, the airline said on Friday.

Pilots on Air Canada Flight 2358 received an engine alarm shortly after taking off from Marana, Arizona, Tuesday, the airline said. The airline had 737 Max jets stored there after the planes landed worldwide after two fatal crashes in March 2019.

“As part of normal operations in such situations, decided to turn an engine off,” and diverted to Tucson, Air Canada said. The flight carried three crew members and no passengers. The plane stays in Tucson.

Boeing declined to comment and referred questions to the airline.

The Belgian aviation site Aviation24.be said the aircraft had a “hydraulic low pressure indicator”. Air Canada did not immediately respond to further requests for comment.

US authorities lifted the ban on the aircraft last month after Boeing made changes to the software involved in both crashes and addressed other concerns. Canadian officials approved design changes to the aircraft last week.