‘I actually cried’: 1st-time homebuyer enters a northern Ontario market in financial crisis

Coleen Thompson had been a renter her entire adult life until she jumped on an opportunity to purchase a home in the small northern Ontario community of Fauquier-Strickland. “I’m approaching 50, have never owned a home, have done a lot in the past few years to get myself to a position where that was a…

Remember Cambridge Analytica? What to know about the $8B US lawsuit against Meta’s board

More than seven years after a privacy scandal involving Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica consulting firm emerged, an $8-billion US class action investors’ lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta board members will begin. The plaintiffs, led by Amalgamated Bank Inc., will argue in court in Wilmington, Del., that the harvesting of data of Facebook users in…

Norwegian ski cross racer and 2010 Olympic medallist dies at 49 after lightning strike

Olympic ski cross medalist Audun Groenvold has died after being struck by lightning, the Norwegian ski federation announced Wednesday. He was 49. Groenvold won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games. “It is with great sadness that we have received the news of Audun Groenvold’s untimely passing,” the federation said. “The former national Alpine skier and…

Several hundred people laid off after open pit mining abruptly stops at N.W.T.’s Ekati diamond mine

Burgundy Diamond Mines says it’s laid off several hundred employees and contractors and has temporarily stopped open pit mining at Point Lake — one of its two active operations at the Ekati Diamond Mine.  In an emailed statement to CBC News on Wednesday, Ariella Calin, a communications manager for the company, said mining the Point Lake…

Man charged with hijacking one day after flights grounded at Vancouver Airport

A man has been charged with hijacking one day after an incident that saw flights grounded at Vancouver’s airport for a little under an hour. Shaheer Cassim, who was born in 1986, has been charged with one count of hijacking, according to court records online. On Tuesday afternoon, police arrested a man after a small Cessna…

Birth of a solar system: Astronomers observe early planet formation for 1st time

Astronomers have discovered the earliest seeds of rocky planets forming in the gas around a baby sun-like star, providing a precious peek into the dawn of our own solar system. It’s an unprecedented snapshot of “time zero,” scientists reported Wednesday, when new worlds begin to gel. “We’ve captured a direct glimpse of the hot region…

Fire destroys main stage of Belgium’s Tomorrowland music festival before event

A huge fire on Wednesday at Belgium’s Tomorrowland music festival site has “severely damaged” the main stage two days before the event was due to start, organizers said. No one was injured in the incident. Images shared on local news sites and social media showed flames and plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and…

Eugenie Bouchard to retire from tennis at home in Montreal after National Bank Open

Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard, who reached No. 5 in the WTA rankings in a breakout 2014 season, is retiring from tennis at this year’s National Bank Open in Montreal. Tennis Canada announced Bouchard’s retirement at her hometown tournament in a news release Wednesday and said she will receive a main-draw wild card into the…

Porter Airlines flight to Vancouver makes emergency landing in Regina

A planeload of Porter Airlines passengers got an unexpected detour to Regina on Tuesday night, after their plane made an emergency landing.  The Embraer 195 jet had been cruising at 38,000 feet over Montana, en route from Hamilton, Ont., to Vancouver, when the plane suddenly made a steep descent around 7:30 p.m. CST, then diverted to Regina International Airport….

Woman arrested as Thailand rocked by Buddhist monk sex and blackmail scandal

Police in Thailand arrested a woman on Tuesday who allegedly enticed a string of Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then pressured them into making large payments to cover up their intimacy. The possible violation of the celibacy rule for monks has rocked Buddhist institutions and gripped public attention in Thailand in recent weeks. At…