Canada

A former Regina police officer has pleaded guilty to using police databases to pursue intimate and personal relationships with women.

Robert Eric Semenchuck entered the plea in Regina Provincial Court on Friday. He did not speak during the brief appearance and did not answer questions shouted to him by reporters as he left court.

Semenchuck had worked for the Regina Police Service (RPS) for 22 years. Allegations were first brought to the service's attention in early 2023, but it took until March of this year for then-Police Chief Farooq Sheikh to announce Semenchuck was being charged.

Should Canada choose to fly the Swedish-built Gripen-E, the country’s air force could receive the first aircraft as quickly — or perhaps even sooner — than the long-awaited American-manufactured F-35, the CEO of Saab signalled Thursday.

Micael Johansson also said the defence giant is willing to set up not only an assembly factory in Canada, but a full-fledged manufacturing centre and a research and development hub.

He added, however, that the deal, which would include technology and intellectual property transfers, would be predicated on Canada deciding to purchase the fighter.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance made a series of posts criticizing Canada’s political leadership, public broadcaster and immigration system, saying our living standards are “stagnating” because of all the “foreign-born” people living here.

In posts to his X account Friday, Vance says Canada’s elected leaders have created “immigration insanity” by leaning into diversity.

“While I'm sure the causes are complicated, no nation has leaned more into ‘diversity is our strength, we don't need a melting pot, we have a salad bowl’ immigration insanity than Canada,” he said.

This interesting UFO story of a sighting over Canada's North. "true or false." The town of Moonstone built a UFO monument as a tourist attraction just in case it was true. Read the whole story at this link.

https://flippen.ca/was-the-sighting-over-moonbeam-a-ufo-or-just-the-aurora-borealis/

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42228469

Archived link

Norwegian producer of advanced battery materials Vianode has begun site preparation at its new synthetic-graphite facility Via TWO in St. Thomas, ON, Canada. The project is a major milestone in Vianode’s North American expansion plans and set to bring hundreds of new high-skilled jobs to the region.

The site preparation marks the formal start of the project to establish North America’s largest production facility for low-emission synthetic-anode graphite, with operations set to begin in 2028. Anode graphite is a critical component in electric-vehicle (EV) batteries and other strategic industries, including energy storage.

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The St. Thomas project is structured as a phased multi-billion-dollar investment, with total planned capacity of up to 150,000 tons annually, supporting delivery of synthetic graphite for around two million EVs per year. The plant is expected to create approximately 300 jobs in the first phase, and up to 1,000 at full capacity.

The company plans to invest 3.2 billion, the Ontario government will provide a CAD 670-million (EUR 412 million) loan to Vianode to support the site's construction with a total investment of CAD 3.2 billion (EUR 2 billion).

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Citing Burkhard Straube, CEO of Vianode, Canada's CSC reports that synthetic graphite from China is being supplied at "unsustainably low prices" to keep North American companies out of the market.

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“St. Thomas is exactly where we need to be, next to major manufacturing hubs and in a region with the skills to scale. We’re committed to being a good neighbor, creating high-quality jobs and working with local partners as we build Canada’s first large-scale synthetic graphite facility,” adds Emanuele Tricca, MD-Vianode Canada.

Vianode started Norwegian synthetic graphite production at its Technology Center in Kristiansand in 2021 and commissioned its first full-scale plant Via ONE at Herøya in 2024. The St. Thomas facility is an important part of the company’s goal to supply advanced materials for up to three million EVs annually by 2030.

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cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/54545288

Canada has yet to officially throw its support behind the International Criminal Court (ICC), an institution it helped create, against targeted sanctions imposed on several prosecutors and judges by the United States earlier this year.

Four key staff of the court — including Canadian judge Kimberly Prost — have been sanctioned by President Donald Trump’s administration because of their involvement in investigations related to alleged war crimes committed by American and Israeli officials.

Other allies, including France, Belgium and the European Union have publicly opposed the sanctions, issuing statements in support of the ICC.

Other states have also spoken out out against the sanctions, including Denmark, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Canada has publicly backed Prost, and has recently joined a number of states at the United Nations in supporting the overall work of the court. But Canadian officials have been silent about the American sanctions.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/bhQ9x ]

Archive: [ https://archive.is/sSSR5 ]

Conditions quickly deteriorated when Alberta transitioned to provincewide service with the company, he wrote.

Waiting times for community lab tests increased from a few days to five weeks in some areas. There were also unusually high numbers of errors in pathology results. In the last three weeks of July, 2023, the report says, more than 600 patients had to retake tests because of a logistics issue AHS had discovered.

Mr. Wylie wrote there were “persistent issues” in governance and oversight throughout the procurement process. Neither AHS nor Alberta’s health department followed their processes to prepare a business case for outsourcing lab services, he wrote, and AHS continued with procurement “despite knowing that the main objective of cost savings was likely unattainable.”