Rogers and the feds
Canada’s Industry Minister says he plans to meet with the president of Rogers Communications, and other telecom leaders, following last week’s massive collapse of the company’s phone, internet, and mobile services.
Francois-Philippe Champagne calls the interruption “unacceptable,” and says he’ll be discussing the importance of improving the reliability of networks across the country.
More than ten-million people were hit by the outage, and services like banking, hospitals, and police services were shut down or restricted.
Most customers were back on line starting late Friday evening, but some are still experiencing problems with their service.
VIA talks continue
A strike that could shut down VIA Rail services across Canada has been postponed, as the talks between
UNIFOR and the railway continue.
The union represents about 24-hundred maintenance, service, and on-board personnel, and had threatened to pull their members off the job as of midnight.
But union officials say, with discussions continuing, they’ve postponed the strike deadline until 4 o’clock this afternoon. Pay and job security are the major issues.
Russian bombardment continues
Ukrainian officials are calling it another act of terrorism.
Rescue crews continue searching through the rubble of three apartment blocks struck by Russian missiles over the weekend.
Fifteen people are known dead in the attack on a town in the eastern province of Donetsk.
More than 20 others are still listed as missing.
Ukrainian military officials say Russia has stepped up its artillery and rocket attacks on eastern towns and cities this morning including the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Biden on abortion
U-S President Joe Biden says he’s considering declaring an abortion-related public health emergency, to see if more resources can be provided for women seeking abortions.
Biden admits he lacks the power to compel the more than a dozen states that have now imposed restrictions to permit the procedure.
He says the key is for Congress to legislate abortion access and for Americans to elect more pro-choice candidates in the November mid-terms.
Japanese election
Japan’s Liberal Democratic party and its allies have won an overwhelming victory in yesterday’s upper-house elections, in the wake of Friday’s assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
By winning more than two-thirds of the seats, the coalition now has a so-called “super majority” in both houses of the Japanese parliament.
The edge would allow the government to amend the constitution, to remove the clause renouncing war.
The ability to expand its military had been a long-held wish by Abe, allowing it to play a greater role on the world stage.