What would have been Cape Breton University's largest convocation to date is being replaced by an online offering this year because of COVID-19. Some graduating students say it just won't be the same as a traditional ceremony.

They're not necessarily treating sick patients in hospitals, but a number of Manitoba-based scientists are working long hours and facing incredible pressure to battle the novel coronavirus from their labs and research facilities.

P.E.I.'s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison says the powerful and potentially deadly drug fentanyl has been found in street drugs in the province.

The upcoming debate about whether to expand the urban boundary is one of the city's big issues this term. But instead of delaying it, the city's testing out a never-before-attempted democratic process. Should they?

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet was enjoying the best season of his career, and was set to strike it rich with a lucrative new deal this summer before the coronavirus brought the NBA and global sports to its knees in mid-March.

Distant notes |India Today Insight  India Today

45 Chinese nationals in Nepal demand flights to go home, throw stones  Hindustan TimesView Full coverage on Google News

1. ‘Army won’t be deployed in Mumbai, will fight Covid-19 together’: Uddhav Thackeray  Hindustan Times
2. Maharashtra may extend lockdown to end of May, hints CM Uddhav Thackeray  Times of India
3. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray announces compensation for kin of deceased  TIMES NOW
4. Restrict entry-exit of migrants in Maharashtra: Raj Thackeray  Deccan Chronicle
5. Uddhav Thackeray: You are the soldiers, no need for the Army  Mumbai Mirror
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Govt hikes borrowing limit by over 50% to Rs 12 trn as virus grips economy  Business StandardRaghuram Rajan says monetisation neither a game changer nor catastrophe  LivemintBank credit up 6.74% to Rs 102.69 lakh crore; deposits ris...

Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson were pillars of the Team Canada for nearly two decades. Together, they've lived the highs and lows of the women's national soccer program - from the awe of their first Games in Beijing 2008, the heartbreak and redemption in London 2012, and finally, solidifying Canada's reputation as a soccer world power in Rio 2016. It's been a rollercoaster they'd ride over and over again.

The Vancouver Whitecaps said it has ordered two player to self-quarantine for 14 days after they violated club and league orders to abide by physical distancing guidelines in B.C.

At the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the Federal Reserve relied on repurchase agreements, or repos, as a large part...

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City of Kitchener bylaw enforcement says cooperation with physical distancing rules is weather-dependent, with more people getting out and about on sunny days. Wilfrid Laurier University professor Anne Wilson tells CBC Kitchener-Waterloo why some may be tempted to bend the rules as time goes by.

The CFL and CFL Players' Association have halted discussions on potential contingency plans for the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A B.C. fentanyl trafficker with a history of ignoring court orders is seeking “exceptional parole” because of COVID-19, despite the fact he’s only one year into an eight-year sentence.

The idea that this virus is an equal-opportunity killer must itself be killed.

Paramedics who come back from COVID-19 related calls have to remove and either discard or wash their PPE. They are getting help from students called doffing assistants.

Farmers markets throughout B.C.’s Interior and South Coast are ramping up for their spring seasons, but COVID-19 has forced them to make some changes to how they operate. 

Nearly a quarter-million more Albertans lost work in April as the economic shutdown due to COVID-19 continued, with young workers — particularly young women — being disproportionately affected.

Noy shares her journey of experiencing God's love for herself and forgiving the community that persecuted her family.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be keeping families physically distant, but that doesn't mean you can't show someone you care.

Hamilton Conservation Authority is re-opening the Hamilton-to-Branford Rail Trail, while the city announced the reopening of the Hamilton Waterfront Trail, between Confederation Park and the Burlington Lift Bridge.

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The semiannual OTC derivatives statistics provide data on notional amounts outstanding and gross market values for all types of over-the-counter derivatives contracts. They are reported by large dealers in 12 countries on a worldwide consolidated basis.

Bank of England Working Papers by Aydan Dogan and Ida Hjortsoe

Five members of the Penn State football team were selected in this past weekend's NFL Draft, marking the third straight year that the Nittany Lions have had at least five draft picks.

A number of popular iOS apps, including TikTok, Pinterest and Spotify, began to crash on Wednesday after an update to Facebook's SDK rolled out, software that many developers rely on to streamline the user login process.

When OM Montenegro began in 2007 with a team of three, holding a full Sunday meeting seemed a long way off—but not anymore.

This is the first blog post regarding the SOLIDWORKS activation error message. I will briefly try to go through the four most common activation error messages when using a standalone license. I will in a later blog post cover the

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All, As we’ve written before, Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS is committed to helping our customers be the most productive while working from home during this time of social distancing. Right now, it’s not possible to grab a drawing from the plotter or

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CNA Staff, Apr 15, 2020 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom has called on the Pakistani government to ensure aid for the COVID-19 pandemic is being justly distributed to religious minorities, after receiving reports that aid organizations were barring Christians and Hindus from receiving food assistance.

“These actions are simply reprehensible,” USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava said in an April 13 statement. “As COVID-19 continues to spread, vulnerable communities within Pakistan are fighting hunger and to keep their families safe and healthy. Food aid must not be denied because of one’s faith. We urge the Pakistani government to ensure that food aid from distributing organizations is shared equally with Hindus, Christians, and other religions minorities,” she said.

According to the commission, recent reports have shown that in Karachi a non-government aid organization, the Saylani Welfare International Trust, has been denying food assistance to Christians and Hindus, telling them that the aid was reserved for Muslims. Pakistan’s state religion is Islam, and around 97 percent of the population is Muslim.

The authorities of Pakistan have consistently failed to implement safeguards on behalf of religious minorities, despite numerous policies in favor of economic and physical protections for members of non-Muslim religions.

For example, the country has promised to provide quotas for employment to ensure that religious minorities are granted equal access to jobs, but so far it has not done so.

Additionally, strict blasphemy laws in the country are reportedly used to settle scores or to persecute religious minorities. While non-Muslims constitute only 3 percent of the Pakistani population, 14 percent of blasphemy cases have been levied against them.

In a recent highly publicized case, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, spent eight years on death row on blasphemy charges after being accused of making disparaging remarks about Muhammad after an argument stemming from a cup of water. Amid strong international pressure, the Pakistan Supreme Court acquitted her in late 2018.

A 2019 report from USCIRF found that Christians and Hindus “face continued threats to their security and are subject to various forms of harassment and social exclusion,” the USCIRF statement said.

The country was also designated by the US Department of State as a “Country of Particular Concern” in December 2018 for its poor religious freedom record.

USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore noted in the April 13 statement that in a recent address to the international community, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that governments in developing countries must work to save people from starvation during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan’s health ministry has reported nearly 6,000 cases of coronavirus in the country of 212 million people as of April 15.

“This is a monumental task laying before many countries. Prime Minister Khan’s government has the opportunity to lead the way but they must not leave religious minorities behind,” he said. “Otherwise, they may add on top of it all one more crisis, created by religious discrimination and inter-communal strife.”

A March 2020 report from USCIRF noted other countries who have had religious freedom problems in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, including in China, where the virus originated.

According to USCIRF, reports indicated that Chinese authorities forced Uighurs, a Muslim minority that has been forced into concentration camps since 2017, to work in factories to make up for the lack of workers during the country’s coronavirus quarantine. Reports also indicated that some Uighur residents in the city of Ghulja had “limited access to food and local officials have demanded payments in order to bring supplies,” USCIRF noted.

In South Korea, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a fringe Christian group that reported already facing “hostility” from mainline Protestants before the pandemic, faced additional pressures and harassment from the government and citizens after a 61-year-old female member of the church - known as Patient 31 - attended a church service with a fever before being diagnosed with coronavirus, and thus spreading the infection to thousands of others.

“The Shincheonji church has faced considerable criticism and even harassment from the South Korean government and society. Although some government measures appeared to be driven by legitimate public health concerns, others appeared to exaggerate the church’s role in the outbreak,” USCIRF reported, adding that members of the church have faced “discrimination at work and spousal abuse because of their affiliation with the church.”

Other countries in which coronavirus is reportedly impacting religious freedoms include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Italy and the Vatican (for government-mandated cancellation of religious services), the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, and Tajikistan.

CNA Staff, May 9, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- Pakistan’s government has declined to include the Ahmadi religious group in its National Commission for Minorities, drawing attention to the group whose Muslim self-identification is rejected by many Muslims.

In a note seen by Reuters, Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said Ahmadis should not be included in the commission “given the religious and historical sensitivity of the issue.” Pakistan’s constitution does not recognize the Ahmadis as Muslim.

However, Ahmadis consider themselves part of Islam. The movement was founded in 1889 in British-ruled India. They consider their founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a “subordinate prophet.” Other Muslims see this as a violation of the tenet that Muhammad was the last prophet.

There are about 500,000 Ahmadis in Pakistan and up to 20 million adherents worldwide. Some observers estimate the Ahmadi population in Pakistan is higher, but persecution encourages Ahmadis to hide their identity.

Pakistan’s religious freedom record has been a matter of international concern.

The 2020 report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has said Ahmadis continue to face “severe persecution from authorities as well as societal harassment due to their beliefs.”

Both government authorities and mobs target their places of worship. In October 2019, the report said, police in Punjab partially demolished a 70-year-old Ahmadiyya mosque.

Pakistan’s National Commission for Minorities gives some status, voice, and protections to minorities in a country where over 90% of people identify as Muslim.

A Hindu has been nominated to chair the minorities commission, whose members include representatives of Christian, Kalash, Sikh, and Zoroastrian communities. Government officials and the head of Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology also have commission seats.

State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, a vocal opponent of including the Ahmadis on the commission, has referred to them as agents of chaos.

“If they want to avail constitutional rights they must accept the constitution first,” he told Reuters. “The Pakistani constitution considers them non-Muslims.”

Usman Ahmad, an Ahmadi representative, told Reuters it is a “complete myth” that they did not accept the constitution. He added that many people disagree with parts of the constitution but still have rights under it.   

He said his community is used to exclusion and has never accepted classification as non-Muslim.

“We’ve never joined such commissions that require us to accept our non-Muslim status,” he said.

Minister of Information Shibli Faraz has said the rights of all people were fully respected in the handling of the commission.

“Every country has the sovereign right to make judgments according to its ground realities,” he told Reuters.

Khan, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, had posted to Twitter, then deleted, a comment “There is only one punishment for insulting the Prophet - chopping off the head.” He said he believed in “legal procedures and court proceedings” for those accused of blasphemy. Twitter told him to delete the post, Reuters reports.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws impose strict punishment on those who desecrate the Quran or who defame or insult Muhammad. Although the government has never executed a person under the blasphemy laws, accusations alone have inspired mob and vigilante violence.

The laws, introduced in the 1980s, are reportedly used to settle scores or to persecute religious minorities. While non-Muslims constitute only 3 percent of the Pakistani population, 14 percent of blasphemy cases have been levied against them.

Many of those accused of blasphemy are murdered, and advocates of changing the law are also targeted by violence.

The Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was one such critic of the law who was assassinated in January 2011.

Just months later, in March 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, the first Federal Minister For Minorities Affairs and the only Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet, was assassinated by extremists who characterized him as a blasphemer. Bhatti had criticized the law and defended Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman sentenced to death by hanging in 2010 for blasphemy.

Bibi spent nine years on death row, but left Pakistan for Canada in 2019 at the age of 53 after her death sentence was overturned in October 2018.

The verdict and her subsequent release from prison sparked protests from Islamic hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws.

In Punjab last year, a mob attacked a Christian community after a mosque broadcast over loudspeaker a claim that the Christians had insulted Islam. In another incident in Karachi, false blasphemy accusations against four Christian women prompted mob violence that forced nearly 200 Christian families to flee their homes, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said.

The situation in Pakistan has attention from some prominent Catholics.

In a Jan. 21, 2020 letter written on behalf of Philadelphia’s Pakistani Catholic community, then-Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput encouraged Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to shape a culture of religious freedom

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s latest annual report said religious freedom conditions in Pakistan continued to deteriorate last year, citing “The systematic enforcement of blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws, and authorities’ failure to address forced conversions of religious minorities—including Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs—to Islam.”

The bipartisan federal commission advises the U.S. government on policy. Its report recommended that the U.S. government name Pakistan a country of particular concern for “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

In December 2018, for the first time, the U.S. State Department designated Pakistan a “Country of Particular Concern.” The designation, which can trigger sanctions under U.S. law, had been recommended by the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom in 2017 and 2018.

The latest commission report recommended that Pakistan be re-designated a “Country of Particular Concern,” given “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

Caitlin, a student from the U.S. interning with OM Madagascar, shares what it’s like to leave home for the mission field.

Caitlin, an intern with OM, participates in African and communications orientation in South Africa before flying to Madagascar.

A Malagasy girl exemplifies dedication to spreading the gospel.

Caitlin (USA) is humbled that joining the OM team in Madagascar has encouraged them in their work to carry the name of Jesus to others.

Caitlin, an intern, reflects on the lives touched by God during the OM outreach to Sainte Marie Island off the coast of Madagascar.

Affected by the dark reality of hopelessness she’s encountered in Madagascar, Caitlin Red prays that God will do miraculous things amongst the Malagasy people.

Caitlin Red returns home after interning with OM Madagascar since August. Says Caitlin, “In Madagascar, I learnt enough lessons to last me a lifetime.”

OM Madagascar uses sport as tool for reaching youth with the gospel and relationship building.

An OMers love for people from the Island of Comoros led her to start a Discovery Bible Study for them at a university.

German translation of the BIS Press Release on the presentation of the Annual Report (25 June 2017)

The South African government is seeking a $4.2 billion loan from the IMF to support its response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Slow and inadequate progress in implementing the compromise they reached three years ago threatens to push Zimbabwe’s contending forces into premature elections and undermine political and economic recovery.

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A Muslim man believes Jesus is the Son of God.