“A free health service that ensures a good service accessible to all”. Pope Francis’s appeal started from the tenth floor balcony of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where the Pontiff is still hospitalized after the surgery a week ago. Despite the surgical operation he underwent, Bergoglio did not want to give up the Sunday Angelus and therefore went to the balcony (in the photo, taken from the video of the Vatican News YouTube channel), accompanied by some sick people, including three children, to talk in front of a crowd of faithful gathered for the occasion in front of the hospital. →
TORONTO – The whole world is crying Raffaella Carrà, the queen of (not only) Italian television: there are titles in all languages, today, on the web, to pay homage to the showgirl, singer, dancer, actress and TV presenter who disappeared at 78 years after a life as an absolute protagonist of the entertainment world. In addition to the Italian media, even those of half of Europe, North America and South America have in fact announced the death of the “most loved by Italians”. And the last farewell promises to be equally global. →
The calls to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics are growing by the day. A coalition group representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kong activists, and many others issued a joint statement in May calling for the complete removal of the Winter Game from Beijing next year. Canada is in a particularly precarious relationship with China. With two Canadian hostages Michael Korvig and Michael Spavor held in prison, Canada so far has had a very tepid response to China’s aggression. The entire cabinet and a few other Liberal MPs along with Prime Minister Trudeau removed themselves from voting for the Uyghur Genocide motion. Perhaps they wanted to send a message of non-provocation to China. But this sort of appeasement has not served Canada well at all in the conundrum of Canada-China relations. →
TORONTO – Ontario pushes on the accelerator. Starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, all Ontario residents aged 18 and over who received the first dose of an MRNA vaccine will be able to book an appointment to receive the second before schedule. This will accelerate second-dose eligibility for about 1.5 million Ontario residents. →
The Toronto City Council on Tuesday (June 8th) approved a sidewalk snow clearing plan that will expand the City of Toronto’s existing program to all Toronto neighbourhoods. →