Canada bans TikTok on government devices over security risks

Canada has joined the US and EU in enacting a sweeping ban preventing TikTok from being installed on all government-issued mobile devices, as western officials take action over the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, did not rule out further action. “I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” he…

How a Chinese cafe above a DIY store became the best place to eat in Canada

The checkerboard floors of Vancouver’s Northern Cafe are warped, the only views are of nearby industrial warehouses, and diners waiting for a table must navigate the hazards of an active lumber yard. And yet the tottering Chinese Canadian restaurant, with its red vinyl booths and mismatched porcelain mugs, is so busy on a weekday morning that a scattered line forms between pickup trucks and forklifts. The rickety structure of the eatery, which sits above a hardware store, holds the unlikely honour of being the best place to dine Canada, according…

China’s Balloons Draw Attention to an Overlooked Canada-U.S. Partnership

The interest in balloons, other than the party and clown varieties, has recently reached levels perhaps not seen in Canada since the 19th century. It all began, of course, with a giant Chinese surveillance balloon that floated above British Columbia before drifting around the United States and ultimately being blown up by the United States Air Force over the Atlantic. Since then, three other objects have met a similar fate including one brought down over Yukon and another shot down above Lake Huron. [Read: A Rising Awareness That Balloons Are…

Prepare for wave of extraterrestrial sightings in UK, say UFO experts

When unidentified flying objects began being spotted over the US and Canada, there was quite a stir among amateur ufologists. UFO discussion forums lit up with theories about the origins and purpose of these floating entities – were they sent by intelligent lifeforms from outer space or was there an explanation closer to home? And now experts have said we could be about to see a wave of sightings in the skies above the UK too, thanks to this renewed interest in extraterrestrial contact. Four flying objects, of vastly different…

Tuesday briefing: Why is the US suddenly spying so many UFOs?

Good morning. UFOs are being shot down over North America, and one of them is octagonal. OK, that’s a slightly breathless account of events since a Chinese balloon was sighted over Montana 10 days ago, and aliens probably aren’t involved – but the full story is almost as interesting. After that first balloon was brought down and US secretary of state Anthony Blinken postponed a trip to Beijing in response, three other mysterious objects have been taken out in US and Canadian airspace in the last few days – the…

US shoots down ‘octagonal’ flying object near military sites in Michigan

The US military has shot down a third flying object over North American airspace in three days, as the air force general overseeing the airspace said he would not rule out any explanation for the objects yet. The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday. It is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. At the point it was struck by an air-to-air missile…

After Shooting Down Flying Objects, U.S. and Canada Have More Theories Than Answers

WASHINGTON — If the truth is out there, it certainly is not apparent yet. Pentagon and intelligence officials are trying to make sense of three unidentified flying objects over Alaska, Canada and Michigan that U.S. fighter jets shot down with missiles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The latest turn in the aerial show taking place in the skies above North America comes after a helter-skelter weekend involving what at times seemed like an invasion of unidentified flying objects. The latest object had first been spotted on Saturday over Montana, initially sparking debate…

What do we know about the four flying objects shot down by the US?

The downing of a huge Chinese balloon off the US coast, followed by the shootdowns of two smaller objects over Alaska and Canada – and another over Michigan on Sunday – has raised concerns about North American security and further strained relations with China. Here is what we know so far: What were the four objects? The story begins in late January, when a giant Chinese balloon – which US officials have said was a surveillance balloon – drifted for days through US skies before being shot down on 4…

Schumer says Chinese ‘humiliated’ after three flying objects shot down

US and Canadian military are continuing to search by sea and land amid hostile weather conditions in a scramble to recover portions of three flying objects shot down over North American airspace in the past week. The Democratic majority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that officials were now convinced that all three of the flying objects brought down by air-to-air missiles this week were balloons. He put the finger of blame firmly on China. “The Chinese were humiliated – I think the…

Canada votes to take in 10,000 Uyghur refugees amid Chinese pressure to force their return

Canada’s parliament has unanimously passed a motion to take in 10,000 Uyghur refugees who fled China, but are now facing pressure to return. The vote on Wednesday builds on a February 2021 move by Canadian lawmakers to label Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in its north-western Xinjiang territory as genocide. Rights groups believe at least 1 million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in internment camps in the region, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour. Tens of…