Turkish ski jumper İpcioğlu mum on Uyghur statement

House of horrors burned for TV film

The boy watched as fire began to consume the farmhouse, while a film crew taped the blaze for a movie.

As flames engulfed the two-storey farmhouse near Kipling, Sask., the boy was looking at more than a movie moment -- he was witnessing the destruction of the house of horrors where he was held prisoner and raped three years ago by one of Canada's most notorious child molesters, Peter Robert Whitmore.

"He didn't really care about the movie," the boy's father said Wednesday, recalling the blaze that bitterly cold day in February.

"We were all glad to see the place go."

Banning controversial songs is a tone-deaf solution

Along with sipping egg nog and trimming trees, Canadians engaged in another reliable holiday tradition this week: debating whether or not Baby, It’s Cold Outside promotes date rape.

On Tuesday, three of the country’s major broadcasters — CBC, Rogers and Bell Media — announced they’d be putting the chill on the contentious duet, written by American songwriter Frank Loesser in 1944, and would not be playing it on their radio stations this year.

Several American radio stations have also put the song on their naughty lists, arguing it has no place in the #MeToo era. 

Through a modern lens, it’s not hard to see how some people might view this song as a woman being pressured into sex by a guy who won’t take no for an answer. 

Turkish ski jumper İpcioğlu mum on Uyghur statement

As Tories, we must seriously consider what Canadian progressive conservatism means today. Of course, we can expect the process to be a messy one.

With a bang, B.C. applauds health-care workers

VANCOUVER - At the same time each night, Rev. Gary Paterson and about half a dozen other neighbours have begun gathering at least two metres apart on the rooftop patio of their building in Vancouver's west end.

They don't know who will signal the beginning, and everyone's clocks are slightly different, but just before 7 p.m., they hear clapping in the distance.

"It's usually at about two minutes to seven, like people can't restrain their enthusiasm, and then it starts to move like a wave," he said on Wednesday.

The applause is for health-care workers and other essential service providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olympic soccer, boxing qualifiers in China affected by virus

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Olympic qualifying events in two sports were moved from the Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday because of an outbreak of a deadly viral illness.

A four-nation Asian qualifying group for the women’s soccer tournament was switched from the city at the centre of the health scare to Nanjing.

The Asia-Oceania boxing qualifying tournament scheduled for Feb. 3-14 in Wuhan was cancelled. No new plans were announced.

The decisions followed Chinese health authorities telling people in Wuhan to avoid crowds and public gatherings.