Japan’s PM thanks people for safe Olympics during pandemic

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — More than six decades after South African apartheid police opened fire on an unarmed crowd protesting pass laws in Sharpeville, a township south of Johannesburg, survivors and relatives of the victims announced on Thursday they would launch a class-action lawsuit against the government.

At a media briefing held in Sharpeville, lawyers said the case seeks compensation and asks a court to strike down the 1961 Indemnity Act, which they say prevented victims from pursuing claims arising from the massacre and remains in force today.

Police shot at an unarmed crowd protesting apartheid pass laws on March 21, 1960, and drew international condemnation. Apartheid-era police records put the toll at 69 dead and 180 injured, while research cited by the plaintiffs says at least 91 people were killed and more than 238 wounded.

The massacre became a defining moment in the struggle against apartheid, with March 21 now observed in South Africa as Human Rights Day, a public holiday.

I write as a proud Canadian-Australian who is experiencing something I never imagined possible — watching Canada’s sovereignty, economic security and national identity being repeatedly challenged by the country it has long regarded as its closest neighbour and ally.

This is not an abstract diplomatic disagreement to me. Canada is my beloved country. To witness its name, dignity and independence treated as though they may be diminished, negotiated away or simply disregarded is profoundly painful.

Any one of the events that has occurred might be dismissed as another dispute between governments. Taken together, however, three developments provide unmistakable evidence that a red line has been crossed.

First came the tariffs affecting Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber. These measures were introduced despite the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement — CUSMA — intended to provide stability, predictability and largely tariff-free trade across North America.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I have an itch that needs to be scratched every couple of days. I sneak home with a new young woman from my workplace, who is a witch, and spend an hour or more with her, learning some things my wife doesn’t know anything about. It’s not really sexual with this new person yet, but I’m feeling intrigued by her witchy-ness — and more.

I’m fascinated and want to learn whatever she’s willing to teach me as we go along. This is especially cool now my “magic woman” has told me she’s interested by the darkness in me. Whatever that means. Nobody’s ever noticed that before.

I feel my wife really doesn’t need to know I’m into this stuff. It would only hurt her, and it may lead to nothing. But how do you keep a secret from your partner for any length of time when they know your every mood and can almost smell your secrets?

— Feeling Insecure, West End