Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A union representing many of Germany's train drivers started a nearly three-day strike early Wednesday in a rancorous dispute with the country's state-owned main railway operator over working hours and pay.
Train travel across the country and in many cities came to a near standstill with commuters and other travellers struggling to find alternatives involving long-distance bus or car travel or flights.
State-owned Deutsche Bahn said only around 20% of its long-distance trains were running and many regional and commuter trains in cities like Berlin were also not in operation.
"The strike by the train drivers' union GDL has had a massive impact on train services in Germany," said Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman Anja Broeker. "We regret the restrictions and hope that many people who were unable to reschedule their journey will get to their destination."
The GDL union's strike on cargo trains began on Tuesday evening.
In the wage dispute, the GDL union had already called two previous warning strikes last year, which lasted a maximum of 24 hours in passenger transport. The current strike lasts until Friday at 6 p.m.
Deutsche Bahn had tried to legally prevent the strike until the very end, but on Tuesday night a court ordered that the strike could go ahead.
Late last month, members of GDL voted overwhelmingly to stage open-ended strikes in a bitter dispute.
In addition to pay raises, the central issue is the union's call for shift workers' hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 hours per week without a pay reduction, a demand for which employers so far have balked.
GDL argues that it would make working for the railway more attractive and help attract new recruits, while Deutsche Bahn says the demand can't practically be met.
Germany's Transportation Minister Volker Wissing called on both sides to return to the negotiating table.
"A way has to be found that both sides can get along with," the minister told daily newspaper Bild. "That means talking to each other. I urge both sides to return to the negotiating table."
However, union head Claus Weselsky said it was now up to Deutsche Bahn to present an improved offer.
If there's no new offer until Friday, "we'll take a break and go into the next strike," Weselsky said in an interview on public broadcaster ZDF's morning show after the start of the train drivers' strike.
Mike Walter from Frankfurt expressed a lack of understanding about the strike.
"I have an appointment for a surgery at 10 a.m., that I've been waiting for months," he told The Associated Press in Berlin on Wednesday morning, adding that he had to change his travel plans and come to Berlin a day earlier and stay at a hotel to avoid the strike.
"I mean, if you limit it to 50% or something like that, that's fine. But you can't go to zero," Walter said. "That's just inconsiderate."
Dieter Nettersheim, who was standing near an information counter of Deutsche Bahn inside the unusually empty main train station in the western city of Cologne, did also not seem to approve of the strike.
"I think they have to keep negotiating to get results so that (their dispute) is not being carried out at the expense of the customers," the 55-year-old told the AP.
The train drivers' strike coincides with an unrelated one-week strike by farmers who have been blocking city streets and highway access roads in parts of the country since Monday. They have snarled traffic with their tractors to protest against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture and led to further traffic problems in Germany.
------
Fanny Brodersen in Berlin and Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany contributed reporting.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.