Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani personified OPEC
The grand old wise man of the energy world has slipped into history. With the passing away of Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the charismatic Saudi oil minister from 1962 to 1986, an era has come to an end. With his calm and cool demeanour, intellectual depth, sharp mind and the capacity to stand up to…
Arts-based research project will help young Syrian women articulate the challenges they face – and the supports they’ve found
Jasmine Nathoo considered herself fortunate as she joined high-school classes after moving from Kenya to Canada as a teen. She already spoke English and came from an academically strong program. Yet it was still a challenge. “I had to repeat some courses which weren’t recognized. I was having to advocate for myself in the school…
Canada urged to rethink Middle East sanctions that make daily life a struggle just to get daily bread
“Economic sanctions that afflict the poor must be lifted. I stress the word ‘poor,’” Archimandrite (head of a monastery) Georges Masri said in an e-mail from his home base in Syria. He was responding to my request for his views on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in his country, and whether sanctions have exacerbated it. “The…
His response to the Uyghur genocide motion stands out simply because it put all his hypocrisy on display at once
Political failures usually come in one of two flavours. The first are acts that expose a gap between reality and the stories politicians tell about themselves. Sometimes this occurs when a politician’s criminality is exposed. But much more often, it is the banal things that display glaring hypocrisy and enrage voters. Remember Bev Oda? I…
The RCI controversy shows CBC’s primary purpose is the acquisition – at the expense of private broadcasters – of audiences and money
An uprising backed by former prime minister Joe Clark and actor Donald Sutherland is trying to force the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to hit pause on its plans to dismantle Radio Canada International (RCI). If successful, the move to save CBC’s once-vaunted service that took Canada to the world will throw a wrench into the CBC’s…
Portuguese court finds that the test, in itself, is unable to determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a person is infected
Every day, the news tells us about new COVID-19 positive test results. But are they reliable? Kary Mullis, the late inventor of the diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, explained how his test could be misused. So did a Portuguese court that ruled a positive test is an insufficient basis to isolate or…
U of A scientists use fireball monitoring network to capture images of the meteor that lit up the skies over Western Canada
Western Canadians caught a glimpse of a bright flash overhead this week as a fireball lit up the sky on the morning of Feb. 22. Now, University of Alberta researchers have used Western Canada’s most advanced fireball network to capture images and trajectory of the fireball – revealing it to be a small piece of…
No one has a moral obligation to obey COVID-19 lockdown orders. Therefore civilly disobeying them is justified
Lockdown orders are not justified. There is, consequently, no moral obligation to obey them. Let me explain. In the wake of SARS and H1N1, Public Health Canada drafted the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness guideline (CPIP). Although we failed to meaningfully operationalize this guideline it nevertheless maintains that, “when considering restrictive measures, it is important to balance…
Bridge to Life commits US$10 million to clinical trial and commercial development of Tevosol Ex-Vivo Organ Support System
University of Alberta spinoff company Tevosol has merged with the U.S.-based medical technology company Bridge to Life, bringing its game-changing organ transplant devices a step closer to approval, manufacture and global distribution. While Tevosol will remain based in Edmonton, Bridge to Life has committed US$10 million to a multi-centre clinical trial and commercial development of Tevosol’s Ex-Vivo Organ Support…
The cry for help from managers in the public sector is growing. As the lockdowns continue, accountability is slipping
Jan was on the verge of tears as we discussed the challenges with her team. “It doesn’t matter how many times I ask Sylvia to get the work done, she always has an excuse for why she can’t deliver,” she said. “On top of that, she doesn’t want to come into the office and wants…