Results tagged “unitednations”

City councillor, unintentional humourist, and Torontoist favourite Councillor Rob Ford has grabbed himself some headlines again. He refuses to apologize for his comments on Wednesday, "the Oriental people, they're slowly taking over...they're hard, hard workers," because his sweeping generalization was intended as "a compliment." However, a spokesperson for the Canadian Council of Lazy Asians has said that the remarks were "deeply offensive."

City sells "the McDonald's site" on Bloor for a fairly low price. However, Adam Vaughan insists there are upsides to the deal, such as being able to limit the height of the condo development that will take its place, because who would want tall buildings in the downtown core?

There is a prominence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in peacekeepers, suggests a new study [PDF] that also tries to shed light on the risk factors that lead to mental health conditions incurred by peacekeeping service.

A Milton woman went on a rampage with a samurai sword on Sunday, injuring her boyfriend and an off-duty firefighter, smashing windows at a gas station and hacking at a parked car. While Torontoist doesn't condone senseless irrational violence, you've got to give her points for style.

Today is the first day of the Bali United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will continue until December 14. The purpose of the conference, which is being attended by over 20,000 delegates and observers from 180 countries, is to set out the framework of negotiations for the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol when it ends in 2012. There are several events taking place this week in Toronto to mark the occasion. The first...

October 16 is the day that the Walt Disney Company was founded (1923), the day that Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act in response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping (1970), and the day that President Bush signed into law the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (2002). It is also, though you may not know it, World Food Day, as deemed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. World Food Day has been celebrated in more than 150 countries since 1979, and since 1981, each year has had a theme. This year's theme is The Right to Food; that is, "the right of every person to have regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life. It is the right to feed oneself in dignity, rather than the right to be fed."

Spring has finally sprung in a big way, just in time for Earth Day. Tomorrow, why not try something new, while also doing your part to help save the planet?

The atmosphere outside of the (Elgin and) Winter Garden Theatre last night was similar -- not quite the same, but similar -- to that of a rock concert. Various people stood in the cold, holding signs that said "Need One Ticket, PLEASE," while the large crowd jostled around three or four groups handing out flyers and pimping petitions. "Mary," yelled one woman, excitedly. "There's a petition to ban Styrofoam!"

Depending where you were when it hit, you probably have fond memories of the Blackout of 2003. At least once you managed to get home and gaze at the stars. Well, here is your chance to live it all over again -- for a whole 5 minutes.

In a bizarre and tragic scene yesterday, former Toronto Blue Jay (and current New York Yankee) pitcher Cory Lidle perished after flying his plane into an apartment building in New York.

This week, the United Nations World Urban Forum is being held in Vancouver. The conference is a place where NGOs, urban designers and planners, as well as other special interest groups discuss the growing population of major cities, and how to deal with the problems that causes.

If the most inspired feminist action we take in Canada is to challenge those silly Bell Canada ad campaigns, perhaps author Judy Rebick is right to call for more activism. Or, conversely, if the Bell ads are in fact our call to action, maybe next we could target Nickelback for being latent sex offenders? (Was it just us, or was that "Figured You Out" song about some sort of Chad Kroeger sexual assault? Gross nonetheless).

Well, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin delivered the political equivalent of a tough spanking to the Sudanese government yesterday, and rightfully so. Khartoum has repeatedly denied assisting or having the capability to stop the janjaweed, the loosely woven group of bandits, looters and rapists that have been terrorizing the western Sudanese province of Darfur for the past year. The clock is ticking now though, as the peace agreement negotiated last week has a shelf life of a little over a month. For an excellent, in-depth profile of the conflict and its sources, check out Samantha Power’s article from an August New Yorker. Bruno Stevens’ stunning accompanying photographs will provide you with a visceral charge, if necessary. An update on the conflict and the proposed peace-agreement brokered by the United Nations can be found here.