BRIAN BRENNAN: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS June, 2015 At age 18, Debbie Lori Kaye became the youngest performer in history to have her own variety special on CBC TV. A tiny singer with a big voice, her star had been rising steadily
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JONATHAN MANTHORPEFebruary 14, 2014 When Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez died last March there were some hopes the end of his strutting, belligerent and goading influence would calm the country’s violently polarised politics. No such luck. This week Chavez’ replacement as President and
JONATHAN MANTHORPEFebruary 12, 2014 This week’s meeting between officials from the Chinese and Taiwanese governments is historic, but more for its symbolism than any prospect of dramatic outcomes. For Beijing the hope is that after eight years of improving economic ties, the
CHRIS WOOD: NATURAL SECURITYPublished February 7, 2014 Images are traveling the internet contrasting the amount of snow that usually dusts the California mountains at this time of year with the amount strikingly not there now. For the first time in its 54-year
JONATHAN MANTHORPEFebruary 7, 2014 As Iran this week received $550 million from eased sanctions in return for curbing its nuclear program, it is evident that resistance is stiffening among hardliners in Tehran to rapprochement with the international community. At its core, this
JONATHAN MANTHORPEFebruary 5, 2014 In the coming weeks, the world is going to discover whether 13 years of war in Afghanistan at a cost of the lives of tens of thousands of local people, the deaths of 3,392 members of the international
JONATHAN MANTHORPEJanuary 31, 2014 As the contest for influence in Asia between China and Japan spills over into a scramble for trade, resources and political support in Africa, Beijing has gathered into its camp one of the world’s most famous mercenaries. Erik
CHRIS WOOD: NATURAL SECURITYPublished January 25, 2014 It’s a popular refrain that the facts have a left-wing bias. Sometimes. But that doesn’t make the progressive left immune from the same sort of selective consciousness its members so quickly denounce on the right.
JONATHAN MANTHORPEJanuary 24, 2014 Not only Thailand’s generals, but also its judges, are manoeuvring to oust beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from government. The Constitutional Court today provided a legal opening to postpone an election set for February 2, which Yingluck called
JONATHAN MANTHORPEJanuary 17, 2014 Three years after the flight into exile of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali triggered popular uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East, there is little to show for the cost in blood and chaos. The
DEBORAH JONES: FREE RANGE Published January 15, 2014 We knew the tree as an insect haven, a woodpecker station, a squirrel highway, and a perch for raccoons. She held our clothesline, and lent us her leaves for summer shade and winter compost. The