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 MANTHORPE Published: September 13, 2013. Political life in the island nation of Taiwan is facing uncertainty and looming chaos as President Ma Ying-jeou attempts to counter plummeting popularity and threats to his leadership of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. There
CHRIS WOOD: NATURAL SECURITY Published September 12, 2013 The Majuro Declaration. Ever heard of it? I thought not. The two-page document was released Sept. 5 by a group of 15 small Pacific island nations, and two somewhat larger Pacific island nations —
JONATHAN MANTHORPEPublished: September 11, 2013. Saudi Arabia is increasingly disenchanted with the Middle East policy of United States President Barak Obama’s administration, which Riyadh sees as inept and fostering discord rather than security. The unprecedented rift between Riyadh and Washington is coming to a
The Thor Viking, in the waters near the L’anse aux Meadows National Historic Site in Newfoundland, Canada, which is the only proven Norse settlement in North America and the site of a festival marking 1000 years since the settlement was founded
JONATHAN MANTHORPEPublished: September 6, 2013 As Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference this morning in St. Petersburg that his support for Syria’s Assad regime is unshakeable, three Russian warships reinforced the message as they slipped through the Dardanelles bound for the eastern
CHRIS WOOD: NATURAL SECURITYPublished September 5, 2013 With apologies to Charles Dickens, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times. We are surrounded by miracles and wonders that would have dazzled the most indulged monarch of any earlier
JONATHAN MANTHORPE Published September 4, 2013. The torrid and sordid saga around the death of a Mongolian fashion model continues to dog Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, re-ignited by a court decision to quash the murder convictions of her killers, two of
By Brian BrennanCALGARY, Alberta, 1989 On the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, in a mock English pub converted temporarily into a Bavarian inn, the night air holds a solemn stillness as the director John Frankenheimer shoots the pivotal scene of his latest movie.
JONATHAN MANTHORPE Published: September 3, 2013. There are strong indications that the much-touted anti-corruption drive by China’s new leader Xi Jinping is also becoming a purge of his rivals and a route to embedding his own authority. There has been a series
In most places, it’s flowers that signal the coming of spring. Newfoundland and Labrador have the flowers – but also icebergs. It’s not uncommon to wander the coastal trails and fishing villages on a warm sunny spring day, with a backdrop of