A trucker-led protest of coronavirus vaccine mandates that is blocking traffic at a key bridge linking the United States and Canada picked up urgency as it threatens to dampen business activity in both countries.
The protesters, who are demanding an end to Canada’s coronavirus restrictions, have blockaded the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit, Michigan, in the U.S. and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, bringing central Ottawa to a halt. The blockade prevented traffic from entering Canada Wednesday, but U.S.-bound traffic continued.
Trucks transport about 25% of all trade between the two countries across the bridge, much of which is linked to the automobile sector.
Canadian authorities have said they are increasingly concerned about the economic effects of the protest, which is inspiring similar protests in France, Australia and New Zealand.
FILE – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 9, 2022.
“Blockages, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable, and are negatively impacting businesses and manufacturers,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned as he addressed the House of Commons Wednesday.
While the mayor of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, declared a state of emergency Wednesday because of demonstrations there, police warned in a statement that protesters “must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you may face charges.”
FILE – People walk past parked trucks on Wellington Street during a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions at Parliament House in Ottawa, Canada, on Jan. 29, 2022.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday the Biden administration was in close contact with Canadian officials and voiced concern the blockade could also affect the U.S. economy as it “poses a risk to supply chains, to the auto industry.”
Ford Motor Company spokesman Said Deep said Thursday the blockade has forced the automaker to reduce operations at its Ontario province plants in Oakville and Windsor, according to The New York Times.
On Wednesday, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company will not be able to manufacture anything at three Canadian plants for the rest of this week because of the blockade.
Shortages due to the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift of the day Wednesday at a factory near Lansing, Michigan, in the U.S. GM spokesman Dan Flores said Wednesday the factory was expected to reopen on Thursday.
The blockade, which began nearly two weeks ago, has prompted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to issue a warning that a convoy of truckers could begin protests as early as this weekend in Los Angeles, California, the site of the National Football League’s Super Bowl, according to multiple reports.
CNN reports that DHS issued a bulletin to U.S. law enforcement agencies informing them the convoy would probably begin protests in California as early as mid-February and make their way across the U.S. to Washington as late as mid-March.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, and Reuters.
The United States is out of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympics in stunning fashion after blowing a late lead.
Slovakia beat the U.S. 3-2 in a shootout Wednesday to knock the top-seeded Americans out in the quarterfinals. Canada exited hours after the U.S. with a 2-0 loss to Sweden.
It’s the first Olympic semifinals without the U.S. and Canada since 2006.
The U.S. led for almost half the game before the tying goal when Slovakia pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker to play 6-on-5. Slovakia forward Juraj Slafkovsky scored his tournament-leading fifth goal of the tournament.
The Russians and Finland also moved on to the semifinals.
FIGURE SKATING
The Associated Press has learned IOC president Thomas Bach offered U.S. figure skaters Olympic torches as holdover gifts while they await a resolution of the Russian doping case that is preventing them from receiving their silver medals.
Two people familiar with the events told AP late Wednesday that Bach, in a private meeting with the skaters in Beijing, reiterated the IOC stance that no medals ceremonies would be held for events involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. The people did not want their names used because the meeting was confidential.
Officials from the International Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to an email query from AP.
Men’s champion Nathan Chen and the U.S. finished runner-up to Russia in the team event last week, but the outcome was quickly thrown into chaos when reports surfaced that Valieva had used a banned medication.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Valieva was still eligible to compete in this week’s women’s event while her case wound through the anti-doping system. That case will ultimately determine the status of the medals. Valieva led the women’s contest after the short program.
CURLING
The U.S. women’s curling team is out of the Olympics. The men have one more chance to advance to the playoffs at the Beijing Games.
Tabitha Peterson’s foursome lost 10-7 to Japan on Wednesday night in its round-robin finale. That dropped the Americans to 4-5 at the Winter Games.
Switzerland (7-1) had already qualified, and reigning gold medalist Sweden (6-2) joined them with an 8-5 victory over Russia. There are five teams fighting for the remaining two spots: 2018 bronze medalist Japan (5-3) and ’18 silver medalist South Korea (4-4) along with Canada (4-4), Britain (4-4) and China (4-5).
The U.S. men will have a chance to repeat as gold medalists — as long as they beat Denmark in the final round-robin session on Thursday morning.
After eight of nine matches played, the Americans are 4-4 and in fourth place in the race for the four spots in the Beijing Olympics semifinals. Britain and Sweden are already in at 7-1, and Canada also clinched a berth with an 8-6 victory over Russia on Wednesday.
John Shuster’s foursome would reach the playoffs with a victory over last-place Denmark. They could also advance if they lose, but they would need help.
NORDIC SKIING
The International Testing Agency says cross-country skier Valnetyna Kaminska has tested positive for doping with a steroid and a banned stimulant.
Valentyna Kaminska already competed in all her three events at the Beijing Olympics and did not come close to the medals.
The 34-year-old athlete is competing for Ukraine now after representing Belarus at the Winter Games in 2014 and 2018.
The ITA says Kaminska’s sample taken last Thursday tested positive for mesterolone and heptaminol.
She’s now provisionally suspended from all competitions pending a prosecution of her doping case.
It’s the second doping sample taken at the Beijing Olympics to test positive. The first involved Alpine skier Hossein Saveh Shemshaki of Iran. The contentious case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva involves a test taken before the Olympics.
ICE HOCKEY
Susanna Tapani scored her team-leading sixth goal, Anni Keisala stopped 15 shots and Finland claimed its fourth Olympic women’s hockey bronze medal with a 4-0 win over Switzerland.
Wednesday night’s victory earned Finland a bronze medal in consecutive Olympics.
Viivi Vainikka and Nelli Laitinen also scored in a rematch of last year’s world championship bronze medal game, which Finland won 3-1. The Finns bounced back from a 3-2 loss to the Swiss in the preliminary round.
Switzerland’s Andrea Braendli stopped 34 of the first 35 she faced, and 43 overall in a game the Finns pulled away by scoring three times in the third period. The Swiss fell short in an attempt to match their best finish at the 2014 Sochi Games, when they beat Sweden to win the bronze medal.
Vainikka opened the scoring 11:38 into the first period by driving to the front of the net and slipping in a loose puck after Braendli stopped a shot from Noora Tulus. Tapani scored on a shorthanded 2-on-1 break 3:24 into the third period. Laitinen and Karvinen sealed the win with power-play goals in the final 5:36.
Keisala finished the tournament stopping 173 of 189 shots, while appearing in all seven games. Her best save against Switzerland came midway through the second period, when she got her glove up to stop Lena Marie Lutz’s shot on a breakaway.
On Thursday, the defending Olympic champion United States and Canada meet in the gold-medal game for the sixth time in seven tournaments.
SPEEDSKATING
Choi Minjeong of South Korea has successfully defended her Olympic title in 1,500-meter short track speedskating.
She won in 2 minutes, 17.789 seconds, extending the tradition of an Asian woman winning the event.
Arianna Fontana of Italy took silver by two-thousandths of a second over Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands.
It was Fontana’s 11th career Olympic medal and third in Beijing. The most decorated short track skater in history also won the 500 and took silver in the mixed team relay.
Schulting earned her fourth medal in Beijing. She finished second in the 500, won the 1,000 and won the 3,000 relay.
Canada has won the 5,000-meter relay in short track speedskating.
The team of Charles Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Pascal Dion skated cleanly Wednesday night to take their nation’s eighth gold medal in the 45-lap race with a time of 6 minutes, 41.257 seconds.
At age 37, Hamelin broke his own record as the oldest male short track skater to win an Olympic medal. It was his sixth career medal, making him Canada’s most decorated male Olympian.
South Korea earned silver. Italy claimed bronze.
Dubois won his third medal in Beijing. He finished second in the 1,500 and third in the 500.
China crashed later in the race, much to the dismay of the fans at Capital Indoor Stadium, who waved the host country’s flag.
Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands has advanced to the final of 1,500-meter short track speedskating.
She won her semifinal in a bid to earn her fourth Olympic medal in Beijing. No non-Asian woman has ever won this event.
Defending Olympic champion Choi Minjeong of South Korea rallied from sixth using a big move on the outside to take the lead with two laps remaining in her semifinal. She set an Olympic record of 2 minutes, 16.831 seconds.
Also making the A final are Arianna Fontana of Italy, Lee Yubin of South Korea, Hanne Desmet of Belgium, Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands and Han Yutong of China.
The B final includes such big names as Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault of Canada and Kim A Lang of South Korea. American Kristen Santos was advanced when another skater was penalized.
U.S. skaters Corinne Stoddard and Julie Letai were eliminated.
BIATHLON
Elvira Oeberg anchored the Swedish team to Olympic gold in the four-person biathlon relay, skiing fast and shooting clean to win her third medal of the Beijing Games.
Oeberg, who also won silver in the sprint and pursuit races in her Olympic debut, put the Swedes across the line in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 3.9 seconds.
Russian biathlete Uliana Nigmatullina trailed Oeberg by about 24 seconds after the final shooting range and ended up finishing 12 seconds behind for silver. Denise Herrmann finished third to give Germany bronze, 37.4 seconds behind Oeberg. Herrmann also won gold in the individual race.
Germany, Sweden and Italy went out front early in the 4×6-kilometer race and the teams shuffled positions several times, but the Swedes had the most consistent shooting.
WINDSOR, ONTARIO — The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing reopened late Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions closed it for almost a week, while Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.
Detroit International Bridge Co. said in a statement that “the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again.” Esther Jentzen, spokeswoman for the company, said in a later text to The Associated Press that the bridge reopened to traffic at 11 p.m. EST.
The crossing normally carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and the blockade on the Canadian side had disrupted business in both countries, with automakers forced to shut down several assembly plants.
Police in Windsor, Ontario, said earlier in the day that more than two dozen people had been peacefully arrested, seven vehicles towed and five seized as officers cleared the last demonstrators from near the bridge, which links the city — and numerous Canadian automotive plants — with Detroit.
The protest in Ottawa, meanwhile, has paralyzed downtown, infuriated residents who are fed up with police inaction and turned up pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who presided at a Cabinet meeting late Sunday.
The demonstrations have reverberated across Canada and beyond, with similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that truck convoys may be in the works in the United States.
Don Stephens, 65, a retired graphic designer, holds a sign on Parliament Hill to support trucks lined up in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions in Ottawa, Ontario, on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The Ambassador Bridge had remained closed for most of the day despite the break up of the protest as a heavy snowstorm blanketed the area. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens had said the span would open once authorities determined it was safe to do so.
Canada’s industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, welcomed the development, saying on Twitter: “Good news. Glad to see that the Ambassador Bridge is now reopened.”
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday acknowledged the seemingly peaceful resolution to the demonstration, which it said had “widespread damaging impacts” on the “lives and livelihoods of people” on both sides of the border.
“We stand ready to support our Canadian partners wherever useful in order to ensure the restoration of the normal free flow of commerce can resume,” Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall said in a statement.
In Ottawa, which is about 500 miles northeast of Windsor, Mayor Jim Watson said Sunday the city struck a deal with protesters who have jammed downtown streets for more than two weeks that will see them move out of residential areas in the next 24 hours.
Watson said he agreed to meet with demonstrators if they confined their protest to an area around Parliament Hill and moved their trucks and other vehicles out of residential neighborhoods by noon Monday.
The mayor shared a letter from one of the protest’s organizers, Tamara Lich, in which she said demonstrators “agree with your request” to focus activities at Parliament Hill. But Lich later denied there was an agreement, saying in a tweet: “No deal has been made. End the mandates, end the passports. That is why we are here.”
Watson added in his letter to protesters that residents are “exhausted″ and “on edge” due to the demonstrations and warns that some businesses are teetering on the brink of permanent closure because of the disruptions.
The ranks of protesters had swelled to what police said were 4,000 demonstrators by Saturday, and a counter-protest of frustrated Ottawa residents attempting to block the convoy of trucks from entering the downtown emerged Sunday.
Clayton Goodwin, a 45-year-old military veteran who was among the counter-protesters, said it was time for residents to stand up against the protesters.
“I’m horrified that other veterans would be down there co-opting my flag, co-opting my service,” said Goodwin, who is the CEO of the Veterans Accountability Commission, a nonprofit advocacy group. “It’s a grift. The city was free. We’re 92% vaccinated. We’re ready to support our businesses.”
Colleen Sinclair, another counter-protester, said the demonstrators have had enough time to have their discontent heard and need to move on — with police force, if it comes down to it.
“They’re occupiers. People are scared to go to work, too scared to leave their homes,” she said. “This is not how you get your voice heard. This is domestic terrorism and we want you out of our city. Go home.”
The city has seen similar expansions of the protest on past weekends, and loud music played as people milled about downtown where anti-vaccine demonstrators have been encamped since late January, to the frustration of local residents.
“It just feels like I’m living in a different country, like I’m in the States,” said Shannon Thomas, a 32-year-old teacher. “It just makes me really sad to see all these people waving Canadian flags and acting like patriots when it’s really the most sad and embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen.”
Trudeau has so far rejected calls to use the military, but had said that “all options are on the table” to end the protests. Trudeau has called the protesters a “fringe” of Canadian society. Both federal and provincial politicians have said they can’t order police what to do.
Major-General Steve Boivin, commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, said Sunday that two of his special forces soldiers were supporting the protests in Ottawa and were in the “process of being released” from service. Boivin said the activity goes against the military’s values and ethics.
On Friday, a judge ordered an end to the blockade at the crossing in Windsor and Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency allowing for fines of 100,000 Canadian dollars and up to one year in jail for anyone illegally blocking roads, bridges, walkways and other critical infrastructure.
Partial closures at the bridge started on Feb. 7 and by midweek the disruption was so severe that automakers began shutting down or reducing production. The standoff came at a time when the industry is already struggling to maintain production in the face of pandemic-induced shortages of computer chips and other supply-chain disruptions.
“We are protesting the government taking away our rights,” said Windsor resident Eunice Lucas-Logan. “We want the restrictions removed. We have to wait to find out.”
The 67-year-old has been out supporting the protest for the past four days. She said she appreciated that police have been patient.
People demonstrating against COVID-19 restrictions stay warm with blankets and a fire during frigid temperatures on Wellington Street in the Parliament Hill area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
On the other side of the country, a major truck border crossing between Surrey, British Columbia, and Blaine, Washington, was closed Sunday, a day after Canadian authorities said a few vehicles had breached police barricades and a crowd entered the area by foot.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Sunday afternoon four people had been arrested for “mischief” during the protest. Some people who stayed overnight had packed up and left, but the border crossing and roads in the area remained closed.
A border blockade that began in Coutts, Alberta, north of Sweet Grass, Montana, on Jan. 29 remained in place as well. Police issued more than 50 traffic tickets Saturday and continued issuing them Sunday, RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said.
Officers also intercepted and disabled three excavators that were being brought to the protest, Savinkoff said.
“Had those made their way to the blockade, it would only have compounded the unfortunate situation we’re facing at the border,” he said.
While the protesters are decrying vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 restrictions, many of Canada’s public health measures, such as mask rules and vaccine passports for getting into restaurants and theaters, are already falling away as the omicron surge levels off.
About 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated, and trucker associations and many big-rig operators have denounced the protests. The U.S. has the same vaccination rule for truckers crossing the border, so it would make little difference if Trudeau lifted the restriction.
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter there than in the U.S., but Canadians have largely supported them. The vast majority of Canadians are vaccinated, and the COVID-19 death rate is one-third that of the United States.
Meanwhile, Biden, in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl, struck a critical tone when asked about those likely to object to the mask mandate at the NFL championship game.
“I love how people talk about personal freedom,” he said. “If you’re exercising personal freedom, but you put someone else in jeopardy, their health in jeopardy, I don’t consider that being very good with freedom.”
Ukraine is sharpening its accusation that Iran played a sinister role in the 2020 shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane over Tehran as the world marks the second anniversary of the tragedy.
“What happened on January 8th, 2020, was a terrorist act committed against a civilian aircraft,” Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council secretary, said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with VOA Persian.
Danilov also expressed frustration with what he said was Iran’s refusal to cooperate in investigating and providing compensation for the downing of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752.
Iran has acknowledged firing missiles that struck the plane and killed all 176 people on board, but it called the incident an accident and blamed it on a misaligned air defense system and human error by the missile operators. The plane had taken off from Tehran minutes earlier, carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian Canadians who were flying to Kyiv en route to Canada.
The Iranian forces who shot down the Ukrainian plane had been on alert for a U.S. response to a missile strike that Iran launched on American troops in Iraq several hours earlier. Iran had attacked the U.S. troops, wounding dozens, in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike that killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad five days previously.
Danilov noted that before and after Iran’s pre-dawn missile strikes on Flight PS752, Iranian authorities had allowed other civilian jets to take off from Tehran airport. “We have the impression that they [the Iranians] had been waiting specifically for our plane. We can assume this,” he said.
Danilov said those who allegedly were waiting to strike the UIA jet were senior Iranian officials. “It must have been an order from senior management. No [air defense] operators can make such a decision on their own.”
The Ukrainian security official’s accusations regarding Iran’s role in the incident were tougher and more detailed than his previous ones.
FILE – A general view of the debris of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, which was shot down after takeoff from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran Jan. 8, 2020.
‘Conscious attack’
In an April 2021 interview with Canada’s Globe and Mailnewspaper, Danilov said he believed the Iranian downing of Flight PS752 was “intentional” and a “conscious attack.”
Ukrainian news site Ukrinform later quoted Danilov as saying in May 2021 that Kyiv was “more and more inclined” to call the Iranian missile strikes a “terrorist act.” Danilov was responding to a Canadian judge’s ruling that month that the “missile attacks were intentional” and “the shooting down of the civilian aircraft constituted terrorist activity under applicable federal law.”
The Ontario court’s ruling came as part of a civil lawsuit brought by relatives of six Flight PS752 victims against Iranian officials, whom they blamed for the tragedy. In a further decision announced Monday, the court awarded the plaintiffs $84 million in damages “for loss of life caused by terrorism.”
Iran’s U.N. mission in New York did not respond to a VOA request for comment on Danilov’s latest statements that the downing of Flight PS752 was a premeditated, terrorist act. VOA made the request in a voicemail on the Iranian U.N. mission’s phone line and in messages sent to the mission by email and on Twitter.
In a separate email exchange with VOA on Friday, Ukraine’s former deputy prosecutor general, Gyunduz Mamedov, used even sharper language to describe Iran’s role in the shootdown.
Mamedov, who was involved in Ukraine’s ongoing criminal investigation of the incident while serving as deputy prosecutor general from 2019 to 2021, said the investigation remains in a pretrial stage in which the classification of the alleged crime is being determined.
“The pre-trial investigation is considering various categories of crime, including an act of terrorism,” Mamedov wrote. “It also is likely that the downing of an aircraft will be classified as a war crime.”
Ukraine has not disclosed evidence that Iran’s shooting down of Flight PS752 was part of a premeditated, intentional act.
FILE – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a memorial service for the victims of the shootdown of Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752, at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Jan. 12, 2020.
‘Full reparations’
Canada, which lost 55 citizens and 30 permanent residents in the shootdown, has not publicly shared Ukraine’s assessments of a sinister Iranian role in the incident.
But Canada joined Ukraine and two other nations whose citizens were among the victims, Britain and Sweden, in issuing a statement Thursday vowing to “hold Iran accountable for the actions and omissions of its civil and military officials that led to the illegal downing of Flight PS752 by ensuring that Iran makes full reparations for its breaches of international law.”
The four nations, which joined together as an International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752, also said that after a first round of talks in July 2020, Iran rejected their January 5 deadline to resume negotiations on their collective demand for reparations. They said they would “now focus on subsequent actions … to resolve this matter in accordance with international law.”
Ukrainian National Defense and Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov speaks to VOA Persian in an exclusive Skype interview Jan. 5, 2022.
Danilov told VOA that not only has Iran paid no compensation to the Ukrainian victims’ families, but its cooperation with Ukraine’s criminal investigation was nonexistent.
In a statement issued Friday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran has sent letters to embassies of relevant governments declaring a readiness to pay the families of 30 foreign victims.
The Iranian statement said Tehran was ready for “bilateral” talks with the countries whose citizens were killed in the shootdown. But it accused some of those nations, without naming them, of committing “illegal actions” and “trying to exploit this painful incident and the plight of the survivors for their own political purposes.”
Britain, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine have insisted on multilateral negotiations.
Trial questioned
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also noted that the Iranian judiciary has held several court sessions since opening a trial in November of 10 military personnel charged in connection with the shootdown.
In his VOA interview, Danilov questioned the credibility of that trial. “We don’t know whether these people are really responsible, because the processes that took place in Iran were held behind closed doors and foreign representatives were not allowed inside to confirm that this was a transparent, democratic procedure,” he said.
In explaining his belief that the downing of the Ukrainian plane was intentional, Danilov told the Globe and Mail in his April 2021 interview that Iran might have used it as a pre-dawn distraction to calm an escalating confrontation with the more powerful U.S. military.
He also cited Iran’s use of a Russian-made missile system to strike the jetliner. Ukrainian military experts have said such a system is unlikely to mistakenly shoot down a passenger plane.
This story was a collaboration between VOA’s Persian and Ukrainian services and English News Center. Kateryna Lisunova of VOA Ukrainian and Arash Sigarchi of VOA Persian contributed.
Daniil Medvedev of Russia reacts after winning his men’s quarter final match against Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2022. EFE-EPA/DEAN LEWINS
Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece celebrates after winning his Men’s quarterfinal match against Jannik Sinner of Italy at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2022. EFE-EPA/DEAN LEWINS
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada reacts during his men’s quarter final match against Daniil Medvedev of Russia at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2022. EFE-EPA/DAVE HUNT
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in action against Daniil Medvedev of Russia during their men’s quarter final match of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2022. EFE-EPA/DEAN LEWINS
Daniil Medvedev of Russia in action against Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada during their men’s quarter final match of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2022. EFE-EPA/DEAN LEWINS
Jannik Sinner of Italy in action against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in their quarter final match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2022. EFE-EPA/DEAN LEWINS
The leader of the Canadian province of Ontario, Premier Doug Ford, declared a state of emergency Friday over truckers protesting vaccine mandates.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of truckers have snarled the streets around the parliament building in the national capital, Ottawa, and more recently blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the U.S.
Ford said he would convene the provincial cabinet on Saturday to make “crystal clear” the truckers are breaking the law by blocking critical infrastructure.
He said punishments for continuing to break the law could include fines and jail time.
“We are now two weeks into the siege of Ottawa,” Ford said. “It’s an illegal occupation. It’s no longer a protest.”
He also said he would also seek to break up the protests at the bridge, over which a large percentage of U.S-Canada trade passes.
One protester told Fox News he’d been at the Ottawa protest the entire time and was there with his wife and kids.
He said he didn’t want his kids to be forced to wear a mask or get vaccinated.
“The pressure we have to get vaccinated, there’s something about it that just don’t work,” he said. “End all the mandates, and it’s going to be all right.”
Since the protests began, several Canadian provinces have dropped or signaled they will soon drop mask and vaccine mandates.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the truckers a “fringe” group.
On Thursday, Ford asked a court to freeze online fundraising for the protesters via a site called GiveSendGo.
In a tweet, the American company said, “Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
A Florida man accused of smuggling Indian migrants who crossed through a freezing snowstorm into the United States from Canada last week was granted conditional release in a hearing on Monday.
Steve Shand, who appeared via video feed from a Minneapolis jail, was arrested by U.S. border patrol the same day Royal Canadian Mounted Police found the bodies of four people, including a baby, frozen to death in the Manitoba snow meters from the U.S. border of Minnesota.
Shand, who waived his right to a probable cause hearing, will remain in custody until plans are made for his return home to Deltona, Florida. The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota said conditions of Shand’s release include restrictions on travel and the surrender of any travel documents, as well as his promise to appear in court as required. The court did not specify when he would be released.
U.S. authorities charged Shand with smuggling two people — Gujarati-speaking Indian nationals that U.S. border patrol agents found with him in a 15-person white rental van driving through blowing snow Wednesday morning. Authorities suspect he is involved in a larger smuggling operation, the charge documents say.
Authorities believe the four deceased people were separated from another group of five Indians who were traveling on foot in the snow as they tried to cross the border. That group of five also was apprehended Wednesday.
The group of five had new-looking winter gear that matched Shand’s, the documents say, and their boots matched boot-prints from people who walked across the border last month, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agent John Stanley.
One woman walking had to be hospitalized for frostbite and may have part of her hand amputated, authorities said.
“The investigation into the death of the four individuals in Canada is ongoing along with an investigation into a larger human smuggling operation of which Shand is suspected of being a part,” the charge document reads.
One of the men picked up by border patrol reportedly said he had obtained a fraudulent Canadian student visa and intended to meet his uncle in Chicago.
Shauna Labman, a human rights professor who studies migration at the University of Winnipeg, said going south from Canada into the U.S. is less common than the opposite direction.
The U.S. is usually easier to get to, by land or air, and Canada is generally seen as having fairer refugee policies, she said.
“The news is upsetting but it’s also not surprising: It is a risk that we know occurs. … Our border policies force people into dangerous crossings.”
China’s social media users have responded mostly positively to the sporting performances of their largest-ever contingent of foreign-born Olympic athletes, while appearing to keep mum on the sensitive issue of whether those athletes were allowed to keep their foreign nationalities.
The Chinese Olympic Committee fielded 30 foreign-born and -raised athletes in its 176-strong delegation for this month’s Winter Games in Beijing, 28 of them in its men’s and women’s ice hockey teams. The two other athletes are the highest-profile members of China’s foreign-origin contingent: freestyle skier Eileen Gu and figure skater Zhu Yi, both U.S.-born.
Eighteen-year-old Gu has won adulation in China by securing two golds and a silver, with her second gold coming in Friday’s freeski halfpipe final. Zhu did not win a medal and the Chinese men’s and women’s ice hockey teams did not reach the quarterfinal knockout stages of their tournaments.
Canadian-born ice hockey player Ethan Werek is one of the Chinese men’s team’s 15 foreign-born players, of whom 11 hail from Canada, three from the U.S. and one from Russia. Most of them have Chinese ancestry, while Werek is one of five who do not.
Speaking by phone to VOA in Istanbul on Thursday as he was en route back to North America, Werek said he had seen only positive comments about his ice hockey team role as he translated posts made on his Weibo account. Weibo is the most popular Chinese microblogging site.
“There were lots of positive messages from Chinese fans thanking me and thanking our team. I just wish I knew how to respond properly and thank them truly for the opportunity to represent China,” said Werek, who does not read Mandarin.
Werek’s observation was consistent with posts seen by VOA on the Weibo accounts of two of his U.S.-born teammates Jeremy Smith and Jake Chelios, who also are not of Chinese origin.
Goalkeeper Smith, who injured his leg in China’s 7-2 loss to Canada in Tuesday’s qualification playoff and had to be taken to a hospital, posted a Chinese-language farewell message to his fans later that day. It elicited hundreds of comments, some in English, expressing admiration for his efforts and wishing him a speedy recovery.
Screenshot of Chinese ice hockey player Jeremy Smith’s farewell message to fans on his Weibo account, Feb. 17, 2022.
Screenshot of user comments on Jeremy Smith’s Weibo account, Feb. 17, 2022.
Screenshot of user comments on Jeremy Smith’s Weibo account, Feb. 17, 2022.
Chelios, a defender, had posted a Chinese message to his Weibo account a day earlier, describing his team’s initial 5-0 loss to Canada in a February 13 preliminary round group game as unfortunate and saying “we must do our best” in the qualification playoff.
“Winning or losing is not important, but you let us see the future of China’s ice hockey,” replied one Weibo user in English. “We will pay attention to you and love you.”
Screenshot of Chinese ice hockey player Jake Chelios’ message to fans on his Weibo account, Feb. 17, 2022.
Screenshot of user comments on Jake Chelios’ Weibo account, Feb. 17, 2022.
The foreign-origin ice hockey players likely endeared themselves to Chinese fans by respecting Chinese people and conventions, said Susan Brownell, an American research specialist on Chinese sports and an anthropology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
“They demonstrated a commitment to China just by moving there several years ago to play for a Chinese club. Under circumstances like this, I do think that Chinese people can be honored and flattered that you have chosen to represent China,” Brownell told VOA.
Brownell said Chinese fans also likely did not expect the men’s or women’s ice hockey teams to be medal contenders. They were the lowest-ranked teams in their respective tournaments and secured automatic berths by virtue of China being the host nation.
China’s Mi Le (34) celebrates with Wang Yuting (49) after scoring a goal against Czech Republic during a preliminary round women’s hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 3, 2022, in Beijing.
The Chinese women’s team won two and lost two of its preliminary round group games. The men’s team lost its three preliminary round group games and its qualification playoff, but its preliminary round loss to Germany was by a narrow 3-2 margin.
VOA did not observe any Chinese social media posts criticizing the foreign-origin ice hockey players, but Brownell said there is a possibility that such comments may have been censored.
Zhu Yi, of China, reacts in the women’s team free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing.
Zhu, the 19-year-old figure skater, drew a deluge of harsh comments from Chinese netizens after falling during her team and single skating events, some telling her to “go back to America.” U.S. and Chinese news reports said China’s internet censors responded by blocking the Mandarin hashtag “Zhu Yi has fallen” and removing some of the most incendiary posts.
Zhu is the only one of the 30 foreign-origin Chinese Olympic athletes whom the International Olympic Committee has confirmed to have renounced foreign citizenship. She switched her allegiance from the U.S. to China in 2018.
It does not appear that any of the other 29 athletes have done the same, despite Article 8 of China’s Nationality Law saying that a person naturalizing as a Chinese citizen “shall not retain foreign nationality.” Athletes must be a national of the country they represent under IOC Rule 41.
VOA did not observe any Weibo posts discussing the sensitive question of whether Chinese authorities bent the law to allow foreign athletes to compete for China as dual nationals.
Ice hockey player Chelios told The Wall Street Journal last week that he and several of his teammates still have U.S. passports. Smith, in an interview with U.S. outlet ESPN earlier this month, said he “told China” that he would “never” give up his U.S. passport and “they said that’s fine.”
In a sign that Chinese two-time Olympic champion Gu also has not renounced her U.S. citizenship, an Olympics.com article published last year in multiple languages, ‘Five things you didn’t know about Eileen Gu,’ ends with a sentence saying that she has “dual nationality.”
China’s Eileen Gu competes during the women’s halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 18, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China.
The “dual nationality” reference can be seen in the Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese and Spanish versions of the article. It also had appeared in the English version of the article until it was removed on Feb. 9 or 10, shortly after Gu won her first gold and shot into the international spotlight. The Chinese version ends with a sentence saying Gu is “active in both China and the U.S.” rather than referring to her as a dual national.
The International Olympic Committee did not answer a VOA question about why it removed the reference from the English version of the Gu profile.
Gu has not responded directly to reporters seeking confirmation of whether she is a dual national. In a February 8 Beijing news conference, she repeated a statement that she has made before, saying that she is Chinese when she is in China, and American when she is in the United States.
When asked by VOA if he has renounced his Canadian citizenship, Chinese ice hockey forward Werek also did not respond directly, instead saying “when I’m in China, I’m Chinese.” Smith made a similar statement later when German news agency Deutsche Welle asked him to clarify his U.S. citizenship status following the Chinese men’s team’s 8-0 loss to the U.S.
U.S. news reports cited other North American-origin Chinese ice hockey players as telling reporters in Beijing that they were not allowed to comment on the issue.
“I think this is an experiment for China,” Brownell said, referring to its recruitment of the foreign-origin athletes. “If it works, then a government document declaring an official change in [naturalization] policy will come out in future,” she predicted.
Werek said he sees more work with the Chinese men’s national team in his future. Its next big challenge will be trying to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, where China will not have an automatic berth as it had this time.
The disappointment of the Chinese men’s team with its Beijing 2022 result shows that it believes it can do better, Werek said.
“There were games that we could have won. So our expectation going into 2026 is that we’re going to be a team that will compete, and we’re excited for that.”
This report was a collaboration between VOA’s News Center and Mandarin Service.
The United States secured its first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Wednesday when Lindsey Jacobellis won the women’s snowboard cross competition.
The 36-year-old Jacobellis has been the dominant figure in the short history of the sport, but has come up short in her quest for Olympic gold since her debut at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. She was heading to a certain gold medal at the Turin Games when she slipped and fell attempting a flashy move during a jump on the final leg of the race, forcing her to settle for the silver medal.
From left silver medalist France’s Chloe Trespeuch, gold medalist United States’ Lindsey Jacobellis and bronze medalist Canada’s Meryeta O’Dine celebrate during the venue ceremony for the women’s snowboard cross at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Chloe Trespeuch of France won the silver medal Wednesday, while Canada’s Meryeta Odine took home the bronze.
Jacobellis’s win came hours after U.S. skier Mikeala Shiffrin, the most dominant women’s Alpine skier of her generation, endured another shocking failure in her quest to add to her Olympic gold medal collection. Shiffrin was just seconds into her first run in the women’s slalom competition when she missed a gate and skied off the course, resulting in her disqualification, and sat despondent and dejected on the side of the course for several minutes.
Petra Vlhova of Slovakia took the gold medal in the women’s slalom, with Katharina Leinsberger of Austria taking the silver medal and Wendy Holdener of Switzerland winning bronze.
Also Wednesday, 21-year-old Birk Ruud of Norway won the gold medal in the men’s freestyle big air competition, with American Colby Stevenson taking home the silver medal, six years after suffering massive injuries in a near-fatal automobile crash, including a fractured skull. Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut won the bronze medal.
American snowboarders Shuan White and Chloe Kim both qualified to advance to the finals of the men’s and women’s halfpipe competition, respectively. The 35-year-old White, a three-time gold medalist, is competing in his final Winter Olympics, while the 21-year-old Kim is seeking to defend the gold medal she won at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.
Five female ski jumpers have been disqualified from the Beijing Olympics after the International Ski Federation (FIS) ruled that their suits were too big.
Katharina Althaus, of Germany, soars through the air during a women’s normal hill ski jumping training session at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Germany’s Katharina Althaus, Silje Opseth and Anna Odine Stroem of Norway, Japanese jumper Sara Takanashi and Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz were all disqualified from taking part in the inaugural mixed team event, which featured teams with two women and two men each.
Althaus denounced the FIS decision, saying they “destroyed women’s ski jumping.”
Slovenia won the gold medal in the event, with the Russian Olympic Committee team winning silver and Canada the surprise bronze medal winners.
The last of the three trucker protest border blockades between the U.S. and Canada was set to reopen Wednesday.
The blockade at Emerson, Manitoba, which borders North Dakota, was to be fully cleared by Wednesday afternoon.
“Throughout the past six days, our officers continued to use open communication and a measured and tempered response,” said Sergeant Paul Manaigre, Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police media relations officer. “This continuous dialogue between our officers and demonstrators enabled us to reach a resolution yesterday.”
The trucker protests, which started in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, have stretched into their third week. Truckers are demanding an end to vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.
Last week, similar blockades at the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Ontario and Michigan, was opened, as was another blockade in Alberta, which borders Montana.
The blockades had snarled trade between the U.S. and Canada.
The protest in Ottawa continues with police handing out notices threatening the truckers with arrest if they don’t leave.
Ottawa police have started ticketing some trucks.
Many of the participants remain defiant.
“If it means that I need to go to prison, if I need to be fined in order to allow freedom to be restored in this country — millions of people have given far more for their freedom,” David Paisley, who traveled to Ottawa with a friend who is a truck driver, told The Associated Press.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to end the protests.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
Most countries have made little to no progress in bringing down corruption levels over the past decade, and authorities’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic in many places has weighed on accountability, a closely watched study by an anti-graft organization found Tuesday.
Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the perception of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, found that “increasingly, rights and checks and balances are being undermined not only in countries with systemic corruption and weak institutions, but also among established democracies.”
Among other issues over the past year, it cited the use of Pegasus software, which has been linked to snooping on human rights activists, journalists and politicians across the globe.
The report said the pandemic has “been used in many countries as an excuse to curtail basic freedoms and sidestep important checks and balances.”
In Western Europe, the best-scoring region overall, the pandemic has given countries “an excuse for complacency in anti-corruption efforts as accountability and transparency measures are neglected or even rolled back,” Transparency said. In some Asian countries, it said, COVID-19 “also has been used as an excuse to suppress criticism.” It pointed to increased digital surveillance in some nations and authoritarian approaches in others.
The report ranks countries on a scale from a “highly corrupt” 0 to a “very clean” 100. Denmark, New Zealand and Finland tied for first place with 88 points each; the first two were unchanged, while Finland gained three points. Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany completed the top 10. The U.K. was 11th with 78.
The United States, which slipped over recent years to hit 67 points in 2020, held that score this time but slipped a couple of places to 27th. Transparency said it dropped out of the top 25 for the first time “as it faces continuous attacks on free and fair elections and an opaque campaign finance system.”
Canada, which slid three points to 74 and two places to 13th, “is seeing increased risks of bribery and corruption in business,” the group said. It added that the publication of the Pandora Papers showed Canada as “a hub for illicit financial flows, fueling transnational corruption across the region and the world.”
The index rates 180 countries and territories. South Sudan was bottom with 11 points; Somalia, with which it shared last place in 2020, tied this time with Syria for second-to-last with 13. Venezuela followed with 14 — then Yemen, North Korea and Afghanistan tied with 16 apiece.
Transparency said the control of corruption has stagnated or worsened in 86% of the countries it surveyed in the last 10 years. In that time, 23 countries — including the U.S., Canada, Hungary and Poland — have declined significantly in its index, while 25 have improved significantly. They include Estonia, the Seychelles and Armenia.
Compiled since 1995, the index is calculated using 13 different data sources that provide perceptions of public sector corruption from business people and country experts. Sources include the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting companies.
BOGOTA COLOMBIA). Thursday, February 17, 2022 (RPTV NEWS AGENCY). The protests in Canada are at their peak, after the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, will approve a law that gives powers to the Government to dissolve the protests, caused by the anti-vaccines.
“The provincial government has invoked the Emergency Law to supplement the territorial capacity to dissolve blockades,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference.
The demonstrations began more than two weeks ago by truckers and have been supported by hundreds of Canadian citizens who are also demanding that the restrictions against the pandemic be lifted.
In Canada, the inhabitants assure that the Canadian Government has refused to hold a dialogue table with the truckers’ union to find a way out of the protests.
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Taking a cue from demonstrations that paralyzed Canada’s capital city for weeks, U.S. truckers on Wednesday plan to embark on a 2,500-mile (4,000-km) cross-country drive toward Washington D.C. to protest coronavirus restrictions.
Organizers of the “People’s Convoy” say they want to “jumpstart the economy” and reopen the country. Their 11-day trek will approach the Beltway around the U.S. capital on March 5 “but will not be going into D.C. proper,” according to a statement.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had approved 400 D.C. National Guard troops to “provide support at designated traffic posts, provide command and control, and cover sustainment requirements” from Feb. 26 through March 7.
About 50 large tactical vehicles were also approved to be placed at traffic posts.
Brian Brase, a truck driver who is one of the organizers, said regardless of where the trucks stop “we’re not going anywhere” until the group’s demands are met. Those demands include an end to COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements.
Most U.S. states are already easing some restrictions. In California, where the convoy begins, universal mask requirements were lifted last week while masks for vaccinated people are required only in high-risk areas such as public transit, schools and healthcare settings.
Another convoy was expected to leave Scranton, Pennsylvania – President Joe Biden’s hometown – on Wednesday morning and arrive on the 495 Beltway (highway) in Washington sometime during the afternoon.
Organizer Bob Bolus told WJLA news, an ABC affiliate in Washington, that his convoy has no intention to break laws or block traffic, but warned this could happen if their demands regarding pandemic mandates and the cost of fuel are not meant.
“They are not going to intimidate us and they are not going to threaten us. We’re the power, not them,” he said.
In Canada, pandemic-related protests choked streets in the capital Ottawa for more than three weeks and blocked the busiest land crossing between Canada and the United States – the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario – for six days.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked rarely used emergency powers to end the protests, and Canadian police restored a sense of normalcy in Ottawa over the weekend.
“We plan to stay a while and hope they don’t escalate it the way Trudeau did with his disgusting government overreach,” Brase said from Adelanto, California, where the convoy will begin, about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Los Angeles.
Brase said he expected thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, would participate. Organizers bill the convoy as nonpartisan, trucker-led, and supported by a wide range of ethnic minorities and religious faiths.
Economic growth in the United States – as in other countries – was brought to a juddering halt by the imposition of lockdowns in 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The economy has boomed since the federal government pumped in trillions of dollars in relief, growing 5.7% in 2021, the strongest since 1984 albeit from a low ebb in 2020, the Commerce Department reported in January.
Meanwhile, unemployment stands at 4%, close to the 3.5% rate of February 2020, just before the pandemic took hold, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But headwinds related to strained supply chains and inflation remain.
“It is now time to reopen the country,” the protest organizers said in a statement.
Among other demands, the protesters want an immediate end to the state of emergency in California – the most populous U.S. state with one of the world’s largest economies -that Governor Gavin Newsom has extended.
Nationwide, new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations due to the coronavirus have plummeted from all-time highs hit a month ago, though nearly 2,000 people per day are still dying from the disease and the number of total deaths is closing in on 1 million since the pandemic began.
¿Estás pensando en hacer un viaje en solitario? No importa si será una gran aventura al otro lado del mundo o una escapada de fin de semana, viajar en solitario es una gran decisión que te permitirá vivir una experiencia inolvidable. Sentirás una verdadera sensación de libertad, donde cada compañero de viaje que conozcas se convertirá en un amigo y podrás explorar donde y como quieras sin tener en cuenta el deseo de viajar de nadie más que el tuyo. Y es que cada vez más en nuestra sociedad está arraigando la tendencia de descubrir el mundo en solitario, pero es una tendencia que entre el público femenino aún no tiene muchas seguidoras.
Así pues, para ayudar a cambiar esta tendencia y que cada vez más mujeres se atrevan a explorar el mundo solas, desde Holidu, el buscador de alquileres vacacionales hemos averiguado qué ciudades son las más seguras para la gente que decide viajar sola.
1. Montreal, Canada
En el primer puesto se encuentra la segunda ciudad más poblada de Canadá, Montreal. Aunque no es el lugar más barato para visitar, la ciudad se ha llevado la corona como la ciudad más segura para visitar como viajera en solitario.
¿Por qué? Pues porque Montreal ha obtenido una gran puntuación en todos los aspectos, especialmente en lo que respecta a la luminosidad nocturna y a la seguridad que sienten las mujeres cuando caminan solas por la noche. La ciudad se situó en el puesto 12 de todas las ciudades en cuanto a niveles de luminosidad, lo que significa que muchas de sus calles suelen estar iluminadas por la noche y, por tanto, son más seguras para caminar por la noche. Además, a pesar de ser una de las ciudades más grandes de Canadá, Montreal tiene uno de los índices de criminalidad más bajos del país: una situación en la que las mujeres viajeras salen ganando.
2. Colombo, Sri Lanka
En el segundo lugar de la clasificación general, pero en el primero para quien se plantee viajar a Asia, está la capital de Sri Lanka, Colombo. Mucho más económica para el bolsillo de las viajeras en solitario, los taxis en la ciudad cuestan alrededor de 20 céntimos por kilómetro, lo que supone el quinto más barato del estudio, y un apartamento de una habitación cuesta tan solo 13 euros por noche de media.
De nuestro ranking, Colombo es el país que mejor ha gestionado la pandemia del Covid-19, y Sri Lanka ocupa el puesto 14 en la clasificación a nivel mundial. El único elemento en el que Colombo ha caído es en sus niveles de luminosidad, lo que significa que la ciudad no está especialmente iluminada por la noche. Sin embargo, la capital de Sri Lanka se situó en el sexto lugar en cuanto al porcentaje de mujeres que se sienten seguras caminando solas por la noche, con más de tres de cada cuatro mujeres (77%) que revelaron que lo hacían.
3. Liubliana, Eslovenia
Es Liubliana, en Eslovenia, la que se lleva la medalla de bronce en general, pero el primer puesto en Europa. Uno de los factores en los que la capital eslovena obtuvo una alta puntuación fue la baja tasa de violencia en la vida de las mujeres, ya que el porcentaje de mujeres que la sufren es mucho menor que el de la mayoría de los demás países. Su puntuación del 13%, que es más de un 10% inferior a la media del 23,5%.
Una vez más, Liubliana no es ni mucho menos la ciudad más luminosa de la noche, pero al igual que Sri Lanka, Eslovenia se considera un lugar muy seguro para que las mujeres paseen solas por la noche, ya que el 76% de las mujeres dicen sentirse seguras al hacerlo. Por supuesto, eso no quiere decir que no haya que tomar algunas precauciones, como ceñirse a las carreteras bien iluminadas y evitar las zonas desiertas.
4. Ottawa, Canada
En cuarta posición se encuentra la capital de Canadá, Ottawa, que también ocupa el segundo lugar de las tres ciudades del país que se encuentran entre las cinco primeras. Sin embargo, ser la capital tiene un precio, ya que Ottawa es la más cara de las cinco primeras ciudades en cuanto a apartamentos de una habitación, con una media de 37 euros por noche.
Un factor por el que Ottawa, y sus homólogos canadienses destacan es la tasa de violencia en la vida de las mujeres. Sólo el 1,9% de las mujeres declararon haber sufrido algún tipo de violencia a lo largo de su vida, lo que indica una tolerancia increíblemente baja del abuso de género entre la sociedad y es definitivamente tranquilizador para las viajeras solitarias.
5. Edmonton, Canada
Completando los cinco primeros puestos se encuentra otra ciudad canadiense, pero esta vez en la costa este: ¡la seguridad se extiende claramente por todo el país! Aunque ocupa un lugar destacado por la seguridad que sienten las mujeres al caminar solas por la noche y por la escasa tolerancia a la violencia de género, cabe señalar que Edmonton, al igual que otras ciudades canadienses, ha experimentado un aumento significativo de la delincuencia general en los últimos tres años.
Por lo tanto, aunque este delito no está dirigido a las mujeres, en particular, es importante, como viajero en solitario, mantenerse alerta. Asegúrese de tomar las precauciones normales de seguridad en los viajes, como vigilar el entorno, ser educado y respetuoso con los demás y saber con quién ponerse en contacto en caso de emergencia. Pero, en general, Edmonton sigue siendo una opción segura para las mujeres que viajan solas.
Resultados que nos interesan especialmente
¿El país que las mujeres perciben como más seguro por la noche?
Singapur. El país logró el mayor porcentaje de mujeres que se sienten seguras cuando caminan solas al anochecer, con un asombroso 88% que dice que sí.
¿La ciudad más iluminada por la noche?
Chicago. La ciudad del viento también es increíblemente luminosa, con un nivel de luminosidad de más de 90.000 cd. y brillando muy por encima del nivel medio de 23.920 cd.
¿La ciudad con el menor aumento de la delincuencia en los últimos tres años?
Vilna. La capital lituana es la que menos ha aumentado la delincuencia en los últimos tres años, con una puntuación de 31,41 frente a la media de 59,7.
¿La ciudad con el apartamento de un dormitorio más barato?
Agra. Sede del Taj Mahal, tiene de media los apartamentos de una habitación más baratos y ofrece a los viajeros en solitario precios desde 4 euros por noche.
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