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Canada adds 2,681 new coronavirus cases as deaths top 10,200

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Canada added 2,681 new novel coronavirus infections on Monday, bringing the country’s total case count to 240,010.

Provincial health authorities also said another 29 people had died after contracting the virus.

Since the pandemic began, a total of 10,208 people have died in Canada after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a video posted to Twitter, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to the increase in cases in some places in Europe and North America, saying it is a “critical moment for action.”

“Another critical moment for leaders to step up, and another critical moment for people to come together for a common purpose,” he said.

“Seize the opportunity, it’s not too late.”

He said ensuring that quality testing, contact tracing and treatment measures are implemented is “key.”

“We all have a role to play in suppressing transmission,” he said.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the case count in the country remains above the peak levels seen during the first wave of the pandemic.

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“The number of people experiencing severe illness continues to (increase),” she wrote on Twitter. “Strengthened response is needed now to stop this accelerate growth.”

In a subsequent tweet, Tam urged Canadians to keep their number of in-person close contacts “as low as possible.”

In Ontario, 948 new cases were reported on Monday, and health officials said seven more people had died.

The new infections bring the province’s total case load and death toll to 77,655 and 3,152 respectively.

However, a total of 66,407 have recovered after contracting the virus, while 5,174,968 tests have been administered.

In Quebec — the province hardest hit by the pandemic — 1,037 new cases were detected on Monday, and officials said 11 more deaths had been reported.

The province has now seen 108,018 cases of COVID-19 and 6,283 deaths associated with the virus. 

Meanwhile, 92,396 people have recovered after falling ill, and 3,153,926 have been tested. 

Seventy-four new cases were detected in Saskatchewan, bringing the province’s total case count to 3,292.

But health officials said the death toll remained at 25.

So far, 2,409 people in Saskatchewan have recovered from COVID-19 infections, while 268,166 people have been tested. 

In Manitoba, 241 new cases were detected, and health officials said five more people had died, bringing the case count and death toll in the province to 6,275 and 80, respectively. 

To date, health authorities in Manitoba have conducted 262,571 tests for the respiratory illness, and 2,740 people have recovered after falling ill.

British Columbia reported 372 new cases and six new deaths on Monday.

Health officials said the new deaths had occurred since Friday.

The province has now seen 15,248 confirmed infections, and 269 fatalities related to COVID-19. 

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Thus far, 12,207 people in B.C. have recovered from the virus, while 827,496 have been tested.

Alberta did not report any new COVID-19 data on Monday, but the latest numbers released on Oct. 30 said the province has seen a total of 27,664 infections and 323 deaths.

A total of 178,9173 tests have been conducted to date, while 22,169 people have recovered after falling ill.

No new infections or deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in New Brunswick on Monday, meaning the province’s case count remained at 344.

A total of 103,009 people have been tested for the virus, and 305 people have recovered after contracting COVID-19. 

Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia, two new cases of the virus were detected, but officials said no new deaths had occurred.

The new infections bring the total case count to 1,113. 

So far, 1,033 people have recovered from coronavirus infections, while 113,863 have been tested for the virus. 

Prince Edward Island did not release any new COVID-19 data on Monday, but the latest numbers released on Oct. 27 said the province has seen 64 confirmed cases of the virus, all of which are considered to be recovered.

A total of 44,669 people had been tested as of Tuesday.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, no new infections or deaths were detected, meaning the province’s case count remained at 291. 

So far, Newfoundland has seen four deaths associated with the virus.

To date, 284 people have recovered from COVID-19 infections, while 52,844 tests have been administered. 

Territories

Health officials in the Yukon did not report any new coronavirus data on Monday.

The latest data released on Friday said the territory has seen 23 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one death.

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So far, 17 people have recovered after contracting the virus in the Yukon, while 4,053 tests have been administered.

In the Northwest Territories, the number of confirmed cases remained at 10 on Monday.

Eight of those cases are considered to be recovered.

The territory has not yet seen a death associated with the virus, and has administered 6,506 tests since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, Nunavut still considers itself to be COVID-19-free.

Global cases approach 47 million

The total number of novel coronavirus cases around the world approached 47 million on Monday.

By 6 p.m. ET, there were 46,838,194 confirmed cases globally, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Since the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China late last year, it has claimed 1,204,003 lives.

The United States remained the epicentre of the virus on Monday, with more than 9.2 million cases, and 231,353 fatalities.

 

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Alberta unveils new municipal election and political party rules |

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Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver has unveiled new municipal election and political party rules. The rules make sweeping changes, including regulations new municipal political parties in Edmonton and Calgary will have to follow ahead of next year’s municipal election. The government says these rules will make local elections more transparent. (Oct. 18, 2024)



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One Direction was the internet’s first boy band, and Liam Payne its grounding force

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Liam Payne’s voice is the first one heard in the culture-shifting boy band One Direction’s debut single: “What Makes You Beautiful” launches into a bouncy guitar riff, a cheeky and borderline gratuitous cowbell and then, Payne.

“You’re insecure, don’t know what for / You’re turning heads when you walk through the door,” he sings, in a few words assuring a cross-section of generations that he’s got your back, girl, and you should like yourself a little bit more.

Payne, who died Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at just 31, was also the last solo voice on the band’s final single, “History” — effectively opening and closing the monolithic run of one of the biggest boy bands of all time.

While the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear — Buenos Aires police said in a statement that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room,” although they didn’t offer details on how they established that or whether it was intentional — in life, Payne was a critical part of the internet’s first boy band, one that secured an indelible place in the hearts of millennial and Gen Z fans.

How One Direction became the internet’s first boy band

Before One Direction became One Direction, its members auditioned for the U.K.’s “The X Factor” separately. The judges decided to put five promising, but not yet excellent, boys into a group. They were Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Payne, who together finished third in the 2010 competition.

As Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield points out, it was an “unprecedented” way for a boy band to get their start.

“They were sort of assigned to be together. And you don’t expect longevity out of that situation. Honestly, you don’t even expect one good pop record to come out of that situation,” he says. And yet, not only did it work, but One Direction essentially created “a new template for pop stardom, really.”

The show allowed Day 1 fans to follow their career before their official 2011 launch with “What Makes You Beautiful.” Nascent fans could use rising social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr to find community, draw attention to the group and, in the earliest days, speak directly to the members.

“I honestly made a Twitter so that I could keep up with One Direction, and that’s how I made so many different friends,” says Gabrielle Kopera, 28, a fan from California who remembers the band hosting livestreams and chats. “Sometimes they would say something back and it was so much fun. I feel like that fan interaction doesn’t even happen anymore.”

That feeling of accessibility reinforced the group’s personality and relationship with fans, says Maura Johnston, a freelance music writer and Boston College adjunct instructor.

“The fact that they came up on this British TV show and they became this worldwide phenomenon, I don’t think that would have happened as acutely and as quickly and as immersive without social media, without Twitter or without people being able to mobilize around the globe,” she says.

One Direction and their fans

Millennial and Gen Z audiences practically grew up with One Direction, but the band was truly ubiquitous. That, Johnston says, is at least partially attributable to arriving in a very different media environment from today’s.

“It was a lot more focused,” she says of the early 2010s. “Algorithmic sorting of stuff hadn’t really taken hold. So, there was this broader, mass approach. … They were one of the last gasps of that mass phenomenon, that anyone of any age, even if they weren’t a fan, had to take notice to.”

But it takes more than omnipresence to cultivate a loyal fanbase. And there were myriad reasons why listeners were attracted to One Direction.

“They were five very different musical personalities, along with five very different personalities,” says Sheffield.

They broke the rules associated with traditional boy bands, too: “They co-wrote many of their songs. They didn’t do, you know, corny, choreographed steps on stage,” he said.

After the news of Payne’s death, Kopera says she “got so many messages from people I haven’t talked to in years reaching out because I think everyone kind of realized that it does feel like we just lost a family member.”

That sentiment was mirrored in the masses of fans who gathered Wednesday outside Buenos Aires’ Casa Sur Hotel, feeding a burgeoning makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes as police stood guard.

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said Juana Relh, 18, outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

Liam Payne’s place in the band, and its legacy

Payne was a “brooding” older brother-type in One Direction, says Johnston. He also co-wrote many songs, especially in their later career — like the Fleetwood Mac-channeling “What A Feeling” and “Fireproof.”

“He was this grounding force in the band,” Johnston says.

In an Instagram tribute, Tomlinson called Payne “the most vital part of One Direction.”

“His experience from a young age, his perfect pitch, his stage presence, his gift for writing. The list goes on. Thank you for shaping us Liam,” he wrote.

“I always remember that he was the responsible and the sensible one of the group, and I feel like he wore his heart on his sleeve,” Kopera says.

Payne had recently been vocal about struggling with alcoholism, posting a YouTube video in July 2023 where he said he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment. Buenos Aires police said they found clonazepam — a central nervous system depressant — and other over-the-counter drugs in Payne’s hotel room, along with a whiskey bottle in the courtyard where he was found.

“Looking at what happened to Liam, it just makes you feel even more sad, that it just feels like he needed help,” Kopera says. “And it’s so scary to think about how the entertainment industry can just, like, eat up artists.”

After One Direction disbanded in 2016, Payne’s solo career — a single R&B-pop album in 2019, “LP1,” and a number of singles here and there — never took off the same way as some of his bandmates. He was “the least successful,” Sheffield says. “It’s safe to say that on the terms that he was going for, he didn’t really find what he wanted to do.”

“It’s hard, transitioning from being a boy bander to be a pop star,” Johnston says.

At Payne’s solo shows, Sheffield explains, “He would show a little montage of One Direction performing, which is the kind of thing you don’t do when you’re starting out as a solo artist. But fans took that in the spirit it was offered, which is a very generous statement that he’s like, ‘Yep, you’re here because of this history that we share, and I’m here because of that same history.’”

Despite Payne’s struggles and the tragedy of his death, Kopera is confident “his legacy is going to always point back to One Direction.”

For fans, the same is true.

“When I look back on One Direction, I’m like, that was my girlhood. One Direction was the soundtrack to growing up, and I’m so thankful for it,” she says. “They really were just a group of normal boys.”

____

AP journalist Brooke Lefferts contributed to this report.



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Fledgling Northern Soccer League expected to announce first player signings soon

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The Northern Super League will likely start rolling out player signing announcements next week but its full schedule isn’t expected until early next year, according to co-founder Diana Matheson.

The former Canadian international said the fledgling six-team women’s pro league, which is scheduled to kick off in April, is having to wait on others for the full schedule although an update on the start and end of the season plus transfer window information is expected soon.

“The reality is we share venues with other teams. We’re either second, third or fourth tenant in some places,” Matheson explained.

The new league has to wait for the CFL to sort out its schedule and broadcast information, so the full NSL schedule likely won’t come out until late January or early February.

“It’s a starting point. We’ll get better,” said Matheson,

In some cases, as in the PWHL, teams may also play several games outside their primary venue, which adds to the complexity.

Matheson said teams have already started signing players, with news to follow.

“Player announcements will just keep coming until February-March,” she said. “We operate, as you know, in a global market. All the players out there are under contract right now so there’ll probably be some incredible Canadian stories signed early that you’ll start to learn about.

“And then the reality is the clubs actually get more leverage over players and agents the closer we get to the season so there’ll be some patience of clubs to sign players too, to sign the strongest possible rosters across the league from Day 1, the kickoff in April. And then we’re in market and we’re competing against the rest of the world.”

Matheson said there will be no requirement in the new league to play a certain number of young players, at least in its early stages. The 20- to 25-woman team rosters will be limited to seven internationals.

Matheson is headed to Spain next to help with the Canadian women’s team.

Sixth-ranked Canada will be coached by committee for the Oct. 25 friendly with No. 3 Spain in Almendralejo, Spain. With coach Bev Priestman suspended for a year in the wake of the Olympic drone-spying scandal, the coaching will be handled by returning assistant coaches Andy Spence, Jen Herst and Neil Wood.

Katie Collar, head coach of Whitecap FC Girls Elite, will serve as interim technical assistant and Maryse Bard-Martel as interim performance analyst.

The 40-year-old Matheson, who won 206 caps for Canada in a senior career that stretched from 2003 to 2020, is serving in an interim team support role, “providing leadership and serving as a resource for both staff and players.”

Matheson said it is likely a “one-off … as someone who has lived the program on the players’ side.”

But she said it was “an honour” to be part of the Canadian setup — and also a chance to answer any questions from players about the new league.

The NSL league will kick off with teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal. Ottawa and Halifax.

Matheson hopes veteran midfielder Desiree Scott, who is returning at the end of the NWSL season, can play a role with the new Canadian women’s league — hopefully when her native Winnipeg joins the circuit.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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