A stunning total solar eclipse will be visible to millions of people across Mexico, the United States and Canada on April 8.

Astronomers are encouraging everyone within the path to enjoy this rare sight for the last time until August 2044 — but only if they can do so safely. And sunglasses won’t be enough to protect your eyes for this celestial event.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, completely blocking the sun’s face.

Those within the path of totality, or locations where the moon’s shadow will completely cover the sun, will see a total solar eclipse. People outside the path of totality will still be able to see a partial solar eclipse, where the moon only blocks part of the sun’s face.

If your location only affords a view of the partial solar eclipse, some of the sun’s powerful light will always be visible. And any glimpse of the sun’s brightness with the naked eye is not only uncomfortable, it’s dangerous.

Why you shouldn’t look directly at the eclipse

The only time it’s safe to view the sun without eye protection is during the “totality” of a total solar eclipse, or the brief moments when the moon completely blocks the light of the sun, according to NASA.

Directly staring at the sun can result in blindness or disrupted vision. During the 2017 total solar eclipse, a young woman was diagnosed with solar retinopathy, retinal damage from exposure to solar radiation, in both eyes after viewing the eclipse with what doctors believed were eclipse glasses not held to the safety standard.

There is no treatment for solar retinopathy. It can improve or worsen, but it is a permanent condition.

Using eclipse glasses and solar viewers

To view the eclipse, wear certified eclipse glasses or use a handheld solar viewer. Separately, you can observe the sun with a telescope, binoculars or camera that has a special solar filter on the front, which acts the same way eclipse glasses would.

“You need certified ISO 12312-2 compliant solar eclipse glasses. There are plenty of safe sellers online,” said Alex Lockwood, strategic content and integration lead for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters. “We cannot stress enough how important it is to obtain a pair of safe certified solar eclipse glasses in order to witness this annular event.”

Sunglasses won’t work in place of eclipse glasses or solar viewers, which are 100,000 times darker and held to an international safety standard.

The lenses of solar eclipse glasses are made of black polymer, or resin infused with carbon particles, that blocks nearly all visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, according to The Planetary Society. Sunglasses don’t block infrared radiation.

For safe manufacturers and resellers of eclipse glasses and filters for optical devices, including cameras and smartphones, check out the list curated by the American Astronomical Society.

Put on your eclipse glasses before looking up and remember to turn away from the sun before you remove them again. Always keep an eye on any children wearing eclipse glasses to make sure they don’t remove them while looking at the sun.

If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on and put eclipse glasses over them or hold a handheld viewer in front of them, according to the American Astronomical Society.

Don’t look at the sun through any unfiltered optical device — camera lens, telescope, binoculars — while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer, according to NASA. Solar rays can still burn through the filter on the glasses or viewer, given how concentrated they can be through an optical device, and can cause severe eye damage.

It’s also possible to use welding filters to view the eclipse safely because the international safety standard was partially derived from using such filters to view the sun.

Welding filters made of tempered glass or metal-coated polycarbonate and with a shade number of 12 or higher allow for safe viewing, but many find shade 13 or 14 to be the best and similar to wearing eclipse glasses, according to the American Astronomical Society. Just know that the sun will appear green instead yellowish-orange or white. These filters aren’t usually on the shelf at supply stores, but they might be available online.

Auto-darkening or adjustable welding helmets aren’t recommended because they may not darken quickly enough to view the sun.

Keep your glasses

As long as the eclipse glasses or solar viewers you’re using comply with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard and aren’t torn, scratched or damaged in any way, they don’t “expire” and can be used indefinitely. Also, there is no limit on how long you can view the sun while wearing them.

Some glasses and viewers carry outdated warnings about using the glasses for more than three minutes at a time or recommend throwing them away after more than three years, but these do not apply to ISO 12312-2-certified viewers, according to the American Astronomical Society.

Save your eclipse glasses and viewers for future eclipses by storing them at room temperature in an envelope or their original packaging to avoid scratches.

Never use water, glass cleaner, baby wipes or other wet wipes to clean eclipse glasses — the moisture could cause the cardboard frames to detach from the lenses. Instead, carefully wipe the lenses clean with a tissue or cloth.

Indirect viewing of the eclipse

If you don’t have certified glasses on hand, eclipses can also be viewed indirectly using a pinhole projector, such as a hole punched through an index card. These work when you stand with your back to the sun and hold up the card. The pinhole projects an image of the crescent or ring-shaped sun on the ground or other surfaces.

But never face the sun and look directly at it through the pinhole.

Other pinhole projectors you may already have on hand include colanders, straw hats or anything with small holes in it. Or you can simply hold up your hands, space out your fingers and cross them over each other to create a waffle pattern. The small space between will reflect the sun’s crescent during a partial eclipse or a ring during the annular eclipse.

Standing by a leafy tree? The small spaces between leaves will dapple patterns of the eclipse phase on the ground.

For 108 days, Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza risked his life in Gaza to tell the story of the war to millions of followers on Instagram, as friends and family members were killed around him. But he has now left his native Gaza, feeling dismayed.

He has been hailed by many around the world as the eyes and ears of Gaza for capturing a raw, unfiltered glimpse into the horrors of the war. That attention was unintended and unexpected. Azaiza was an aspiring travel photographer. His first Instagram post in May 2014 was a simple photo of natural wonder; vibrant petals of fuchsia and crimson, exploding out from an orange center. Known by some as a Treasure Flower, botanists identify the plant by its correct genus, Gazania. From the very beginning, it seemed as though he wanted to share his vision of a beautiful world.

“I want to capture the beauty of Gaza, not the war on Gaza. But I don’t have the option,” he said. “When something happens… I have to take pictures, I have to document, but when I come to post them, I feel ‘oh, you’re destroying the beauty.’”

Before October 7, Azaiza had about 25,000 Instagram followers, according to the social media analytics firm Social Blade. His dedicated audience has now grown to more than 19 million, and some of his clips have been viewed more than 70 million times. Clips where, unlike traditional media organizations, the horrors of war are laid graphically bare.

From morning until night, his Instagram stories unfolded as a relentless stream of devastation and suffering; powerless as he was to prevent it, and unable to escape it.

Several times a day, Azaiza found himself witnessing the frantic attempts by men to dig bloodied survivors out of the wreckage with their bare hands. Often, they were too late, and with the camera still rolling, Azaiza had been seen to reach down to caress their lifeless limbs.

Some of his most visceral footage features children who’ve been killed or injured, and on several occasions he’s tried to provide comfort as he rode with them in ambulances. They’ve perched awkwardly in his lap, bloodied and frightened, and he’s been lost for words. On another occasion, it seemed to be too late. As he held a limp and lifeless infant with serious head wounds, fighting back tears, all Azaiza could say softly was, “God. God.”

Azaiza now lives in the Qatari capital Doha. When he finally made it out of Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, he had no idea what his final destination would be.

There, two men from the Qatari foreign ministry approached him. “’Motaz, you’re welcome to Doha… you can come to our country and continue from there,’” he recalled. He boarded a Qatari military flight at Egypt’s El Arish Airport and began planning his next steps.

Coping with depression

There was always more light than darkness to be found on Azaiza’s social media accounts before the latest war in Gaza began, but he never flinched from portraying the fragility of life in the strip over the years. He captured Israeli airstrikes with regularity, and said his camera always served as a means to cope with hardship and depression.

But given the magnitude of destruction and death, his camera couldn’t shield him from physically being there this time. He has avoided coming to terms with what he witnessed.

“It’s better for me not to process, because if I process what I experienced or what I’ve been through, believe me I will not feel OK… I’m a man looking for a solution now. We need to stop this,” he said.

Clearly frustrated that what he shared with the world didn’t help stem the waves of destruction in Gaza, Azaiza said he’s determined to “make more noise from outside.”

He’s been invited to speak at various universities around the world and is hoping to do a tour when he can obtain visas, which can be difficult for those with a Palestinian passport.

Even though he’s become a recognizable face, Azaiza wants to keep the attention focused on the suffering of those he left behind.

“How will you tell them when they grow up, that they lost their parents in Gaza because an Israeli airplane threw a bomb on their house and all their flesh shattered around them? You expect them to be normal humans after all (that) we went through?”

For 108 days, Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza risked his life in Gaza to tell the story of the war to millions of followers on Instagram, as friends and family members were killed around him. But he has now left his native Gaza, feeling dismayed.

He has been hailed by many around the world as the eyes and ears of Gaza for capturing a raw, unfiltered glimpse into the horrors of the war. That attention was unintended and unexpected. Azaiza was an aspiring travel photographer. His first Instagram post in May 2014 was a simple photo of natural wonder; vibrant petals of fuchsia and crimson, exploding out from an orange center. Known by some as a Treasure Flower, botanists identify the plant by its correct genus, Gazania. From the very beginning, it seemed as though he wanted to share his vision of a beautiful world.

“I want to capture the beauty of Gaza, not the war on Gaza. But I don’t have the option,” he said. “When something happens… I have to take pictures, I have to document, but when I come to post them, I feel ‘oh, you’re destroying the beauty.’”

Before October 7, Azaiza had about 25,000 Instagram followers, according to the social media analytics firm Social Blade. His dedicated audience has now grown to more than 19 million, and some of his clips have been viewed more than 70 million times. Clips where, unlike traditional media organizations, the horrors of war are laid graphically bare.

From morning until night, his Instagram stories unfolded as a relentless stream of devastation and suffering; powerless as he was to prevent it, and unable to escape it.

Several times a day, Azaiza found himself witnessing the frantic attempts by men to dig bloodied survivors out of the wreckage with their bare hands. Often, they were too late, and with the camera still rolling, Azaiza had been seen to reach down to caress their lifeless limbs.

Some of his most visceral footage features children who’ve been killed or injured, and on several occasions he’s tried to provide comfort as he rode with them in ambulances. They’ve perched awkwardly in his lap, bloodied and frightened, and he’s been lost for words. On another occasion, it seemed to be too late. As he held a limp and lifeless infant with serious head wounds, fighting back tears, all Azaiza could say softly was, “God. God.”

Azaiza now lives in the Qatari capital Doha. When he finally made it out of Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, he had no idea what his final destination would be.

There, two men from the Qatari foreign ministry approached him. “’Motaz, you’re welcome to Doha… you can come to our country and continue from there,’” he recalled. He boarded a Qatari military flight at Egypt’s El Arish Airport and began planning his next steps.

Coping with depression

There was always more light than darkness to be found on Azaiza’s social media accounts before the latest war in Gaza began, but he never flinched from portraying the fragility of life in the strip over the years. He captured Israeli airstrikes with regularity, and said his camera always served as a means to cope with hardship and depression.

But given the magnitude of destruction and death, his camera couldn’t shield him from physically being there this time. He has avoided coming to terms with what he witnessed.

“It’s better for me not to process, because if I process what I experienced or what I’ve been through, believe me I will not feel OK… I’m a man looking for a solution now. We need to stop this,” he said.

Clearly frustrated that what he shared with the world didn’t help stem the waves of destruction in Gaza, Azaiza said he’s determined to “make more noise from outside.”

He’s been invited to speak at various universities around the world and is hoping to do a tour when he can obtain visas, which can be difficult for those with a Palestinian passport.

Even though he’s become a recognizable face, Azaiza wants to keep the attention focused on the suffering of those he left behind.

“How will you tell them when they grow up, that they lost their parents in Gaza because an Israeli airplane threw a bomb on their house and all their flesh shattered around them? You expect them to be normal humans after all (that) we went through?”

A pair of orcas working in concert have been killing great whites along a stretch of South African coastline since at least 2017, plundering the sharks’ nutrient-rich livers and discarding the rest.

Scientists have been trying to make sense of the hunting approach, which has driven the sharks away from some parts of the coast around Cape Town, and now research has revealed a startling new twist in the behavior that could offer clues on what it might mean for the wider marine ecosystem.

Scientists witnessed one of the hunters, a male orca known as Starboard, single-handedly kill a 2.5-meter (8.2-foot) juvenile white shark within a two-minute time frame last year.

“Over two decades of annual visits to South Africa, I’ve observed the profound impact these killer whales have on the local white shark population. Seeing Starboard carry a white shark’s liver past our vessel is unforgettable,” said Dr. Primo Micarelli, a marine biologist at Italy’s Sharks Studies Centre and the University of Siena who was aboard one of two vessels from which researchers observed the attack.

“Despite my awe for these predators, I’m increasingly concerned about the coastal marine ecology balance,” Micarelli said in a statement.

It’s not unprecedented for orcas, highly intelligent and social animals, to hunt large animals individually. However, it’s the first such occurrence involving what is one of the world’s largest predators — the great white shark — the researchers reported in a study published Friday in the African Journal of Marine Science.

Starboard’s kill is at odds with more widely observed cooperative hunting behavior among orcas, which can surround large prey, such as sea lions, seals and sharks, and use their combined intelligence and strength to attack, said lead author Alison Towner, a doctoral researcher at Rhodes University.

Previously observed attacks on great whites involved between two and six orcas and took up to two hours, according to the study.

“This sighting revealed evidence of solitary hunting by at least one killer whale, challenging conventional cooperative hunting behaviors known in the region,” said Towner, who has studied great white sharks for 17 years, learning about their movement patterns through tagging data, in a statement.

“These are groundbreaking insights into the predatory behavior of this species,” she said. “The presence of these shark-hunting killer whales possibly ties into broader ecosystem dynamics. Rapid developments in this phenomenon, make it challenging for science to keep pace.”

Port and Starboard

The event detailed in the study took place on June 18, 2023, 800 meters (875 yards) offshore close to Seal Island near Mossel Bay — about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town — where people on two vessels were observing the orcas.

Less than an hour after arriving, a shark appeared near the surface, and researchers, tourists and others on board witnessed Starboard grip the left pectoral fin of a shark and “thrust forward with the shark several times before eventually eviscerating it” in less than two minutes, the study said.

Later Starboard was photographed from one of the vessels with a “bloody piece of peach-colored liver in its mouth,” according to the study. Starboard’s male companion, Port, was observed around 100 meters (328 feet) away while the kill took place and didn’t get involved.

The duo is well-known among the study’s authors and has been involved in hunting and killing great white sharks for many years. The orcas’ dorsal fins are bent in opposite directions — the inspiration for their names.

The two travel huge distances along South Africa’s eastern coastline up as far as Namibia. Researchers suspect they first started targeting great whites in 2015. It wasn’t until 2022 that aerial footage first captured the orcas killing a great white shark, Towner said.

“While we don’t have solid evidence on the specific drivers, the arrival of the killer whale pair could be linked to broader changes in the ecosystem,” Towner said. “It’s clear that human activities, such as climate change and industrial fishing, are stressing our oceans. To fully grasp these dynamics, additional research and funding are essential.

“There are still plenty of unanswered questions about these shark-hunting killer whales and where they came from.”

The killer orcas are scaring off great white shark populations, but researchers don’t know where the sharks are relocating. “As they relocate, they might end up overlapping with heavy commercial fisheries,” Towner added.

The distinct smell of shark liver in the air and gulls diving toward a slick on the water’s surface, as well as a second shark carcass measuring 3.55 meters (11.6 feet) discovered nearby, led onlookers to believe another great white might have been killed before the boats’ arrival that day, the researchers said.

The kill by a lone orca might have been made possible by the prey’s smaller size as a juvenile great white, according to the study. Adult great whites have a maximum length of 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) and mass of 2.5 tons.

The swiftness of the attack may reflect Starboard’s skill and efficiency as a predator, which could be a response to the stress of spending time hunting close to shorelines in areas where humans are abundant, the study suggested.

“We cannot speculate that this killer whale has become more sophisticated but the rapid time frame he killed the shark in does show incredible skill and proficiency,” Towner said via email.

The livers of great whites are huge organs, about a third of their body mass, and rich in lipids, and the orcas discard the rest of the carcass — selective feeding behavior that’s known among other carnivores, such as harbor seals, brown bears and wolves, according to the study.

“The observations reported here add more layers to the fascinating story of these two killer whales and their capabilities,” Dr. Simon Elwen, founding director and principal scientist at Sea Search Research & Conservation and a researcher at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said in a statement.

“As smart, top predators, killer whales can rapidly learn new hunting techniques on their own or from others, so monitoring and understanding the behaviors used here and by other killer whales in South Africa is an important part of helping us understand more about these animals,” added Elwen, who wasn’t involved in the research.

The alleged murder of a young Sydney couple by a serving police officer has opened a tragic new chapter in the troubled history between the force and the city’s LGBT+ community and cast a shadow over Mardi Gras, a vibrant annual celebration of their culture.

Senior New South Wales Police Constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, 28, was charged last week with the murders of Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, whose bodies were found on a rural property a week later hidden in surf bags.

Police will allege that Lamarre-Condon used his police-issue pistol to kill the two men at Baird’s Paddington home in Sydney’s east on February 19, before hiring a van to move their bodies and keeping the location secret from detectives for days after his arrest.

The alleged killings shocked Sydney’s LGBT+ community, and on Friday night its members held a vigil for Baird and Davies, who had been expected to join revelers at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the annual parade that serves as a celebration of their identity and a protest against homophobia and victimization.

Nearby, protesters vented their anger with police assigned to control crowds on the eve of the parade, according to video posted to social media.

Police say Lamarre-Condon had a past relationship with Baird, a popular television presenter. Questions are being asked about how the constable passed police recruitment screening, and the procedures that apparently allowed him to check out a police gun and return it after the alleged murders.

The community was also taken aback by comments made by NSW Police Commissioner Kate Webb, who initially called the case a “crime of passion,” for which she apologized.

She was also accused of flippancy when she invoked Taylor Swift in response to criticism about the police response – “Haters gonna hate. Isn’t that what Taylor says?” Webb said, again later apologizing.

Amid strained relations in the days leading to Mardi Gras, many objected to any involvement by NSW police in the event – and the Mardi Gras organizers initially withdrew their invitation for officers to march.

“Our community needs space to grieve the loss of Jesse and Luke who, before this tragedy, would have been here celebrating with us at the festival,” the Mardi Gras board said in a statement.

Adding to that distress was a photo circulated widely of the alleged killer marching in police uniform at the 2020 Mardi Gras.

After days of negotiation, Webb announced police officers would be able to march, but not in uniform.

“I am delighted that our LGBTQIA+ officers, as well as our other police who are allies and supporters, will be allowed to march this year as they have done for the past 20 years,” she said. “I am committed to continuing to strengthen the relationship between my organization and the LGBTQIA+ community.”

But activists say Webb and her force have taken little action to right historic wrongs, and that their participation in the march is performative.

Violent beginnings

For the past two decades, LGBT+ officers and their allies have marched in the Mardi Gras – an image of detente that event organizers say has “developed a constructive relationship that has helped us progress towards a more reconciled future between NSW Police and the LGBTQIA+ community.”

It’s been considered part of the healing process after an era of rampant homophobia and discrimination that created deep mistrust between the gay community and police officers.

Sydney’s Mardi Gras was born of a brutal crackdown on LGBT+ activists by police six years before gay male sexual behavior was decriminalized in NSW in 1984.

That night marchers were “trapped by police and viciously beaten and 53 people were arrested,” says Robert French, who is known as a ‘78er – the honorific held by those involved in the first Mardi Gras in 1978 and the protest movement it immediately spurred.

“So there has always been this fraught relationship,” French said. “I balk when I see police at the parade, but then I laugh and think, well, given that they started it I suppose they have a right to be here.”

In 2016, then NSW Police Superintendent Tony Crandell apologized to the ‘78ers on behalf of the force, stating: “Our relationship these days is healthy, positive and progressive, but that wasn’t the case back then.”

History of ‘gay hate’

In December the NSW state government received the report of its “Special Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes,” a task force with powers to investigate unsolved suspected hate crime deaths of 32 people between 1970 and 2010.

Police attitudes toward the LGBT+ community formed a cornerstone of the investigation, which found the force had failed to properly investigate gay hate crimes over the 40-year period.

The police had acted with negligence and hostility toward victims and their families, commissioner of the inquiry Justice John Sackar found.

Last Sunday, police commissioner Webb made another apology on behalf of the force, for “not adequately and fairly investigating those deaths between 1970 and 2010.”

“The mistakes of the past will not define our future,” Webb said.

But despite the apology, police have not yet formally accepted any of the 15 recommendations Sackar made at the closure of the inquiry in December.

Recommendations to police included reinvestigating some of the suspected hate crimes murders, but also for officers to take courses in LGBT+ bias and to improve relations with the LGBT+ community.

For ‘78er French, action on those issues is the only path to reconciliation between police and his community.

“They always want control, they do not open to criticism, they do not like criticism, and they are not prepared to put themselves in a situation, as they have been forced to with the inquiry, to answer critics within the [LGBT+] community,” French said.

A massive fire raced through a six-storey building in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka late on Thursday, killing at least 43 people and injuring dozens, the country’s health minister said.

The fire originated in a restaurant and quickly spread to other floors, fire service officials said.

At least 43 people have died and 22 others are being treated at hospitals with burn wounds, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters after visiting the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

All 22 people admitted with severe burns are in critical condition, Sen added.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, which was under control after two hours of frantic efforts by 13 firefighting units, the fire service officials said.

Survivor Mohammad Altaf, speaking to reporters, recounted narrowly escaping the blaze through a broken window. Two of his coworkers perished, he said.

“When the fire started in the front and broke the glass, our cashier and servicemen made got everyone out. But both of them died later. I went to the kitchen, broke a window and jumped to save myself,” Altaf said.

Firefighters used a crane to rescue people from the charred building, the fire service officials said.

Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence Director, Brigadier General Main Uddin, said the fire could have originated from a gas leak or stove.

“It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the staircases,” he told reporters.

Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major international clothing retailers that manufacture in the country has helped prevent further disasters in the garment sector since a fire in 2012 and a building collapse in 2013 together killed more than 1,200 workers.

But in other industries, mainly catering to Bangladesh’s booming domestic economy and without an equal emphasis on safety, hundreds have died in fires in recent years.

Fires are common in densely populated Dhaka, which has experienced a boom in new buildings, often constructed without proper safety measures. Fires and explosions have occurred due to faulty gas cylinders, air conditioners and bad electrical wiring.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has died at age 84, according to Canadian media reports citing his daughter’s social media post.

Mulroney died peacefully, surrounded by family, Caroline Mulroney said in a post on X.

“On behalf of my mother and our family, it is with great sadness we announce the passing of my father, The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th Prime Minister,” Caroline Mulroney said in the post.

“We will share details of arrangements when they become available,” Mulroney said in another post.

Mulroney served as Canada’s prime minister from 1984 through 1993 – a tenure that notably included the signing of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement with former US President Ronald Reagan in the late ’80s. The agreement was superseded by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is devastated to learn of Mulroney’s death.

“Brian Mulroney loved Canada,” Trudeau said in a post on X. “I’m devastated to learn of his passing. He never stopped working for Canadians, and he always sought to make this country an even better place to call home.”

“I’ll never forget the insights he shared with me over the years – he was generous, tireless, and incredibly passionate. As we mourn his passing and keep his family and friends in our thoughts, let us also acknowledge – and celebrate – Mr. Mulroney’s role in building the modern, dynamic, and prosperous country we all know today,” Trudeau added.

In a statement released through his office, Trudeau remembered Mulroney’s work on environmental and humanitarian issues.

“He was at the forefront of environmental issues, helping secure an air quality agreement with the United States to reduce acid rain, championing the first Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and creating several new national parks. And he exemplified Canadian values, standing up against apartheid in South Africa,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

After leaving office, Mulroney served on corporate boards and was chair of Quebecor Inc. and Forbes Global Business and Finance. He was also a senior partner at Montréal-based international law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, according to the prime minister’s office.

“A globally respected and recognized leader, Mr. Mulroney was also awarded some of the highest recognitions from governments around the world,” the prime minister’s statement said.

Among Mulroney’s awards and honors were the Order of Canada, the Ordre national du Québec and the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, the statement added.

Global carbon pollution from energy hit a record high last year, driven partly by increased fossil fuel use in countries where droughts restricted hydropower production, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Thursday.

Steep cuts in carbon emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, will be needed in the coming years if targets to limit a global rise in temperatures and prevent runaway climate change are to be met, scientists have said.

“Far from falling rapidly — as is required to meet the global climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement — CO2 emissions reached a new record high,” the IEA said in the report.

Global emissions from energy rose by 410 million metric tons, or 1.1%, in 2023 to 37.4 billion metric tons, the IEA analysis showed.

A global expansion in clean technology such as wind, solar and electric vehicles, helped to reduce the rate of emissions growth, which was 1.3% in 2022. But a reopening of China’s economy, increased fossil fuel use in countries with low hydropower output and a recovery in the aviation sector led to an overall rise, the IEA said in its report.

Moves to replace lost hydropower generation due to extreme droughts accounted for around 40% of the emissions rise, or 170 million tonnes of CO2, it said.

“Without this effect, emissions from the global electricity sector would have fallen in 2023,” the IEA said.

Energy-related emissions in the United States fell by 4.1%, with the bulk of the reduction coming from the electricity sector, according to the report.

In the European Union, emissions from energy fell by almost 9% last year, driven by a surge in renewable power generation and a slump in both coal and gas power generation.

In China, emissions from energy rose by 5.2%, with energy demand growing as the country recovered from COVID-19-related lockdowns, the report said.

China, however, also contributed around 60% of global additions of solar, wind power and electric vehicles in 2023, the IEA said.

Tour operators and a company which owns the New Zealand island where a volcanic eruption killed 22 people and wounded many others have been fined $1.6 million (NZ$2.6 million), and ordered to pay victims and surviving families $6.2 million (NZ$10.2 million) in compensation.

The District Court in Auckland handed down its sentence on Friday, ending a criminal prosecution brought by WorkSafe, New Zealand’s health and safety regulators, to seek justice for 47 tourists who were on Whakaari or White Island on December 9, 2019.

The island, 48 kilometers (30 miles) off New Zealand’s North Island, was once a popular tourist destination for those wanting to trek up the slopes of an active volcano.

The weeks-long trial held last year revisited horrifying testimony of how the island turned into “an oven” for the holidaymakers on that fateful day as the volcano erupted.

Survivors scarred by severe burns testified against various companies – including Whakaari Management Ltd, which owned the island – accusing them of failing to warn them about the risks.

On Friday, Judge Evangelos Thomas found both Whakaari Management Ltd and the tour operators had failed to conduct adequate risk assessment, breaking health and safety laws with devastating consequences.

He said the operators had failed to seek advice from volcanological experts and failed to appreciate the unpredictability of an eruption, leading to an incorrect assessment of risk mitigation. The owner of the island, meanwhile, failed to make sure the operators had examined the risks properly, the judge added.

Whakaari Management Ltd, owned by brothers Andrew, Peter and James Buttle, was convicted after trial, having previously pleaded not guilty to a charge under the country’s Health and Safety at Work Act. They were fined $636,034 (NZ$1,045,000) and ordered to pay reparation of $2.9 million (NZ$4.8 million), in total the most substantial amount of all the defendants in the case.

The four other operators are White Island Tours Ltd, Volcanic Air Safaris Ltd, Aerius Ltd and Kahu (NZ) Ltd.

Thomas noted that all defendants have either stopped trading, have no assets, were in liquidation, or were in a weak financial position.

For Whakaari Management Ltd – which claims to have “no assets” – the judge said the Buttles family appeared to “have profited handsomely” from the tour operation, even though he cannot order shareholders to pay out of their own pockets.

But he warned: “There may be no commercial basis for doing so, but many would argue there is an inescapable moral one.”

“We wait to see what the Buttles will do. The world is watching,” he said.

The 47 people on Whakaari that day included honeymooners and families from countries such as Australia, the United States and Malaysia.

During the trial in July last year, survivors described the extreme conditions and searing pain they found themselves as they fled for their life following the eruption.

Tourist Annie Lu, who suffered from burns to 38% to her body, recalled feeling like “sand and rocks everywhere that were being thrown” at her.

“It was just like someone heated up some needles until it was iron hot and then shoving it all onto you,” she testified from Australia through a video link in July last year.

“Think of, if you open an oven and the heat just rushes at you. It’s kind of like that but 1,000 times worse,” she added.

American tourist Matthew Urey said he struggled to breathe as they were enveloped by waves of heat that prosecutors estimate reached 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), or more.

“I don’t know whether it was steam or hot ash, but it was all over us,” he testified during the trial.

Video replayed during the trial showed huge plumes of ash dwarfing the group of tourists, who had been escorted by tour guides from the jetty, where their boat had docked, to the crater.

In the judgment Friday, the judge acknowledged the “harm,” noting the “excruciating and traumatic injuries” from which many victims still suffer and the grief “felt by those who lost loved ones.”

“Even if it is difficult for someone who has not endured it to possibly imagine it, we admire and respect those who are so courageously learning to rebuild themselves, their lives, their families,” he said.

Britain’s opposition Labour Party, widely expected to win a general election due to be held within months, has lost one of its safest parliamentary seats to a pro-Palestinian former party member in a chaotic by-election.

Veteran left-winger George Galloway was elected to represent the constituency of Rochdale by a majority of nearly 6,000 votes, pledging to be a thorn in the side for Labour over the Gaza war.

The by-election, a special election held outside of the general election cycle, had attracted particular attention because Labour was forced to withdraw support from its candidate, Azhar Ali, after videos emerged of him claiming that Israel was complicit in the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The comments turned the campaign, sparked by the death of the local MP, on its head. Labour initially stood by Ali, only to withdraw their support but too close to the by-election to put forward another candidate.

This created an opportunity for Galloway, who has a long history of campaigning in areas that have a large Muslim population and appealing, critics say distastefully, for their votes.

In the days running up to the byelection, the political editor of the Sun, a popular British tabloid, discovered campaign material from Galloway that had been sent specifically to Muslim voters, saying: “The political class has failed Rochdale, failed Britain and failed Gaza … the Labour Party under Keir Starmer have betrayed Muslims, choosing instead to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza … I, George Galloway, have fought for Muslims at home and abroad all of my life. And paid a price for it.”

The Labour Party has been walking a difficult tightrope since the start of the Israel-Hamas war of calling for a pause in violence without wanting to criticize Israel. The issue of Israel is particularly sensitive, because Labour was until very recently embroiled in an anti-Semitism scandal under previous leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Galloway was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 after he opposed then Prime Minister and Labour leader Tony Blair’s support for the war in Iraq.

He made a memorable and defiant appearance at a US Senate panel to answer accusations he had profited from Iraqi oil sales, accusing the panel’s Republican chairman of making a “schoolboy howler.”

While Galloway can claim to have always been a supporter of Muslim causes and Palestinians, he has been accused of using anti-Semitic tropes. He was sacked by the radio station TalkSport after he tweeted: “No #Israël flags on the Cup!” after English soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, who have strong links to the North London Jewish community, were defeated in the Champion’s League final in 2019. Galloway has previously denied allegations of anti-Semitism.

He has also worked for state-funded media, RT and Press TV, owned by Russia and Iran respectively. Both channels have had their broadcast licences banned in the UK and been accused of peddling propaganda.

Galloway’s victory is noteworthy for the context in which it took place, but doesn’t necessarily tell us much about the general election that will take place at some point this year. Had Labour not had to abandon its candidate, it is likely the seat would have held.

It does send a warning, however, to Starmer and the Labour Party about the need to properly screen candidates, as it could be badly hurt by similar stories emerging in the run up to the general election.