Mobile, Internet service mostly back in Canada after outage

People crowd at Starbucks to use its free wifi on the Bell network, during a major outage of Rogers Communications’ mobile and Internet networks which caused widespread disruptions across Canada. (Reuters)
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Updated 09 July 2022
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Mobile, Internet service mostly back in Canada after outage

  • The disruption started Friday morning
  • In a tweet, Rogers said some customers may experience delays in regaining full service

TORONTO: Rogers Communications Inc. said Saturday it has restored mobile and Internet service for “the vast majority″ of customers after an outage that lasted more than 15 hours.
The disruption, which the Toronto-based telecommunications company offered no explanation for, started Friday morning. It left many customers without mobile and Internet service and caused trouble for 911 services, debit transactions and even Service Canada’s beleaguered passport offices.
In a tweet, Rogers said some customers may experience delays in regaining full service as its network comes back online and traffic volumes return to normal.
“Our technical teams are working hard to ensure that the remaining customers are back online as quickly as possible,” the tweet said.
“Once again, we sincerely apologize for the disruption this had caused our customers and we will be proactively crediting all customers.”
Interac said its services are fully available again after debit transactions were halted by the Rogers network outage.
Tony Staffieri, chief executive and president of Rogers, said in an open letter that the company apologizes for the service interruption but offered no explanation for the outage or how many customers were affected.
Staffieri said Rogers is committed to understanding the cause and would make changes to meet and exceed expectations in the future.
The outage began early Friday and stretched into the evening, pushing businesses and organizations to notify customers that their operations were being affected by Rogers and that delays and service interruptions should be expected.
The outage forced the postponement of The Weeknd’s tour stop at Toronto’s Rogers Center. The Toronto date was one of only two set for Canada.
Among the most serious impacts of the outage were warnings from police in Toronto and Ottawa, who reported connection problems when people called 911.
Many Rogers customers scrambled to find Internet service, heading to coffee shops to connect and trade tales of the outage.


Brazil’s Lula accuses Trump of seeking to forge ‘new UN’

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) and US President Donald Trump. (AFP file photo)
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Brazil’s Lula accuses Trump of seeking to forge ‘new UN’

  • Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs
  • Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts

BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Donald Trump on Friday of trying to create “a new UN” with his proposed “Board of Peace.”
The veteran leftist joins other world leaders who have avoided signing up for Trump’s new global conflict resolution organization, where a permanent seat costs $1 billion and the chairman is Trump himself.
“Instead of fixing” the United Nations, “what’s happening? President Trump is proposing to create a new UN where only he is the owner,” Lula said.
Trump unveiled his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos Thursday, joined on stage by leaders and officials from 19 countries to sign its founding charter.
Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs.
His remarks come a day after he spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who urged his counterpart to safeguard the “central role” of the United Nations in international affairs.
In his remarks on Friday, Lula said “the UN charter is being torn.”
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts.
London balked at the inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces are fighting in Ukraine after invading in 2022.
France said the charter as it currently stood was “incompatible” with its international commitments, especially its UN membership.