Jose Figueroa is going to have a lot to celebrate next week: his birthday, Christmas and his liberation. The Langley man has been living in the Walnut Grove Lutheran Church for the past two years, after he took sanctuary when the Canadian government moved to deport him for his political activities in El Salvador nearly two decades ago.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created software that uses changes in radio signals to recognize human silhouettes through walls and track their movements. The device tracks a person’s movements and displays the signals on a screen. A red ball indicates the movements and shows what direction a person moves or whether someone just simply moves a chair …

At least two people are dead following a 6 vehicle collision on the QEW in Oakville Tuesday night. According to a Halton Region Paramedic Services spokesperson, emergency crews were called to the eastbound lanes of the QEW between Trafalgar Road and Royal Windsor Drive around 9:10 p.m.

Researchers plan to grow potatoes in Mars-like conditions simulated on Earth, in a major step towards building a controlled dome on the red planet capable of farming the invaluable crop. The experiment, led by the International Potato Centre (CIP) in Peru and NASA in US, demonstrates that potato crops can be grown in the most inhospitable environments to save millions …

The winners of the Dec. 12 Lotto 6/49 draw — Monique, 44, and Christian Etienne, 45 — were at the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission head office in St. Albert on Tuesday to claim the $14.5-million prize. — a win they attribute to their two golden Labrador retrievers. The two pups got into brownie and scone mix, leaving a giant …

Panasonic said Monday it would buy Hussmann, a US-based food refrigeration systems company, for $1.54 billion as part of its drive to expand in the US food retail sector. Missouri-based Hussmann, which would become a fully-owned subsidiary of Panasonic, makes and maintains refrigerated display cases used in supermarkets. “This agreement will allow Panasonic to expand its display case business and …

Newborns who get prolonged skin-to-skin contact with mom while they’re in the hospital may have better survival odds, a new meta-analysis finds. The meta-analysis combined studies which examined the effect of kangaroo mother care (KMC) or skin-to-skin care, typically practiced with exclusive breastfeeding, on neonatal outcomes. The most dramatic reduction in mortality rates was for low birth weight or preterm …

Spain’s El-Gordo lottery, one of the biggest in the world, is set to pay out more than 2 billion euros in prizes on Monday night. Long lines formed Saturday as people hoped to buy a winning share in Spain’s Christmas lottery, known as El Gordo (the Fat One), which will hand out 2.24 billion euros ($2.43 billion).

A grand jury has decided not to indict anyone in the case of Sandra Bland, whose death in police custody raised questions of excessive force and the role of race. Sandra Bland was pulled over on 10 July by a Texas state trooper after allegedly making an improper lane change. Dash-cam footage showed the traffic stop quickly becoming confrontational and …

Kim Kardashian has apologised for Kimoji crashing the App Store. Kim Kardashian said that demand for her new emoji app, which unlocks tiny pictograms of the reality star, ran so high Monday that the Apple’s App Store struggled to handle the load.

The Neville-Lake family will be spending Christmas without their three children for the first time this year but will nonetheless have a lasting memory with Santa Claus. The Neville-Lake children’s uncle had a photograph taken of Santa Claus holding a portrait of the Neville-Lake children and their grandfather. Jennifer Neville-Lake’s card has been shared more than 2,200 times on Facebook …