Beyond Local

WASHINGTON — State-sponsored hackers from China have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, cybersecurity officials from around the world, including Canada, warned Wednesday in a co-ordinated effort to root out the perpetrators.

CALGARY — Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley has defended her party's proposal to increase corporate taxes, saying it would provide a "stable, thoughtful" economic plan for the province.

EDMONTON — The Calgary street pastor at the centre of an investigation that concluded Premier Danielle Smith interfered in Alberta’s justice system says she is lying about the nature of their pivotal phone conversation.

A collection of tributes poured in Wednesday from musicians, actors and athletes following the death of musical superstar Tina Turner.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government on Wednesday defended its ban on products from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. in some computer systems after Washington expressed concern, adding to strains over technology and security.

OTTAWA — Independent MP Han Dong could rejoin the Liberal caucus if he wants to, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas would set new standards and ratings for sexually explicit material in order to ban books from public and charter school libraries, under a bill given final passage by the state Senate late Tuesday night and sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

CHICAGO (AP) — More than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, the state’s attorney general found in an investigation released Tuesday, revealing that the problem was far worse than the church had let on.

HAY RIVER, N.W.T. — Officials in the Northwest Territories say more than half of the wildfires in the territory this year were started by people.