33 h. ago Lost Toronto hotel was a den of Confederate spies during U.S. Civil War

While it's hard to imagine Front Street without the iconic Royal York Hotel, that plot of land was still home to Toronto's favourite hotel — just not how you think.The Queen's Hotel was a town staple, becoming the most popular and modern hotel in Toronto during its time.But, while it featured many prominent names, the Queen's legacy is also marred with the stains of the Confederacy.Before it was the Queen's HotelThat prime real estate along Front street was originally slated to be a series of row houses designed by John Howard — the man who would later give High Park to the city.But, in 1856, a hotelier named Patrick Sword renovated the building into a hotel — dubbed the Sword's Hotel ( or Swords' Hotel, or Swords Hotel, depending on which references you're pulling from, because proper grammar clearly hadn’t been invented yet).Original plans for the Sword's HotelBecause most of the people who booked hotels were government officials, when the colonial cap...

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1 week ago Survivors still being found after Myanmar quake, but hopes fade as deaths exceed 2,700

BANGKOK — Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar’s capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war. The fire department in Naypyitaw said the woman […]

Events

1 week ago Downtown Toronto is still struggling despite some signs of life returning

Downtown Toronto has gradually recovered much of the vitality lost during the pandemic years, but the city centre is still struggling with a dearth of office workers even amid signs of life returning.New data in CBRE's just-released Q1 2025 Canada Office Figures report reveals that vacancy in downtown Toronto's gutted commercial market rebounded slightly during the first months of the year, but there's still a long way to go before things are even close to normal again.CBRE's figures show that Toronto fared better than other Canadian cities during the first quarter of 2025, with downtown office vacancy declining by 50 basis points to 18.5 per cent.While this leap marks the first substantial drop in vacancy recorded since the market took a nosedive in early 2020, there is still much ground to recover should vacancies ever drop to the figures seen in the before-times.Central Toronto's office market hit a record low vacancy rate of just 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Howev...

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2 w. ago Earthquake hits Myanmar and Thailand, killing scores in two countries

Full extent of death and destruction was not immediately clear, particularly in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war

Events

2 w. ago Sudan Army Retakes Capital From Rebels in Turning Point for War

Sudan’s army recaptured the national capital from the Rapid Support Forces militia, a turning point in a two-year civil war that’s drawn in outside powers and torn the resource-rich North African country apart.

Economics

3 w. ago Maple Leafs mess up chance to control Atlantic in upset loss to Nashville

The fast lane to first place closed as quickly as it opened for the snooze-you-lose Maple Leafs. After both Florida and Tampa Bay lost earlier on Saturday, results Toronto had to know about after taking a 2-0 lead in Nashville, it let the NHL’s lowest scoring team lay a 5-2 beating on it. Thus, the Atlantic Division leaderboard didn’t change, the […]

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