The Tuesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

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Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, Sept. 6

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ALLIES USING CANADIAN INFO TO BOMB ISIL: Senior military officer, Brig.-Gen. Shane Brennan, says Canadian military aircraft are providing vital intelligence to allies for their own air strikes and other operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. A Canadian air-to-air refuelling plane and two surveillance aircraft have continued to fly hundreds of missions in support of the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria since the Liberal government withdrew six CF-18s from the region in February. U.S. and other coalition officials have credited the air campaign with helping to push ISIL back, but there have been concerns about civilian casualties after a series of U.S. strikes around the Syrian city of Manbij in July.

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ENG TO CARRY CANADIAN FLAG AT PARALYMPICS: David Eng, a 39-year-old veteran of Canada’s wheelchair basketball team, has been chosen to carry the Maple Leaf into the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday. The two-time Paralympic gold medallist, who was cheered on by both the men’s and women’s wheelchair teams at his news conference Tuesday morning, will be competing at his fourth Games. Canada won gold in Eng’s debut in 2004, took the silver at the 2008 Beijing Games and won gold four years ago in London.

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TRUDEAU TO CHINA: CANADA NOT PERFECT, EITHER: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrapped up his eight-day official visit to China with a speech to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Trudeau says he raised concerns about China’s human-rights record with the country’s political elite and acknowledged Canada’s failings, namely a scathing UN report on Canada’s treatment of Indigenous Peoples. The prime minister says Canada’s connection to China was “hot and cold” under the Conservatives and told reporters that’s something he hopes to change going forward.

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LEBLANC VOWS TO FIGHT AS EU PONDERS LOBSTER BAN: Canada’s fisheries minister says the government will work vigorously to convince the European Union that the American lobster does not pose a threat. Dominic LeBlanc says both Canada and the U.S. have compelling scientific evidence to show that lobster from North America is not an invasive species, as suggested by Sweden. An arm of the European Union has agreed to an expanded review of a proposal to ban American lobsters, but a spokeswoman for the European Commission stresses it is only a preliminary opinion. U.S. and Canadian lobster fishers could lose as much as $200 million dollars in business with EU countries because of a ban.

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MANSBRIDGE DEPARTURE WILL BRING REVAMP OF THE NATIONAL: Veteran anchor Peter Mansbridge’s departure from “The National” is ushering in “the next phase” of CBC’s flagship news program, the public broadcaster’s editor-in-chief said Tuesday. In a letter to staff, Jennifer McGuire said that she will personally oversee “a process to build on its strengths and position it for ongoing success” over the course of the next year. “The news industry is undergoing fundamental changes but the bedrock values of quality, integrity and depth that Peter stands for will always be with us,” McGuire said a day after Mansbridge announced plans to step down July 1.

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UN CHANGES GUIDANCE ABOUT SEX FOR TRAVELLERS TO ZIKA ZONES: The World Health Organization has issued new recommendations on preventing the sexual transmission of the Zika virus. The UN health agency is now recommending that both men and women travelling from Zika infected areas to places where there is no active transmission of the disease should practice safe sex or abstinence for six months. The previous guidance was for eight weeks and only applied to men.

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HOUSE PANEL ASKS PROSECUTOR TO PROBE DELETED CLINTON EMAILS: The head of a panel looking into Hillary Clinton’s email practices is asking a federal prosecutor to find out if Clinton or her aides had anything to do with the deletion of thousands of her emails. The deletions were carried out by a Colorado technology firm last year. Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz is also warning that firm that one of its engineers who deleted Clinton’s electronic files could face federal charges of obstructing justice and destroying evidence.

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ENBRIDGE TO BUY SPECTRA ENERGY IN C$36-BILLION DEAL: Enbridge is making a big bet on natural gas with the C$37-billion friendly takeover of Spectra Energy Corp., as it looks to grow while facing severe pushback on infrastructure projects. The all-stock deal with Houston-based Spectra will create the largest energy infrastructure company in North America and one of the biggest energy companies of any kind globally, with a combined value of about $165 billion. The deal would give Calgary-based Enbridge far more exposure to the natural gas side of the business and extend the company’s reach throughout the continent, Enbridge CEO Al Monaco said Tuesday on a conference call with analysts.

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UNIFOR SELECTS GM AS TARGET IN NEGOTIATIONS: Unifor president Jerry Dias says the union will not sign a new contract with General Motors under any circumstance until there is a firm commitment to Ontario plants in St. Catharines and Oshawa. He says that’s not a threat — it’s a promise. The union has chosen GM as its target, saying it’s the company that poses the biggest challenge in terms of hammering out a deal.

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BOMBARDIER CUTS CSERIES DELIVERY FORECAST: Bombardier is slashing deliveries of its new CSeries plane by more than half this year because of delayed engine deliveries from Pratt & Whitney, marking another setback for the jet. The Montreal-based company said Tuesday it will deliver seven of the aircraft this year — not the 15 it had expected. Neither Bombardier nor Pratt & Whitney specified what was behind the delays, but Bombardier commercial aircraft president Fred Cromer said the engines on the CSeries aircraft that were put into service earlier this summer were performing well.

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The Canadian Press

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