By Canadian Press

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

Oct 25, 2016 | 2:45 PM

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, Oct. 25

NURSE CHARGED IN NURSING HOME DEATHS: An Ontario nurse is facing eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of eight nursing home residents over a period of seven years. Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 49, of Woodstock, Ont., appeared in court Tuesday morning and has been remanded in custody. Police say the male and female victims, who ranged in age from 75 to 96, were administered a drug. Seven of the victims lived at a Caressant Care facility in Woodstock, while the eighth lived at a Meadow Park facility in nearby London, Ont.

___

TALKS WITH WALLONIA CONTINUE ON CANADA-EU TRADE DEAL: The Belgian government says that talks to convince the region of Wallonia to agree to a trade deal between the European Union and Canada are making progress, two days before the pact is supposed to be signed at a summit. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Tuesday that Belgian negotiators “really are at the final texts” but added that “as you know, there is the last comma, the last word, which are probably the most important.” The trans-Atlantic trade deal needs unanimity among all 28 EU nations, but Belgium is withholding its signature because it also needs all of its regions to back it and Wallonia has resolutely refused to do so.

___

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 2

1h ago

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 1

19h ago

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

DENIS OLAND FREED ON BAIL: Dennis Oland is free on bail, a day after New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal quashed his murder conviction and ordered a new trial. A judge ruled Oland has regained the presumption of innocence, and that he’s no threat to the public or a flight risk. The appeal court ordered a new trial Monday, 10 months after a jury convicted him of second-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of his multimillionaire father, Richard. The appeal court found the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury on a key piece of evidence.

___

AMBROSE CALLS FOR ACTION ON YAZIDIS: Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose is calling on the Liberal government to move quickly on its commitment to help vulnerable Yazidi women and girls. Ambrose says more than 1,000 have been freed from sex slavery at the hands of the Islamic State group and they’re now languishing in various refugee camps. Immigration Minister John McCallum announced Monday that the government is prepared to start bringing Yazidis to Canada within four months.

___

YOUTH WORKERS SNUB TRUDEAU: NDP leader Tom Mulcair says he isn’t surprised at the response Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got from some participants at a youth labour forum in Ottawa. Several dozen delegates at the young workers’ summit turned their backs on Trudeau as he spoke while many others held signs reading “Keep the Promise.” Mulcair says young people are “hard to con,” adding they’ve been promised real change. As the prime minister took questions, he criticized the back turners, saying he was disappointed that they appeared unwilling to listen.

___

MUSKRAT FALLS PROTEST AT LEGISLATURE: Protesters gathered at the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature Tuesday, prompting security officials to lock the main doors ahead of a planned meeting between the premier and aboriginal leaders about flooding for the Muskrat Falls hydroelectricity project. Premier Dwight Ball has already said Nalcor, the Crown corporation building the megaproject, wouldn’t increase water levels for a reservoir before the meeting. About 50 protesters entered the central Labrador site on Saturday and occupied an accommodation complex, prompting the company to remove about 700 workers from the grounds.

___

BABY EXPOSED TO DRUG; PARENTS CHARGED: The parents of a baby believed to have been exposed to fentanyl are facing charges. Paramedics in Winnipeg were called to a home last Tuesday where a child was found in critical condition. A search turned up suspected fentanyl powder and some contaminated items. Police still aren’t sure how the baby — who is in stable condition in hospital — came into contact with the drug. The biological parents have been charged with failure to provide the necessaries of life,

___

IRAQ DELAYING HOSPITAL, MINISTER SAYS: Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is blaming the Iraqi government for holding up a Canadian military hospital that was supposed to be available to treat casualties during the attack on Mosul, which started last week. Sajjan said Tuesday There were some delays from the Iraqi government side of getting all the resources in. Sajjan was speaking from Paris, where defence ministers from about a dozen countries gathered to discuss the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

___

FIGHTING CONTINUES IN WESTERN IRAQ: Iraqi forces battled Islamic State group fighters for a third day in a remote western town far from Mosul on Tuesday. But the U.S.-led coalition insists the latest in a series of “spoiler attacks” have not forced it to divert resources from the fight to retake Iraq’s second-largest city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi acknowledged that the militants briefly seized the local government headquarters in the western town of Rutba, offering new details about the assault, which U.S. and Iraqi officials have sought to downplay since it began on Sunday.

___

POWELL SAYS HE’LL VOTE FOR CLINTON: Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The Republican and retired four-star Army general made his announcement at a fall meeting of a Long Island business association. He is the latest in a series of Bush administration officials who have rejected their party’s nominee. Powell recently engaged in a public fight with Clinton when he denied her claim that he advised the Democratic nominee to set up a private email server as secretary of state.

–With files from The Associated Press 

The Canadian Press