By Canadian Press

In the news today: U.S and U.K. attack Houthi sites in Yemen with Canadian support

Jan 12, 2024 | 3:17 AM

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…

U.S., U.K. carry out airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen with Canadian support

U.S. and British forces, with the support of Canada and other allies, attacked more than a dozen sites used by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden says the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the allies will not tolerate the group’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The U.S.-led operation in the region was launched in response to a Houthi campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships that began after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

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The Canadian Armed Forces deployed three staff officers to join Operation Prosperity Guardian in December.

Western Canada blanketed in bitter cold

Extreme cold and biting wind has gripped Western Canada and it won’t shake loose until at least Saturday.

Environment Canada cold and Arctic outflow warnings have covered the Canadian map red, from Haida Gwaii to near Hudson Bay.

Forecasters warn the gusting winds can make temperatures feel like -40 or even -55 in some parts.

That means frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.

Here’s what else we’re watching …

Former federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent, social democracy stalwart, dead at 87

Ed Broadbent, the affable advocate of social democracy whose principled leadership helped build the modern New Democratic Party and made him a titan of 20th century Canadian politics, has died. He was 87.

Broadbent was “a fierce champion for ordinary Canadians,” said a statement Thursday from the eponymous, Ottawa-based think tank he founded in 2011 to propagate his belief in social and economic justice.

But observers of a certain age will remember him as a tireless, well-educated fixture of federal debate in the 1970s and 1980s, going toe-to-toe with four different prime ministers, including Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney.

N.B. men seek compensation for wrongful conviction

Two New Brunswick men who were cleared of a 1983 murder fear they will die without receiving compensation for their wrongful conviction.

Last week, a judge acquitted Walter Gillespie and his friend 76-year-old Robert Mailman of the murder of George Gilman Leeman, for which they both served lengthy prison terms.

In a written ruling, Chief Justice Tracey DeWare of New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench called the case a miscarriage of justice and offered an apology.

Gillespie says the apology was appreciated, but what the two men really want is financial compensation for their lost decades, especially as they fear time is running out.

Sentencing for man who killed Saskatchewan Mountie

A sentencing hearing begins today for a man who ran over and killed an RCMP officer in Saskatchewan.

Alphonse Stanley Traverse pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter in the death of Const. Shelby Patton.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a motor vehicle.

Patton, who was 26, had pulled over a suspected stolen truck in the town of Wolseley, east of Regina, in 2021.

Severe weather putting pressure on insurance

Experts say the escalating risk of severe weather events is one of several factors putting pressure on insurance companies and potentially increasing premiums for consumers.

Craig Stewart of the Insurance Bureau of Canada says that in recent years, extreme weather losses, inflation, and reinsurance costs have all helped drive insurance premiums higher.

The IBC says severe weather caused more than $3.1 billion in insured damage in 2023, the fourth-worst year on record.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press