- NewsThe Canadian Press
Trump again rips attorney general but many want him to stay
Congressional Republicans and influential conservatives rallied around Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday as President Donald Trump kept up his public pelting of the nation's top law enforcement officer and left his future in doubt. Sessions' former colleagues in the Senate denounced the president's broadsides against the first senator to endorse him.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
'Welcome home,' B.C. mayor says to thousands of returning wildfire evacuees
Thousands of people who rushed out of their homes as a wildfire neared Williams Lake are being allowed to return to the Interior British Columbia city, but with a warning that they could be forced to leave again. Mayor Walt Cobb said he couldn't be happier an evacuation order that went into effect on July 15 was being lifted on Thursday. "The wildfires near our community are not 100 per cent contained and due to the changing weather conditions an evacuation could happen," he said.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Israel removes railings, overhead bridge near holy site
Israel removed railings and an overhead metal bridge it had recently installed near a contested Jerusalem holy site, meeting a demand by Muslim protesters and causing thousands of Palestinians to celebrate in the streets early Thursday. Muslim leaders said they would decide later in the day whether worshippers could return to the shrine for prayers and end a crisis that Israel hoped it had resolved by making concessions at the site. The head of the Supreme Islamic Committee, Ikrema Sabri, had said previously that worshippers would not return to the shrine until Israel removed the new railings and cameras it installed after a deadly attack there.
- Global News
Utero Heart Surgery on Baby
In Health Matters tonight, doctors in Toronto saved a baby by performing surgery in-utero.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Wildfire forces evacuations, threatens structures near Kamloops, B.C.
A rapidly-moving wildfire has forced people to flee dozens of properties east of Kamloops, B.C. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued an evacuation order for 39 properties in Monte Lake Wednesday night, saying a fire burning in the area posed an "imminent threat" to people and property. Another 58 properties were put on evacuation alert, warned that they may need to leave at a moment's notice.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
HBO announces five-part miniseries on Chornobyl accident
HBO says production will begin next year on a miniseries about the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The five-part series will star Jared Harris as a Soviet scientist tapped by the Kremlin to investigate the accident. The series will dramatize the events of the 1986 Ukrainian nuclear catastrophe that resulted in widespread radioactive fallout.
- NewsReuters
U.S. indicts suspected Russian 'mastermind' of $4 billion bitcoin laundering scheme
By Jack Stubbs, Karolina Tagaris and Anna Irrera NEW YORK/ATHENS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A U.S. jury indicted a Russian man on Wednesday as the operator of a digital currency exchange he allegedly used to launder more than $4 billion for people involved in crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking. Alexander Vinnik was arrested in a small beachside village in northern Greece on Tuesday, according to local authorities, following an investigation led by the U.S. Justice Department along with several other federal agencies and task forces. U.S. officials described Vinnik in a Justice Department statement as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital currency bitcoin since 2011.
- NewsCBC
'Fought for over a year now': Alberta gets lots of feedback on condo act changes
Condo owners are eager to see changes coming to the way their properties are regulated in Alberta. The province is overhauling the Condominium Property Act and finding no shortage of feedback. Rose Wright wants more openness and transparency from her condo board and management.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Blowing smoke? E-cigarettes might help smokers quit
Nicotine patches, gums and medications are known to aid smoking cessation, but there's no consensus on whether vaping devices can help anti-smoking efforts. The U.S. research is the largest look yet at electronic cigarette users and it found e-cigarettes played a role in helping people quit. "It's absolutely clear that e-cigarettes help smokers replace cigarettes," said Peter Hajek, director of the health and lifestyle research unit at Queen Mary University in London, who wasn't part of the study.
- NewsCBC
3, including 2 teens, charged in Regina weapons bust
Two men and a boy are facing charges after Regina police discovered a number of firearms, machetes and ammunition this week.
NewsReutersShares in Slim's America Movil shrug off Colombian order to pay $1 billion
By Julia Love MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - America Movil, the telecommunications company of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, and Movistar, the Colombian unit of Spain's Telefonica SA, may not have to pay any compensation while legal action in Colombia is under review, a government minister said on Wednesday. Shares of America Movil closed down 0.32 percent and Telefonica shares closed up 1.38 percent after a Colombian arbitration panel on Tuesday ordered America Movil to pay $1 billion and told Movistar to pay $529 million.
- NewsCBC
Puerto Rico blanks host Canadians in Pan Am Cup volleyball
The play started evenly in the first set but Maurice Torres' hard hitting helped secure a 25-21 win and the Puerto Ricans kept the momentum in their favour into the second set to triumph 25-16. Torres increased the gap from the service line to put Puerto Rico up 21-14 in the final set but the Canadians clawed back to within a point. Torres led Puerto Rico with 14 points, while Danny Demyanenko was Canada's top contributor with six.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Medical examiner: Judge in river died by suicide in drowning
A prominent judge found in the Hudson River died by suicide in a drowning, according to findings issued by the city's medical examiner on Wednesday. A police harbour unit recovered the body of 65-year-old Sheila Abdus-Salaam in April after she was reported missing. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Abdus-Salaam to the state's Court of Appeals in 2013.
- NewsCBC
Drop that boombox: Music-playing hikers have Calgary man singing the blues
"There seems to be a current trend, it seems to be novice or new hikers, that have been bringing out portable speakers and they have been playing music as they hike," LaBelle told CBC News. LaBelle says he began to notice the musical hikers about two years ago and he's not happy. LaBelle's son Dominic is singing from the same song sheet.
NewsAgence France-PresseChinese writers navigate censors to earn cash via apps
When outspoken professor Qiao Mu posted his resignation letter on a popular Chinese messaging app, sympathetic readers tapped their phone screens to send him money, leaving him with a 20,000 yuan ($3,000) payday. China's widely-used applications have given writers like Qiao an outlet to self-publish and make money -- as long as their words respect the boundaries set by online censors inside the country's "Great Firewall". With Facebook and Twitter blocked in China, they post their works on WeChat, a messaging service with over 900 million worldwide users, or Weibo, a microblogging website -- both monitored by the Communist authorities.
NewsAgence France-PresseJuncker press conference interrupted by wife... no, Merkel
Except that for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker it apparently turned out to be from another key power player -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Juncker was caught out during a press conference in Brussels with visiting Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, when his mobile went off in his suit jacket pocket. "That's my wife, sorry," former Luxembourg prime minister Juncker said as he fished around in his pocket while Fico, EU officials and journalists waited.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Small plane misses cars but kills 4 aboard in highway crash
A small plane crashed on a Utah highway Wednesday, killing two couples heading for a vacation but narrowly missing cars when it barrelled across the lanes through a gap in traffic. The plane went down shortly after takeoff from a municipal airport popular with private pilots north of Salt Lake City, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said. Layne Clarke, 48, was flying his wife and two friends as they departed for a vacation, said family friend and colleague Jeff Henderson.
- NewsReuters
LeEco's Coolpad says lawsuit filed against unit over loan due next month
Chinese smartphone maker Coolpad Group, part of the cash-strapped LeEco technology conglomerate, said on Thursday a bank has sued a subsidiary, demanding early repayment of an 80 million yuan ($11.9 million) loan due Aug. 15. LeEco, a smart cars to online content conglomerate that is grappling with the fallout of expanding too fast, has been under growing pressure from its creditors and business partners. Coolpad said in a statement that the unit, Yulong Computer Communication Technology, had been sued by a Ping An Bank branch which argues that it can call in the loan as the financial situation of the guarantor, another Coolpad unit, had deteriorated.
- NewsCBC
N.B. Christmas tree farmers say it's 'impossible' to find workers
Some New Brunswick Christmas tree farmers say they're struggling with the same issue as their counterparts in the produce industry: finding enough workers to help run their operations. "It is impossible, impossible," said Scotty Bell, who has been farming trees since 1986.
NewsReutersApple supplier Japan Display seeks $890 million to fund restructuring: source
By Taro Fuse TOKYO (Reuters) - Loss-making Japan Display Inc is seeking about 100 billion yen ($890 million) from its main creditors to fund restructuring, a source with direct knowledge of the request said. Fresh funds for the firm, which has been hurt by its late entry into organic light-emitting diode screens (OLED) and fluctuating demand for Apple's iPhones, would come on top of 75 billion yen in aid late last year from its main investor - the state-backed Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ). The liquid crystal display manufacturer has tapped Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, the source said, adding that the creditors were willing to extend the loan if it was guaranteed by INCJ.
- NewsCBC
Coquitlam mayor takes on distracted jaywalker in Facebook post
Richard Stewart says he was biking on Monday morning when a woman who was looking at her phone stepped off the sidewalk and jaywalked across two lanes of traffic and a bike lane without looking up. If an inattentive pedestrian causes a crash leading to serious injury or death, police say they could open themselves up to a criminal negligence charge.
- NewsCBC
'V is for victory': Female candidates band together on Edmonton campaign trail
Two dozen women running for municipal office in Edmonton gathered for a political pub night Wednesday to trade campaign trail advice over beers. "I've connected with a lot of female candidates running across the city and it's interesting to hear their stories and know that my experiences are the same," said Miranda Jimmy, who organized the event. The remaining 16 women are running for positions as trustees for either Edmonton's Catholic school board or the public school board.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Jumbo airtanker gets approval to fight US wildfires
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Interagency Airtanker Board issued the 17-month interim approval on Tuesday for the aircraft capable of carrying 19,200 gallons (72,700 litres ) of liquid. Global SuperTanker Services CEO Jim Wheeler said Wednesday the company is close to signing a contract with two states. "The next step is for us to try to get a contract with the Forest Service," he said.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
State Dept. warns of possibly tainted alcohol in Mexico
The U.S. State Department is warning tourists going to Mexico about reports of tainted or substandard alcohol causing drinkers to become sick or pass out. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2tDONss ) recently reported about travellers becoming sick after drinking alcohol at Mexican resorts. In January, a 20-year-old Wisconsin woman vacationing in Mexico with her family died after she was pulled from a resort pool.
- BBC News
Hair loss: A growing business
Treating hair loss has become a $7bn a year business - but do any of the methods work?
