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

Apr 10, 2017 | 1:45 PM

Highlights from the news file for Monday, April 10

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TRUDEAU CALLS OUT RUSSIA, IRAN AND ASSAD REGIME: Bashar Assad’s days as president of Syria are numbered, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested Monday as the spectre of escalating conflict in the Middle East loomed large amid the lingering ghosts of two world wars. The way forward in Syria can’t include Assad, whose recent chemical attack against his own people were abetted by those countries — Russia and Iran — that have allowed him to remain in power, Trudeau told a news conference. “There is no question that anyone who is guilty of the types of war crimes against innocents, against children, that Assad and his regime are needs to be held to account,” he said during a visit to Juno Beach to commemorate Canada’s Second World War dead. Trudeau was, however, non-committal when it came to the question of how to remove Assad from power, and whether Russia should be punished for supporting him. Canada remains open to imposing new sanctions against Russia in concert with its allies, Trudeau said, but Russia must also be part of the solution for bringing peace to Syria.

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G7 MINISTERS MEET WITH AIM TO PRESS RUSSIA OVER ASSAD: Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations met Monday to try to forge a common response to the deadly chemical attack in Syria, with new sanctions against Russian backers of President Bashar Assad one of the options on the table. G7 diplomats sitting down for talks in the centuries-old Ducal Palace in Lucca, Italy, hope to use outrage over the attack and wide international support for the United States’ retaliatory missile strikes to push Russia to abandon Assad and join a new peace effort for Syria. Members of the group also hope to gain a sense from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of President Donald Trump’s next steps and foreign-policy goals. Speaking after meeting with Tillerson, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said ministers “will be discussing the possibility of further sanctions, certainly, on some of the Syrian military figures and indeed on some of the Russian military figures.” He said Russia had a choice: to continue backing the “toxic” Assad regime, “or to work with the rest of the world to find a solution for Syria, a political solution.”

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CANADA, U.S. AND MEXICO LAUNCH WORLD CUP BID: Canada, the United States and Mexico have launched their bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup. The joint bid was announced on Monday atop the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan by the heads of the American, Mexican and Canadian federations. They are seeking to host the first World Cup with an expanded 48-nation field. That’s double the size of the last World Cup in North America in 1994 when the U.S. was the only host. No rival bid has emerged for the 2026 tournament, which is due to be awarded by FIFA in 2020. FIFA rules currently rule out bidders from Europe and Asia because Russia is staging the World Cup in 2018 and Qatar has the showpiece in 2022. Organizers say 10 games would be played in Canada.

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B.C. MAN SHOCKED TO FIND HIKERS HAD FALLEN OVER EDGE: A hiker says he was shocked when he realized he was standing near a ledge where five people had just fallen to their deaths in the mountains near Vancouver. Alastair Ferries said he had just passed a man on Saturday who mentioned his five friends were ahead of him on Mount Harvey, about 35 kilometres north of the city. Ferris, 62, said he realized the entire group had fallen when a cornice, or snow ledge, dropped from under them. Searchers found the bodies on Sunday, 500 metres below the mountain’s summit. Lions Bay Mayor Karl Buhr said he believes the hikers were from nearby Maple Ridge and were experienced, but they were not carrying avalanche beacons, making it harder to find them. Buhr said recovery teams had to ensure it was safe to go into the mountains because of the potential for avalanches and they worked hard to retrieve the bodies on Sunday so families did not have to wait one more night.

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RCMP: TOO EARLY TO GAUGE POT LEGALIZATION’S EFFECT ON CRIMINAL MARKET: The RCMP says it is too early to know what effect the legalization of recreational marijuana may have on organized criminal involvement in the illicit pot market. The Mounties add that they will work with the federal government “to the extent possible” to ensure policies are in place to prevent crime networks from taking advantage of the legal marijuana trade. The cautious assessment — spelled out in RCMP notes obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act — stands in contrast to the Trudeau government’s mantra that legalization will take pot profits out of criminal hands. The Trudeau government plans to introduce legislation Thursday to put legalization in motion.  The government wants to decriminalize marijuana consumption and incidental possession and create new sanctions to more severely punish those who provide pot to minors or drive under its influence. The Liberals say the current system of prohibition does not stop young people from using marijuana and too many Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of pot.

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2 ADULTS DEAD, 2 STUDENTS CRITICAL AFTER SCHOOL SHOOTING: An apparent murder-suicide inside an elementary school classroom in San Bernardino left a teacher and the shooter dead and two students critically wounded, police said. They do not believe the children were targeted but were close to the female teacher at North Park School when the suspect came to the classroom to visit and then opened fire with a handgun, police Capt. Ron Maass said at a news conference. The students were taken to a hospital after what was believed to be a domestic dispute, San Bernardino City Unified School District spokeswoman Maria Garcia told news station KNBC-TV. Police would not confirm the adults’ relationship or if it was a domestic dispute. The city was the site of the December 2015 terror attack that killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a meeting of San Bernardino County employees. Husband-and-wife shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed in a gunbattle with authorities later that day.

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GHOMESHI LAUNCHES PODCAST YEAR AFTER ACQUITTAL: About a year after being acquitted of sexual assault charges that destroyed his broadcasting career, Jian Ghomeshi is eager to get back to work with a new music and podcast series, says the public relations consultant helping the former CBC personality return to the spotlight. On Monday, Ghomeshi announced a venture called “The Ideation Project” on Twitter. The website describes the project as “a creative adventure with the aim of taking a bigger picture view on newsworthy issues and culture.” Ghomeshi’s career crashed after he was fired from the CBC in October 2014. At the time, the public broadcaster said it saw “graphic evidence” he had caused physical injury to a woman. His image as an erudite social progressive unravelled as multiple allegations followed, culminating in a high-profile trial that revealed intimate details of his romantic life. Ultimately, Ghomeshi was acquitted in March 2016 of four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking involving three complainants.

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GARNEAU TO PROPOSE PASSENGER BILL OF RIGHTS: Ottawa says it will introduce new legislation this spring that will address the bumping of travellers from flights that was highlighted by the video of a violent dragging of an unwilling passenger off a U.S. flight. A spokesman for Transport Minister Marc Garneau says bumping rules will be included in a passenger bill of rights that was promised last fall to establish clear, minimum requirements for compensation when flights are oversold or luggage lost. Marc Roy declined, however, to say if the legislation will set industry-wide standards or raise compensation to levels offered in the United States or Europe. Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says the “troubling” video of a man being dragged off a United Airlines flight highlights the need for greater consumer protection.

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ONTARIO PREMIER SAYS HOUSING MEASURES COMING ‘VERY SOON’: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says her government will introduce a package of housing affordability measures “very soon” that she believes will have a swift impact on the hot Toronto-area housing market. When asked if the package would include measures that may have a swift cooling effect on the market, such as a tax on foreign buyers or real estate speculators, Wynne says there’s a need for action that will have an impact “fairly quickly.” The premier wouldn’t provide any details on the package, but says her Liberal government recognizes the complexity of the market and will be judicious in its approach. Meanwhile, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown is calling for longer-term measures to address a housing supply shortage. Brown has asked the government to establish a panel of experts to develop housing market measures. The average selling price for all properties in the Greater Toronto Area in March was $916,567 — a 33-per-cent jump from the same month last year.

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NOVA SCOTIA GALLERY TO DISPLAY LOST MAUD LEWIS PAINTING: A recently discovered painting by Maud Lewis will go on display Tuesday, as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia highlights its collection of the famed folk artist’s works to coincide with a new feature film on her life. The work entitled “Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fishermen, Bay View, N.S.,” was recently found by volunteers sorting through donations to the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Centre in New Hamburg, Ont. “We read about it in the newspaper when it was discovered,” said gallery CEO Nancy Noble. “Because of the release of the film and everything that was going on related to Maud’s life … I phoned the art gallery that was caring for it after they found it at the thrift shop and asked if we could borrow it for the week for the opening of the film.” A Newfoundland-Irish co-production, Maudie, which stars Hollywood star Ethan Hawke and British actress Sally Hawkins, opens in limited release in Halifax, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa on April 14, and nationwide by April 28.

The Canadian Press