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

Highlights from the news file for Monday, July 4:

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JUSTICE TO APOLOGIZE AT UPCOMING INQUIRY: A judge who asked a sexual assault complainant why she couldn’t keep her knees together believes he can positively contribute as a member of the judiciary. An inquiry is set for September to determine if Federal Court Justice Robin Camp should be removed from his job. A notice of response outlining Camp’s position says he agrees his comments made during the sexual assault trial when he was a Calgary judge were insensitive and inappropriate and that he plans to apologize at the hearing. Camp has undergone training and counselling with a superior court judge, a psychologist and an expert in sexual assault law.

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NATO APPLAUDS CANADA’S TROOP COMMITMENT: The head of NATO is applauding Canada for agreeing to take a leadership role in the standoff with Russia. Speaking in Brussels today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Canada’s promise to lead a 1,000-strong force in Eastern Europe sends a clear signal that alliance members on both sides of the Atlantic are ready to defend one another. The Liberal government announced last week that Canada would join Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States for a 4,000-strong NATO force in the region. Canada is expected to take charge in Latvia.

roster shakeup

Nanaimo Clippers lose two major players to Major Junior ranks

9h ago

armed robbery

Knife-wielding man robs south Nanaimo liquor store

17h ago

Shorthanded

Clippers fall short hosting Bulldogs

23h ago

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MEMO SAYS CHILD EXPLOITATION FIGHT NEEDS BOOST: Federal officials are warning that Canadian police lack the resources to keep pace with the burgeoning threat to children from online sexual predators. An internal briefing note to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says digital child pornography poses increasing challenges for criminal justice agencies. It says the problem is fuelled by the growth of technology allowing online anonymity, new legal hurdles for police and easier travel to places where children can be abused and photographed. The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the February memo under the Access to Information Act.

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UK LEFT WITH POWER VACUUM AS UKIP LEADER LATEST TO STEP DOWN: Britain’s Conservative prime minister is stepping down. The Labour Party leader is barely clinging to power. And now the head of the U.K. Independence Party, a key architect of the dramatic vote to leave the European Union, has resigned as well. It has left the country with a power vacuum just as someone needs to step up and own the talks on how Britain will exit the EU. The June 23 referendum results have ripped through British politics like a buzz saw, and it will likely be weeks before some clarity emerges. The new Conservative Party leader will be chosen Sept. 9 and will become prime minister.

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SECURITY ORDERED TIGHTENED AS DEATH TOLL IN BAGHDAD HITS 157: As the death toll from the weekend truck bombing in Baghdad climbed to 157, Iraq’s embattled prime minister ordered new security measures, including abandoning the use of bomb-detection wands that U.S. experts pronounced worthless years ago. But security forces were still using the devices Monday evening, as a string of smaller bombings in the capital killed 16 people and wounded dozens more. Sunday’s suicide attack by the Islamic State group was the single deadliest bombing to hit Baghdad in more than a decade of war and insurgency. Also Monday, five convicted terrorists were executed in Baghdad, the Ministry of Justice said in an announcement that appeared aimed at restoring faith in Iraq’s security forces in the wake of the devastating attack.

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BLACK LIVES MATTER DEMANDS “STUPID”: POLICE UNION HEAD: The president of the union representing Toronto police officers is outraged that Pride organizers have agreed to ban police floats from future Pride Parades. That was one of nine demands set out by the Black Lives Matter group, which staged a 30-minute sit-in that brought Sunday’s parade to a standstill. Pride Toronto’s executive director signed a document listing the demands during the parade, but organizers now say they only committed to having a conversation about the list.

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RELEASE CONDITIONS UPHELD FOR EGYPTIAN MAN BRANDED A SECURITY THREAT: An Egyptian man long branded as a threat to Canada’s national security has lost his bid to lift restrictions on his freedom. While some minor changes are appropriate, Federal Court Judge Simon Noel ruled that Mohamed Mahjoub still needs careful monitoring. Canadian authorities have argued since his initial arrest in 2000 that Mahjoub, 56, of Toronto, poses a terror-related threat. He has fought numerous legal battles in an effort to overturn his national security certificate, which allows Ottawa to jail him or otherwise limit his freedom — without laying criminal charges against him.

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ATLANTIC PREMIERS AND FEDERAL MINISTERS ANNOUNCE IMMIGRATION BOOST: Ottawa will admit as many as 2,000 immigrants and their families to the four Atlantic provinces next year. It’s part of a three-year pilot project to boost immigration that the premiers and several federal cabinet ministers announced following a meeting Monday in P.E.I. Immigration Minister John McCallum says the strategy to grow the region’s economy will let governments and employers recruit and settle immigrants based on skill levels and economic needs.

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SMALL PART OF B.C.’s BURNS BOG CONTAINED, BUT CONSERVATION SOCIETY SAYS MOST WILL REGENERATE: About 90 per cent of a peat bog south of Vancouver is expected to regenerate in the coming years, but it could take a century before the entire area recovers from a fire tearing through it on Monday, says the head of a conservation society. Eliza Olson, founder of the Burns Bog Conservation Society, said the 30-square-kilometre nature reserve in Delta is believed to be the largest undeveloped urban wilderness area in North America. “That’s one of the beauties of having Burns Bog here in the water table,” she said in an interview Monday. “Because it’s at the mouth of the Fraser River, it’s an estuary-raised bog. You normally don’t find a raised bog this far south.”

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DURANT LEAVES THUNDER, GIVING WARRIORS LOOK OF SUPER TEAM: Kevin Durant decided his best chance for “growth” means leaving his beloved Oklahoma City behind for a big move out West to join the star-studded, record-setting Golden State Warriors and play alongside Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. In the most anticipated move of the NBA off-season, Durant announced his decision Monday on The Players’ Tribune. His contract is for $54 million over two years and includes a player option, a person with knowledge of the deal said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because details weren’t made public. Durant’s move will become official as soon as Thursday, when free agents can sign their new contracts.

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NCC APOLOGIZES FOR CLOSING LEMONADE STAND: Ottawa’s National Capital Commission is apologizing to two girls for shutting down a lemonade stand on a grassy median of a parkway that’s closed to vehicles on Sundays. The five and seven-year-old girls were told they had to take the stand down because they didn’t have a permit. The girls hoped to raise enough money for summer camp and a local restaurant union has come forward saying it will foot the bill and support any other renegade lemonade stand operators.

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The Canadian Press