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

Highlights from the news file for Thursday, Aug. 18

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BRAZILIAN POLICE SAY U.S. SWIMMERS WERE NOT ROBBED: Brazilian police said Thursday that swimmer Ryan Lochte and U.S. teammates were not robbed after a night of partying, and said the incident appeared to stem from an encounter caught on security cameras that showed the Olympians breaking into a gas station bathroom. The robbery that was or wasn’t has become the biggest spectacle outside of the Olympic venues in Rio, and given American swimming a black eye in Brazil after an otherwise remarkable run at the Summer Games.”No robbery was committed against these athletes,” Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said.Lochte had initially said that he and teammates Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen were held at gunpoint and robbed after a night of partying on the final night of Olympic swimming.

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FIRST NATIONS PROTEST OVER SHOOTING OF ABORIGINAL MAN: Hundreds of supporters of a First Nations man shot and killed on a Saskatchewan farm last week held signs and chanted “Justice for Colten” at a North Battleford courthouse on Thursday. The protest coincided with the court appearance of the man accused in the shooting, Gerald Stanley. Stanley pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the slaying of Colten Boushie this month.  Police say the vehicle Boushie was in drove on to a farm to get help with a flat tire. 

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TWO SIDES IN SOFTWOOD TALKS REMAIN FAR APART: Canada’s chief negotiator in the softwood-lumber talks with the United States says the two sides remain far apart on several key issues. A fall deadline for an agreement is looming. Martin Moen told a parliamentary committee Thursday that negotiations for a new deal have continued at an intense pace at the highest levels, but acknowledged that reaching a deal by the fall deadline will be a challenge.  

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TRUDEAU URGED TO SEND MESSAGE ON MINSTERIAL EXPENSES: Opposition parties and a taxpayer watchdog group want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to send a clear message about the way ministers and MPs use the public purse after it was disclosed Health Minister Jane Philpott spent thousands of dollars for the services of a Toronto-based limo company. The call comes after Philpott’s office told The Canadian Press it used Executive Sedan Livery Service Inc. on multiple occasions. The company is owned by a Liberal supporter who canvassed for the minister during the last federal election. On Wednesday, the minister’s office acknowledged spending $1,994 for car service on July 12, when the minister spoke at the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting in Niagara Falls, Ont., and another $3,815 for 20 trips to Toronto’s Pearson airport for flights to Ottawa on ministerial business.

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GIANT MINE HAS LASTING ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY: A study has found that lakes near Yellowknife’s Giant Mine may never be the same again. The assessment comes despite a billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded plan to clean up thousands of tonnes of arsenic left by the shuttered gold mine on the outskirts of the Northwest Territories capital. Jules Blais of the University of Ottawa says analysis of a small lake on the edge of the mine lease shows important plants and insects have been wiped out by arsenic contamination. He says those parts of the ecosystem will never return, although the mine cut arsenic emissions decades ago and stopped producing entirely in 1999.

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LAWYER ON ENVIRONMENTAL PANEL CONTRIBUTED TO LIBERAL PARTY: A lawyer on the federal panel that  is reviewing the environmental assessment process has donated nearly $18,000 to the Liberals over the years. It includes $850 to the failed campaign efforts of Marlo Raynolds, who is now chief of staff to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. Records from Elections Canada show Toronto-based environmental lawyer Rod Northey has also given nearly $13,000 to the Greens and $3,000 to the New Democrats. A spokeswoman for McKenna, said Northey was chosen because he deserved the job and that he was chosen from a list of qualified candidates provided by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

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NOVA SCOTIA JUDGE RAPS LAWYER ON KNUCKLES: A Nova Scotia judge has scolded a retired lawyer who launched a barrage of legal actions over the veterinary treatment his dog received.  Justice Jamie Campbell issued a ruling recently that noted the courts are not available for litigants who grind out legal proceedings for the purpose of inflicting maximum punishment on their adversaries. He ruled that Jack Cram cannot take any new legal actions against several veterinarians, a vet clinic and the provincial veterinarians’ association without court approval. The judge further dismissed various Cram claims against other assorted adversaries.

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IMAGE OF SYRIAN BOY CAPTURES HORROR OF ALEPPO: The Russian military said it was ready to back a U.N. call for weekly cease-fires for Syria’s contested city of Aleppo, as haunting footage of a young boy’s rescue from the aftermath of an airstrike shook global media.The image of the stunned and weary-looking boy, sitting in an ambulance caked with dust and with blood on his face, captured the horror that has beset the war-torn northern city as photographs of the child were widely shared on social media. An hour after his rescue, the badly damaged building the boy was in completely collapsed. A doctor in Aleppo identified the child as 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh.

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GAWKER.COM SHUTTING DOWN: After 14 years online, Gawker.com is shutting down. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision is buying parent company Gawker Media in the aftermath of a $140-million judgment against it in the Hulk Hogan invasion-of-privacy case. Gawker had published a video of Hogan having sex with a friend’s wife. The company currently publishes seven additional sites, including the feminist-focused Jezebel, the tech site Gizmodo and the sports site, Deadspin. 

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TRAGICALLY HIP’S FINAL CONCERT TELEVISED LIVE: Saturday’s Tragically Hip concert in Kingston, Ont., will be televised live. The CBC calls the event unprecedented and that’s why it decided to carry it live. The last stop on the Hip’s “Man Machine Poem” tour is widely expected to be their final performance, as lead singer Gord Downie is facing terminal brain cancer. After tickets to the tour sold out within minutes, fans launched a campaign urging the CBC to carry the band’s Kingston show as a live TV event.

The Canadian Press