By Canadian Press

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

Jan 4, 2017 | 2:15 PM

Highlights from the news file for Wednesday, Jan. 4

AFGHAN VETERAN AMONG 4 DEAD AT N.S. HOME: An Afghanistan war veteran and his wife, mother and 10-year-old daughter have been found shot to death in a home in rural Nova Scotia. RCMP found the bodies at about 6 p.m. Tuesday after being called to the home in Upper Big Tracadie, and said Wednesday it appeared a 33-year-old man shot himself, and that three females, aged 52, 31 and 10, also died of apparent gunshot wounds. Two guns were found at the scene, police said. A National Defence source identified the husband as retired corporal Lionel Desmond, 33, who served with the Second Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment in CFB Gagetown, N.B.

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CANADIAN MAN FIGHTING ISIL IN SYRIA KILLED: An Ontario family has learned that their 24-year-old son, who they thought was teaching English overseas, has been killed in Syria while fighting against Islamic State militants. Nazzareno Tassone was fighting alongside Kurdish forces when he was killed in the city of Raqqa on Dec. 21, according to a letter the Kurdish People’s Defense Units sent his family. Tassone’s younger sister, Giustina, said the letter was delivered to her mother’s Niagara Falls, Ont., home by police and members of the Toronto Kurdish community on Tuesday. The letter, which did not contain specific details of her brother’s death, said his body had been taken by Islamic State militants, she said. The Kurdish group called him in the letter a “daring and courageous companion” and an example for younger fighters, she said.

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RAITT LAUNCHES ANTI-O’LEARY WEBSITE: Gambling that Canadian Conservatives will reject Donald Trump-style politics, Tory leadership candidate Lisa Raitt launched an assault Wednesday on two prominent rivals she fears could destroy the party if elected. Raitt told a news conference in the national capital that leadership candidate Kellie Leitch and possible contender Kevin O’Leary promise divisive and negative political agendas that would only serve to divide Conservatives and scare away potential converts. Calling O’Leary “a TV entertainer with no filter,” Raitt launched a website, StopKevinOLeary.com, to highlight her concerns about both O’Leary and Leitch, who she derided for embracing U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant message.

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BLANEY PROPOSES REDUCING IMMIGRATION TARGETS: Canada needs to reduce the number of immigrants and refugees it accepts in order to better integrate them, Conservative leadership hopeful Steven Blaney said Wednesday. The Quebec MP said the Trudeau government’s targets have been “improvised for political purposes” and don’t take into account the ability of cities and provinces to integrate newcomers. He accused the current government of “breaking the dreams” of immigrants and refugees who have not been able to find work in their fields or learn English or French. Another leadership candidate, Kellie Leitch, has raised eyebrows over her proposal that new immigrants be screened for what she calls “anti-Canadian values.” Blaney said Canada would remain a “welcoming country” under his plan, which involves rolling back immigration numbers to roughly where they were under Stephen Harper’s former Conservative government.

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TRUMP USES ASSANGE TO CAST DOUBT ON U.S. INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT: President-elect Donald Trump appeared to side with controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, citing the activist’s assertion that Russia did not provide his organization with the hacked Democratic emails that roiled the 2016 election. Trump’s latest challenges to the intelligence community — which has assessed that Russia interfered in the election on the Republican’s behalf — comes as the government rushes to finished a highly anticipated report on the hacking. The president-elect is expected to be briefed on the report Friday by CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

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VANCOUVER HOME SALES DROPPED 5.6% LAST YEAR: The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has issued the latest data for 2016, wrapping up what experts say was a wild year for buyers and sellers across the region. According to the board, although sales of all types of properties dropped 5.6 per cent last year compared with the year earlier, the benchmark price hit nearly $900,000 in December, an almost 18 per cent increase over December 2015. The real estate board says the effect of multiple government efforts to cool the market, such as B.C.’s 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers, won’t be fully understood for some time. But it says although the market has slowed, 2016 was the third highest-selling year on record in Metro Vancouver.

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JUDGE TO DELIVER TRAVIS VADER SENTENCE JAN. 25: A judge is to deliver sentencing later this month — anywhere from time served to life in prison — for a man convicted of killing two Alberta seniors who disappeared on a camping trip. Travis Vader was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2010 deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. The couple, in their late 70s, vanished after leaving their home in St. Albert, northwest of Edmonton, on a camping trip to British Columbia. Their burned-out motorhome and a vehicle they had been towing were later discovered. Their bodies have not been found. A sentencing hearing that began in December wrapped up Wednesday. Justice Denny Thomas said he will be ready with a decision Jan. 25.

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COURT CERTIFIES CLASS ACTION AGAINST ATLANTIC LOTTERY CORP.: A Newfoundland judge has certified a class action lawsuit against the Atlantic Lottery Corporation that alleges VLT line games are designed to deceive players. The class action involves an estimated 30,000 players of line games on video lottery terminals in Newfoundland and Labrador. Ches Crosbie, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the Atlantic Lottery Corporation deceptively generates tens of millions of dollars from VLTs every year. “The line games lead a person to believe they are getting closer and closer to a win, except a win doesn’t happen. It’s a deceptive feature and has nothing to do with how the internal programming actually dictates how the game is going to end up,” Crosbie said in an interview. Atlantic Lottery said Wednesday it plans to appeal the certification.

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POPE ACCEPTS RESIGNATION OF CALGARY BISHOP: The Calgary bishop known for his hardline stances on protections for LGBTQ youth and the HPV vaccine says he is leaving the role he has held for almost two decades due to ailing health. In his resignation letter to Pope Francis posted Wednesday on the Calgary Catholic Diocese website, Most Rev. Fred Henry said he has an incurable type of arthritis that is also an autoimmune disease. A spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops says the church usually requires bishops to resign at 75. Henry, who is 73, said he started writing the letter to the Pontiff more than three years ago. He said when he was 35, he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which has severely reduced mobility in his spine over time.

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FREE SALT! SOME IN VANCOUVER LOAD UP TO FIGHT ICE: Free salt has become a hot commodity in Vancouver as some residents clamour to get more than their fair share to keep icy sidewalks safe during an unusually cold winter. The city is offering residents two buckets of salt, which was to be available at 10 fire halls Wednesday. But Capt. Jonathan Gormick of Vancouver Fire and Rescue says the salt disappeared Tuesday night at some sites within an hour of being delivered. He says a firefighter had to stop at least one person from getting a bit too greedy after free salt was loaded into garbage bins and heading for the back of a pickup truck. Gormick expects the man may have intended to sell the salt online because stores have run out of it. Snow, followed by slush and falling temperatures turned streets into skating rinks, which has resulted in the demand.

The Canadian Press

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