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

OMAR KHADR SETTLEMENT NOT UNPRECEDENTED: The Canadian government’s breach-of-rights settlement with Omar Khadr is far from unprecedented, but its public apology to the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner sets Canada apart from other countries whose citizens were held at the infamous U.S. prison, an international human rights group said Monday. The settlement — sources say Khadr was paid $10.5 million — echoes deals reached years ago by the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia, who also spent millions settling lawsuits. However, Laura Pitter with Human Rights Watch said Canada had gone further than other countries by publicly acknowledging wrongdoing. “It’s really important that Canada took the additional step of publicly apologizing to him,” Pitter said Monday from New York. “Canada’s action here really sets an example.” Britain reportedly paid millions to several of its citizens detained at Guantanamo Bay but offered no apologies. One of the highest profile was Moazzam Begg, who along with seven others, had accused the U.K. and its intelligence agencies of complicity in their abduction, mistreatment and interrogation.

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BISHOPS QUESTION FOREIGN AID FOR ABORTION: Catholic bishops are criticizing the Trudeau government for allowing “political ideology” to dictate advocacy of abortion rights in its new feminist international development policy. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops levels that criticism in a recent letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland that takes issue with her June 6 foreign policy speech. In the letter, Bishop Douglas Crosby also questions Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for spending hundreds of millions more on the issue than on famine in Africa. Freeland’s spokesman says the government firmly believes the human rights of women begin with control over their own bodies and having access to safe and legal abortion. Abortion has proved controversial in Canadian development policy in the past. The previous Conservative government faced criticism after it refused to fund any projects that offered abortion services as part of its maternal, newborn and child health initiative, which the current Liberal government has reversed.

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ACCUSED MAN FIGHTS TO KEEP CITIZENSHIP: A man accused of slaughtering villagers in Guatemala using a grenade, gun and sledgehammer is fighting Canada’s attempt to revoke his citizenship. Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes denies he concealed participation in a 1982 massacre by the Guatemalan military when he obtained Canadian citizenship a decade later. In documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada, Sosa Orantes says he was not even in the village of Las Dos Erres when the events took place. Sosa Orantes, 59, is serving a 10-year sentence for immigration fraud in the United States, where he also held citizenship until it was revoked in 2014. The Canadian government says Sosa Orantes was a senior member of a military special forces group that led a mission to the Guatemalan village in December 1982 to interrogate inhabitants after some military rifles were allegedly stolen during a guerrilla ambush of troops. Military members killed at least 162 civilians, including 67 children.

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ICEBERG COUNT ALMOST 1,000, ICE PATROL SAYS: Iceberg Alley off Newfoundland has been an especially dangerous stretch this year with almost 1,000 icebergs counted in North Atlantic shipping lanes since February. Gabrielle McGrath, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol, says it’s already among the top 20 most severe ice seasons since records began in 1900. A final ranking won’t be known until later as some bergs are still drifting down the Labrador coast. The patrol was formed after an iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912. It works with Canadian partners to track icebergs in shipping lanes and warn mariners. McGrath says the ice patrol has a perfect safety record for those who heed its warnings. She says a series of low-pressure systems last spring drove hundreds of icebergs close to shore along with unusually thick sea ice.

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FRIENDS, FAMILY GRIEVE AFTER TEEN’S DEATH IN CUBA: Family and friends of an Ontario teen who died while on a graduation trip are still waiting for answers as they try to come to terms with their loss. Alex Sagriff of Belleville, Ont., died Thursday while on vacation in Veradero, Cuba. Her vacation was not officially sanctioned by her local school board, but was instead co-ordinated by the student travel organization S-Trip. It says it has arranged to bring most of Sagriff’s fellow travellers home and is organizing grief counselling and other supports for those who need it. They say they will not comment further on Sagriff’s death unless directed to by her family. Family members issued a statement saying they’re focusing on bringing Sagriff’s body home as they wait for more answers about her death. And a teen named as Sagriff’s boyfriend on her Facebook page is cautioning the public against jumping to conclusions based on incomplete information. “Alex was not alone. The reports are false,” reads a tweet by a person with the same name as her boyfriend. “She was not found, she was in my arms. She was not alone.”

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QUEBEC POLICE QUESTION WITNESSES TO DEADLY FIRE: Evidence found at the scene of a deadly fire at a seniors’ residence in Quebec is leading police to believe the blaze was criminal, authorities said Monday. Provincial police Sgt. Marc Tessier said investigators still need to meet with many more witnesses to the blaze, which erupted at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and killed a 94-year-old woman. Police arrested and questioned a 44-year-old man Sunday but released him the same day, Tessier said. He wouldn’t say what police found at the scene, “but there are elements that indicate it could be suspicious, that lead us to believe it was criminal.” Police released two photos of the back of a man they believe could be important to the case and are asking people to come forward with information about him. They say the man is white, has dark hair and was wearing a plaid shirt. Forty-three people were rescued after the fire at the Oasis seniors’ residence in Terrebonne, just north of Montreal, with more than 10 being sent to hospital.

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MANITOBA FARMERS SCRAMBLE TO CONTAIN PORK VIRUS: Farmers in Manitoba, Canada’s third-largest pork producing province, are scrambling to contain a mysterious outbreak of a rapidly spreading virus that’s deadly to piglets and threatens to harm their industry. There are 51 pork operations dealing with porcine epidemic diarrhea, up from about 40 at the end of last month, said Andrew Dickson, general manager of the Manitoba Pork Council. “It caught us off-guard,” Dickson said Monday. “We had a total of 10 cases in three years, so that’s what’s throwing us off for a loop … What happened this year that we’ve suddenly got 50?” He said the virus has so far been contained to about a half-hour’s drive radius surrounding Steinbach, southeast of Winnipeg, and farmers are doing what they can — including reviewing biosecurity measures, equipment and clothing — to stop it from spreading. Although it doesn’t pose a threat to human health or food, porcine epidemic diarrhea is almost always fatal for pigs under three weeks of age due to dehydration.

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HEAVY RAIN IN ONTARIO CAUSING RISE IN TURTLE DEATHS: Heavy rain in Ontario this summer might be a nuisance for residents, but it’s proving to be fatal for the province’s turtles. A turtle conservation group in Ontario said Monday it has already taken in 620 injured turtles this year, twice the amount of cases it had in all of last year. “It’s been incredibly overwhelming,” said Donnell Gasbarrini, a program manager at the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre, an organization based in Peterborough with locations throughout Ontario. “By June, on some days we took in over 20 turtles a day.” Gasbarrini said the heavy rain this summer has flooded areas where turtles generally nest, causing the reptiles to travel more than usual. The extra movement means that more turtles are being struck by cars as they cross roadways, she said. Ontario has eight different species of turtles, and seven of them are considered at risk. Of those, three are endangered. This year, many turtles were also taken to the centre’s various locations because they ventured out during warm spells in the middle of winter, but couldn’t survive in the open when it became cold again.

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ALBERTA NANOSCIENTISTS TRANSFORM GUITAR SOUND: For years, serious guitar players have clung to their tube amplifiers, saying the rich sound is worth the hassle of old-school electronics. Now, scientists at the University of Alberta have used the latest nanotechnology in a guitar pedal that duplicates that beloved warmth without the inconvenience and expense. Chemistry professor Rick McCreery says his so-called “Nanolog” pedal demonstrates that electronic circuits that operate at the molecular level can work in reasonably priced, durable consumer goods. He says it’s the first product of its kind and could lead to similar circuits replacing current systems in thousands of consumer electronic items. The product is being introduced this week at the National Association of Music Manufacturers show in California, the largest such show in the world.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

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

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