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

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TRUDEAU PUSHES BAN ON RANSOMS: The question of whether the world’s richest countries should promise not to pay ransoms to terrorists who kidnap their citizens is part of the discussions at the G20 in Germany. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised more than a year ago to push other world leaders to stop paying kidnappers after two Canadians were killed by a terrorist group in the Philippines last year. A Canadian official says the current draft of the final document outlining what the leaders agreed to at the G20 in Hamburg currently includes the ransom discussions — at Trudeau’s urging.

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G20 BESIEGED WITH PROTESTS: Hamburg police say 196 officers have been injured during two days of clashes with anti-globalization activists who are protesting the Group of 20 summit in the German port city. City officials did not provide a comparable figure for injured protesters. Hamburg’s fire department said Friday that ambulances had transported 60 civilians to the city’s hospitals, including 11 people who were severely injured when they fell off a wall after fleeing from riot police.

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B.C. FOREST FIRE FORCES EVACUATION: Some 3,000 residents in central British Columbia have been told to leave their properties because of a growing wildfire. Officials are concerned because the winds have changed direction and are expected to increase in speed.  The evacuation order covers properties around 105 Mile House and 108 Mile House, about 200 kilometres northwest of Kamloops.

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JOBLESS RATE DIPS IN JUNE: The national unemployment rate fell to 6.5 per cent in June, down from 6.6 per cent the previous month.  Statistics Canada says the vast majority of the 45,300 jobs added in June were in part-time work, although the number of full-time positions also rose. Alberta, which has been hit hard by falling oil prices, added 7,500 positions last month and its jobless rate dropped to 7.4 per cent from 7.8 per cent the previous month.

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MONTREAL MAN ACCUSED OF MURDER GRANTED BAIL: Bail was granted Friday to a Montreal man charged with second degree murder in an alleged compassion killing. Michel Cadotte was charged in February with second-degree murder, one day after his wife, Jocelyne Lizotte, was discovered in cardiac arrest at a long-term care facility. Cadotte’s lawyer has suggested her client has received support from his family as well as the victim’s and that her client does not represent a risk to society.

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LAWYER URGES NO MORE PRISON TIME FOR WOMAN WHO HID DEAD INFANTS: A lawyer for the woman convicted of concealing the bodies of six infants in a Winnipeg storage locker says his client should have no more time behind bars. Greg Brodsky told a sentencing hearing Friday that Andrea Giesbrecht already spent 168 days in custody following her arrest in 2014. He reminded the court that Giesbrecht is being sentenced only on concealing the remains and not on anything to do with how the infants died. Medical experts testified the infants were Giesbrecht’s, were at or near full-term, and were likely to have been born alive, but because the remains were badly decomposed, it was impossible to determine how the infants died.

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MAN CHARGED AFTER DISRUPTION ON SUNWING FLIGHT: A Quebec man is due to appear in court on Monday for a bail hearing after a Sunwing Airlines plane bound for Cuba was forced to return to Montreal with a fighter escort. The airline says the plane returned on Thursday due to a passenger making threats. Two U.S. fighter planes were dispatched as a precaution.

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SHANIA TWAIN TALKS OF BATTLE WITH LYME DISEASE: Shania Twain says she was lucky she spotted a tick that fell off her and was able to get treated for Lyme disease quickly. It happened in the early 2000s when the country pop music singer was in Norfolk, Va. She says it immediately affected her performances. She says she felt dizzy and was unable to sing for a while. She cautions nature lovers to be on the watch for ticks.

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CALGARY STAMPEDE KICKS OFF: The Calgary Stampede kicked off Friday amid a more optimistic mood in the Alberta city that has been devastated by falling oil prices. Mayor Naheed Neshi said the mood in his city is improving and that things are better than they’ve been. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the province is slowly turning the corner.

The Canadian Press