Top News Advisory for Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015 – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Oct 27, 2015

Tuesday, Oct. 27

6:30 a.m.

Here are the latest Top News stories from The Canadian Press. Entries are subject to change. This includes projected word counts and the estimated timing of stories and updates, both of which can be affected by news developments and other matters. All times are Eastern unless otherwise stated. Contact the National Desk at 416-507-2150.

TOP NEWS AT THIS HOUR

Whale-watching accidents rare: industry head

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VANCOUVER _ The whale-watching ship that sank off Vancouver Island and is now at the centre of multiple investigations was inspected annually since 1998 and certified to carry 46 passengers, a Transport Canada official said.Five people died and another person is missing after the 20-metre long Leviathan II went down near the tourist town of Tofino, B.C., late Sunday afternoon. 550 words. Moved.

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Alberta to release historic red ink budget

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EDMONTON _ It’s budget day in Alberta, but the bad news is already in.The NDP government has already announced this year’s budget will have a record deficit just under $6.5 billion. 115 words. Will be updated.

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Fight over Indian school stories in court

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TORONTO _ Ontario’s top court today begins hearing a dispute over what to do with sensitive records from Indian residential schools.The records are of the stories told by thousands of survivors who sought compensation for sexual and other abuse. 270 words. Will be updated.

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Trudeau meets Wynne in premier’s office

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TORONTO _ Justin Trudeau is showing how dramatically the federal government’s relationship with Ontario has changed, making his first meeting with a premier since last week’s Liberal election victory in Kathleen Wynne’s office.Wynne campaigned frequently alongside Trudeau and other Liberal candidates in Ontario throughout the lengthy federal campaign, and was beaming the morning after the Oct. 19 election while she also tried to manage expectations by warning the two won’t always agree on every issue. 400 words. By Keith Leslie. Will be updated

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Sneaky snowbirds could have wings clipped

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OTTAWA _ Snowbirds beware: The federal government will use its planned border exit-tracking system to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in social benefits now going to people who shouldn’t receive them due to absences from Canada.Newly obtained memos say the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada expect to save between about $194 million and $319 million over five years once the long-anticipated system is fully in place. 670 words. By Jim Bronskill. Moved.

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Loonie taking bite out of cross-border flying

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MONTREAL _ The weak Canadian dollar isn’t just hurting cross-border shopping.U.S. airports that enjoyed a surge in the number of Canadian passenger levels when the loonie was valued higher than the American dollar are now seeing the flip side of currency swings. 565 words. By Ross Marowits. Moved Business and National.

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Defence to question streetcar driver in cop trial

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TORONTO _ The lawyer for a Toronto police officer charged in the shooting death of a teen on an empty streetcar is expected to cross-examine the driver of the transit vehicle today.Chad Seymour was the last person to speak with Sammy Yatim before the 18-year-old was killed in a confrontation with Const. James Forcillo in July 2013. 275 words. Will be updated.

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Funeral today for ex-diplomat Ken Taylor

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TORONTO _ A funeral is to be held today in Toronto for Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor.Taylor garnered international fame for helping six Americans escape Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis. 100 words. Will be writethru.

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Death toll reaches 311 in quake-hit Pakistani, Afghan areas

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PESHAWAR _ Rescuers were struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day’s earthquake rose to 311.According to Afghan and Pakistani officials, 237 people died in Pakistan and 74 in Afghanistan in the magnitude-7.5 quake, which was centred deep beneath the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan’s sparsely populated Badakhshan province that borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. PHOTO.

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Philippines says it can’t permanently house Aussie refugees

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MANILA _ The Philippines is unable to permanently resettle refugees from Australian-run detention camps as it attempts to provide for its own people, President Benigno Aquino III said Tuesday.Aquino said his government is seriously studying an Australian proposal that it accept refugees now in Australian-run camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, but there are limitations to what it can do as a developing county.

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House GOP leaders reach budget deal with Obama White House

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WASHINGTON _ House GOP leaders struck a budget deal made with the White House just before midnight Monday aimed at averting a government shutdown and forestalling a debt crisis.Speaker John Boehner is making one final appeal to restive Republicans: Pass the hard-won agreement with President Barack Obama before Rep. Paul Ryan assumes the speaker’s job later this week. But he encountered immediate resistance when he laid out the plan Monday night. His plan is for members to vote on the deal Wednesday. PHOTO.

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IS militants tie captives to Palmyra columns, blow them up

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BEIRUT _ Activists say the Islamic State group has killed three captives in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra by tying them to Roman-era columns at the site, then blowing the structures up with explosives.A Palmyra activist who goes by the name Nasser al-Thaer said on Tuesday that the killings took place the day before at the Palmyra archaeological site, located a few kilometres (miles) away from the city. Al-Thaer and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, say the identities of those slain remain unknown.

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Poets latest to be snared in Iranian hard-liners’ crackdown

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DUBAI _ Two Iranian poets jailed for their work and sentenced to 99 lashes apiece for shaking hands with members of the opposite sex are the latest targets in a crackdown that analysts say pits hard-liners against those offering new glimpses of life in the Islamic Republic.The sentences follow a pattern of arrests and convictions targeting activists, journalists and artists that has served as a grim backdrop to President Hassan Rouhani’s efforts to soften the country’s image and improve relations with the West, including through the landmark nuclear agreement reached last summer. PHOTO.

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BUZZ

Russian police find half a ton of caviar in speeding hearse

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MOSCOW _ Police in Russia’s far east stopped a hearse speeding on a highway _ only to find half a ton of caviar stashed inside.The Interior Ministry’s department in the Khabarovsk region said on Tuesday the hearse was caught speeding on the road connecting Khabarovsk, not far the Chinese border, to a city further north. When police officers asked the driver to open the car they saw plastic containers with caviar hidden under the wreaths lying next to a casket. More caviar was found inside the casket, which did not contain a body.

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Wastage costs Chinese city Guinness fried rice title

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BEIJING _ Guinness World Records has denied a Chinese city’s attempt at a new mark for the biggest serving of fried rice ever cooked, saying Yangzhou violated rules by wasting 150 kilograms (331 pounds) of the feast.According to a posting on the record book’s Chinese microblog, organizers said 4 metric tons (8,820 pounds) of cooked fried rice was distributed to five different outlets. However, it said a portion had been handled inappropriately, violating the organization’s rules requiring that the food be edible and not be wasted. PHOTO.

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Lions, pride of Africa, vanishing in West Africa

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LAGOS _ Lions, that symbol of Africa’s wild beauty, power and freedom, no longer roam in Mali. Or in Ivory Coast or Ghana or war-shattered eastern Congo. Or most of the rest of West Africa.Three years of searching and no sight of a lion for Philipp Henschel, lion survey co-ordinator for the New York-based Panthera conservation group. PHOTO.

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EU lawmakers fined for Nazi salutes, images in parliament

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BRUSSELS _ The European Parliament has sanctioned an Italian lawmaker who wore a T-shirt with an image combining Adolf Hitler and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a plenary session two weeks ago.The assembly said in a statement on Tuesday that it fined Gianluca Buonanno 3,060 euros ($3,378) and suspended him from activities in parliament for 10 days. He is still allowed to vote.

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(The Canadian Press)

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