Four stories in the news for Tuesday, Jan. 15
———
SAUDI TEEN GRANTED ASYLUM IN CANADA TO SPEAK TODAY
A Saudi teen whose flight from her allegedly abusive family captured global attention will give a public statement in Toronto this morning. Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun was granted asylum in Canada after her plight captured global attention on social media. The 18-year-old ran from her family while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, then barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and tweeted that she feared for her life if she returned home. She alleged that her father was physically abusive to her and tried to force her into an arranged marriage.
———
FEDS FACE SCRUTINY OVER BUS-SAFETY STANDARDS
The federal government faces questions today about its plan to increase safety on commercial buses following last week’s deadly crash in Ottawa that killed three people and injured nearly two dozen more. The fresh scrutiny comes after Transportation Safety Board chair Kathy Fox took aim Monday at what she saw as the government’s failure to act on earlier recommendations to increase “crashworthiness” rules for buses. Those recommendations sprang from the TSB’s investigation into another Ottawa bus crash in 2013, in which a city bus broke through a warning gate at a rail crossing and hit a moving passenger train, killing six people on the bus.
———
B.C. JURY EXPECTED TO BEGIN DELIBERATIONS TODAY
A British Columbia judge has told jurors they will have to decide whether a man who confessed to killing a 12-year-old girl could have obtained details about the crime from police or media reports. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen completed his instructions to the jury Monday night in the trial of Garry Handlen, who confessed to the 1978 murder during a police undercover operation. Cullen said a jury foreman would be selected Tuesday morning before deliberations begin. Monica Jack was last seen in Merritt while riding her bike and her remains were discovered in the area 17 years later.
———
EX-MP SVEN ROBINSON TO ANNOUNCE POLITICAL PLANS
Former New Democrat MP Svend Robinson will announce today whether he is making a political comeback after saying a month ago he is strongly considering a return to federal politics. Robinson represented a Vancouver-area riding in Burnaby for 25 years before leaving politics in 2004 after he admitted stealing a diamond ring from an auction, saying he was under too much strain at the time. In a news release, Robinson says he will make the announcement on whether he is returning to politics outside the home in Burnaby he lived in as a boy.
———
REPORTS ON NOVA SCOTIA PRIVACY BREACH TO BE RELEASED
A pair of reports to be released today are expected to shed more light on how the personal information of 700 people became exposed through Nova Scotia’s freedom-of-information website last spring. The Liberal government asked Nova Scotia auditor general Michael Pickup and provincial privacy commissioner Catherine Tully to investigate what it described as a privacy breach in April. Personal information ranging from social insurance numbers to thousands of documents meant only for the eyes of the applicants were accessed, according to the province.
———
ALSO IN THE NEWS:
— Ontario Premier Doug Ford will sit down with GM executives in Detroit today for his first face-to-face meeting since the company announced the Oshawa, Ont., plant closure in November.
— The second-degree murder trial continues today for Dennis Oland in the death of his father, Richard Oland.
— Edward Downey, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sara Baillie and Taliyah Marsman, will make a court appearance today in Calgary to set a sentencing date.
— The Canadian Real Estate Association will release its latest housing figures for December and year-end.
The Canadian Press
