LOCAL
Toronto police have recovered the baby grand piano stolen earlier this month from the Toronto General Hospital. Police said it was recovered after one of the suspects tried to sell it in the Peel Region. [Globe and Mail]
The process for deciding whether or not Wal-Mart can open up next to Kensington Market “is not over,” says Ed Sonshine, chief executive of RioCan. A year-long freeze was recently implemented on that stretch of Bathurst, but the developers and even Wal-Mart still have until September 17 to appear before the Ontario Municipal Board to appeal the freeze. [Toronto Star]
Police have charged seven people in connection with a string of alleged cellphone store robberies across the GTA. Police say the suspects face charges of robbery with firearm, theft of motor vehicle under $5000 and firearm use while committing offence. [Globe and Mail]
NATIONAL
After a turbulent, scandal-filled spring, polls place the Conservatives on track to win another election. The Conservatives have the support of 31% of Canadians against the Liberals’ 35%, but seat projections show them norrowly winning a minority government. [National Post]
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has been in favour of decriminalizing marijuana in the past, but announced in British Columbia that now he favours legalizing it altogether. “Tax it, regulate. It’s one of the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids because the current war on drugs…isn’t working,” he said. [National Post]
Canada’s provincial leaders are backing a call by aboriginal leaders to launch a national public inquiry into the case of missing or murdered aboriginal women. The Native Women’s Association of Canada said they have a list of 600 aboriginal women who have been murdered or have gone missing between 2005 and 2010, a number the RCMP is unable to confirm. [CBC]
INTERNATIONAL
After being holed up in a Russian airport for a month, Edward Snowden, the former intelligence officer wanted by the U.S. for espionage, didn’t receive permission to enter Russia after meeting with his lawyer, but did get a change of clothes and a copy of Dostoevesky’s Crime and Punishment. His lawyer wants him to learn “just who Raskolnikov is,” suggesting that perhaps his lawyer believes there’s a relationship between Snowden and the axe murderer who after 450 pages can’t even justify killing that old money lender and her half-sister. [Globe and Mail]
At least 56 people are dead after a train derailed in Spain Wednesday in one of Europe’s worst rail disasters. A further 111 people were reported injured, some of them critically. [The Guardian]
The military chief who ousted the elected President of Egypt called on his supporters to give him a mandate to tackle “violence and terrorism,” signalling a possible crackdown on Morsi supporters. His comments appear designed to get public cover before dismantling sit-ins by Morsi supporters in Cairo and elsewhere. [Globe and Mail]
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