LOCAL
Toronto Police have charged one man with two of the city’s grisliest murders over the past year. Adonay Zekarias, 42, faces two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Nighisti Semret, 55, and Rigat Essag Ghirmay, 28. [Globe and Mail]
An Italian man arrested in Toronto and now fighting deportation is one of the top leaders of Italy’s Calabrian mafia, controlling syndicates in Canada and in Australia, an immigration hearing was told. He’s likely to flee rather than face deportation, because in the mafia code this is honourable and he’d be given nearly “unlimited funds” to live as a fugitive. [National Post]
Mayor Rob Ford makes it to 2 of ever 5 official meetings and events in his official daily schedule, but the new deputy mayor is going to “gently” encourage him to attend more. Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly replaced Doug Holyday after the latter moved to provincial politics. [Globe and Mail]
NATIONAL
Stephen Harper’s latest nomination to the Supreme Court has added to the already growing conservative tendencies in Canada’s highest court. Mark Nadon, 64, was a partly retired judge from the Federal Court of Appeal, an unusual source for judges for the Supreme Court, and replaces a Liberal appointee. [Globe and Mail]
Despite a war on drugs, cocaine, cannabis and heroine have become cheaper, purer and more potent, says new Canadian research. “By every metric, the war on drugs, which is estimated to have cost North America in the last 40 years over $1-trillion, has really been hugely ineffective.” [Toronto Star]
Frank Meyers, 85, can trace the ownership of his Trenton farm back through generations and centuries, but his land is being expropriated by the federal government so they can expand a military base. The defence department is expanding the base, using it for a counter terrorism unit, and plans to put an ammunition arsenal on his former land. [Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
Large swaths of the US federal government could be shutdown at midnight Monday, when the fiscal year ends, if the budget impasse between Democrats and the Republicans-controlled House of Representatives isn’t resolved. Canadian business leaders are fearing the unknown. [Globe and Mail]
Qatar has promised to crackdown on private companies exploiting migrant workers, following reports that an alarming number of these workers are dying in the building boom in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup. Qatar’s Labour Minister said they will recruit more inspectors to mount raids and hire more interpreters to speed up the complaints lodged by foreign workers. [The Guardian]
The smuggled letters from North Americans have revealed the horrific conditions imposed by the Egyptian military government not just on Egyptians awaiting trial, but on Westerners. Prisoners are beaten, refused medical treatment, forced to shave their heads, and made to sleep packed “like sardines” on concrete cells infested with cockroaches. [New York Times]
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