South Korea-born Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim stands during his trial at a North Korean court in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.KCNA/Reuters
TOP STORIES
North Korea releases imprisoned Toronto pastor
North Korean state media has announced its release of imprisoned Toronto pastor Hyeon Soo Lim. Lim was a pastor with the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga. In December, 2015, he was sentenced to hard labour for life by North Korea's Supreme Court for what it says was an attempt to overthrow the regime. According to his church, Lim has a "very serious health problem, very high blood pressure." His release comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser travelled to North Korea as a special envoy to discuss Mr. Lim's case.
Ottawa defended arms sales to Saudis weeks before crackdown
Two weeks before Saudi Arabia deployed what appear to be Canadian-made armoured vehicles against its citizens, Ottawa was defending military sales to the Mideast kingdom. On July 11, lawyers for the Department of Justice filed a document saying that the federal government is not aware of any cases where Saudi Arabia has used Canadian-made armoured vehicles against its own people. "There is no evidence that such vehicles have been used to infringe the rights of the civilian population," the memorandum of fact and law says.
Delta comes to Bombardier's defence in Boeing dispute
Delta Air Lines is coming to the defence of Bombardier in an anti-dumping investigation by the United States Department of Commerce, documents show. In April, Boeing complained that Bombardier's C Series planes are unfairly subsidized by the Canadian and Quebec government. Filings indicate that Delta believes the investigation should be limited to larger planes. A win for Bombardier would help it avoid excessive duties in the United States, while offering Delta more choice for future purchases.
Series of fentanyl exposures puts Canadian prison staff on high alert
In the past three weeks, at least nine federal correctional officers have been exposed to fentanyl, according to a union official. "The problem with fentanyl is that it's so small that it can be easily hidden or mixed in with substances," said Ryan DeBack, the Prairies region vice-president for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers. "It can be airborne, it can be in powder form. I could walk into a cell without seeing it and suddenly I'm [exposed]." There have been no reported fatalities involving officers, but multiple inmate deaths from exposure to the lethal drug.
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MORNING MARKETS
President Donald Trump's warning North Korea faced "fire and fury" and Pyongyang's response it was considering an attack on Guam drove investors out of stocks on Wednesday and into the safety of the yen, Swiss franc, gold and government debt. Tokyo's Nikkei shed 1.3 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.4 per cent, and the Shanghai composite 0.2 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.8 and 1.5 per cent by about 5:30 a.m. ET. New York futures were also down, and the Canadian dollar was just below 79 cents (U.S.). Brent crude rose further above $52 a barrel ahead of a U.S. inventory report expected to show crude stocks dropped for a sixth week.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Canada welcomes refugees, but shuts the door on asylum seekers
"Maintaining the 'integrity of the immigration system' is in part the shared code language for how our governments (Conservative or Liberal) think about asylum seekers. Canada may love refugees like Syrians who are selected and screened abroad before they set foot in the country, but the same cannot be said about asylum seekers who wash up on our shores in boats, or who walk across our border with the U.S." – Vic Satzewich
Hand the Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls over to Indigenous Canadians
"The Trudeau government could turn to an umbrella group like the Assembly of First Nations. Ottawa would provide a set amount of funding, but beyond that, it would leave it entirely to Indigenous Canadians to decide on the inquiry's composition, mission, terms of reference, timelines, methods and objectives – everything. Turn the process over to the people most concerned with the outcome. They may surprise with their honesty and hard-headedness. As with any other inquiry, Ottawa would be under no obligation to adopt its advice as government policy. But it would be obliged to at least listen." – Globe Editorial
Will Trump make America white again?
"With his support numbers falling off the cliff elsewhere, his work on white nationalism has helped secure the support of his base, although indications are that his approval ratings among the less educated are also shrinking. A sophisticated, nuanced approach to a reform of the Democrats' identity politics could have worked well for the Republicans. Many Democrats themselves are suggesting they went overboard. But nuance and sophistication have no place in Mr. Trump's approach. He won via the politics of polarization. The country will lose by it." – Lawrence Martin
HEALTH PRIMER
Can adults develop new food allergies?
According to preliminary data from a large, national study that is currently under review, approximately 52 per cent of American adults with a reported food allergy developed one or more food allergies after age 18. Dr. Ruchi Gupta, who led the study, says that at allergy meetings, "you'd hear more and more about adult-onset food allergy. But this was all anecdotal. That's the reason we did the study, to get the numbers behind how frequently."
MOMENT IN TIME
The escalator is patented
Aug. 9, 1859: "I have invented a new and useful 'Improvement in Stairs,' which I call 'Revolving Stairs,'" Nathan Ames wrote in a three-page patent paper that was approved on this day. Ames hoped people could go from one floor to another "without exerting any muscular strength." His design could be made from wood or metal, held together by "endless" belts connected to rollers and rods on angled axis. In areas with a lot of people, he suggested his escalator could be steam powered; whereas, a hand-crank version was available for your home. When not rotating, you could use it as you would normal stairs, he said, or "walk upon the stairs in motion thus ascending or descending at double speed." From shopping malls to airports, Ames's design is still getting people from Level 1 to Level 2, 158 years after it was invented.
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