FEDS TO BUY NEW SEARCH AND RESCUE PLANES:
The federal government says it’s going to buy 16 new aircraft to replace the military’s aging search and rescue planes. It’s ordering the aircraft from European aerospace giant Airbus. The pricetag will be $2.3 billion. The effort to replace Canada’s search and rescue planes has been mired in controversy and delays for more than a decade. Initial efforts in 2002 were quickly derailed after the military was accused of rigging its requirements for a new search-and-rescue plane to favour one design.
BUSINESS LEADERS WANT AIRPORT SCREENING COSTS SLASHED:
A coalition of business leaders in Canada’s eight largest cities is putting pressure on the federal government to slash security screening times and cut travelling costs, saying such measures are needed to bolster the economy. The Canadian Global Cities Council is pushing to make airports more internationally competitive in order to attract more tourists, enhance economic activity and improve the travelling experience. It wants international security screening standards to be adapted and targeted checks of travellers from high-risk countries to speed up how long it takes to pass through security.
MOTHER OF MAN ACCUSED IN CHARLESTON SHOOTINGS HAD HEART ATTACK:
Dylann Roof’s lawyers say his mother suffered a heart attack after listening to opening statements in her son’s death penalty trial. Roof’s mother collapsed as she tried to stand after prosecutor Jay Richardson detailed what he said was Roof’s cold and calculated plan to kill nine black people in a Charleston church in a racially motivated attack. She said “I’m sorry” several times as family members and court security came to help. The filing did not give her current condition. Roof’s lawyers detailed the heart attack in a request Thursday for a mistrial because of the emotional testimony of the first day of his death penalty trial. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel denied the request and testimony continued Thursday.
GIRAFFES AT RISK OF EXTINCTION:
Biologists say giraffes are at risk of extinction. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature says the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 per cent in just 30 years. Scientists have put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it “vulnerable.” That’s two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. Scientists blame habitat loss.
