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Feb 08, 2024

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Good morning! This is our daily news roundup with everything you need to know in one concise read. Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox every morning. Donald Trump's detractors and

Good morning! This is our daily news roundup with everything you need to know in one concise read. Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox every morning.

Donald Trump's detractors and defenders might not agree on much, but they can agree on one thing regarding one of the most momentous criminal cases in U.S. history. This could easily go to the Supreme Court. "Of course it will," said Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and current law professor at Pace University in New York. "There's no doubt … It's inevitable if there's a conviction."

The landmark case against Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is rock solid, he told CBC News. Over on Fox News, legal scholars Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley countered that the indictment is full of holes, yet agree a Trump conviction would ultimately be decided by the high court. The defendant, the 45th president of the United States, pleaded not guilty on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election, and appears poised to fight the charges on multiple grounds.

Trump is charged with three fraud-related crimes (conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and a pair related to obstructing official government business) and a fourth involving civil-rights abuses (conspiracy against rights). Legal experts say there are three claims the former president could make to try to beat the charges: the prosecution stretched the definition of certain crimes; Trump was exercising free speech; and he really believed what he was saying. Read the full story here.

(Susannah Ireland/Reuters)

A Sotheby's handler examines various cat memorabilia on display during a preview of 'Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own' in London, England, on Thursday. More than 1,000 items — including handwritten lyrics, art and other rare items — from the Queen singer's London home are on public display until September 5, after which they'll be auctioned off. Check out our photo gallery here.

Kate LeBlanc remembers how wildfire smoke that drifted across the skies of New Brunswick earlier this summer clung to her eyes, making them feel gritty. "It's like having a pair of glasses on that you can't clean," said the 71-year-old resident of Bathurst, N.B. "It really felt like fine grains of sand or something." The smoke, on top of her seasonal allergies, meant LeBlanc was constantly flushing out her eyes. She told CBC News that she used a bottle of eye wash drops and two bottles of allergy drops in just a few months. This year, wildfires in Canada have been the worst on record, with winds pushing smoke across the country and into parts of the United States. On these especially hazy days, some eye doctors told CBC News they saw more patients reporting irritated eyes. Eye health experts are concerned that as wildfires become a more common phenomenon, we aren't studying the long-term impacts the smoke could have on our eyes. Read the full story here.

Residents in parts of southern Ottawa were left picking up debris after a tornado tore through the area Thursday evening. Environment Canada confirmed a tornado formed northwest of Metcalfe, a community in rural south Ottawa. No reported injuries were associated with the storm, Ottawa Paramedic Service said. But residents across the area reported hail, driving winds and downed trees. Jacques Jodoin, who lives in Ottawa's Findlay Creek neighbourhood, said he saw a funnel cloud forming from his backyard. "I saw the turning... cushions and garbage bins and everything turning," he said. "I saw everything turning and grabbing speed so then I ran in the house and went downstairs with my family." Read the full story here. After multiple workforce surveys probing racism and discrimination toward employees, the federal Immigration Department says it is in the process of setting up an independent ombudsperson's office, expected to be up and running by this fall. "As with any effort toward real, lasting, and systemic change, we are not going to fix things overnight," a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) wrote to CBC News in a statement. The department said it would be creating an equity secretariat that will support "safe and independent channels for reporting racism and discrimination," more accountability for senior managers, and also include an ombudsperson's office available to all of its employees. However, two unions representing IRCC employees say the department has not formally spoken to them about the steps involved in creating the secretariat or the ombudsperson's office. Read more on this story here. Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic's next tournament is the National Bank Open in Toronto, which begins Monday. He also intends to suit up for the U.S. Open at the end of August. But Raonic hasn't planned beyond that. He returned to the pro tour in June after missing two years due to injuries. During the time away, the Thornhill, Ont., native explored the world outside of tennis. He took classes and read books. He spoke to retired athletes about life after sports. He spent time with his family after being separated during the pandemic. Last April, he married longtime partner Camille Ringoir — the two of them now live together in the Bahamas. When asked what his post-athletic future may hold, Raonic refused to engage in specifics. "The one thing I do know: I will explore something away from tennis, just because if I was to come back to tennis, I want to come back to tennis because I missed tennis and it's something that I want to be more and more part of my everyday life — not because I didn't take the time to learn something else." Read the full story here. Now here's some good news to start your Friday: It's a portage unlike any other. Hundreds of canoes belonging to the Canadian Canoe Museum — some as long as a transport trailer — are being moved from their previous location in a former outboard motor factory in Peterborough, Ont., to a new waterfront home three kilometres away. The museum holds the world's largest collection of paddled watercraft, from birchbark canoes made by Indigenous craftspeople to a sleek kayak used in the Olympic Games. The museum's home for the past 26 years is so cramped that only a portion of the collection could be displayed to the public. That left some 500 canoes languishing in an adjacent warehouse. The collection deserves a new home, says the museum's executive director, Carolyn Hyslop. "There is no other collection like this in the world," she said. The museum's new home is under construction on the edge of Little Lake, near the spot where the canal locks of the Trent-Severn Waterway meet the Otonabee River. It's expected to open in summer 2024. Read more here.

When summer — the season of skinned knees, ice cream beards and bedtime under the stars — becomes a season of staying inside on high alert, our kids lose an important part of their childhood, writes Magdalena Olszanowski. Read her column here.

He's selling out stadiums and bringing new life to Major League Baseball. But will Japanese phenomenon Shohei Ohtani stay stuck on a losing team?

This week we want to hear about your experiences with breakups and divorce. It's an experience that impacts couples and families across the country and was in the spotlight this week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau announced their separation. For better or worse, what made you decide to break up? What's the key to separating amicably? Fill out the details on this form and send us your stories.

1769: The Island of St. John (or St. John's Island) becomes a separate colony from Nova Scotia. In 1799, it changed its name to Prince Edward Island. 1892: Medical missionary Wilfred Grenfell arrives in Labrador. For 42 years, he worked to build hospitals, orphanages and churches. 1914: Canada and the independent colony of Newfoundland and Labrador automatically enter the First World War when Britain declares war on Germany. 1922: Telephone service in Canada and the United States is suspended for one minute during Alexander Graham Bell's funeral in Baddeck, N.S.

With files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters

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