City in brief
Six-year-old Ellie White is in need of a bone marrow donation to fight Leukemia for the second time, according to Global News. She is in intensive treatment and is calling for people to register to become a potential donor by taking a saliva swab test. If matched, Ellie’s life could be saved.
The West Island section of Highway 40, between Highway 13 (exit 60) and St-Jean Blvd. (exit 52) will be closed Nov. 3 and 4, due to the construction of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM). Initial construction will tear down a railway bridge so the REM construction can begin in the area. The traffic will be deviated to Highway 20. The REM is Montreal’s light rail system that will include 26 stations connecting the city to the Greater Montreal area.
In their fight for paid internships, UQAM students from the Science Education Association will be going back on strike from Nov. 13 to 23, according to Le Devoir. The students want to send a message to new Premier François Legault—many students in the faculty have to complete unpaid internships to finish their degree.
As of yesterday, Quebec cannabis stores will only be open Thursday through Sunday, according to CBC. The new hours are due to shortage of stock. This doesn’t mean that there won’t also be a shortage on days the stores are open. Aurora Cannabis, Quebec’s cannabis supplier, told the CBC they are mandated to deliver 5,000 kg per year.
Nation in Brief
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeal of Balpreet Singh and Harminder Kaur, members of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, who were denied entry to the Quebec National Assembly hearing with their ceremonial daggers in 2011, according to CTV. The high court gave no reason as to why they refused to hear the appeal, although they are not required to. Both the Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal found the Quebec National Assembly was allowed to establish its own rules.
Simons, a Canadian fashion retailer, has increased its minimum wage to $16 per hour in Quebec, according to TVA. A majority of their sales associates in Quebec saw a $3 increase, regardless of how much they were paid before. A Simons representative told TVA the company did not want to discuss the increase publicly.
Global News uncovered on Friday that Statistics Canada will be requesting financial transaction data and personal information from 500,000 Canadians who will randomly be chosen from nine banks across the nation. Information requested will include social insurance numbers, individual payments and personal banking transactions. However, the banks have not yet agreed to this.
Othman Hamdan, a man from Fort St. John in British Columbia, has been ordered to leave Canada after he posted 85 Facebook posts on 14 different accounts that praised ISIS and terrorist attacks, according to CBC. In his immigration hearing, Hamdan argued he was exercising his freedom of speech. His posts encouraged terrorist attacks and included instructions on how to carry them out.
World in brief
Ethiopia elected its frst female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, on Thursday according to The New York Times. This comes a week after it was announced that the Ethiopian cabinet will be gender equal. Sahle-Work was a diplomat in the United Nations who worked on peacekeeping operations in Africa prior to her election. She promises to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia.
The world’s longest sea bridge title goes to China, as it opened a bridge that connects Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai last week, according to The Wall Street Journal. The six lane bridge is almost 55 km long—the equivalent of 20 of California’s Golden Gate Bridge. It took nine years to build.
Registered republican Cesar Altieri Sayoc, who allegedly sent more than a dozen bombs to prominent Democrats around the United States last week, was arrested on Friday, according to USA Today. Bombs were sent to former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as actor Robert De Niro and the CNN headquarters, to name a few. Sayoc is being charged with interstate transport of explosives and is facing a maximum sentence of 48 years in prison.
On Wednesday, a storm hit the west of the Mediterranean in Lebanon and cities in Western Syria, causing a flood and hail so heavy it shattered car windows and knocked down electric poles, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star. One death was reported on Thursday. Public safety officials warned residents to stay cautious on the roads and in the streets.
Ali Bongo, president of Gabon, was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, according to Radio France Internationale Afrique. Bongo was in town for a panel at the Future Investment Initiative forum and attended a speech by Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. Gabonese press officials said the hospitalization wasn’t for anything serious, the president was simply tired.
Far-right candidate of the Workers’ Party, Jair Bolsonaro, won the presidential elections in Brazil on Sunday, with 55.21 per cent of the votes, according to El País. Runner-up Fernando Haddad won only 44.79 per cent of votes. His plans include industrializing the Amazon rainforest and facilitating the ownership of firearms, according to The New York Times. He also wants to fill his cabinet with military officers, and plans to favour bilateral trade deals, as the Trump administration has done.
Eleven people were killed and six were injured in an open fire shooting early Saturday morning in a Pittsburgh synagogue, according to CNN. The assailant, Robert Bowers, is facing 29 charges, including multiple counts of two hate crimes: obstruction of the exercise of religious belief resulting in death and in bodily injury to a public safety officer. If Bowers gets convicted of a hate crime, he could face the death penalty.
A passenger Lion Air flight crashed into the Java Sea on Monday, with 189 people on after taking off from Jakarta, according to The Globe and Mail. The brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane lost contact with ground officials 13 minutes after it took off. There are no signs of survivors yet.
Graphic by @spooky_soda.
