City in brief
No one was hurt in a major fire that erupted in a former church in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce early Sunday morning, according to The Montreal Gazette. The fire took over two hours to put out by around 50 firefighters. Another 15 emergency vehicles were at the scene. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
In a press conference last Thursday, Quebec Premier François Legault said he wanted to extend the blue metro line in Montreal as soon as possible, according to TVA. He said that although the service’s interruption on Wednesday morning was caused by an altercation involving pepper spray, he is hoping to confirm the funding of the blue line’s extension soon.
The Quebec Superior Court ruled in favour of a homeless man who did not want to have his legs and some fingers amputated after getting severe frostbite, according to CTV. Per the judgement, the amputation was not proven to be absolutely necessary.
Former Town of Mount Royal priest, Brian Boucher, was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual touching on Tuesday, according to The Montreal Gazette. Judge Patricia Compagnone said Boucher’s testimony lacked credibility while the victim’s testimony was believable. He will be sentenced in March.
Nation in brief
In a Sherbrooke hospital, a 2-month-old baby survived a fentanyl overdose after being given almost three times the required dosage, according to CBC. The baby, Alysse, was in the hospital for an infected lung in late December when the overdose occurred. Alysse had to be revived. An internal investigation has been launched in the hospital to find out what went wrong.
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, an 18-year-old Saudi fleeing her allegedly abusive family, was granted asylum in Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. Al-Qunun arrived at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Saturday, according to The Globe and Mail. The young woman, whose tweets drew international attention, fled to Thailand from Kuwait to seek asylum on Jan. 5.
Three people are dead and 23 are injured after an Ottawa bus crashed into a transit platform on Friday during rush hour, according to Global News. The driver was detained and is to be interviewed by the local police.
World in brief
The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether or not U.S. President Donald Trump was acting on behalf of Russia, in a previously unknown investigation revealed on Friday by The New York Times. The investigation was opened immediately after Trump’s May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey. No evidence from the investigation linking Trump to Moscow has been made public.
Turkish Journalist Pelin Ünker was sentenced to 13 months in prison for her investigation into businesses owned by former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and his sons, according to The Guardian. Ünker’s work is part of the larger Paradise Papers investigation into offshore tax havens.
The runner-up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s presidential elections has asked his country’s Constitutional Court to declare the election results invalid, according to Al Jazeera. Martin Fayulu alleged that President-elect Felix Tshisekedi cospired with outgoing President Joseph Kabila to win the election. The Catholic Church, which conducted an independent monitoring of the elections, also contested the results.
Sixty per cent of France’s speed cameras have been vandalized by protestors associated with the yellow vest movement, according to the BBC. The actions are part of a larger movement against fuel taxes and the increasing cost of daily commutes, including those imposed by the cameras.
After repeating remarks on racial IQ differences, Nobel-prize-winning geneticist James Watson was stripped of several honorary titles, according to the BBC. The 90-year-old scientist was one of three awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for discovering the double helix structure of DNA.
