The Friday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Friday, June 17:

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SENATORS BOW TO WILL OF COMMONS; VOTE TO PASS ASSISTED DYING BILL: Appointed senators have bowed to the will of the elected House of Commons, giving up their insistence that suffering Canadians who are not near death should have the right to seek medical help to end their lives. Senators have voted 44-28 to accept the more restrictive approach proposed by the federal government in Bill C-14, which limits the right to assisted dying to those whose natural death is “reasonably foreseeable.” The Senate had passed an amendment to expand the scope of the bill to include those who aren’t terminally ill but the Commons voted Thursday to reject that.

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TWO MEN GUILTY IN BOSMA MURDER: Two Ontario men have been found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Tim Bosma, who disappeared three years ago after leaving home with two strangers on a test drive in a truck he was trying to sell online. Gasps of relief rang out in the Hamilton courtroom Friday as Justice Andrew Goodman read the verdict against Dellen Millard, 30, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 28, of Oakville, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Bosma’s family members, including his widow, Sharlene Bosma, sobbed and turned to each other in comfort and support as they listened to the verdict, which followed five days of jury deliberations. The conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

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RUSSIAN TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES BANNED FROM RIO GAMES: Track and field’s world governing body is upholding its ban on Russia’s track and field athletes competing in international competitions. And that includes this summer’s Rio Olympics. The suspension was imposed in November following a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency commission that alleged state-sponsored cheating, corruption and cover-ups in Russian track and field. Russian President Vladimir Putin says clean athletes should not be punished because others have been caught doping. Russia plans to appeal the decision on Tuesday at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee.

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TRUDEAU WARNS HOUSING SOLUTION IN VANCOUVER COULD HURT MARKETS ELSEWHERE: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is concerned about the ballooning cost of housing in Vancouver and Toronto but it wants to be certain any action it takes doesn’t make the problem worse. Speaking before a housing affordability roundtable of local MPs and academics on Friday, Trudeau said the federal government has to be “very, very thoughtful” about how it approaches this challenge in a way that continues to allow Vancouver to flourish while protecting affordability. He also cautioned about “unintended consequences” of any government actions.

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MAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING COUILLARD: A man has been charged with assault with a weapon after someone threw an object at Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard at a vigil for those slain in the Orlando massacre. Esteban Torres is also charged with disturbing the peace in Thursday night’s incident. Torres, 20, appeared in a Montreal courtroom Friday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to the two charges. He has been freed pending his next court appearance and must respect various conditions, including staying away from any person linked to a political party. Couillard was not injured.

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HEALTH CANADA CONSULTING ON IRRADIATED BEEF: Health Canada is starting a 75-day consultation over a proposal to allow the irradiation of fresh and frozen ground beef as a food safety measure. Industry groups have sought irradiation for more than a decade as a way to prevent the spread of E. coli, salmonella and other dangerous bacteria, but the measure has run into negative public reaction. Health Canada says it has done a thorough safety review and says irradiated beef is safe to eat and maintains its food value, taste, texture and appearance. Irradiation is already approved in Canada to treat potatoes, onions, wheat, flour, whole or ground spices and dehydrated seasoning preparations; irradiated products are also required to be labelled as such.

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OTTAWA ADVANCES $300M TO ALBERTA FOR WILDFIRE: The federal government is cutting Alberta an initial cheque for about $300 million to help pay for rebuilding efforts following a destructive wildfire in Fort McMurray last month. Veterans Affairs Minister and Alberta MP Kent Hehr says it’s an advance payment out of the disaster assistance agreement that exists between Ottawa and the provinces. “This is the quickest turnaround ever getting money out the door to support the rebuild of a community that has been affected in the way that Fort McMurray has,” Hehr said Friday after a meeting of federal and provincial ministers in Edmonton. Alberta has already said that the cost of fighting the blaze and fixing the damage will run into the billions of dollars.

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MEAT LOAF’S VITAL SIGNS ‘STABLE AND NORMAL’: A publicist for Meat Loaf says the singer’s vital signs are “stable and normal” after he collapsed near the end of a performance in Edmonton. Jeremy Westby with Webster Public Relations says in a news release that Meat Loaf is responsive and “recovering well” after being admitted to hospital on Thursday night. Westby says the performer collapsed due to severe dehydration. A video of the show at the Northern Jubilee Auditorium shows Meat Loaf bending over, then knocking over his microphone stand and falling to the floor. Audience members said he had been singing his classic “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).”

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POLICE PROBE FAR-RIGHT TIES, MENTAL HEALTH IN JO COX SLAYING: Counter-terrorism detectives are helping with the investigation into the murder of British MP Jo Cox. Acting Chief Constable Dee Collins says the 52-year-old suspect’s mental health and alleged links to right-wing extremism are both important lines of inquiry. He has been examined and declared medically fit to be interviewed by police. Cox was shot and stabbed outside a library in her northern England constituency. Collins says it appears to have been a targeted attack.

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COURT CONVICTS AUSCHWITZ GUARD, 94, AS ACCESSORY TO MURDER: A 94-year-old former SS sergeant was found guilty Friday of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison for serving as an Auschwitz guard, in a verdict that survivors from the Nazi death camp hailed as a long overdue victory. Reinhold Hanning, sitting in a wheelchair, listened attentively but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Anke Grudda read the ruling in state court in Detmold, Germany. She said Hanning was a cog in a “perfectly functioning machinery” of destruction, helping operate the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where some 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, were killed.