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

Highlights from the news file for Thursday, Aug. 4

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TOOTOO WON’T RESIGN: Former federal cabinet minister Hunter Tootoo says he won’t resign his seat in the House of Commons. Tootoo has been sitting as an Independent MP since May when he stepped down to seek help for an alcohol addiction. He admitted this week to having been involved in a “consensual but inappropriate” workplace relationship prior to leaving the Liberals. Some in Nunavut, which Tootoo represents, say he has been under mounting pressure to surrender his Commons seat.

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GLOBAL RIGHTS GROUPS WATCHING INQUIRY: International human rights organizations have long been critical of how Canada has handled the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. Now that the federal government has unveiled the terms of reference for a long-awaited national inquiry, groups around the world will be watching to see how things unfold.

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SAJJAN IN AFRICA ON FACT FINDING MISSION: Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will visit the Democratic Republic of Congo next week to collect information about a possible future Canadian peacekeeping mission. The United Nations has a major peacekeeping operation in the African nation but Canadian officials have warned against jumping to any conclusions. The UN says the DRC offers a prime opportunity for Sajjan to see such a mission in operation.

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TORONTO STUDENT DETAINED IN BANGLADESH ATTACK: A Toronto university student and a British national not heard from since last month’s restaurant attack in Bangladesh were arrested Thursday on allegations they were involved in the deadly siege carried out by radical Islamists. University of Toronto student Tahmid Hasib Khan and British national Hasnat Karim were arrested in different areas of the capital, Dhaka. Police were seeking court permission to question them for 10 days. Five armed gunmen attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant on the night of July 1, killing 20 people and holding others inside hostage until police stormed the eatery.

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NO FIGHTER JET REQUIREMENT FOR NATO:A federal government report says Canada is not required to provide a certain number of fighter jets to NATO. The Defence Department report is raising fresh questions about the Liberal government’s rush to buy a new warplane. The report says while Canada supports NATO and contributes aircraft and other military assets when possible, “there is no hard minimum requirement for the NATO commitment.”

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BLACK WIDOW PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO VIOLATING PEACE BOND: An 82-year-old woman convicted of spiking her new husband’s coffee with tranquilizers four years ago will be back in court in February on three charges of breaching a recognizance, including a ban on accessing the Internet. Dubbed the “Internet Black Widow” for killing and poisoning her intimate partners, Melissa Shepard’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf in a Halifax courtroom Thursday. Shepard was charged with violating the terms of a peace bond in April after a police officer allegedly spotted her using a computer at the Halifax Central Library.

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PSYCHIATRIST TESTIFIES IN PQ SHOOTING TRIAL: A forensic psychiatrist has testified the religious and political beliefs of a man accused in a fatal shooting at a Parti Quebecois election party four years ago are no more than extreme than anyone else’s. Forensic psychiatrist Joel Watts was a Crown witness in the trial of Richard Henry Bain. Bain has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and two arson-related charges in connection with the shooting outside the Metropolis nightclub in Montreal in 2012.

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SOME WATER RESTRICTIONS LIFTED IN PRINCE ALBERT: Officials in Prince Albert have lifted some of the emergency water restrictions the Saskatchewan city put in place after last month’s Husky Energy pipeline spill into the North Saskatchewan River. The city has closed its water intake from the river following the leak of up to 250-thousand litres of crude upstream. It’s now temporarily drawing water from the South Saskatchewan River and the Little Red River.

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DIVISIONS CONTINUE IN REPUBLICAN RANKS: Presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to refuse to endorse another prominent Republican, leading to concerns about the future of the party. Trump’s feud with House Speaker Paul Ryan is overshadowing the party’s attacks on Democrat Hillary Clinton. That has Republicans worried about the billionaire’s unorthodox candidacy, as well as what it means for the future of the Republican Party. Trump’s running mate was grilled by an 11-year-old boy at a rally in North Carolina over what the boy called Mike Pence’s “softening up” of Trump’s words.

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NORTH KOREA OVER THE MOON? North Korean space officials are hard at work on a five-year plan to put more advanced satellites into orbit and their ambitions extend to the moon. A senior official at North Korea’s version of NASA told The Associated Press that international sanctions won’t stop the country from launching more satellites by 2020, and that he hopes to see the North Korean flag on the moon within the next 10 years. Outside experts say it’s ambitious, but conceivable. While the U.S. is the only country to have conducted manned lunar missions, other nations have sent unmanned spacecraft there and have in that sense planted their flags.