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

Highlights from the news file for Wednesday, April 20:

MARIJUANA LEGISLATION COMING: Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will introduce legislation in the spring of next year to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. Philpott, speaking at the United Nations, acknowledged the pot plan “challenges the status quo in many countries,” but she said the Liberal government is convinced it’s the best way to protect youth, while enhancing public safety. She made the comments during an impassioned speech at a special UN session on drugs.

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SENATOR PAYS AFTER AUDIT:The last sitting senator to owe the Senate money after a critical audit of spending has paid up. Senate records show Liberal Nick Sibbeston had repaid the Senate $26,924 that he owed for disallowed expenses. A special arbitration process found that Sibbeston billed taxpayers for stays in Edmonton en route to and from his home in Fort Simpson, N.W.T. The repayment leaves seven former senators still on the hook for more than $527,000 in questionable expenses the Senate wants to recoup.

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SENATOR DUFFY VERDICT COMING: Did Sen. Mike Duffy commit a crime or didn’t he? That’s the question Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt will seek to answer Thursday when he passes judgment on the 31 counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery Duffy has faced since July 2014. But the much broader implications of the saga of the senator from Prince Edward Island are perhaps best summed up in Duffy’s own words to the Senate in 2013 when he delivered a scathing rebuttal of the allegations swirling around him.”This,” Duffy thundered, “is a case for the history books.”

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AFTERMATH OF NDP MANITOBA DEFEAT: The finger pointing has begun after the NDP defeat in the Manitoba election. One New Democrat who lost his seat says the party could have won if Greg Selinger had stepped down last year after a caucus revolt erupted. In Ottawa, federal leader Tom Mulcair _ who lost his own election battle in the fall _ says the results in Manitoba should surprise no one since the NDP were in power for nearly 17 years.

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GIVE HOMOLKA A CHANCE, SAY SOME: Convicted killer Karla Homolka did her time and deserves a chance to start over, say advocates dedicated to helping offenders adjust to life after prison. The mere fact Homolka had been living undetected for some time in small-town Quebec suggests the notorious criminal has successfully reintegrated into society, says Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

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NEW MURDER CHARGE: A southern Alberta man accused of killing a two-year-old girl and her father last September is facing a new charge of first-degree murder. RCMP say Derek Saretzky is now charged in the death of Hanna Meketech, whose body was found in her Coleman, Alta., home on the evening of Sept. 9, 2015.The death of the 69-year-old woman occurred five days before the body of Terry Blanchette was found in his home in nearby Blairmore and his daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, was reported missing. The child’s body was found in a rural area two days later.

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DANGEROUS DRUG SEIZED: Police and Alberta health officials are raising the alarm about a dangerous drug called W-18 that is much more toxic than fentanyl, another opioid that has been linked to hundreds of deaths in Canada. Staff Sgt. Dave Knibbs says police in Edmonton seized about four kilograms of a white powder drug in December and tests by Health Canada confirm it is W-18.

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POWER STEERING COMPLAINTS: Transport Canada says it has identified a “serious safety issue” involving the power steering systems on more than 295,000 vehicles sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. A statement issued by Transport Minister Marc Garneau says the department has received more than 100 consumer complaints involving failure of a power steering return hose. Transport Canada said the loss of power steering assist, along with the potential for a vehicle fire, was a serious safety issue and it notified the manufacturer. Affected models are the 2009-2016 Dodge Journey, the 2011-2013 Chrysler 200, the 2007-2010 Chrysler Sebring and the 2007-2013 Dodge Avenger.

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CLINTON NEARLY UNSTOPPABLE: Hillary Clinton, the nearly unstoppable Democrat, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump accelerated Wednesday toward upcoming primaries on an increasingly direct path to presidential nominations after trouncing party challengers in New York. Clinton, now 81 per cent of the way toward clinching the Democratic nomination that eluded her eight years ago, can lose every remaining contest and still prevail. Her sweeping victory in the New York primary called into question the durability of Bernie Sanders’ rival campaign and left him with severely limited options for overtaking her.

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500 FEARED DEAD IN SHIPWRECK: Up to 500 people are feared dead after a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea last week, the U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday, citing the accounts of survivors. The disaster happened in waters between Italy and Libya, based on accounts from 41 survivors who were rescued on April 16 by a merchant ship, UNHCR said. The agency said that if confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest tragedies on the Mediterranean in the last year.

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MASS KILLER’S RIGHTS VIOLATED: Norwegian authorities have violated the human rights of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik by holding him in solitary confinement in a three-cell complex where he can play video games, watch TV and exercise, a court in Oslo ruled Wednesday.In the surprise decision, the Oslo district court said the isolation that Breivik faces in prison for killing 77 people in a bomb-and-gun massacre in 2011 is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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PRINCE DENIES WORK-SHY LABEL:Prince William has rejected criticism that he doesn’t put enough time into royal duties in interviews before the Queen’s 90th birthday on Thursday.Dismissing the moniker of “work-shy William,” the second-in-line to the throne said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he’s balancing his royal duties with those of a husband, father and air ambulance pilot. William says when the queen is ready to hand over tasks, he’ll be the “first person to accept them.”