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White House seeking fines from Harvard, other universities after Columbia deal, official says

The Trump administration is investigating dozens of universities over allegations that they failed to address campus antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war, and several institutions have faced federal funding freezes.

The White House is pursuing heavy fines from Harvard and other universities as part of potential settlements to end investigations into campus antisemitism, using the deal it struck with Columbia University as a template, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.

Fines have become a staple of proposed deals in talks with Harvard and other schools, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

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Norman Marshall Villeneuve was one of Canada’s greatest bebop drummers

The self-taught drummer modeled his exciting hard-driving style after Art Blakely, Elvin Jones and Max Roach.

Born and raised in Montreal, Norman Marshall Villeneuve was taught to tap dance by his older brother. As a preteen he studied piano with the great instructor Daisy Peterson-Sweeney, sister of Oscar Peterson. Another legendary jazz pianist, Oliver Jones, was a cousin who, like Mr. Peterson, lived nearby.

The tutoring in the other disciplines notwithstanding, he instead became one of Canada’s greatest bebop drummers.

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Former City of Ottawa lawyer who defaced Holocaust memorial pleads guilty to mischief, gets bail

Iain Aspenlieder's lawyer said the act was an attempt to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and was not motivated by hate.

A former lawyer for the City of Ottawa who desecrated the National Holocaust Monument by splashing it with red paint and scrawling the words FEED ME in large red block letters, has pleaded guilty to mischief and been released on bail to his parents’ house.

Iain Aspenlieder, who is expected to be sentenced later this year, last month vandalized the memorial to six million Jews killed by the Nazi regime. His lawyer said Friday that the act was an attempt to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and was not motivated by hate.

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At the bars lining London’s streets, the Hockey Canada verdict hits close to home

Twenty-six-year-old criminology student Lana Allan outside a bar on Richmond Street in London, Ont., a few hundred metres from the courthouse where the Hockey Canada verdict was read on Thursday.

A few hours after the verdict was handed down in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team, a thunderstorm swept over London, Ont., soaking the streets and filling the darkening sky with bolts of lighting. But in the bar district a few blocks from the courthouse, the party continued. Groups of young men and young women trooped back and forth along Richmond Street, laughing, chatting and vaping as they went from bar to bar between bursts of rain.

Many had just learned that a judge had found the players not guilty, and the news was starting to sink in. The whole affair began on this strip at a place called Jack’s, where one of the players met the complainant in the case and took her back to a nearby hotel. What went on in that hotel room became the focus of a national conversation, raising questions about power dynamics, hockey culture and what constitutes sexual consent.

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Hudson’s Bay reaches more lease deals across Canada for its locations

Hudson’s Bay put its leases up for sale earlier this year, after it filed for creditor protection and closed its 80 stores and 16 under its sister Saks banners.

Hudson’s Bay Co. has reached deals to sell the leases of six store locations as legal wrangling continues on work to close a deal to sell up to 25 leases to B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu.

Legal filings show clothing retailer YM Inc., which owns brands such as Urban Planet, Bluenotes, West49 and Suzy Shier, has struck a deal to buy five leases for $5.03 million. The documents show it was unable to secure landlord approvals for three other locations.

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'Goosebumps,' euphoria after trapped miners freed from B.C.'s Red Chris mine

Three workers who were trapped in a mine in a remote area of northwestern British Columbia were brought to safety after more than 60 hours underground. Bernard Wessels, the global safety chief for the mine's operator, Newmont Corp., says there were "goosebumps and happiness" when the contractors emerged from the Red Chris mine, about 500 kilometres northwest of Terrace, B.C. (July 25, 2025)

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Ontario adds virtual courtroom restrictions, law experts raise questions over transparency

Virtual court hearings on Zoom were first adopted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic so court processes could continue amid government-mandated physical distancing rules.

Ontario’s lower courts are introducing restrictions on who can attend proceedings virtually after what they describe as an escalation of interruptions, a move that law experts and observers say raises questions about transparency.

The Ontario Court of Justice released a new policy last week that would stop observers from accessing court proceedings online unless they receive authorization from the judge or justice of peace overseeing the case.

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Murder case against father of Montreal girl moves to a grand jury

The case against the father of a nine-year-old Montreal girl found dead in Upstate New York will move directly to the grand jury stage.

The court in Ticonderoga, N.Y., and the secretary for the district attorney who is prosecuting the case both confirmed that the felony hearing scheduled to take place Friday for Luciano Frattolin was cancelled.

Instead the case will move to a grand jury, where its members will assess the prosecution’s evidence to decide whether there is probable cause that Frattolin killed his daughter Melina and should stand trial.

Luciano Frattolin is charged with murder and concealing of a corpse in the death of his daughter, Melina Frattolin.
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Trump says trade deal with Canada may not be reached

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs the White House on Thursday. He is traveling to his Balmedie golf courses in Scotland this week.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he may not reach a new trade deal with Canada and is suggesting he might instead impose more tariffs on the country unilaterally.

Mr. Trump’s warning follows signals from Prime Minister Mark Carney that the two sides may not be able to reach an agreement by a self-imposed deadline of Aug. 1 to end a trade war that’s nearing the five-month point.

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Seniors don’t like downsizing, leaving fewer options for first-time buyers – here’s what could help

Data from CMHC indicates the proportion of Canadians older than 75 who are cashing out of their homes fell steadily between 1991 and 2021.

Realtor Barry Lebow specializes in helping seniors downsize – moving out of the family homes they’ve lived in for decades to a smaller place that’s a better fit for their aging lifestyle.

From the outside, that might look like the natural progression: feeding a healthy bit of turnover into the housing supply as move-up buyers seek their own family home.

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Morning Update: Hockey Canada trial ends in acquittals

Good morning. A judge has acquitted all five players in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case, after a trial that became a national flashpoint — more on that below, along with price hikes for U.S. shoppers and Hulk Hogan’s wrestling legacy. But first:

Today’s headlines

© Sammy Kogan

Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham speaks after the verdict yesterday.
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Cells are the smallest, most basic unit of life. Do they also hold memories?

Thomas Verny is a clinical psychiatrist, academic, award-winning author, public speaker, poet and podcaster. He is the author of eight books, including the global bestseller The Secret Life of the Unborn Child and 2021’sThe Embodied Mind: Understanding the Mysteries of Cellular Memory, Consciousness and Our Bodies.

Joshua Bongard, professor of computer science at the University of Vermont, believes that as humans and animals evolved and adapted to their surroundings, so did their tissues and cells. “What we are is intelligent machines made of intelligent machines made of intelligent machines, all the way down,” he said, referring to cells. [1]

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Prostate cancer screening should focus on those with elevated risks, experts say

Rensford De Haan heard about the free PSA testing clinic and took a blood test in 2023, which showed his PSA level was elevated. A biopsy later revealed he had prostate cancer.

Canada should rethink its approach to prostate cancer screening, which uses a controversial blood test that an expert task force encouraged doctors to abandon more than a decade ago, according to a new paper led by a group of Toronto urologists and oncologists.

In an article published Friday in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, the authors argue for a population-wide trial that would offer the blood test, known as the prostate-specific antigen test, or PSA test, to men at elevated risk of prostate cancer, likely including Black men and those with a family history of the disease.

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Protesters express support for complainant in Hockey Canada sexual-assault case outside courthouse

Protesters were at the courthouse in London, Ont., to support the complainant ahead of the verdict. The five hockey players accused of sexual assault were found not guilty.

The five hockey players who were acquitted Thursday of sexual assault arrived at a courthouse in London, Ont., to a crowd of protesters holding signs and chanting slogans.

Most of the several dozen protesters were there to support the complainant in the case, known publicly as E.M. because of a publication ban. They held signs saying they believed E.M. and calling for justice, and someone had written “believe” in chalk in the sidewalk.

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Advocates describe ‘heartbreaking’ verdict in Hockey Canada trial

Demonstrators in support of E.M., the complainant in the Hockey Canada trial, before the verdict at a London, Ont., courthouse on Thursday.

Advocates for survivors of sexual violence warn that Thursday’s verdict in the Hockey Canada case could discourage victims from going to police.

Five former junior hockey players were acquitted of sexual assault after a trial that included seven days of gruelling cross-examination of the complainant by different defence lawyers. In delivering her ruling, the judge said the woman was not credible.

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Carney condemns Israel over ‘humanitarian disaster’ in Gaza

Canada condemns the Israeli government’s failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Israel’s control of aid distribution must be replaced by comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations. Many of these are…

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) July 25, 2025

Canada on Thursday condemned the Israeli government for failing to prevent what Prime Minister Mark Carney called a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Carney also accused Israel of violating international law over the blocking of Canadian-funded aid delivery to civilians in the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

© DARRYL DYCK

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to reporters before attending a meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, in Inuvik, N.W.T., on Thursday, July 24, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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Judge did not use videos to determine whether woman had consented

A courtroom sketch of Justice Maria Carroccia delivering her ruling in the sexual-assault trial of five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team in London, Ont., on Thursday.

The judge who acquitted the five men in the Hockey Canada sexual-assault case did not rely on two videos taken of the complainant on the night of her encounter with the accused players to determine whether the woman had consented to sex.

Instead, Justice Maria Carroccia used the videos to assess the woman’s relative sobriety and demeanour at the time they were shot. The judge did not make a major declaration on the the legal value of what are known as consent videos.

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Psychiatrists testify on fitness of accused in Vancouver festival attack to stand trial

Debris is scattered on East 43rd Avenue in Vancouver, where a vehicle drove into crowd at a Lapu Lapu Day festival.

Two forensic psychiatrists have concluded their testimony at a hearing to determine if the man accused of killing 11 people at Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day festival is fit to stand trial.

Adam Kai-Ji Lo faces 11 counts of second-degree murder and for allegedly driving an SUV through a crowded street at the Filipino festival on April 26.

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The key legal issues at the heart of the Hockey Canada verdict

Justice Maria Carroccia found five members of Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team not guilty of sexual assault.

The key issue in the sexual-assault trial of five former members of Canada’s national junior hockey team, which ended in an acquittal on Thursday for all five men, was whether the complainant voluntarily consented to the sexual activity.

The Crown had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that E.M., as she was known to protect her identity, did not consent when she was with the five players in a hotel room in London, Ont., in June, 2018.

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Man who killed 22-year-old woman convicted of manslaughter, homicide team says

A man originally accused of the second-degree murder of a young woman from Abbotsford, B.C., has been found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.

Twenty-two-year-old Chelsey Gauthier was reported missing to the Abbotsford Police Department in July 2017 and her body was found in August.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Gary Losch appeared in a B.C. Supreme Court in Abbotsford this week, where Justice Dev Dley found him not guilty of second-degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter.

© DARRYL DYCK

An Abbotsford police shoulder patch is seen during a press conference in New Westminster, B.C., Feb. 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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NHLPA says players should get opportunity to ‘return to work’ at the league

The courtroom is shown in this sketch from London, Ont., as Justice Maria Carroccia delivers her ruling in the Hockey Canada sexual-assault trial, on Thursday.

The five former Canadian world junior hockey players acquitted of sexual-assault charges may hope to return to their professional careers in North America after the conclusion of their criminal trial, but they still face some significant hurdles and the possibility of sanctions.

On Thursday, both the National Hockey League and Hockey Canada indicated that they were in no rush to welcome the players back into the fold.

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