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

Aug 16, 2016 | 2:30 PM

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, Aug. 16.

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PM SAYS SECURITY, LIBERTIES MUST BE BALANCED: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says balancing individuals rights with keeping Canadians secure from bombing threats has to be handled with care. His comments were his first reaction to an alleged terrorist plot that led to the death of Aaron Driver in Strathroy, Ont., last week. The plot created anxieties over police monitoring of suspects but hasn’t shaken Trudeau’s emphasis on balancing civil liberties with public safety. Trudeau says all Canadians expect their government to keep them safe and to uphold the values and rights they hold dear.

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TERRORIST SYMPATHIZER DIED OF GUNSHOT WOUND: Police say a terrorist sympathizer killed in a high-stakes standoff in southwestern Ontario last week died from a gunshot wound. Aaron Driver, 24, died during a confrontation with RCMP in Strathroy, Ont., Wednesday after making a martyrdom video that suggested he was planning to detonate a homemade bomb in an urban centre.

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POLICE WANT WAYS TO GET ELECTRONIC PASSWORDS: Canada’s police chiefs want a new law that would force people to hand over their electronic passwords with a judge’s consent. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has passed a resolution calling for the legal measure to unlock digital evidence, saying criminals increasingly use encryption to hide illicit activities. The RCMP’s Assistant Commissioner says there is nothing currently in Canadian law that would compel someone to provide a password to police during an investigation.

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HELP FOR SASKATCHEWAN COMMUNITY AFTER SCHOOL SHOOTING: A remote, northern Saskatchewan village where people were traumatized after a deadly school shooting is getting help to improve its future. Premier Brad Wall was in La Loche, Sask., where he announced new measures for education, health, housing and infrastructure. The support comes after two brothers were killed in a home and a teacher and a teacher’s aide were shot at the high school in La Loche in January. Seven others at the school were wounded.

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PTSD SURVEY CARRIED OUT ON FORT MCMURRAY FIRE VICTIMS: Quebec researchers have finished a survey on whether some residents of Fort McMurray have post-traumatic stress disorder following a massive wildfire this spring. Psychology professor Genevieve Belleville says preliminary look at the data shows many people have painful memories of the fire and evacuation of the city, and are suffering from insomnia and nightmares. She says further analysis is needed to determine if they can be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and the findings should be complete in the fall.

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JUDGE UPHOLDS PRIVATE SCHOOL PRAYER RULING: An Alberta judge has upheld a human rights decision that found a private school discriminated against two Muslim students by not allowing them to pray. The Alberta Human Rights Commission tribunal found in 2015 that Webber Academy in Calgary unlawfully discriminated against the students and fined the school $26,000. The boys, who were in Grades 9 and 10, testified that praying is mandatory in their Sunni religion. The school argued that the boys’ parents were told Webber Academy was non-denominational and there was no space for praying.

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GOVERNMENT SLAMMED FOR NIXING WOMAN’S AIRPORT CLEARANCE: A Federal Court judge has ruled that a government decision that stripped a woman of her airport security clearance and put her out of work more than two years ago was unfair, incomprehensible and unreasonable. In ordering the minister of transport to take another look at the case, Judge Susan Elliott slammed the government for treating Ayaan Farah in a shoddy fashion. Farah, a Somali-Canadian who worked for U.S. Airways at Toronto’s international airport, protested she was a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record who was being falsely accused of having ties to gangsters.

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ACTRESS EMMA THOMPSON HELPS REMOTE NUNAVUT COMMUNITY: British actress Emma Thompson says she’s visiting a remote community in the Canadian Arctic to help them in their fight against seismic testing in the ocean they depend on for food. Thompson is part of a Greenpeace delegation spending two weeks in Clyde River, Nunavut, about halfway up the eastern coast of Baffin Island. The community is opposing National Energy Board approvals for offshore seismic testing, saying the underwater blasts will harm and chase away the marine mammals they hunt. Thompson says she will use her celebrity and communication skills to bring attention to the community’s fight.

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The Canadian Press