LOCAL
Police should invest in de-escalation training instead of expanding weapons available for use against citizens, community advocates argued Tuesday just prior to a public consultation on expanding taser use. One of the worries is that taers will be used when guns wouldn’t have been used in the first place. [Globe and Mail]
The microbiologist who led Toronto through the SARS crisis has died, but left behind an impassioned video shot just 8 days before his death urging Canada to allow assisted suicide. “I wish they could live in my body for 24 hours and I think they would change that opinion,” he said about people who oppose assisted suicide. [CBC]
Ontario’s environment minister is calling on the government to stop “penalizing” public transit through a development fee regime that favours new roads. Municipalities get less money from developers for transit than they do for roads. [Globe and Mail]
NATIONAL
Many of the doctors performing circumcisions are poorly trained for the procedure, says a new report. This possibly explains the steady stream of complications seen in emergency wards, some with life-long consequences. [National Post]
A former SNC-Lavalin executive returns to Canada from Swiss custody to face chages of fraud, bribery, and money laundering in relation to a Montreal hospital contract. The Swiss were investigating Ben Aissa’s business in North Africa, where he was the company’s pointman in getting contracts from the now-deposed Gadaffi regime in Libya. [National Post]
Stephen Harper’s Quebec lieutenant says the province needs to list specific financial demands for the Lac-Megantic cleanup instead of complain about the pace of federal assistance. The federal government will be involved in decontamination, after announcing it would contribute $60-million in emergency help. [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
The militant group behind the four-day takeover of a Nairobi mall claims the government used chemical weapons against them, then carried out a “demolition” that covered evidence and buried 137 hostages. A government spokesman immediately denied the claim, saying the group is known for wild allegations. [CBC]
Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani told the UN he’d offer immediate negotations to remove “reasonable concerns” over his country’s nuclear programme. In return, he wants the international community to recognize their right to enrich uranium. [Guardian]
A massive earthquake in southwestern Pakistan has left at least 210 dead, thousands injured and homeless. The earth moved with enough force to create a small island visible off the southern coast after the huge tremor. [CBC]
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