Belgium Reached Deal to Back the Free Trade Pact Between the European Union and Canada

 A landmark free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada could be signed within days after the Belgian government overcame an impasse with its regional authorities on Thursday.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his national government had reached a deal with the holdout region of Wallonia. The region held a veto over the country’s ability to back the trans-Atlantic trade agreement. And the EU, in turn, needed unanimity among all its members.

The deal will go through regional legislatures by Friday night.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been due to travel to Brussels on Thursday to sign the deal, but those plans were effectively scrapped as the negotiations with Wallonia dragged on.

Apple iPhone 4th-Quarter Sales Beat Estimates But Company's Revenue Falls

Apple says it sold 45.51 million iPhones in the three months ended Sept. 24, beating the average analysts' estimate of 44.8 million, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple Inc. posted a third quarter in a row of declining iPhone sales on Tuesday, but beat Wall Street targets for its flagship product and forecast higher-than-expected revenue for the critical holiday shopping season.

Apple executives said demand for the new iPhone 7, the company's best hope to revive flagging sales, was strong, despite fiscal fourth-quarter revenue dips in China and the Americas, its two most important markets.

"We couldn't be more excited about the customer response to the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus," Apple CEO Tim Cook said, according to CNBC.

Busted! Canadian Nursing Home Worker Charged with Eight Murders

A 49-year-old nursing home worker in Ontario has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder spanning several years.

Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer of Woodstock, Ontario, appeared in court on Tuesday morning.
The victims were residents in two long-term care facilities where Ms Wettlaufer worked and were between 75 and 96 years old.

Police said seven of the victims were given a fatal dose of a drug.

The victims were five women and three men and were all residents of Caressant Care in Woodstock and Meadow Park in London, Ontario.

Russian President Putin Orders International Students To Return Home

Vladmir Putin, Russia's president and 2016 most powerful man in the world according to Forbes has ordered the children and relatives of all it's officials to return home amidst rising tensions between Russia and the West and the possibility of an all out World War sooner rather than later according to Kremlin sources and Daily Star UK.

 Putin's call for Russians to come home comes after Russia recently held defence drills for 40 million citizens, Puttin also cancelled a state visit to France after France President Hollande accused him of committing war crimes in Syria, and now he thinks that America might rally it's 'friends' against his country so he wants to be more than ready for that.

This order also comes after Russia shipped nuclear-capable ballistic missiles (Iskander-M missle system) into it's central European border between Poland and Lithuania.

Canada Tightens Real Estate Tax Loophole For Foreign Investors

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has announced new measures designed to help stabilize Canada's housing market, particularly in overheated areas such as Vancouver and Toronto.

Among them will be the closure of a loophole some foreign residents are using to avoid paying capital gains tax on investment homes.

Going forward, only people who used their home as a principal residence will be eligible for the government's exemption, Morneau said.

"We want that exemption to be appropriately interpreted," he told reporters.

"We need to have the beneficial owner of the home being here in Canada, we have to have that owner living in the home as their principal residence."

Royal Visit: Prince William and Kate Paddle to Haida Gwaii by War Canoe

Prince William Duke of Cambridge helps row a traditional war canoe in Haida Gwaii, B.C., on Sept. 30, 2016. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince William and Kate arrived at a small village off the coast of B.C. on Friday in a replica 15-metre Haida war canoe, taken to the remote island by paddlers wearing T-shirts opposing liquefied natural gas development.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were welcomed to the Haida heritage hall by more than a dozen chiefs and elders.

Young dancers in brightly coloured and beaded costumes performed a dance to honour the survivors of Canada’s residential schools and their personal journeys.

Game of Thrones Took The Emmy Crown

“Game of Thrones” conquered the Emmy kingdom Sunday, honoured as top drama for the second consecutive year and becoming the most honoured prime-time TV series ever on a night of surprises and sharp political jabs.

“Veep” repeated as best comedy series and its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, won a record-breaking sixth Emmy as best comedy actress. Jeffrey Tambor’s trophy as top comedy actor for “Transparent” also was his second.

“Games of Thrones,” the fantasy saga based on George R.R. Martin's novels, received a total of 12 awards Sunday and at last weekend's technical arts ceremony for a cumulative 38, besting “Frasier” by one to claim most prime-time series awards ever.

Full list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Awards:

Drama Series: “Game of Thrones.”

Directing, Drama Series: Miguel Sapochnik, “Game of Thrones”

$3M Jewelry Taken From Drake Tour Bus Found; Suspect Busted

"Hotline Bling" rapper Drake saw the safe return of millions of dollars' worth of actual bling stolen from his tour bus.

Phoenix police recovered a reported $3 million worth of jewelry that was taken from a tour bus being used by the musician and DJ Future the Prince while they were performing Tuesday.

Travion King, 21, was booked into Maricopa County Jail on a burglary charge.

Police say they identified King as the suspect through surveillance footage at Talking Stick Resort Arena in downtown Phoenix.

They then learned that he was already in jail after being arrested for trespassing Wednesday morning by campus police at Arizona State University in nearby Tempe.

Plus Size Model Ashley Graham Covers Elle Canada But There Is This...

Ashley Graham, 28 shot to fame after becoming the first plus size model to cover Sports Illustrated and now she has bagged yet another magazine cover. She is pictured on the cover of the October issue of ELLE Canada and she seems to have lost a lot of weight. In the issue, she opened up about her weight, learning disability, why she chose to hold off on sex with her husband until after marriage and her determination to help women gain control of their body image.

Busted! Two Canadian Women Arrested With Cocaine Worth $29m in Australia While On Worldwide Cruise

Two Canadian women 23-year-old Melina Roberge and 28-year-old Isabelle Lagacé, who were on a dream world wide cruise were on Monday arrested by the police in Australia, according to a release by the Australian authorities.

Authorities say approximately 95 kilograms of cocaine were allegedly found in the suitcases of the two friends and another Canadian man, 63-year-old man, Andre Tamine who was travelling with them when they arrived in Sydney on a cruise ship. All three were arrested in Australia.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the value of the drugs was $30 million Australian dollars, which is about $22 million in U.S. dollars or $29 million Canadian dollars.

Meet First Canadian Woman to Win a NASCAR Race

Amber Balcaen, 24, the 1st Canadian-born woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race in the United States.(shorttrack247)

Whether it's the tracks in Manitoba or a NASCAR race, Amber Balcaen has a need for speed.

The 24-year-old dirt racer from Winnipeg made history this weekend becoming the first Canadian-born woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race in the United States.

"It has sunk in and it hasn't. I've been smiling for the last two days and I'll be smiling all week," Balcaen said on Sunday.

"This is something I dreamed of, and I believed that I could achieve it and make it happen. For it to actually become a reality and for me to pull off the win was really a dream come true."

Balcaen took the title on Saturday in the seven-car Limited Sportsman Field during the NASACR Whelen All-American Series. This means Balcaen is in the first level of NASCAR, and she said her plans are to make it to the top of the five tiers.

Canadian Police Force RCMP Shoot Dead Terror Suspect During an Anti-terror Operation

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) today shot dead a suspect in an anti-terror operation in the Canadian province of Ontario, according to several media reports.

Canadian media reports say police had raided a property in Strathroy, about 225km (140 miles) south-west of Toronto and the 'terrorist suspect' named  as Aaron Driver, 24,  was arrested last year for openly supporting ISIS on social media.

RCMP said in a statement  it had received "credible information of a potential terrorist threat".
"A suspect was identified and the proper course of action has been taken to ensure that there is no danger to the public's safety," it added.

Dallas Cowboys Now Most Valuable Sport Team, Check Out Top 50

NFL team Dallas Cowboys are now the most valuable sports team in the World according to Forbes annual list of most Valuable sports franchises released this week. This is the first time since Forbes began compiling their annual top 50 lists of the most valuable sports teams in the world, that a non-football team will be topping it's list. Manchester United held the crown of most valuable in 2011 and 2012, and Real Madrid did so the last three years, but on this occasion American football outfit Dallas Cowboys rank first with a value of $4billion (£3.31bn), up 25%.

Real Madrid's fall from top of the list comes despite a value of $3.65bn (£2.76bn) and a 12% increase in value from last year, when they featured at the summit of the list. Real Madrid stocked with a pantheon of stars led by the world's highest-paid athlete Cristiano Ronaldo, tops a group of eight football clubs on the list. NFL franchises make up 27 of the 50 most valuable sports teams in the world in 2016's rankings, with Real Madrid down to second, Barcelona in third (having been fourth in 2015), and Man United staying in fifth.

University of Waterloo boosts salaries of female faculty by $3K after 'systemic' discrepancy found

An Ontario university is the latest to bump the salaries of its female faculty members after discovering they were being paid thousands of dollars less than their male coworkers, but one professor says steps must be taken to prevent — not just rectify — such biases in academia.
In a memo emailed to faculty Wednesday and obtained by The Canadian Press, the University of Waterloo said a working group tasked with analyzing faculty salaries uncovered a "systemic gender anomaly" that was "consistent across the university."

As a result, it said an adjustment of $2,905 will be made on Sept. 1 to the salaries of all female faculty members who were in the faculty association's bargaining unit as of April 30 of last year.
However, the working group said in its report that the increases will not be applied retroactively.
Aimee Morrison, an associate professor at the university and associate chair of graduate studies, says this type of inequity is a problem across academia "and probably all fields."

While it's great that the university is willing to address the problem, "I don't see a bigger conversation happening in really pointed ways about how does this keep happening," she said.

Sad Ending As Jewelry Mega Chain Ben Moss Closes Door Across The Country

After more than a century in business, Winnipeg-based jewelry chain Ben Moss Jewellers is closing its doors.

Going-out-of-business sales were announced at all 54 Ben Moss locations in Canada in a news release from Gordon Brothers Group on Friday. The sales began on Saturday.

In May the company announced that it was restructuring its operations after receiving creditor protection. Liquidation sales have already begun at 11 underperforming stores across the country.

Video: Justice - Toronto Police Officer Sentenced To 6 Years In Prison For Fatally Shooting A Teen!

Three years after Const. James Forcillo shot and killed Sammy Yatim on a streetcar, the judge has sentenced him to 6 years in prison. A lawyer for Toronto Const. James Forcillo appeared in a Toronto courtroom Thursday afternoon to outline his case for appealing the officer's conviction for the attempted murder of Sammy Yatim, the 18-year-old shot dead aboard a streetcar in July 2013. See video below;