Year in review: A look at news events in August 2022

5 – Actor Anne Heche was in critical condition after a car crash. She smashed into a house near her home in Los Angeles. Fire crews pulled her from the burning wreckage deep inside the two-storey home.

6 – The chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors resigned, saying immediate action was essential to address the important challenges facing the organization and the sport. Michael Brind’Amour’s departure came as Hockey Canada was under intense scrutiny for its handling of sexual assault allegations against members of two men’s junior teams.

6 – The man accused in the Amanda Todd harassment case was found guilty on all charges. Aydin Coban was accused of extortion, harassment, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and possession and distribution of child pornography. Todd was 15 when she died by suicide in 2012 after posting a video that described being tormented by an online harasser. The harrowing account, seen by millions of viewers since her death, saw her using flash cards to describe the torment from her anonymous cyberbully.

7 – Bill Graham, who served as foreign affairs minister in the Liberal government of Jean Chretien when Canada decided against joining the U-S invasion of Iraq in 2003, died at age 83. Graham served as minister of foreign affairs, minister of national defence, leader of the Opposition and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He had recently been a member of the Minister’s Advisory Panel for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

8 – Olivia Newton-John, the Grammy-winning singer who gained worldwide acclaim for her starring role in “Grease,” died at age 73. Her family said the longtime resident of Australia, whose sales topped 100 million albums, died peacefully at her ranch in Southern California. Newton-John had 14 top-10 singles in the U.S. from 1973 to 1983, won four Grammys and starred with John Travolta in “Grease” — which included the duet “You’re the One That I Want.” It was one of the era’s biggest songs and had sold more than 15 million copies.

8 – The FBI searched the primary residence of Donald Trump in a move representing an unprecedented escalation of law enforcement scrutiny of the former U.S. president. The search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was issued by a judge as part of an investigation into allegations Trump took classified records from the White House to his Palm Beach residence.

9 – Toronto lawyer Andrea Skinner was appointed interim chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors following Michael Brind’Amour’s recent resignation.

12 – Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man confront the 75-year-old onstage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing him 10 to 15 times. Rushdie was taken by helicopter to a hospital. Rushdie’s 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” was banned in Iran for being blasphemous and the country’s leader issued an edict calling for the author’s death. A $3.3-million bounty remains in effect for anyone who kills Rushdie.

14 – Actor Anne Heche died, nine days after she was injured in a fiery car crash. She had been on life support after suffering burns and a major brain injury when her car crashed into a home. Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera “Another World” in the late 1980s before becoming one of the hottest stars in Hollywood in the late 1990s. She was 53.

15 – Veteran news anchor Lisa LaFlamme said Bell Media had ended her contract at CTV National News after 35 years with the network. LaFlamme said in a video posted to social media that she was “blindsided” by the decision. She said she was told in late June that Bell had made a “business decision” to end her contract and she was still saddened by the decision. In a separate announcement, Bell Media said Omar Sachedina would replace LaFlamme starting on Sept. 5 in a move it says was due to “changing viewer habits.”

15 – The Taliban marked one year since they seized the Afghan capital of Kabul. The rapid takeover triggered a hasty escape of the nation’s western-backed leaders, sent the economy into a tailspin and fundamentally transformed the country. Taliban fighters staged small victory parades on foot, bicycles and motorcycles in the streets of the capital.

19 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the nomination of Michelle O’Bonsawin to the Supreme Court of Canada, making her the first Indigenous person to be named to the high court. O’Bonsawin spent five years as a judge at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa. She had also taught law at the University of Ottawa and served as the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group’s general counsel for eight years. O’Bonsawin identifies as a bilingual Franco-Ontarian and an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation.

23 – Ukrainian Ambassador Yulia Kovaliv said her country was investigating more than 28,000 war crimes with the help of Canadians. That included the killing of 373 children by Russian forces. Kovaliv said Russian soldiers were burning books on Ukrainian history in occupied cities, bombing museums and churches and engaging in energy terrorism by bombing 90 per cent of Ukraine’s wind farms and solar energy facilities.

23 – Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck signed a hydrogen deal in the port town of Stephenville, N.L., where they attended a hydrogen trade show along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The pact is intended to kick-start a transatlantic hydrogen supply chain, with the first deliveries expected in three years.

23 – The Chateau Laurier said they believed a famous portrait of Sir Winston Churchill was stolen from its walls sometime between Christmas Day last year and Jan. 6. Photos taken by guests inside the hotel’s Reading Lounge confirmed the original was still hanging on Dec. 25, but a photo taken just 12 days later showed the fake. The hotel’s general manager said whoever the thief or thieves were, they knew what they were doing, because removing the frame required special tools. The famous image was taken by Ottawa photographer Yousuf Karsh during Churchill’s wartime visit to the Canadian Parliament in December 1941.

28 – Six people died in a single-vehicle crash in Barrie, Ont. Police said four men and two women in their 20s were found dead.

30 – Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev died at the age of 91. As the last leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire. But despite being in power for less than seven years, he was able to produce extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Year in review: A look at news events in August 2022

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