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

1 – Former Conservative senator Don Meredith was charged with sexual assault and criminal harassment. The charges against the 58-year-old were related to incidents that allegedly took place in 2013 and 2014 and were reported by an adult woman.

1 – Clashes between supporters of two Indonesian soccer teams in East Java province killed at least 125 people. Most of the victims were trampled to death, and hundreds more were injured. Several brawls between supporters of the two rival soccer teams were reported inside the stadium after the Indonesia premier league game ended. East Java’s police chief said the fighting prompted riot police to fire tear gas, causing panic among supporters who ran toward an exit gate.

3 – Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made her debut as the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term kicked off. Jackson’s historic tenure as the first Black woman to serve on the highest bench began at a time of declining public support for the court.

3 – Iran’s supreme leader responded publicly to the biggest protests in Iran in years. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the “rioting” and accused the U.S. and Israel of planning the protests. He also described the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police — which set off the nationwide protests — as “a sad incident” that “left us heartbroken.”

3 – Twenty-five senior Iranian officials and nine government entities faced new sanctions from Canada, following a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the sanctions were a result of Iran’s grave and ongoing breaches of international law, and its blatant disregard for human life.

3 – The Coalition Avenir Québec won a provincial election, significantly increasing their number of seats in the Quebec National Assembly. The Quebec Liberals remained the official Opposition but with fewer seats than before the election.

4 – Legendary country singer Loretta Lynn died at 90 at her home in Tennessee. Lynn’s compositions reflected her pride in her humble background, and spoke frankly of her experiences as a woman and mother in Appalachia. Her biggest hits came in the 1960s and ’70s, including “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “You Ain’t Woman Enough” and “The Pill.”

4 – British-Canadian crime writer Peter Robinson died at the age of 72. Robinson’s publisher McClelland & Stewart said he died in Toronto after a brief illness. Robinson was known for keeping readers in suspense with his long-running “Inspector Banks” series, which followed the adventures of British detective Alan Banks.

5 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the final papers to annex four regions of Ukraine into Russia, in violation of international law. On the ground, Russia faced mounting setbacks, with Ukrainian forces retaking more and more land in the eastern and southern regions that Moscow now insisted were its own.

5 – Hockey Quebec said it was going to withhold part of its registration fees and the Ontario Hockey Federation was requesting Hockey Canada not collect its fees as the national organization faced growing criticism over its handling of alleged sexual assaults. Tim Hortons pulled its sponsorship from all Hockey Canada men’s programming, including the world junior men’s championship in Halifax and Moncton, joining Canadian Tire, Telus and Scotiabank.

6 – Police in Thailand said more than 30 people, primarily children, were killed in a shooting at a child-care centre in the country’s northeast. Thai media reported that the gunman also used knives in the attack and then fled the building before eventually taking his own life.

6 – U.S. President Joe Biden announced a pardon for anyone convicted under federal law of possessing marijuana.

6 – Members of Alberta’s United Conservative Party chose Danielle Smith to replace Jason Kenney as leader and premier. There were almost 85,000 votes cast. Smith had close to 54 per cent of the vote on the sixth ballot. Travis Toews, the finance minister under Kenney, was second at just over 46 per cent.

7 – Activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2022 prize to imprisoned Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

7 – Health Canada said Canadians aged 12 and up could now be given the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 bivalent booster.

7 – Ottawa used an immigration tool against Iran that had been previously used against regimes that committed war crimes or genocide, such as in Bosnia and Rwanda. The government permanently barred more than 10,000 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from entering the country.

8 – Andrea Skinner, interim chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors, submitted her resignation. Skinner assumed the role in August after the resignation of former chair Michael Brind’Amour.

9 – Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were locked because of antisemitic posts. He had also recently been criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collection at Paris Fashion Week.

11 – Bauer Hockey announced it would be pausing its partnership with Hockey Canada. Bauer said it would continue to supply equipment to the women’s programs, but would no longer be supplying the men’s tournaments and programs.

11 – Scott Smith quit as Hockey Canada’s president and CEO, and the entire board of directors also resigned. Smith was unable to survive the fallout related to the national body’s handling of sexual assault allegations and how settlements were paid out.

11 – Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles would be crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023.

11 – British actress Angela Lansbury died at 96 at her home in Los Angeles. Lansbury starred in the Broadway musicals “Mame” and “Gypsy,” and earned Oscar nominations for “Gaslight” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Manchurian Candidate.” She won a new generation of fans solving murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series “Murder, She Wrote.”

12 – Two officers were killed after both were shot at a home in Innisfil, Ont. The South Simcoe Police Service said the officers were shot while responding to a disturbance call the night before. Police said the suspect was also dead.

13 – The public inquiry examining the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act in February began in Ottawa.

14 – The Canadian Armed Forces dropped its vaccine mandate. However, defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre said the military would still move ahead with the forced expulsion of dozens of unvaccinated troops.

14 – Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane died at 72. Coltrane played a number of characters throughout his career, including a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series “Cracker” and Hagrid the half-giant in the “Harry Potter” movies.

14 – Aydin Coban was sentenced to 13 years in prison for tormenting teen Amanda Todd before she died by suicide. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin said Coban’s calculated conduct caused the girl mental anguish and social isolation, contributing to her suicide after he told Todd he would ruin her life.

15 – Human rights groups reported that at least 233 protesters had been killed in anti-government demonstrations in Iran following last month’s death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. One American-based group said that included 32 protesters under the age of 18.

16 – Challenger Ken Sim ousted incumbent Kennedy Stewart to become mayor of Vancouver. Sim, who is of Asian descent, became the city’s first Chinese Canadian mayor.

16 – Ottawa sent armoured vehicles and other supplies to Haiti to help police fight a powerful gang federation. The shipment was a joint effort between Canada and the United States. The standoff between the gang and Haiti’s government was threatening to further derail a paralyzed country where millions of people were struggling to find fuel and water.

18 – Ukraine’s president said that over the past week, Russian missile strikes and drone attacks had knocked out 30 per cent of his country’s power plants, causing “massive blackouts.” Russian missiles had been taking aim at Ukraine’s power grid since Oct. 10 in an apparent bid to deny Ukrainians heating in the approaching winter and erode civilian morale.

18 – RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, was stabbed to death while she partnered with a bylaw officer at a homeless camp in Burnaby, B.C.

20 – Former attorney general David Eby had a clear shot to become British Columbia’s next premier after the only other candidate in the race for the British Columbia NDP leadership, Anjali Appadurai, was disqualified for violating the rules.

20 – British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned. Truss was bowing to the inevitable after a six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party.

20 – Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard was sentenced to five years behind bars after being convicted of sexual assault. Hoggard was found guilty of sexually assaulting an Ottawa woman at a Toronto hotel in 2016.

21 – Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced it was now illegal to buy, sell or transfer a handgun anywhere in Canada.

24 – Rishi Sunak won the race to be leader of the U.K. Conservative Party. His only rival, Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew.

24 – Former Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca was elected mayor of Vaughan. Former journalist Mark Sutcliffe took over Ottawa’s top job. John Tory won a third term as mayor of Toronto, Bonnie Crombie secured another victory in Mississauga and Patrick Brown was re-elected as mayor of Brampton. Former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath became the new mayor of Hamilton.

25 – Rishi Sunak became Britain’s new prime minister after being asked to form a government by King Charles. Sunak met at Buckingham Palace with the King, shortly after the monarch accepted the resignation of Liz Truss.

26 – The latest release of 2021 census data showed immigrants make up nearly a quarter of all people in Canada. The data from Statistics Canada projected that immigrants will represent a third of all Canadians by 2041. The data also said 34.6 per cent of people in the country have no religious affiliation.

27 – Elon Musk completed his US$44-billion purchase of Twitter.

28 – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer during a home invasion in San Francisco. He suffered blunt force trauma to his head and body, and was treated for bruising, severe swelling and other injuries.

28 – Canada said it would issue new five-year Ukraine Sovereignty Bonds that people could buy to support the Ukrainian government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced that Canada was imposing sanctions on 35 more Russians, including the executives of the state-owned energy company Gazprom.

29 – A deadly crowd crush in one of Seoul’s party hot spots killed at least 150 people and injured around 100 more. Officials said it happened in a narrow alley in the South Korean capital during Halloween festivities.

30 – A pair of car bombings in Somalia’s capital killed at least 100 people. Officials said it was the deadliest attack in the country since a truck bombing at the same spot in October 2017 killed more than 500 people. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets the capital, claimed responsibility.

30 – More than 140 people died after a cable bridge collapsed into a river in India’s western state of Gujarat. The 19th-century, colonial-era bridge was reopened after renovation just days ago.

31 – Philippine officials said more than 100 people died in one of the most destructive storms to lash the Philippines this year.

31 – The Ontario government introduced legislation to impose a contract on 55,000 education workers and avert a strike that was set to start Nov. 4. Their union said its members would walk off the job on Nov. 4 and explore every avenue to fight the bill. Premier Doug Ford’s government said it intended to use the notwithstanding clause to keep the eventual law in force in the face of any constitutional challenges.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

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

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