Top stories of 2017

Some top national and international stories of 2017:

JANUARY 2017

1 – An Islamic State terrorist launched an early morning gun attack on a popular Istanbul nightclub hosting a New Year’s Eve party, killing 39 people, including Ontario resident Alaa Al-Muhandis, and wounding nearly 70 others. The assailant escaped but was captured Jan. 16 in Instanbul after an extensive manhunt.

1 – Auston Matthews scored a pair, including the overtime winner, to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in the Centennial Classic at BMO Field in Toronto.

1 – Ontario’s cap-and-trade program and Alberta’s carbon tax came into effect — pushing up prices for gasoline and natural gas.

1 – Bill Marshall, who founded the Toronto International Film Festival in 1976 with two colleagues and was the organization’s director for its first three years, died at the age of 77.

2 – Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals in the third period to lead the hometown St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium.

2 – Afghanistan war veteran Lionel Desmond killed his wife Shanna, 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah and his mother Brenda at a home in rural Nova Scotia before committing suicide.

3 – 50-year-old pop superstar Janet Jackson and husband Wissam Al Mana welcomed their first child, a boy they named Eissa Al Mana. (She filed for divorce in April.)

4 – Pope Francis accepted the early resignation of Canadian Bishop Frederick Henry, who came under fire in Calgary for opposing LGBTQ guidelines for public schools.

4 – Hockey Hall-of-Famer Milt Schmidt, the Boston Bruins former captain, coach and general manager, died at age 98.

5 – The U.S. overcame two two-goal deficits to defeat Canada 5-4 in a shootout to capture the World Junior Hockey Championship.

6 – A U.S. Army Iraq war veteran fatally shot five people and wounded six others at a crowded baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Esteban Santiago, 26, pleaded not guilty Jan. 30 to all charges including five counts of causing death at an international airport.

8 – The musical “La La Land” danced its way to a record seven Golden Globes, including best motion picture (musical or comedy), and awards for its stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as well as director Damien Chazelle.

10 – Dylann Roof was sentenced to death for the racially motivated slaughter of nine black church members in South Carolina in December 2016, becoming the first person in the U.S. ordered executed for a federal hate crime.

10 – Gildan Activewear won an auction to buy bankrupt clothing company American Apparel for US$88 million.

11 – Chrystia Freeland was elevated to Minister of Foreign Affairs, the marquee move in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nine-person, six-portfolio cabinet shuffle aimed in part at preparing for Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency.

13 – Canada’s chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance relieved his second in command, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, of his duties. (The Globe and Mail reported that the decision followed an investigation into the alleged leak of “high-level secret documents.”)

13 – Lord Snowdon, one of Britain’s most famous photographers who married Princess Margaret and continued to mix in royal circles even after their divorce, died at age 86.

16 – A judge-alone retrial began for Mark Grant on a charge of second-degree murder, one day shy of the 32nd anniversary of 13-year-old Winnipeg teen Candace Derksen’s body being found. On Oct. 18 he was found not guilty.

16 – Jackie Gordon, a former police officer, was named the Ontario legislature’s new sergeant-at-arms, the first woman to hold the job.

16 – A gunman opened fire at an electronic music festival at a crowded beachfront nightclub in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen — killing five people, including longtime Toronto nightclub security guard Kirk Wilson.

16 – Former U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan, who commanded NASA’s Apollo 17 mission to the moon in December 1972 and became the last of a dozen men to walk on the moon, died at age 82.

17 – Australia, China and Malaysia announced they were suspending the nearly three-year underwater search of the Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 onboard, including two Canadians.

17 – British American Tobacco agreed to fully take over Reynolds American in a US$49 billion deal that would create the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company.

17 – Transgender U.S. Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning’s 35-year sentence for leaking classified information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks was commuted by outgoing President Barack Obama to about seven years, including the time she spent locked up before she was convicted in 2013 — then known as Bradley Manning. Her sentence expired May 17.

18 – Former Montreal Expos star Tim Raines, in his final year of eligibility, was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame along with Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez.

18 – Paul McCartney filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan against Sony/ATV to reclaim over 260 of his songs, including the many hits he wrote with John Lennon as part of The Beatles. The copyrights were famously bought by Michael Jackson in 1985 and then fully sold over to Sony/ATV following his death. McCartney cited a 1976 federal U.S. copyright law that let composers reclaim songs after a certain period of time elapsed. (The suit was settled in June but terms of the agreement were confidential.)

20 – Billionaire businessman and TV celebrity Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 45th President of the United States.

21 – Thousands of Canadians gathered in dozens of cities and towns across the country to show solidarity with the massive Women’s March on Washington to express support for women’s rights and human rights a day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president.

22 – U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order starting withdrawal from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, fulfilling a campaign pledge. The 12-country Pacific Rim pact, which includes Canada, was tentatively reached in October, 2015 but still required parliament ratification from each country.

23 – A Calgary judge found Tamara Lovett guilty of criminal negligence causing death in treating her son with holistic remedies before he died of a strep infection. But the judge issued a judicial stay on a second charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life.

24 – U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to advance construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL oil pipeline as well as the Dakota Access pipeline, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns.

25 – An Edmonton judge sentenced Travis Vader, convicted of manslaughter in the 2010 deaths of missing Alberta seniors Lyle and Marie McCann, to life in prison with a seven-year parole eligibility.

25 – TV’s beloved actress Mary Tyler Moore died at age 80. She gained fame in the 1960s as the frazzled wife Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” In the 1970s, she created one of TV’s first career-woman sitcom heroines in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

26 – U.S. President Donald Trump’s determination to wall off America’s border with Mexico triggered a diplomatic clash and fresh fight over trade as the White House proposed a 20 per cent tax on imports from the key U.S. ally to fund the border wall and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto abruptly scrapped an upcoming trip to Washington.

26 – Inderjit Singh Reyat, convicted of perjury in 2010 for his testimony during the trial of two men accused in the 1985 Air India bombing, was allowed to leave a halfway house where he had been required to stay following his release from prison in 2016.

27 – U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bar all refugees from entering the U.S. for four months, indefinitely halted any from Syria and imposed a 90-day ban on immigration for citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations. The Trump administration faced protests, lawsuits, internal grumbling and an international backlash. On Jan. 30, Trump fired acting attorney general Sally Yates after she directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend the executive order, which was blocked repeatedly by judges.

27 – General Motors announced it was cutting 625 jobs in July at its CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., after previously notifying the plant that it was shifting production of the GMC Terrain to Mexico.

28 – Serena Williams won her record 23rd Grand Slam singles title in the Open era, defeating older sister Venus 6-4, 6-4 for a record seventh Australian Open.

29 – Six Muslim men were shot and killed and five others critically injured at a Quebec City mosque during evening prayers. Laval University student Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five of attempted murder.

29 – Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to capture the Australian Open and extend his career Grand Slam titles record to 18.

31 – ESPN announcer Brent Musburger capped a nearly 50-year career in sports media by calling Kentucky’s 90-81 overtime win over Georgia in NCAA men’s college basketball. Musburger rose to prominence in the 1970s as the host of CBS’ “The NFL Today.”

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FEBRUARY 2017

2 – Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie gave what turned out to be his last public performance, invited onstage at the last minute to take part in Blue Rodeo’s encore (“Lost Together”) to end a concert at Toronto’s Massey Hall. Downie died Oct. 17 after a nearly two-year battle with incurable brain cancer.

3 – Toronto filmmaker Rob Stewart’s body was found in the Florida Keys, 90 metres from where he disappeared during a dive earlier in the week. He was 37. Stewart was in Florida filming a followup to his 2006 documentary “Sharkwater.”

4 – At 32 years, 36 days old, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James surpassed Kobe Bryant as the youngest player in NBA history to score 28,000 career points.

5 – Quarterback Tom Brady led the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history as the New England Patriots erased a 25-point deficit to force the first-ever overtime, win the coin toss and drive down the field for the championship-winning touchdown in a 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51. Brady set Super Bowl records for yards passing (446), pass attempts (62), completions (43), MVP awards (4) and career wins (5).

6 – Queen Elizabeth became the first British monarch to reach the Sapphire Jubilee milestone of 65 years on the throne.

7 – Ottawa announced it would provide Bombardier $372.5 million over four years in interest-free loans to support the Global 7000 and C Series aircraft projects. The move elicited criticism even though it was far less than the $1 billion the Quebec-based transportation giant originally sought.

8 – Canada’s latest census numbers showed the country’s population reached 35,151,728 in 2016, an increase of 1.7 million over 2011 – the strongest growth of all the G7 countries.

8 – Britain’s House of Commons gave its final approval to a bill authorizing the government to start exit talks with the European Union. On March 29, the government triggered the two-year divorce process from the 28-nation EU, walking out on a 44-year relationship with its neighbours. Britons voted 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum.

10 – Will Baker, formerly known as Vince Li, was granted an absolute discharge almost nine years after beheading and cannibalizing 22-year-old Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba. Baker was found not criminally responsible due to schizophrenia and placed in a psychiatric hospital but was given more freedom every year.

10 – Billionaire businessman Mike Ilitch, who founded the Little Caesars pizza empire before buying the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers, died at age 87.

12 – British neo soul singer Adele won all five Grammy categories in which she was nominated, including Record and Song of the Year (“Hello”) and Album of the Year (“25”). She was the first act to sweep the big three awards twice.

12 – Grammy-winning jazz singer Al Jarreau, who transcended genres over a 50-year career, died at a Los Angeles hospital, just days after announcing his retirement from touring because of exhaustion. He was 76. Jarreau was one of the few artists to have won Grammys in three separate categories — jazz, pop and R&B.

13 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump struck an amiable, conciliatory note after their first face-to-face meetings, acknowledging the unique nature of the Canada-U.S. relationship and the need to keep trade moving across a shared, secure border. Trump suggested Canada would be spared the brunt of his nationalist America-first platform.

13 – U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned following reports he misled Vice-President Mike Pence about breaching diplomatic protocol in contacting Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. on the day the Obama administration slapped sanctions on Russia for election-related hacking, as well as at other times during the transition.

14 – An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled Canada failed to take reasonable steps to prevent thousands of on-reserve children who were placed with non-native families from losing their indigenous heritage during the ’60s Scoop. The ruling in the long-running and bitterly fought class-action lawsuit paved the way for a settlement with the federal government, announced Oct. 6 for $750 million in compensation.

15 – Stuart McLean, a bestselling author, journalist and humorist who entertained millions as host of the popular CBC Radio program “The Vinyl Cafe,” died at age 68. The previous December, McLean announced he was suspending the long-running program to focus on treatment for melanoma, which had been diagnosed in late 2015.

15 – The European Union ratified its free trade deal with Canada, almost eight years in the making and overcoming mounting anti-trade populism in Europe. The next day Justin Trudeau became the first Canadian prime minister to address the European Parliament.

16 – Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby became the 86th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

17 – Douglas Garland, 57, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the 2014 deaths of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their five-year-old grandson Nathan O’Brien.

19 – Hometown favourite and game-MVP Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans scored an All-Star game record 52 points to lead the Western Conference to a 192-182 victory over the East in the highest scoring NBA All-Star game in history.

24 – A Calgary judge ruled that the parents of a diabetic boy who died of starvation and lack of treatment were guilty of first-degree murder. Emil and Rodica Radita were immediately sentenced to life in prison with no chance at parole for 25 years.

25 – Bill Paxton, a prolific and charismatic actor who had memorable roles in such blockbusters as “Aliens,” “Apollo 13” and “Titanic” died of a stroke less than two weeks after undergoing heart surgery. He was 61.

26 – Candy-coloured musical “La La Land” won six of its record-tying 14 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Actress for Emma Stone and Best Director for Damien Chazelle, who at 32 became the youngest to win the award. “Moonlight” eventually won Best Picture but not before “La La Land” was mistakenly announced the winner and its producers were nearly done with their acceptance speeches. Casey Affleck’s portrayal of a grieving father in “Manchester by the Sea” earned him the Best Actor award.

26 – Joseph Wapner, who presided over “The People’s Court” with steady force during the heyday of the reality courtroom show, died at age 97.

26 – Rachel Homan’s Ontario rink won 8-6 in an extra end over Manitoba’s Michelle Englot in the Canadian women’s curling championship.

26 – Kurt Busch won his first Daytona 500 with a last-lap pass as Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson both ran out of gas.

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MARCH 2017

2 – Judge Gregory Lenehan found a Halifax taxi driver not guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman who was found drunk and unconscious in his cab, prompting a renewed debate over how Canadian courts react when the issue of consent is mixed with heavy drinking. (The Crown appealed the verdict.)

4 – U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the presidential campaign. The charge was widely discredited by U.S. and British intelligence agencies who found no evidence to support his claim.

6 – U.S. President Donald Trump signed a scaled-back travel ban designed to withstand the court challenges that derailed his previous version. The order, signed privately in contrast with the high-profile rollout of the original ban, temporarily barred refugees and visitors from six Muslim-majority nations while removing Iraqis and people with valid visas from the list. It too was blocked, this time by a federal judge in Hawaii.

10 – South Korea’s constitutional Court removed impeached President Park Geun-hye from office in a unanimous ruling over a corruption scandal that plunged the country into political turmoil and worsened an already-serious national divide.

10 – Health Minister Jane Philpott confirmed that Ottawa reached health agreements with Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, a dramatic turnaround after months of negotiations and threats of walkouts at meetings in 2016.

10 – Volkswagen pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice in a brazen scheme to get around U.S. pollution rules on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles by using software to suppress emissions of nitrogen oxide during tests. The German automaker agreed to pay $4.3 billion in civil and criminal penalties — the largest ever levied by the U.S. government against an automaker.

12 – Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland and Labrador rink defeated Canada’s Kevin Koe 7-6 to win the Tim Hortons Brier for the first time, in a rematch of the 2016 final.

12 – Space’s human cloning series “Orphan Black” emerged as the big winner at the Canadian Screen Awards. It won nine trophies including best dramatic series and best lead actress in a dramatic role for star Tatiana Maslany. Montreal director Xavier Dolan’s French-language drama “It’s Only the End of the World” won six trophies, including best picture and best director.

16 – Aydin Coban, 38, wanted in Canada for alleged involvement in online abuse in the case of 15-year-old B.C. teen Amanda Todd — whose suicide drew global attention — was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison by a Dutch court for cyberbullying dozens of young girls and gay men. In April, The Dutch Supreme Court approved his extradition to Canada.

16 – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s right-wing VVD easily won national elections, defying polls that suggested a close race with anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders.

18 – Chuck Berry, rock ‘n’ roll’s founding guitar hero and storyteller who defined its joy and rebellion in “Johnny B. Goode” and other classics, died at age 90. He hit the Top 10 in 1955 with “Maybellene” and went on to influence generations of musicians. Among his other hits were “Roll Over Beethoven,” ”No Particular Place To Go,” ”Sweet Little Sixteen” and his only No. 1, the 1972 racy novelty “My Ding-A-Ling.”

18 – Former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney was elected as the new leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party in a decisive first ballot victory on a unite-the-right campaign to dissolve the PCs and form a new party with the Wildrose. Members of both parties voted July 22 in favour of a merger and on Oct. 28 Kenney won the leadership of the United Conservative Party.

20 – Veteran Canadian journalist and broadcaster Betty Kennedy died at age 91. She hosted the “Betty Kennedy Show” on Toronto’s CFRB radio for 27 years, and for 33 years, was the lone female panellist on CBC’s “Front Page Challenge.” Kennedy was inducted into both the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Canadian News Hall of Fame and was named an officer of the Order of Canada.

21 – British mystery writer Colin Dexter, who created classical music-loving Oxford detective Inspector Morse, died at age 86.

21 – The U.S. and British governments, citing unspecified threats, barred passengers on some international flights from mostly Middle Eastern and North African countries from bringing laptops, tablets, electronic games and other devices on board in carry-on bags.

21 – Chuck Barris, whose game show empire included “The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game” and “The Gong Show,” died at age 87.

22 – A British-born I-SIL sympathizer plowed a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four and wounding dozens, before crashing into Parliament’s gates. He then jumped out and attacked Const. Keith Palmer, stabbing him to death before being shot to death by police.

21 – Sunwing Airlines pilot Miroslav Gronych pleaded guilty to having care and control of an aircraft while impaired. He had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit as he sat in the cockpit in Calgary on New Year’s Eve ahead of a planned flight. (He was sentenced to eight months in jail.)

22 – Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled the Trudeau government’s second budget. Highlights included: higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, a slight increase in EI premiums, a crackdown on tax evaders and avoiders, eliminating the public transit tax credit, phasing out the 71-year-old Canada Savings Bond program, and $7 billion over 10 years for child care and learning, including 40,000 new subsidized daycare spaces across Canada by 2019.

22 – The U.S. routed Puerto Rico 8-0 to win its first World Baseball Classic behind six hitless innings from Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman, who was named Tournament MVP.

22 – Ontario held its first cap-and-trade auction, with the funds to be invested in programs aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions. It sold all current allowances to generate $472 million. (The four standalone auctions in 2017 brought in nearly $2 billion. Ontario will enter a joint carbon market with Quebec and California on Jan. 1, 2018.)

24 – TransCanada’s hotly debated, long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline received its elusive U.S. presidential permit from Donald Trump, eight years and six months after the initial application for it to cross the American border.

24 – In a humiliating setback, U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican leaders pulled their “Obamacare” repeal and replace bill off the House floor after it became clear the measure would fail badly. (In May, the House narrowly approved legislation, but the Senate later defeated two more broader GOP repeal plans and a “skinny repeal” bill.)

26 – Canada’s Rachel Homan and her team of vice-skip Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle defeated Russia 8-3 to capture the gold medal at the women’s world curling championship in Beijing, becoming the first rink to go undefeated (13-0) in the tournament.

28 – U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate many restrictions on fossil fuel production and roll back measures to combat climate change.

30 – North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature voted to roll back the “bathroom bill,” which infringed on LGBTQ nondiscrimination rights by requiring transgender people to use the public bathrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate. It was replaced with a compromise law that kept state lawmakers in charge of future bathroom policies. The backlash over transgender rights cost the state business projects, conventions, concerts and basketball tournaments.

31 – Canadians Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman captured silver and bronze respectively in the women’s competition at the world figure skating championships, the first time two Canadians had shared the women’s podium at the world championship.

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APRIL 2017

1 – Canada’s ice dance darlings Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir captured their third world figure skating title.

1 – At the non-broadcast Juno Awards gala dinner, veteran rockers The Tragically Hip won the rock album award for “Man Machine Poem.” Frontman Gord Downie won two awards for his solo multimedia project “Secret Path” — adult alternative album and recording package of the year. The late Leonard Cohen won artist of the year.

2 – The late Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker” won album of the year at the Juno Awards broadcast gala in Ottawa. The Tragically Hip won group of the year while frontman Gord Downie picked up songwriter of the year for his “Secret Path” solo project. Alessia Cara won best pop album for her break-out “Know-It-All,” Ruth B took home breakthrough artist of the year, Jess Moskaluke won Country album of the year for “Kiss Me Quiet” and Shawn Mendes was the Juno Fan Choice. Sarah McLachlan was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

2 – Jason Aldean repeated as entertainer of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards while duo Florida Georgia Line won for single record of the year (“H.O.L.Y.”) and vocal event (“May We All” with Tim McGraw). Thomas Rhett took male vocalist of the year and song of the year (“Die a Happy Man”) and Miranda Lambert won album of the year (“The Weight of These Wings”) and her eighth female vocalist of the year award.

2 – San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner hit two home runs in a 6-5 loss at Arizona, becoming the first pitcher to homer twice on Opening Day.

3 – No seats changed hands in five federal byelections. The Liberals held onto the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Thornhill (Mary Ng), the Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent (Emmanuella Lambropoulos) and Ottawa-Vanier (Mona Fortier). The PCs retained Calgary Heritage (Bob Benzen) and Calgary Midnapore (Stephanie Kusie), formerly held by Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney, respectively.

3 – A suicide bombing aboard a St. Petersburg subway train killed 14 people and injured 49 others. The suspected bomber was a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen. Another bomb, hidden in a bag, was found and de-activated at another St. Petersburg station just half an hour before the blast.

3 – The NHL announced the league’s players would not participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games in South Korea. The league had been at every Winter Olympics since 1998.

4 – A sarin gas attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed at least 86 people, including 27 children, in one of the worst poison gas attacks in the country’s six-year civil war. Two days later, two American warships blasted a Syrian government air base with almost 60 cruise missiles in fiery retaliation for the gruesome attack.

6 – Don Rickles, the big-mouthed, bald-headed “Mr. Warmth” whose verbal assaults endeared him to audiences and peers and made him the acknowledged grandmaster of insult comedy, died at age 90.

7 – A hijacked beer truck plowed into pedestrians at a central Stockholm department store, killing five and injuring 15 others, nine of them seriously. Police later arrested a male suspect, a 39-year-old native of Uzbekistan, near the airport.

7 – Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia recalled 1.4 million cars and SUVs in the U.S., Canada and South Korea because the engines could fail and stall.

9 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among the dignitaries to speak at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in northern France at a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. As many as 25,000 people came to honour the Canadians who died in the First World War. (The next day, Trudeau flew to Juno to pay homage to Canada’s role in D-Day on June 6, 1944, during the Second World War.)

9 – At the Masters, Sergio Garcia overcame a late round two-shot deficit against Justin Rose and birdied the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to capture his first career major, ending an 18-year drought.

9 – Canada’s Brad Gushue completed a perfect run at the World Men’s Curling Championship with a 4-2 victory over Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the gold medal game in Edmonton.

9 – United Airlines got a public relations black eye after an elderly doctor was among four passengers randomly picked to be bumped from an overbooked flight out of Chicago to accommodate airline employees added to the flight. He refused to comply and was forcibly removed and dragged down the aisle by security officers. He lost two teeth and suffered a concussion and broken nose. A video of the incident went viral and spawned widespread outrage. Dr. David Dao, a Kentucky physician, filed a lawsuit against United but settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

10 – Canada, the United States and Mexico launched their bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup, when the current 32-country soccer tournament expands to a 48-nation field.

10 – Justice Neil Gorsuch took his place as the newest addition to the U.S. Supreme Court, restoring a narrow conservative majority and marking a much-needed political victory for President Donald Trump.

12 – Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education activist, became an honorary Canadian citizen at a ceremony in Ottawa. She was just the sixth person to receive the honour, and at 19, the youngest.

13 – The federal Liberal government introduced a long-awaited suite of bills to legalize marijuana by July 2018. Adults over 18 would be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent in public, share up to 30 grams of dried marijuana with other adults and buy cannabis or cannabis oil from a provincially regulated retailer.

13 – American forces in Afghanistan struck an Islamic State tunnel complex near the Pakistani border with the 11-tonne “mother of all bombs,” the largest U.S. non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat, killing 94 I-SIL fighters.

16 – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan narrowly won a referendum for constitutional changes that would abolish the office of the prime minister and convert the country’s system of government from a parliamentary to a presidential one.

19 – Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for a murder conviction and days earlier was acquitted of a double murder, died after hanging himself in his prison cell. He was 27.

19 – 21st Century Fox issued a statement that Bill O’Reilly had lost his job at Fox News Channel following reports that five women had been paid millions of dollars to keep quiet about harassment allegations.

20 – Ontario announced 16 measures to help cool the hot housing market in the Greater Toronto Area, including a 15-per-cent foreign buyer tax, expanded rent control, allowing Toronto to impose a tax on vacant homes and using surplus lands for affordable housing.

20 – A gunman opened fire on police on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard, killing one officer and wounding three people before police shot and killed him. The Islamic State group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

23 – Erin Moran, the former child star who played Joanie Cunningham in the sitcoms “Happy Days” and “Joanie Loves Chachi,” died at age 56.

25 – Great-West Lifeco said it would cut 1,500 positions over the next two years in response to changing technology and customer expectations. The cuts were equal to 13 per cent of the Winnipeg-based insurer’s 12,000 employees in Canada.

26 – Jonathan Demme, the eclectic, ever-enthusiastic filmmaker behind the Oscar winners “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia,” and the director of one of the most seminal concert films ever made, the Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense,” died from complications from esophageal cancer. He was 73.

29 – Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan offered a full apology to his former comrades-in-arms, after exaggerating his role as “architect” of Operation Medusa in 2006, Canada’s largest battle in Afghanistan. The mea culpa, posted to Facebook, followed what some had seen as a half-hearted apology by Sajjan the day before for comments he made in a speech earlier in the month to a think tank in India.

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MAY 2017

4 – Ninety-five-year-old Prince Philip announced he would carry out scheduled engagements for the next few months but would retire from his royal duties starting in the fall.

4 – Republicans narrowly won a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal and replace “Obamacare,” six weeks after a humiliating failure in the lower chamber.

6 – “Always Dreaming” won the Kentucky Derby by 2 3/4-lengths, the fifth consecutive favourite to win the first leg of thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown.

7 – French voters elected 39-year-old independent centrist Emmanuel Macron as the country’s youngest president, delivering a resounding victory to the pro-European former investment banker and dashing the populist dream of far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

9 – Disgraced Senator Don Meredith, the married Pentecostal minister who admitted to a sexual relationship with a teenage girl, declared he would resign his Senate seat, short-circuiting what could have been a historic vote to expel him from the upper chamber.

9 – U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey, who had come under intense scrutiny for his role in an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s email practices, and was in the midst of an FBI investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russian meddling in the election that sent him to the White House.

9 – British Columbia had its first minority government in 65 years as the Liberals squeaked out a razor-thin victory over the NDP, with the Green party holding the balance of power for the first time in Canadian history. Christy Clark’s Liberals won 43 seats, John Horgan’s New Democrats got 41 and the Greens led by Andrew Weaver picked up three seats. (In June, the Liberals were defeated in a non-confidence vote in the legislature and the NDP formed a government after reaching a deal with the Green party on a legislative agenda.)

9 – Moon Jae-in declared victory in South Korea’s presidential election after his two main rivals conceded, capping one of the most turbulent political stretches in the nation’s recent history and setting up its first liberal rule in a decade.

12 – A ransomware cyberattack known as “WannaCry” wreaked havoc around the globe, paralyzing tens of thousands of companies, government agencies and other organizations in 150 countries.

17 – Pte. Chelsea Manning, the American soldier who was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for giving classified materials to WikiLeaks, was released after serving seven years behind bars. Manning, who is transgender and was known as Bradley Manning before she transitioned in prison, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud but acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.

18 – Rocker Chris Cornell hanged himself in a Detroit hotel room hours after performing at a Soundgarden concert. He was 52. Cornell was a leader of the grunge movement with the Seattle-based Soundgarden, with whom he had gained critical and commercial acclaim.

18 – Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean announced the details of their unity deal that would form the United Conservative Party. (Members approved the merger in July and Kenney was elected the UCP’s new leader on Oct. 28.)

18 – A man deliberately steered his speeding car into pedestrians in New York’s Times Square, killing a Michigan teenager and injuring 22 others, including a Canadian woman, before it was stopped by steel security barriers. Twenty-six-year-old Richard Rojas was charged with murder and attempted murder.

18 – The United States officially served notice of its intention to renegotiate the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, triggering a 90-day consultation window before talks began August 16th in Washington with Canada and Mexico.

19 – Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange, almost seven years after it began and five years after the WikiLeaks founder sought refuge inside Ecuador’s London embassy. (The investigation could be reopened if Assange returns to Sweden before the statute of limitations lapses in 2020.)

20 – Thirteen-to-one long-shot “Cloud Computing” ran down “Classic Empire” in the final strides to win the Preakness by a head. Kentucky Derby winner “Always Dreaming” finished eighth.

21 – Sweden beat Canada 2-1 in a shootout to capture gold at the world hockey championship.

21 – Canadian rapper Drake set a new record at the Billboard awards by taking home 13 trophies, including top artist, top male artist and top Billboard 200 album for “View.”

21 – The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which had wowed crowds for 146 years with its “Greatest Show on Earth,” performed its last show, at the Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.

22 – A suicide bomber struck outside an arena in Manchester, England, as fans were leaving a concert by American pop star Ariana Grande. Twenty-two people were killed, including an eight-year-old girl, and over 100 others were injured.

23 – British actor Roger Moore, the suavely insouciant star of seven James Bond films, died in Switzerland after a short battle with cancer. He was 89.

27 – Andrew Scheer, a social conservative and former House of Commons Speaker, was elected leader of the federal Conservative party, narrowly winning a 13-ballot battle with rival Maxime Bernier.

27 – Music legend Gregg Allman, whose bluesy vocals and soulful touch on the Hammond B-3 organ helped propel “The Allman Brothers Band” to superstardom, died of liver cancer. He was 69. Songs such as “Whipping Post,” “Ramblin’ Man” and “Midnight Rider” helped define what came to be known as Southern rock. In 1995, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was honoured with a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2012.

28 – Host Windsor Spitfires defeated the Erie Otters 4-3 in the Memorial Cup final to capture the Canadian Hockey League championship.

28 – Takuma Sato became the first Japanese winner of the Indianapolis 500 when he denied Helio Castroneves a record-tying fourth victory as the two traded the lead in the closing laps. (Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe did not finish as he was involved in a crash with 17 laps to go.)

30 – Nova Scotians handed Stephen McNeil’s Liberal party a second consecutive majority government. It captured 27 ridings — seven fewer than at dissolution. The Conservatives picked up 17 ridings while the NDP won seven.

31 – A massive suicide truck bombing during morning rush hour rocked a highly secure diplomatic area of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, killing over 150 people and wounding as many as 400.

31 – CNN announced it cut ties with comedian Kathy Griffin after she posted a video that showed her holding a likeness of U.S. President Donald Trump’s severed head. For a decade she had co-hosted the news network’s New Year’s Eve special with CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper.

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JUNE 2017

1 – President Donald Trump declared he was pulling the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement, striking a major blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and distancing the country from its closest allies abroad.

1 – Former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 50, pleaded guilty to using insulin to kill eight seniors and hurt six others in her care over the past decade at three Ontario long-term care facilities, in part because she felt angry with her career and her life’s responsibilities. She received eight concurrent terms of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

1 – Robert Wood, a discredited former engineer, was found not guilty of criminal negligence in the deadly collapse of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ont., that killed two women when part of the roof-top parking deck caved in.

1 – A gunman stormed a casino in Manila and torched gambling tables in the crowded space, creating a choking level of smoke that killed at least 36 people. He stuffed a backpack with casino chips before he fled but was found dead in an adjacent hotel of an apparent suicide.

3 – A terror attack in London left seven people dead, including Canadian Christine Archibald, and injured 48 others. Archibald was on London Bridge when three men drove a van into pedestrians and then ran down a set of stairs into Borough Market where they stabbed people in several different restaurants. The attackers, who were wearing fake suicide vests, were shot dead by police.

5 – Seventy-nine-year-old comedian Bill Cosby went on trial on charges he drugged and sexually assaulted Toronto native Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004 when she was an employee of Temple University’s basketball program. It was the only criminal case to arise from allegations from more than 60 women that cast Cosby as a serial predator who gave drugs to women before violating them. A mistrial was declared June 17 after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision.

8 – Country music star Keith Urban picked up four honours at the CMT Awards, including video of the year and male video for “Blue Ain’t Your Color.” Carrie Underwood won female video of the year for “Church Bells” and collaborative video (with Keith Urban) for “The Fighter.”

8 – Nisga’a writer Jordan Abel was named the Canadian winner of the $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for “Injun,” a long poem about racism and the representation of Indigenous peoples. British poet Alice Oswald won the international prize, also worth $65,000, for “Falling Awake.”

8 – Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski became the first Canadian woman tennis pro to capture a Grand Slam title as she and Indian partner Rohan Bopanna rallied to beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Robert Farah of Colombia 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 in the mixed doubles final at the French Open.

8 – British Prime Minister Theresa May’s gamble in calling an early election backfired spectacularly as her Conservative Party lost its slim majority in Parliament, winning 318 seats – short of the 326 they needed for an another outright majority.

8 – Former FBI Director James Comey testified before the U.S. Senate intelligence committee and asserted that President Donald Trump fired him to interfere with his investigation into Russia’s ties to the Trump election campaign, bluntly accusing the White House of spreading “lies, plain and simple.”

9 – Actor Adam West, who became a pop culture icon for his role as Batman in a campy 1960s TV series, died after a battle with leukemia. He was 88.

10 – “Tapwrit” overtook favoured “Irish War Cry” in the stretch to win the Belmont Stakes by two lengths in the final leg of thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown.

11 – The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game 6 to become the first team in the salary cap era to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby repeated as playoffs MVP.

11 – Rafael Nadal defeated Stan Wawrinka in straight sets to capture the French Open, becoming the first tennis player to win 10 championships at the same major in the Open era.

11 – The Canadian theatrical production “Come From Away” fell short in its historic bid to capture Broadway’s biggest musical prize but took home one Tony award from its seven nominations – for best director of a musical Christopher Ashley. (Best musical went to “Dear Evan Hansen”)

12 – The Golden State Warriors won their second NBA title in three years by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5, capping an almost perfect post-season run (16-1) and exacting revenge on the Cavs after blowing a 3-1 series lead to them in the 2016 final.

14 – A deadly overnight fire raced through a 24-storey apartment tower in London; 79 people were confirmed dead or missing and presumed dead.

14 – A rifle-wielding attacker opened fire on Republican lawmakers at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., wounding House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and several others. Scalise’s security detail wounded the shooter who later died of his injuries.

16 – Online juggernaut Amazon announced it was buying the Whole Foods supermarket chain for US$13.7 billion in an all-cash deal.

16 – Oscar-winning director John Avildsen, whose “Rocky” and “Karate Kid” underdog fables went on to become Hollywood franchises, died of pancreatic cancer at age 81.

18 – Nineteen-year-old Canadian Brooke Henderson won the Meijer LPGA Classic for her fourth Tour title.

18 – A raging forest fire in central Portugal sent flames sweeping over roads, killing at least 62 people, many of them trapped in their cars as they tried to flee.

19 – The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, diagnosed in late 2015 with an incurable form of brain cancer, was appointed to the Order of Canada. He was among 29 recipients honoured by Gov. Gen. David Johnston for leadership in raising awareness of Indigenous issues.

21 – A Tunisian-born Quebecer stabbed a police officer in the neck at the airport in Flint, Mich., in a possible act of terrorism. He unsuccessfully attempted to buy a gun before carrying out the attack. Amor Ftouhi, 49, was taken into custody and charged with numerous offences. Lieutenant Jeff Neville survived the attack.

22 – Sears Canada announced plans to close 59 locations across the country and cut approximately 2,900 jobs under a court-supervised restructuring. The beleaguered retailer said it would close 20 full-line locations, plus 15 Sears Home stores, 10 Sears Outlet stores and 14 Sears Hometown locations. In October, it received court approval to liquidate its remaining stores, leaving 12,000 employees out of work.

26 – The Toronto Star announced it was laying off 30 employees as it shuttered its Star Touch tablet app — a $20 million venture aimed at attracting a younger readership that failed to meet management expectations. The last edition ran on July 31 and was replaced by a universal app.

28 – It took a Lethbridge, Alta., jury just three hours to convict Derek Saretzky of three counts of first-degree murder in the September 2015 deaths of Terry Blanchette, his two-year-old daughter Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, and Hanne Meketech, 69.

29 – The Liberal government announced it was extending Canada’s mission in Iraq, where the Canadian Forces will continue to help Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State group until at least March 2019.

29 – B.C.’s minority Liberal government was defeated in a non-confidence vote in the legislature. NDP Leader John Horgan emerged from a meeting with Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon to say he was asked to form a government after reaching a deal with the Green party on a legislative agenda.

30 – Peter Mansbridge anchored CBC’s flagship news program “The National” for the final time after 28 years at the helm. His swan song came the next day when he anchored the public broadcaster’s coverage of Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa.

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JULY 2017

2 – Danielle Kang birdied the final hole to win the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for her first LPGA Tour title, edging defending champion Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont.

2 – Race favourite “Holy Helana” easily captured the Queen’s Plate, the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing.

5 – The Edmonton Oilers signed superstar captain Connor McDavid to an eight-year extension worth $100 million that kicks in after he finishes the final year of his entry-level deal in the upcoming season. That will make the 20-year-old league MVP the highest paid player in the NHL on an annual basis.

5 – Randy Ambrosie was named the 14th commissioner of the Canadian Football League.

7 – The B.C. government declared a provincial state of emergency as crews battled more than 180 wildfires that destroyed buildings and forced almost 40,000 people from their homes.

8 – Ottawa confirmed an apology and a payment of $10.5 million had been made to Omar Khadr to settle a longstanding lawsuit that claimed Canada had violated his rights and was complicit with the U.S. when he was detained at Guantanamo Bay. Khadr admitted to throwing a grenade that killed American soldier Chris Speer in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was 15-years-old, but later recanted. He was released on bail in 2015 pending his appeal of the war-crimes conviction.

9 – Tournament MVP R.J. Barrett, 17, led Canada past Italy 79-60 to win the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, the first time Canadians of any gender or age group brought home a basketball world title.

10 – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared total victory in the fight against the Islamic State group in Mosul. American-backed Iraqi forces had launched a massive operation in October 2016 to retake the country’s second largest city.

12 – The Bank of Canada hiked its benchmark interest rate to 0.75 per cent from 0.5 per cent, its first increase in nearly seven years, amid expectations of stronger economic growth this year.

15 – Garbine Muguruza overpowered Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0 to win the Wimbledon women’s title for the first time and capture her second major.

15 – Martin Landau, the chameleon-like actor who gained fame as the crafty master of disguise in the 1960s TV show “Mission: Impossible,” then capped a long and versatile career with an Oscar for his poignant portrayal of aging horror movie star Bela Lugosi in 1994’s “Ed Wood,” died at the of age 89.

16 – Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to capture his record eighth Wimbledon crown and bolster his major titles record to 19.

16 – Josef Newgarden captured his second Honda Indy Toronto title in three years. Toronto’s James Hinchcliffe raced to his second consecutive third-place finish.

16 – Twenty-three-year-old Sung Hyun Park shot her second straight 5-under 67 and won the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club for her first LPGA Tour victory.

16 – George A. Romero, whose 1968 cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” and other horror films turned zombie movies into social commentaries and who saw his flesh-devouring undead spawn countless imitators, remakes and homages, died following a battle with lung cancer. He was 77.

17 – The GOP’s attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare failed in the U.S. Senate for a second time.

19 – Shareholders of British American Tobacco and Reynolds American Inc. approved merging into the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company. London-headquartered BAT paid US$49 billion in cash-and-stock to buy the 57.8 per cent of Reynolds it didn’t already own.

20 – Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington was found dead in his home near Los Angeles. Bennington, 41, had hanged himself from a bedroom door. He was a co-lead vocalist for the rock-rap band that was one of the most commercially successful acts of the 2000s, winning countless awards, including Grammys.

20 – Former football star O.J. Simpson was granted parole (effective Oct. 1) after having served the minimum of a 9-to-33-year sentence for a bungled attempt to snatch sports memorabilia he claimed had been stolen from him.

21 – Shipping giant FedEx announced it was closing its FedEx Office stores in Canada after 32 years in the country. It said the closure of its 24 stores, a manufacturing plant in Markham, Ont., and its head office in Toronto would result in the loss of 214 jobs, but would not affect FedEx’s shipping business in Canada.

21 – White House press secretary Sean Spicer abruptly resigned, ending a rocky six-month tenure that made his news briefings defending U.S. President Donald Trump must-see TV.

21 – Kenny Shields, the brash lead singer of Canadian rock band Streetheart who swaggered across the country’s stages for decades, died of heart failure. He was 69. The Juno-winning artist was part of the homegrown brand of guitar-driven hits that became rock radio staples throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, including “Action,” “Hollywood,” “Look in Your Eyes” and “What Kind of Love Is This.”

22 – Alberta’s political landscape profoundly shifted as the Wildrose party and the Progressive Conservatives voted in a landslide to merge into the new United Conservative Party. (PC Leader Jason Kenney was elected the UCP’s new leader on Oct. 28.)

23 – Leader Jordan Spieth stumbled early but played the final five holes in 5-under and closed with a 1-under 69 for a three-shot victory in the British Open at Royal Birkdale, giving him the third leg of a career Grand Slam.

23 – Defending champion Chris Froome won his fourth Tour de France title.

25 – 14-1 longshot “Cool Catomine” grabbed the lead in the deep stretch to capture the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing.

25 – Canadian swimmer Kylie Masse won the 100-metre backstroke at the world championships in Hungary in a world-record time of 58.10 seconds.

26 – U.S. President Donald Trump surprised many when he announced on Twitter that he was reinstating a ban on transgender people serving in uniform, after the previous Obama administration lifted the ban in 2016.

26 – Actress June Foray, who gave voice to Rocky the Flying Squirrel and hundreds of other cartoon characters and was sometimes known as the “female Mel Blanc,” died in a Los Angeles hospital. She was 99.

28 – Former B.C. premier Christy Clark announced she would resign effective Aug. 4 as leader of the provincial Liberal party and give up her seat in Kelowna. The New Democrats formed a minority government with the support of the Greens after Clark’s party lost a confidence vote in the legislature at the end of June, ending 16 years in power.

30 – Jhonattan Vegas made birdie on the first playoff hole to beat Charley Hoffman and repeat as Canadian Open champion.

30 – Deadly clashes between protesters and police marred voting that allowed President Nicolas Maduro to replace Venezuela’s current legislative body — the National Assembly – with a new institution called the Constituent Assembly that would have the power to rewrite the constitution.

30 – Catcher Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez, first baseman Jeff Bagwell and Expo great Tim Raines were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with former commissioner Bud Selig and front-office guru John Schuerholz.

31 – Anthony Scaramucci was ousted as White House communications director after just 11 days on the job, and just hours after former Gen. John Kelly took over as U.S. President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff. Scaramucci got into trouble almost immediately after his appointment — giving a profanity-laden interview to New Yorker magazine, including a tirade against then chief of staff Reince Prebus. The appointment of Scaramucci had earlier prompted former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to quit.

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AUGUST 2017

1 – CBC announced that Adrienne Arsenault, Rosemary Barton, Andrew Chang and Ian Hanomansing would take over as the new hosts of its flagship news program, “The National,” breaking free of the traditional solo news anchor format following the retirement of Peter Mansbridge.

1 – Keyboard player Goldy McJohn (born John Goadsby), one of the Canadian founding members of Steppenwolf, the band best known for the classic-rock staples “Born to be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride,” died of a heart attack. He was 72.

2 – Prince Philip, 96, made his 22,219th — and final — solo public engagement, braving heavy rain to meet Royal Marines at Buckingham Palace. The Duke of Edinburgh had announced in May that he was stepping down from public duties.

3 – Paris Saint-Germain obtained Brazilian forward Neymar from Barcelona for a world record US$262 million transfer fee, more than double the previous record of US$116 million paid in 2016 by Manchester United for France midfielder Paul Pogba.

4 – Martin Shkreli, the eccentric former pharmaceutical CEO notorious for a price-gouging scandal and for his snide “Pharma Bro” persona on social media, was convicted on three of eight federal charges that he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds.

5 – Usain Bolt had his farewell party spoiled when Americans Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman finished ahead of him in the 100 metres at the world track and field championships in London, in the Jamaican sprinter’s final individual race of his unparalleled career.

8 – Glen Campbell, the affable superstar singer of “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Wichita Lineman” and “Southern Nights” and whose appeal spanned country, pop, television and movies, died at age 81. Campbell announced in June 2011 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He won five Grammys, sold more than 45 million records, had 12 gold albums and 75 chart hits.

10 – Brad Wall, who had served as premier of Saskatchewan since 2007, announced plans to retire from politics. He was first elected in 1999 under the banner of the newly formed Saskatchewan Party, made up of disaffected Tories and Liberals.

12 – Suspected Islamic terrorists opened fire at a popular Turkish restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital, killing 18 people including two Canadians.

12 – A car plowed through a group of counter-protesters at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 other people. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio, was arrested shortly after and charged with second-degree murder and other counts.

12 – Former NHL coach and GM Bryan Murray died after a three-year battle with colon cancer. He was 74. Murray won the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 1984 with the Washington Capitals and executive of the year as general manager of the Florida Panthers in 1993. Later, he coached the Ottawa Senators to a Stanley Cup final appearance in 2007. He was promoted to general manager and held that position until stepping down after the 2016 season. He compiled a coaching record of 620 wins (10th most in NHL history), 465 losses, 131 ties and 23 overtime losses.

12 – Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt failed to make it to the finishing line in his final race, as the anchor crumpled to the track with a left hamstring injury as he was chasing gold in the 4×100-metre relay at the world championships.

14 – A jury found former Denver radio host David Mueller guilty of groping pop star Taylor Swift during a backstage photo-op in 2013. He had sued Swift, claiming the allegation cost him his career and his reputation and she countersued for assault and battery and a request for a symbolic $1 judgment and the chance to stand up for other women.

16 – In Washington, the first round of negotiations began on a new North American Free Trade Agreement. The Trump administration started with demands for a five-year termination clause allowing easy cancellation of the agreement; tougher Buy American rules; auto-parts requirements the industry called impossible to meet; and a gutting of the dispute mechanisms that enforce NAFTA.

17 – A van deliberately veered onto a sidewalk and sped down a pedestrian zone in Barcelona’s historic tourist district, killing 13 people — including one Canadian. Four Canadians were among the 120 injured. ISIS claimed responsibility. The driver was the subject of a massive manhunt and was gunned down on Aug. 21 in Subirats, a small town 45 kilometres west of the city.

18 – U.S. President Donald Trump accepted Steve Bannon’s resignation, ending a turbulent seven months for his chief strategist. The former leader of conservative Breitbart News was the man behind many of Trump’s most controversial efforts, including the travel ban on mainly Muslim countries and the decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.

19 – Dick Gregory, the comedian and activist and who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humour to spread messages of social justice and nutritional health, died of a severe bacterial infection. He was 84.

20 – Jerry Lewis, the manic, rubber-faced showman who jumped and hollered to fame in a lucrative partnership with Dean Martin, settled down to become a self-conscious screen auteur and found an even greater following as the tireless, teary host of the annual muscular dystrophy telethons, died of natural causes. He was 91.

20 – Rafael Hernandez rode 8-5 favourite “Channel Maker” to victory in the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, the final jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown.

21 – At 10:16 a.m PT, the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast-to-coast across the U.S. in 99 years began in Oregon, with the path of totality travelling diagonally across 14 states to South Carolina. In Canada, Victoria got the best view of the