Next CPP payment coming on Tuesday for Canadian retirees
Canadian retirees will receive their latest Canada Pension Plan payments Tuesday.
A former British soldier awaiting trial on terror charges who appears to have escaped from a London prison by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck remained at large Thursday as police stepped up security checks across the United Kingdom amid concerns he may try to flee the country.
Opposition parties linked the escape to years of austerity while Britain's Conservative government said an independent investigation will take place "in due course" into how Daniel Abed Khalife managed to slip out of the medium-security Wandsworth Prison.
His escape has prompted extra security checks at major transport hubs, particularly in and around the Port of Dover, the main boat crossing from England to France.
Britain's justice secretary told lawmakers that "no stone must be left unturned in getting to the bottom of what happened" as he confirmed an "independent investigation into this incident." Alex Chalk also said "urgent" reviews into prison categorization would be carried out as questions remained over how Khalife wasn't being held at a maximum-security facility such as Belmarsh Prison in east London.
Khalife, 21, is accused of planting fake bombs at a military base and of violating Britain's Official Secrets Act by gathering information "that could be useful to an enemy." He was discharged from the British army after his arrest earlier this year and had denied the allegations. His trial is set for November.
Chalk said Khalife, who had been working in a kitchen at the prison, escaped at around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, when a vehicle that had made a delivery left.
Shortly afterward, he said, contingency plans for an unaccounted prisoner were activated and police were informed. The vehicle, he added, was subsequently stopped and searched by police after the alert was raised.
"Strapping was found underneath the vehicle which appeared to indicate that Daniel Khalife may have held onto the underside of it in order to escape," Chalk said.
More than 150 investigators and police staff are on the case, according to Metropolitan Police Commander Dominic Murphy, who is the lead investigator.
"We have issued a nationwide alert that has resulted in increased security at our ports and borders, however currently there have not been any confirmed sightings," he said.
Opposition politicians have sought to pin the blame on the Conservative government, which has been in power since 2010. Many U.K. prisons, including Wandsworth, are over capacity and short of staff. The escape could hardly have come at a worse time for a government that is already scrambling to get all schools to reopen for the new academic year amid concerns over crumbling concrete.
"It simply beggars belief that a man being held on suspected terror charges was able to escape a prison by clinging to the bottom of a food delivery van," said Shabana Mahmood, the justice spokesperson for the main opposition Labour Party. "How is such an escape even possible?"
Charlie Taylor, who scrutinizes detention facilities in England in his role as the chief inspector of prisons, said staff shortages are "the source of many problems" at Wandsworth.
Taylor said it "should be standard practice" for vehicles entering and leaving the prison to be checked and a prisoner has to earn a "certain level of trust" in order to be allowed to work in a kitchen.
"But the issue that we are particularly concerned about is there are too many prisoners in Wandsworth for the amount of staff who are there," he said. "And that ultimately is the source of many of the problems in the jail."
In an annual review, published in July, Wandsworth Prison was deemed to be a "serious concern." The prison, which is in the middle of a residential area, holds around 1,600 defendants appearing at London courts and offenders due to be released in five wings.
------
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Canadian retirees will receive their latest Canada Pension Plan payments Tuesday.
Canadian doctors are calling for employers and schools not to require sick notes when it comes to short-term minor illnesses.
Bad Bunny threw his support behind U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Sunday by sharing a video of the Democratic presidential nominee shortly after a comedian at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally made crude jokes about Latinos and called Puerto Rico a 'floating island of garbage,' angering artists and some Hispanic Republicans.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says if his party forms government, it will scrap the federal sales tax on new homes sold for less than $1 million and push provinces do to the same.
Adele and Celine Dion were each brought to tears after an emotional interaction during Adele's concert at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
A major amusement park is part of Ontario's grand vision to turn the Niagara region into Las Vegas north, but Marineland may not fit the bill, the provincial tourism minister says.
Donald Trump took the stage Sunday night at New York's Madison Square Garden to deliver his campaign's closing argument with the election nine days away after several of his allies used crude and racist insults toward U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and other critics of the former president.
Canada's reliance on food banks has soared to a grim new milestone, according to data from Food Banks Canada.
A woman appeared in an Australian court on Monday charged with a May assault on the Indigenous senator who shouted at King Charles III during a royal reception last week.
The Westfield & District Recreation Association hosted its first Witches and Warlocks on the Water event Saturday, with costumed paddlers in pointed hats launching from Westfield Beach.
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.
A newly minted Winnipegger is hoping a world record attempt will help bring awareness for the need for more pump track facilities in the city.
A Springfield, Ont. man is being hailed a 'hero' after running into his burning home to save his two infant children.