In the mid-70s, David Bowie was a mess. He was drinking a lot. His cocaine intake was off the charts. And he was convinced that he was some kind of alien who was being pursued by witches looking to steal his vital essence, which is why he took to storing his urine in the fridge. Oh, and for a while, he fell to less than 100 pounds because all he would eat for meals was milk and red peppers.

This being the 70s, the police were often curious about what sort of illegal things rock stars like Bowie were up to. On December 1, 1974, after the final show of the Diamond Dogs tour, there was a party. It was decadent.

Suddenly, a bunch of plainclothes cops armed with handguns broke down the door. Bowie retreated to a bedroom where he was able to flush his stash. Whatever was left was claimed by Bowie’s bodyguard, Tony Mascia.

He took the rap for his boss, keeping Bowie from being arrested on serious drug charges.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Before there was X Factor and all the Idol and Got Talent TV shows, there was The Gong Show. It was conceived as an insane half-hour of absurdity by TV executive Chuck Barris. It debuted in 1975 and ran for 500 episodes.

There was often nothing serious about the amateur contestants who performed for the panel of judges. If they couldn’t stand you, one of them struck a big gong and your time was done.

John Lee was a radio DJ who also played in a band called The Hard Luck Band. In about 1979, John appeared singing a cover of The Eagles Desperado. Much to his surprise, the judges loved his performance, and he won that particular episode, escaping with his dignity and a little cash.

Why do I mention this? Because John Lee is the father of Amy Lee of Evanescence.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Police in New Brunswick say they are now investigating the suspicious death of a 57-year-old as a homicide.

RCMP say they responded to a report of a sudden death at a residence in Shenstone, N.B., south of Moncton, on the evening of Aug. 4.

The Mounties say they located the man’s body inside the residence.

Police are now looking to speak with a male driver who stopped and spoke with an individual walking on Route 910 in the Shenstone and Hillsborough areas around Aug. 2.

The RCMP also say they want to speak with a woman who may have provided transportation to an individual around the same time.

RCMP are asking anyone with information about the homicide or who was in the area at the time to contact its major crime unit.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Just days after registering to run for another term, Toronto-Danforth Coun. Paula Fletcher announced she’s retiring from politics and withdrawing her name from the upcoming race.

Fletcher has served on city council for 23 years and told Global News she has never entered her nomination papers early. But she said she got a little excited after returning from vacation and put her name up for another four years.

Wednesday morning however, she said she had a “come to Jesus moment” while on her paddleboard on Lake Ontario.

That’s when she decided it was time to call it a career.

Fletcher said her health is fine, following questions about the sudden change of heart. But she said it was time to enjoy the city she has fought to improve for more than two decades.

She also made it clear that she didn’t have enough time to tackle another major project, like the Don River and waterfront revitalization projects she’s pushed for.

As for a potential successor in her ward, Fletcher said she’s made no decisions and will wait and see who puts their name forward.

But she noted that she succeeded Jack Layton in the ward and following her long tenure, she said her constituents have a shared set of values they will expect to be respected by whoever comes next.

Most importantly, she said made it clear that she’s not just going to put her feet up over the next couple of months.

Fletcher said she’s still councillor until the fall and said she’ll continue answering calls for broken branches or sewer issues, like she has this week.

Nominations for municipal elections close at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Already this week there have been late entry candidates with Mike Layton registering for University-Rosedale and former MP Nate Erskine-Smith in Beaches-East York.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The dog days of summer are when many First Nations hold Treaty Days — a time to collect a crisp $5 bill from a Government of Canada representative handing out the annual annuity payment to people with Indian status in most treaty territories.

The payment commemorates the historic agreements between First Nations and the Crown and reaffirms living treaty rights, while celebrating culture with feasts, craft shows and powwows.

But there’s a new star at Treaty Days this summer: competitions for the wildest so-called “big auntie earrings.” Competitors find creative ways to adorn their ears with humorous, oversized earrings.

Delanie Bruyere won the contest at the Treaty Days event at Sagkeeng First Nation, located an hour and a half northeast of Winnipeg. Her winning design incorporated coat hangers as earring hooks and cut up pool noodles carefully strung together as the bead design.

“The trend just sort of started this summer and kind of came out of nowhere but I’m glad it did,” said Bruyere. “It’s just awesome.”

As Indigenous-created earring styles grew and grew some more, it was only a matter of time before someone took big auntie earring fashion and turned it into a hilarious competition.

“We like to use humor in a lot of the things we do so what better way to take something that a lot of us wear with pride, like the earrings, and add some humor to it,” Bruyere said.

The trend has dominated summer on the Prairies of Canada and the plains of the U.S.

Past competitions have happened at Beaver First Nation in Alberta and Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba, while the Schemitzun Powwow in Connecticut is also expected to feature the event.

“I think it will stick around, I mean everyone loves it,” Bruyere said.

Other standout creations circulated on social media involved soda cans and pizza boxes, with entries limited only by imagination.

“It’s a fun way to get people together and laugh together.”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The suspect in a string of elbow and shoulder-checking assaults against strangers in Vancouver has been denied bail.

Dylan Brandon Gaita, 29, was detained by B.C. provincial court Judge Deanne Gaffar on Tuesday.

A publication ban prevents us from reporting on the evidence and submissions at the bail hearing, and the reasons behind the judge’s decision to detain the accused.

Gaita has been in custody since he was re-arrested in late June.

Police warned the public about Gaita in March, when he was arrested and charged in connection with four assaults on women between January 2025 and January of this year

Gaita was released on bail and ordered to wear an ankle monitor before he allegedly attacked two more people on Commercial Drive in June.

On June 28, police said a man was walking on Commercial Drive at Charles Street when a suspect shoulder-checked him, causing him to lose his balance.

A day later, a woman was walking near East 1st Avenue and Commercial Drive when security footage captured a suspect walking in the opposite direction elbow her in the face.

Gaita is accused of four counts of assault and two counts of assault causing bodily harm.

Three of the alleged assaults occurred after Gaita was sentenced to 18 months’ probation in January for two previous attacks on women.

In January 2025, police said a 44-year-old woman was hip-checked by Gaita on Granville Street and knocked to the ground.

That April, police said Gaita elbowed a 77-year-old woman in the shoulder on Granville Street. She fell to the ground and suffered a fractured pelvis.

Before he was charged criminally, Gaita passed a background check and volunteered with the VPD at a community policing centre in downtown Vancouver.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 8, to set a date for the arraignment process.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

REGINA – Those swearing oaths or making affirmations in Saskatchewan provincial courts can now do so with an eagle feather.

The Provincial Court of Saskatchewan says the addition of the feather keeps with its commitment to inclusion.

Previously, those testifying in provincial courts could only swear an oath on a religious text or make a solemn affirmation to tell the truth.

The court says it was gifted 14 eagle feathers by a judge’s sister and that they will be available at its 13 permanent courthouses.

It says people can also arrange to have feathers made available at hearings outside permanent locations.

The court adds that people can also bring their own eagle feathers to court to make an oath or affirmation.

Eagle feathers can be used before testifying at courthouses in other provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

“The court recognizes the cultural importance of eagle feathers and is committed to ensuring they are treated with the utmost respect and care,” Chief Judge Shannon Metivier of Saskatchewan provincial court said in a news release Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Kraft Dinner smoothies, nitrogen-infused Oreo treats and pickle-flavoured coffee are among the wild food offerings at the Canadian National Exhibition this year.

Media got a preview of the culinary standouts ahead of the annual end-of-summer Toronto fair’s official opening on Friday.

Mark Holland, CEO of the fair, says Toronto’s food scene is legendary and the CNE tries to do it justice.

The former federal health minister says the butter chicken taquitos are his favourite this year.

Kraft Dinner smoothies, nitrogen-infused Oreo treats and pickle-flavoured coffee are among the wild food offerings at the Canadian National Exhibition this year.

Media got a preview of the culinary standouts ahead of the annual end-of-summer Toronto fair’s official opening on Friday.

Mark Holland, CEO of the fair, says Toronto’s food scene is legendary and the CNE tries to do it justice.

The former federal health minister says the butter chicken taquitos are his favourite this year.

The frozen “Space Rocks” treat was a nod to this year’s galactic theme — Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will answer questions about the Artemis II mission and life in space on the fair’s opening day.

The Oreo treats were carefully doled out of a freezing cold bucket, and otherworldly clouds of nitrogen fog spilled out of the bowls.

Some of the offerings were bite-sized, such as edible spheres filled with blue raspberry dirty soda and strawberry cold foam. Others were more of a commitment, including the foot-long butter chicken taquito, which is stuffed with fragrant basmati rice and served with a creamy aioli.

Beach Hill Smokehouse served up warm, crispy waffle cones stuffed with sweet candied yams and topped with a hearty serving of house-made mac and cheese.

The fair starts on Friday and runs through Labour Day.

The city’s public transit agency is planning to add service on bus and streetcar routes that serve Exhibition Place. The TTC will also run dedicated CNE shuttle buses providing service between the subway line at Dufferin Station and the Dufferin Loop near the exhibition grounds, it said.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Children’s lung capacity improved significantly after vehicles that cause the most pollution were prohibited from driving in certain parts of London, U.K., designated as low and ultra low emissions zones, a new study found.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and Oxford University examined over 3,000 school children aged six to nine in central London and Luton before and after the introduction of the ultra low low emissions zones (ulez) and found that the London children’s’ lung capacity was restored to healthy levels after it was initially stunted by exposure to pollution.

Luton, the study’s comparator site, is a town outside of London and does not have any designated clean air zones.

“This evidence supports wider implementation of clean air zones as a public health intervention,” the study says, arguing that it marks an evidentiary breakthrough for an initiative which in the past had been criticized for burdening drivers.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan introduced the plan more than seven years ago, and wrote in an essay for The Guardian this week that when it was first suggested he faced backlash from his detractors, who he said accused him of declaring “war on drivers in blind pursuit of a policy that may not even work.”

New findings showed it to be effective.

Over four years the study found that the percentage of children with impaired lung function decreased in both London and Luton, from 14 per cent to nine per cent in London and from nine per cent to seven per cent in Luton.

“To our knowledge, we provide the first evidence that air quality improvements following introduction of a clean air zone are associated with improved lung growth trajectories in children,” the study’s authors wrote.

According to their findings, exposure to traffic related air-pollution is strongly linked to impaired lung development in children and adolescents and failure to reach maximal lung growth poses an increased risk for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiometabolic disease, and earlier mortality.

It also showed that children’s lung growth accelerated in ultra low emissions zones and that it was correlated with an improvement in air quality. The depletion of their lung capacity was linked specifically to the presence of nitrogen dioxide.

Based on the evidence researchers concluded that low emissions zones should be implemented more broadly, and on an international scale.

“Children continue to be exposed to poor air quality in cities globally,'” they wrote, “decision makers globally should consider accelerating the introduction of clean air zones to improve children’s lung health.”

There are no similar initiatives currently operational in Canada.

The federal government does set out vehicle emission standards, which require car makers to meet increasingly stringent low emissions requirements.

Toronto has considered implementing congestion charges and low emissions zones to reduce traffic along major travel routes. These policies typically require drivers to pay to use a polluting vehicle within certain areas.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A former engineering director at Meta Platforms testified on Wednesday that CEO Mark Zuckerberg fostered a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram.

Arturo Bejar, a vocal Meta critic, made the allegation during his second day of testimony in a landmark trial over claims brought by a coalition of states that could reshape Facebook and Instagram, some of the most popular apps on the planet.

California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey accuse Meta of designing the platforms to hook young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, and misleading consumers about their safety.

Those states and 25 others also accuse Meta of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using personal data of children under 13 while they used its platforms. The trial began on Tuesday and is expected to last six weeks. Zuckerberg is expected to testify.

Bejar, the states’ first witness, said Zuckerberg was closely involved in much decision-making, and the company’s top-down culture ensured that product design changes would occur only if he ordered them.

“If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months,” Bejar said.

Bejar also disputed an October 2021 response Zuckerberg made to allegations by whistleblower Frances Haugen that Meta knew its ⁠products were unsafe ​for children and knew how to make them safe, but did nothing in order to pursue higher profits. Zuckerberg said at the time that Meta constantly used research to improve its products.

“It’s so false, every part of it,” Bejar said. “You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids.”

Bejar worked at Meta from 2009 to 2015, and helped examine the well-being of teenage Instagram users while employed as an independent contractor from 2019 to 2021. He said he was not working directly with Zuckerberg at the time, and as an outside contractor lacked access to some resources.

Bejar has been outspoken in criticizing Meta’s safety record for children, and testified before a U.S. Senate committee in 2023 that Meta was aware of harassment and other harms facing teenagers on its platforms but failed to address them.

Under cross-examination from Meta’s lawyer Brian Stekloff, Bejar acknowledged he was unaware of the risks his daughter would face in 2021 when he helped her set up an Instagram account she still has.

Bejar said his daughter was 16 at the time, and wanted a space where women could discuss cars, but came to experience misogynistic comments, including about her breasts.

“I kept an eye on how distressing it was for her,” Bejar said. “She got a good following, at the price of harm.”

Earlier, Bejar told a lawyer for the states that Meta prioritized user engagement — and profit — over safety.

He said a tool Meta uses that encourages users to take a break, a key feature Meta has cited in its defense, was “designed to fail” because it is not the default setting and reminders are easy to ignore.

Bejar also said Meta had technology to flag and require verification from users, potentially in the millions, suspected to be under age 13, but turned a blind eye through a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy because it was financially profitable over the longer term.

“Where the youngest kids are is where the users are going to be in the future,” he said.

Experts have said the trial is the biggest legal test yet of social media’s effects on young users.

Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits over alleged harm to children. Bejar has been a key witness against the company in three of the cases that have gone to trial so ​far. One of those cases, brought by New Mexico, resulted in $942 million in damages and penalties and an order requiring Meta to change its platforms in the state.

© 2026 Reuters