STARS Air Ambulance and Craik RCMP were called to a serious collision on Highway 2 west of Chamberlain, Sask. on Thursday afternoon.

Around 2 p.m. RCMP said the northbound and southbound lanes of Highway 2 were closed near the scene which is about one kilometre north of Highway 2 and the Highway 733 junction.

RCMP said drivers should expect delays in the area and are advised to follow instructions from emergency personnel.

Chamberlain, Sask. is about 90 kilometres northwest of Regina.

It’s the first boys soccer national championship in Saskatchewan history.

The U17 Saskatoon Alliance won their provincial soccer league title, earning them a spot at nationals. But just to survive nationals is a grueling experience.

“It’s five games in six days,” said Dan Weber, head coach of the Saskatoon Alliance U17 boys team. “It’s really almost like a war of attrition.”

Winning their first three games in the round robin, all by just a single goal, the Alliance were guaranteed a spot in the gold medal game. They beat Alberta, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia before winning against Prince Edward Island in the semi-final.

“Everything was close,” said Weber. “Sometimes I think we made it closer than we needed to, but in other cases, they were just really, really competitive games.”

Facing Ontario’s representative Thornhill in the gold medal match, both teams were careful in the first half.

“I think both teams were kind of feeling each other out,” he said. “No one really wanted to make a mistake, they don’t want to lose on a mistake, so it was pretty conservative. Not the most exciting soccer.”

But the action picked up in the second half, with Ontario scoring almost immediately on what the coach calls a miscue.

What stood out to him though, was the way the players responded.

“It didn’t rattle them so much that it would put them off,” said Weber. And a few minutes later, one of the under-aged players, Nazar Bulyhin, blasted a left-footed shot that tied the game at 1.

“If you can find the footage, it looks just like a pro soccer goal. And that’s when the light went off for the boys, we’re about 30 minutes away from a national championship.”

Less than four minutes after that, Ontario served up a costly giveaway in their own 18-yard box. Tristao Hein got enough on the scramble shot for the ball to cross the goal line, making the score 2-1 late in the second half.

“He was able to score, and then it was about locking things down and time management,” said Weber, who was finally rewarded for his and his players’ hard work when the final whistle blew.

“It was just an incredible feeling, we finally did it,” he said. “Meanwhile there’s kids going nuts and running around and jumping on each other. It was just a really, really great, overwhelming feeling to have accomplished something as a group.”

Another Saskatoon Alliance team, the U15 girls team narrowly missed a double celebration, earning a well-fought silver medal in their first appearance at nationals.

But it’s the combined success of the teams that Weber hopes will help drive the sport of soccer in Saskatchewan to new heights, something that would require increased support.

“Many years ago I said, we have NHL athletes coming from Saskatchewan regularly,” Weber told CTV News.

“We have some of the greatest football players and volleyball players, what was bothering me was that it wasn’t happening with soccer. It didn’t mirror what the other programs are offering their athletes and creating a real culture of excellence. I hope we started that, I hope that this kind of sets a segue into creating the mindset that, we do have some of the best players in all of Canada.”

While this season is finally over, Weber says his phone is already ringing with coaches and schools asking about his players. Weber says it’s just the beginning of Saskatchewan soccer players advancing further in the game.

Federal cabinet ministers Filomena Tassi, Carla Qualtrough, and Dan Vandal announced Thursday they will not run for re-election.

Senior government sources tell CTV News at least one other – Marie-Claude Bibeau – doesnt plan to run again, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks.

Coming amid growing dissent within his caucus, in statements confirming their plans to not re-offer, the three ministers expressed their support of and gratitude to the prime minister.

“My reason for making this decision is deeply personal — it’s time for me to be closer to home with my family,” wrote Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, in a two-page statement  posted on social media. “This is a bittersweet decision.

Qualtrough, who has held a series of cabinet positions and is currently the minister for sport, said it was with mixed emotions that she recently told Trudeau about her decision to not run again.

It is time to move on, and I am excited to see what comes next, she said.

Vandal, who currently holds the northern affairs portfolio, said he also has told Trudeau of his difficult decision to not run in 2025 or whenever the next election is called.

I am working with the Prime Ministers Office to ensure an orderly transition, he said in a statement sent to CTV News. In it, Vandal states he fully supports Trudeaus continued leadership.

Bibeau, who is currently the national revenue minister, plans to run for mayor of Sherbrooke, Que., according to sources.

All four were first elected in 2015, with both Qualtrough and Bibeau serving in cabinet since then. Tassi joined cabinet in 2017, and Vandal in 2019.

Trudeau losing these ministers comes as multiple sources tell CTV News  that a group of Liberal MPs plan to ask him at next Wednesday’s caucus meeting to step aside before the next election, for the good of the party.

Other high-profile Liberals have also recently stepped down from cabinet, including former transport minister and Quebec lieutenant Pablo Rodriguez, who left to run for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, and former labour minister Seamus O’Regan, who quit for personal reasons.

Anticipating a larger rearrangement of the Liberal front bench this fall, two weeks ago CTV News surveyed all cabinet ministers about their plans for the next federal election.

Every office responded saying that their minister intended to run again – including Tassi, Qualtrough, and Vandals offices – with the exception of Bibeau, and Trade Minister Mary Ng.

Bibeau’s office responded that at the time, the minister was undecided.

Ngs office confirmed to CTV News on Thursday that she does plan to run again.

In an interview on CTV News Channels Power Play, host Vassy Kapelos asked Tassi what changed in the last two weeks.

Tassi said that shes been having conversations about whether shed run again with the prime minister over the last few months, and though its an emotional day, she believes shes made the right decision.

Youre running until youre not, right? And todays the day that I have announced that Im not running, she said. I had confidence in the prime minister in 2015, and I have confidence in him today.

Asked whether the ministerial announcements were coordinated, Tassi said she had been in conversation with the PMO and heard yesterday evening that it would be fine if I release my statement.

In 2022, Tassi was moved out of the procurement minister portfolio at her request, stating then that she wanted to spend more time at home, for family reasons.

She swapped roles with former minister Helena Jaczek, who has since been shuffled out of cabinet entirely, and is among the more than a dozen current Liberal MPs that have announced in the last year or so that they arent running again.

The next federal election is scheduled for October 2025, though speculation of an early writ drop has increased in recent weeks, amid recurring Conservative tests in the House of Commons of Trudeaus confidence, and uncertainty around how long the Bloc Quebecois and NDP will be willing to prop up the prime ministers embattled minority government.

The Liberal partys prospects are not that great. So, theres a high likelihood that many, if not all of these cabinet ministers could lose their seats if the polls hold until the next election, said Abacus Datas David Coletto.

So, I think this is just indicative of a government thats in the later stages of its life, and its bound to lose some senior people.

Coletto said that while a cabinet shuffle alone will likely not be sufficient to overcome the hurdles the federal Liberals are facing or turn around their polling numbers, it could be the start of an effort to signal to Canadians that Trudeaus government will change direction.

It may be an opportunity, at least, for the prime minister to give it one last go, he said.

Israeli forces in Gaza killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel’s most wanted man.

Israeli leaders celebrated his killing as a settling of scores, just over a year after Hamas-led militants surged out of Gaza into southern Israel in an attack that stunned the country. They also presented it as a moment for Hamas to surrender and release some 100 hostages it still holds captive.

Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Our war has not yet ended.” Besides seeking the release of hostages, Netanyahu has said Israel must keep long-term control over Gaza to ensure Hamas does not rearm — opening the possibility of continued fighting.

For Hamas, Sinwars death is a crippling blow, but it has continually proven resilient during the war. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of Sinwars death.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant addressed Hamas fighters, saying it “is time to go out, release the hostages, raise your hands, surrender.”

U.S. President Joe Biden called Sinwars death a “good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world,” comparing it to the feeling in the U.S. after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He said he would talk with Netanyahu to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all.”

Sinwar has been Hamas’s top leader inside the Gaza Strip for years, closely connected to its military wing while dramatically building up its capabilities. He was elevated to Hamass highest spot in July after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran.

In the past months, Israel has eliminated a string of senior figures from Hamas and Lebanons Hezbollah with airstrikes. Israel has claimed to have killed the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike, but the group has said he survived.

But in Sinwars case, troops found him by chance.

An Israeli military official said that Sinwar engaged in combat” with Israeli troops operating in Gazas southernmost city of Rafah, and was spotted running into a building. The army struck the building with tank fire.

The army had suspected a number of top Hamas officials including Sinwar were in the vicinity, but Sinwar was not the target of that days specific operations, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity under military briefing rules.

Visiting the site of the killing, Israels army chief Herzi Halevi said that while the military had conducted “many special operations in this war where we had excellent information .... Here, we didn’t have that and the response was very, very strong.”

Photos circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building. The security official confirmed the photos were taken by Israeli security officials at the scene. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The military said three militants were killed in the operation. Police said one of them was confirmed as Sinwar by dental records and fingerprints, and DNA tests were ongoing. Sinwar was imprisoned by Israel from the late 1980s until 2011, and during that time he underwent treatment for brain cancer – leaving Israeli authorities with extensive medical records.

Netanyahu said Israel had “settled its account” with the man behind the Oct. 7 attack. But he added, “Today evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not yet complete.”

He said it was an “important moment in the war” to bring home the hostages and that anyone in Hamas who surrendered weapons and assisted with hostages return would be allowed to leave Gaza safely.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza to eliminate Hamas after the militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.

On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing at least 28 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Fares Abu Hamza, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency unit in the north, said the dead included a woman and four children, correcting an earlier report of five children. He said dozens of people were wounded.

The Israeli military said it targeted a command centre run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.

Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.

The Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee who specialized in intelligence in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

Vikash Yadav, 39, faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors first disclosed last year and have said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.

Yadav remains at large, but in charging him and releasing his name, the Biden administration sought to call out the Indian government for criminal activity that has emerged as a significant point of tension between India and the West over the last year — culminating this week with a diplomatic flare-up with Canada and the expulsion of diplomats.

“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

The criminal case against Yadav was announced the same week as two members of an Indian inquiry committee investigating the plot were in Washington to meet with U.S. officials about the investigation.

They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters before the case against Yadav was unsealed. “We are satisfied with cooperation. It continues to be an ongoing process.

On Monday, Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in the assassination of a Sikh activist there and expelled him and five other diplomats.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and police officials went public this week with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information along to Indian organized crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder.

India, for its part, has rejected the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.

The murder-for-hire plot was first disclosed by federal prosecutors last year when they announced charges against a man, Nikhil Gupta, who was recruited by a then-unidentified Indian government employee to orchestrate the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in New York.

Gupta was extradited to the United States in June from the Czech Republic after his arrest in Prague last year.

The rewritten indictment said Yadav recruited Gupta in May 2023 to arrange the assassination. It said Gupta, an Indian citizen who lived in India, contacted an individual at Yadav’s direction, believing the individual to be a criminal associate. Instead, the indictment said, the individual was a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The indictment said Gupta asked the individual to help contract a hitman to carry out the murder, promising to pay $100,000. Of the $100,000 due for the attack, $15,000 was delivered by a Yadav associate to the DEA undercover source in Manhattan, according to the arrangements made by Yadav and Gupta, the indictment said.

Authorities said Yadav, a citizen and resident of India, directed the plot from India while he was employed by the government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service. Yadav has described his position as a “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “Security Management” and “Intelligence,” the Justice Department said.

As the assassination plot was created in June 2023, Yadav gave Gupta personal information about the Sikh separatist leader, including his home address in New York City, his phone numbers and details about his day-to-day movements, which Gupta then passed along to the undercover DEA operative, according to court papers.

Yadav directed Gupta to keep him updated regularly on the progress of the assassination plot, leading Gupta to send him surveillance photographs of the intended victim, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who advocated for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state, the indictment said.

U.S. authorities have said the killing of Pannun was to have occurred just days after Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who had been exiled from India, was shot and killed outside a cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. Prosecutors say the goal was to kill at least four people in Canada and the U.S. by June 29, 2023, and then more after that.

In a statement, Pannun said the indictment means the U.S. government has “reassured its commitment to fundamental constitutional duty to protect the life, liberty and freedom of expression of the U.S. Citizen at home and abroad.”

He added, “The attempt on my life on American Soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy, which unequivocally proves that India believes in using bullets while pro Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots.”

Meta has launched a new campaign to protect teens and children from social media sextortion scams. It’s designed to help teenagers and their parents easily spot online scammers, who trick young people into sending intimate photos and use financial blackmail, threatening exposure.

It was co-developed by Meta and Thorn – a non-profit organization that builds tech to defend children from sexual abuse -- as well as leading child experts and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

There are many safety layers to these new rules:

•  They limit the ability of strangers to connect with young people on social media.
•  When an Instagram account is private, teens and children can now only exchange messages with people they follow.
•  There is a nudity protection feature and other restrictions on photos.
•  Another persons followers are now blocked.

The new campaign includes a video  that helps teens recognize the signs of a potential sextortion scammer, which include:

•  Coming on too strong.
•  Asking to exchange photos.
•  Asking to move the conversation to a different messaging app or platform.

Tech analyst Carmi Levy said this is a productive step by Meta, but still not far-reaching enough.

If you are a parent or if you are a teenager or anyone involved in caregiving, you should not just assume that we are now over the line and this problem is solved, said Levy who added, sextortion extends well beyond just Meta and its platforms like Instagram and Facebook. These companies need to be held accountable by better laws that punish them if they are not compliant.

According to CTV News’ public safety analyst and former OPP commissioner Chris Lewis, the biggest obstacle with sextortion investigations is the fact that parents and law enforcement only know what is being reported. Many teens are staying silent, and not telling anyone because of fear and embarrassment.

“The kids realize that if they fall into one of these traps and post something online or exchange photos, it’s something that will follow them for the rest of their lives, said Lewis. It could put them in a vulnerable position and ultimately they may be talking to a 50-year-old in Europe and not a 15-year-old kid down the street like they think.

The key to any future success with these new safety features is parental involvement, said digital anthropologist Giles Crouch.

It all comes down to the parents actually spending time with their kids to learn how they are using these platforms, said Crouch. And will they take the time to put these controls on their kids’ phones.

The program is being released in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, countries that are commonly targeted by sextortionists based on data provided by Meta.

This new campaign includes a feature that prevents teens 16 and under from making changes to their teen account settings on Instagram without their parents’ permission. 

Regina police say one person was taken into custody following reports of a weapons offence at Thom Collegiate Tuesday afternoon.

Around 2:15 p.m. the school was placed into secure the building mode as a precaution, Regina police said in an emailed response to CTV News.

The protocol has since been lifted.

More details will be provided as they become available, according to Regina police.

Notice of Broadcast Disruption – July 3, 2024

On July 3, 2024, at 10:49 PM, Broadcast Center 01 experienced a power outage due to a passing thunderstorm. To safeguard our equipment from potential power surges, we decided to temporarily suspend our broadcasts. This interruption affected Z103.5, 979 The Cowboy, and 101 The Rockhound.

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