Métis delegates first to meet with Pope

Global sextortion targets teenage boys

PILOT MOUND, Man. - Daniel Lints was kind and responsible with a witty sense of humour. The rural Manitoba teenager had a bright future and loving family. He played hockey and was a constant visitor to the nearby community pool.

He was a normal and happy 17-year-old until one chilly February day, he accepted a message request from what appeared to be an attractive young woman on Snapchat.

She coerced him into sending an explicit image. In minutes he was being blackmailed and within three hours he took his own life.

"I feel like he was murdered,” says Derek Lints, Daniel’s father, as tears stream down his cheeks.

Paralympics open in empty stadium - just like Olympics

On Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, Toronto Star baseball columnist and Deep Left Field podcast host Mike Wilner will answer your questions about the Blue Jays and anything else baseball-related.

Tories likely to follow giant leap towards balanced budget with a step or two in other direction

The only problem with slashing the size of the deficit as much as the province did last year is it’s going be tough for government officials to explain why the shortfall will likely be higher this year — and maybe next year, too.

Last year’s deficit came in at a surprising $163 million, according to the province’s public accounts released Thursday. That’s well below the budgeted shortfall of $521 million. It’s great news. The sooner the province stops borrowing money to finance its daily operating costs, the closer it will be to paying down debt and freeing up more money for front-line services (and cutting taxes). It’s a major accomplishment for a government that, just three years earlier, inherited a deficit of $932 million and a debt that was growing at about $2 billion a year.

Considering government is so close to balance, it’s tempting to assume they could be back in the black as early as next year. After all, what’s $163 million in a $17.4-billion budget? It’s less than one per cent.

But there were some unique reasons why the deficit fell so dramatically last year, many of which were due to one-time events. The stars probably won’t align like that anytime soon. Which means this year's deficit, and maybe next year's, could be higher.

Métis delegates first to meet with Pope

ROME — Mitchell Case gave Cassidy Caron, president of the Métis National Council, two traditional handmade gifts before delegates from the organization met with Pope Francis on Monday.

One was a traditional beaded jacket for Caron to wear in the meeting. The other was a handmade gift of red moccasins for the Pope.

Case is a community-based historian and educator and region 4 councillor for the Métis Nation of Ontario. In making the presentation, he said the red shoes — the kind traditionally worn by popes, but not by Pope Francis — symbolize the “long way” the Roman Catholic Church has to walk before reconciliation and forgiveness can take place.

It will also remind the Pope “he doesn’t walk alone” when it comes to reconciliation, as well as reminding him of the “great and terrible things” done by popes who came before him.

Leaked data prompts news backlash in Canada, U.S.

WASHINGTON - Journalists in Canada and the United States, veterans of a daily grind that entails tracking down and chatting up newsmakers, politicians and ordinary citizens by whatever means necessary, are encountering a very different — and hostile — world as they work to learn more about supporters of the protests in Ottawa.

Reporters are being harassed, spammed, "doxxed" and even threatened for reaching out to donors to an online crowdfunding campaign that was targeted last week by hackers who disclosed the contact details of thousands of pro-trucker contributors.

"I actually had someone come to my door and leave a threatening note," said Bryan Schott, a political reporter with the Salt Lake Tribune who used the list to send emails to donors with Utah zip codes.

In Schott's case, along with countless others, people have been using social media to post screen shots of emails they've received from reporters — usually innocuous queries asking for confirmation that they had donated to the protesters and whether they'd agree to an interview.