Immigration Minister John McCallum holds a news conference to update the Syrian refugee situation, in Ottawa, Wednesday, December 23, 2015. McCallum says the government will have identified the 10,000 refugees who will be on Canadian soil in the coming months, but not all will be in the air by the end of December. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

Five stories in the news today, Dec. 24, from The Canadian Press:

———

MCCALLUM: NO GUARANTEE ON REFUGEE TARGET

There is no guarantee the federal government will meet its promise to resettle 10,000 Syrians by year end, but the Liberals remain confident that resettling more than twice as many by the end of February is possible, Immigration Minister John McCallum said Wednesday. There are too many factors beyond the government's control to say with certainty 10,000 people will arrive in the next eight days, McCallum said. "We are moving heaven and earth to get them here as quickly as we can," said McCallum.

———

EX-MANITOBA MP TO SEEK PROVINCIAL SEAT

Former Conservative member of Parliament Steven Fletcher is running for a seat in the Manitoba legislature. Fletcher, who was defeated in October's federal election, was declared the only candidate Wednesday night for the provincial Tory nomination in the Winnipeg constituency of Assiniboia. Fletcher, a quadriplegic well-known for his battle for the right to assisted suicide, will carry the Tory banner in the provincial election April 19.

———

SALVADORAN MAN LEAVES B.C. CHURCH SANCTUARY

An asylum seeker from El Salvador made an emotional exit from the protection of a Langley, B.C., church two years after seeking sanctuary to avoid deportation. The family and supporters of Jose Figueroa cheered and wept with the man as he stepped through the doors of Walnut Grove Lutheran Church without fear of arrest. Figueroa, who turned 49 yesterday, was granted an exemption to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds this week by Immigration Minister John McCallum.

———

SPCA PROBING REPORT OF ABUSE AT ONTARIO ZOO

The Ontario SPCA says it's looking into allegations that a tiger was whipped repeatedly by its trainer at a zoo east of Toronto. The investigation began when it received a video from an animal rights group that appeared to show a tiger being whipped. The SPCA says it sent officers to the Bowmanville Zoo where they examined the tigers and no animals were removed.

———

HIGH-TECH GEAR BOOSTS EMERGENCY RESPONSE IN CRISES

When Stanley Cup rioters rained chaos onto Vancouver's downtown core in June 2011, holes were exposed in the capabilities of police trying to stop looting and arsons. Communication between police was so bad that teams deploying tear gas accidentally dispersed crowds into streets being cleared by other squads. A Vancouver-based technology startup gathered the findings from police and has pioneered cutting-edge software to address crises.

———

News from © The Canadian Press, 2015