Bell Canada head office is seen on Nun's Island, Wednesday, August 5, 2015, in Montreal. A bill meant to force big tech companies to compensate Canadian media for news content appearing on their platforms is back in the spotlight amid BCE Inc.'s decision to slash 1,300 positions, including six per cent of its media arm. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of June 15 ...

What we are watching in Canada ...

A bill meant to force big tech companies to compensate Canadian media for news content appearing on their platforms is back in the spotlight amid BCE Inc.'s decision to slash 1,300 positions, including six per cent of its media arm.

Bell chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson raised concerns this week about Bill C-18, saying it won't do what it's meant to if companies such as Google and Meta restrict or block news links on their sites.

Meta said this week it is blocking news for one to five per cent of its 24 million Canadian users on Facebook and Instagram in a temporary test that is expected to last the majority of the month.

Google blocked links to news stories for about five weeks earlier this year for some Canadian users in response to the bill.

Malcolmson said Bell could not afford to wait for a resolution to the impasse before announcing its layoffs.

Bill C-18 awaits third reading in the Senate.

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Also this ...

Some LGBTQ Ukrainians say winning the war against Russia is a matter of life and death for many in their community.

The Russian parliament passed a law last year banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" among all age groups.

President Vladimir Putin also indicated Russia is fighting not only Ukraine but western values and has called LGBTQ rights "pure Satanism."

Vladslav Olegovich with the National LGBTI Consortium, which includes four Ukrainian organizations, said Putin represents a serious threat.

There are some areas in his country where discrimination is a problem, Olegovich said, but things aren't going to improve under Russian rule.

"If we win the war, it will be a very bright future. But if not, some of us will be captured and killed," said Olegovich, 26.

"There are rumours that Russia has some lists of activists in Ukraine, and it is some kind of kill list."

Men ages 18 to 60 were banned from leaving Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022. The Ukrainian government is not forcing men to fight, only to register and remain in the country.

But there is a chance of enforced conscription if the violence continues.

Olegovich said there are plenty of gay men who are fighting on the front lines and their sexual orientation, for the most part, is not secret.

"I have some friends who are soldiers and there is no problem inside the army," he said.

"But if those guys were to be captured by Russians, it's very big trouble."

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What we are watching in the U.S. ...

LAS VEGAS _ Nine more women are accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a lawsuit that alleges he used his "enormous power, fame and prestige'' to victimize them.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Nevada alleges that the women were individually drugged and assaulted between approximately 1979 and 1992 in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms and hotels.

One woman alleges that Cosby, claiming to be her acting mentor, lured her from New York to Nevada, where he drugged her in a hotel room with what he had claimed to be non-alcoholic sparkling cider and then raped her.

The 85-year-old former "Cosby Show'' star has now been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women. He has denied all allegations involving sex crimes. He was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era _ and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadelphia before a higher court threw out the conviction and released him in 2021.

Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 in 1975.

The Nevada lawsuit came only a few weeks after Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a bill that eliminated a two-year deadline for adults to file sexual abuse cases. Similar suits have followed other "lookback laws'' in other states.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world ...

BRUSSELS _ NATO defence ministers gathered Thursday to discuss future relations with Ukraine as Russia's war on the country thwarts its hopes of joining the world's biggest security alliance soon.

The ministers were also due to take part in a separate meeting at NATO headquarters of the U.S.-led Ukraine Contact Group _ the forum Ukraine's supporters routinely join to try to drum up weapons and ammunition to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion.

The NATO meeting comes just under a month before U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts gather for a summit in Lithuania in a symbolic show of support for Ukraine. They are expected to underscore their determination to act should Russian President Vladimir Putin try to expand the war westward.

NATO agreed in 2008 that Ukraine would join the organization one day, but did not set a date for it to start membership talks.

As the war ground on, Ukraine applied for "accelerated accession'' to NATO on Sept. 30. With its Crimean Peninsula annexed, and Russian troops and pro-Moscow separatists holding parts of the south and east, it's not clear what Ukraine's borders would even look like.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said there is no consensus for the country to join while it is at war with Russia.

"We agree that the most urgent task now is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation because unless Ukraine prevails and can continue as a democratic state in Europe, there is no membership issue to be discussed at all,'' he said, ahead of the meeting.

Stoltenberg said that he expects the 31-nation alliance to "agree (to) a multi-year program where we help to move Ukraine to transition from old standards, equipment, procedures, doctrines to NATO standards and become fully interoperable with NATO.''

NATO is also upgrading its relations with Ukraine. The NATO-Ukraine Commission, which will meet later Thursday, is set to be upgraded to a NATO-Ukraine Council, giving the country an equal seat at the table with the 31 allies.

NATO has no official presence in Ukraine and as an organization provides only nonlethal support to Kyiv, although allies individually and in groups do supply weapons and ammunition.

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On this day in 1992 ...

The House of Commons approved sexual assault legislation that became known as the "no means no'' rape law.

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In entertainment ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. _ More than a year and a half after Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer while rehearsing a scene on set in New Mexico, prosecutors have yet to solve the biggest mystery in the tragic case: How did live rounds get on the set?

Prosecutors said in their latest court filing that they have some evidence to support the theory that weapons expert Hannah Gutierrez-Reed may be responsible for the introduction of the rounds. But they have offered no details, and barring more evidence, they're now basing part of their case against her on the idea that a night of drinking and marijuana use left her incapable of the judgment necessary to ensure the set was safe.

Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys argue that prosecutors are resorting to character assassination, and some legal experts are doubtful it will make for a winning strategy for prosecutors.

Several lawyers who are not involved with the case but have been watching it closely said Wednesday that prosecution statements in response to a defence motion last month seeking to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter charge are vague and would be difficult to prove.

"When you think about how they've conducted this investigation since the beginning, it's almost in step with what they had done before. They need to have more specificity when it comes to that allegation, because it's kind of serious. To be throwing it out there doesn't look that good,'' said Miguel Custodio, a Los Angeles personal injury attorney.

Prosecutors said they have witnesses who will testify that Gutierrez-Reed drank and smoked marijuana in the evenings during the filming of "Rust.'' However, the weapons expert was never tested, and it's unclear what evidence prosecutors could present to make the case that she could have been hungover when she loaded a live bullet into the revolver that the actor used.

John Day, a Santa Fe-based criminal defence attorney, noted that prosecutors did not say in the filing that Gutierrez-Reed was impaired but rather used the colloquial term "hungover,'' which could mean many things.

"It's one more strange development, but it still doesn't address _ and they've said they don't know _ how live rounds got onto the set,'' Day said. "And they haven't said specifically anything more about her involvement except that she was the armorer.''

A preliminary hearing for Gutierrez-Reed is scheduled in August. A judge is expected

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Did you see this?

TSUUT'INA FIRST NATION _ Police in Alberta say they anticipate more complainants will come forward after a former actor and self-described medicine man was charged with sexual exploitation and sexual assault in the province.

The Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service announced Tuesday that warrants have been issued for Nathan Chasing Horse, who appeared in the 1990 movie "Dances With Wolves.''

He faces nine charges, including sexual exploitation, sexual assault and removing a child from Canada under the age of 16.

He has been in jail in Las Vegas since his arrest in January in southern Nevada, where he is charged with 18 felonies, including sexual assault of a minor, child abuse and kidnapping.

"At the end of the day, it is important for us to have the warrants on the system so our victims know they've been heard,'' Tsuut'ina police Sgt. Nancy Farmer said Wednesday.

She would not say how many complainants have come forward to police at the First Nation west of Calgary, but said there are multiple.

The Nevada prosecution was put on pause as Chasing Horse appealed to the state's Supreme Court to dismiss the case.

His lawyers have argued that his accusers wanted to have sex with him.

Chasing Horse is also facing charges in Montana and in British Columbia.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2023.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2023