Four stories in the news today, March 27

Four stories in the news today, March 27, from The Canadian Press:

SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE GUN FIGHT BETWEEN FEDS AND QUEBEC

Canada’s top court is expected to hand down a ruling today on whether the Quebec government can keep data it compiled for the now disbanded federal long gun registry. Quebec has been fighting to keep the data since the Harper Conservatives fulfilled a long-standing promise to scrap the registry.

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LITERACY RATES LAG IN NEWFOUNDLAND

Policy makers in Newfoundland are trying to come to grips with below average literacy in the province. A 2013 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found Newfoundland was among the provinces that were trailing in terms of literacy. A spokeswoman for a literacy group in the province says skills have traditionally been geared toward industries like fishing rather than formal learning.

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UNDERCOVER COP CONTINUES TESTIMONY AT LISI TRIAL

The trial of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s friend Alexander (Sandro) Lisi continues today with further cross-examination of an undercover cop and the officer who arrested him. Det. Ross Fernandes told the court on Thursday that he was unaware Lisi was part of an extraordinary investigation into the former mayor’s “crack video.”

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KITTY COMES HOME

An Alberta cat owner is going to be reunited with her cat who has been missing for six years. Cleo was lost while her owner was attending an Ontario college in 2009. Cleo was found wandering the streets of Brockville last fall and was due to be put down. But a Belleville animal group tracked down Cleo’s owner and arrangements are being made to send the cat to Alberta next month.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY …

— Crown and defence lawyers meet in Toronto for a judicial pre-trial in the case of former CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi, charged with sexual assault.

— Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson meets with British counterpart Philip Hammond in Mississauga, Ont.

— BlackBerry Ltd. releases its fourth-quarter and full-year results.

— Merouane Ghalmi, who the RCMP fears will commit terrorist act, appears in a Montreal court to sign peace bond. Ghalmi has not been charged with any offence.

— Trial in Dartmouth of former Nova Scotia legislature member Trevor Zinck, who has pleaded not guilty to drunk driving.

— Jason George Chase will be sentenced in Halifax after pleading guilty to committing an indecent act on an Air Canada flight.