Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed...

Pupils flee as grizzly attacks elementary class in B.C., injuring 11, some critically

A grizzly bear has attacked a group of elementary school students and teachers in the B.C. central coast community of Bella Coola, leaving two people critically injured and two others seriously hurt. B.C. Emergency Health Services said seven more people were treated at the scene of the attack in the community about 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, which was called in just before 2 p.m. on Thursday. Veronica Schooner said her 10-year-old son Alvarez was in the Year 4-5 class that was attacked while on a walk and was so close to the animal "he even felt its fur." The Nuxalk Nation said Thursday evening that the "aggressive bear" remained on the loose, and that police and conservation officers were on the scene.

Carney wraps Abu Dhabi visit with $70B for Canada

OTTAWA - The federal government is set to release a report today by the advisory committee tasked with determining how to set up a national pharmacare program. 

The committee was set up last fall, after the Pharmacare Act became law, and was given a year to report back to the health minister. 

The pharmacare law was something the NDP pushed for as part of its supply and confidence deal with the minority Liberal government under Justin Trudeau. 

It called for an expert committee to recommend options for operating and financing a national, universal, single-payer pharmacare program. 

LAVAL - The trial for a Quebec father accused of killing his two children in their home north of Montreal in 2022 has been postponed for a third time.

Kamaljit Arora is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of his 13-year-old daughter and his 11-year-old son, and charged in the attempted murder of another daughter and for allegedly trying to strangle his ex-wife.

The trial was expected to begin today in Laval, Que., but Arora had asked for a postponement after he lost trust in his lawyers and sought new counsel.

In a decision dated Nov. 18, Superior Court Justice Alexandre Bien-Aimé Bastien said he would reluctantly grant the defendant's request, even though another judge had warned Arora in April that a third extension would not be granted.

ABU DHABI - Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa is working on a $1 billion project aimed at expanding critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, while securing the equivalent of $70 million in investment from the United Arab Emirates.

The announcements come as Carney concluded a visit to Abu Dhabi, which focused heavily on trade amid concerns about the war in Sudan.

"I'm pleased that an agreement valued over $1 billion is in the process of being finalized," Carney said in a Friday morning speech to the Canada-UAE Business Council.

"(It) will expand critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, creating jobs, boosting (the) long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies and advanced manufacturing. More on that soon," he said.

WASHINGTON - Seven Canadians were charged for extradition to the United States, with U.S. law enforcement alleging they were part of Canadian Olympic snowboarder-turned-fugitive Ryan Wedding's intercontinental drug smuggling ring. 

Wedding is on the FBI's most wanted list and was described by U.S. law enforcement as a modern-day Pablo Escobar — referencing the notorious Colombian drug lord. 

Wedding is believed to be on the lam in Mexico but law enforcement said the web of his drug smuggling enterprise included a lawyer, a poker player and a Reggaeton artist in Canada. 

RCMP arrested the Canadians this week in multiple provinces. The allegations against them have not been tested in Canadian courts, which will ultimately be tasked with looking at the extradition requests.

BELLA BELLA - A British Columbia First Nation says a barge sinking in waters along the central coast has been moved to a safer location, and containers on the vessel have now been scheduled to be removed.

A statement from the Heiltsuk Nation says after a meeting with Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard and the barge operator Alaska Marine Lines that federal authorities have approved the salvage plan to remove 25 containers.

The statement says the removal is scheduled to begin today and last up to five hours, and crews will then hold overnight and reassess the situation on Friday. 

The nation had previously said that the removal of freight containers had been delayed due to high winds.

OTTAWA - Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said Thursday she plans to try and "amend the heck" out of the government's border security bill, Bill C-12, with a host of measures targeting the asylum system. 

Her proposed changes include disallowing asylum claims from people who transited through Europe or another G7 country on their way to Canada and denying access to social benefits, except emergency medical treatment, for those with a failed asylum claim.

"I think Canadians want some change in this regard. Canada's system for allowing and accepting asylum claims is pretty generous," Rempel Garner said at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

"So somebody who's failed a review, I think it's fair that the only federal benefits that they receive is emergency health care and I think a lot of Canadians would agree."

Rumours that farming equipment giant John Deere is leaving Canada spread this week on social media alongside a video claiming the company would be moving its factories to the United States. 

In fact, John Deere hasn't manufactured farm equipment in Canada since 2009 and the company says the claims in the video are false. The video comes from a YouTube channel that appears to use artificial intelligence to produce spam news content. 

THE CLAIM

"John Deere didn't quietly cut production. They packed up the future of Canadian manufacturing and moved it straight into the United States," said the narrator in a 17-minute-long video posted to YouTube, where it reached more than 200,000 views in two days.

VICTORIA - Legislation to fast-track construction of a northern power line has squeaked through the British Columbia legislature thanks to a deciding vote by the Speaker for the bill that Premier David Eby said would force an election if it failed. 

The confidence vote on the North Coast Transmission Line passed third reading on Wednesday by a count of 47 to 46 with Speaker Raj Chouhan breaking the tie and it now awaits final approval by the lieutenant-governor.

All New Democrats voted for the project, which the federal government is also considering fast-tracking as a project of national significance. Ottawa is also providing the project a credit of just under $140 million, but B.C. is hoping for additional financial support.

Eby said last month that he would call an early election if the legislation on the transmission line failed, calling any attempt to delay or prevent the bill from going forward "a direct threat to the economic prosperity" of B.C.

OTTAWA - The dangers children face online constitute a national emergency, a coalition of child advocates and medical organizations said Thursday as they called for the federal government to take action.

"Unlike every other industry that affects children, from cars to pharmaceuticals to toys to food safety, the tech industry has been allowed to self-regulate with tragic consequences," said Andrea Chrysanthou, chair of the board for Children First Canada, at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

The advocates say children are being exploited, extorted, bullied — and in some cases, kids have died as a result of online harms.

Dr. Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said doctors see the negative health impacts of social media use firsthand.