National

SAN DIEGO—As Jason Thrasher lowered his helicopter to a park with seven firefighters aboard, he saw what he thought was another firefighting chopper battling a blaze that was threatening homes.

SQUAMISH, B.C.—Another television reporter doing a live report received a jarring distraction after a man kissed her on the cheek.

CBC reporter Megan Batchelor was covering a music festival in Squamish, B.C., north of Vancouver, on Friday when the incident happened.

CLEVELAND—A combative Donald Trump, the U.S. billionaire businessman-turned-presidential candidate, jolted the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign last night with his brash, confrontational comments.

But the event also served as a reminder the race still remains leaderless and unsettled.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—A French search plane lifted off today for a bird’s-eye view of Reunion Island, seeking any more potential debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

French authorities said they’ve launched a one-week operation with boats and aircraft scouring the Indian Ocean island, where a wing fragment was discovered nine days ago.

TORONTO—A mother’s suggestion that her son, TV personality Chris Hyndman, plunged to his death while sleepwalking has shone a light on the dangers associated with the disorder.

WINNIPEG—The owner of a controversial medical marijuana shop that was raided earlier this week says he hopes his arrest will shed some light on the struggle patients have obtaining the product.

Glen Price, 54, the owner of Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters, has been charged with a number of drug-related offences, including possession and trafficking.

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea said today it will establish its own time zone next week by pulling back its current standard time by 30 minutes.

Local time in North and South Korea and Japan is the same—nine hours ahead of GMT.

It was set during Japan’s rule over what was single Korea from 1910-45.

VANCOUVER—The powerful opioid fentanyl, recently linked to an outbreak of overdose deaths in Western Canada, appears to be flowing along a well-worn drug trafficking route—killing some of its users in the same way tainted ecstasy did before.

BAYFIELD, N.S.—Another group of beached whales in Nova Scotia has been helped back out to sea—marking the second time this week that concerned residents joined together to save a stranded pod.

“They’re still in shallow-ish water but we’re hoping that they will eventually sort of continue their way out,” said Tonya Wimmer, president of the Marine Animal Response Society.

TORONTO—Canada’s economy added about 6,600 jobs last month—essentially reversing a similar decline in June but having too little effect to change a national unemployment rate that has been stuck at 6.8 percent for six months in a row.