5 at 5: CBC announces plan to cut 25 per cent of staff

Here are five of the top stories making headlines this afternoon.

Expect less local news from CBC, as public broadcaster announces cuts. The CBC will drastically cut back on both local evening news broadcasts and in-house production as it makes deep cuts in the coming five years. The CBC announced its restructuring plans on Thursday, which will slash 25 per cent of its workforce over five years to meet a $130-million budget shortfall. When it comes to local news, no stations will close, but evening TV broadcasts will be cut from 90 minutes to either 30 or 60 minutes. The CBC already cut 657 jobs in April and another 1,000 to 1,500 will be cut, some of them through attrition. The only area where the CBC plans to grow in the next five years is on mobile, where it aims to double its digital audience. The budget shortfall is due to reduced government funding, advertising shortfalls and the loss of NHL broadcasting rights to Rogers.

Supreme Court makes landmark decision on First Nations land claims. The Supreme Court overturned an appeal court decision on Thursday, awarding the Tsilhqot’in First Nation in B.C. the title to a specific tract of land that was historically used for hunting and fishing. The unanimous 8-0 decision is an important one for First Nations in Canada, and will likely come into play as the federal government negotiates the Northern Gateway pipeline development in the coming years. However, the Supreme Court wrote in its decision that awarding a land title isn’t absolute. Economic development can still go ahead with the consent of the First Nation, or when the need for development is “pressing and substantial.” It’s that second caveat that will ensure many more land claim court cases in Canada’s future.

FIFA hands down ban to Uruguay’s Luis Suarez for biting incident. The international soccer governing body sent a stern message to Suarez on Thursday after he was found to have bitten the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match on Tuesday. Suarez, who plays for Liverpool, as well as on the Uruguayan national team, will be banned from all football activities for four months and will be fined 100,000 Swiss francs (about US $122,000). Suarez’s ban was extended to include the next nine international games for Uruguay, which means he’s out for the remainder of the World Cup, and likely out for next year’s Copa America—a South American soccer tournament that takes place every four years.

World Health Organization calls for urgent meeting on Ebola. The world needs to take “drastic action” to contain the deadliest outbreak of the Ebola virus on record, the WHO said on Thursday as it called for an 11-country meeting to address the crisis in west Africa. The most recent numbers indicate 635 confirmed cases of Ebola in the countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with 399 confirmed deaths. There is no known cure for Ebola, which causes death in an estimated 90 per cent of cases.

New Yorkers will have their big sodas. The city of New York has lost its final chance to ban oversized soft drinks after the state’s highest court ruled against the ban on the sale of sodas larger than 16 oz, which was championed by former mayor Michael Bloomberg. While current Mayor Bill de Blasio also supported the ban, which was meant to help curb obesity, soft drink companies certainly did not. And, today, justices agreed that the city’s board of health overstepped its boundaries when it made the beverage ban. Bottoms up!