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IQALUIT -- Nunavut's capital city says it expects tests on its drinking water to show undetectable levels of fuel. Iqaluit is under a state of emergency and its roughly 8,000 residents haven't been able to consume tap water since Oct. Source

Young women across the U.K. are boycotting nightclubs and pubs Wednesday as university towns and cities join in a national "girls night in" protest after increasing reports of drink spiking and students being drugged by needle injections. Source

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick's health minister says an epidemiological report has found no known food, behaviour or environmental exposure that could have caused the symptoms of a mystery brain syndrome. Dorothy Shephard released the information on the heels of an outside report, which examined eight deaths in the province initially linked to the mystery syndrome and concluded they were all due to known diseases. Source

OMAHA -- At least 59,000 meatpacking workers caught COVID-19 and 269 workers died when the virus tore through the industry last year, which is significantly more than previously thought, according to a new U.S. House report released Wednesday. Source

ISLAMABAD -- More than 30 instances of violence and threats of violence against Afghan journalists were recorded in the last two months, with nearly 90% committed by the Taliban, a media watchdog said Wednesday. More than 40% of the cases recorded by The Afghanistan National Journalists Union were physical beatings and another 40% were verbal threats of violence, said Masorro Lutfi, the group's head. Source

Top U.S. military officer Gen. Mark Milley has provided the first official U.S. confirmation of a Chinese hypersonic weapons test that military experts say appears to show Beijing's pursuit of an Earth-orbiting system designed to evade American missile defences. Source

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A Brazilian Senate panel probing the government's pandemic response on Wednesday presented the prosecutor general's office with recommendations to criminally charge President Jair Bolsonaro for alleged errors that cost Brazilian lives. Prosecutor General Augusto Aras was appointed by Bolsonaro in 2019 on the recommendation of conservative allies and is not expected to charge him. Source

Saskatchewan's new income support program is forcing people to live on the streets due to fewer housing options, dwindling benefits and more bureaucratic red tape, according to one Regina social worker. "I've been speaking with clients who are sleeping in cars and sheds," said Shannon Harvey-Benoit, a registered social worker with AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan in Regina, told Morning Edition host Stefani Langenegger. Source

EDMONTON - Canada's new minister of the environment and climate change responded Wednesday to allegations out of Alberta that he is a "radical environmentalist" who may try to kill jobs in the oilpatch. Steven Guilbeault, formerly a leader of Greenpeace Quebec and co-founder of Equiterre, was appointed to the position by prime minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday. Source

Victoria - The severity of a marine disaster off Vancouver Island is far worse than first reported, according to internal coast guard communications obtained by CTV News. The emails sent on Tuesday evening show the cargo ship Zim Kingston's owner underestimated the number of shipping containers that fell from the vessel during a storm. Source