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5 things you absolutely must know today

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Winnipeg bus fares to rise in 2015

Riding the bus will cost a nickel more, a fee hike commencing on New Year’s Day. The City of Winnipeg announced Tuesday that the rate for Transit and Handi-Transit users will rise in the New Year to $2.60. For more information and specifics of how tickets purchased bought in 2014 will apply, call 311. [Source: CBC]

Protests spread across U.S. after Ferguson ruling

Cities across the U.S. have joined in protesting the grand jury’s decision to not indict Ferguson, Missouri officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Most of the protests were peaceful and contained, save for rioting in Oakland, California, where police cars were vandalized and businesses attacked. The BBC reports that long-standing tension between Oakland and its police force are partially to blame for the protests. Ferguson police arrested 44 people overnight in demonstrations news agencies are saying were nowhere near the scale of those held on Monday night.”The reason I have a clean conscience is because I know I did my job right,” Wilson told ABC News, denying eye-witness testimony that Brown had put his hands up before the shooting began. [Source: BBC]

Coca-Cola makes expensive milk now

Coca-Cola is getting into milk. That’s ridiculous. But let’s read on. It’s called Fairlife, a name that is to blame for the little bit of throw-up pooled in your mouth right now. Coke’s North American representative Sandy Douglas says, “It’s basically the premiumisation of milk,” and that this new product will make it “rain money” for the company. It “tastes better and we’ll charge twice as much for it as the milk we’re used to buying in a jug,” said Douglas.  Fairlife, barf, doesn’t’ contain lactose, has 50 per cent more protein and calcium than that regular milk the great unwashed drink. And it has 30 per cent less sugar, and is allegedly made on a sustainable dairy farm as a joint venture between other, current industry-leading dairy farmers.  Milk sales have been declining over the last four decades, according to Entrepreneur magazine, but now, with Coca-Cola’s new initiative and their proprietary filtration process, there may be hope for the ailing industry. Let’s all get ready to shell out more dollars for Coca-Cola brand milk. [Source: Entrepreneur]

China drafts first domestic violence law

China has taken a step in the right direction, albeit a small one, and drafted its first nationwide law against domestic violence. The law defines domestic violence for the first time, and formalizes a process through which a restraining order can be obtained. The law and its measures were a long time coming for Chinese activists, advocates, and progressives, who have fought hard for such changes. “Over the years, we’ve many times felt powerless ourselves to help victims,” Hou Zhiming, a veteran women’s rights advocate who heads the Maple Women’s Psychological Counselling Centre in Beijing, told The Guardian.“If this law is actually enacted – because the issuing of a draft means it will now enter the law-making process – we will be very pleased.” It’s still got lots of work to do, critics and other activists say. The law does not yet protect divorced or unmarried couples. [Source: The Guardian]

Hong Kong protest site cleared by police

One of the largest protest sites in Hong Kong was cleared Wednesday, after police clashed with activists, arresting many pro-democracy advocates. Hundreds of officers spilled over the busy area of Mong Kok, a protest base occupied since September, after the pro-democracy groups fighting to take power away from Beijing showed signs of regrouping and picking up steam. The camps setup in Mong Kok had blocked key roads for months, according to the BBC. “It’s not the end,” Helen Lau, a young activist with a leather yellow ribbon around her neck, told the BBC. “We still have plan B; either to occupy other places or to step up our actions.” Beijing offered Chinese-ruled Hong Kong the chance to vote in their own leader, starting in 2017. But the offer made in August limited Hong Kong to two or three candidates shortlisted by Beijing nominating committee. This is what sparked the protests. And this is what still drives them. [Source: BBC]

And, breaking:  Jian Ghomeshi, the ex-host of CBC’s Q, was arrested today and faces four counts of sexual assualt and one count of choking. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon. [Source: Huffington Post]

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Follow Toban Dyck at @tobandyck.

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