WINNIPEG — Lawyers for a man who alleged he was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child by a now-dead Catholic priest in rural Manitoba and Winnipeg in a 2023 lawsuit recently reached a confidential settlement with the Archdiocese of St. Boniface.

Terms of the settlement, which was reached in the fall after a private judicially assisted dispute resolution in front of a Court of King’s Bench justice in September, are not included in public court records reviewed by the Free Press.

The lawsuit, which was filed in June 2023 and named the archdiocese and archbishop as defendants, was officially discontinued in November.

The plaintiff, now in his early 60s, claimed the alleged abuse began when he was eight-years-old in 1972 and lasted until 1982.

OTTAWA — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne wrapped up a trip to Beijing where he said the governor of the Bank of Canada and other top Canadian financial officials met with Chinese counterparts.

Champagne said that he met with Lan Fo’an, China’s finance minister, and Vice-Premier He Lifeng to talk about ways the Canadian financial services sector can increase operations in the country. He said this includes Canadian banks getting more licences to offer a wider range of services in China and increased access to bond markets.

“If you want to expand your trade, you need financial services. You need to be able to provide that kind of services to the exporters that want to do more in the Chinese market,” Champagne said.

The minister added he expects Lifeng to visit Canada in the near future.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian strikes killed at least eight people across Ukraine on Friday, including in a “massive” missile and drone attack near the capital, local authorities reported.

Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signalled Kyiv’s openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.

FRANKFURT, Germany — The Swedish Coast Guard said Friday it has boarded a tanker suspected of causing a 12-kilometre oil spill on the Baltic Sea, adding that the vessel is under European Union sanctions aimed at the “shadow fleet” transporting Russian oil.

The spill was detected early Thursday east of Gotland island, and investigators identified the Flora 1 as the suspected source. The coast guard boarded the vessel early Friday and took it and its 24-member crew to anchorage near Ysted in southern Sweden.

“We act when we detect emissions. This is a result of our enhanced maritime surveillance that we are conducting as a result of the deteriorating security situation in the Baltic Sea region,” Daniel Stenling, deputy chief of operations, said in a statement. There were no immediate details on what caused the spill.

It was unclear under what country’s flag the vessel was travelling and its destination was unclear, the Coast Guard said. It departed the Russian port of Primorsk, where a major Russian oil export terminal is located, on Tuesday, according to the MarineTraffic maritime data company.