The charred hills surrounding Lake Okanagan in the B.C. Interior will likely look very different in a year's time and beyond as life returns to the wildfire-ravaged landscape, ecologists predict.

An eruption of low plants, grasses, and shrubs will turn the hills green. Birds and small mammals, as well as deer and bears, will return to feast on berries and other plant life. Carnivores including cougars could move in.

But the tall trees destroyed by the fires may never recover or return, said Robert Gray, a wildland fire ecologist.

"When you look at West Kelowna, it's really rocky, steep ground and trees aren't going to come back very well there. There is not a lot of moisture in the soil and it's only going to get drier with climate change,'' said Gray. "A lot of that landscape may not see a lot of trees come back.''

Gray said that by next June, people should expect to see "an explosion of shrubs, grasses, and herbs'' sprouting from the ruined forest.

"What will happen on that landscape is you'll get a lot of shrubs. Grasses will come back and that's good for a while,'' said Gray.

"Nature is amazing. It's resilience ... there are so many plants that are adapted to fire. They need fire on a regular basis, so they will re-occupy those areas."

For instance, shrub species in the wildfire zone already had seeds deeply buried in the soil, and were waiting for heat or fire to germinate them, Gray said.

Tree recovery is a different matter.

"Unless you intentionally plant these areas, they're not likely to have a lot of trees in the future,'' said Gray.

Okanagan residents are no strangers to catastrophic wildfires.

In 2003, the Okanagan Mountain Park fire forced the evacuation of thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of properties. It also transformed the landscape.

Tara Bergeson, an urban forestry supervisor with the City of Kelowna, said the 2003 fire that scorched the park and the city was "very severe and has had a lasting impact on the landbase.''

"Little regeneration has occurred in much of the area, and we may not see trees return in a timely way or at all. Currently, much of the area remains as shrubs and grassland,'' Bergeson wrote in an email.

Fire rages out of control in Okanagan Mountain park on Aug. 18, 2003. (Kip Frasz/Canadian Press)

Recently burned trees, weakened but clinging to life, can attract bark beetles and other insects, Gray said.

"These little beetles, they'll burrow into the tree and they will lay their eggs, and when the young larvae grow they will basically kill the tree,'' said Gray.

In about five to eight years, dead trees will start to break apart.

Gray said situations like these will pose significant fire risks, especially with ongoing climate change making things drier and hotter. He said prescribed burns would be important in such areas to limit future wildfires.

Some bird species thrive after wildfires

Ken Lertzman, professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University's school of resource and environmental management, said some small animals can thrive after fires, such as bluebirds, hawks, owls and woodpeckers.

"They can really take advantage of that particular mix of resources that are available in those very young, open forests,'' said Lertzman.

Gray agreed, saying recently burned, open forest ground with plenty of grasses and shrubs could be a food heaven for animals.

SFU professor Ken Lertzman says bluebirds are among species that could thrive in the vegetation left behind by wildfires. 

"Now it's open and there are grasses and herbs and shrubs and berries and nuts, there is so much to eat,'' said Gray. A diverse shrub community with berries would attract visitors including deer, elk and bears, and insects and birds would be drawn to flowers, added Gray.

Lertzman said the length of forest regeneration depends on many factors, ranging from soil conditions to temperatures.

Generally speaking, it took 40 to 60 years for young forests to get established and at least 100 years for mature forests to return, said Lertzman, adding that forests recovering from fire represented a natural cycle.

"In the B.C. Interior and lots of forests around the world, the forest fire is part of the evolutionary history of the forest,'' said Lertzman.

However, Gray said it would not necessarily be a bad thing if many trees did not come back.

"If we get the similar forest back, then it will just burn again,'' he said.

"On that landscape, you definitely want fewer trees because the more trees, you have more drought and then it weakens the trees and insects kill the trees," said Gray, "and then fire occurs, so we want fewer trees there,''

Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of the famed Harrods department store in London whose son was killed in a car crash with Princess Diana, has died, his family said. He was 94.

Al-Fayed, a self-made Egyptian businessman who was also a former owner of Fulham Football Club, was devastated by the death of his son Dodi Fayed in the car crash in Paris, 26 years ago.

He spent the rest of his life mourning the loss and fighting the British establishment he blamed for their deaths.

"Mrs. Mohamed Al-Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday, August 30, 2023," his family said in a statement released by Fulham F.C.

"He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones."

A memorial to the late Princess Diana, left, and Dodi Fayed is seen at a London Harrods store in August 2006.

Al-Fayed was convinced that Dodi and Diana, the former Princess of Wales, had been killed in a conspiracy masterminded by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth. He maintained that the Royal Family arranged the accident because they did not like Diana dating an Egyptian.

Al-Fayed claimed that Diana was pregnant and planning to marry Dodi, and that the family could not allow her to marry a Muslim.

• Al Fayed presents claim of murder plot at Diana inquest

In 2008, Al-Fayed told an inquest the list of alleged conspirators included Philip, then-Prince Charles, former prime minister Tony Blair, Diana's sister Sarah McCorquodale, two former London police chiefs and the CIA.

The inquest concluded that Diana and Dodi died because of the reckless actions of their driver and paparazzi chasing the couple.

Rivalries and controversies

Born on Jan. 27, 1929, in Alexandria, Egypt, Al-Fayed was the son of a school inspector who began his business career with interests in shipping. He moved to Britain in the 1960s to set about building an empire.

He seemed to thrive on the limelight. Al-Fayed made headlines in the 1980s as he battled with rival tycoon Tiny Rowland over control of the House of Fraser group, which included Harrods.

Al-Fayed and his brother bought a 30 per cent stake in House of Fraser from Rowland in 1984, and took control of Harrods for £615 million (roughly £1.8 billion or $3 billion Cdn in today's currency) the following year.

That transaction put him in conflict with British authorities. The Department of Trade and Industry investigation into the purchase found that the brothers had "dishonestly misrepresented their origins, their wealth, their business interests and their resources."

Al-Fayed, right, and Brazilian soccer legend Pele play foosball in London in June 1996.

Al-Fayed was also a key player in the "cash for questions" scandal that roiled British politics in the 1990s.

He was sued for libel by British lawmaker Neil Hamilton. Al-Fayed claimed he had given Hamilton envelopes of cash and a lavish stay at the Ritz in Paris in return for asking questions in the House of Commons.

Hamilton's lawyer, Desmond Browne, claimed the allegation was fantasy, saying: "If there were Olympic medals for lying, Mr. Fayed would be a prime contender for a gold one."

The jury found in Al-Fayed's favor in December 1999.

Al-Fayed's applications for British citizenship were rejected in both 1995 and 1998.

The Sunday Times Rich List, which documents the fortunes of Britain's wealthiest people, put the family's fortune at £1.7 billion ($2.9 billion Cdn) this year, making Al-Fayed the 104th richest person in Britain.

The Canada Revenue Agency has let go 120 employees who took advantage of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a CRA statement issued Friday morning, an internal review launched to identify any CRA employees who inappropriately claimed the benefit while employed at the department turned up 600 suspect cases.

"Out of the approximately 600 cases, we can report that 120 individuals are no longer with the CRA as a result of this internal review," the statement said. "The investigations and disciplinary processes continue."

Any CRA employees who improperly claimed benefits will be required to pay them back if they have not already done so, the statement said.

The department said any employees suspected of criminality could have their cases referred to police.

"When misconduct is identified, we ensure that the appropriate actions are taken to address it," the statement said. 

CERB offered benefits of $500 a week for workers who lost their jobs in the first months of the pandemic in 2020.

An Auditor General of Canada report released in December 2022 said that of the approximately $210 billion paid out in benefits during the pandemic, $4.6 billion went to ineligible individuals and an estimated $27.4 billion in payments to individuals and employers should be investigated further.

Legally, the federal government has 36 months from the time benefits are paid to verify the payment was proper, a timeframe that can be extended to 72 months if the CRA suspects recipients provided false information when applying for the benefits.

Some CRA employees qualified for CERB

The CRA said that employees of the agency were not disqualified from receiving CERB during the pandemic. Temporary employees and those on student contracts might have been eligible, depending on their employment situation. 

"In this regard, roughly 30 employees that are part of this review have been found to be eligible so far," 

In a statement Friday, National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the cases that have been uncovered should not "call into question the integrity and honesty of the more than 60,000 employees" who work for CRA. 

"The CRA's investigation into the employees who received the Canada emergency response benefit is being taken very seriously and is still ongoing," the statement said. "The disciplinary measures imposed show that for us it is zero tolerance."

Marc Brière, national president of the Union of Taxation Employees, said he is not happy about the situation but the employees who were let go account for just 0.2 per cent of the CRA's workforce.

"I'm not happy to see that but there's nothing we can do. We need to deal with the situation, unfortunately," he told CBC News. 

"It is unfortunate but it does happen ... and we need to make sure that the employees respect the code of conduct in the CRA. It's very important to keep the trust of the population."

he saga of alleged financial fraudster Greg Martel took another turn Thursday when Martel was put into personal bankruptcy during a hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria.

The bankruptcy will help smooth the way for the receiver in the case, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to recover assets owned by Martel in order to pay back some of the money lost by jilted investors.

The main targets are a mansion in Las Vegas, a house in Langford near Victoria, and an Ontario cabin he co-owns with a former spouse which combined could recoup around $4 million dollars, a small fraction of the almost quarter of a billion he owes. 

Meanwhile, an application will be brought later this month to have Martel declared in contempt of court which could land him in jail, assuming he can be located in Canada. 

Martel is the disgraced Victoria mortgage broker who owes 1,200 investors an estimated $226 million through his company Shop Your Own Mortgage (SYOM), also known as My Mortgage Auction Corp, of which he is the sole director.

SYOM was supposedly in the business of pooling investor money to provide short term bridge loans to real estate developers. Investors were drawn in with promises of sky high rates of return, sometimes as much as 100 per cent interest on an annualized basis. 

But things started to go south earlier this year when some investors started complaining that their pay outs were taking longer and longer to materialize. Eventually the company ceased paying out investors entirely.

Over a dozen lawsuits were launched against Martel and SYOM. The lawsuits were consolidated by the court under a receivership order in early May.

To date PwC has found no evidence the bridge loans Martel was selling ever existed, leading some to speculate he was running a Ponzi scheme. In an email to CBC, Martel denied the accusation.

Still, he was in some ways a "tip of the spear" in allowing rioters to get into the Capitol, said the judge.

"The reality is you smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers," Kelly told Pezzola. "It's not something that I ever dreamed I would have seen in our country."

Defence lawyers had asked for five years for Pezzola, saying that he got "caught up in the craziness" that day.

Pezzola testified that he originally grabbed the officer's shield to protect himself from police riot control measures, and his lawyers argued that he broke only one pane of glass and that it was other rioters who smashed out the rest of the window.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly and falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen. A series of federal and state investigations and dozens of lawsuits have uncovered no supporting evidence.

Four Proud Boys have now been sentenced. Joseph Biggs, an organizer from Ormond Beach, Fla., received a 17-year term, and Zachary Rehl, a leader of the Philadelphia chapter, got 15 years.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 600 have been convicted and sentenced.

Two and a half decades after her tragic death, the late Princess Diana continues to make international headlines. Many questions remain about her final years, what happened the night she died and who may be responsible for the accident. 

In Diana: The Ultimate Truth, former detective and award-winning investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas examines theories that have emerged since Diana's passing and sets out to answer the key questions that continue to swirl around the late princess of Wales.

What impact did Diana's revealing BBC interview have on the final years of her life? Could she have potentially survived her injuries from the crash? Was driver Henri Paul under the influence of alcohol that night? And had her car really been tampered with?

The interview that changed everything 

In November 1995, two years before her death, Princess Diana agreed to a television interview with Martin Bashir from Panorama, the BBC's flagship current affairs program. The revealing segment made headlines around the world after Diana exposed her and Prince Charles's extramarital affairs. 

As a result, the Queen urged Diana and Charles — who had been separated since 1992 — to divorce, and Diana was stripped of the title of Her Royal Highness. Her royal security was also removed.

How did Bashir, a relatively unknown BBC journalist, win this extraordinary interview and, crucially, Diana's trust?   

A graphic designer working for BBC later disclosed that Bashir had asked him to forge bank statements that showed a former employee of Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, had sold stories to a U.K. national newspaper. Bashir then showed the falsified statements to Earl Spencer to gain his confidence; Spencer then introduced Bashir to Diana. 

In Diana: The Ultimate Truth, Williams-Thomas speaks with Tom Mangold, a long-time Panorama reporter who caught on to the deception and raised his concerns within the BBC. "A friend of mine on the program … came to me and said, 'Our graphics artist, Matt Wiessler, has told me that Martin ordered him to forge two bank statements,'" says Mangold. "And they were used to get the interview with Princess Diana." He took his concerns to the program editor but was ignored. 

Five months after the interview aired, the Mail on Sunday newspaper revealed what Mangold knew to be true, but by then the damage of what Diana divulged was done. 

Williams-Thomas also meets with Diana's close friend Simone Simmons, who described Diana's conversations with Bashir prior to filming the interview. "[Bashir] was talking about … did she realize, you know, she is surrounded by people who are betraying her?" says Simmons in the documentary. 

"She said to me, 'I didn't know how many enemies I had.'" 

'I am going to [die] in an accident — helicopter, plane or car crash'

During his investigation, Williams-Thomas meets with other close friends and associates of Princess Diana, who describe a kind, strong-minded and thoughtful person. They also reveal Diana's inner concerns in her final years. 

Speaking publicly for the first time, security expert Grahame Harding explains how Diana feared her calls were being recorded and hired him to inspect her rooms at Kensington Palace for bugs. He also supplied mobile phones to Diana in secret to help her to avoid any potential surveillance.

Concerns about being spied on were not Diana's only fear. Her close friend Roberto Devorik says that Diana always believed she was going to die young. 

"She had the premonition she would be killed or die … not in a natural way," says Devorik in the documentary. "She would say, 'I think they are going to kill me. I am going to finish in an accident — helicopter, plane or car crash.'"

Diana may have had a chance of surviving that night 

In the documentary, Williams-Thomas retraces Diana's steps in Paris, where Diana spent her final days with filmmaker Dodi Fayed in August 1997, and tracks down crash witnesses who have never spoken publicly. He also travels to the U.K. to meet an expert who prepared a report for the official British inquest into Diana's death. 

Tom Treasure, a cardiothoracic surgeon, reviews the details of the crash. "[Diana] was taken from the car, and she was conscious when they took her out," he says. "Her circulation was in trouble, fast pulse and low blood pressure, indicating internal bleeding." 

Treasure then explains the heart injury that Diana sustained from sitting sideways without a seatbelt when the car came to an abrupt stop. He reveals that had the circumstances been different that night, allowing her rare heart injury to be identified earlier, she may have had a chance. 

"It was survivable," Treasure says in the film. 

Was the driver to blame?

In 2008, the British inquest concluded that the accident was caused by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and the group of paparazzi photographers who were following the car.

French police stated that Paul was under the influence of alcohol when he took to the wheel that night. But when Williams-Thomas tracks down his close friend Claude Garrec, he insists that Paul was a responsible person who would not have put people's lives at risk. 

"So, for me, something happened that we don't know. But Henri, in my opinion, has nothing to do with this case," Garrec says.

While in Paris, Williams-Thomas also questions Martine Monteil, the police officer who led the French investigation into the crash, and reviews the forensic evidence. She confirms that the Mercedes had collided with another vehicle moments before entering the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, causing it to swerve, hit a curb and spin into the 13th pillar. 

As for the widespread public theories that Paul's blood samples could have been inaccurate or switched — is there any truth to these claims? 

"Blood samples were taken immediately at the time of the accident and also during the autopsy," says Monteil, who reveals that those samples indicated Paul indeed had alcohol, as well as antidepressants, in his system. "He wasn't drunk, that's for sure, but he had consumed alcohol." 

Was the car tampered with?

Following the French investigation, the Metropolitan police in England launched their own inquiry into Diana's death. They commissioned three forensic and traffic collision experts to examine every element of the crash and determine if anything had been tampered with on Diana and Fayed's vehicle. These experts come together for the first time on television in Diana: The Ultimate Truth. 

"Because of all the tampering allegations, I wanted the Met police to buy or borrow an identical car," says David Price, a forensic accident investigator who went on to compare Diana's crashed vehicle with a second Mercedes to determine any differences. 

"I was going from one to the other, checking out all the underside to look for any signs that anything had been attached to it or any signs that there had been a small explosion to disable something."

The findings of the forensic team, along with all the other evidence gathered, may finally answer the remaining questions surrounding Diana's death.