The Word: On Jian Ghomeshi, seizures, and cloned mammoths

On the front page:

Ghomeshi charged. Wednesday marked a watershed moment for the case against Jian Ghomeshi: Around 10:30 a.m., Toronto Police Services published a news release revealing that the 47-year old former Q host had been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcome resistance – choking. Just after noon, Ghomeshi appeared with his lawyer Marie Henein at a downtown Toronto courthouse, entered a plea of not guilty to all charges, and was released on $100,000 bail. (Other conditions of his release include that Ghomeshi surrender his passport and live with his mother until his Jan. 8 court date.) Responding to news of Ghomeshi’s charges, Canadian actress Lucy DeCoutere (one of his alleged victims) said, “I hope that victims’ voices continue to be heard, and that this is the start of a change that is so desperately needed.”

Abortion update. New Brunswick premier Brian Gallant announced Wednesday that the province would be lifting a two-decade long restriction on abortion access. Under current legislation (a.k.a.: Regulation 84-20), N.B. women require confirmation from two physicians that the procedure is “medically necessary”—and it must be performed by a specialist. As of January 1, Gallant says the only stipulation will be that the procedure is performed in a hospital. Abortion has been an especially hot topic on the East Coast since Fredericton’s Morgentaler Clinic, the province’s only private abortion facility, closed in July due to a lack of funding.

Hashtags, eh? Canada—like, the whole country—now has its own Twitter account! The first tweet from @Canada was, like its citizens, incredibly charming: “@Canada’s now on Twitter, eh?” According to the feed’s first (and only) five posts on Wednesday, the page will “act as a shop window for everything that makes Canada the best country in the world,” and “aim[s] to capture the interest of audiences beyond our borders.” So far, that includes a picture of Ralph Wiggum and liberal use of the hashtag #DigitalDiplomacy. Foreign Minister John Baird was @Canada's second follow—after @Hootsuite. On health:

High highs mean low lows. A new study in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior suggests women in high-ranking positions are more likely to be depressed than their male colleagues. (And no, it has nothing to do with the pay gap.)

The future of medicine. Two researchers from the University of Windsor have developed software that can predict seizures 17 minutes before their onset.

On business:
Would you like a Milka-Cola with that? Coke is getting into, or perhaps pioneering, the luxury milk business.

On food:

Happy American Thanksgiving Eve! Here are the weirdest recipes our friends are googling south of the border. (Two words: Funeral potatoes.)

On culture: No, thine eyes do not deceiveth thee: Shakespeare’s First Folio—one of about 233 in existence—was just found tucked away in a tiny library outside Calais, France.

Good fit. Bridesmaids actress Melissa McCarthy has teamed up with L.A.’s Sunrise brands to release a clothing line in 2015.

On mammoth clones:

Autopsy results are in for a woolly mammoth (nicknamed “Buttercup”) found preserved in the icy Siberian tundra last May. Buttercup —a one-time gallstone sufferer and mother of eight—has unknowingly donated her gargantuan body to science: samples of her blood have been sent to South Korea for possible cloning. The summer blockbuster practically writes itself…

The final word…

“I did what I was paid to do.” Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in conversation with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. The interview aired less than a day after a grand jury declined to indict Wilson for the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.