Past Articles:
These "Articles" are dated from April 1st, 2007 - April 30th, 2007.
 Tax deadline looms for millions of Canadians
30/04/07
 Trudeau set to attempt the plunge into public life
29/04/07
 Al Gore slams Tories' new environmental plan
28/04/07
 Tories accused of incompetence in detainee dust-up
27/04/07
 Hugh Grant held over alleged 'baked bean' assault
26/04/07
 Federal report censors Afghan torture references
25/04/07
 Canadian helps develop human-friendly insecticide
24/04/07
 Man gets 5,000 calls after YouTube posting
23/04/07
 Suspended RCMP officer defends her reputation
22/04/07
 Aboriginals end blockade, warn of more protests
21/04/07
 Pack ice off N.L. continues to trap sealing vessels
20/04/07
 Gunman sent videos to U.S. television network
19/04/07
 'Suspicious event' prompts police action on campus
18/04/07
 33 dead in 'horrific' campus shooting in Virginia
17/04/07
 Some fed-up patients choosing surgery overseas
16/04/07
 B.C. providing cash incentive for organ donation
15/04/07
 Journalist, activist June Callwood dies at 82
14/04/07
 Earthquake knocks out power in parts of Mexico
13/04/07
 Families grappling with loss of two slain soldiers
12/04/07
 Breast cancer death rates on decline: study
11/04/07
 Millions face floods from climate change
10/04/07
 Rogers blames another company for discarded data
09/04/07
 Six Canadians confirmed killed in Afghanistan
08/04/07
 Captain, five others charged in ship sinking
07/04/07
 Panel approves bleakest climate change report yet
06/04/07
 Ad man Jean Lafleur arrested in Montreal
05/04/07
 Expect Canada's winter to melt: climate report
04/04/07
 Crews scramble to reach tsunami survivors
03/04/07
 Residents warned not to use water after derailment
02/04/07
 Best in Canadian music gather for 2007 Juno Awards
01/04/07
=======================
 
Tax deadline looms for millions of Canadians
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. Apr. 30  2007  12:34  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 30th, 2007
TORONTO -- Procrastinators will pay a price if they put off doing their tax returns much longer.

There's just hours left for Canadians to file their income tax returns ahead of the midnight Monday deadline and dodge late penalties.

As of this morning, 15.9 million total returns had been received, with another 10 million to come, the Canada Revenue Agency said.

More and more of those filings have come through the electronic options offered by the agency.

The CRA said that about 61 per cent, or nine million, of the filings logged to date were electronic, through either the Telefile system over telephone lines; Efile, which goes through a third-party company, or by over-the-Internet Netfile. Overall, that's a 10 per cent jump over last year.

The Netfile system has seen its popularity spike since its inception.

As of last Thursday about three million Canadians had filed using the program. Once the final tally rolls in, that number is expected to eclipse the 3.8 million Netfile returns booked last year.

Netfile was introduced by the CRA in 1999 and received about 443,000 submissions in the first year.

"We're hoping individuals are starting to realize that it's the better way to file,'' said CRA spokesman Sam Papadopoulos.
Electronic services also speed up the turnaround time for a notice of assessment to within two weeks.

Refunds that are filed using a direct bank deposit can turn around within eight business days. That compares to a minimum of several weeks for a traditional paper filing.

If quick and easy taxes aren't enough to motivate you, then consider that a timely filing will avoid being slapped with a five per cent late penalty on the balance owed, plus another one per cent for each month late afterwards.

The deadline must also be met to continue to receive Child Tax Benefit payments as well as and goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax credits.

Canadians who are self-employed and their spouses must file by June 15, though those who will owe taxes must pay the balance by April 30 to dodge interest charges.

Tax filings sent by mail will be considered on time if they're received on or before midnight tonight, or if they're postmarked Monday.

Clay Gillespie, a portfolio manager at Rogers Group Financial in Vancouver, said deciding not to file a return because you don't have the money readily available is a big mistake.

He advised filing regardless and then contacting the revenue agency to talk about payment options.

"If you negotiate ahead of time and are friendly with CRA, typically they're friendly with you,'' he said.

The CRA will also have extended the business hours until 10 p.m. on Monday. For further information, visit www.cra.gc.ca/contact.

Some post offices will also stay open until midnight.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Trudeau set to attempt the plunge into public life
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. Apr. 29  2007  10:33  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 29th, 2007
Justin Trudeau once reversed the words made famous by his father, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

"No, no, don't watch me," he said in 2003, in sharp contrast to his father's brash statement 33 years earlier, when he challenged Canadians to "just watch me."

In fact, Justin, the eldest son of Pierre and Margaret Trudeau, has spent much of his life wrestling with the fame bestowed on him by his family name and the expectations of those who would like to see him continue his father's political legacy.

"Let me go back and do my thing," he told CTV's W-FIVE in 2003.

"I don't want people to watch me. I want to be able to become whatever it is that I am best to become, what is best for me. If at one point I find that it's something that I should do in the public eye, or with a little more visibility, well then you guys will know and I'll say 'Pay attention to me here, watch me now.'"

It appears as though that time has come. At 35, married and with a child on the way, Trudeau has announced he hopes to run as a Liberal MP, and will fight a tough battle for his contested nomination Sunday in the Montreal blue-collar riding of Papineau, marking his most recent foray into the spotlight.

Throughout much of Trudeau's life he has split his time between remaining contentedly in the shadows and venturing briefly into the spotlight.

The young Justin Trudeau
As a boy, Trudeau quickly became accustomed to being in the public eye. More than his brothers Alexandre and Michel, he was often photographed by his father's side and became a darling of the Canadian public -- only the second child to be born to a Canadian prime minister while in office.
Justin Trudeau greets patrons at a patio while campaigning in Montreal. (CP PHOTO / Paul Chiasson)
Justin Trudeau speaks at the Liberal leadership convention on Friday Dec. 1, 2006 in Montreal. (CP / Ryan Remiorz)
Justin Trudeau, son of former prime minster Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and his wife, eTalk correspondent Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau. (Ken Regular / CTV.ca)
But once his parents' superstar marriage ended in 1977 when he was six, and as his father's political career began to dwindle -- it would end in 1984 -- the spotlight began to shift away from Trudeau.

He spent most of his later childhood, teen and young adult years living a quiet and private academic life, making his way through elementary school, high school, and eventually university.

Then in 1998, when an avalanche fatally swept Justin's brother Michel off a mountain and into a glacial lake, the nation once again trained its focus on Trudeau.

In his search to find meaning in the death of his brother, Trudeau became a board member with the Canadian Avalanche Foundation, and once again found himself in the spotlight.

"I really believe in not just the cause, but the principles behind the cause. This idea of encouraging people to get into the outdoors, to explore their lives while doing it intelligently," he told W-FIVE.

Trudeau was to become director of the foundation and a champion for mountain safety, stepping down only when he announced the Papineau nomination.

Despite his return to public life at the time, however, he cautioned observers not to make too much of it.

"Some people will see this and say, 'Well, that's it. He's definitely going into politics.' I don't know that. I don't like politics; I don't like the personal cost. Having a family, having kids is going to be one of my absolute priorities and will be the centre of my life no matter what," Trudeau told W-FIVE.

"Wherever I go and whatever it is that I choose to do, it will be real, and it will matter. More than that, it just depends on what I manage to build myself into and the man I eventually manage to become."

Trudeau also popped up from time to time -- mostly in local media -- through his role on the board of directors of Katimavik, a national youth volunteer program that his father helped start.

Pierre Trudeau's funeral

It was when Trudeau's father died on Sept. 28, 2000, that Canadians began to look to the young man as a possible successor.

During the compelling, personal eulogy he delivered at his father's state funeral, Trudeau recalled the love and deep dedication his father had for his sons and his country.

He told how his father once took him to lunch at the parliamentary restaurant, and introduced him to one of his chief political rivals -- an encounter that was to shape his life.

"At that point I understood that having opinions that are different from those of another does not preclude one from being deserving of respect as an individual, because simple tolerance, mere tolerance, is not enough," Trudeau said during his eulogy.

"We need genuine and deep respect for each and every human being, for their thoughts, their values, their beliefs, their origins. That's what my father demanded of his sons and that's what he demanded of his country. He demanded this out of a sense of love -- love of his sons and love of his country, and that's why we love him so."
His words seemed to stir up an emotional response within many Canadians, and speculation began in earnest about whether his father's death was to mark the start of Trudeau's political life.

But since then he has continued to walk the fine line between public and private life. He served as a panelist in 2003 on CBC Radio's Canada Reads series, and in 2006 he was in the news after he hosted a rally in Toronto on the Darfur crisis with retired general Sen. Romeo Dallaire.

Trudeau has made a habit of keeping a foot in each world -- and has given no clear indication about his long-term plans until recently.

Liberal leadership convention

Last year, Trudeau began what appeared to be a more intentional foray into political issues, forming ideas of his own and boldly bringing them forward.

In October 2006 in the run-up to the Liberal leadership convention, Trudeau told CTV's Canada AM he thought the concept of Quebec nationalism was "based on a smallness of thought."

The comments seemed to be a thinly veiled swipe at Michael Ignatieff, then the frontrunner among the leadership candidates, who had said he was willing to recognize the province as a nation.

Trudeau eventually attended the convention as a delegate, supporting former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy's bid. When Kennedy was eliminated, he shifted his support to Stephane Dion, who eventually bested Ignatieff for the win.

The rumour mill was running at full steam at that point, with speculation abounding that Trudeau's high-profile activity at the convention indicated he was ready to make his official debut in federal politics.

Analysts speculated Dion would reward Trudeau for his support by handing him the Montreal Outremont riding -- a Liberal stronghold and a near-guaranteed victory -- after former transport minister Jean Lapierre resigned.

On Feb. 22, Trudeau finally ended months of speculation and made it official -- he would be seeking a nomination in Papineau, a much tougher Montreal riding where he would have to dig in and fight hard, first for the nomination and then, if successful, for the seat.

The riding is currently held by Bloc Quebecois MP Vivian Barbot, a tough competitor who knocked off former Liberal cabinet minister Pierre Pettigrew in the 2006 election.

Trudeau told CTV News he didn't want to be handed a plum riding where he was guaranteed a win, but wanted to earn his own stripes.

"I don't want to be handed anything, I don't need to be handed anything, I'm more than capable of bringing the fight and it will be a chance for me to demonstrate my own political abilities," said Trudeau.

"It's an absolute bonus that I'll be able to take back this riding for the Liberals."

The riding has large Haitian, Greek and Italian communities -- including many recent immigrants who know little of Trudeau's famous father -- a fact that Trudeau said could be an advantage and a disadvantage.

"My father's name obviously comes into it on the positive and the negative," said Trudeau. "Expectations for me will be so amazingly high by some people and so incredibly low by others that I'm sure to disappoint everyone equally."

Trudeau's competitors for the Liberal nod in Papineau are Mary Deros, a city councillor and community activist who has worked in the area for 20 years; and Basilio Giordano, a former city councillor and publisher of the local Italian-language newspaper.

Though he once called on Canadians to let him live his life in private, there is little doubt that Canadians will be watching Trudeau closely this weekend and making comparisons, whether he likes it or not, to his famous father.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from Andy Johnson
=======================
 
Al Gore slams Tories' new environmental plan
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. Apr. 28  2007  14:20  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 28th, 2007
Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has joined the chorus of critics slamming the Conservatives' new environmental plan.

Presenting his Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" at the Green Living Show in Toronto on Saturday morning, Gore blasted the new initiative that was announced one day earlier by Environment Minister John Baird.

"In my opinion, it is a complete and total fraud," Gore said. "It is designed to mislead the Canadian people."

However, Gore acknowledged he is not a Canadian citizen and has "no right to interfere in your decisions."

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and environmentalist and journalist David Suzuki were in attendance when Gore spoke.

On Friday Baird outlined his new plan which focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.

Shortly after he presented it, Suzuki publicly confronted Baird in the midst of a crowd of journalists, telling him the plan falls short of what's needed.

"What your promised was a long way from what you delivered. It's not enough John,"
FILE: Former U.S. vice president Al Gore answers a question during a Tribeca Film Festival news conference, in New York Wednesday April 25, 2007. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this photo released by the United Nations, former Vice President Al Gore, left, shakes hands with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the beginning of their meeting at U.N. headquarters, Friday morning April 27, 2007. (AP Photo/UN, Mark Garten)
Suzuki said, while Baird argued that it was farther than any other government had ever gone to address environmental concerns.

Gore praised Suzuki for confronting Baird, and said the new plan is "shocking." He said the rest of the world looks to Canada as an environmental leader, and Canada must set a good example.

Baird's plan fails to set out exactly what many of its targets will look like when put into practice, and acknowledges that emissions reductions targets set by the previous Liberal government under the Kyoto Protocol are unrealistic and out of reach.

The environment minister says it's a middle-of-the-road approach that introduces tough targets for industry without crippling the economy -- something he warned was guaranteed if Canada tried to meet the Kyoto targets.

Baird says the Conservatives are working against 10 years of inaction by the former Liberal government, and can't turn back the hands of time.

Gore, UN leader meet

Meanwhile, Gore got high-placed accolades from United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who said on Friday he intends to use Gore's "very powerful political message" on climate change to spark international awareness and action.

Ban said Gore - a top choice for presidential candidate among Democrats, though he says he has no intention of running -- offered on Friday to help the UN combat climate change.

"He offered strong support and commitment to work very closely with me, and I am going to fully use his very powerful political message to mobilize political will and thus enhance the awareness of the international community with this issue," ban said.

Ban has made it clear that addressing the global warming problem is among his top priorities.

"I am going to take an important role in mobilizing political will in close coordination with the European Commission when I attend the G-8 Summit meeting in June," Ban pledged. "This will be one of the important agenda (items)."

European Union leaders last month promised to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels. And they pledged to increase the target to 30 per cent if other countries -- especially the U.S. -- agreed to join them.

Ban welcomed the voluntary cuts, describing them as "a very important initiative with which I would like to continue to cooperate fully."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
======================= 
Tories accused of incompetence in detainee dust-up
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. Apr. 27  2007  08:25  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 27th, 2007
The federal government's handling of allegations of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan has led to suggestions that chaos and confusion abound within the government.

The controversy first began with allegations that prisoners captured by Canadian troops and handed to Afghan authorities were at risk of torture, abuse and even execution.

Government responses have been all over the map, and the chaos hit a fever pitch on Thursday, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared to contradict Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, telling the House of Commons there was no formal agreement in place to ensure
Corrections Canada is mentoring Afghan officers at Kandahar's Sarposa prison, and monitoring conditions there to ensure prisoners are treated as humanely as possible.
Canadian officials have access to detainees they hand over to the Afghans.

Then on Wednesday, at the end of a day rife with allegations of incompetence, O'Connor told the Commons foreign affairs committee that a deal had been reached to allow access to the prisoners "any time they wanted."

But on Thursday, Harper surprised everyone by saying there were no problems in the first place.

"We have consulted with the government of Afghanistan over the last several days," Harper said.

"We have found no evidence that access is blocked to the prisons. In fact, not only are Afghan authorities agreeing to access to the prisons, they actually agree they will formalize that agreement so there is no potential misunderstanding."

Harper also went on to suggest that the opposition was taking a direct shot at Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan.

"The real problem is the willingness of the leader of the Liberal party and his colleagues to believe to repeat and to exaggerate any charge against the Canadian military as they fight these fanatics and killers that are called the Taliban."

Then, making the issue even more convoluted, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day stood up during question period and said that Corrections Canada officers in Kandahar had access to the detainees all along.

That appeared to be contradicted later by the Afghan ambassador to Canada, Omar Samad, who said that until the recent deal was reached, Canadian officials did not have the right to visit detainees.
He said the Afghan government will be carrying out its own investigation of prisoner abuse.

The conflicting statements made little sense to opposition critics trying to understand the chronology of events and the current status.

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton suggested the mixed signals indicated a lack of leadership and an abundance of chaos.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said everyone is confused: "We would laugh Mr. Speaker, if not human beings lives were at stake," Dion said.

For more than a year, O'Connor has maintained that prisoners captured by Canadians and
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier appear before the Commons Foreign Affairs committee in Ottawa on April 25, 2007.(CP / Tom Hanson)
handed over to the Afghans are monitored by the International Committee of the Red Cross -- a claim that the agency denied last winter.

In February, the government signed an agreement with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kandahar, authorizing the group to report any potential abuses of detainees.

There have been reports this week that the commission has been denied total access to detainees -- a claim that it clarified recently, saying the reports were excessive.

The assistant investigator with the human rights commission, Reza Jan Ibrahimi, 25, said they are not allowed to meet with prisoners while they are in the custody of intelligence officers. However, they have met detainees after they were moved to the regular prison system.

A spokesperson from the AIHRC, who spoke to CTV News on condition of anonymity, agreed unrestricted access to Afghan detainees is now available.

"We couldn't go there but now our people can go anywhere they want, NDS, jail and other offices," said the commissioner.

The group also claims it has been denied access to detainees held by the feared NDS -- Afghanistan's intelligence police. They have been accused of beating, choking, starving, freezing and whipping suspected Taliban insurgents.


Officials inside NDS now say corrections officers and RCMP in Afghanistan will have access to NDS and other prisons as well.

NDS authorities say the lack of access to prisoners was a communications breakdown rather than a deliberate attempt at concealing instances of abuse.

"That technical problem has been solved in a few days so there is no problem," one NDS official told CTV News.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report from CTV's Lisa LaFlamme in Kandahar
=======================
 
Hugh Grant held over alleged 'baked bean' assault
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. Apr. 26  2007  09:24  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 26th, 2007
LONDON -- Hugh Grant has been arrested for allegedly throwing a container of baked beans at a photographer, London police said.

The Metropolitan Police don't identify suspects who haven't been charged, but said a 46-year-old man was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and released on bail. No charges have been filed, police said.

Grant's lawyers weren't immediately available for comment.
British actor Hugh Grant attends a photo call to promote his new film 'Music and Lyrics' in Barcelona on April 16, 2007. (AP Photo / Manu Fernandez)

Photographer Ian Whittaker told the Daily Star tabloid that Grant had kicked him and shouted abuse before hurling the beans at him Tuesday morning.

The newspaper ran photos Wednesday showing the actor holding a plastic tub over his head.

Grant's screen credits include "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "About a Boy."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Federal report censors Afghan torture references
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. Apr. 25  2007  08:28  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 25th, 2007
Federal government officials knew that prisoners held by Afghan security forces faced the possibility of abuse and torture and even execution, according to a report published Wednesday.

The revelations were reported by The Globe and Mail on Wednesday after the paper obtained a report by Canadian diplomats in Kabul, under an Access to Information request.

However, every reference in the report to abuse or torture in prison was blacked out.

The report comes one day after a former Afghan detainee described to CTV News in detail how eight Afghan police officers pinned him down with iron bars and beat him unconscious -- though he doesn't blame the Canadian forces who handed him over to local authorities.

Initially, the federal government denied the existence of the report on prisoner abuses. However, after complaints to the Access to Information Commissioner, the heavily censored version of the document was released.

However, when comparing the released version to unedited portions obtained independently
Noor Mohammed Noori claims that eight Afghan police officers pinned him down with iron bars across his arms and legs, and beat him unconscious.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day gestures during his speech in Quebec City on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 (CP / Clement Allard)
by The Globe, reporters found that some of the blacked-out sentences directly referenced torture. This sentence was among those removed: "Extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial are all too common."

It also blacked out a sentence that suggested "the overall human rights situation in Afghanistan deteriorated in 2006."

However, it left intact many references to progress being made, "bright spots" and positive developments in the area of human rights in the country.

The report, titled "Afghanistan-2006; Good Governance, Democratic Development and Human Rights" was identified as intended for "Canadian Eyes Only."

It seems to provide evidence from the federal government representatives on the ground that senior officials and ministers knew torture, abuse and disappearances are commonplace in Afghan jails.

The Globe report says the blacked-out sections don't seem to involve national security or privacy issues, and there is no explanation as to why they were removed.

The report makes grim references to rights abuses within the National Directorate of Security, or intelligence police, the Afghanistan National Police and the Ministry of Interior.

Similar claims have already been made in other major reports by Louise Arbour, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, the U.S. State Department and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, among others.

However, when Foreign Affairs was asked by The Globe on March 7 whether it had put together its own report, the response was a definitive 'no.'

On March 22, the department reiterated its response, this time in a written response to an Access to Information request.

An earlier request specific to a human rights report on Afghanistan was filed on Jan. 29 by a University of Ottawa law professor. The edited version of that report was finally released to professor Amir Attaran this week after he complained about Foreign Affairs' refusal to release the report.

Former detainee describes abuse:
Meanwhile, a former Afghan detainee who spoke to CTV's Lisa LaFlamme in Afghanistan described in detail the abuse he suffered after being handed over to Afghan police by Canadian authorities.

Grape farmer Noor Mohammed Noori claimed that eight Afghan police officers pinned him down with iron bars across his arms and legs, and beat him unconscious.

"They beat me that night four times, and the last time I couldn't walk," he said through an interpreter on Tuesday.

However, LaFlamme said Noori doesn't hold a grudge and said the Canadians didn't know what he would be subjected to.

"The first thing he said is absolutely not; these troops were not aware of what was going to happen to us when we were taken into the hands of the Afghan National Police," LaFlamme told CTV's Canada AM.

"He made a very strong point of saying Canada sends their young men and women over here, they are killed here trying to help Afghanistan. It was actually quite overwhelming to hear how effusive he was in his praise of Canada under the circumstances he survived."

However, LaFlamme suggested it is common knowledge among most Afghans that abuse and torture are widespread in their country's prison system.

On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Canadian soldiers will continue to transfer detainees to Afghan authorities.

But he added that Canada will continue to urge the Afghan government to ensure that detainees' human rights are respected.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Canadian helps develop human-friendly insecticide
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. Apr. 24  2007  09:54  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 24th, 2007
A Canadian scientist has helped develop an insecticide -- based on plant essential oils - that kills bugs but doesn't harm humans.

"EcoSmart is a new type of natural insecticide based on what we call plant-essential oils," Murray Isman, an entomologist and toxicologist at UBC, told CTV'sCanada AM on Tuesday.

"These are the same types of oil used in flavouring foods -- things like peppermint oil and thyme oil -- and used by people for aromatherapy."

Isman said the chemicals in the oils kill insects by interfering with their nervous systems.

"Because the neurochemistry between the insects and humans is different ... we can have a product that works on insects but is safe around humans and pets."

The discovery was accidentally made by a worker in Florida who was spraying client's homes with traditional pesticides.

Because customers complained of the smell, the man decided to lace the pesticides with
EcoSmart's botanical pesticide products offer minimal environmental toxicity.
Murray Isman, a entomologist and toxicologist at the University of British Columbia, speaks with Canada AM from CTV studios in Vancouver on Tuesday, April 24, 2007.
commercial fragrance oils. The EcoSmart products were developed when the oils ended up being more effective at killing the insects.

At first, EcoSmart was meant only for the home as a way to kill cockroaches, flies, wasps and fleas.

But the company soon saw potential for the product in restaurants and hospitals -- places where human health is the major concern but where pest control is also an issue.

"Nothing's absolutely safe but certainly, compared to all the conventional pesticides out there, this is one of the safest to handle," said Isman.

The product will soon be available at Wal-Mart in the U.S. but is yet to be approved for use in Canada.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
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Man gets 5,000 calls after YouTube posting
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. Apr. 23  2007  07:17  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 23rd, 2007
SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. -- Ryan Fitzgerald is unemployed, lives with his father and has a little bit of time on his hands.

So, he decided to offer his ear, to anyone who wants to call. After posting a video with his cell
phone number on YouTube on Friday, the 20-year-old told The Boston Globe he has received more than 5,000 calls and text messages.

Fitzgerald said he wanted to "be there," for anyone who needed to talk. "I never met you, but I do care," a spiky-haired Fitzgerald said into the camera on his YouTube posting.

He planned to take and return as many calls he could, but on Monday at 5 a.m., his T-Mobile cell phone payment will begin charging him for his generosity when he is no longer eligible for free weekend minutes.

"I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do about it," he said. "Come Monday, no way I'm going to just hang up on people and say, 'I don't have the minutes.'"

Fitzgerald, who said people consider him "easy to talk to," was inspired by Juan Mann. YouTube video clips of Mann offering "Free Hugs" to strangers became wildly popular on the user-controlled Internet site.

"Some people's own mothers won't take the time to sit down and talk with them and have a conversation," Fitzgerald said. "But some stranger on YouTube will. After six seconds, you're not a stranger anymore, you're a new kid I just met."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Suspended RCMP officer defends her reputation
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. Apr. 22  2007  13:15  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 22nd, 2007
Suspended RCMP deputy commissioner Barbara George says she will continue to present the facts and defend her actions "until the end of time," if necessary, to clear her name of the allegations against her.

George appeared on CTV's Question Period on Sunday, her first interview since she appeared before the parliamentary public accounts committee on Wednesday.
Suspended RCMP deputy commissioner Barbara George appears on CTV's Question Period.
During the explosive committee hearing, RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike Frizzell, who was a key investigator on the Ottawa police probe into the misuse of RCMP pension and insurance funds, accused George of improperly withdrawing nearly $600,000 from the insurance account.

Frizzell, who was pulled off the case, has also said he felt he was removed because he sought explanation from George and former director general of human resources Rosalie Burton about the missing funds.

George, the only RCMP member to face disciplinary action so far, told Question Period she had nothing to do with his removal from the case -- and two Ottawa police officers have testified to that effect.

"I feel that ultimately the truth will come out and the facts will be put forward. The public will see this," she said.

George said the $600,000 was taken from the insurance fund and transferred to the pension fund as part of efforts to correct earlier errors made in the way the funds were handled.

She said an improper agreement was signed in 2003 between her predecessor in charge of human resources, and the chair of the insurance fund to use some of the pension funds to pay for the administration of the insurance fund. In 2005, when the error was discovered, she tried to correct it.

"It was felt that monies that had been improperly utilized one way or another from the pension fund needed to be returned to the pension fund. In fact, that was the catalyst that started all of this," she said.

"So, as time went on, I believe the corporate side of the house took great care to look at the expenditures that were tallied up against the pension fund and they returned, I think, approximately $3.4 million back into the pension fund."

George, a 29-year veteran of the RCMP, said she doesn't know why she seems to have been targeted as a scapegoat, but her suspension last month was completely unexpected. However, she said she has faith the situation will eventually be resolved.

"I have to say I was very surprised, very shocked and taken aback; I think that about sums it up, when I received the suspension notice and the code of conduct, of course.

"However, I have to maintain my faith in the truth and in our systems; and I believe that, ultimately, the facts will come out."

Committee members have also suggested that George may have committed perjury by intentionally misleading them when they asked her in her February appearance about whether she knew who removed Frizzell from the probe.
In February she told the committee she understood that Frizzell left for "health reasons."

But when she appeared before the committee on Wednesday, she said she learned in June 2005 there were complaints about Frizzell's behaviour, in particular his interviewing techniques.

'No deceit intended'

She told Question Period co-host Jane Taber there was no deceit intended.

"During my hearing of the 21st, I was asked point blank whether I knew who had taken the decision to remove Sgt. Frizzell from the investigation ... and I stated then honestly and accurately that I did not know who had taken that decision to have him removed."

George has said she had a spotless career until she was accused of misleading the committee -- an accusation she described as the "catalyst that has changed my life forever."

She maintains the accusations were based on a string of e-mails that were taken out of context, resulting in "horrific consequences" for her and her family.

She also questioned why the committee seemed to have ignored the testimony of senior RCMP Ottawa police officers who testified that she wasn't involved in the decision to remove Frizzell.

"So, if the committee is having difficulty with listening to what I'm saying, then I would ask, are they not having difficulty with two other highly-respected police officers?"

George said she has been asked back to the committee for a third appearance, and intends to keep going back until her reputation is restored.

"I will go back to the committee until the end of time, if I have to. The committee has asked me back again for a third time. I will continue to put forth the facts and the truth."

She would not speculate on whether the federal government should call a public inquiry into the allegations, saying that decision is not up to her.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
Aboriginals end blockade, warn of more protests
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. Apr. 21  2007  14:20  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 21st, 2007
Aboriginal protesters have removed their blockade of Canada's busiest rail line, but warn the demonstration is just one is a series of "escalating" actions they intend to take.

Plans for the next protest are said to be in place with future targets including the railway, provincial highways and the town of Deseronto.
Bay of Quinte Mohawks block the train tracks just north of Deseronto, Ont. on April 20, 2007. (CP / Jonathan Hayward)
The busy CN and Via Rail corridor between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto was blocked for almost 24 hours after protestors blocked the line with an old school bus near Deseronto, Ont.

The Mohawks are protesting a developers plan to build condos using materials from a quarry that lies on land the natives claim belongs to them. Negotiations are underway to try and resolve the dispute.

Shawn Brant, a spokesperson for the demonstrators, told CTV Newsnet the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte removed the barricade early over concern that the situation would become violent, Brant told CTV Newsnet.

However, he warned that more demonstrations are planned and the actions will likely become more aggressive in nature as time goes on.

"As scary as this sounds, it's an escalating campaign. The track was the first. We consider that a soft hit and from there we will be escalating this campaign according to the province's action or inaction."

Deseronto Mayor Norm Clark initially said the removal of the blockade was a step forward for the community.

However, after hearing Brant's comments, he worried what was coming next.

"That makes you wonder, if that was a soft hit what is the next demonstration going to be and what's going to happen?" he told CTV Newsnet.
"The fear that I have is that they're going to do something to the town because Deseronto and Tyendinaga reserve are beside each other. If they're going to try and block off the town, that could be devastating," he said, suggesting such an action could result in violence.

Clark said ongoing disputes have "put a cloud over Deseronto," with several developers taking their projects out of the town, a drop in tourism and divisions developing between natives and non-natives.

He said people who have nothing to do with the dispute are being made to suffer as the result of the protests.

"I haven't heard anybody disputing or complaining about the land claim itself. What the complaints are about is all the demonstrations and the disruptions these demonstrations cause to people," Clark said.

"People can't understand that. Now that negotiations are underway, they don't understand why the demonstrations have to take place."

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice praised the efforts of those who continued negotiating through the blockade, but said such demonstrations aren't an effective means of solving disagreements.
Fire trucks stand by as native protestors use a old school bus to block the train tracks just north of Deseronto, Ont. on April 20, 2007. (CP / Jonathan Hayward)
CTV map detailing the location of Desoronto, Ontario.
"In terms of blockades there really is no excuse," Prentice told CTV Newsnet.

"These blockades do nothing to help the negotiations and do nothing to bring stability or progress at the negotiating table, and frankly all they do is harm innocent people who are not involved in the dispute and the negotiations. And I think it leads to an erosion of good will towards aboriginal people."

At one point during the blockade, billows of black smoke could be seen rising from the blockade and emergency fire crews were called to the scene.

Chief of the Tyendinaga Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte maintains both sides are negotiating and advocating for a peaceful resolution of the claim.

"The process may take a long time but that is the only process that we have to work with -- negotiating a resolution," Don Maracle told CTV Newsnet on Friday.

"There are a number of parties that have to be consulted and a number of studies that have to be done and it will take time."
"I implore everyone to have patience and to give the negotiating table a chance to work," Maracle said.

The federal government has appointed a land-claims negotiator to resolve the dispute. But protesters say the negotiations are taking too much time.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Pack ice off N.L. continues to trap sealing vessels
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. Apr. 20  2007  09:04  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 20th, 2007
There's still no sign of the favourable winds that trapped sealers are hoping will begin to break up the pack ice that has closed in on as many as 100 ships off Newfoundland.

Rescue officials said Friday they don't expect the wind to change until Saturday at the earliest, and even then movement of the massive sheet of ice is expected to occur slowly.

There are roughly 500 crew members currently trapped in their ships -- many of the ships at risk of being crushed by the powerful pack ice.
The Andy Rover is ice-bound off Newfoundland's northeast coast as seen in this image made available by the Coast Guard.
Most of the ships are longliner fishing vessels waylaid off the coast of northeast Newfoundland and southern Labrador while on their way home from last week's seal hunt.

The Canadian Coast Guard is using helicopters to deliver food and water to trapped crews, some of whom have been stuck for up to nine days.

Rodney Gray, captain of the Cape John Navigator, told CTV's Canada AM on Friday that his ship has been stranded about 19 kilometres off the coast of Lumsden, N.L., since Sunday.

He said the ship hadn't been damaged by the ice, and plenty of supplies had been delivered by the coast guard, and the crew was just waiting for a change in the weather.

Gray said the Navigator came into the area hoping to be helped into harbour by a coast guard icebreaker that was escorting ships into port.

"But she got tasked to do some more cases that were more serious than ours at the time. So she didn't get to us that night," Gray said from the ship.

"So that night then, we were sort of in the ice -- but during the night it closed up very quickly."

He said most people agreed the conditions were the worst they have been in years.
"This is the worst conditions I've seen. Now, I haven't been sailing for that long, probably five to six years now. But it's the worst conditions that I've seen," Gray said.

"And hearing some of the fishermen that have been sailing for a long time, they haven't seen any conditions much worse than this before."

Gray said his crew was safe, and spirits were still high.

"We're playing a few cards and that there and talking and having a laugh and watching the hockey games in the nighttime. So, we're not doing too much, because like I say, we're only on a 55-foot boat and there's not a lot of room, but the spirits are still high anyway and we're hoping for the best."

In total, three icebreakers are now working to free the stranded ships, three helicopters were delivering supplies, and another three Cormorant search and rescue helicopters were on standby.

Even two of the ice-breakers had become stuck while trying to help free other vessels.

Some of the ships are in danger of being crushed by the shifting ice, and about 10 longliners have been abandoned by their crew -- something that is only done as a last resort, coast guard communications officer Erika Pittman told CTV.ca on Thursday.

Eldred Burden, the skipper of an 18-metre vessel trapped in the ice, told The Canadian Press his crew is in the midst of a "dangerous situation."
"There's not one thing you can do ... We're getting dragged out pretty good. You're up all night and the boat is heaving and twisting," he said during a telephone interview.

Gray said he was hoping for a change in the weather as early as Friday, to trigger some movement in the ice sheet.

Rescue officials said Friday they are also hoping the wind will change direction oover the weekend.

"Conditions are terrible up there with the ice and that,'' Ward George, a search and rescue co-ordinator in St. John's, told CP.
"So we're just waiting for the wind to change, to ease off on the pressure, and we'll do our work.''

Earlier this week, strong northeast winds generated by a massive low-pressure system started pushing the ice toward the coast of northeastern Newfoundland and southern Labrador.

It's not unusual for some sealing vessels to get stuck for a short time in pack ice. It happens almost every year when sealers head to the floes to hunt for young seals born on the shifting ice pans.

But weather conditions during the past week have created such a huge and highly compacted ice pack that the boats are expected to remain jammed in the frozen, heaving mass for much longer than usual.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Gunman sent videos to U.S. television network
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. Apr. 18  2007  19:34  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 19th, 2007
The Virginia Tech gunman sent videos, writings and photographs to a U.S. television network in the middle of his shooting spree, authorities said Wednesday.

Cho Seung-Hui sent the material to NBC News sometime after murdering two people early Monday morning, but before he fatally shot another 30 people in a classroom building and turned a gun on himself.

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to avoid today," Cho says in one rambling video clip. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option."

He also specifically mentions Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the teenagers responsible for the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, referring to them as "martyrs."

NBC News did not receive the material until Wednesday morning because of an incorrect mailing address, and handed the package over to investigators. The envelope is time-stamped 9:01 a.m. ET Monday.

It's unclear when Cho began working on the material, and how much -- if any -- was created after his initial shooting spree. In some of the videos he seems to refer to his rampage in the past tense.
This image taken from a video aired by NBC News on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 shows Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui. (AP Photo / NBC)
This video frame grab image taken from a video aired by NBC News on April 18, 2007 shows Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui.
(AP / NBC)
"This may be a very new, critical component of this investigation. We're in the process right now of attempting to analyze and evalute its worth," Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia State Police, told reporters.

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams called the material "disturbing" and a "multimedia manifesto." It contains 27 video files of Cho describing his hatred towards the wealthy, and images of him holding weapons.

The videos were embedded into the paragraphs of a large 1,800-word document, suggesting Cho had put a great deal of work into the manifesto.

Meanwhile, ABC News has reported that Cho was considered an "imminent danger to others" by a court in 2005, after he had been accused of stalking two female students.

A Virginian district court found that Cho Seung-Hui was dangerous and "mentally ill," and ruled he should be evaluated at a psychiatric hospital.

Cho fatally shot 32 people on Monday before turning a gun on himself.

Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum told reporters that Cho made contact with a female student by phone and in person in November 2005, prompting her to contact police.

Police met with Cho at the time, but the student declined to press charges, describing her contact with him only as "annoying."

The incident was referred to university security.

Then in December, Cho sent instant messages to another female student, who asked campus security to be protected from contact with him.
Police also confirmed that Cho was admitted to a mental health institution over fears he might be suicidal.

Authorities said Cho made no direct threats in either of the complaints from the women, and that no crimes were committed. They also said neither of the women were among Cho's victims on Monday.

In the more than one year that has passed since the 2005 incidents, police had no contact with Cho and no complaints about his behaviour.

It is believed that Cho is responsible for two separate shootings on the school's campus Monday. In the first shooting, a man and woman were killed at a co-ed residence at about 7:15 a.m. local time.

In the second, 30 people were killed at Norris Hall, an engineering building on the opposite end of the 1,050-hectare campus.

Governor satisfied with actions taken

Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said he is satisfied that officials at the university did everything they felt they needed to do in dealing with the massacre.

However, Kaine said he will set up a panel at the university's request to review how officials dealt with the shooting.

There has been tough criticism that officials didn't invoke a lock down after the first shooting which left two people dead in a residence.

It wasn't until two hours later that 30 others were killed.

Meanwhile, raising fears of further violence on an already on-edge campus, a Virginia Tech building was evacuated Wednesday morning as heavily armed police officers surrounded the hall.

The threat of suspicious activity turned out to be baseless, said Flinchum.

The building, Barruss Hall, houses the president's offices and is located next to Norris Hall, where most of the shooting occurred when 32 people were killed Monday in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

The building has now been reopened, but students were shaken by the possibility of more violence and the flurry of police action.

"They were just screaming, 'Get off the sidewalks,'" Terryn Wingler-Petty, a junior from Wisconsin told The Associated Press.

"They seemed very confused about what was going on. They were just trying to get people organized."

Police said such occurrences are not uncommon when security levels are high.

On Wednesday evening, students, family, friends and faculty had gathered for a solemn candlelight vigil at the Virginia Tech campus.

Warning signs
I
t has also emerged that long before his deadly shooting spree, Cho displayed disturbing warning signs that prompted one professor to warn Virginia Tech officials about his behaviour.
Lucinda Roy, a professor who taught the 23-year-old South Korean, told CTV Newsnet she became worried after reading an assignment Cho submitted in a creative writing class.

Roy, the English department's former director of creative writing, described Cho as "troubled," and said his writings were disturbing enough that she went to police and other university officials to ask for help, but little action was taken.

Although Cho's writings were laced with violence, there were no direct threats, so police could do little, she said.
As a result, she decided to pull him out of another professor's class and instruct him one-on-one.

"In this case what was unusual was the young man seemed to be so depressed and so lonely it seemed to me to be a more challenging situation," Roy said.

"I was a little bit concerned about him hurting me at several points during our interchanges because I had pulled him from class and he was very resentful, which was why I tried to be certain there was no one nearby apart from my assistant, because I didn't want there to be any trouble that would possibly risk hurting someone else."

Roy said she has had trouble expressing her "tremendous sorrow."

"You know, it's awfully hard to talk about what you're feeling when you're so filled with grief that there's no room for anything else."

Former classmate was concerned

Ian MacFarlane, a former classmate of Cho's who is now an employee at AOL, also had cause for concern after reading violent screenplays Cho wrote for a class last fall.

In one, Cho wrote about students who fantasized about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them.

In another play, posted yesterday on thesmokinggun.com, Cho wrote of a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of pedophilia and of murdering his father.

In the final, chilling scene the stepfather kills the boy.

"When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare," MacFarlane wrote in a blog posted on an AOL website.

"The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of."

He said he and other students discussed the possibility that Cho could become a school shooter.

Police believe Cho killed a total of 32 students and teachers during a shooting spree that began on Monday at 7:15 a.m.

The rampage ended when Cho killed himself as police stormed Norris Hall, where all but two of the victims were killed.

Two more bodies were found Monday morning at the West Ambler Johnston dormitory.

Cho, 23, was an undergraduate student in his senior year at Virginia Tech, a university with some 26,000 students nestled in Blacksburg, a tight-knit southwestern Virginia town.

A South Korean living in the U.S. as a resident alien, Cho had been in the U.S. since 1992 and held a green card signifying his status as a legal permanent U.S. resident, federal officials said.

Cho's home address is listed in Centreville, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
'Suspicious event' prompts police action on campus
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. Apr. 18  2007  09:07  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 18th, 2007
Raising fears of further violence, staff have been evacuated from a hall on the Virginia Tech campus as police officers carrying rifles and wearing flak jackets surrounded the building.

It was not clear what prompted the flurry in police activity, just two days after 32 people were killed Monday in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

"This is the administration building from what I understand," said CTV's Jed Kahane, reporting from the university campus in Blacksburg, Va.
A rose and its shadow grace one of the many boards set up along the Drill Field on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. (AP / Chuck Burton)
"The staff were told to get out, the building was emptied, the SWAT team went in, did a search and came out."

Kahane told CTV Newsnet that reporters were expecting to get more information about the police action during a news conference scheduled for Wednesday morning.

CNN reports that an armoured truck was parked in front of Burruss Hall, the building that was evacuated. It is located just beside Norris Hall, where most of the Monday shootings took place.

The university's communications department was calling the Wednesday incident a "suspicious event," but said such occurrences are not uncommon when security levels are high, CNN reports.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that long before his deadly shooting spree, Cho Seung-Hui displayed disturbing warning signs that prompted one professor to warn Virginia Tech officials about his behaviour.

Police say Cho, who has been described as a loner and an introvert, killed 30 people on Monday before taking his own life. He is also believed to have killed two students earlier in the day.

Lucinda Roy, a professor who taught the 23-year-old South Korean, said she became worried after reading an assignment Cho submitted in a creative writing class.

Roy, the English department's former director of creative writing, described Cho as "troubled," and said his writings were disturbing enough that she went to police and other university officials to ask for help, but little action was taken.

"The threats seemed to be underneath the surface," she told CNN. "They were not explicit, and that was the difficulty the police had."
As a result, she decided to pull him out of another professor's class and instruct him one-on-one.

His instructor and fellow students also found his behaviour in class "inappropriate," Roy said.

"He was taking photographs of students without their permission, especially under the desk," she said.

English professor Carolyn Rude says Cho's writings were so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counselling service.

It's still not clear whether Cho underwent any of the therapy recommended, but news reports said that Cho may have been taking medication for depression and that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic.

"There was some concern about him," Rude told The Associated Press. "Sometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it's creative or if they're describing things, if they're imagining things or just how real it might be. But we're all alert to not ignore things like this."

Former classmate was concerned

Ian MacFarlane, a former classmate of Cho's who is now an employee at AOL, also had cause for concern after reading violent screenplays Cho wrote for a class last fall.

In one, Cho wrote about students who fantasized about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them.

In another play, posted yesterday on thesmokinggun.com, Cho wrote of a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of pedophilia and of murdering his father.

After an argument with his stepfather, the boy goes to his room and throws darts at a picture of the man, Dick, while repeating, "I hate him. Must kill Dick. Must kill Dick. Dick must die."

The plot ends in a violent climax during which the boy's mother brandishes a chainsaw and the boy tries to choke his stepfather. In the final, chilling scene the stepfather kills the boy.

"When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare," MacFarlane wrote in a blog posted on an AOL website.

"The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of."

He said he and other students discussed the possibility that Cho could become a school shooter.

Other students also worried that Cho had the potential to turn violent. Stephanie Derry described Cho's plays as "really morbid and grotesque."
Cho Seung-Hui is seen in this undated photo released by Virginia State Police.
Ribbons adorn trees along the Drill Field on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va. on Wednesday, April 18, 2007.
(AP / Chuck Burton)
Michelle Huntington, a senior at Virginia Tech, holds and candle and an American flag on the Virginia Tech campus during a candlelight (The Roanoke Times / Christina O'Connor)
People gather for a candlelight vigil at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. (The Roanoke Times / Kyle Green)
"We always joked we were just waiting for him to do something, waiting to hear about something he did," Derry told the university's Collegiate Times newspaper.

"But when I got the call it was Cho who had done this, I started crying, bawling."

On Wednesday evening, students, family, friends and faculty gathered for a candlelight vigil at the Virginia Tech campus.

Police believe Cho killed a total of 32 students and teachers during a shooting spree that began on Monday at 7:15 a.m.

The rampage ended when Cho killed himself as police stormed Norris Hall, where all but two of the victims were killed.

Two more bodies were found Monday morning at the West Ambler Johnston dormitory.

In a rambling note found in Cho's dorm room and believed to have been written by the shooter, he wrote "you caused me to do this."

The note also railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

Cho, 23, was an undergraduate student in his senior year at Virginia Tech, a university with some 26,000 students nestled in Blacksburg, a tight-knit southwestern Virginia town.

A South Korean living in the U.S. as a resident alien, Cho had been in the U.S. since 1992 and held a green card signifying his status as a legal permanent U.S. resident, federal officials said.

Cho's home address is listed in Centreville, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

It is believed that Cho is responsible for two separate shootings on the school's campus Monday. In the first shooting, a man and woman were killed at a co-ed residence at about 7:15 a.m. local time.

In the second, 30 people were killed at Norris Hall, an engineering building on the opposite end of the 1,050-hectare campus.

Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police, said it was "certainly reasonable to assume that Cho was the shooter in both cases." He added there was no evidence to suggest a second shooter.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
33 dead in 'horrific' campus shooting in Virginia
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. Apr. 16  2007  23:59  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 17th, 2007
'We heard some loud banging … then we heard some screaming … It didn't stop for at least two or three minutes'.

At least 33 people are dead and more than a dozen others wounded after a gunman opened fire at a Virginia college on Monday in what is being described as the worst campus shooting in U.S. history.

The suspected gunman took his own life at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, campus police Chief W.R. Flinchum told an afternoon news conference.

Police said they now know the identity of the gunman but are withholding his name for the time being. They said they did not know his motive or whether he was a student at the college, which has a student body of about 26,000 in a town with a total population of only 39,573.

There were two separate shootings about two hours apart at opposite ends of the campus. The first took place at about 7:15 a.m. ET at West Ambler Johnston dormitory, a co-ed residence housing more than 800 students, and the second about two hours later at an engineering building, Norris Hall.

University president Charles Steger said Norris Hall had become a "tragic" and "horrific crime scene."

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," Steger said. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."

Steger said authorities initially believed the dorm shooting was a domestic dispute because police found a dead woman and man in one of the dorm rooms.

"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," Steger said.

Then at 9:25 a.m., police responded to calls of a second shooting at Norris Hall where they found a gunman had killed himself in a second-floor classroom after shooting dozens of students at that location.
An injured person is carried out of Norris Hall, where most of the fatalities occurred. 'At least 30 to 40 big shots' were fired in the engineering building, a student said. (Alan Kim / Roanoke Times / Associated Press)
About 26,000 students attend the college in Blacksburg, Va.: 'Blacksburg is a very small town, everybody almost knows everybody. It's going to be very bad and very sad in here,' one student said after the shooting.
Two weapons, which police declined to describe, were recovered and are now with a lab at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to determine whether the shootings are related, Flinchum said.

Fifteen wounded people remain in several area hospitals, Flinchum said.

An off-campus man who knew one of the victims is a "person of interest" to police and has been co-operating, though he is not in custody, Flinchum said.

Gunman enters college room shooting

Derek O'Dell, a student wounded in the shooting, told MSNBC from a hospital that the shooter entered a room at Norris Hall that had about a dozen or so students and started shooting.

"He didn't say anything," O'Dell said. "He just shot and then left. Some of those hit were a lot more critical than me."
He said the shooter tried to get back into the room, but the students held the door shut.

"At first I thought it was a joke," O'Dell said. "You don't really think about gunmen just coming onto campus. But it became very serious, very quickly."

Trey Perkins, who was sitting in a German class in Norris Hall, told the Washington Post newspaper the gunman barged into the room at about 9:50 a.m. and opened fire for about a minute and a half, squeezing off 30 shots in all.

The gunman, Perkins said, first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the students. Perkins said the gunman was about 19 years old and had a "very serious but very calm look on his face."
"Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering.

"And the shots seemed like it lasted forever."

'It seemed so strange'

Erin Sheehan, who was also in the German class, told the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, she was one of only four of the approximately two dozen people in the class to walk out of the room. The rest were dead or wounded, she said.

"It seemed so strange," Sheehan said.
Another injured person is carried out of Norris Hall. (Alan Kim / Roanoke Times / Associated Press)
The gunman "peeked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls, and someone thought they sounded like bullets."

"That's when we blockaded the door to stop anyone from coming in."

She said the gunman "was just a normal-looking kid, Asian but he had on a Boy Scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something."

"I saw bullets hit people's body," Sheehan said.

"There was blood everywhere."

As the shots rang out at Norris Hall, some students escaped through second-storey windows.

A junior student named Josh, calling from campus, told the WDBJ news station in Virginia that he was inside Norris Hall when the gunman opened fire.

"We heard some loud banging, we weren't sure if it was construction or not, then we heard some screaming," he said.

"It didn't stop for at least two or three minutes," the student said, adding "at least 30 to 40 big shots" were fired.

"We all jumped out the window," he said.

'There were cops holding guns, shooting all over'

According to local television station WDBJ, high winds prevented helicopters from evacuating campus buildings.

Jamal Albarghouti, a student at the school, took video footage on his cellphone of the unfolding incident until police asked him to move because he was too close to the scene. The sounds of gunfire can be heard on the video while police can be seen holding guns outside of a building.
"It was really terrible. There were cops holding guns, shooting all over," Albarghouti said. "You can't imagine how sad everyone here is."

He said he was not yet sure whether he knows any of the victims.

"Blacksburg is a very small town, everybody almost knows everybody. It's going to be very bad and very sad in here."

Locked down for hours at dorm

Another student, Aimee Kanode, said the shooting in the dormitory occurred on the fourth floor, one floor above her room. She said her resident assistant banged on her door about 8 a.m. ET to tell students to stay in their rooms.

"They had us under lockdown," Kanode said. "They temporarily lifted the lockdown, the gunman shot again.

"We're all locked in our dorms surfing the internet trying to figure out what's going on," Kanode said.

Student and dorm resident Alex Miller — who shot a video of two police officers outside the dormitory patting down a person who was later released — told CBC News it was "frightening" when the shootings were underway just one floor below him.

He said he was a bit scared about the prospect of returning to class, adding, "You don't know if one of your classmates could be one" of the victims.

Three local hospitals rolled out their disaster preparedness teams to deal with the victims.

Some students later questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time. They bitterly complained that there were no public-address announcements on campus after the first burst of gunfire. Many said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage — about the time the gunman struck again.

Steger defended the university's handling of the tragedy, saying: "We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."
'This is every parent's nightmare'

Craig Nessler, an associate dean at the school, said campus security personnel are armed and there are loudspeakers around the campus used to broadcast emergency messages — including in this case. He said the broadcast told students to seek shelter because of a shooting.

Nessler said he hopes extra counsellors, who have already been set up on campus, will help students cope with the terrible incident.

"This is every parent's nightmare, even if your child is not directly involved," he said.

The college closed all entrances to the campus, told faculty and staff to go home and cancelled classes for Monday and Tuesday. Officials said the campus itself would open Tuesday and a convocation to grieve the dead would be held at Cassell Coliseum.

The names of the victims may be released Tuesday, Steger said at the news conference.

Second emergency closing in year

During a brief statement at the White House on Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush pledged federal support to local law enforcement and community officials.

"Schools should be places of sanctuary and safety and learning. When that safety is violated, that is felt in every American classroom," he said.

"Today our nation grieves with those who have lost a loved one."

In Canada, parliamentarians offered their condolences in the House of Commons.

"Such a senseless act leaves Canadians stunned and horrified," said Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff.

It was the second time in less than a year that the school, better known as Virginia Tech, has ordered an emergency closure of the campus because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was cancelled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy involved in a massive manhunt just off the campus.

Written by CBC News Staff with files from the Associated Press
=======================
 
Some fed-up patients choosing surgery overseas
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. Apr. 15  2007  22:10  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 16th, 2007
Governments across Canada say they are working to bring down wait time for various surgeries and medical procedures. Some patients are getting tired of waiting and are choosing what is a growing trend: getting their operations performed in exotic locations like India.

CTV News medical correspondent Avis Favaro followed one man, Jeff Clarke, who did just that.
Jeff Clarke, 34, lived with severe chronic back pain. 'I've seen three to four surgeons over almost three years,' he told CTV's Avis Favaro.
Clarke, 34, lived with severe chronic back pain, likely caused by work injuries. He found no one in the Canadian health care system able or willing to ease his suffering.

"I've seen three to four surgeons over almost three years," he told Favaro. "Each time, I've waited a year to see these surgeons and once I did see them, they had nothing to offer. Nothing at all."

He decided to take action after seeing a television ad offering surgery in a matter of weeks at a hospital in India. The ad was for a company appropriately called Surgical Tourism Canada, a Vancouver-based company founded in July 2005.

The company offers surgery overseas for about $15,000, with four weeks of rehab in a five-star hotel. Prices depend on the operation performed.

Clarke remembered what his first thought was when he saw the ad: "If I don't have something happen within the next year or two, I could be in a wheelchair and there won't be anything that can be done about it. So this opportunity, I have to grab it."

So Clarke left the delays and uncertainty of Canada's health care systm for the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India. There, tests quickly showed he had two severely damaged discs.

Dr. P. Suryanarayan, the head orthopedic surgeon at the Apollo hospital decided that surgery would be appropriate.

"We need to understand the problem, the source of the pain, and then proceed and based on the tests I think he should do very well," he told CTV News.

When Surgical Tourism learned that Clark couldn't afford the full price for the surgery, they offered to pay for the operation for him.

Less than a week after his surgery, Jeff was clearly feeling better.
"I feel surprisingly excellent. I was always bent over. Now I am straight," he reported.

The Canadian agency that coordinated Jeff's operation says business is booming.

"This is something that's happening. It's new to Canada but it's here for the long run," says Surgical Tourism's President Yasmeen Sayeed.

"When we started a couple of years ago, we only had the odd case here and there. Since January of 2007, we have been sending seven to eight a month and it's increasing every month," she said, adding that she recently fielded over 100 inquiry phone calls in one day.
Some patients are getting tired of surgical wait times and are choosing to have their operations performed overseas.
There are plenty of other Canadians waiting for surgery on their hips, knees, and even heart who are doing exactly as Clark did, searching for quicker solutions abroad.

One woman who asked not to be named went to India for weight loss surgery after finding that the wait times for gastric bypass surgery in Canada are up to six years.

"I opted not to be on the waiting list in Canada so I did research where I could get it done on my own," she says.

But Canadian surgeons urge caution.

"There is a risk involved in surgery," notes Dr. Marc Moreau, a pediatric orthopedic specialist at the University of Alberta Children's Hospital.

"Is it the right procedure, Is it going to work? Do they know who the doctors are? Because they just get on a plane and off a plane and the doctor is there. Do they know what rules and regulations govern their practices?"

Moreau also wonders what happens if a patient develops a complication or infection when they return from overseas. Canadian doctors may not know exactly what procedure was performed, making it more difficult to deal with unexpected problems.

"Would I advise one of my patients, or would I go or let my family members go? No," says Dr. Moreau.

But two months after his surgery, Clarke is certain it was worth taking the chance.

"I haven't been on any pain medication since a week after the surgery and I've been doped up like a horse for six years. I got more than I ever dreamed of," he says.

Clarke says he is virtually pain-free. Before his surgery, he would have described his quality of life as a one; now he says it's a 15.

"I can walk upright without anything in my hand. That's phenomenal," he says, noting he is looking forward to returning to work. "It's a whole new life at age 34. I have a second chance to do things."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report from CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro and medical producer Elizabeth St. Philip.
=======================
 
B.C. providing cash incentive for organ donation
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. Apr. 14  2007  22:04  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 15th, 2007
Thanks to a new pilot project in B.C., giving the gift of life through organ donation will not only benefit organ recipients but provide financial benefits for donors as well.

Since July 2006, B.C. has committed to refunding up to $5,500 in expenses for every living donor.

Forty three donors have received financial incentives in the province ranging from as little as $56 for a ferry trip from Vancouver Island to $3,500 for a donation from a woman who flew to Vancouver from Prince Rupert.
A pilot project in B.C. has inspired other provinces to consider monetary incentives for organ donaton.
Five months ago, Court Stevens donated a kidney to his son and the province reimbursed him $2,500 for lost wages and expenses.

While Stevens maintains he would have done anything to help his son, the financial incentives were a welcome form of support during a difficult time.

"I think it's a very good principle," Stevens told CTV News. "The fact a lot of people are giving up their business, time away from work. They're stressed out anyway."

With more than 3,000 Canadians currently waiting for a kidney, provinces are desperate to encourage donors to come forward.
Mark Nesbitt, a spokesperson for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, was the recipient of a kidney from his brother.

"Finance can be a real dissuasion for someone wanting to donate a kidney," Nesbitt told CTV News.

He maintains if limited compensation will encourage more people to donate, then he's all for it.

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman announced on Tuesday that his province is considering becoming the next province to pay people who donate a kidney or a liver.
Health Minister George Smitherman speaks to reporters on Thursday.
"It's the living donations that we have to focus on,'' he said. "We need to look hard at how we can support people to do that. British Columbia is a model. They've moved ahead and we need to take a good look at that," Smitherman said.

"It's an expensive proposition but obviously it is the gift of life,'' he said.

A focus on living donors would become party of an existing program that allows people to consent to organ donation after they die in an effort to find more organs for people on waiting lists.

Critics of the plan are wary of mixing monetary gains and medicine.

"Removing obstacles is absolutely fine, but money as motivation for a donation is trouble," one doctor told CTV News.
In some countries, organs are going to the highest bidder.

Cash strapped people in the Philippines have been known to sell their organs for profit.

Italian authorities are investigating claims that underground clinics in Slovenia are removing organs from illegal immigrants who are desperate to enter into Europe.

However, experts doubt that Canada would develop such problems.

The number of living donors is going up slowly but there were still fewer than 300 people who donated either part of a liver or a kidney last year.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report from CTV's Jed Kahane
=======================
 
Journalist, activist June Callwood dies at 82
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. Apr. 14  2007  12:41  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 14th, 2007
Social activist, journalist, broadcaster and writer June Callwood has died after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Callwood passed away peacefully early Saturday at the age of 82.

Her death was confirmed by Casey House, the Toronto AIDS hospice she helped found and
1991 file photo of June Callwood. (CP PHOTO)
which is named after her son Casey Frayne who was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1982 at the age of 20.

"Casey House is in mourning for the loss of our dear friend and champion. June Callwood, journalist and activist, wife and mother, dreamer and pragmatist, will be missed. She died peacefully in the care of her family and close friends, after a courageous and well-spent life," stated a news release from Casey House.

The downtown facility has provided palliative and supportive care to more than 2,500 people.
Callwood had a career as a writer for newspapers and magazines such as The Globe and Mail and Chatelaine, as an author, television personality and civil libertarian.

She penned hundreds of articles and dozens of books during her life, including "The Law is Not for Women", "Portrait of Canada and "How to Talk With Practically Anybody About Practically Anything" which she co-wrote with Barbara Walters.

She also received numerous honours, including more than 15 honorary doctorates and the Order of Canada.

However, Callwood will be remembered by many for a lifetime of social activism.
June Callwood of Toronto shares a laugh with Governor General Adrienne Clarkson after being invested into the Order of Canada at a ceremony in Ottawa Thursday May 31, 2001.(CP PHOTO, Tom Hanson)
She was involved in the founding of Digger House, a youth hostel, Nellie's hostel for women, PEN Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation, and Feminists Against Censorship, to name a few.

When asked to describe his longtime friend in a few words, Canadian writer Robert Fulford told CTV Newsnet: "She set an example for everybody."

"Many of us have feelings of altruism, liberalism toward our fellow humans," Fulford said.

"June had those feelings based partly on her research and journalism, but rather than just having the feelings and opinions and telling the government what do, she went out and did it. She did a great many private things and a great many public things for the people who were distressed or poverty stricken or under some terrible trouble."

In his glowing testament to Callwood's character and grace, Fulford said he can't remember a time when she was "scornful or dismissive of her fellow professionals."

Stephanie Karapita, CEO of casey House, said Callwood had "a knack for exposing the tears in Canada's social fabric, and envisioning ways to mend them.''

Callwood was born on June 2, 1924, in Chatham, Ont. However, she grew up mainly in the village of Belle River.

Her career as a writer began when she was just 16, working as a junior reporter at the Brantford Expositor and earning just $7.50 per week.

Two years later, in the midst of the Second World War, Callwood relocated to Toronto and managed to get a job as a reporter at The Globe and Mail, where she eventually met her husband Trent Frayne, a sports writer.

The couple married when Callwood was 19, but she continued to use her maiden name at a time when The Globe didn't hire married women, according to the biography provided by Casey House.

She once said Frayne was always supportive and never threatened by her successes.

"He's never felt that if I grew, he would be smaller," Callwood once said.

Callwood leaves behind her husband, Trent Frayne, daughter Jill, and sons Barney and Benny.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report from The Canadian Press.
=======================
 
Earthquake knocks out power in parts of Mexico
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. Apr. 13  2007  07:29  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 13th, 2007
A strong earthquake hit Mexico early Friday, knocking out power in parts of Mexico City and Acapulco and sending frightened residents into the streets.

Civil defense officials in Mexico and the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where the quake was
centered, said there were no reports of any deaths, serious injuries or major damage.

The quake hit at 12:42 local time and lasted less than a minute, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was strongly felt from the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco to the mountain capital of Mexico City, however, because it was centered inland, 40 miles northwest of Acapulco, and just 18 miles below the earth's surface.

Many of Mexico's earthquakes are centered out at sea. Gerard Fryer of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake was too small and too far inland to produce a tsunami.

Mexico City Civil Defense Secretary Miguel Moreno Brizuela said the quake knocked out power to about 20 percent of the homes in the city's downtown district, and there were reports of blackouts in parts of Acapulco.

At the high-rise, beachside Fairmont Acapulco Princess Hotel, hundreds of guests rushed outside, huddling on deck chairs as security officials used megaphones to urge them to remain calm.

"We flew out of bed. The building was shaking," said Marcy Olsen, 41, a manager of gas stations in Grand Marais, Minn. "I said, 'I think this has to be an earthquake.' We looked out the door, and everyone was leaving."

She was on vacation with her husband, Brian Olsen, 46, and their 13-year-old twin daughters.

"Where we are from, there's no such thing," Brian Olsen said. "Blizzards and colds, yes, but no earthquakes."

In Mexico City, ambulances could be heard wailing through the streets amid reports of panic attacks. People waited outside their homes for fear of aftershocks, as police patrolled streets for damage.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report from The Associated Press.
=======================
 
Families grappling with loss of two slain soldiers
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. Apr. 12  2007  08:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 12th, 2007
The families of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan are mourning their deaths, amid an apparent escalation of hostility in violence-wracked Afghanistan.

The army is extending support to the families of the soldiers who died Wednesday, says the commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Master Cpl. Allan Stewart, 30, and Trooper Patrick James Pentland, 23, were killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb.
Canadian flags line the highway as hearses carrying the bodies of the six Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan leave CFB Trenton. (CP / Jonathan Hayward)
Both were with the Royal Canadian Dragoons, based at CFB Petawawa in Ontario. Both are originally from New Brunswick.

"Our job back here now is to pick up and support the families," Lt. Col. Stephen Cadden told Canada AM Thursday.

Cadden said the military gives families who have lost loved ones "as much honesty and support" as possible.

"The question never comes up: 'Why were we there?' or 'I wish my husband, wife, or son or daughter had not gone'," said Cadden.

"The first reaction is 'They knew what they were going into, they wanted to go and how exactly did this terrible incident happen?"

Two other soldiers were injured in the incident, which occured Wednesday evening about 38 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

The men were travelling in a Coyote, which is a light armoured vehicle used for reconnaissance.

Cadden said the military tries to pass on as much information as quickly as possible to the families and offer support.
"We let them know that we and the entire country grieve with them for their loss," said Cadden.

Another soldier was injured in an earlier, unrelated incident by an IED strike on Wednesday.

One of the injured soldiers will be airlifted to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. The other two suffered minor injuries.

Jim Pentland, 45, Patrick's father and himself a former soldier, told The Canadian Press Wednesday that his son was born on the Canadian military base at Lahr, Germany, and grew up in Oromocto, near CFB Gagetown, N.B.

"He was just a quiet, fit soldier who died doing what he wanted to do,'' Pentland said.

Patrick had spent some of his leave time with his mother, Gabriele, in Germany just a few weeks ago.

Spring offensive
Pallbearers carry the coffin of one of the six Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan during a repatriation ceremony at CFB Trenton. (CP / Jonathan Hayward)
Earlier Wednesday, a suicide bombing attack on a Canadian convoy west of Kandahar City injured 10 Afghan civilians but no Canadian soldiers. There was minor damage to a Canadian Forces tanker truck in that incident.

That made three attacks on Canadian troops in one day.

"Everybody had been saying when the summer began in Afghanistan that it would be another bloody summer like it was last year," Robert Fife, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, told Newsnet.

Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan, said that he doesn't think this is the beginning of a spring offensive by the Taliban.

"We have had multiple IED strikes before," he said. "The spring offensive, if you're listening to what the Taliban are saying, they're talking of hundreds and multiple attacks. These are two separate incidents, widely dispersed.

"It is a spike in casualties ... but I am not convinced we are seeing a Taliban spring offensive."

The deaths also came on the same day that the bodies of six Canadians killed in Afghanistan on Easter Sunday were returned to Canadian soil at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario.

Prior to that event, no Canadian had died as a result of enemy action since Nov. 27, 2006. The mission death toll since 2002 is now 53 soldiers and one diplomat. Twenty of the soldiers who have died have come from CFB Petawawa.

Sgt. Don Lucas, Master Cpl. Chris Stannix, Cpls. Aaron Williams and Brent Poland, and Ptes. David Greenslade and Kevin Kennedy were killed when their light armoured vehicle ran over a roadside bomb 75 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report from CTV's Lisa LaFlamme and files from CTV's Robert Fife and The Canadian Press.
=======================
 
Breast cancer death rates on decline: study
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. Apr. 11  2007  07:26  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 11th, 2007
The number of Canadian women dying from breast cancer is declining significantly, according to a report by the Canadian Cancer Society.

The study found the breast cancer death rate for Canadian females has dropped by 25 per cent since 1986.
"While these strides are good news, breast cancer continues to take a significant toll," Heather Logan, director of Cancer Control Policy at the Canadian Cancer Society said in the study.

"We chose to study breast cancer more intensely this year because it's the most common cancer among Canadian women, as well as globally. We must continue to make inroads against this devastating disease that affects so many women and their families."

The decrease in the death rate has been attributed to improvements in the screening of breast cancer and to the increased participation in breast screening programs by women aged 50-69, enabling earlier treatment of the disease.

"We know breast cancer screening works," said Paul Lapierre, group director of Public Affairs and Cancer Control with the Canadian Cancer Society. "Barriers to screening must continue to be identified and overcome. If more women are screened, more will survive."

Breast cancer can be caused by a number of factors. Lifestyle factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and the consumption of alcohol have been determined to play a role. Additionally, heredity and reproductive/hormonal factors can also contribute to breast cancer development.

"We'd like to know about more things because those things, even taken all together, don't account for a huge proportion of breast cancers," Dr. Loraine Marrett, chair of the Statistics Steering Committee and an epidemiologist, told CTV.ca.

"Even if women were the most active they can be, with a healthy body weight and don't consume any alcohol, there would still be a lot of women getting breast cancer," said Marrett. "We need to do more research to find other factors to look at."

The report makes a number of recommendations to ensure progress against the spread of breast cancer:
Identifying potential environmental and occupational factors that may contribute to breast cancer.
Increasing research to identify genetic factors so women at high risk can monitor their health more closely.
Employing more effective methods to screen women aged 50-69.
Developing and testing new treatments while using the best treatments currently available.

While the rate of women dying of breast cancer in Canada is declining, it is estimated that more than 22,000 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and that 5,300 will die from the disease.

Additionally, there are increasing numbers of women living with breast cancer. While one in every 100 Canadian women has been diagnosed with breast cancer within the last 15 years, the report indicates that women are surviving longer.

"Their chances of surviving longer and living a healthy life long after breast cancer (diagnosis) are better now than they have ever been," Marrett told CTV.ca.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
Millions face floods from climate change
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. Apr. 10  2007  08:53  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 10th, 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Warming temperatures will cause more drought and higher seas in Australia and New Zealand by 2030, according to excerpts released Tuesday from a report on how global warming will affect specific regions.

The South Pacific Islands will be swamped by sea level rises as well as by more frequent cyclones, according to the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists.
Fish swim amongst bleached coral near the Keppel Islands in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. (Ove Hoegh-Guldberg / The University of Queensland)
Island economies also will suffer as warming waters damage coral reefs and hurt the fishing industries, the report said.

A summary of the full, 1,572-page document written and reviewed by 441 scientists was released Friday. The document, the second of four reports, describes how global warming is changing life on Earth and spells out the consequences by region.

In Asia, climate change could put close to 50 million people at risk of hunger by 2020, with that number rising to 132 million by 2050 and to 266 million by 2080.

Some 94 million people will face floods, most in coastal areas of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar, said R.K. Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC.

Warmer temperatures in coastal waters are expected to exacerbate the abundance and toxicity of cholera in South Asia.

For Australians and New Zealanders, the warming temperatures will be felt mostly through increasingly extreme weather events.

"Heat waves and fires are virtually certain to increase in intensity and frequency," Kevin Hennessy, the coordinating lead author on the chapter for Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement.
"Floods, landslides, droughts and storm surges are very likely to become more frequent and intense and frosts are very likely to become less frequent," he said.

The rising temperatures, according the report, also will lead to a loss of a quarter of alpine ice mass in New Zealand, drops in agriculture production in southern and eastern Australia and eastern New Zealand, as well as the spread of tropical diseases such as dengue fever.

Sea level rises in the South Pacific islands "are likely to endure exacerbate inundation, storm surge, erosion, and other coastal hazards, thus threatening vital infrastructure, settlements and facilities that support the livelihood of island communities," according to the report.

Penehuro Lefale, one of the lead authors on the small island chapter, said in a statement that the warming temperatures also will hurt sectors as wide-ranging as tourism, agriculture and fisheries on many island nations.

"Climate change is likely to heavily impact coral reefs, fisheries and other marine-based resources of small islands of the Pacific," he said. "There is likely to be a decline in the total tuna stocks and a migration of these stocks westwards, both of which will lead to changes in the catch in different islands."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Rogers blames another company for discarded data
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. Apr. 09  2007  08:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 9th, 2007
Rogers Communications says that another company appears to be responsible for hundreds of documents with private client information that were stashed behind a downtown coffee shop.
In an alley connecting Jarvis and Mutual Streets, several boxes were found which contained the documents. Included on the forms were social insurance numbers and credit information for Rogers' clients.

Rogers launched an investigation into the incident over the weekend. The company says the forms were traced to another company.

"We traced those forms to an individual who worked for a third-party sales company and he no longer works there," spokesperson Taanta Gupta told the Toronto Star.

She added that Rogers will continue to talk to the individual, who has not been identified, and the third-party company to discuss disposal processes for personal information.

Rogers is not disclosing the name of the company involved but says it still works for the communications giant.

The startling discovery of hundreds of documents in boxes behind a coffee shop raised fears about potential identity theft.
The papers were spotted by Gordon Bobbitt on Thursday from his apartment window. He told the Star that he could see papers scattered across a parking lot and park.

Many of the papers were cleaned up by the city, but Bobbitt managed to salvage a few and was surprised by what he had found.

"It's sort of scary," Bobbitt told the newspaper over the weekend.

People whose names were on some of the forms were contacted by the Star.

A work order for Jin Xu's cable installation in Etobicoke more than five years ago was one of the documents found. She has since moved from that home but told the newspaper it is "outrageous and annoying" that her information had been found.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from toronto.ctv.ca
=======================
 
Six Canadians confirmed killed in Afghanistan
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. Apr. 08  2007  15:54  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 8th, 2007
Six Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in what is described as the single largest one-day death toll suffered by Canadian troops since the campaign began in 2002.

The soldiers were killed when an apparent improvised explosive device detonated west of Kandahar, striking the vehicle the soldiers were riding in.
Col. Mike Cessford
In Ottawa, Navy Lt. Morgan Bailey, a spokeswoman for the Defence Department, said officials were in the process of contacting next of kin. Names of the deceased and other details were being withheld pending completion of that process.

The Canadian Forces confirmed the deaths Sunday afternoon, and said one other soldier suffered life-threatening injuries.

"It's been a long day. I have the unfortunate duty of informing you that six Canadian soldiers were killed and two of their comrades were injured today after a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle," Col. Mike Cessford, acting commander of the Canadian Forces, told reporters.

Cessford said four other soldiers were evacuated to the NATO medical facility in Kandahar for treatment after the attack.

One of them had serious abdominal injuries and would likely be transferred to the U.S. hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for treatment.
Afghans are seen around the wreckage of the suicide attacker's vehicle after a suicide attack in Bati Kot district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, April. 8, 2007. The suicide car bomber blew him self up next to a U.S.-led coalition convoy, said Ghafor Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief. (AP / Rahmat Gul)
Of the remaining three, one received minor injuries and the two others were not hurt.

Cessford said he had spoken to the two uninjured soldiers and said they were shocked by the deaths of their comrades, who have not been identified pending notification of next of kin.

"They were quiet, as you can appreciate. They were full of thoughts, they were grateful for the comradeship they had, they were grateful for the friendship they had, and I think they were grateful the family had rallied around them at this point."

Cessford said six of the Canadian Forces' best soldiers had been lost, but the mission would continue.

"You can appreciate clearly we are saddened by the loss of six of our best soldiers, six of our personnel, but we stay committed to the mission, this is what we do, we're focused on rebuilding Afghanistan," Cessford said.

PM comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke in France, where he is attending ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

"Sadly today has been a difficult day in Afghanistan," Harper said at a dinner for veterans in the French city of Lille.

"We've learned that an incident has claimed the lives of six Canadian soldiers and injured a number of others."

"Our hearts ache for them and their families, and I know as we gather here on Easter Sunday our thoughts and prayers are with them," he said.
Since 2002, 51 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan, including Sunday's deaths. There are roughly 2,500 Canadian troops serving in the country, the majority of them stationed in the volatile southern regions.

Earlier attack

Earlier Sunday, a NATO official confirmed that one soldier was killed and two others were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan, an official said Sunday.

No details were released about the names or nationalities of the soldiers, or even where the deadly attack took place.
In another Sunday attack, in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, a suicide attacker detonated his car bomb next to a U.S.-led coalition convoy.

And in eastern Khost province, a gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle fired on Afghans who were working for ISAF. Two Afghans were killed and another was wounded, ISAF confirmed.

Violence follows NATO success

The violence came after NATO retook Sangin district in Helmand province in the south.

The region is considered one of the world's foremost opium growing areas, and has long been held by the Taliban.

About 1,000 NATO and Afghan troops were involved in the operation which began late Wednesday as part of Operation Achilles -- NATO's largest offensive yet in Afghanistan, involving 4,500 NATO and 1,000 Afghan troops.

The campaign is designed to push Taliban militants out of the northern tip of Helmand province.

Anticipating the operation, Taliban fighters and foreign militants have streamed into the area, U.S. and NATO officials claim.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Captain, five others charged in ship sinking
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. Apr. 07  2007  10:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 7th, 2007
ATHENS, Greece -- The captain and five officers of a cruise ship that sank off an Aegean Sea island were charged Saturday with negligence, state television reported.

The six officers were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, state NET said. All were released pending further investigations.
The stern of the Greek cruise ship 'Sea Diamond' listing heavily off the island of Santorini, Greece. (Alpha TV)
If convicted, the officers face a maximum five-year sentence.

Nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking ship Thursday in a three-hour rescue operation after the vessel foundered on a volcanic reef, but some passengers complained of an insufficient supply of life vests, little guidance from crew members and being forced into a steep climb down rope-ladders to safety.

Divers continued to search for a Frenchman and his daughter who disappeared after their cabin flooded with water when the ship struck rocks.

The 469-foot Sea Diamond struck rocks Thursday in the sea-filled crater formed by a volcano eruption 3,500 years ago off the island of Santorini, sinking about a quarter-mile off the coast, in waters of uneven depth, a few minutes before it was to dock.

The captain, chief mate, second mate, third mate, chief cabin steward, and housekeeper of the Greek-flagged vessel were arrested after the accident, a Merchant Marine Ministry spokeswoman said earlier Saturday.

The ship's operator, Louis Cruise Lines, has insisted the 21-year-old vessel was well maintained.

"The vessel maintained the highest level of safety standards and was equipped with the latest navigation systems," said Giorgos Stathopoulos, spokesman for the operator.

NET earlier reported that investigators believed most of the damage to the ship's hull was done before the captain issued the distress signal, when he was trying to maneuver the ship away from the rocks.

The ministry spokeswoman had said the captain and the five others were appearing before the prosecutor on the nearby island of Naxos.

"The testimony process has started, and the prosecutor is examining all the documents from the initial investigation," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to government policy.

Officials were also cleaning up fuel that leaked out of the vessel, which sank 15 hours after foundering.

Thursday's evacuation was the largest Greek rescue operation since the September 2000 Express Samina ferry disaster, which killed 80 people near the holiday island of Paros when it struck rocks in the night and sank.

The country's tourism minister said those responsible for the accident "will be held accountable in the strictest way."

"Greece is a major tourism destination and incidents like this must not be allowed to occur," said Tourism Minister Fanny Palli Petralia said.

Most of the passengers were American, but there also were groups from Canada and Spain.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Panel approves bleakest climate change report yet
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. Apr. 06  2007  08:13  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 6th, 2007
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its bleakest report yet on the devastating impacts of global warming -- mainly caused by human-induced carbon dioxide pollution.

In a review of the report's findings, Dr Martin Parry, co-chairman of IPCC Working Group II, said there are four key areas of the world that are the most susceptible to climate change.

"The arctic, where temperatures are rising fast and ice is melting; sub-Saharan Africa, where dry areas are forecast to get dryer; small islands, because of their inherent lack of capacity to adapt and Asian mega-deltas, where billions of people will be at increased risk of flooding," he explained, reports the BBC.
Clouds of smoke billow from a metal alloy factory in Gaolan county in northwest China's Gansu province. China is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after the U.S. (AP Photo)
Chairman Rajendra Pachauri told reporters Friday, after an all-night meeting, that "the poorest of the poor in the world" will be affected the worst if change doesn't occur.

He said it will include "poor people even in prosperous societies."

"This does become a global responsibility in my view," he said.

The report predicts that up to 30 per cent of species will face extinction if global temperatures rise 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius above the average recorded in the 1980s and '90s.

Additionally, areas currently suffering from a shortage of rain will become even drier, increasing the risks of hunger and disease.

In Africa, climate change could create a drastic fall in crop yields, meaning hunger for millions.

The world will also face heightened threats of flooding, severe storms and coastline erosion that could affect billions.

Climate change could also thaw Himalayan glaciers and usher in heat waves for Europe and North America.

Heated debate
Journalists and others listen to a report on climate change at the EU Charlemagne building in Brussels on Friday, April 6, 2007. (AP / Virginia Mayo)
Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra Pachauri gives a short press conference in the lobby of the EU Charlemagne building in Brussels on Friday April 6, 2007. (AP / Virginia Mayo)
The IPCC is the world's top authority on climate change and is made up of 2,500 scientists and representatives from more than 100 nations.

The report is the second in a series of four and was approved after a marathon session that included angry exchanges between diplomats and scientists.

"It has been a complex exercise,'' said Pachauri.

The report will be used to help guide UN policy on issues that include extending the Kyoto Protocol -- the main plan used to cap greenhouse gas emissions -- past 2012.

"This further underlines both how urgent it is to reach global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and how important it is for us all to adapt to the climate change that is already under way," European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told Reuters.

Several scientists had objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators but eventually agreed.
However, many say they will never contribute to the process again.

"The authors lost," said one scientist. "A lot of authors are not going to engage in the IPCC process anymore. I have had it with them,'' he said on condition of anonymity.

Many were angered after delegates removed parts of a key chart that highlighted the detrimental effects that climate change will have with every single degree Celsius increase.

The U.S., China and Saudi Arabia raised the most objections to the phrasing, attempting to tone down some of the more extreme projections, confirmed a reporter with The Associated Press.

China, second only to the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions, fought to delete a reference to "very high confidence" that climate change was already influencing "many natural systems, on all continents and in some oceans."

The report follows one by the IPCC in January that said human greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels, are the most likely cause of global warming.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
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Ad man Jean Lafleur arrested in Montreal
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. Apr. 05  2007  07:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 5th, 2007
Former advertising executive Jean Lafleur, charged with 35 counts of fraud in relation to his involvement in the sponsorship program, has been arrested.

Quebec provincial police arrested Lafleur after his plane touched down at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport today.

"As soon as he heard that he was wanted, he had his lawyer call the crown prosecutor to have negotiations for his surrender," Surete du Quebec Const. Chantal Mackels told CTV Newsnet.
Jean Lafleur ponders a question at the Gomery commission in this Feb. 28, 2005 file photo in Montreal. (CP /Paul Chiasson)
The flight arrived from Belize, via Atlanta.

"He wanted to give himself up," said Mackels.

"We negotiated for his time of arrival on a commercial flight and around 1 a.m. this morning he was arrested."

Police issued a warrant for his arrest last Friday, alleging that Lafleur committed fraud totalling $1.6 million through 35 government contracts that were signed between 1996 and 2001.

In 1994, Lafleur drew a salary of $108,457. Two years later, he drew one of $2,487,869.

Over the course of the sponsorship debacle, Lafleur got paid about $9.4 million. His family members got an additional $2.8 million.

Lafleur has not been seen in Canada since 2005. Mackels said that he was free to travel because, until the warrant was issued last week, he had not been charged with anything.

He is expected to appear in court at 2:30 p.m., when he will be formally charged.

The Liberal sponsorship program was created after the 1995 Quebec referendum, with the majority of its $50 million in annual funding given to that province.

Event organizers were given funding based on the criteria that they display large federal banners.

The program became infamously corrupt and eventually played a key role in the fall of the former Liberal government.

Lafleur is the fifth person to face charges relating to the sponsorship scandal. Former ad men Jean Brault and Paul Coffin were sentenced to 30 months and 18 months respectively.

Charles Guite, the former bureaucrat who ran the program, was sentenced to 42 months.

A trial for Jacques Paradis, another advertising executive who is alleged to be a relatively minor player, began Monday.

Police continue to investigate federal bureaucrats, ad executives, and Liberal party organizers suspected to have taken part in the kickback scheme.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
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Expect Canada's winter to melt: climate report
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. Apr. 03  2007  22:15  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 4th, 2007
OTTAWA -- Canada's claim to be The Great White North may be in jeopardy, says a report to be released Friday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In the second of a series of four reports it is releasing this year, the IPCC paints a picture of a Canada that will be, by and large, increasingly milder and wetter this century.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by CTV News, assesses the impacts of climate change that is already happening and provides an analysis of how governments around the world, including Canada, are preparing to adapt their citizens to the new environmental reality.

"We know the effects of climate change are happening now and they're only going to get worse," said Nathan Cullen, the NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley and his party's environment critic.

More than 2,000 scientists from around the world contributed to the report. A group of scientists are meeting in Brussels, Belgium this week ahead the report's release on Friday.
Canada's claim to be The Great White North may be in jeopardy, says a UN report to be released Friday. (CP)
'We know the effects of climate change are happening now and they're only going to get worse,' MP Nathan Cullen told CTV News.
The scientists are not publishing any new work but are reviewing more than 29,000 studies that have been completed over the last five years.

Some of those studies are depressing news for fans of Canada's most popular winter activities.

"By the 2050s, a reliable snowmobile season disappears from most regions of eastern North America that currently have developed trail networks," the report says.

Ski seasons could be drastically shortened, possibly by as many as six weeks by the middle of this century.

And fewer and fewer lakes and ponds will freeze or stay frozen long enough for skaters.

"While the North American tourism industry acknowledges the important influence, its impacts have not been analyzed comprehensively," the report says.

Climate change is likely to significantly affect the health of many Canadians.

For example, the report notes that Canada's population is going to age early in this century and that seniors are particularly vulnerable to health problems caused by heatwaves and air pollution.

A warming climate is going increase the number of heatwave days in Canada's major cities and intensify problems of pollution.
"Climate change could more than double the potential for increased heat wave deaths in urban areas," the report says.

Lyme disease is a painful affliction caused by the bite of a tick that, until now, exists only in the United States and Canada's most southern extremities. Scientists say the northern range for this tick could move 200 kilometres north by the 2020s and 1,000 kilometres north by the 2080s.

Climate change will likely transform North American flora and fauna.

The report warns that as many as a third of all plant and wildlife species indigenous to the continent could be on a path to extinction by the middle of the century.

The report gives a host of other examples of wildlife changes. Red squirrels, for example, are now breeding 18 days earlier than 10 years ago. Red foxes are now found in the northern reaches of the country, "leading to a retreat of the competitively subordinate arctic foxes."

The report says much more of Canada's forest is already being consumed by forest fire each year - an average of 6,500 square kilometres a year in the 1960s to an average of nearly 30,000 square kilometres a year through the 1990s - but Canada's forest is growing, as warmer temperatures let the boreal forest extend further into the north.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from David Akin
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Crews scramble to reach tsunami survivors
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. Apr. 03  2007  8:52  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 3rd, 2007
Basic supplies such as food and water remain scarce on the Solomon Islands after the area was pummelled by a tsunami, killing 28 people.

The death toll is expected to rise as officials struggle to reach remote communities in the area.
Buildings collapsed and residents were swept away after the devastating tsunami wave hit the west coast of the Islands after a strong undersea earthquake Monday morning.

Surging walls of water of up to 16 feet high wiped out entire villages leaving 5,400 people homeless. Approximately 2,000 of those are in Gizo, 10 per cent of its population, according to the Red Cross.

"There is no food available" in the main settlements of Gizo and Noro, said Alfred Maesulia, the information director in Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare's office.

"Some settlements have been completely wiped out by the waves," he told The Associated Press.

Many of the homeless spent Monday night sleeping under tarpaulins or the night sky on
An aerial view of destruction left by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami is seen in the western Solomon Islands.
An aerial view of destruction left by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, is seen in this image made from television, in the western Solomon Islands.
higher ground behind the worst-hit town of Gizo, after the magnitude-8.1 quake hit under the sea about 40 miles from the town.

Peter Marshall, deputy police commissioner of the Solomon Islands, said officials would tolerate survivors taking goods they don't own until emergency supplies arrived.

"These are desperate times in Gizo," he told AP. "And we've got to be practical."

National Disaster Management Office spokesman Julian Makaa said finding drinking water was the most pressing need for many survivors.

Relief in the form of three medical teams including six doctors and 13 nurses will fly into the area Wednesday morning from the capital Honiara to aid an unknown number of survivors, Makaa told AP.

The teams were to set up medical centres at Gizo and the nearby centre of Munda and Taro Island.

"They've been instructed to treat the injured there rather than bringing them back to Honiara," Makaa said.

Australian and New Zealand military helicopters based in the Solomons as part of a security force were also expected to join relief operations.

So far, helicopters have made drops of tents, drinking water and related supplies to the people on the hill behind Gizo.

Makaa said officials are having a hard time pinpointing the actual number of those dead and seriously hurt in the remote and inaccessible west coast villages where two-way radio is the usual mode of communication.
Five unconfirmed deaths have been reported in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. Government officials could not confirm any casualties as of Tuesday.

About 916 houses have been damaged or destroyed, affecting approximately 5,000 people. Makaa says this number could turn out to be much higher.

"Destruction was massive and widespread," Fred Fakarii, chairman of the National Disaster Management Council, told AP after an official assessment flyover. He said another team would be sent soon to help draft a relief plan.

Among the dead were a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church during an ordination ceremony on the island of Simbo, according to the United Church.

A 53-year-old New Zealand man drowned in an attempt to save his mother, said New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. His mother is still missing.

Phone and power lines, as well as coastal roads in Gizo, remained out of order on Tuesday.

As for the airport, Makaa told AP it had been cleared of debris and was expected to be assessed as safe to use on Wednesday.

At least 25 aftershocks plagued the region by late Tuesday, including two of magnitude-6.2.

The prime minister has declared a national state of emergency.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
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Residents warned not to use water after derailment
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. Apr. 02  2007  8:12  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 2nd, 2007
Residents of a Northern Ontario town are being advised not to use water from a nearby river contaminated with sulphuric acid after a local train derailment.

It is believed that 150,000 litres of the acid spilled into the river after two dozen Ontario Northland freight train cars derailed north of Englehart, which is north of North Bay, on Friday afternoon.

Farmers are being warned by the provincial Ministry of the Environment not to use the river for any purpose including watering livestock.

Sixteen cars were carrying the acid. For nearly two days, five of those cars continuously leaked into the Blanche River, 10 kilometres north of the town, bringing the water's pH (a measure of acidity) to dangerous levels, according to the Ministry of the Environment.

Ontario Northland spokesperson Beverly Martin says the leak was finally contained by 10:30 a.m. Sunday -- close to 40 hours after the accident occurred.
Two dozen Ontario Northland freight train cars derailed north of Englehart, which is north of North Bay, Ontario.
Crews work at the site of the freight train derailment north of Englehart, Ontario.
"As we get closer to the site, it's possible that we could find there's another car leaking, but at this point we feel we've contained all the leaks," she told The Globe and Mail.

Martin hopes the track will reopen Thursday.

It is unclear how far south the system is affected.

Details of the accident only became available Sunday as more emergency crews arrived to the remote area to clean up.
Ministry officials continue to take water samples and started adding lime upstream of the spill site on Saturday to neutralize the effects of the acid.

"This is a very significant spill," spokesman John Steele told The Globe. "Any amount of sulphuric acid represents a threat when it is introduced to a water course because it threatens the aquatic system. ... Anybody who consumes it will be in danger because of the fact that sulphuric acid has a burning component to it."

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

Emergency crews from the Ministry of the Environment and Transport Canada are working to clean up the spill.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report by CTV's Graham Richardson in Ottawa
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Best in Canadian music gather for 2007 Juno Awards
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. Apr. 01  2007  14:37  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: April 1st, 2007
Saskatoon is getting ready to rock tonight as the best in Canadian music gather for the The 2007 JUNO Awards, hosted by Nelly Furtado.

The spectacle kicks off at 7 p.m. ET, following a live 30-minute eTalk Red Carpet special.

The show will also air at the following local times:
Alberta: 7 - 9 p.m.; Atlantic Canada: 8 - 10 p.m. (live); BC/Saskatchewan/Manitoba: 9-11 p.m.

At an industry gala on Saturday, Furtado won best artist and best pop album, setting the stage
Nelly Furtado accepts the Juno award for Artist of the Year during the non-broadcast awards show in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Saturday March 31, 2007. (CP / Geoff Howe)
for a clean sweep at the actual awards in her three remaining categories -- best album, best single and the fan choice award.

Hip hop innovator k-os was shut out of four of his five categories Saturday. His only chance of winning is now for single of the year for "Sunday Morning."

Also Saturday, Diana Krall snagged best vocal jazz album for "From This Moment On" and veteran Jim Cuddy took home best adult alternative album.

Billy Talent, who have four chances to win Sunday night, lost on video of the year to Sam Roberts and "Bridge to Nowhere."

Gordie Sampson, who won a Grammy in February, took home songwriter of the year for his work which included Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel."

Tonight's show will feature performances by nominees Alexisonfire, The Tragically Hip and Patrick Watson. Winnipeg-born producer Bob Rock, who has worked with Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, will also be honoured in a tribute.

But the definite focus of attention will be Furtado who has had the most successful year of her career with her third album "Loose."

The 'Promiscuous' girl will do it all Sunday as host, performer and award nominee.

"This third album's really kind of cemented a lot of things for me, kind of set in stone that I hope to be doing this at least for the rest of my life," Furtado said Saturday of her success.

Approximately 13,000 music fans are expected to pack the Credit Union Centre for the event, with Juno organizers announcing on Saturday that a block of 700 more tickets had been made available.

Prices ranged from $50 to $125 for the new tickets.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with a report by CTV's Graham Richardson in Ottawa