Jul 07

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=60 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="5c8746483.png"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="747" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFCC80" BORDERCOLORDARK="#CC9900" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 52 WIDTH="37"><div> <A HREF="id1025.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aug 07"><U><IMG SRC="31ce11160.png" border=0 width="17" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> PREV</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="37"><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Giant Dwarf"><U><IMG SRC="31ce11160.png" border=0 width="17" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> HOME</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="37"><div> <A HREF="id1015.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jun 07"><U><IMG SRC="31ce11160.png" border=0 width="17" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> NEXT</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=BOTTOM WIDTH="503"><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="112e491e0.jpg" border=0 width="329" height="30" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="59"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="52" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="59" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <A HREF="mailto:giantdwarf@thot.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:giantdwarf@thot.net"><U><IMG SRC="5a72d190.png" border=0 width="45" height="25" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> E-mail G.D.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=420 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="5c88c8a93.png"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="3" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="748" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFCC80" BORDERCOLORDARK="#CC9900" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 39487 ><NOBR><div>  <A NAME="top"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="5e4a5c200.png" border=0 width="92" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  <B>Past Articles:</B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="626" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFCC80" BORDERCOLORDARK="#CC9900" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="50" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1201.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feb 12"><U><B>Feb/12</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1194.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jan 12"><U><B>Jan/12</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1193.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dec 11"><U><B>Dec/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1192.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nov 11"><U><B>Nov/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1191.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oct 11"><U><B>Oct/11</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1190.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sep 11"><U><B>Sep/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1185.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aug 11"><U><B>Aug/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1184.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jul 11"><U><B>Jul/11</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1182.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jun 11"><U><B>Jun/11</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1181.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May 11"><U><B>May/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1180.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Apr 11"><U><B>Apr/11</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1179.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mar 11"><U><B>Mar/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1178.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feb 11"><U><B>Feb/11</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jan 11"><U><B>Jan/11</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1172.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dec 10"><U><B>Dec/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nov 10"><U><B>Nov/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1167.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oct 10"><U><B>Oct/10</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1161.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sep 10"><U><B>Sep/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1160.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aug 10"><U><B>Aug/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1159.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jul 10"><U><B>Jul/10</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jun 10"><U><B>Jun/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1153.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May 10"><U><B>May/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1143.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Apr 10"><U><B>Apr/10</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1142.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mar 10"><U><B>Mar/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feb 10"><U><B>Feb/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jan 10"><U><B>Jan/10</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1134.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dec 09"><U><B>Dec/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1129.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nov 09"><U><B>Nov/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1128.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oct 09"><U><B>Oct/09</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1123.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sep 09"><U><B>Sep/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1122.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aug 09"><U><B>Aug/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1121.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jul 09"><U><B>Jul/09</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1120.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jun 09"><U><B>Jun/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May 09"><U><B>May/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Apr 09"><U><B>Apr/09</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mar 09"><U><B>Mar/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feb 09"><U><B>Feb/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1099.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jan 09"><U><B>Jan/09</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1092.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dec 08"><U><B>Dec/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1091.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nov 08"><U><B>Nov/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1086.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oct 08"><U><B>Oct/08</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1084.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sep 08"><U><B>Sep/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1083.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aug 08"><U><B>Aug/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1078.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jul 08"><U><B>Jul/08</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1077.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jun 08"><U><B>Jun/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1072.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May 08"><U><B>May/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1071.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Apr 08"><U><B>Apr/08</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1060.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mar 08"><U><B>Mar/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1044.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feb 08"><U><B>Feb/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1043.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jan 08"><U><B>Jan/08</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1038.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dec 07"><U><B>Dec/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1037.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nov 07"><U><B>Nov/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1032.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oct 07"><U><B>Oct/07</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1026.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sep 07"><U><B>Sep/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1025.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aug 07"><U><B>Aug/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1020.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B>Jul/07</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1015.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jun 07"><U><B>Jun/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id1009.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May 07"><U><B>May/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 WIDTH="50"><div> <A HREF="id1007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Apr 07"><U><B>Apr/07</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id986.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mar 07"><U><B>Mar/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id979.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feb 07"><U><B>Feb/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id978.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jan 07"><U><B>Jan/07</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <B>These "Articles" are dated from July 1st, 2007 - July 31st, 2007.</B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="373" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#31" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Public sector pays better than private: report</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 31/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#30" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  August will likely bring more heat and humidity</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 30/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#29" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Risk genes for multiple sclerosis uncovered</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 29/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#28" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  CFIA issues another warning about recalled chili</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 28/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#27" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Mulroney associates blast default judgment</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 27/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#26" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Police recover vehicle connected to Ont. murders</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 26/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#25" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Lohan claims drugs 'not mine' following arrest</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 25/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#24" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Diet, regular pop may raise risk for heart disease</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 24/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#23" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Accused pedophile Peter Whitmore due in court</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 23/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#22" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Real-life Springfield debuts 'The Simpsons Movie'</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 22/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#21" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Hollywood rehab: Not such a sobering experience</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 21/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#20" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Conrad Black free on bail while awaiting sentence</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 20/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#19" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Whitmore plea deal will bring closure: mayor</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 19/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#18" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Radioactive leak was bigger than reported: company</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 18/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#17" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Nuclear waste drums tipped in Japan quake</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 17/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#16" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Six killed, more than 700 hurt in Japan quake</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 16/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#15" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Bazookas, snakes found in mail bound for Canada</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 15/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#14" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Black guilty on 4 charges, including obstruction</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 14/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#13" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Funeral today for larger-than-life 'Honest Ed'</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 13/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#12" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Calgary hit with five stabbings in one hour</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 12/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#11" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Verdict could come Wednesday at Black trial</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 11/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#10" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Girl found guilty of murder in family's deaths</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 10/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#09" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  RCMP charge two in Mayerthorpe officer murders</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 09/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#08" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Live Earth climate concerts touted as big success</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 08/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#07" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  At Live Earth, Al Gore urges world to take action</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 07/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#06" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Soldiers back at work as Afghan violence continues</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 06/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#05" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Accused teenage killer felt like a 'zombie'</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 05/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#04" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  13-year-old accused says she stabbed brother</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 04/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#03" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Boy arrives in Canada for life-saving surgery</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 03/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#02" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  Benoit's doctor charged in drug probe</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 02/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#01" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><B><IMG SRC="f1f0b0d0.png" border=0 width="11" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><B>Air strike kills 62 Taliban, 45 Afghan civilians</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> 01/07/07</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> =======================</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="705" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="707"><div>  <A NAME="31"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 125 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Public sector pays better than private: report</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July 30 2007  22:31  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 31st, 2007</div> <div> <B>Canada's public servants earn an average salary far higher than those in the private sector, while the core public service workforce has swelled to its largest size in a decade, according to a new report.</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="bdcaa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 180 WIDTH="707"><div> The Treasury Board of Canada posted the 800-page study on its website last week.</div> <bR> <div> In 2002-2003, the average salary of workers in the core public service was $53,000, increasing to $73,400 when factoring in benefits.</div> <bR> <div> "For me to make that amount of money, I would have to work twice as much time," tradesman Tim Cogswell told CTV News. </div> <div> In the private sector, the average salary was $38,885.</div> <bR> <div> Roughly three per cent of public servants earned less than $35,000, while the same amount of bureaucrats made more than $100,000.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 125 WIDTH="540"><div> In the early 1990s, the size of the core public service was about 245,000. But between 1994 and 1998, Jean Chretien's government slashed 75,000 jobs to help curb Canada's deficit.</div> <bR> <div> By 2003, the number of public servants had bounced back to 235,000. The total number of people employed by the government increased to 351,000, excluding Crown corporations and federal business enterprises, at a cost of $25 billion per year.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="bdcba0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 615 WIDTH="707"><div> "By 2002-03 then, the core federal government's effective size was at least as great as in the early 1990s," the report states.</div> <bR> <div> The study also shows that civil servants took a total of 7.74 million days of leave in 2002-2003. On average, each employee took:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">17.3 days for vacations</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">8.3 days for sick leave</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">1.6 days for family-related leave</div> <bR> <div> "I think the whole idea that public servants are somehow overworked is just a farce," said John Williamson of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.</div> <bR> <div> But civil servant Shannon Steele said she earns her pay.</div> <bR> <div> "Of course I get more benefits and stuff, but I think I deserve them," she said. "I do a lot of work, and it's stressful."</div> <bR> <div> In fact, the study suggests bureaucrats suffer from rising rates of anxiety and depression, despite earning more pay than those in the private sector.</div> <bR> <div> "Our members work in a hostile work environment where they are subjected to discrimination and harassment in the work sites," said Patty Ducharme, vice president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.</div> <bR> <div> The report makes 77 recommendations, focusing on how Ottawa compensates its employees and deals with unions. In particular, the study says public servants should not be quick to strike for better wage conditions.</div> <bR> <div> "Exceptional bargaining strength derived from the privilege of serving the public should not justify going beyond what is reasonably comparable in equivalent circumstances in the private sector," the report states. "The time has come to search with determination for better ways to settle disputes fairly, without recourse to the strike weapon.</div> <bR> <div> Critics say the government needs to rein in spending.</div> <bR> <div> "Those of us who are paying the freight for this very well-off public service are going to be so pinched that we're not going to provide for our own retirement," said Catherine Swift of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report by CTV's Robert Fife</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="30"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 437 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>August will likely bring more heat and humidity</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July 29 2007  22:03  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 30th, 2007</div> <div> <B>It would have been easy to mistake the Prairies for the jungle lately as the region has been dealing with an excruciating heat wave.</B></div> <bR> <div> But residents better get used to it, warned weather expert David Phillips. August is coming with a feverish spirit.</div> <bR> <div> "It's a situation that looks like it's going to continue," Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, told CTV News. "We think the flavour, the personality of August will be warmer than normal."</div> <bR> <div> Most of Canada is experiencing temperatures over 30 C but residents living in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have had it the worst with temperatures in some areas reaching 48 C on July 24.</div> <bR> <div> This week's forecast called for 36 C in Winnipeg and 37 C in Saskatchewan. Stores have quickly sold out of air conditioners and fans as the region is used to a cooler seasonal norm.</div> <bR> <div> The heat has been so intense, it has fuelled two large forest fires in the northern part of Manitoba. Hundreds of people were forced from their homes because of the smoke.</div> <bR> <div> Phillips said the ongoing heat wave is still cause for concern for crops and vegetation.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bdc2a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="bdc5a0690.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="105" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> People try to beat the heat by the beach.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bdc4a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> David Phillips is a senior climatologist with Environment Canada.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 456 WIDTH="707"><div> "Keep an eye on the forest fire situation, that could grow more serious," Phillips said.</div> <bR> <div> "Of course Prairie farmers now are beginning to think they need the rain to counteract the record breaking temperatures," he added.</div> <bR> <div> And there's a chance more records will be smashed, and not just on the Prairies. By Thursday, most of Canada will be in the red, with daily highs topping 25 degrees.</div> <bR> <div> The heat wave is coming from south of the border and is stretching from coast to coast.</div> <bR> <div> In Atlantic Canada, temperatures soared to 31 C in Nova Scotia, coming just short of breaking a heat record set in 1963. Though both Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island issued heat alerts last week, temperatures have since cooled off.</div> <bR> <div> In Toronto, the forecast called for lots of sunshine and 32 C heat.</div> <bR> <div> "This is the second-largest country in the world and to see everybody experiencing these 30-plus temperatures is somewhat unusual," Philips said.</div> <bR> <div> He warned warm air pressure was coming from the Ohio valley, bringing not only heat but smog.</div> <bR> <div> "Not only will there be the heat and humidity but the haze which we will see here in Ontario and Quebec."</div> <bR> <div> But he also pointed out the last week of July and the first week of August are traditionally the hottest of the summer. </div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from CTV's Jill Macyshon</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="29"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 125 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Risk genes for multiple sclerosis uncovered</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July 29 2007  13:04  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 29th, 2007</div> <div> <B>Researchers have uncovered new genetic variations that appear to put one at increased risk for multiple sclerosis, in a discovery that's being called the first real progress on the genetics of MS in 30 years.</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="bdc0a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 868 WIDTH="707"><div> The finding is the result of a huge, international research collaboration that sought the genetic basis of MS, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system in which the body attacks and destroys the insulation along nerve fibres. It leads to symptoms ranging from mild muscle weakness to paralysis.</div> <bR> <div> It's long been suspected that MS arises from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. But the genetic source has remained mostly a mystery.</div> <bR> <div> Unlike diseases caused by a mutation in a single gene, MS appears to be among a list of complicated diseases in which a host of genetic variations contributes to a person's susceptibility, with each gene contributing only a small amount of risk.</div> <bR> <div> The only genetic link previously identified is in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a large cluster of genes responsible for many immune functions, including preventing the body's immune cells from attacking its own tissues.</div> <bR> <div> This latest research, which analyzed genomic information from 12,360 people, confirmed that link but went further.</div> <bR> <div> The researchers gathered 931 sets of DNA samples from MS patients and their parents. They analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) -- that is: those small differences in DNA sequence that represent the most common genetic variations between individuals. They then looked for variations that were more commonly inherited by people with MS compared to samples from people without the disease.</div> <bR> <div> To double-check the findings, they performed a second analysis of other sets of families, individual cases of MS, and a control group. In the end, all the samples were combined for a final analysis of more than 12,000 subjects.</div> <bR> <div> What they found was that one of the genetic regions that are more common in people with MS contains a gene called the IL-2 receptor, which has also been linked to two other autoimmune diseases: type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease.</div> <bR> <div> David Hafler, a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School and one of the study's authors says this study will likely spur further research into the connection between these seemingly separate conditions.</div> <bR> <div> Another region contains a gene called the IL-7 receptor, which helps to control the activity of a class of immune cells called regulatory T cells.</div> <bR> <div> Two papers appearing simultaneously in Nature Genetics confirm this finding, and explore how the change in the IL-7 receptor affects the immune system. One of the authors of the study says that the IL-7 receptor will now become a major focus of research on MS.</div> <bR> <div> "One of the most encouraging outcomes of this current genomic study," says Dr. John Richert, Executive Vice President, Research & Clinical Programs, National MS Society, "is that it is helping us to pinpoint genes that may elevate the risk of developing MS and other autoimmune diseases, pointing the way to new areas of research and new therapeutic targets to both treat and eventually prevent these diseases."</div> <bR> <div> "People have been looking for genes involved in MS for 30 years," Hafler says. "Why weren't they found? The answer is you couldn't do it without the sequence of the human genome."</div> <bR> <div> The next step, Hafler said, is to begin to collect larger numbers of samples and examine more DNA sequences, which will allow scientists to identify subtler variations that contribute to the disease.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="28"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 507 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>CFIA issues another warning about recalled chili</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. July 27 2007  16:43  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 28th, 2007</div> <div> <B>The government of Canada is again reminding Canadians about a recall of chili products from Wal-Mart stores, because of the serious risk of botulism.</B></div> <bR> <div> The chili was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores across Canada under the brands: </div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Great Value Original Chili with Beans</B>, in 425 g cans bearing UPC 6 81131 79994 2 </div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Great Value Hot Chili with Beans</B>, sold in 425 g cans bearing UPC 6 81131 79995 9</div> <bR> <div> Anyone who has any of these recalled products should dispose of them immediately.</div> <bR> <div> Any food that may be contaminated with botulinum toxin should be discarded using extreme care. Even a tiny amount of toxin that is eaten or absorbed through a break in the skin or the eye can cause serious illness.</div> <bR> <div> There are no reports of illness in Canada, but in the U.S., at least four people have been hospitalized because of the contaminated chili, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</div> <bR> <div> The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has already issued three public advisories warning consumers about this issue. But it is worried that some Canadians may still have these items in their cupboards.</div> <bR> <div> As well, it worries that other consumers may have stored the canned items at cottages, or taken them on camping trips and other travels.</div> <bR> <div> The federal government is undertaking an enhanced public awareness effort about the recall </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bdbea0b70.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="183" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning of a recall against 'Great Value <U>Origina</U>l Chili with Beans.'</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bdbfa0b70.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="183" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning of a recall against 'Great Value <U>Hot</U> Chili with Beans.'</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 621 WIDTH="707"><div> because of the serious health consequences from eating products contaminated with the <I>Clostridium botulinum</I> toxin. Botulism can lead to paralysis, respiratory failure, and, in severe cases, death.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Dog food recalled:</B></div> <div> The manufacturer, Castleberry's, is also recalling four varieties of dog food manufactured in the same facility as the recalled chili.</div> <bR> <div> Consumers are advised to dispose of 15 oz cans of <B>Natural Balance Eatables for Dogs</B> sold in the following varieties:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Irish Stew with Beef, Potatoes and Carrots,</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hobo Chili with Chicken and Pasta,</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Southern Style Dumplings with Gravy with Chicken and Vegetables,</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Chinese Take-Out With Sauce With Vegetables and Chicken.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Recall in & U.S.:</B></div> <div> Castleberry's has also issued a recall of hot dog chili sauce products sold exclusively in the U.S.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Castleberry's Austex Onion Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 30300-97101</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Castleberry's Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 30300-99533</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 30300-00101</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Castleberry's Onion Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 30300-07101</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Castleberry's Bunker Hill Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 75266-04152</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Kroger Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 11110-83942</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Meijer Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 41250-85862</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Food Lion Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 35826-06911</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bloom Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 25439-92448</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Thrifty Maid Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10 OZ, UPC code 21140-21367</div> <bR> <div> Two people in Texas and two people in Indiana remain seriously ill and hospitalized with botulism poisoning associated with eating Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce.</div> <bR> <div> All the recalled brands were canned in the same plant. The U.S. FDA identified a problem with the canning process. The problem means it is possible that spores of <I>Clostridium botulinum</I> were not killed during canning, so could grow and produce toxins.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="27"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 395 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Mulroney associates blast default judgment</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. July 26 2007  22:48  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 27th, 2007</div> <div> <B>Close associates of Brian Mulroney are describing a $470,000 default court judgment against the former prime minister as a legal flim-flam.</B></div> <bR> <div> Businessman Karlheinz Schreiber filed suit against Mulroney for $300,000, trying to recoup money he said he paid to Mulroney in the early 1990s for consulting work that was never done.</div> <bR> <div> On Thursday, an Ontario court clerk stamped Mulroney as being in default and issued a judgment for $300,000, interest and court costs.</div> <bR> <div> One friend said, 'This is desperate hoax by someone who desperately wants attention. This is not a judgment adjudicated by a judge. It is meaningless'," Robert Fife, CTV News' Ottawa bureau chief, said Thursday.</div> <bR> <div> Mulroney's team felt the case should be tried in Quebec, not Ontario, where Schreiber filed his action. As a result, Mulroney's team did not file a defence, he said.</div> <bR> <div> According to sources close to Mulroney, lawyers for both sides agreed to work out the jurisdictional dispute, Fife said. "Then Mr. Schreiber's lawyer suddenly goes to a clerk in the court and goes, 'Hey, Mr. Mulroney didn't file a statement of defence'."</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bda7a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Former prime Minister Brian Mulroney arrives on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to appear in a CTV News Special to be aired in mid-September.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bda8a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Brian Mulroney's former business partner Karlheinz Schreiber is seen in this file photo.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 828 WIDTH="707"><div> Mulroney's team says its lawyers plan to complain about this to the Law Society of Upper Canada, Fife said.</div> <bR> <div> Schreiber claimed he paid Mulroney $300,000 in cash over three meetings the two held in hotel rooms in Montreal and New York in 1993 and 1994.</div> <bR> <div> Mulroney served as Progressive Conservative prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. The monies were paid starting shortly after Mulroney stepped down as prime minister (he remained an MP until October 1993).</div> <bR> <div> The money was paid to get Mulroney's help in establishing a pasta business and a defence factory in Quebec, according to the statement of claim filed in March.</div> <bR> <div> Mulroney didn't follow through on his commitments, the lawsuit claimed.</div> <bR> <div> Longtime Mulroney spokesman Luc Lavoie said the money was compensation for helping promote the pasta business and arranging meetings with various business executives.</div> <bR> <div> Fife said if the case goes to trial, Mulroney's team will present a letter from Schreiber showing the work was done.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Schreiber and Mulroney</B></div> <bR> <div> Schreiber, a German-Canadian citizen, is currently conducting a court fight against extradition to Germany. He's wanted there on charges of tax evasion, fraud and bribery of government officials. He was also a central figure in the Airbus controversy.</div> <bR> <div> In 1988, Air Canada, then a Crown corporation, purchased 34 Airbus Industrie jetliners. Schreiber was a lobbyist for Airbus.</div> <bR> <div> There were rumours of secret commissions surrounding the purchase. The federal Justice department sent a letter to Swiss authorities in 1995 naming Mulroney, Schreiber and Frank Moores -- a close Mulroney associate and lobbyist. The letter asked the Swiss government for help in getting access to Schreiber's and Moore's banking records. The letter accused the three of being involved in a criminal conspiracy.</div> <bR> <div> Furious over this, Mulroney sued the government and RCMP. In 1997, the government apologized for leaving the impression Mulroney had received illegal payments. The government paid Mulroney's $2-million legal bill just before the civil trial was to start.</div> <bR> <div> In April 2003, the RCMP announced it had ended its Airbus investigation. No charges were laid against Mulroney.</div> <bR> <div> William Kaplan, the author of "A Secret Trial: Brian Mulroney, Stevie Cameron, and the Public Trust," noted that Mulroney dodged a question Wednesday about the $300,000 in payments while visiting Parliament Hill in Ottawa.</div> <bR> <div> Mulroney told the reporter to buy a copy of his forthcoming memoirs, expected in September.</div> <bR> <div> That shouldn't be good enough from a former prime minister, Kaplan told CTV.ca "He occupied a position of public trust, the most important position of public trust in our country."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from CTV's Robert Fife and files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="26"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 422 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Police recover vehicle connected to Ont. murders</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. July 26 2007  09:54  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 26th, 2007</div> <div> <B>Police are examining a green Ford Taurus to determine whether it is connected with a man wanted for three recent slayings in southwestern Ontario.</B></div> <bR> <div> A provincial police helicopter spotted the vehicle in dense bush near the village of Zurich in Hay Township, about 12 kilometres north of Mount Carmel.</div> <bR> <div> No one was inside the vehicle, which was stolen from the area where Monday's double killing of William Regier, 72, and his wife Helene, 73, occurred.</div> <bR> <div> Investigators are still looking for a 2006 grey GMC Sierra pickup truck that belonged to the Regiers.</div> <bR> <div> Jesse Imeson, 22, is wanted in the murder of the Regiers and the slaying of Windsor bartender Carlos Rivera. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued, and Imeson has now been added to the America's Most Wanted website.</div> <bR> <div> A bartender says when Imeson walked into the Exeter bar the day before Rivera was murdered last Friday, he seemed like "a normal guy."</div> <bR> <div> "He had manners," Melissa Horlor, who works at the bar, told <I>The Globe and Mail</I>.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd9ea0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Jesse Imeson, 22, is seen in this image made available by the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bda1a0cd0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="205" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Victims of the double murder, Bill and Helen Regier, are shown in this handout photo.(CP / HO)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 654 WIDTH="707"><div> She said Imeson told a bar patron he was in the United States Army and had fought in Afghanistan. Imeson reportedly had a few drinks with area resident Lindsey Glavin, and the couple left together a while later.</div> <bR> <div> Police have denied reports that Glavin has been given police protection.</div> <bR> <div> Provincial and Windsor police have also refused to comment on Imeson's encounter with Glavin. Neither police force has speculated on where Imeson might be.</div> <bR> <div> On the social networking website Facebook, a London, Ont., woman named Ashley Abbott posted an online conversation she had with Glavin on Tuesday, <I>The Globe</I> reported.</div> <bR> <div> Abbott said Glavin allegedly spent three days with Imeson without knowing he was wanted for murder.</div> <bR> <div> "He's just trying to get up north; that's all I can tell you," Glavin allegedly told Abbott.</div> <bR> <div> During the conversation, Glavin said she was "far enough away that really no one knows where I am."</div> <bR> <div> In an email to <I>The Globe</I>, Abbott said she didn't know Glavin before hearing that she had been seen with Imeson last Thursday night.</div> <bR> <div> "To be honest, I am just like any other concerned citizen from around these parts who are very concerned for their safety," she wrote.</div> <bR> <div> "I had messaged Lindsey on a whim when I saw some messages that were being posted about her saying she was helping (Imeson)."</div> <bR> <div> Glavin told Abbott that Imeson stayed with her for two nights and three days, but she didn't specify which days.</div> <bR> <div> "He ... didn't tell me he was wanted until the third day which is when I got rid of him," she allegedly wrote.</div> <bR> <div> On Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Ray Lawhead read a statement by the Regier family, describing the deceased couple, who were married for 52 years, as "pillars of the community."</div> <bR> <div> Funerals for William and Helene Regier will be held on Monday in Dashwood.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Canadian Press </I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="25"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 337 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Lohan claims drugs 'not mine' following arrest</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. July 25 2007  18:28  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 25th, 2007</div> <div> <B>LOS ANGELES -- With two trips to rehab behind her and a litany of legal problems ahead, Lindsay Lohan joins a long list of young Hollywood talents who've faced high-profile battles with drugs and alcohol. Some went on to enjoy healthy careers. Others died young.</B></div> <bR> <div> Lohan, 21, was arrested early Tuesday in Santa Monica and released on bail for investigation of misdemeanor driving under the influence and with a suspended license, and felony cocaine possession.</div> <bR> <div> "I am innocent... did not do drugs they're not mine. I was almost hit by my assistant Tarin's mom I appreciate everyone giving me my privacy," Lohan wrote in an e-mail to "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush, the show reported on its website Tuesday night.</div> <bR> <div> Police found cocaine in one of the actress' pockets during a pre-booking search, Sgt. Shane Talbot said. Police initially said Lohan was also being booked for investigation of transporting a narcotic but later said she was not.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd8ea0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Lindsay Lohan is seen here in a booking mug shot released by the Santa Monica Police Department.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd8fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Michael Lohan appears on CNN's Larry King Live on Tuesday July 24, 2007. (CNN / Larry King Live)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 176 WIDTH="707"><div> Police received a 911 call from the mother of Lohan's former personal assistant, saying that Lohan was chasing her in an SUV, said Lt. Alex Padilla. The assistant had quit hours before, he said.</div> <bR> <div> Authorities found Lohan and the woman in a "heated debate" in the parking lot of Santa Monica's Civic Auditorium at about 1:30 a.m.</div> <bR> <div> Lohan's arrest comes as she still faces DUI allegations connected to a Memorial Day weekend hit-and-run crash in Beverly Hills. The actress completed more than six weeks in rehab less than two weeks ago, and had checked into a recovery clinic in January.</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 476 WIDTH="540"><div> Lohan had worn an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet since her July 13 release from rehab and was tested daily to support her sobriety, her attorney Blair Berk said. She said Lohan had relapsed and was receiving medical care at an undisclosed location. Her publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, had no comment.</div> <bR> <div> She joins a long list of young actors who battled problems with drugs, alcohol, or both. They include River Phoenix, Drew Barrymore, Corey Feldman, Anissa Jones, Danny Bonaduce and Macaulay Culkin.</div> <bR> <div> Phoenix, who starred in "Stand By Me" as a teen, died outside a Hollywood nightclub in 1993 from a lethal combination of cocaine and heroin. He was 23. Feldman, his "Stand By Me" co-star, also battled addiction and was arrested for heroin possession when he was 19.</div> <bR> <div> Jones, who played Buffy on TV's "Family Affair," was just 18 when she died of a drug overdose in 1976. Bonaduce found fame at 10 as a star of "The Partridge Family," only to struggle with addiction and homelessness as a teenager. Culkin, best known for his starring turn in the kid-friendly "Home Alone" films, was busted in his early 20s for possession of pot and Xanax.</div> <bR> <div> Barrymore, 32, has fared best. After going to rehab for drugs and alcohol at 13, she is a sought-after actress and filmmaker with her own production company, Flower Films.</div> <bR> <div> Dr. David Deitch, an addiction specialist for more than 40 years and director of Phoenix House, a national nonprofit provider of substance-abuse treatments, said the glitter and glamor of Hollywood could be partly to blame.</div> <bR> <div> "That life is all about the excitement, drama and peak performance followed by a letdown that gets medicated with entertainment and medication," he said.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd90a0900.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="400" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Pedestrians pass a wax figure of Lindsay Lohan that is on display at Madame Tussauds New York Wax Museum on Tuesday, July 24, 2007. (AP / Frank Franklin II)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 430 WIDTH="707"><div> Deitch said the average age at which children start using drugs has dropped every decade since the 1960s, and that today's youngsters start experimenting with drugs about age 12.</div> <bR> <div> "The earlier the age of onset of chronic drug-taking, the greater the prognosis is for long-term problems," he said.</div> <bR> <div> The actress was chastised last summer for repeatedly arriving late to the set of "Georgia Rule," and her latest legal troubles may cost her movie roles. She was set to start shooting "Poor Things," a comedy featuring Shirley MacLaine, when she entered rehab in May. The film's producers, who previously had supported Lohan, would not say Tuesday whether she would be part of the production.</div> <bR> <div> Lohan is still set to appear in the film "Dare to Love Me," which is to begin shooting this summer, said Michael Sands, a consultant for production company Bowline Entertainment.</div> <bR> <div> "The producers have compassion and kindness for her, so for now she's insured and still with the movie," he said. "She hasn't been convicted of any crimes."</div> <bR> <div> All Hollywood productions need insurance, and troublesome or troubled actors can often stand in the way of that requirement.</div> <bR> <div> "I don't see how she's employable for the next 18 months," Levine said. "Who's going to insure her?"</div> <bR> <div> Lohan's latest film, "I Know Who Killed Me," is set to open Friday.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="24"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 128 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Diet, regular pop may raise risk for heart disease</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July 23 2007  16:17  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 24th, 2007</div> <div> <B>Drinking more than one soft drink daily -- even if it's diet pop -- seems to be associated with an increase in the risk factors for heart disease, finds a new study in </B><I><B>Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.</B></I></div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="bd87a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 124 WIDTH="707"><div> U.S. researchers studied nearly 9,000 middle-aged men and women over four years and found that, compared to participants who drank less than one soft drink daily, those who said they drank one pop or more per day had:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A 31 per cent greater chance of developing obesity,</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A 30 per cent increased risk for gaining inches around the waist,</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A 25 per cent chance of developing high blood sugar levels,</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A 32 per cent greater chance of developing lower "good" cholesterol (HDL) levels.</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 368 WIDTH="540"><div> Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine who participated in the study, notes that the research team adjusted their analyses for total caloric intake, saturated fat and trans fat intake, dietary fibre consumption, smoking and physical activity. It is not clear how they adjusted for these important factors.</div> <bR> <div> They still observed a strong association between soft drink consumption and the risk of developing those factors that put one at risk for heart disease.</div> <bR> <div> The fact that artificially sweetened diet drinks were also associated with these risks puzzles the doctors.</div> <bR> <div> "We were struck by the fact that it didn't matter whether it was a diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with increased risk was present," said Vasan.</div> <bR> <div> The researchers offer a few possible explanations for the results. One is that diet soda drinkers may eat more at other times. However, the study controlled for dietary fat and still found an association with soda drinking and heart disease risk factors.</div> <bR> <div> Another possible explanation is that if you drink a large amount of liquids at a meal, you are more likely to eat a larger amount of food at the next meal, compared to what you would eat had you consumed more solids at the prior meal.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd88a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine who participated in the study.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd89a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The intake of soda commonly entices one to indulge in other fatty items, such as burgers.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 468 WIDTH="707"><div> Other theories are that the high sweetness of diet and regular soft drinks make a person more prone to eat sweet items.</div> <bR> <div> "These are all theories, and experts debate their importance," said Dr. Ravi Dhingra, lead author of the study and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.</div> <bR> <div> Dhingra points out that they can't say definitely that soda drinking is causing the increase in risk; they simply noted an association.</div> <bR> <div> "Our study was observational, and so right now all we demonstrate is an association. We have not proven causality," he said.</div> <bR> <div> They say more study is needed.</div> <bR> <div> The American Beverage Association is dismissing the study, noting that it is "scientifically implausible" to suggest that diet soft drinks -- a beverage that they note is 99 per cent water -- cause weight gain or elevated blood pressure.</div> <bR> <div> "This study doesn't prove any link between soft drinks and increased risk of heart disease. Its assertions defy the existing body of scientific evidence, as well as common sense. Even the researchers acknowledge that their study can't support a link," said ABA president Susan K. Neely in a statement.</div> <bR> <div> They say all the study does is underscore the need for moderation in our diets.</div> <bR> <div> "All of our industry's beverages -- including regular or diet soft drinks -- can be part of a healthy way of life when consumed in moderation and as part of a balanced lifestyle," the industry group says in a statement.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="23"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 163 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Accused pedophile Peter Whitmore due in court</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July 23 2007  07:45  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 23rd, 2007</div> <div> <B>Peter Whitmore, accused of sexually assaulting a Saskatchewan boy and a Manitoba teenager, is expected to say in court today if he'll accept a proposed plea deal from the Crown.</B></div> <bR> <div> In exchange for a guilty plea, the Crown has offered Whitmore a life sentence with the chance of parole in seven years.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd66a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Peter Robert Joseph Whitmore (file) (CP PHOTO / RCMP/ HO)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 468 WIDTH="707"><div> Whitmore faces 15 charges arising from events last July involving the two boys.</div> <bR> <div> His charges include three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm, one kidnapping charge, one charge of abduction of a person under the age of 14 and one charge of unlawful confinement, among others.</div> <bR> <div> The plea deal offered to Whitmore -- if he accepts -- will spare him the dangerous offender designation. It also means the victims will not have to take the stand and testify about their experience with Whitmore.</div> <bR> <div> By contrast, a dangerous offender designation would mean Whitmore would be put behind bars indefinitely, but it would require another court hearing post-conviction.</div> <bR> <div> The prosecution has made it clear it will not accept a counter-offer from Whitmore's lawyers and the offer must be taken as is.</div> <bR> <div> Whitmore has been held at a Regina jail since his arrest last August.</div> <bR> <div> He was arrested Aug. 1 after an exhaustive manhunt and 10-hour standoff at an abandoned farmhouse in Saskatchewan in the summer of 2006.</div> <bR> <div> Both of the boys involved were returned safely to their families. But not long after Whitmore was arrested, the Crown had asserted it would seek dangerous offender status.</div> <bR> <div> Whitmore is also charged with uttering threats, possession of a pellet gun and a knife, possession of child pornography and with making child pornography available to his alleged victims.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="22"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 58 ><NOBR><div> <B>Real-life Springfield debuts 'The Simpsons Movie'</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July 22 2007  07:39  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 22nd, 2007</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="58" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="165" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 648 WIDTH="707"><div> <B>The Vermont hamlet of Springfield beat out 13 identically-named U.S. cities to win the right to host the premiere of The Simpsons' big screen debut.</B></div> <bR> <div> The town, population 9,300, played host to the much-hyped "The Simpsons Movie" in its 100-seat theatre on July 21. The full-length 20th Century Fox animated film doesn't open across the U.S. for another six days on July 27.</div> <bR> <div> "Ninety-three hundred people, and we won," Town Manager Bob Forguites told a local newspaper. "I think it's pretty neat, myself."</div> <bR> <div> Forguites' town beat other Springfields in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, and Tennessee -- all which made bids to host the movie.</div> <bR> <div> As part of a contest to be the official host, each city had to submit a video showing how it's the living embodiment of the fictional hometown of Springfield (state unknown).</div> <bR> <div> The winning video stars a Vermont talk show host playing the role of Homer Simpson. He creates havoc as he runs through the town chasing a pink, giant rolling doughnut. It ends with a mob chasing Homer into a movie theater.</div> <bR> <div> By its July 9 deadline, the Springfield, Vt. bid received 15,367 of the votes on the contest website. Springfield, Illinois was the runner-up with 14,634. Florida's Springfield placed last, getting only 1,386 votes.</div> <bR> <div> The Simpsons is the longest-running, animated, primetime TV show in the U.S. Predictably, there's been a ton of promotion and hype leading up to the film's debut.</div> <bR> <div> A dozen 7-Eleven convenience stores in the U.S. were transformed into the fictional Kwik-E-Mart made famous on The Simpsons. Even U.S. congressmen have gotten into the act. Oregon's Peter DeFazio, sore over his state's Springfield losing out to Vermont in the contest, demanded an investigation into voter fraud.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>The Simpsons facts</U></B><B>:</B></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It debuted on December 17, 1989.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Over 400 episodes have aired over 18 seasons.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The show has been renewed for a 19th season, beginning September 23.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In 1999, Time Magazine named The Simpsons the best television series of the 20th Century.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">On January 14, 2000 it was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="21"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 620 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Hollywood rehab: Not such a sobering experience</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. July 21 2007  07:21  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 21at, 2007</div> <div> <B>Remember the days when a stint in rehab could turn a hot Hollywood career cold? Or when talent, not addiction troubles, won big magazine covers? How times have changed.</B></div> <bR> <div> Watching young celebs party hearty in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and other international ports of pill-popping, pot-smoking over-indulgence is, to say the least, a sobering experience.</div> <bR> <div> Starlets falling about like boozehounds at a bowery brawl. Private parties with bowls of blow in pretty colors and tasty flavours. Vicodin popping out of diminutive designer handbags like sinus tablets during allergy season.</div> <bR> <div> Who can forget Britney Spears being carried out of the mens' toilets near the Sky Bar at L.A.'s posh Mondrian Hotel earlier this year? Mumbling a litany of "I'm sorry's" to the staff, she was found vomiting over a toilet, face smeared with makeup and her wig in disarray.</div> <bR> <div> Think of Lindsay Lohan and the disturbing photos that emerged in June of her holding a knife to a fellow party girl's throat? The photos were taken just weeks before the wild child entered rehab for the second time after driving her Mercedes into a tree.</div> <bR> <div> As one insider told Us Weekly in its March 2007 investigation into Hollywood addictions, "Coke is so not a big deal for young stars in Hollywood. It's like having a drink." The scenester even described one blow-out of a New Years Eve party in Miami. "There were lines of coke on the table, weed everywhere. It was insane. It was a very free atmosphere."</div> <bR> <div> Yes, celebrity addictions today are as fashionable as the little black dress. From Keith Urban to Kate Moss, Pete Doherty and Miss USA Tara Conner stars are coming forward to tell their tales and seek treatment. And it seems luxurious, spa-like rehab centres are jockeying for the next troubled A-listers who'll enlist their help--even if, in some cases, it's only for a few days.</div> <bR> <div> As Us Weekly reported, the town of Mailibu, California only covers 27 miles. But it alone has 25 rehab centres.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd78a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Lindsay Lohan arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala in New York in this May 7, 2007 file photo. (AP / Stuart Ramson)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd7ca0730.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="115" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Paris Hilton walks out of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif. on Tuesday June 26, 2007.(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd7ba0730.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="115" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Singer Britney Spears watches the Houston Rockets play the Los Angeles Lakers during the first hlf of their NBA basketball game, Friday, March 30, 2007 in Los Angeles.(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 786 WIDTH="707"><div> We watch on like glazed-eye lemmings as Lindsay, Britney, Paris and Nicole keep making tabloid news for their troubles. Yet the message these self-professed "role models" are sending to fans isn't good says Gerald Sidel, Executive Director of Addington Addiction Treatment Centre in Montreal.</div> <bR> <div> "Whoever is looking for an easy way out will look at people like Paris Hilton and say if she can do it so can I. That will be their reasoning. It seems there are rules for high-end clients and rules for everybody else. That's the message people will get out of all this."</div> <bR> <div> Addington's three-month treatment programme is strict and only treats 12 people at a time -- some of them professional athletes.</div> <bR> <div> "We'd never let a person out after two or three days. You can't even detox a body in that time," says Sidel, the Quebec Chair for the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF).</div> <bR> <div> 'The spa setting' a red flag</div> <bR> <div> As for shopping sprees and celebrity demands for cell phones, Internet access, paparazzi protection and more at spa-like rehab centres, "Unless somebody comes here from a sunny climate and needs an essential like a winter coat, nobody gets out of here on their own to shop -- or for anything. Not at the beginning of rehab."</div> <bR> <div> "When the client tells the treatment giver what to do it's a waste of time," says Sidel. "Gettting good treatment starts by asking two questions, whether you're a celebrity or not. Do you want to be sober and are you prepared to go to any length? When someone answers that second question with reserve and worries more about a cell phone, a private room or other conditions it won't work."</div> <bR> <div> Another red flag Sidel notes is how some extravagant rehab centres promote the promise of success.</div> <bR> <div> "Go on the Internet and you'll find big name rehab places saying they have a 70 to 80 per cent success rate. They're well-known centres, sponsored by big stars. But promoting success in such a fashion is wrong. It shouldn't even be discussed."</div> <bR> <div> "People forget that rehab is serious. It's not easy to change one's lifestyle, but it's the only way and it takes a lifetime to do it."</div> <bR> <div> As Robin Williams, a recovering alcoholic, said on July 3 on CNN's "Larry King Live, "Lindsay, initially, when she was going to get out, was going to have a birthday party sponsored by a vodka company. It's not wise in rehab, you know?</div> <bR> <div> "It takes some time, a little quiet time. And I think that will be good for her -- and for all of them."</div> <bR> <div> Even as he sang "I love Paris out of rehab. I love Paris out of jail. I love Paris. Crazy, Bentley driving Paris," the seriousness of this life-long process was one Williams wouldn't deny.</div> <bR> <div> "You know it's day by day. That's what Britney will find out, Lindsay and Paris."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from Contstance Droganes</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 217 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Conrad Black free on bail while awaiting sentence</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. July 19 2007  20:42  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 20th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A Chicago judge has granted bail to Conrad Black, handing him a small legal victory almost a week after he was convicted of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. But he'll have to stay in the U.S.</B></div> <bR> <div> Black will now remain out of jail on his initial US$21-million bond as he waits for his Nov. 30 sentencing hearing.</div> <bR> <div> "He's going back home instead of the 'iron bar hotel,' which is not a place you want to go to," Hugh Totten, a Chicago lawyer who has been monitoring the trial, told CTV News.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd6ea0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Conrad Black departs the federal courthouse with his wife Barbara Amiel, centre and his daughter Alana Black, right, after his detention hearing in Chicago on July 19, 2007. (AP / Jerry Lai)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 720 WIDTH="707"><div> However, Black's passport is in the court's possession and his travel is restricted to the northern district of Illinois or the district in Florida, where he has a large Palm Beach home.</div> <bR> <div> Court filings state Black owes more than US$10 million in mortgage principal on that property, but lawyers have said he's been able to pay the interest.</div> <bR> <div> Judge Amy St. Eve said she'll have another hearing on Black's assets on Aug. 1, and will decide then if he can travel to Toronto.</div> <bR> <div> "The Toronto door has not been shut completely, so we'll be back on Aug. 1," said Black's Canadian lawyer, Eddie Greenspan. "The judge just wanted more information on assets."</div> <bR> <div> Black had no comments for the media as he emerged from the courthouse, but smiled as he made his way past the throng of reporters to a waiting car.</div> <bR> <div> His lawyer Eddie Genson also refused to comment on the ruling. Asked if he was happy, he simply replied: "I'm always happy."</div> <bR> <div> The former media baron originally faced thirteen charges, including one for racketeering, but was cleared of nine last week.</div> <bR> <div> On Thursday, the prosecution revised Black's potential sentence from 24 to 30 years in prison, and argued he was a clear flight risk and should be immediately put in jail.</div> <bR> <div> Lead prosecutor Eric Sussman argued Black had violated his bail by failing to pay the mortgage principal on his Palm Beach home.</div> <bR> <div> "Mr. Black's word is literally not worth the paper it's printed on," Sussman told the judge.</div> <bR> <div> Greenspan argued his client would freely return to Chicago for his Nov. 30 sentencing hearing if he was allowed to travel back to Toronto, and even offered to personally accompany his client and hold on to his passport.</div> <bR> <div> In the end, Judge St. Eve concluded there wasn't enough evidence to suggest Black would run.</div> <bR> <div> "(Black) is extremely lucky," said Stephen Komie, a defence lawyer. "For the government to lose twice on the question of him being a flight risk, that's very unusual. On two occasions they've failed."</div> <bR> <div> Greenspan argued his client would freely return to Chicago for his Nov. 30 sentencing hearing if he was allowed to travel back to Toronto.</div> <bR> <div> Greenspan even offered to personally accompany his client and hold on to his passport.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 482 WIDTH="707"><div> On Wednesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Black won't receive any special treatment should he attempt to return to Canada.</div> <bR> <div> In 2001, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in order to enter the British House of Lords after a dispute with former prime minister Jean Chrétien.</div> <bR> <div> Harper added that Black would free to use normal avenues to attempt to return to Canada.</div> <bR> <div> <I>The Globe and Mail</I> also reported Thursday that Chicago-based Hollinger International Inc. and Toronto-based Hollinger Inc., two companies that Lord Black previously controlled, hired investigators more than a year ago to assess his personal wealth. </div> <div> The companies are suing Black for hundreds of millions of dollars relating to alleged improper payments and his recent guilty verdicts on some of the questionable dealings has strengthened their claims.</div> <bR> <div> The newspaper also reports that the U.S. Justice Department has informally probed Black's international assets and is aware of the Hollinger searches.</div> <bR> <div> Prosecutors have already alleged that Black has not offered full disclosure to the court regarding his financial holdings -- an issue that could impact the possibility of him receiving bail.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, <U>in an email to CTV News</U>, juror James Kirby said "it was more than specifics" that led to the guilty and not guilty verdicts for Black and his co-defendants. Kirby said it was the "totality of events" that also influenced the verdicts.</div> <bR> <div> Kirby also said the testimony of prosecution witness David Radler, Black's former business partner, was important but held the same weight as "the testimony from all witnesses."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from CTV's Joy Malbon and files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="19"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 494 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Whitmore plea deal will bring closure: mayor</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. July 19 2007  08:12  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 19th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A plea deal offered to Peter Whitmore, the man accused of sexually assaulting a Saskatchewan boy and a Manitoba teenager, will provide one of the victims' families with closure and allow the entire community to move on, says the mayor of Whitewood, Sask.</B></div> <bR> <div> Whitmore faces 15 charges arising from events last July involving the two boys. His charges include three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm, one kidnapping charge, one charge of abduction of a person under the age of 14 and one charge of unlawful confinement, among others.</div> <bR> <div> The plea deal offered to Whitmore -- if he accepts -- will spare him the dangerous offender designation. It also means the victims will not have to take the stand and testify about their experience with Whitmore.</div> <bR> <div> Whitewood Mayor Malcolm Green, who knows one of the victims personally, said there are mixed feelings among the family and the community, but overall the plea deal is the best solution.</div> <bR> <div> "I think initially there was some anger to what they'd heard through the media, but I think once we hear what happens on Monday, hopefully it will be what is needed to correct the situation," Green told CTV's Canada AM.</div> <bR> <div> "And I think if it goes the way we understand it, I think the community will be satisfied the efforts we put forward and the people who have helped in the case have done the best they can and it will probably be the best solution for everybody."</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd66a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd67a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Whitewood, Sask. Mayor Malcolm Green speaking on Canada AM on Thursday, July 19, 2007.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd68a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Director of Public Prosecutions Murray Brown holds a press conference Wednesday, July 18, 2007.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 604 WIDTH="707"><div> Though Whitmore would not be designated a dangerous offender under the terms of the deal, he would still go to jail and would have no chance of parole for seven years. He would also be under some form of surveillance for the rest of his life, and the victims would avoid having to recount their experiences on the stand.</div> <bR> <div> "That's probably the best point of this whole procedure, the fact they won't have to go and relive this over again in court and it will put some finality to it for them and they can get on with their lives again," Green said.</div> <bR> <div> By contrast, a dangerous offender designation would mean Whitmore would be put behind bars indefinitely, but it would require another court hearing post-conviction.</div> <bR> <div> The prosecution's deal will only move forward, however, if Whitmore accepts the offer when he appears in a Regina court on Monday.</div> <bR> <div> The prosecution has made it clear it will not accept a counter-offer from Whitmore's lawyers and the offer must be taken as is.</div> <bR> <div> Legal analyst Steven Skurka said there is a big difference between the dangerous offender designation and a life sentence, but the offer that has been put on the table is the best solution for everyone involved.</div> <bR> <div> "I think this is a perfectly responsible position taken by the prosecution. It's our system working at its best. It's taking into account all the interests -- the interests of the victim, the interests of what happened here and the accused and coming to the right decision," Skurka told Canada AM on Thursday.</div> <bR> <div> "There's finality, the victims won't have to testify. At the end of the day all Peter Whitmore can say is that he's eligible for parole in seven years, now eligibility is a far cry from the parole board saying you're going to be released back into the community."</div> <bR> <div> Director of Public Prosecutions Murray Brown told reporters on Wednesday that making an offer to Whitmore was the best option available to the prosecution.</div> <bR> <div> "Life sentences are just a very, very, very rare thing in this country,'' Brown said.</div> <bR> <div> "If somebody is prepared to say, 'I'll agree to a life sentence,' and we have some reasonable assurance that the court's going to impose that, then it just wouldn't make sense to go dangerous offender.''</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 739 WIDTH="707"><div> <B>Parole possibility</B></div> <bR> <div> But Sanjeev Anand, a law professor at the University of Alberta and a former senior Crown prosecutor, said removing the designation also erases a red flag for the parole board.</div> <bR> <div> "The National Parole Board is very loath to grant parole to someone who has been given dangerous offender status,'' Anand told The Canadian Press.</div> <bR> <div> "Recent statistics from StatsCan demonstrate that in the last five to ten years when individuals who are designated dangerous offenders apply for parole, they are rejected 98.5 per cent of the time," Anand said, appearing on CTV's The Verdict.</div> <bR> <div> "So it's a clear indication when someone is designated a dangerous offender, there is a heavy presumption against the National Parole Board actually granting them parole in practice. Now the same cannot be said for someone who is given a term of life imprisonment when they apply for parole."</div> <bR> <div> Whitmore has been held at a Regina jail since his arrest last August.</div> <bR> <div> In an email exchange with CP, Whitmore's lawyer Merv Shaw said he is "hopeful that there will be a resolution on all matters at the Court of Queen's Bench on Monday.''</div> <bR> <div> <B>Exhaustive manhunt</B></div> <bR> <div> Whitmore was arrested Aug. 1 after an exhaustive manhunt and 10-hour standoff at an abandoned farmhouse in Saskatchewan in the summer of 2006.</div> <bR> <div> Both of the boys involved were returned safely to their families. But not long after Whitmore was arrested, the Crown had asserted it would seek dangerous offender status.</div> <bR> <div> News of Wednesday's plea deal was met with opposition from critics.</div> <bR> <div> "We're very disappointed today -- along with, I think, with Saskatchewan families -- at the decision of the Saskatchewan government," said Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall.</div> <bR> <div> Lawyer and child advocate Norman Boudreau said Saskatchewan prosecutors were trying to make a deal with the devil.</div> <div> "It's pretty disappointing and disheartening for all children's advocates," Boudreau said.</div> <bR> <div> Whitmore is also charged with uttering threats, possession of a pellet gun and a knife, possession of child pornography and with making child pornography available to his alleged victims.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="18"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 568 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Radioactive leak was bigger than reported: company</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. July 18 2007  06:26  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 18th, 2007</div> <div> <B>KASHIWAZAKI, Japan -- The company that operates an earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant said Wednesday that a radioactive leak was bigger than first reported but still below danger levels, escalating the showdown over a long list of problems at the facility.</B></div> <bR> <div> The mayor of nearby Kashiwazaki city ordered the facility to shut down until its safety could be confirmed.</div> <bR> <div> Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced that a leak of radioactive water into the Sea of Japan was actually 50 percent bigger than initially announced Monday night after the deadly 6.8-magnitude quake.</div> <bR> <div> "We made a mistake in calculating the amount that leaked into the ocean. We apologize and make correction," the statement said. Spokesman Jun Oshima said the amount was still "one-billionth of Japan's legal limit."</div> <bR> <div> A tour later given to Japan's Communist Party chief, Kazuo Shii, and a handful of reporters revealed widespread damage across its sprawling compound, including large cracks in roads, toppled concrete fences and buckled sidewalks.</div> <bR> <div> Repair workers climbed over a three-story transformer building, which was charred from top to bottom in a fire that burned for two hours Monday.</div> <bR> <div> "This is unforgivable," Shii told TEPCO Deputy Superintendent Masakazu Minamidate. "You say there's no leak before you really know. ... The delay in information was especially inexcusable."</div> <bR> <div> Earlier Wednesday, Tsunehisa Katsumata, president of Tokyo Electric Power Co., toured the site, declaring it "a mess" and apologizing for "all the worry and trouble we have caused."</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd5fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Damaged ground is seen at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki, Japan on Wednesday, July 18, 2007. (AP / Koji Sasahara)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd60a0fa0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> An access road inside the compound of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s nuclear power plants is seen damaged in Kashiwazaki on Wednesday, July 18, 2007. (AP / Koji Sasahara)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 426 WIDTH="707"><div> "It is hard to make everything go perfectly," he said. "We will conduct an investigation from the ground up. But I think fundamentally we have confirmed that our safety measures worked."</div> <bR> <div> The International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, pressed Japan to undertake a transparent and thorough investigation of the accidents to see if there are lessons that can be applied to nuclear plants elsewhere in the world.</div> <bR> <div> Adding to the urgency was new data from aftershocks of Monday's quake, suggesting a fault line may run underneath the mammoth power plant.</div> <bR> <div> Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world's largest nuclear plant in power output capacity. Signs of problems after Monday's quake came first not from the officials, but in a plume of smoke that rose up when the quake triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer.</div> <bR> <div> It was announced only 12 hours later that the quake also caused a leak of about 315 gallons of water containing radioactive material. Officials said the water leak was well within safety standards. The water was flushed into the sea.</div> <bR> <div> Later Tuesday, it said 50 cases of "malfunctioning and trouble" had been found. Four of the plant's seven reactors were running at the time of the quake, and they were all shut down automatically by a safety mechanism.</div> <bR> <div> Hiroshi Aida, mayor of Kashiwazaki, a city near the epicenter that is home to the plant and 93,500 people, ordered operations at the plant halted Wednesday for "safety reasons."</div> <bR> <div> Speaking in Malaysia, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said a thorough review was key and offered to have his Vienna-based agency pull together global experts.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 459 WIDTH="707"><div> "It doesn't mean that the reactor structure or system has been damaged," ElBaradei said. "I would hope and I trust that Japan would be fully transparent in its investigation of that accident. The agency would be ready to join Japan through an international team in reviewing that accident and drawing the necessary lessons."</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, TEPCO spokesman Hiroshi Itagaki said that information accumulated by studying aftershocks shows that a fault line stretches under the ocean near the coast, which is not far away from the plant. He declined to say how close to the plant the fault might come, but the company is planning to further study the issue.</div> <bR> <div> Osamu Kamigaichi, an official at Japan's Meteorological Agency, which monitors earthquakes, said it was possible the fault line stretched in the direction of the nuclear facility and may reach underneath its grounds.</div> <bR> <div> Across town, more than 8,000 residents hunkered down for their second night in shelters. The death toll -- nine, with one person missing -- was not expected to rise significantly. Most of the newer parts of town escaped major damage.</div> <bR> <div> For residents, thousands of whom work at the plant, the controversy over its safety compounded already severe problems, which included heavy rains and the threat of landslides, water and power outages, and spotty communications.</div> <bR> <div> "Whenever there is an earthquake, the first thing we worry about is the nuclear plant. I worry about whether there will be a fire or something," said Kiyokazu Tsunajima, a tailor who sat outside on his porch with his family, afraid an aftershock might collapse his damaged house.</div> <bR> <div> The area around Kashiwazaki was hit by an earthquake three years ago that killed 67 people, but the plant suffered no damage.</div> <bR> <div> The malfunctions and a delay in reporting them fueled concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which have suffered a string of accidents and cover-ups. Nuclear power plants around Japan were ordered to conduct inspections.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 372 WIDTH="707"><div> The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, located 135 miles northwest of Tokyo, has been plagued with mishaps. In 2001, a radioactive leak was found in the turbine room of one reactor.</div> <bR> <div> The plant's safety record and its proximity to a fault line prompted residents to file lawsuits claiming the government had failed to conduct sufficient safety reviews when it approved construction of the plant in the 1970s. But in 2005, a Tokyo court threw out a lawsuit filed by 33 residents, saying there was no error in the government safety reviews.</div> <bR> <div> The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that nuclear plants be built with the capacity to withstand the strongest earthquake to hit its site within 100 years. In a "safe shutdown earthquake," the chain reaction in the reactor stops, but the cooling system keeps running so excess heat is carried away from the core.</div> <bR> <div> William Miller, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Missouri, said the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant "did what it was supposed to. It shut down."</div> <bR> <div> Although its operator said there were leaks, Miller called the amounts he had heard were "so small as to be negligible."</div> <bR> <div> However, David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, noted that fire and loss of power, both of which occurred at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, are the two most likely causes of meltdowns at nuclear facilities.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="17"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 671 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Nuclear waste drums tipped in Japan quake</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. July 17 2007  06:13  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 17th, 2007</div> <div> <B>KASHIWAZAKI, Japan -- A powerful earthquake tipped over barrels of nuclear waste at a power plant and officials on Tuesday were investigating whether there were any radioactive leaks, a day after they said the quake had caused the reactor to spill radioactive water into the sea.</B></div> <bR> <div> The death toll stood at nine a day after the 6.6-magnitude quake. One person was missing and another 13,000 were homeless, as rescue workers rushed to locate any survivors in the rubble amid fears of landslides.</div> <bR> <div> The quake had caused a leak of water with radioactive material Monday at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest in terms of electricity output, although officials said that leak caused no harm to the environment.</div> <bR> <div> On Tuesday, officials said about 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste fell over at the plant during the quake. They were found a day later, some with their lids open, said Masahide Ichikawa, an official with the local government in Niigata prefecture.</div> <bR> <div> A spokesman at Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the plant, said the company was still trying to determine whether any hazardous material had spilled but said there was no effect outside the plant.</div> <bR> <div> "We have no information at this time that there is any effect on the outside environment," TEPCO spokesman Manabu Takeyama said.</div> <bR> <div> Another leak at the Kashiwazaki power plant would feed fresh concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and cover-ups.</div> <bR> <div> Monday's quake initially triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer in the sprawling plant. But it was announced 12 hours later that the temblor also caused a leak of water containing radioactive material.</div> <bR> <div> Officials said there was no "significant change" in the seawater near the plant, which is about 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. "The radioactivity is one-billionth of the legal limit," Jun Oshima, an executive at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said of the leaked water.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd56a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s nuclear plant is seen in Kashiwazaki, northeastern Japan on Tuesday, July 17, 2007. (AP / Koji Sasahara)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd57a0c80.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="200" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> A road is heavily damaged in Kashiwazaki, northeastern Japan on Tuesday, July 17, 2007. (AP / Koji Sasahara)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd58a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> A family of evacuees rest at a shelter in Kashiwazaki, northeastern Japan on Tuesday, July 17, 2007. (AP / Koji Sasahara)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 629 WIDTH="707"><div> But the delay in notifying the public spurred concern among anti-nuclear activists.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, nearly 13,000 people packed into evacuation centers such as schools and other secure buildings in the quake zone 160 miles northwest of Tokyo, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.</div> <bR> <div> People packed school gymnasiums and community centers in the city, camping out on traditional Japanese futon mattresses and fanning themselves from the muggy summer heat.</div> <bR> <div> Thunderstorms and flooding were expected Tuesday throughout the quake zone, increasing the likelihood that the quake-softened, water-logged ground would give way on hillsides and cause even more damage, officials said.</div> <bR> <div> Light rain began to fall by early afternoon in Kashiwazaki and up to 2.4 inches were expected by Wednesday morning, according to the local observatory.</div> <bR> <div> "The damage is more than we had imagined," Kashiwazaki Mayor Hiroshi Aida said while inspecting damaged areas of his town. "We want to restore the water supply as soon as possible so more people can return home."</div> <bR> <div> Nine people in their 70s or 80s -- six women and three men -- were killed in the quake, and 47 were seriously injured.</div> <bR> <div> The Defense Ministry dispatched 450 soldiers to the devastated area to clear rumble, search for any survivors under collapsed buildings and provide food, water and toilet facilities. People formed long lines to fill bottles with fresh water.</div> <bR> <div> About 50,000 homes were without water and 35,000 were without gas as of Tuesday morning, local official Mitsugu Abe said. About 27,000 households were without power.</div> <bR> <div> The Japanese Meteorological Agency put the initial quake's magnitude at 6.8, while the U.S. Geological Survey said it was 6.6. The quake, which hit the region at 10:13 a.m., was centered off the coast of Niigata, 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.</div> <bR> <div> The area was plagued by a series of aftershocks, though there were no immediate reports of additional damage or injuries from the aftershocks.</div> <bR> <div> Near midnight, Japan's Meteorological Agency said a 6.6-magnitude quake hit off the west coast, shaking wide areas of Japan, but it was unrelated to the Niigata quake to the north and there were no immediate reports of damage.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="16"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 722 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Six killed, more than 700 hurt in Japan quake</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July  16 2007  07:25  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 16th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Japan's northwest coast Monday, killing at least six people and injuring more than 700.</B></div> <bR> <div> The earthquake, which struck off the coast of Niigata, 260 kilometres northwest of Tokyo, was followed by multiple aftershocks.</div> <bR> <div> "They keep on continuing, I think they said by 6 p.m. there had been 59 aftershocks that are detectable by the human body," Reuters' Elaine Lies told CTV Newsnet.</div> <bR> <div> Hundreds of buildings were flattened and a fire was also triggered at a nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki. The fire, at an electrical transformer, was eventually extinguished.</div> <bR> <div> Some 2,000 people in Kashiwazaki had to be evacuated from their homes, confirmed city official Takashi Otsuka.</div> <bR> <div> Times of London's Leo Lewis told CTV's Canada AM from Tokyo that the rescue effort underway is very complicated.</div> <bR> <div> "The difficulty is that you've got very dense, urban areas where one building and another building have caved in completely and the buildings around them are in tact," said Lewis.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, the tremor made buildings in Tokyo shake and was also felt in parts of northern and central Japan.</div> <bR> <div> The Meteorological Agency measured the quake at 6.8 while the U.S. Geological Survey said it registered at magnitude 6.7.</div> <bR> <div> Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Monday that he will visit the region.</div> <bR> <div> "We want to do all we can to ensure safety ... and to quell everyone's concerns,'' said Abe, whose ruling party is trailing in the polls. "I want to get a picture of what happened and also want everyone to feel a little bit more secure.''</div> <bR> <div> Five of the dead, all elderly victims, were killed after being crushed under collapsed building debris.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd4ea0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Rescuers sift through the debris of a house in Kashiwazaki, Japan on Monday, July 16, 2007. (AP / Kyodo News)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd4fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> A railcar is seen derailed at Kashiwazaki train station in Japan on Monday, July 16, 2007. (AP / Kyodo News)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd50a0fa0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> National highway is cut off following a powerful quake in Nagaoka, northwestern Japan on Monday, July 16, 2007. (AP / Kyodo News)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="15"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 125 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Bazookas, snakes found in mail bound for Canada</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July  15 2007  11:37  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 15th, 2007</div> <div> <B>TORONTO -- Bazookas, containers squirming with snakes and toys stuffed with cocaine -- they've all managed to find their way into Canada in a way most people might never expect.</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="bd4da0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 447 WIDTH="707"><div> Neatly packaged and creatively disguised, they're just some of the thousands of surprising discoveries made by Canada Border Services officials simply by examining packages and parcels destined for mailboxes across the country.</div> <bR> <div> "For some reason, people think they can mail anything," said Peter, who works at the international mail processing centre in Mississauga, Ont., which handles 70 per cent of the mail that comes into Canada.</div> <bR> <div> "You would never walk into an airport with a AK-47," said Peter, who didn't want his name disclosed for security reasons, "but somehow it seems OK to mail it."</div> <bR> <div> The surprises Peter has encountered in his three years include an assortment of weapons, a buffet of narcotics and a number of "live" packages.</div> <bR> <div> "Just a couple days ago, one of the officers came in and said there was something moving in a package, so we X-rayed it, and it was live snakes," he said.</div> <bR> <div> In some cases, the insects are set up as booby traps aimed at harming the person opening the package, he added.</div> <bR> <div> "We have had live scorpions moving around in tubes, and even hundreds of baby tarantulas all stacked up in a plastic container.''</div> <bR> <div> Even before Canada Post gets a hold of the mail, every international package and letter coming into the country is scrutinized and processed by the Canada Border Service Agency.</div> <bR> <div> "We are the first line of defence," said Patrizia Giolti, communications manager for the agency. "We see your letter, your parcel, your shipment first."</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 498 WIDTH="707"><div> Deadly insects and reptiles aren't the only hazards these officials regularly come across. The Canada Post building where the centre is based has been evacuated numerous times when packages containing bombs, grenades or landmines turn up.</div> <bR> <div> "On my third day on the job, I got a box that looked like a large battery pack that had been taped up with electrical tape and had wires running out of it ... so I think, 'It's a bomb,'" said Doug, another worker who spoke on condition of anonymity.</div> <bR> <div> "I sounded the horn, the entire building was evacuated and the bomb squad came in. It turned out to be a battery for an old-style video camera."</div> <bR> <div> People who order weapons online are usually military collectors who buy the items overseas and have them shipped home, said Doug.</div> <bR> <div> "Every country has different regulations governing their post office. It may be fine to send it from one country, but arriving in Canada it's not allowed."</div> <bR> <div> In many cases, an offending package is glaringly obvious, with odd handwriting, undeclared contents, and suspicious packaging.</div> <bR> <div> But more often the packages look innocuous, and show no signs of foul play. In one case, the prohibited substance was so well-hidden that it was embedded inside the corrugated cardboard used in the packaging.</div> <bR> <div> "Sometimes people will soak the box in opium so that by the time it gets to Canada, it has dried, and can be scraped off," Peter said. </div> <div> "Other times, we will find cocaine in toys, books, food containers, and even clothes," he said. Detector dogs come to the centre two to three times a week and all suspicious packages are X-rayed, he added.</div> <bR> <div> In situations where a prohibited item has been discovered, the officials then share intelligence and evidence with the appropriate law enforcement agencies, who can then lay charges if necessary, Giolti said.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 285 WIDTH="707"><div> "The mail is not a free-for all; you just can't ship anything and everything you want," she said. "Just because it's in the mail doesn't mean we won't find you, if it comes to that."</div> <bR> <div> Other drugs that have been mailed into Canada include marijuana, ecstasy, heroin and "insane amounts of Viagra," said Peter.</div> <bR> <div> "We get thousands of pills a day. A lot of people buy it online, but they don't know it's a controlled substance, and you can't have it unless you have a prescription."</div> <bR> <div> While online shopping sites such as EBay have dramatically increased the volume of mail coming into the processing centre, which receives 12-15 million packages a year, Peter says it has also helped to make his job unpredictable.</div> <bR> <div> "Every time I come across something odd, like let's say soiled underwear, I check eBay," he says. "And guess what, you can buy it there."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="14"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 643 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Black guilty on 4 charges, including obstruction</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. July  13 2007  20:53  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 14th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A U.S. jury found Conrad Black guilty of three counts of criminal fraud and the serious charge of obstruction of justice -- but cleared the former media tycoon of racketeering, wire fraud and tax evasion on Friday.</B></div> <bR> <div> The convictions mean Black, 62, faces a maximum sentence of 35 years, if served consecutively, and US$1 million in fines.</div> <bR> <div> U.S. prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said sentencing guidelines would suggest a "conservative range of 188 to 235 months" in prison, "which in fast math is 15 ½ to 20 years."</div> <bR> <div> Black's sentencing hearing has been set for Nov. 30 at 9 a.m. CT. In the meantime, Judge Amy St. Eve ordered Black to stay in Chicago and surrender his British passport until a July 19 bail hearing.</div> <bR> <div> Friday's criminal conviction means Black is now essentially inadmissible to Canada. It's also unlikely he'll ever regain his Canadian citizenship, which he gave up in 2001 to become a member of the British House of Lords.</div> <bR> <div> Black would need to live in Canada for a year before applying for citizenship, but his conviction bars him from crossing the border.</div> <bR> <div> However, Immigration Minister Diane Finley has the power to grant him citizenship, if she feels it's necessary on humanitarian grounds.</div> <bR> <div> "The power to restore Mr. Black's citizenship belongs to the Canadian government," immigration lawyer Richard Kurland told CTV's <I>The Verdict</I>.</div> <bR> <div> Black's Canadian attorney Edward Greenspan said he will appeal the guilty verdict.</div> <bR> <div> "We intend to appeal and there are viable legal issues. We vehemently disagree with the government's position on sentencing," Greenspan told reporters. "We believe, based on the conviction of the charges here, the sentences for this type of defence are far less than what the government suggests."</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd49a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Conrad Black walks to court to hear the verdict in Chicago on Friday, July 13, 2007. (CP / Dave Chidley)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd4ba0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Attorneys for Conrad Black, former head of the Hollinger International Inc. newspaper empire, Edward Greenspan, and Ed Genson, left, address the media at the federal building in Chicago on July 13, 2007, (AP / M. Spencer Green)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd4aa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> American defence lawyer Edward M. Genson speaks with CTV’s Rosemary Thompson at the U.S. federal court building in Chicago on Friday, July 13, 2007.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 468 WIDTH="707"><div> In a press conference held Friday afternoon, Fitzgerald said his team of prosecutors was "gratified" by the jury's verdict.</div> <bR> <div> "We think the verdict vindicates the serious public interest in making sure that when insiders in a corporation deal with money entrusted to them by shareholders, that they not engage in self dealing, that they not break the law to benefit themselves," said Fitzgerald.</div> <bR> <div> When St. Eve read the extradition waiver to Black, asking whether he planned to appear for the sentencing hearing, Black replied: "Absolutely."</div> <bR> <div> If he fails to appear, the judge warned Black his previously-set US$21 million bail would be forfeited.</div> <bR> <div> "I understand," said Black.</div> <bR> <div> The prosecution's earlier request that Black be remanded in custody while awaiting sentencing was denied.</div> <bR> <div> The former head of newspaper empire Hollinger Inc. sat expressionless, his gaze turned downward as the jury delivered its verdict after 12 days of deliberation. But as the obstruction verdict was read, Black looked up, his brow furrowed and a scowl on his face. His wife Barbara Amiel and daughter Alana walked to Black's side after the verdict.</div> <bR> <div> While he was cleared of racketeering, legal expert Paula Todd called the obstruction charge, which carries a maximum 20-year jail term, "extraordinary."</div> <bR> <div> "This is very bad news for Conrad Black, for Eddie Greenspan and for his lawyer Ed Genson," said Todd.</div> <bR> <div> The mail fraud convictions carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail. And while he won't likely serve 35 years, "he is probably looking at prison time," said Todd.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 625 WIDTH="707"><div> Ted Chung, a lawyer following the case, told CTV that Black faces a lengthy prison term which will be "dictated by the loss incurred by victims (the shareholders)."</div> <bR> <div> The obstruction of justice charge related to a 2005 incident, when Black was caught on videotape removing of 13 boxes from his Toronto office.</div> <bR> <div> Prosecutors alleged Black moved the material just before receiving a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, Lord Black insisted he took only personal items. He returned the boxes a few days later.</div> <bR> <div> Black's co-defendants, former Hollinger International vice-presidents John Boultbee and Peter Atkinson, as well as Chicago lawyer Mark Kipnis, were all found guilty of three counts of mail fraud.</div> <bR> <div> The judge said Atkinson and Boultbee could return to Canada under strict conditions, despite prosecutors' demands that the men surrender their Canadian passports and remain in the U.S. until sentencing.</div> <bR> <div> Both men left the courtroom after promising to check in every Friday at noon until the sentencing date. CTV News reporters said both men put up bonds and waived their right to extradition.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Forfeiture</B></div> <bR> <div> Prosecutors, meanwhile, are also seeking a forfeiture of as much as US$92 million because they say the money comes from the proceeds of crime. The judge, not the jury, is to decide on the forfeiture issue -- which Todd said works in Black's favour.</div> <bR> <div> "The jury solidly ruled against Black. The last thing you want is this jury to decide what happens to (his assets). No one is better situated than Judge St. Eve. He can be assured her decision will probably be fair, simply because she understands the law."</div> <bR> <div> Greenspan said the forfeiture amount has continually been revised over the course of the U.S. government's investigation.</div> <bR> <div> "The original forfeiture that was alleged was for $92 million; when we were indicted the allegation was $90 million in loss, and now the lost amount is for Conrad Black for $2.9 million," he said.</div> <bR> <div> There were 42 charges in all to consider, including: 13 against Black, 11 against Boultbee, 10 against Atkinson and eight against Kipnis.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 474 WIDTH="707"><div> Here's how the jury ruled on the counts under which Black was charged:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count One: Mail Fraud -- <B>guilty</B></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count Five: Mail and Wire Fraud -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count Six: Mail and Wire Fraud -- <B>guilty</B></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count Seven: Mail and Wire Fraud -- <B>guilty</B></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count Eight: Mail and Wire Fraud -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count Nine: Mail and Wire Fraud -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 10: Mail and Wire Fraud -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 11: Mail and Wire Fraud -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 12: Mail and Wire Fraud -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 13: Concealing Documents from an Official Proceeding (obstruction) -- <B>guilty</B></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 14: Racketeering -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 15: Aiding or Assisting in Preparation of False Tax Returns -- not guilty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Count 16: Aiding or Assisting in Preparation of False Tax Returns -- not guilty</div> <bR> <div> In the U.S., mail and wire fraud garners a maximum prison sentence of five years, obstruction 20 years, racketeering 20 years and tax fraud three years.</div> <bR> <div> Former U.S. prosecutor Jacob Frenkel said he believed the prosecution would have been satisfied with just one guilty finding against each of the defendants. Since the jury exceeded that standard, there is little chance prosecutors will pursue an appeal.</div> <bR> <div> "The counts on which the defence were acquitted are a closed book, but the conviction was so overwhelming there is absolutely no reason for an appeal," he told CTV Newsnet.</div> <bR> <div> But another former prosecutor, Terry Sullivan, said the "mixed verdict" for Black "is very good grounds for appeal.''</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 463 WIDTH="707"><div> Over a four-month period, the jury heard dozens of witnesses and evidence about highly complex transactions involving newspapers owned by Hollinger International, a publicly-traded company controlled and managed by Black, who held the title of CEO until 2003.</div> <bR> <div> On Tuesday, the jury sent a letter to the judge, saying they were "unable to reach a unanimous verdict on one or more counts. Please advise."</div> <bR> <div> St. Eve responded by instructing them again on how to break a deadlock. What exactly led to the jury's change of heart will remain a mystery for now, reported CTV's Rosemary Thompson from outside the courthouse. "Many have been hoping (the jury) would talk, but all of them have declined."</div> <bR> <div> The core of the case involved the payment of non-compete fees to Black and the others. Those are fees paid to the seller to ensure they do not start up a publication to compete with the one they just sold.</div> <bR> <div> The prosecution argued that Black and the others fraudulently pocketed US$60 million in such fees, money that should have gone to company shareholders.</div> <bR> <div> They also alleged Black fraudulently misused about $20 million of company funds on things like parties, trips and a Manhattan apartment.</div> <bR> <div> Black and his co-defendants maintained they did nothing wrong and that all payments were properly disclosed. Black's attorneys said the bills were justified business expenses and that he paid his fair share in the apartment deal.</div> <bR> <div> Black's former newspaper empire once included the <I>National Post,</I> <I>Jerusalem Post</I> and London's <I>Daily Telegraph</I>.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 210 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Funeral today for larger-than-life 'Honest Ed'</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. July  13 2007  06:36  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 13th, 2007</div> <div> <B>TORONTO -- Family, friends and admirers will gather Friday morning to remember Toronto's Ed Mirvish, the larger-than-life businessman who owned a retail empire, revived Toronto's theatre district, and handed out countless free turkeys.</B></div> <bR> <div> "Honest Ed'' Mirvish died Wednesday at the age of 92.</div> <bR> <div> He's best known for Honest Ed's, his sprawling discount store that sells everything from discount shoes to life-sized Elvis busts to priceless antiques.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd3fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Canadian theatre magnate Ed Mirvish smiles at an event announcing the Canadian premiere of the stage musical of Disney's 'The Lion King' in Toronto in 1999. (CP / Kevin Frayer)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 145 WIDTH="707"><div> But Mirvish was also a self-made theatre impresario who bought Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1962 despite knowing nothing about acting.</div> <bR> <div> Every Christmas, Mirvish would hand out free turkeys and fruit cake outside his downtown store.</div> <bR> <div> His funeral service will be held Friday at 11 a.m.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="12"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 596 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Calgary hit with five stabbings in one hour</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. July  11 2007  21:24  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 12th, 2007</div> <div> <B>Calgary police are trying to piece together five stabbings that happened within a single hour, at five different locations across the city.</B></div> <bR> <div> One woman died from her injuries, but the other four victims survived.</div> <bR> <div> Police believe the stabbings were carried out by one group of men, and have started a city-wide search for the suspects.</div> <bR> <div> "At this point we are aware of three to four black males, in a vehicle that has been described as a light-coloured, newer, small, four-door car," said acting Staff Sgt. Patty McCallum, who works with the homicide unit.</div> <bR> <div> The first incident happened just after 4 a.m. Wednesday, when a woman was attacked outside a liquor store.</div> <bR> <div> She collapsed on a bench at a nearby bus stop, where police and paramedics found her. But she later died from her injuries, becoming Calgary's 15th homicide of the year.</div> <bR> <div> Shortly after the first incident, a man was stabbed in the same neighbourhood. He banged on the front door of resident Rene Decoteau, pleading for help.</div> <bR> <div> "It was after four in the morning -- I looked at my watch after I heard him," Decoteau told CTV Calgary.</div> <bR> <div> "He was banging on the front door, hollering for someone to get an ambulance and the police." </div> <div> Police then responded to three more stabbings in the next 45 minutes.</div> <bR> <div> A 42-year-old man was attacked in northeast Calgary around 4:30 a.m. He ran to a nearby store to call for help, leaving behind his backpack. Another incident followed 10 minutes later, just blocks away.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd37a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The first incident happened just after 4 a.m. Wednesday, when a woman was attacked outside a liquor store.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd38a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> 'At this point we are aware of three to four black males, in a vehicle that has been described as a light-coloured, newer, small, four-door car,' said Sgt. Patty McCallum.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd39a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> A man who was stabbed in the same neighbourhood banged on the front door of resident Rene Decoteau, pleading for help.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 252 WIDTH="707"><div> The final victim, a woman in the city's south end, was stabbed at 5:16 a.m.</div> <bR> <div> Police said none of the victims knew each other. But despite the apparent random nature of the attacks, McCallum urged the public to stay calm.</div> <bR> <div> "When was the last time, when have we ever had this happen before? I can't suggest that any person walking about is at a higher risk," she said.</div> <bR> <div> Lisa Marks lives across the street from the first stabbing, but said she has never had a reason to worry about her safety.</div> <bR> <div> "There are lots of different types of people walking around all the time," she said. "But I do my own thing and they do their own thing."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from CTV Calgary</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 183 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Verdict could come Wednesday at Black trial</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. July  11 2007  08:31  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 11th, 2007</div> <div> <B>If Conrad Black's American lawyer is correct, the jury at the fraud trial of the ex-media baron will come back with a full or partial verdict today.</B></div> <bR> <div> "It's over. It's over tomorrow," Edward Genson, Black's Chicago-based attorney, told reporters Tuesday after court ended. "If it's a good verdict, I'll be happy. If not, I'll be sad. It's as simple as that."</div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd2da0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Conrad Black smiles as his leaves the courthouse in Chicago on Tuesday, July 10, 2007. (CP / Dave Chidley)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 1101 WIDTH="707"><div> Genson said juries rarely go back and reach an agreement on charges following a deadlock.</div> <bR> <div> On Tuesday, the jury indicated that it was deadlocked on one or more charges.</div> <bR> <div> The nine women and three men are being asked to render unanimous verdicts on 42 different charges involving four defendants: Black, former Hollinger executives Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson, and lawyer Mark Kipnis.</div> <bR> <div> They sent a note to Judge Amy St. Eve, saying they were "unable to reach a unanimous verdict on one or more counts. Please advise."</div> <bR> <div> There was no indication as to what charges or defendant they disagreed on.</div> <bR> <div> "Some notes from juries are meaningless, this was a bombshell," CTV legal analyst Steven Skurka said Wednesday.</div> <bR> <div> "We know a number of things: the jury has decided the vast majority of the counts, it appears they have one or a couple of counts left to go."</div> <bR> <div> Skurka predicted that a verdict will be reached by Wednesday afternoon.</div> <bR> <div> In her response, St. Eve instructed the jury again on how to break a deadlock.</div> <bR> <div> "You should make every reasonable effort to reach a verdict. In doing so, you should consult with one another, express your own views, and listen to the opinions of your fellow jurors," she said.</div> <bR> <div> "Do not hesitate to re-examine your own views and change your opinion if you come to believe it is wrong. But you should not surrender your honest beliefs about the weight or effect of evidence solely because of the opinions of your fellow jurors or for the purpose of returning a unanimous verdict."</div> <bR> <div> After the jury broke for the day, Black left the courthouse, only saying "no comment" in French to reporters. He also gave them the middle finger.</div> <bR> <div> Business News Network's Amanda Lang said Wednesday that Black emailed her Tuesday night and said he was expecting "something serious."</div> <bR> <div> "He (Black) did email me last night, he said he was quite relaxed, he expects something serious today so I think they also, as you know from his lawyers, they expect this to be the end," she said.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Partial verdict</B></div> <bR> <div> The defence said Tuesday they'd be happy to accept a partial verdict on the charges where the jury had reached unanimity.</div> <bR> <div> Over a four-month period, the jury heard from dozens of witnesses and heard evidence about highly complex transactions involving newspapers owned by Hollinger International, a publicly-traded company controlled and managed by Black, who held the title of CEO until 2003.</div> <bR> <div> The core of the case involves the payment of non-compete fees to Black and the others. Those are fees paid to the seller to ensure they do not start up a publication to compete with the one they just sold.</div> <bR> <div> The prosecution argues that Black and the others fraudulently pocketed US$60 million in such fees, money that should have gone to company shareholders.</div> <bR> <div> They also allege Black fraudulently misused about $20 million of company funds on things like parties, trips and a Manhattan apartment.</div> <bR> <div> Black and his co-defendants maintain they did nothing wrong and that all payments were properly disclosed.</div> <bR> <div> "The arrow is swinging dramatically in favour of the defence, that's the way I read this," said Skurka. "I think this jury is down to the obstruct justice charge and perhaps some of the perks and they have found the non-compete charges in favour of all the defendants."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 540 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Girl found guilty of murder in family's deaths</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July  09 2007  23:39  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 10th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A Medicine Hat girl may have made Canadian legal history by being the youngest person ever convicted of multiple murders.</B></div> <bR> <div> A jury in Medicine Hat, Alta. took about three hours to find the teenager guilty of first-degree murder in the bloody slayings of her parents and little brother.</div> <bR> <div> Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary said afterwards she didn't worry too much about the prospect of making legal history.</div> <bR> <div> "I truly hope that we have done the right thing here and I think that we have done the right thing by this young person and by the victims," she said.</div> <bR> <div> "This is the community's response to this terrible crime and I hope that the verdict gives some comfort to the families of the victims."</div> <bR> <div> The 13-year-old appeared to be silently crying when the jury delivered its verdict early Monday evening. She turned flush and put her hand over her mouth.</div> <bR> <div> Defence lawyer Tim Foster put his arm around her. CTV's Sarah Galashan said if there were any of the girl's extended family in the courtroom, they didn't try to comfort the girl.</div> <bR> <div> "What do you expect in the circumstances?" Foster told reporters afterwards about his client's reaction. "I've said from day one, she's 13 years old, and I have no idea how she's been coping with this."</div> <bR> <div> Cleary said she didn't think the jury was overly quick, given that only one issue was really at stake -- the girl's credibility.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bcf7a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The scene inside the courtroom as seen in this sketch.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd25a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Defence lawyer Tim Foster speaks to journalists Monday,</div> <div> July 9th, 2007.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd26a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary outside the courthouse after the verdict Monday,</div> <div> July 9th, 2007.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 468 WIDTH="707"><div> The seven-man, five-woman jury began deliberating in the early afternoon after Court of Queen's Bench Justice Scott Brooker instructed them in the law.</div> <bR> <div> He noted the Crown and defence agreed that Jeremy Steinke, the boyfriend of the accused, physically did the killing of the girl's mother, father and eight-year-old brother.</div> <bR> <div> The judge noted, however, that an accused can be found guilty if it's shown they intentionally helped, encouraged or persuaded someone to commit a crime.</div> <bR> <div> To convict on first degree murder, the jury had to agree the Crown proved there was planning and deliberation involved in the offence.</div> <bR> <div> The options of second-degree murder or a verdict of innocent were also made available to the jury.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The crux of the case</B></div> <bR> <div> The Crown had argued the girl pushed Steinke to kill her family because they disapproved of her relationship with the much-older man. She was 12 and he was 23 at the time of the April 2006 killings in the family's home.</div> <bR> <div> Over a four-week period, the Crown tabled 71 exhibits and dozens of witnesses to establish that the girl had plotted the murders with Steinke.</div> <bR> <div> The defence said the girl didn't want her family killed and had only discussed it as a "hypothetical" matter with Steinke.</div> <bR> <div> Foster had argued that Steinke, high on cocaine and inspired by violent movies, carried out the acts on his own in a misguided attempt to please his girlfriend.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 512 WIDTH="707"><div> In taking the stand, the girl testified she had just been venting when talking about how she hated her parents and wished her family was dead.</div> <bR> <div> She insisted Steinke broke in through a basement window and killed her mother and father.</div> <bR> <div> However, she admitted to trying to choke her brother, who was terrified. "I was trying to put him to sleep," she said.</div> <bR> <div> The girl admitted stabbing him one at Steinke's urging, but not very deeply. Steinke slit the boy's throat, she said.</div> <bR> <div> She described herself as being in a dreamlike state that night. But she did have the presence of mind to call a cab and go to a convenience store where she used her mother's bank card to withdraw money.</div> <bR> <div> The Crown introduced evidence of e-mail chats the accused had with Steinke discussing about how her family should be killed.</div> <bR> <div> A stick-person cartoon showed a family being burned alive by one figure who is smiling. That figure then runs to a vehicle labelled "Jeremy's truck."</div> <bR> <div> Police arrested the pair in Leader, Sask., which is northeast of Medicine Hat.</div> <bR> <div> As an offender under 14, the girl faces a maximum sentence of 10 years, although no more than six can be spent in custody.</div> <div> She cannot be named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.</div> <bR> <div> A pre-sentencing report will be prepared on the girl. Sentencing has been scheduled for Aug. 23.</div> <bR> <div> Steinke, 23, also faces murder charges, but has not yet entered a plea. No trial date has been set yet.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from CTV's Sarah Galashan and files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="09"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 341 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>RCMP charge two in Mayerthorpe officer murders</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July  08 2007  23:32  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 9th, 2007</div> <div> <B>More than two years after the original incident, two Alberta men face first-degree murder charges in connection with the shooting deaths of four Mounties.</B></div> <bR> <div> The two accused are Dennis Keegan Rodney Cheeseman, 23, and Shawn William Hennesey, 28. Both men are from Barrhead, Alta, which is to the northeast of the crime scene. They will appear in provincial court this Thursday.</div> <bR> <div> RCMP Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney said the two men are charged with being a party to the offence in what he called the "darkest day in RCMP history."</div> <bR> <div> According to the Criminal Code, a person can be a party to an offence if they do something, either by omission or commission, to assist someone who commits an offence.</div> <bR> <div> Alternatively, if some people join in common cause and one of them commits an offence, the others are a party if they "knew or ought to have known that the commission of the offence would be a probable consequence of carrying out the common purpose."</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd17a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Residents of Mayerthorpe, Alta., embrace during a candlelight memorial service Friday, March 3, 2006. (CP / Jeff McIntosh)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd18a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> One of the two men accused, Shawn William Hennesey, 28.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 323 WIDTH="707"><div> Rod Knecht, assistant commissioner of the RCMP's Alberta criminal operations, said, "It's not necessarily that they committed the crime directly but that they are somehow involved in facilitating the crime."</div> <bR> <div> James Roszko, a violent cop-hater with a criminal record, shot four officers to death on March 3, 2005. The tragedy was the national police force's worst single-day loss of life in more than a century.</div> <bR> <div> Roszko ended up taking his own life after trading gunfire with other police officers.</div> <bR> <div> The attack occurred as the officers -- Consts. Peter Schiemann, Tony Gordon, Brock Myrol and Leo Johnston -- guarded a Quonset hut on Roszko's property.</div> <bR> <div> The previous day, Bailiffs had gone to the farm near Mayerthorpe, Alta., located in quiet farming country northwest of Edmonton, to seize property. They saw some marijuana plants and stolen auto parts and called the RCMP.</div> <bR> <div> Roszko had been seen fleeing in his truck. That vehicle was later found 24 kilometres away.</div> <bR> <div> One question that arose in the incident's wake was whether he had assistance in returning to the farm where he ambushed the officers.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 372 WIDTH="540"><div> The RCMP say the two men were not at the farm, but they won't say how they are accused of helping Roszko.</div> <bR> <div> "It is truly recognized that many questions remain unanswered," Sweeney said, adding the investigation is continuing. "We have an obligation and responsibility to respect due process."</div> <bR> <div> Knecht said the two accused were known to police and acquaintances of Roszko. "They were associates over an extended period of time,'' he said.</div> <bR> <div> Grace Johnston, mother of Const. Leo Johnston, responded emotionally to the news of the arrests.</div> <bR> <div> "Oh my God. Oh my God. In the pit of my stomach I always knew that there had to have been somebody else," she told CTV News.</div> <bR> <div> "I guess I'm disappointed to hear that there's more than one individual actually involved in the murders," said the Rev. Don Schiemann, father of Peter Schiemann.</div> <bR> <div> Alberta Justice is yet to call a fatality inquiry into the officers' shooting deaths. An internal RCMP review of events leading up to the shootings won't be complete until the end of the criminal investigation.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd19a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> James Roszko is seen in this undate handout photo.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd1aa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Roszko farm near Rochfort Bridge, Alberta in March 2005 after the shooting of four RCMP officers.(CP PHOTO/Jeff McIntosh)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 323 WIDTH="707"><div> <B>Family dispute</B></div> <bR> <div> In a related development, Grace Johnston is trying to prevent her daughter-in-law Kelly Johnston over having Leo's body disinterred from a cemetery in Lac La Biche and moved to a plot in the cemetery at the RCMP training depot in Regina.</div> <bR> <div> The disinterment is scheduled to happen Wednesday.</div> <bR> <div> "With him here, we can just come and visit him," she told CTV Edmonton. "It's home, it's where he was born, where he was raised, where he went to school."</div> <bR> <div> Kelly, who lives in Airdrie, a Calgary bedroom community, said she stands by her decision: "I will love him until I take my last breath, and this is about love -- and honour and respect."</div> <bR> <div> A number of memorials around Lac La Biche honour Leo Johnston, and there are plans to name a lake on his father's trapline after him.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with reports from CTV Edmonton's Deborah Shiry, Ashlea Kay and files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="08"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 577 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Live Earth climate concerts touted as big success</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July  08 2007  17:55  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 8th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A Canadian climate activist is optimistic the global Live Earth event will help spur greater awareness of the issue.</B></div> <bR> <div> "Concerts like this in the past have stimulated a great deal of interest and support for different issues as we've gone through the last couple decades," John Bennett of the Sierra Club told CTV Newsnet on Sunday.</div> <bR> <div> "I'm pretty confident that having an event like this will lead to greater awareness among Canadians and people around the world that there is a climate crisis."</div> <bR> <div> Organizers of this weekend's Live Earth concerts are calling it the biggest musical event ever staged.</div> <bR> <div> The 29-hour music marathon featured 100 of the biggest names in music and spanned seven continents with an estimated worldwide television audience of 2 billion.</div> <bR> <div> The concert was also available on the Internet. More than 10 million people tuned in to the video broadcast on LiveEarth.MSN.com, making it the most watched online event ever.</div> <bR> <div> The event ended Saturday night at Giants Stadium in New Jersey with a plea to concert-goers from organizer and former U.S. vice president Al Gore.</div> <bR> <div> Gore called on fans to adhere to a seven-point pledge to tackle global warming.</div> <bR> <div> "Put all of this energy in your heart and help us solve the climate crisis," said the former vice president, appearing on stage at the end of the New Jersey concert with his wife Tipper.</div> <bR> <div> The plan asks signatories to plant new trees, increase energy efficiency in their homes and offices, buy from eco-friendly businesses and reduce their own carbon footprint.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd12a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> U.S. singer Madonna performs on stage during the British leg of the Live Earth concerts at London's Wembley Stadium, Saturday July 7, 2007. (AP / Anthony Harvey)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd13a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Police perform during the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium, Saturday, July 7, 2007 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP / Mel Evans)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd14a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Leonardo Dicaprio, left, and Al Gore appear on stage at the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium, Saturday, July 7, 2007 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP / Tim Larsen)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 919 WIDTH="707"><div> The concerts, designed to raise awareness about climate change, featured performances by the newly reunited Police, Madonna, the Smashing Pumpkins, Kanye West, Joss Stone and John Mayer.</div> <bR> <div> The event trumpeted the positive message that fighting global warming can be done with little changes such as buying low-energy light bulbs, washing laundry in cold water or planting a tree.</div> <bR> <div> "Let's hope the concerts that are happening around the world are not just about entertainment, but about starting a revolution," said Madonna, who sang a song she wrote for Live Earth called "Hey You."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Critics underwhelmed</B></div> <bR> <div> Critics wonder if the event did much to motivate global action on climate change. The concert series was also criticized for being ambiguous in its cause.</div> <bR> <div> Many criticized the carbon footprints of the musicians, often known to fly around the world in private jets, who performed during the event. Madonna's own carbon footprint is estimated to be 100 times that of the average Briton's.</div> <bR> <div> Many of the musicians acknowledged their own difficulties with reducing their carbon footprint, but said they are ready to change their ways.</div> <bR> <div> "If you want to peg me as not being entirely eco-friendly, you'll win," said John Mayer, speaking to reporters after his set. "We're just getting together saying 'We want to be healthier.'"</div> <bR> <div> Gore answered calls by critics saying the event was the most "green" ever held with recycling containers dispersed around the stadium, generators running on biofuels and a stage made of recycled tires.</div> <bR> <div> Bennett said the real problem is stopping the growth in emissions from industrial sources around the world.</div> <bR> <div> Individuals can and must do their part, he said. However, industrialists "are continuing to expand their emissions, continuing to produce pollution without regard for the future."</div> <bR> <div> In addition, those industrialists are heavily lobbying governments to not take concrete action against climate change, he said.</div> <bR> <div> To fight that, Canadians must realize the climate crisis is a political one and pressure governments to act, he said.</div> <bR> <div> People "shouldn't be fooled by the politicians turning this on you and saying it's your fault, and you should (feel) guilty and be changing your lightbulbs," he said.</div> <bR> <div> In Canada, heavy industry accounts for about half of GHG emissions.</div> <bR> <div> The federal Conservative government has tabled a plan to regulate heavy industry, but Bennett and others say it's a weak plan riddled with loopholes, especially for Alberta's oilsands.</div> <bR> <div> Under the Conservative plan, Canada wouldn't reach its Kyoto Protocol target of a six per cent cut in GHG emissions below 1990 levels until 2025.</div> <bR> <div> The target was supposed to be met by 2012, but the Conservatives have blamed the Liberals for inaction and allowing emissions to rise.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="07"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 448 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>At Live Earth, Al Gore urges world to take action</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. July  07 2007  12:06  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 7th, 2007</div> <div> <B>Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore took the stage at the Live Earth concert in Washington D.C. Saturday morning, urging citizens around the world to take the Seven Point Pledge to help reduce green house gas emissions and save our climate.</B></div> <bR> <div> "The American Indian people and the elders of native cultures here and around the world have been very eloquent in their warnings about what we're doing to the earth," Gore said, after being welcomed to the stage by Native American representatives.</div> <bR> <div> "They remind us that solving the climate crisis will not only require new laws and new technologies but also a new understanding that we are connected to the natural world."</div> <bR> <div> Country stars Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooths also took to the stage in Washington D.C., singing the words "We Shall be Free."</div> <bR> <div> The all-day "Mother Earth" concert takes place in the National Mall at the National Museum of the American Indian.</div> <bR> <div> Senate republicans tried to block Gore's attempt to bring his global warming extravaganza to the grounds of the U.S. Capital building.</div> <bR> <div> "It wasn't the cavalry that came to our rescue; it was the American Indian," Gore joked.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd0da0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Former Vice President Al Gore speaks during Live Earth concert, a 24-hour global concert series to raise awareness about climate change, at the National Museum of the American Indian, Saturday, July 7, 2007, in Washington. (AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd0ea0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Phil Collins of British band Genesis performs on stage during the British leg of the Live Earth concerts at London's Wembley Stadium on Saturday July 7, 2007. (AP / Anthony Harvey)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 1144 WIDTH="707"><div> Oklahoma's Blues Nation, one of the leading Native American Indian groups, also perform on the D.C. bill.</div> <bR> <div> In Japan, Kyoto's Live Earth Concert mixed local and international talent to spread the climate change message. The event rocked the birthplace or The Kyoto Protocol-an amendment to the international treaty on climate change. Composer Michael Mann, whose work includes scores for "The Piano" and "Gattaca," played to a packed audience.</div> <bR> <div> In London, The Black Eyed Peas performed a new song created for Live Earth. Lead singer Fergie said, "Old habits are hard to break, but that's because it's the right thing to do."</div> <bR> <div> <U>Get more Live Earth </U></div> <div> Gore revealed Thursday night, in an interview with CNN's Larry King, that Madonna will debut a new song during London's Live Earth event. "She's written a brand new song and it's fantastic," says Gore. "She will perform it for the very first time on 7/7/07.</div> <bR> <div> An anticipated 70,000 people filled the newly revamped Wembley Stadium to watch Genesis kick off the event. Singer Phil Collins called out "Good afternoon" to the crowds before digging into to some of the band's biggest hits.</div> <bR> <div> A who's who of the music industry, including Madonna, Metallica, Spinal Tap, the Beastie Boys, James Blunt and others, were lined up backstage. These artists, along with the other 150 musicians performing for Live Earth, are participating in the Live Earth Event for Free.</div> <bR> <div> The lineup of acts over the 24-hour show will include such the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Jovi, The Police, and the Beastie Boys.</div> <bR> <div> Through TV, radio and the internet, the entire Live Earth concert series is expected to reach an estimated audience of 2 billion people.</div> <bR> <div> CTV's unprecedented Live Earth coverage is running highlights of all the concerts from Toronto's MuchMusic headquarters.</div> <div> With 11 different concerts taking place, Canadian audiences can also turn to MuchMoreMusic, Star!, Bravo! to see shows in their entirety.</div> <bR> <div> Here's are some of the current and upcoming highlights for Live Earth, with some approximate times of the concert schedule:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hamburg, Germany: Chris Cornell, Jan Delay, Katie Melua</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Starts: 8 am ET/5 am PT </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Johannesburg, South Africa: Angelique Kidjo, Baaba Maal, Joss Stone</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Starts: 8:30 am ET/5:30 am PT </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">London, England: Black Eyed Peas, Madonna, James Blunt</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Starts: 8:30 am ET/5:30 am PT </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">New York City: Akon, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Starts: 2 pm ET/11 am PT</div> <bR> <div> The highlights of the concerts can be seen on CTV live from 9 p.m. ET until 11 p.m. on Saturday.</div> <bR> <div> You can tune into full concerts on these other channels:</div> <div> MuchMoreMusic (Live)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">9 p.m. on Friday, July 6 to 7 a.m. on Saturday, July 7: Live Earth: Sydney in its entirety </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. on July 7: Live Earth: London in its entirety</div> <div> MuchMusic (Live)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">11 p.m. on Friday July 6 to 8 a.m. on July 7: Live Earth: Tokyo in its entirety </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. on July 7: Live Earth: Washington in its entirety </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">2:30 - 11 p.m. on July 7: Live Earth: New Jersey in its entirety</div> <div> Bravo! (Live)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">8 a.m. - 5 p.m. on July 7: Live Earth: Hamburg in its entirety</div> <div> Star! (Live) </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">7 - 10 a.m. on July 7: Live Earth: Shanghai in its entirety </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">10 a.m. - 12 noon on July 7: Live Earth: Kyoto in its entirety (tape-delayed) </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">3 - 10 p.m. on July 7: Live Earth: Rio de Janeiro in its entirety</div> <div> MuchVibe (Live)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">12 noon - 5:30 p.m. on July 7: Live Earth: Johannesburg in its entirety</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="06"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 616 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Soldiers back at work as Afghan violence continues</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. July  06 2007  08:14  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 6th, 2007</div> <div> <B>The investigation into the deadly blast that claimed the lives of six Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter is still underway, but soldiers are back at work as violence continues to claim lives in the country.</B></div> <bR> <div> NATO announced Friday that a suicide bomber blew up a room full of policemen eating lunch at a southern Afghan checkpoint on Thursday, killing 10 officers and wounding 11. In another deadly exchange, three NATO soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan.</div> <bR> <div> CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar, said there is little time for grieving, and Canadian soldiers remain focused on their work.</div> <bR> <div> "I spoke to an officer this morning who is very closely connected to the company to which these soldiers belonged," Workman told CTV Newsnet on Friday.</div> <bR> <div> "He essentially said they will grieve for a few hours, they will then put their feelings aside and get back to work. He said there's really a great frustration among the troops at not being able to get back against these roadside bombs, but he also told me when asked how the troops are holding up, make no mistake about it they're in for the fight."</div> <bR> <div> The final two soldiers who were killed were identified Thursday. They are:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cpl. Jordan Anderson, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Capt. Jefferson Francis, 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Manitoba.</div> <bR> <div> The six soldiers were travelling in an RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle on Wednesday when it was struck by an improvised explosive device, killing all the occupants.</div> <bR> <div> Workman said the investigation into the blast is still underway and few details have been released publicly.</div> <bR> <div> However, some information is beginning to trickle down about how the soldiers were killed.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bd04a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> From top left to bottom right, Capt. Jefferson Francis, Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe, Master Cpl. Colin Bason, Cpl. Jordan Anderson, Cpl. Cole Bartsch and Pte. Lane Watkins.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd05a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a defence spending announcement onboard HMCS Halifax in Halifax on Thursday, July 5, 2007. (CP / Andrew Vaughan)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd06a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Canadian Forces RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle is see on the base in Kandahar. The RG-31 made its first appearance in Afghanistan March 2006.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 538 WIDTH="707"><div> "Sources tell here tell me the bomb itself didn't breach the vehicle, didn't penetrate the hull of the vehicle, that the hull remained intact," Workman said.</div> <bR> <div> "It seems as though the soldiers inside were somehow killed by the concussion of the blast, that's a bit of speculation, but the military's confidence in the vehicle remains very high that it's very strong, rugged, reliable and up to the job. The speculation is that it was more or less a lucky hit by the Taliban."</div> <bR> <div> The other four soldiers killed were identified as:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cpl. Cole Bartsch</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pte. Lane Watkins</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Master Cpl. Colin Bason </div> <bR> <div> Senior commanders at CFB Edmonton have called for quiet reflection on the recent deaths, rather than political debate on the mission. Four of the slain men were based in Edmonton.</div> <bR> <div> "I would encourage all of you that at this point in time, that the focus must be on repatriating these valiant soldiers and ensuring their families hear a clarion call of love and support from Canada," said Col. Jon Vance on Thursday.</div> <bR> <div> "The families are well aware that there is debate on this mission. Nonetheless, at this particular point in time, the most sensitive and, I think, mature approach, would be to show them ... love and support. These soldiers died in a mission that they believed in, and saw progress occurring."</div> <bR> <div> Also, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that it was not appropriate to have an immediate debate about the mission in light of the recent deaths.</div> <bR> <div> "Parliament has approved... (the mission) until February 2009, but obviously today is not the day to have a political debate on the future of the mission, we have the House of Commons for that," Harper told reporters at a press conference in Halifax.</div> <bR> <div> With the most recent deaths, 66 Canadian military personnel and one diplomat have now been killed in Afghanistan.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 430 WIDTH="707"><div> <B>Thursday violence</B></div> <bR> <div> In other violence on Thursday, 10 Afghan police officers were killed in a suicide blast and two NATO soldiers were killed and several others, including Afghan troops and a civilian contractor were wounded during an operation in the east, the alliance said Friday.</div> <bR> <div> The alliance has not disclosed the nationalities of the NATO casualties or the place where the operation took place. Most of the NATO troops in the east are American.</div> <bR> <div> Earlier, authorities said a roadside bomb in the east had killed a NATO soldier Thursday.</div> <bR> <div> More than 3,000 people -- mostly militants -- have now been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press tally.</div> <bR> <div> The suicide attack occurred near Spin Boldak, a town in the southern province of Kandahar near the Pakistan border. In addition to the killed police officers, 11 others were wounded, said Sayeed Agha Saqib, the provincial police chief. Spin Boldak's district police chief was among the wounded.</div> <bR> <div> Militants also deployed a roadside bomb against NATO-led forces in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, leaving one soldier dead and wounding two others, the alliance said Friday.</div> <bR> <div> The wounded soldiers were taken to a medical facility for treatment and were in stable condition.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="05"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 492 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Accused teenage killer felt like a 'zombie'</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. July  04 2007  20:45  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 5th, 2007</div> <div> <B>The accused teenage girl in a grisly murder case says she didn't stop her much older boyfriend from killing her family because she was in a dream-like state.</B></div> <bR> <div> And when she accepted a jailhouse marriage proposal, it's because she was still traumatized, she said during cross-examination Wednesday at her trial in Medicine Hat, Alta.</div> <bR> <div> The 13-year-old Medicine Hat, Alta. resident is on trial for the April 2006 deaths of her mother, father and eight-year-old brother.</div> <bR> <div> She is trying to pin the blame on Jeremy Steinke, her boyfriend who, at 24, is 11 years older than her.</div> <bR> <div> Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary asked the girl, who can't be named, if she would agree to marry Steinke if she was as horrified by her family's brutal deaths as she claimed to be.</div> <bR> <div> "My psychologist says it's post-traumatic stress disorder," the girl told the court, practically whispering.</div> <bR> <div> The accused told the Crown that even though she saw her parents' bloody bodies in the basement and saw Steinke slit her little brother's throat, she didn't call 911 because of her dream-like state.</div> <bR> <div> "I was like a zombie -- I could barely function," she said. "It didn't even enter my mind to call 911."</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bcf7a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The scene inside the courtroom as seen in this sketch.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd00a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary is seen in this courtroom sketch Wednesday, July 4, 2007.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bd01a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Defence lawyer Tim Foster speaks to journalists Wednesday, July 4, 2007.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 509 WIDTH="707"><div> In her testimony Tuesday, something often interrupted by weeping, the girl admitted stabbing her brother once and not very hard. She also admitted to having tried to choke him.</div> <bR> <div> "I was trying to put him to sleep," she testified.</div> <bR> <div> She testified her younger brother pleaded for his life, saying: "I'm scared. I'm too young to die."</div> <bR> <div> Steinke then slit her brother's throat, she said.</div> <bR> <div> "I thought he was going to kill me ... because I couldn't do it," she said of Steinke.</div> <bR> <div> After he fled the house, the girl was left alone. She didn't check to see if anyone was alive or needed help.</div> <bR> <div> "I wasn't thinking if they were dead for sure," she told court. "I was practically sleepwalking."</div> <bR> <div> Cleary noted that the girl stole her mother's purse, called a cab, and then withdrew money from her mother's bank account at a convenience store's ATM. She then went to meet up with Steinke.</div> <bR> <div> Her boyfriend is also facing first-degree murder charges, but he hasn't yet entered a plea and hasn't had a trial date set yet.</div> <bR> <div> Cleary suggested to the accused that she could have told the cab dispatcher, cab driver or convenience store clerk what had happened.</div> <bR> <div> The Crown also reminded the witness she started making out with Steinke at his house afterwards and ran away with him to Leader, Sask. where they were arrested.</div> <bR> <div> Earlier in the trial, the Crown introduced evidence of the accused and Steinke discussing the murder of her family. The accused again tried to characterize those discussions as either jokes or venting on her part.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 308 WIDTH="707"><div> <B><U>The two had this exchange</U></B><B>:</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cleary: You asked him if he would do it for you."</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Accused: "Not seriously."</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cleary: "Well did you?"</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Accused: "Maybe. I was never like, 'Ooh, it was a good idea."</B></div> <bR> <div> The accused was the only witness called by defence lawyer Tim Foster.</div> <bR> <div> "One of the things that keeps getting overlooked, I think, is that she was 12 years old. And what we expect adults to do and what we expect children to do are different things," he told reporters.</div> <bR> <div> "It's not my job to convict this young woman. It's my job to make sure the jury gets the whole story," Cleary said.</div> <bR> <div> Final arguments will be heard on Friday and the case will go to the jury on Monday.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report by CTV's Sarah Galashan and files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="04"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 155 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>13-year-old accused says she stabbed brother</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. July  03 2007  20:30  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 4th, 2007</div> <div> <B>A 13-year-old Medicine Hat girl testified on Tuesday that she stabbed her younger brother, but only because her boyfriend told her to.</B></div> <bR> <div> She also testified that it was her older boyfriend who killed her family.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bcf7a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The scene inside the courtroom as seen in this sketch on June 29.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 493 WIDTH="707"><div> The girl, who is accused of murdering her parents and eight-year-old brother in April 2006, took the stand in her own defence.</div> <bR> <div> She said her boyfriend Jeremy Steinke, who was 23 at the time, told her to kill the boy. She stabbed her brother once with a kitchen knife, but then stopped.</div> <bR> <div> "He yells at me, 'Stab him, just stab him! Slit his throat!'" said the girl, who can't be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.</div> <bR> <div> "I said, `I can't, I can't,' and he said, `You have to. I did this for you.'"</div> <bR> <div> She told the court her younger brother pleaded for his life, saying: "I'm scared. I'm too young to die."</div> <bR> <div> After she stabbed her brother, the girl said Steinke slit his throat while she looked away.</div> <bR> <div> "He was gurgling," she testified.</div> <bR> <div> The accused frequently wept on the stand, and spoke in a quiet voice as she recounted the gruesome details.</div> <bR> <div> "She constantly had to be reminded to speak up. She has broken down in tears a few times, and at one point asked the judge for a break," CTV's Sarah Galashan told Newsnet.</div> <bR> <div> The murders happened about one week after the accused and Steinke had sex for the first time. She testified how her boyfriend broke into her family's home through a basement window, fought with her parents and killed them.</div> <bR> <div> She told the court she felt scared at the time.</div> <bR> <div> "I didn't want this... (Steinke) came up the stairs and he was saying 'I love you, I love you," she said.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 472 WIDTH="707"><div> Earlier, the girl testified she had "hypothetical" conversations with Steinke about killing her family.</div> <bR> <div> In a very soft voice, the girl said she used to talk late into the night with Steinke, her co-accused, about how she hated her parents, who didn't approve of their relatioship.</div> <bR> <div> Steinke is facing trial in the case at some future point.</div> <bR> <div> The accused testified that she discussed various strategies with Steinke, such as making the deaths look like a murder-suicide or striking their heads while they slept then burning the house down.</div> <bR> <div> She said she never took those conversations seriously, in part because all her friends talked like that.</div> <bR> <div> The Crown ended its case last week.</div> <bR> <div> Evidence presented Friday showed that Steinke and the accused discussed a plan by email to kill her family, about a month before the murders.</div> <bR> <div> Friends of the accused testified that Steinke and the accused admitted to the killings the next morning.</div> <bR> <div> One said Steinke told him the family had been "gutted like fish" while the accused described how her eight-year-old brother "gargled" as he died.</div> <bR> <div> Galashan reported that the girl looked much like a normal teen during her testimony, as opposed to the "goth" look she had at the time of the killings.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report by CTV's Sarah Galashan and files from The Canadian Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="03"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 362 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Boy arrives in Canada for life-saving surgery</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July  02 2007  22:02  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 3rd, 2007</div> <div> <B>A 10-year-old Vietnamese orphan deformed by a tumour has arrived in Canada for reconstructive surgery that could restore his childhood -- and save his life.</B></div> <bR> <div> Hoang Son Pham was abandoned by his parents at the age of three because of a facial hemangioma, a benign tumour of blood vessels. Over the next seven years, the tumour continued to grow, causing difficulty with everyday tasks such as eating.</div> <bR> <div> In 2006, Canadian Kate Maslen met Son Pham at his orphanage and handed him a teddy bear.</div> <bR> <div> "He responded to me by writing one sentence on a big piece of paper, which took some time," Maslen recalls. "It said: 'Dear Aunt Kate, please help me'."</div> <bR> <div> Aunt Kate recalls of that moment: "Absolutely, he chose me."</div> <bR> <div> Maslen is the Ottawa manager of the <U>Children's Bridge Foundation</U>, a registered charity that provides educational programs for orphaned and abandoned children in China, Vietnam, South Korea, Kazakhstan and India.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bce0a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Pham as he appeared when arriving at the Ottawa International Airport on June 22, 2007.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bce1a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Hoang Son Pham was abandoned by his parents at the age of three because of a facial hemangioma, a benign tumour of blood vessels.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 372 WIDTH="540"><div> She was able to raise additional funds, first to have Son Pham examined by doctors in Hanoi, and then more to pay for the boy's travel to Canada and surgery.</div> <bR> <div> Son Pham arrived at the Ottawa International Airport last Friday and had a tearful reunion with his Aunt Kate, and her colleague Tan Ngo.</div> <bR> <div> Vu Tuong, the director of The Hai Doung Orphanage in Vietnam, also came to Canada for the surgery.</div> <bR> <div> The orphanage houses 700 children, many of them with special needs, but Son Pham's have been a particular concern. Time is running out and his mouth might soon be completely obstructed by the tumour.</div> <bR> <div> Son Pham has already been receiving injections the past few months to harden his tumour, to prepare him for surgery. He will be examined by surgeons at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto this week, and will get a more definitive prognosis.</div> <bR> <div> His post-surgical care could take up to four months. After that, a Canadian family has already asked to adopt the Son Pham.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with a report from CTV's Rosemary Thompson</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bce2a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> In 2006, Canadian Kate Maslen met Son Pham at his orphanage and handed him a teddy bear.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bce3a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Young Canadians await Pham's arrival and show their support.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="02"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 718 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Benoit's doctor charged in drug probe</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. July  02 2007  14:34  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 2nd, 2007</div> <div> <B>ATLANTA -- The personal doctor of pro wrestler Chris Benoit was charged Monday with improperly dispensing painkillers and other drugs.</B></div> <bR> <div> The seven-count indictment said Dr. Phil Astin dispensed drugs including Percocet, Xanax, Lorcet and Vicoprofen between April 2004 and September 2005.</div> <bR> <div> The recipients were identified in the indictment by the initials O.G. and M.J. Benoit's initials were not listed.</div> <bR> <div> Astin was expected to make an initial court appearance Monday afternoon.</div> <bR> <div> A criminal complaint was also filed, but was under seal. A law enforcement official close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the hearing, said the case involves steroids.</div> <bR> <div> Federal drug agents have taken over the probe into whether Astin improperly prescribed testosterone and other drugs to Benoit before the wrestler killed his wife and son and committed suicide in his suburban Atlanta home last month. State prosecutors and sheriff's officials are overseeing the death investigation.</div> <bR> <div> Federal prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of all property and proceeds Astin obtained through the illegal conduct if he's convicted.</div> <bR> <div> Investigators have conducted two raids at Astin's west Georgia office since last week.</div> <bR> <div> Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but has not said what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office June 22, the day authorities believe Benoit killed his wife.</div> <bR> <div> Toxicology tests on Benoit's body have not yet been completed, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said.</div> <bR> <div> Anabolic steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the killings. Some experts believe steroids can cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."</div> <bR> <div> "We're still asking questions and searching for answers with regard to the death so we can tie up loose ends," Ballard said.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bbc9a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Chris Benoit is shown in this March 29, 2004 photo. (CP / WWE)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bc07a0dc0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="220" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> In this undated photo provided by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, Dr. Phil Astin is shown. (AP Photo/Carroll County Sheriff's Office via the The Times-Georgian)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="bc08a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Fayete County Sheriff's Department Lt. Tommy Pope speaks during a news conference as District Attorney Scott Ballard looks on at left, outside the gate to professional wrestler Chris Benoit's home in Fayetteville, Ga., Tuesday, June 26, 2007. (AP / John Bazemore)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 252 WIDTH="707"><div> Ballard said finding a motive in the case remains elusive.</div> <bR> <div> "I think it will always be undetermined as to 'Why?'" Ballard said. "I think it's because there can't be any satisfactory reason why you kill a 7-year-old."</div> <bR> <div> Authorities have said Benoit strangled his wife and son, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home.</div> <bR> <div> Benoit's father, Michael, said Monday that "it's impossible to come up with a rational explanation for a very irrational act."</div> <bR> <div> "That's my feeling. Let the cards fall where they fall, we have no control over it at this point," he said. "It's just impossible to come up with a rational explanation for what happened."</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff <I>with files from The Associated Press</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 32 WIDTH="707"><div> =======================</div> <div>  <A NAME="01"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 266 WIDTH="540"><div> <B>Air strike kills 62 Taliban, 45 Afghan civilians</B></div> <div> Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. July  01 2007  10:01  ET</div> <div> Giant Dwarf Posted: July 1st, 2007</div> <div> <B>AHAR, Afghanistan -- An investigation into airstrikes that slammed into Afghan homes where Taliban fighters sought shelter found that 62 insurgents and 45 civilians were killed, two Afghan officials said Sunday.</B></div> <bR> <div> An investigating team was sent to Helmand province's Gereshk district, where fighting took place between insurgents and Western forces late Friday, said Dur Ali Shah, the mayor of Helmand province's Gereshk district, and Mohammad Hussein Andewal, the provincial police chief.</div> <bR> <div> NATO's International Security Assistance Force has acknowledged some civilians were killed in the southern battle but has said the death toll was nowhere near as high as Afghan officials have claimed.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="165"><div> <IMG SRC="bc05a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> An Afghan woman, who allegedly got injured by a U.S.-led coalition airstrike, lays in a hospital in Lashkar Gah the provincial capital of Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 30, 2007. (AP Photo / Abdul Khaleq)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 629 WIDTH="707"><div> Because of the battle site's remote location, it was impossible to independently verify the casualty claims. Afghan officials said fighter jets and ground forces were still patrolling the region and that the fighting continued into Saturday.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, a suicide attacker on foot blew himself up near a convoy of British forces in Gereshk district on Sunday, wounding several Afghans, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.</div> <bR> <div> The battle on Friday began when Taliban fighters tried to ambush a joint U.S.-Afghan military convoy, then fled to Hyderabad village for cover, said Helmand provincial Police Chief Mohammad Hussein. Airstrikes then targeted the militants in the village.</div> <bR> <div> Shah said late Saturday that 50 to 60 civilians and 35 Taliban fighters had been killed but changed his casualty figures on Sunday, citing the investigation.</div> <bR> <div> Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the military had no information "to corroborate numbers that large." He said NATO would not fire on positions if it knew civilians were nearby.</div> <bR> <div> "It's the enemy fighters who willingly fire when civilians are standing right next to them," he said.</div> <bR> <div> Civilian deaths have infuriated Afghans. President Hamid Karzai has condemned the forces for carelessness and viewing Afghan lives as "cheap." He also has blamed the Taliban for using civilians as human shields.</div> <bR> <div> The U.S.-led coalition said the airstrikes were in response to attacks on a joint Afghan-coalition patrol.</div> <bR> <div> "It appears that ANA (Afghan National Army) and coalition forces fired at clearly identified firing positions," said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. "Remains of some people who apparently were civilians were found among insurgent fighters who were killed in firing positions in a trench line."</div> <bR> <div> Belcher accused militants of hiding among civilians.</div> <bR> <div> Hyderabad resident Mohammad Khan said the airstrikes killed seven members of his family, including his brother and five of his brother's children.</div> <bR> <div> Villagers were burying a "lot of dead bodies" Saturday, he said by telephone.</div> <bR> <div> Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="#top" TITLE="Jul 07"><U><IMG SRC="16243f0d0.png" border=0 width="63" height="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>