Articles!
These "Articles" are dated from May 1st, 2009 - May 31st, 2009.
 German states approve funding, seal Magna deal
31/05/09
 Canada's Magna good for GM division, says Merkel
30/05/09
 GM getting in shape for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
29/05/09
 South Korean, U.S. troops on high alert
28/05/09
 Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk blasts off into space
27/05/09
 Gov. Gen. eats slice of slaughtered seal's raw heart
26/05/09
 Stafford investigators inspect discarded car seat
25/05/09
 The oceans ain't what they used to be, say researchers
24/05/09
 GM Canada, CAW reach cost-savings deal
23/05/09
 'Toronto 18' member given 30-month sentence
22/05/09
 Police continue search for Tori Stafford's body
21/05/09
 Police make arrests in Tori Stafford case
20/05/09
 Drug raids underway at Kanesatake
19/05/09
 Astronauts finish work on inside of Hubble
18/05/09
 Tories reject opposition demands for EI reform
17/05/09
 Spacewalkers tackle toughest Hubble repair job yet
16/05/09
 Deadline day for GM Canada and auto workers
15/05/09
 Mulroney expected to face tougher questions
14/05/09
 EU fines Intel a record US$1.44B for monopoly abuse
13/05/09
 Mulroney set to testify about Schreiber dealings
12/05/09
 Shuttle fuels for launch, weather near perfect
11/05/09
 Humanitarian disaster looms in Pakistan
10/05/09
 Losing your job can make you sick, study finds
09/05/09
 Economy adds 35,900 workers, jobless rate flat
08/05/09
 Army offensive in Pakistan's Swat spurs fears of humanitarian crisis
07/05/09
 Canadians released from quarantine in China
06/05/09
 EU Parliament passes import ban on seal products
05/05/09
 Mexico sends plane to pick up citizens in China
04/05/09
 Spain has 40 cases of H1N1 flu, hardest hit in Europe
03/05/09
 Worker may have passed H1N1 to Alberta pigs
02/05/09
 Halifax brush fire forces more residents to evacuate
01/05/09
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German states approve funding, seal Magna deal
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. May  31  2009  10:19  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 31st, 2009
Two German states pledged their support Sunday for a bridge loan to General Motors' Opel division, a final step in the deal that sees Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International acquire the European automaker.

The deal, reached very early Saturday morning, calls for Magna to gain a 20 per cent stake in Opel, while its Russian-owned partner Sherbank gets 35 per cent.

GM retains 35 per cent, while Opel employees will hold the remaining 10 per cent.
A small flag reading 'We are Opel' is seen on top of a car in front of the Opel headquarters in Ruesselsheim, central Germany, Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP / Michael Probst)
"The time of uncertainty is over," North Rhine-Westphalia governor Juergen Ruettgers said. "The main components of Opel's future remain in Europe."

Germany's federal government, and governments of four states where Opel has its operations, have now agreed to issue US$2.11 billion worth of bridge loans. Another $424 million will be made available for short-term expenditures, so that a trustee can take control of the company.

After the deal was reached Saturday, the state governments of Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate pledged their shares of the bridge financing, US$73.31 million and $140.98 million respectively.

On Sunday, the governments in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia approved their respective shares of $630.18 million and $211.47 million.

"We've decided that there is to be a new European company," Hesse governor Roland Koch said. "I think that for Opel and its employees it is an unbelievable chance."

Opel employs about half of GM Europe's work force, including 25,000 people in Germany.

The new deal ensures that all four German factories remain open, but Magna officials have previously said they would like to trim about 2,600 jobs.

Other GM Europe assets, such as British company Vauxhall and its operations, will also fall under trusteeship. The Swedish company Saab is not included in the deal.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
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Canada's Magna good for GM division, says Merkel
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. May  30  2009  13:21  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 30th, 2009
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says a deal to have Canadian auto parts maker Magna International acquire General Motors' Opel division will give the European automaker "prospects for the future."

The Ontario-based Magna had been competing for weeks to land control of Opel, which it finally did at the start of the weekend when the deal was approved.

Merkel spoke about the deal on Saturday, the same day her government agreed to provide US$2.1 billion in bridge loans, as well as $424 million for short-term expenditures, so that a trustee can take control of the company on Saturday.

"Opel has been given prospects for the future," said Merkel, following overnight talks involving her government, as well as the two automakers involved in the deal. "Now the work for Opel and for Magna ... really begins."

Magna will own 20 per cent of Opel, combining with the Russian-owned Sberbank's 35 per cent stake to take a majority interest in the company.

GM will also hold 35 per cent and Opel workers will take the remaining 10 per cent.

The financing of the deal must still be approved by parliamentary committees in two German states, though it is expected to be completed on Sunday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves a press conference in Berlin, Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP / Franka Bruns)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Juergen Ruettgers, prime minister of German state North Rhine-Westphalia, left, welcome Magna International Inc. Chairman Frank Stronach, center, during a meeting about the future of Opel in the Chancellery in Berlin, on Wednesday, May 27, 2009. (AP / Gero Breloer)
Opel employs 25,000 people in Germany and constitutes almost half of GM's European workforce.

Some of GM Europe's other assets, including the British brand Vauxhall, are included in the trusteeship. The Swedish company Saab is not included in the deal.

The deal ensures that Germany's four Opel plants will remain open, though Magna recently said 2,500 job cuts are needed.

The German government pushed to have Opel fall under the temporary control of a trustee, so that the company will not be affected from GM's presumed bankruptcy filing next week.

The government also wanted to ensure that the financial aid it was providing would not end up in GM's pockets in the United States.

"The fault here is ... a major mismanagement in the United States of America by GM," Merkel said.

Earlier in the week, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said he expected the new Opel would continue to share research and development activities with GM.

"It's a symbiotic relationship, and it saves a lot of cost, and I can't see a new partner saying, 'no, no, we're not going to do any of that anymore," Lutz said.

German officials, however, said GM's minority stake in Opel was dependent on the Detroit automaker's continued co-operation in automotive research.

GM and the Magna consortium will also negotiate competition agreements in markets where they will be selling vehicles built with similar technology. Magna's co-CEO, Siegfried Wolf, said he expected these agreements would be complete within the next five weeks.

Fiat Group SpA had been in talks to acquire Opel, but walked away from the bargaining table on Friday.

But Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said his company faced "unreasonable" funding demands that had been requested during negotiations.

Fiat is in the midst of taking a 20 per cent stake in Chrysler, which should be approved once the U.S. automaker clears restructuring efforts in a New York bankruptcy court.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
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GM getting in shape for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. May  29  2009  07:21  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 29th, 2009
DETROIT -- The speed at which General Motors Corp. exits bankruptcy protection will depend a lot on the shape the company is in when it enters. GM has three more days to tidy up.

Bankruptcy experts say the more operational, labour and financial concessions the automaker gets lined up in advance of its likely Chapter 11 reorganization, the faster the ailing automaker can emerge a leaner, stronger company -- one that will be nearly three-quarters-owned by taxpayers.
Cars are lined up for sale at a GM Dealership in Los Gatos, Calif., Thursday, May 28, 2009. (AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez)
More pieces started coming together Thursday after a bloc of GM's biggest bondholders agreed to the Treasury Department's sweetened deal to wipe out $27 billion of the automaker's unsecured debt in exchange for company stock.

Workers across the country won't know until Monday which 14 plants GM will close, shedding 21,000 more jobs, but an announcement on the fate of GM's Hummer brand is expected Friday, when talks are scheduled to resume in Germany about the future of GM's European Opel unit.

GM's union employees also finish voting Friday on whether to ratify a modified contract that would cut some of their benefits but slash the automaker's labor costs.

And GM's board of directors will begin two days of meetings to decide what the automaker will do when its government restructuring deadline arrives Monday.

A person familiar with GM's plans said it was "probable" that the company would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. The person did not want to be identified because the plans were still under discussion with the U.S. and Canadian governments.

GM's new road map, outlined in a regulatory filing Thursday, would briefly send the automaker into bankruptcy protection, erase most of its debt and eventually have it emerge leaner and stronger.

A senior Obama administration official estimated that GM would be under bankruptcy protection for 60 to 90 days, longer than Chrysler's expected reorganization because GM is bigger and more complex. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The U.S. Treasury, which already has loaned GM $19.4 billion, would get 72.5 per cent of the new company's stock and provide $30 billion in additional financing to keep the new GM operating under bankruptcy protection.

Canada's government is expected to provide an additional $9 billion, the administration official said.

A United Auto Workers trust that will take over retiree health care expenses will get 17.5 per cent, and the old GM, effectively owned by the bondholders, would get a 10 per cent stake.

GM's existing shareholders will probably lose everything.

"It's fair to say that there would be little to no recovery," the official said.
The proposal is similar to what has happened to Chrysler, already under Chapter 11 protection. A bankruptcy judge is expected to decide Friday whether to approve the sale of most of its assets to Italian carmaker Fiat Group SpA.

The administration official said that although the government hopes to get back as much of the money loaned to GM and Chrysler as possible, it never envisioned recovering much of the initial $13.4 billion in aid.

Eventually, the government hopes, GM can return to profitability, which would allow the government to sell its GM stock. But the risks for taxpayers are daunting, with U.S. auto sales near their lowest level in 27 years.

"We will come out of this rid of some of the historic legacy costs that have been dragging us down for the last 20 years or so," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Thursday at an Automotive Press Association luncheon in Detroit. "We will come out of it with an all new focus on product development."

Under the government's offer, bondholders would get 10 per cent of the stock in a newly formed GM, the same as a proposal that they shunned earlier this week. But the new offer also gives them warrants to buy an additional 15 per cent stake, possibly at a discount.

That would come only if they agree to support selling GM's assets to a new company under bankruptcy court protection.

The revised offer amounted to an ultimatum: Go along with the government auto task force's proposal or face substantial reduction in the amount of stock and warrants they will get.

"They have sweetened the deal by adding the warrants to the equation," said Pete Hastings, senior analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co. "It's enough for me to have moved from rejecting the deal and trying our luck in bankruptcy court to the side of recommending the deal."

A bloc of bondholders who represent about 20 percent of GM's $27 billion in unsecured debt called the deal unfair but said they'll take it rather than roll the dice in bankruptcy court and risk getting even less.

Two coalition of smaller bondholders, meanwhile, opposed the offer, saying it remained unfair to retirees who depend on GM bonds for income and was overly favorable to the UAW.

Union President Ron Gettelfinger said in a telephone interview he did not want to get into a debate with bondholders while the union was pushing for ratification of concessions to GM. Union members were to wrap up voting Friday.

The filing didn't specify how many bondholders would be needed to make the deal work. The government had demanded that 90 percent agree to the previous offer, and it fell far short. The Obama administration official said the government would not require a specific percentage of bondholders to approve the new proposal but would make a judgment call based on the level of support.
Representatives of the committee of larger bondholders were trying to contact the thousands of GM bondholders before a deadline of 5 p.m. Saturday.

The government plan envisions the slimmed-down new GM with $17 billion in long-term debt and $9 billion in debt-like preferred shares. That would be 61 percent less than its debt load now.

Only $8 billion of the existing U.S. government loans would remain on the books. The remainder would be converted into equity and preferred shares.

The Obama administration official said the holders of GM's $6 billion in secured debt would be "protected" but declined to elaborate.

Trading of GM shares was halted for a short time Thursday morning. They fell 3 cents to end at $1.12 after a day of volatile trading.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
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South Korean, U.S. troops on high alert
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. May  28  2009  07:45  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 28th, 2009
South Korean and U.S. troops were on high alert Thursday after the reclusive North Korean regime signalled its unwillingness to co-operate with international demands to dismantle its nuclear program.

Pyongyang on Wednesday discarded a longstanding truce with allied forces and warned that any naval action against its ships would be seen as an act of war.

And on Thursday the isolationist nation said it was preparing for an American-led attack -- something Washington has said it has no plans for.

"The northward invasion scheme by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet regime has exceeded the alarming level," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary on Thursday.

"A minor accidental skirmish can lead to a nuclear war."

Former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix said North Korea's actions seem designed to maintain tension and keep the nation isolated from the world.
A South Korean Marine stands guard in alert on Yeonpyong Island, western South Korea, Thursday, May 28, 2009. (AP / Yonhap, Ahn Jung-won)
South Korean navy warships leave to patrol off the Yeonpyong Island, west of mainland South Korea, Thursday, May 28, 2009.(AP / Yonhap, Ahn Jung-won)
"I'm beginning to wonder if the military side, the hardline military side wants to have certain controversy going with the outside world because that can help to justify their military control and justify the misery the population is in," Blix told CTV's Canada AM.

In addition to fears about North Korea's nuclear capability there are also concerns the nation could sell its technology to a terrorist group, or that Japan could seek nuclear armament in order to defend itself if necessary, Blix said.

"If that were to happen then the temperature in the Far East would go up very drastically and relations with China would be very much impaired," Blix said.

"So the conclusion from that is that China itself would have very strong reasons to calm North Korea and make them come back to six-party talks and to a settlement."

Tensions have been high since the isolationist regime carried out an underground nuclear test earlier this week as well as a number of short-range missile tests.

As a result of the tests, more than 90 nations agreed to stop and inspect vessels that could be carrying banned weapons to the peninsula.

Pyongyang reacted quickly to the news of the international community's response, claiming the Proliferation Security Initiative led by Washington -- and Seoul's participation in it -- is nothing more than a prelude to a naval blockade.

North Korea also on Wednesday ended the truce that was put in place in 1953 to end of the Korean War.

South Korea's foreign ministry spokesperson Moon Tae-young said the decision to participate in the security initiative has been distorted by Pyongyang, calling the reaction "a groundless misconception."

The joint South Korean-U.S. forces have raised surveillance levels to the highest they have been since 2006, when North Korea carried out its first nuclear test.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
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Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk blasts off into space
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. May  27  2009  07:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 27th, 2009
Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk is on his way to the International Space Station Wednesday after successfully launching into space on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Thirsk, along with Russian astronaut Roman Romanenko and Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne, blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:34 ET.

The 55-year-old will spend six months on the ISS, making him the first Canadian to embark on a long-duration space flight.
His last flight was a 17-day flight aboard Columbia in 1996.

Former Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason said the Soyuz is one of the most reliable vehicles to take astronauts into space but it's not the most comfortable.

"It's very cramped and in the next two days that it takes for the Soyuz to catch up to the space station they have to just work in this very small volume," Tryggvason told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.

"There's another compartment they can go into for using the bathroom facilities but again it's very, very tight quarters."

Once they arrive, the crew on the ISS will grow to six -- the largest-ever on the space station.
The Soyuz-FG rocket launches with Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk aboard from the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, May 27, 2009.
Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk is seen as Russian space agency specialists inspect his space suit prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, May 27, 2009. (AP / Sergey Ponomarev)
During his time on the ISS, Thirsk will be taking medication given to people with osteoporosis so researchers can examine its impact on minimizing bone loss.

He'll also have to deal with the psychological effects of isolation and confinement and the longer exposure to ionizing radiation.

Tryggvason said the research that will be done on the ISS will help for future missions.

"It acts as a stepping stone for the next big program, which is returning people to the moon," Tryggvason said.

"Hopefully we'll have Canadians involved in that and so in perhaps 10 years from now we'll see a Canadian walking on the moon.

In September, a Japanese cargo vehicle, called HTV, will rendezvous with the station and Thirsk will have to use the Canadarm 2 to connect it to the ISS.

Thirsk will also complete an experiment where he'll control a roving robot at the CSA headquarters in Montreal from the ISS.
Next month, fellow Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will visit Thirsk as part of her 16-day mission aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
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Gov. Gen. eats slice of slaughtered seal's raw heart
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. May  26  2009  07:40  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 26th, 2009
In a graphic gesture of solidarity with seal hunters, Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean swallowed a dripping chunk of seal heart as hundreds of Inuit looked on.

The incident took place Monday at a community festival in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

Jean, on a week-long trip to the Arctic, knelt above a pair of seal carcasses and carved out the meat using a traditional ulu blade.

After slashing through the flesh, the Governor General turned to the woman beside her and asked: "Could I try the heart?"
Shortly thereafter, Jean was given a bloody piece of seal heart and ate it whole. She then grabbed a tissue to wipe her blood-soaked fingers.

"It's like sushi," she said. "And it's very rich in protein."

Jean said it was "absolutely delicious."

Last month, the European Union voted to ban seal products.

Inuit communities from Canada and Greenland are exempted in the bill but they still cannot engage in large-scale trading of seal products in Europe.

In Nunavut, locals say the ban will only add to the already troubled economic situation.

Jean said the hunt is practiced responsibly.

"These are ancient practices that are part of a way of life," she said.

"If you can't understand that, you're completely missing the reality of life here."

Paul Kaludjak, head of the agency implementing Nunavut's land claims agreement, said the value of seals makes up 20 per cent of his area's economic activity.

"It's hard to say how much will be lost because of this -- because it's early," Kaludjak said. "We'll find out in a matter of years."
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean gets a tour of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut by local Levinia Brown on Monday, May 25, 2009. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean eats the heart of a seal during a community feast in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut on Monday, May 25, 2009.(Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean uses an ulu to skin a seal during a community feast in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut on Monday, May 25, 2009. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Meanwhile, Jean is using her trip to push for a university in the North to help Inuit be a part of the economic growth in the region.

"I am totally convinced that this kind of infrastructure would be something worth considering," Jean told several town councillors.

"It's very important for those young people to see that (a degree) is possible, that it is accessible, not too far away from where they are.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from The Canadian Press
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Stafford investigators inspect discarded car seat
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. May  25  2009  14:10  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 25th, 2009
Police are testing a discarded grey rear car seat they found in Kitchener, Ont. for forensic evidence, to see if it is connected to the kidnapping and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford.

Investigators asked the public for help this weekend in locating the rear seat of a 2003 blue Honda Civic -- a vehicle they believe is part of their investigation.

Authorities have yet to confirm the seat they found in Kitchener is the one they have been looking for.

The vehicle, which is blue and partially covered by black spray paint, was spotted in a Guelph, Ont. Home Depot parking lot hours after Victoria went missing from her hometown of Woodstock on April 8.

Police had previously asked the public to come forward if they remembered seeing the vehicle that same day.

Investigators ask that it not be touched, so that it can be preserved in its existing state for use in the investigation.
Police found this discarded grey rear car seat in Kitchener, Ont., on Monday, May 25, 2009.
The OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit arrived in Fergus, Ont., to search part of the Belwood Lake on Monday, May 25, 2009.
"It could have some forensic value, there could be some trace evidence on it," Bruce Smollet, a retired staff inspector from the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit, told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

"If the back seat was taken out prior to Tori being taken it certainly shows some pre-planning."

Lake search

Meanwhile police looking for the missing girl's body have called in a dive team to help search lakes in Guelph and Fergus, Ont.

The OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit arrived in Fergus, about an hour-and-a-half northwest of Toronto, early Monday and searched part of the Belwood Lake.

The dive team also went to Guelph Lake for a search.

Three police officers were seen heading out into the murky man-made lake on a small boat with a torpedo-like device called a side-scan sonar.

This device takes an acoustic image of what is underwater and projects it on a computer screen. If police see anything unusual, divers are then instructed to inspect the area.

The search of the lake is not based on any new investigative tips but rather is a sign that investigators are being thorough in their search, a police source told CTV News.

Last week, police charged Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, with kidnapping and murder.

Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, faces charges of kidnapping and being an accessory to murder after the fact.

For the last five days, McClintic has been helping the Ontario Provincial Police find Tori's body in a search radius that covers the span of a 50-minute drive from Guelph, Ont.

The court order allowing McClintic to aid police in the search expired Sunday night.

McClintic's lawyer, Jeanine Roy, said in an email to The Canadian Press that her client is now at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre in London, Ont.

Roy said she did not expect McClintic to have any "direct participation in the search."

Rafferty and McClintic are due to appear in court Thursday.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from ctvtoronto.ca
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The oceans ain't what they used to be, say researchers
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. May  24  2009  16:05  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 24th, 2009\
Only decades before the factories of the industrial revolution sullied Europe's skies with smog in the 19th Century, coastal Great Britain teemed with marine wildlife like dolphins, orcas and blue whales, according to a new study.

Seven seas away, during the early 1800s, the waters surrounding New Zealand were home to nearly 30,000 southern right whales, which researches say is about 30 times today's population.

Those historical sketches are just some of the findings to be showcased during the Census of Marine Life conference, which takes place in Vancouver from May 26 - 28.

While the contention that today's oceans are less populated than they used to be isn't new -- school kids are taught that John Cabot's crew caught fish in Newfoundland with only a basket -- the experts behind the data say their findings are important in terms of perception and conservation.

According to University of New Hampshire researcher Andy Rosenberg, recent observations of the world's waterways have skewed perceptions about the health of our rivers, lakes and oceans.

Rosenberg, a top researcher for the Census' History of Marine Animal Population (HMAP) project, also says the historical findings are forcing officials to confront current preservation efforts.
According to a new study, coastal Great Britain teemed with marine wildlife like dolphins, orcas and blue whales. (Jacques Boissinot / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
HMAP researchers analyzed more than 150 whaling logbooks and found that right whale population near New Zealand in the early 1800s was between 22,000 and 32,000.(AP Photo / Courtesy The Center for Whale Reseach)
One key region for researchers has been New Zealand, which is among the most recently populated places on earth.

While much of Eurasia and Africa have been heavily populated for thousands of years, New Zealand was first settled by pacific islanders around 1280 A.D., which gives researchers a clearer picture of human impact on marine life.

HMAP researchers analyzed more than 150 whaling logbooks and found that right whale population near New Zealand in the early 1800s was between 22,000 and 32,000.

However, by 1925, there were only 25 female whales capable of producing offspring, the researchers say. The findings are 95 per cent accurate, according to HMAP.

Today, about 1,000 of the whales are being closely monitored by researchers and the HMAP data is already being used to guide conservation efforts.

"These findings point up the need to re-examine the role southern right whales once played both as a grazer of zooplankton and prey, especially during calving close inshore, for killer whales and great white sharks," said Alison MacDiarmid, a conservationist employed by the New Zealand government.

Arguably, one of the most important findings is how much oceans have changed in the past few decades.

By analyzing sport fishing photos, dated from 1956 to 2007, from the Key West area near Florida, researchers found that the average fish size dropped from about 23 kilograms to only 2.3 kilograms.

The census team also found that big predators like sharks often dominated the early trophy photos. These days, however, small fish like snappers are the norm.

According to leading researchers, the findings are new and important to the overall health of the world's waters.

"Most histories of successful marine recoveries are found among mammals and birds, but cases involving marine reptiles and fish also exist. Only in a few cases, however, did they fully recover their former abundance," according to Dalhousie University researcher Heike Lotze.

"In the past, some combination of reduced or banned exploitation, pollution controls or habitat protection, especially of breeding colonies and feeding grounds, propelled recovery."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from Jered Stuffco
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GM Canada, CAW reach cost-savings deal
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. May  22  2009  18:46  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 23rd, 2009
The head of the Canadian Auto Workers says his union has come to an agreement on further cost-cutting measures with GM Canada, which will allow the Detroit automaker to remain competitive and qualify for government loans.

Ken Lewenza told reporters gathered at a Toronto news conference on Friday morning that it was "a struggle" for his union to come to a deal with GM, but he felt the CAW had done the best it could under the circumstances.

"We have preserved our wages, we have preserved and secured our pension benefits, we have protected most of our core benefits," Lewenza said.
Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, listens to a question during a press conference, in Toronto, on Friday, May 22, 2009. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
"Another key victory is an agreement to restructure our pension plan, which has been in real jeopardy," he added, noting that GM's pension load was a "huge" issue during the talks.

Under the deal, Lewenza said the union's pension rates will be frozen until 2015.

He said the deal also stipulates that the GM plants in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Woodstock will stay open.

Other specifics of the deal were not immediately made available, though Lewenza said it would deliver $15 to $16 in savings in the average per-hour wage of GM's Canadian workers.

Lewenza said the two sides came to the deal at 11 p.m. on Thursday, after two weeks of tense negotiations.

"It has been the toughest two weeks of our collective career for this bargaining committee," he said.

The deal is still tentative, as it must still be ratified by CAW members.

The union had been forced into the negotiations, which saw the CAW sit down with GM for the third time in the past year.

The previous agreement was signed in March, but was rejected by the provincial and federal governments, saying it did not go far enough.

"It is incredibly frustrating to go back to the members with a new contract, the third ratification in a year," Lewenza said.

CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley told CTV Newsnet the last year has been a "rollercoaster" for auto workers. But he said that the new deal gives him some "relief in a very, very difficult time."

"We did the right thing. The alternative was, if we walked away from this, General Motors would have been forced into liquidation and all of us would have lost . . . thousands of jobs across Canada," he said Friday evening.

The provincial and federal governments had said the increased cost savings were necessary if the automaker and CAW members wanted to qualify for financial aid -- something Lewenza said was "crucial" to GM's long-term survival.

Speaking in Calgary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his approval of a deal being reached.

"I'm hopeful when we look at the deal that all involved have made the difficult decisions necessary to create a viable company," he said.

On Thursday, Lewenza had hinted that the two sides were making progress in their negotiations.

The CAW deal was announced one day after the U.S auto workers reached a deal of their own with GM.

The troubled automaker still plans to close 16 factories in order to trim its bottom line to stay afloat -- a move that will put some 21,000 hourly workers in the U.S. and Canada out of a job.

GM is facing a tight deadline to restructure its operations by June 1, a deadline that has been set by the U.S. government.
Otherwise, the company will be forced into bankruptcy protection.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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'Toronto 18' member given 30-month sentence
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. May  22  2009  13:24  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 22nd, 2009
TORONTO — A judge has given the first person ever convicted of helping and taking part in a terrorist organization a 2½ year sentence.

However, the 21-year-old member of the so-called Toronto 18, could be free from custody as early as today based on credit for time served in custody.
The young man, charged as a youth but sentenced as an adult, has his identity protected by a temporary publication ban.
Justice John Sproat of Ontario Superior Court found the accused guilty back in September.

He said in his judgment that there was overwhelming evidence that a homegrown Islamic militant cell did exist -- and that it had set its sights on Canadian targets.

In doing so, he rejected allegations by the defence that the whole matter was simply a collection of fantasies and brave talk.

The RCMP, working with the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, made arrests in the summer of 2006. They also seized apparent bomb-making materials.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Police continue search for Tori Stafford's body
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. May  21  2009  07:45  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 21st, 2009
With two suspects in custody, Ontario Provincial Police say they won't stop until they find the remains of eight-year-old Victoria "Tori" Stafford.

The Woodstock, Ont., girl went missing on April 8 and police say they realize the significance of returning her to her loved ones.

CTV's Joel Bowey, reporting from Woodstock, said police have been searching Thursday in Rockwood, about 14 kilometres north of Guelph.

Bowey said there have been no reports of any memorial being planned for Tori.

"It's particularly difficult for people because Tori's body has not been found," Bowey told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.

CTV's legal analyst Steven Skurka said there are rare cases where people can be convicted even if no body is found.

"At the press conference yesterday it was indicated that police could confirm that murder was the proper charge so it seems to me that they have a body of evidence that indicates without any doubt whatsoever that this poor child was murdered," Skurka said Thursday from Toronto.
A police helicopter takes off from the O.P.P. headquarters in Rockwood, Ont. to search the rural fields North of Guelph on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. (Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
From left, Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, are both facing charges in connection with the disappearance of Victoria Stafford.
On Wednesday, OPP Det. Insp. Bill Renton confirmed the identities of the two suspects:
- Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, has been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder.
- Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, is charged with kidnapping and being an accessory after the fact.

Both suspects appeared in court Wednesday morning and were remanded in custody until May 28.

Renton said he doesn't anticipate making any further arrests.

Witnesses say Rafferty was crying during his court appearance.

Victoria was last seen walking away from her school with an unidentified woman.

A surveillance camera in the area caught the woman and child walking together.

Renton said that the surveillance video was "one piece of evidence that has brought us to where we are."

The female suspect, who was arrested first on an outstanding warrant, is said to be helping police locate the body.
Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, is seen in this undated image taken from Facebook.
Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, is shown in this undated photo taken from the social networking site 'Facebook.' (Facebook / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Renton said McClintic and Victoria's mother Tara McDonald "are familiar" with each other. However, he would not say if the suspect ever met Victoria.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from ctvtoronto.ca
=======================
 
Police make arrests in Tori Stafford case
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. May  20  2009  08:28  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 20th, 2009
Two people have been arrested in connection with the case of missing 8-year-old Victoria "Tori" Stafford, according to reports.

The Woodstock, Ont., girl went missing on April 8 and was last seen walking away from her school with an unidentified woman.

Police sources close to the case confirmed a man and woman were arrested last night but released few details about the charges they are facing -- or the identities of the suspects.
Tara McDonald holds a photo she says was taken at school the day before her daughter, Victoria Stafford, disappeared, in Woodstock, Ont. on Wednesday, April 22, 2009.
Authorities are expected to release details of the arrest at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Sources say the suspects in custody are a man and woman but they are not the girl's parents, according to crime reporter Sue Sgambati. However, police say they are known to Victoria's family.

Police believe Victoria was abducted for "sexual purposes" and investigators are now looking for the child's body near Guelph, Ont., Sgambati told CTV's Canada AM in an interview from Woodstock.

"This was an opportunistic crime, described to me by sources as a worst-case scenario," she said. "Police are looking for Tori's body as we speak outside of this jurisdiction."

Although the suspects know Victoria's parents, police don't believe they knew who their daughter was at the time she was kidnapped, Sgambati said.

"I think there's a lot of shock, even among law enforcement," said Sgambati.

A call to the Oxford Community Police in Woodstock by ctvtoronto.ca went unanswered by press time.

Investigators have previously released a composite sketch of a suspect but despite a number of tips from the public, have failed to locate any trace of the child.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from ctvtoronto.ca
=======================
 
Drug raids underway at Kanesatake
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. May  19  2009  07:51  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 19th, 2009
A major drug bust is underway Tuesday in the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, northwest of Montreal, in one of the largest law-enforcement operations in the community since the 1990 Oka crisis.

The RCMP, the Surete du Quebec and Kanesatake Peacekeepers are conducting raids at 13 locations in an attempt to dismantle a marijuana-grow operation.
This CTV map shows the location of the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, in relation to Montreal.
The Mounties could not confirm reports that shots were fired and that one of the suspects got away.

The RCMP is expected to provide more details at a news conference later on Tuesday morning.

Troubled community

The raids are just the latest chapter in the nearly 400-year history of the Kanesatake Mohawk community, which is not considered a reserve as defined by the federal government.

The climax came in 1990 when the army was called in following the shooting death of a provincial police officer during a land-claims dispute over a golf course.

Policing, drug problems

The years following the Oka crisis were filled with numerous power struggles between the elected band council and traditionalists who view the elected process as the white man's creation.

There has often been violent infighting, most notably during a January 2004 policing dispute in which then-chief James Gabriel's house was burned to the ground.

Gabriel had fired the police chief and brought in native officers from outside Kanesatake to deal with what he said were drug dealers and other criminals.

His move touched off a violent night that included the torching of Gabriel's home and a siege in which the outside police officers were surrounded and confined to the local station house by an angry mob.

The Surete du Quebec, ever-cognizant of its violent history with the community, has usually been reluctant to conduct solo police operations at Kanesatake. It's not yet clear if Tuesday's raids had the blessing of the grand chief and band council.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from ctvmontreal.ca
=======================
 
Astronauts finish work on inside of Hubble
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. May  18  2009  13:04  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 18th, 2009
CAPE CANAVERAL -- Spacewalking astronauts finished work on the inside of the Hubble Space Telescope on Monday and shut the doors to the treasured observatory, which will never be touched by human hands again.

The only repair work left was to attach protective covers to the outside.

NASA said the telescope will be better than ever thanks to the astronauts' efforts over the past five days and should provide more dazzling views of the universe for another five to 10 years.

During this last visit to Hubble, the shuttle Atlantis astronauts outfitted Hubble with two state-of-the-art science instruments, and all new batteries and gyroscopes. The US$220 million worth of new instruments should allow the telescope to peer even deeper into the cosmos, as far back as 13 billion years.

It was the fifth and final spacewalk for the Atlantis crew, and the fifth and final visit by astronauts, ever, to Hubble.

"This is a real great day," Mission Control told the astronauts, "a great way to finish this out."

Keen on leaving the 19-year-old observatory in the best possible shape for gazing upon the universe, chief mechanic John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel gave the telescope another fresh set of batteries Monday and a new sensor for fine pointing. That left plenty of time to install steel foil sheets to protect against radiation and the extreme temperature changes of space.
In this image from NASA TV astronauts John Grunsfeld, left, and Andrew Feustel work to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope during a spacewalk, Monday, May 18, 2009. (AP / NASA TV)
Astronauts Michael Massimino and Michael Good work on repairing a long-dead spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed still," commander Scott Altman said midway through Monday's spacewalk.

Only one of the first four spacewalks went smoothly. On Sunday, a stuck bolt almost prevented another team of astronauts from fixing a burned-out science instrument. Brute force saved the day, but so much time was lost that no protective sheets could be installed.

Grunsfeld and Feustel -- who headed outside nearly an hour early -- hoped to pick up the extra work.

The shuttle astronauts will set Hubble free Tuesday.

During the mission, the four spacewalkers, two per team, managed to fix two science instruments that had broken down years ago and were never meant to be tinkered with in orbit, and replaced a faltering science data-handling device. They also installed a docking device so a robotic craft can latch on and steer the telescope into the Pacific sometime in the early 2020s.

All told, this visit to Hubble cost more than $1 billion.

Hubble senior project scientist David Leckrone was hoping the spacewalkers would give the telescope a goodbye hug on behalf of the "thousands and thousands of Hubble huggers all over the world."

Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist who has spent more time working on the orbiting Hubble than anyone, was expected to do the honors. He's visited Hubble twice before, and plans to use the telescope once he's back on Earth to study the moon.

NASA hopes to crank Hubble back up by summer's end, following extensive testing of its new parts.

Already, though, scientists have gotten more than they could have hoped out of Hubble, which was launched in 1990 with a projected working lifetime of 15 years. Once its blurred vision was corrected in 1993 and NASA's reputation was restored, the telescope began churning out breathtaking images: among other things, stars in the throes of birth and death.

Back at the launch site, meanwhile, NASA maintained its vigil in case another shuttle needed to rush to the rescue. Atlantis escaped serious launch damage a week ago, but was susceptible to all the space junk in Hubble's 563-kilometre-high orbit. The astronauts will perform one last survey of their ship after releasing the telescope.

NASA took unprecedented steps to have Endeavour on the pad as a rescue ship, because the Atlantis astronauts have nowhere to seek shelter if they cannot return to Earth because of shuttle damage. The space station is in another, unreachable orbit.

The increased risk prompted NASA to cancel the mission five years ago in the wake of the Columbia accident. It was reinstated two years later.

With NASA's three remaining space shuttles set for retirement next year, there will no way for astronauts to return to Hubble. The new spacecraft under development will be much smaller and less of a workhorse than the shuttle, and lack a big robot arm for grabbing the telescope. Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be launched in 2014 by an unmanned rocket and placed in an orbit inaccessible to astronauts.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with filres from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Tories reject opposition demands for EI reform
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. May  17  2009  13:45  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 17th, 2009
The Conservatives have refused to give in to the opposition's demands to reform Employment Insurance, despite threats from the Liberals that they may seek to topple the government over the issue.

"We're not adverse to further improvements, but we will not be pressured, and we don't think it's responsible that the opposition constantly threatens an election at a time when the country is facing economic peril," Conservative House Leader Jay Hill told CTV's Question Period Sunday.

The Liberals, along with the other two opposition parties, are calling on the government to set a national threshold of 360 hours of paid work for workers to be eligible for EI during the recession.

The current threshold is between 420 hours to 910 hours of paid work, varying by region. Eligibility is also dependent on other factors like work history.

Hill said the government made some "important changes" to deal with unemployment during the recession, such as extending benefits for five weeks.

But those changes are not sufficient to deal with the 1.4 million Canadians that are out of work, of which 350,000 have lost their jobs in the last few months, Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale told Question Period.

Tens of thousands of workers don't qualify for EI under the present set of rules, he said, adding that to deal with the recession the rules must be temporarily changed.

The current rules were set by the Liberals in the 1990s.
Conservative House Leader Jay Hill speaks with CTV's Question Period in Ottawa, on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale speaks with CTV's Question Period from Regina, on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
Libby Davies, the NDP house leader, speaks with CTV's Question Period from Toronto, on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
"The rules were written for a time when the country was heading into a boom. Unfortunately for the country, the boom has ended and we're now into a bust," Goodale said.

But Hill argued that the changes would cause a rise in payroll taxes. In fact, the Liberals have said it would cost Canadians $1.5 billion a year.

Libby Davies, the NDP house leader, said her party set the groundwork for EI reform in a NDP motion passed by a majority of MPs last March.

"Let's start with that motion that was adopted by the House ... Let's fix the EI system for people," she said.

The motion called on the government to:
Eliminate the waiting period for EI
Reduce the number of hours worked to qualify
Extend eligibility to self-employed workers
Increase benefits

She said her party has been raising the issue every day during question period in the House.

"It just seems so outrageous that people cannot collect when they paid into an insurance program that doesn't have any government money in it," she said.

Goodale said the government must change the threshold to avoid an election.

"We're not cruising for an election. We don't particularly want that, but neither do we fear it," he said.

The government has become "increasingly frustrated" with the opposition's constant threat of an election, Hill said, adding that he was hoping to see a change in policy when Michael Ignatieff assumed leadership of the Liberals.

Ignatieff telegraphed his party's intent for an election on Thursday when he told a labour union in a speech that Harper needed "to make some constructive changes on EI before this summer."

"And I'm telling you straight, and I'm telling you clear: I cannot continue to make Parliament work unless we get substantive EI reform before this Parliament rises in June," he said.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
Spacewalkers tackle toughest Hubble repair job yet
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. May  16  2009  10:45  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 16th, 2009
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Facing their toughest job yet, spacewalking astronauts floated outdoors Saturday to give the Hubble Space Telescope a better view of the cosmos by installing a new high-tech science instrument and fixing a broken camera.

It was the third spacewalk in as many days for the shuttle Atlantis crew, expected to be the most challenging ever performed because of the unprecedented camera repairs. Astronauts have never tried to take apart a science instrument at the 19-year-old observatory.
Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel work on the Hubble Space Telescope's survey camera on Saturday, May 16, 2009.
John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel got started on the daunting job Saturday morning as the joined shuttle and telescope soared 563 kilometres above the planet. Orbiting so high put Atlantis and its astronauts at an increased risk of being hit by space junk. NASA had another shuttle on launch standby in case a rescue was needed.

"It's dark out here," Feustel observed as Atlantis passed over Australia.

Before tackling repairs to the burned-out camera, the spacewalkers had to install the US$88 million Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which is designed to detect faint light from faraway quasars and provide greater insight into how planets, stars and galaxies formed.

"Hello, Hubble," Feustel said as the telescope door swung open.

To make room for the supersensitive instrument, Grunsfeld and Feustel had to remove the corrective lenses that restored Hubble's vision in 1993. The space telescope had been launched three years earlier with a flawed mirror that left it nearsighted. But the newer science instruments had corrective lenses built in, making the added contacts unnecessary.

The switch -- taking out the 2-metre-long box containing the corrective lenses and putting in the cosmic spectrograph -- was expected to be straightforward. It's exactly the kind of replacement work astronauts performed on four previous repair missions.

For the camera repairs, though, Grunsfeld and Feustel were going to have to open up the seven-year-old instrument and pull out fried electronic parts.

The instrument -- called the Advanced Camera for Surveys -- suffered an electrical short and stopped working two years ago. Ground controllers have since been able to eke out a minimal amount of science but hope to get it back into full operation.

Before it broke down, the surveys camera provided astronomers with the deepest view of the universe in visible light, going back in time 13 billion years.

NASA considers this repair job -- and one set for Sunday on another broken instrument -- to be the most delicate and difficult ever attempted in orbit. Neither instrument was designed to be handled in orbit by astronauts wearing thick, stiff gloves.

Grunsfeld, the chief Hubble mechanic, and Feustel were going to have to deal with more than 30 latches to get inside the camera and navigate a tricky corner to replace the burned-out power supply cards. NASA even designed new tools for the job.

The first two spacewalks of Atlantis' mission ended up running long because of unexpected difficulties. Hubble senior project scientist David Leckrone surmised late Friday that because the observatory went seven years without a tuneup, "it's gone wild again."

NASA hopes to keep Hubble working for another five to 10 years with all the improvements. No one will be back to Hubble, so everyone at NASA, the seven astronauts included, wants to squeeze in as much repair work as possible. Already, they have given Hubble an improved wide-field planetary camera, fresh batteries and gyroscopes, and a new science data unit to replace one that broke last fall.

If all goes well, the fifth and final spacewalk is set for Monday and the telescope will be released from Atlantis on Tuesday.
This last mission to Hubble cost more than $1 billion.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Deadline day for GM Canada and auto workers
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. May  15  2009  07:52  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 15th, 2009
It's decision day for GM Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers to come up with a new cost-cutting deal to secure more government funding.

A midnight deadline is hanging over last ditch negotiations between the two sides.

If no agreement is reached both the federal and Ontario government will cut off financial support, and -- in the words of CAW Union President Ken Lewenza -- GM Canada will be "liquidated".

On Friday, Michael Kane of BNN described it as a "difficult situation because they are trying to reunite the union's bargaining process."
People walk through the parking lot at the General Motors Canada Oshawa Car Assembly Plant in Oshawa, Ont., on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Nathan Denette)
The two sides reached an agreement in March but the federal and provincial government said it didn't cut labour costs enough, and they were ordered back to the bargaining table.

Similar talks with Chrysler resulted in deeper cuts, and governments want GM Canada to match those.

The prospect of GM Canada's "liquidation" would be daunting considering how integrated the Canadian wing is with the parent company.

The main sticking point in negotiations is pensions, both present and future.

In Ottawa, Minister of Industry Tony Clement said "we're obviously anxiously awaiting word on that and clearly that's a central piece of the puzzle here."

Analyst Richard Cooper, of JD Power Associates Canada, says the unions and GM have a "tough road ahead" on the pension issue.

"The issue for General Motors is that so many of the people who are dependant on them are not active workers anymore. It's those legacy costs," Cooper told CTV's Canada AM.

On Thursday, a group of retired GM workers staged a sit-in at the office of Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, demanding more pension protection. The minister is expected to meet with the pensioners on Friday.

The company then has until the end of the month to provide governments in both Canada and the U.S. with its revised restructuring plan in order to continue receiving bailout money.

All this is happening amid the backdrop of Thursday's closing of GM's truck plant in Oshawa Ontario. The last pickup truck rolled off the assembly line, and the workers sent home.

The plant had been in operation since 1965, and produced 10 million vehicles.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
Mulroney expected to face tougher questions
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. May  14  2009  07:12  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 14th, 2009
Brian Mulroney is expected to have a tougher time on the stand Wednesday as Oliphant inquiry lawyer Richard Wolson launches his first volley of questions at the former prime minister.

The lawyer for German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber is also expected to question Mulroney.

The inquiry was established to probe the business dealings between Mulroney and Schreiber, including hundreds of thousands in cash payments made to Mulroney.

For the past two days, Mulroney has faced relatively easy questions from his own lawyer, Guy Pratte.

Mulroney said it took him several years to declare the $225,000 he received from Schreiber because the money was a retainer and he did not consider it to be part of his taxable income at the time.

He said he paid taxes on the money in 1999, when it became part of his income stream.

Mulroney said Wednesday that he tried to fully disclose his business dealings with Schreiber after he left office, but the RCMP turned his offer down.

Earlier in the day, Mulroney fought back tears when discussing the Airbus affair -- specifically, the impact of a letter that wrongly linked him to kickbacks.

Mulroney, recounting the impact on his family, took a long pause to compose himself on the stand.

He said the ordeal sullied his "father's good name" and was devastating to his family.
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney waits for testimony to begin as Commission counsel Richard Wolson Mulroney's counsel Guy Pratt (right) speak at the Oliphant Commission in Ottawa, Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Mulroney is back on the stand today. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney holds hands with his wife Mila as he leaves following the second day of testimony at the Oliphant Commission in Ottawa, Wednesday, May 13, 2009. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
During the intermission, a statement on an online blog produced by Mulroney's media team claimed that a reporter and broadcast producer had laughed during the exchange, and that was what had unsettled Mulroney.

The Airbus affair dates back to the 1988 sale of 34 Airbus jets to Air Canada -- then a Crown corporation.

In 1995, Mulroney sued for defamation after a letter from the RCMP that linked him to kickbacks in the deal was leaked.
In 1997, Jean Chretien's Liberal government paid Mulroney a $2.1-million settlement.

The Liberals apologized to Mulroney for the "letter of request" but not for the actual RCMP investigation, which ended six years later without charges.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
EU fines Intel a record US$1.44B for monopoly abuse
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. May  13  2009  08:12  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 13th, 2009
BRUSSELS -- The European Union fined Intel Corp. a record euro1.06 billion (US$1.45 billion) on Wednesday, saying the world's biggest computer chip maker used illegal sales tactics to shut out smaller rival AMD.

The fine exceeded a euro899 million monopoly abuse penalty for Microsoft Corp. last year. Intel called the decision "wrong" and said it would appeal.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has about 80 per cent of the world's personal computer microprocessor market -- and faces just one real rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

The European Commission says Intel broke EU competition law by exploiting its dominant position with a deliberate strategy to keep AMD out of the market that limited customer choice.

It said Intel gave rebates to computer manufacturers Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC for buying all or almost all their x86 computer processing units, or CPUs, from Intel and paid them to stop or delay the launch of computers based on AMD chips.

Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini said the company would appeal to the EU courts because "the decision is wrong" and "there has been absolutely zero harm to consumers." The company promised to comply with the EU order but criticized it as extremely ambiguous.
An exterior view of Intel Corp. headquarters is seen in Santa Clara, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006. (AP / Paul Sakuma)
European Union Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes gestures while talking to the media during a joint press conference at the EU Commission headquarter in Brussels, Wednesday, May 13, 2009. (AP / Thierry Charlier)
AMD's Europe president Giuliano Meroni said the EU order "will shift the power from an abusive monopolist to computer makers, retailers and above all PC consumers."

Regulators said the company also paid Germany's biggest electronics retailer, Media Saturn Holding -- which owns the MediaMarkt superstores -- to only stock Intel-based computers from 2002 to 2007.

This meant workers at AMD's biggest European plant in Dresden, Germany, could not buy AMD-based personal computers at their city's main PC store.

"Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years," said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. "Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU's antitrust rules cannot be tolerated."

Kroes joked Intel would now have to change its latest global ad campaign -- "sponsors of tomorrow" -- to proclaiming "the sponsor of the European taxpayer."

"I can give my vision of tomorrow for Intel here and now: Abide by the law," she added.

EU regulators said they calculated Intel's fine on the value of its European chip sales over the five years and three months that it broke the law. Europeans buy some 30 per cent of the euro22 billion ($30 billion) in computer chips sold every year.

They could have gone even higher as EU antitrust rules allow them to levy a fine of up to 10 per cent of a company's annual global turnover for each year of bad behavior. Intel's worldwide turnover was euro27.9 billion ($38.8 billion) in 2007.

European consumers group BEUC welcomed the fine and said Intel should be held to account to consumers through civil suits in European courts. So far these are rare but the EU is urging victims of antitrust action to seek damages.

"Intel should be liable to compensate the victims of its illegal practices," said Monique Goyens, head of the group. "Consumers have been paying too much for their computers and they should be compensated."

The manufacturer rebates started in 2002, the EU said, with most ending in 2005 -- apart from a 2007 deal for one unidentified company to only source notebook computer chips from Intel.

Regulators said rebates that give discounts for large orders are illegal when a monopoly company makes them conditional on buying less of a rival's products or not buying them at all.

Manufacturers depend on Intel to supply most of the chips they need and faced higher costs if they lost most or all of a rebate by choosing AMD chips for even a small order.
Hewlett-Packard buys a fifth of Intel chips with Dell taking 18 per cent, according to market research from Hoovers.

The discounts were so steep that only a rival that sold chips for less than they cost to make would have any chance of grabbing customers, the EU executive said.

It said AMD offered 1 million free chips to one manufacturer -- which could not accept because that would lose it a rebate on many millions of other chips. It only took 160,000 free chips in the end, regulators said.

Intel's payments to manufacturers ordered the company to delay the European launch of AMD's first business desktop by six months. They were also paid to only sell the AMD line to small and medium companies and to only offer them directly to customers instead of to retailers.

Other manufacturers were paid to postpone the launch of AMD-based notebooks by several months, from September 2003 to January 2004 and from September 2006 to the end of 2006 -- missing the key Christmas market.

The European Commission said Intel tried to conceal the conditions attached to these payments and details only emerged from e-mails that regulators seized in surprise raids on the companies.

Regulators refused to rule out returning to other parts of their probe where they had investigated Intel's behavior in the server market and allegations of below-cost pricing designed to hurt AMD. Intel strongly denies these charges.

The EU charges also cover a time when AMD managed to take market share from Intel by launching higher performance microprocessors for servers in 2003, previously an Intel stronghold.

Intel fought back successfully by rolling out Core chips. More recently, it has grabbed more market share with Atom chips for netbooks.

EU regulators are not the only ones chasing Intel -- South Korea fined the company $21 million last year.

And the U.S. may be stepping up action. The Federal Trade Commission upgraded a probe into Intel last year -- and as the Obama administration is set to take a more aggressive approach against monopoly abuse by reversing a strict interpretation of antitrust law that saw regulators shun such cases.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Mulroney set to testify about Schreiber dealings
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. May  12  2009  07:52  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 12th, 2009
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will testify Tuesday at the Oliphant inquiry, organized to probe his business dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

The inquiry is trying to get to the bottom of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments Schreiber made to Mulroney in 1993 and 1994.

Schreiber says he negotiated a deal with Mulroney not long before he resigned as prime minister in June 1993. He wanted Mulroney to lobby on behalf of a proposal by Thyssen AG to build light-armoured vehicles in Canada.

Schreiber said he made three $100,000 payments to Mulroney: the first in August 1993, another in December of that year and a final payment in December 2004.

Mulroney admits to having received cash payments from Schreiber, and maintains they were made after he left office.

However, he claims to only have been paid $225,000, which he declared for income tax purposes six years after the payments started.

Mulroney says he broke no legal or ethical guidelines and that he lobbied foreign politicians in an effort to find export markets for Thyssen vehicles.
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney arrives at his hotel in Ottawa, Monday May 11, 2009. Mulroney will begin testifying at the Commission today. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber waits for the start of the Mulroney-Schreiber hearing in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 31, 2009. (Fred Chartrand / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
The former prime minister spent much of the last two days preparing for the inquiry with his lawyers.

He was all smiles Monday night outside a downtown hotel, where he posed for pictures with tourists.

However, when asked by a journalist how he felt about Tuesday's testimony, Mulroney became more serious.

"Well, we'll see," he responded, according to The Canadian Press.

Meanwhile, Schreiber's lawyers said Monday they were worried their client could be booted out of Canada before the inquiry is over.

Schreiber is wanted in Germany on a list of charges that includes fraud, extortion and tax evasion. He has been allowed to remain in Canada to participate in the inquiry.

"I don't want to be put in a position where I wake up one day and get a phone call saying that they've whisked him away," Edward Greenspan, the head of Schreiber's legal team, told CP on Monday.

Greenspan said he was ready to go back to court if necessary to try and keep Schreiber in Canada.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Shuttle fuels for launch, weather near perfect
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. May  11  2009  08:15  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 11th, 2009
Fueling has started on space shuttle Atlantis for its fifth and final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

The launch of the shuttle with seven astronauts aboard is scheduled for this afternoon at 2:01 p.m. ET. Near-perfect weather is expected: only a slight chance of rain is expected at the emergency landing site in Spain.

Atlantis will carry hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of new gyroscopes, cameras and other equipment to the telescope. The 11-day mission will include five spacewalks to repair the telescope and keep it going long enough until a replacement telescope can be launched.

NASA hopes that once all the upgrades are complete, the 19-year-old telescope will keep working for another five to 10 years and will be beeter able to collect even more science data.

Hubble has been left unattended for seven years. It's the longest gap ever between servicing missions and created in large part by the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Space shuttle Atlantis sits on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday morning, May 11, 2009.
The sun sets on the space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Sunday, May 10, 2009. (AP / Chris O'Meara)
After the Columbia accident, NASA changed its approach to space missions and set up the International Space Station as an emergency shelter for astronauts in the event that a spaceship bcame too damaged to attempt the flight home.

With this mission, the use of the space station as a safe harbour won't be possible, explained space expert Randy Attwood.

"There isn't that opportunity with this mission because once you're in Hubble's orbit, you can't get to the Space Station; they're in two different orbits," he told Canada AM Monday morning.

"That's why you see Endeavour on the other pad, ready to go and assist and rescue the astronauts, if for some reason they're needed -- but it's very, very unlikely; it's more for making everyone feel comfortable."

Attwood says assuming all goes smoothly, the real drama will be the five scheduled spacewalks.

"They're jam-packed with a lot of aggressive work," he says of each of the six-hour spacewalks.

"They're going to put in two new cameras. They're going to fix two cameras. They're going to replace the batteries that have been up there since 1990."

The repairs are badly needed, as the Hubble is still working with most of the same technology it came with when it was designed back in the 1970s.

"This is all new century technology," says Attwood. "There are new chips, huge chips, very sensitive chips. So Hubble will be... a completely brand new telescope once all of these spacewalks are complete."

The astronauts will have their work cut out for them with all the precision work needed to remove about 220 screws and install new memory cards -- all while outfitted in space suits.

"Imagine doing that fine work with your oven mitts on," laughs Attwood. "These things weren't designed to be fixed, so that'll be a challenge. They're going to have a lot of work."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
Humanitarian disaster looms in Pakistan
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. May  10  2009  11:55  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 10th, 2009
Hundreds of thousands of civilians who have fled fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley are crowding under-equipped refugee camps and hospitals, which has sparked fears of a pending humanitarian disaster in the conflict-riddled region.

Thousands of people, either on foot or on donkey-pulled carts, continued their exodus from the valley Sunday after officials briefly lifted a curfew despite ongoing fighting that has killed at least 180 suspected militants in the previous 24 hours.

The Pakistani army has been battling Taliban militants in the valley for more than a year, but the conflict has ramped up over the past several weeks.

This week, the government urged residents to leave the area while military planes hammered the region, which has led to casualties among militants and civilians.

The UN estimates that by the end of this week, as many as half a million people will have fled the area, joining another half million who have fled previous fighting in the area, said CNN correspondent Reza Sayah.
Local residents carry their belongings as they flee Mingora, the main town of Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, Sunday, May 10, 2009. (AP Photo)
Pakistani men wait at a refugee camp at Swabi, in northwest Pakistan, Sunday, May 10, 2009. (AP / Greg Baker)
"There's not enough refugee camps; those that are up and running are overflowing," Sayah told CTV Newsnet Sunday in a telephone interview from Islamabad. "There's not enough hospitals; those that are there are under-equipped and under-staffed. So a real humanitarian crisis is emerging."

The challenge for the Pakistani army, Sayah said, is to distinguish Taliban fighters from civilians.

The Taliban don't wear uniforms, and can easily blend in with local residents simply by setting down their weapons.

"That's why we're seeing a lot of civilian casualties," Sayah said. "So the Pakistani military strategy has been to clear the area from as many civilians as possible."

On Sunday, Pakistani troops destroyed a militant training camp in Shangla's Banai Baba area, and also fought militants on a bridge in the Chamtalai area, military officials said.

While Mingora, the main town in the valley, was quiet on Sunday, the army stated that between 50 and 60 militants were killed during fighting in the valley throughout the day.

Two soldiers have also died in the last 48 hours.
A woman walks past tents at a refugee camp at Swabi, in northwest Pakistan, Sunday, May 10, 2009. (AP / Greg Baker)
Children run after a man giving out free fans for families at a refugee camp near Mardan, in northwest Pakistan, Saturday, May 9, 2009. (AP / Greg Baker)
With just a few hours to flee the fighting early Sunday morning, residents packed up what few possessions they could and jumped onto motorbikes, rickshaws and carts, or simply walked.

"We are going out only with our clothes and a few things to eat on the long journey," Rehmat Alam, a 40-year-old medical technician walking out of Mingora with 18 other relatives, told the Associated Press. "We just got out relying on God because there is no one else to help us."

The curfew was expected to be imposed again by afternoon or early evening.

International aid agency World Vision said its workers find the conditions at some relief camps to be "intolerable" due to overcrowding, stifling heat, poor facilities and a lack of electricity.

"Despite the coordinated efforts of the Pakistani authorities, World Vision and other aid agencies on the ground, we may not be able to meet the most basic needs of the refugees as quickly as they are arriving in the camps if it continues at this pace," said Jeff Hall, an official with the aid group.

The Pakistani government has pledged $12 million in relief aid, Sayah, said, but it is unclear when that money will begin flowing to refugees.

The latest fighting began Thursday, when the military launched a massive offensive against the Taliban to contain militant control in the region.

The army is trying to take back the Swat Valley and nearby districts from the militants, who have also taken hold of the region along the Afghan border.

Despite having an army of 500,000 troops, Pakistan has deployed only 15,000 soldiers to fight an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 militants, Sayah said.

"The Pakistani army insists that that's enough and the strategy is going to work, even though to this day it hasn't," he said.

Impact on Afghanistan

In an interview with CTV's Question Period on Sunday, Canada's Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk called the situation in Pakistan "worrisome," but said that Pakistani military officials have assured him that the required resources will be deployed to the region.

Beating back the Taliban along the Afghan frontier is particularly important for Canadian troops, Natynczyk said, because the Taliban are recruiting and training militants in the region before deploying them to attack coalition soldiers.

Officials have predicted that as the U.S. military adds 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to battle what has been a growing insurgency, attacks against coalition soldiers will rise.

Therefore, beating back the Taliban in Pakistan is key to improving the security situation for Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan, Natynczyk said.

"One hopes that it does take the pressure off because we have seen that the Taliban have recruited, they have trained, they have armed along the border, which has been ungoverned," Natynczkyk said.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Losing your job can make you sick, study finds
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. May  09  2009  07:25  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 9th, 2009
Anyone who's been pushed out of a job knows it's not great for your self-esteem. Now, a new study finds it's not great for your long-term health, either.

The new research finds that workers who lose their jobs when their company goes belly up are more likely to suffer from heart disease, strokes, diabetes or stress. And finding a new job quickly doesn't mean they return to the picture of health.

Kate Strully, an assistant professor in sociology at the State University of New York at Albany and the author of a new study, looked at U.S. employment data from 1999, 2001, and 2003 using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Among those who lost their job through no fault of their own because their workplace relocated or folded altogether, the odds of their reporting "fair or poor" health after their job loss increased by 54 per cent.

Even those workers who had no pre-existing health conditions while they were working had an 83 per cent chance of reporting they had developed a new chronic health condition after they lost their job.

The paper will be published in the May issue of the journal, Demography.

Strully notes that job loss can disrupt many aspects of one's life beyond income, affecting one's social standing and self-worth.

"Our job pervades so much of who we are and how we live," she told CTV.ca in a phone interview from Albany. "Jobs are so fundamental to our daily lives and our position in society, your class position and your role with your family.

She said that those who find themselves suddenly unemployed not only have to deal with the stress of figuring out how to make up their lost income, but many don't know what to do with themselves.

"When someone loses a job, they lose their daily rhythm in their lives. Suddenly they're not going through their routines of getting up and going to work. Their role in the community and family may change. They may be forced to relocate to a new town to find work. So there are so many disruptions."

Plenty of previous studies have noted the link between unemployment and poor health. But it was never clear in those studies whether it was job loss that made people sicker, or whether people who are chronically sick or had unreported health problems were more likely to lose their jobs.

That distinction is important, she said, because health problems that make a worker less productive could lead to them being fired or laid off.
So Strully decided to focus just on those workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, because their entire workplace was let go.

Her study found that even those who found a new job quickly still had an increased risk of reporting new stress-related health conditions afterward. That finding is significant, she said, since the working world has changed and most workers no longer get a job at 18 and stay with that company until they retire.

"Companies that want to keep up in a competitive global economy need to be free to merge and restructure and lay off as needed. But along with that goes a lot of job loss," Strully said.

"It's assumed that that is not problematic for workers, providing we're creating new jobs for them to move into. But I wanted to know if it really was a harmless as some suggest."

She found that those who lost their jobs had a higher risk of reporting they had developed conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, diabetes and even arthritis.

"These health conditions are widely recognized as being sensitive to psychological stress," she said.

"Under stress, our inflammation responses get revved up and that can cause sort of 'wear and tear' over time."

Strully said it didn't matter whether the workers had "blue collar" hands-on jobs, or "white collar" jobs, such as managerial or sales postings; the effects of job loss on their health were consisted throughout.

"In today's economy, job loss can happen to anybody," she said. "We need to be aware of the health consequences of losing our jobs and do what we can to alleviate the negative effects."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from Angela Mulholland
=======================
 
Economy adds 35,900 workers, jobless rate flat
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. May  08  2009  07:49  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 8th, 2009
Canada's economy added a surprising 36,000 jobs in April as the unemployment rate remain unchanged at 8 per cent.

The job gains were the result of an increase in self-employment, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The numbers surprised the majority of economists, who had predicted employment would be down about 50,000 in April.

"This is a better than expected report that no one saw coming," economists at ScotiaCapital Inc said in a note.

"Yes, there were distortions including the heavy influence of a gain in self-employment that we mistrust at this point in the cycle. But the losses elsewhere were much less significant than feared."

David King, a recruitment expert with Robert Half International, said he's not sure the gains will continue.

"One month doesn't necessarily make a major story but certainly the shock this morning is a reassuring one," King told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

The employment gains occurred in information, culture and recreation; business, building and other support services; "other services"; and agriculture.

Employment was unchanged in manufacturing and construction.

All the employment growth in April occurred in Quebec (+22,000) and British Columbia (+17,000).

Meanwhile, employment declined in Nova Scotia (-4,100) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-2,800). There was little change in the other provinces.

The increase in employment in April was spread between adult men aged 25 and over (+25,000) and older women aged 55 and over (+12,000).

Despite April's job gains, overall employment has fallen by 321,000 since October 2008.

Since last October, employment has declined for men aged 25 to 54 (-2.9 per cent) and youths aged 15 to 24 (-4.7 per cent), whereas it has increased for older workers (+0.9 per cent).

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
Army offensive in Pakistan's Swat spurs fears of humanitarian crisis
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu. May  07  2009  07:01  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 7th, 2009
The Pakistani army stepped up its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley Thursday, fuelling concerns that a brewing humanitarian crisis was worsening.

Government warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery pounded militant targets in the area while thousands of residents tried to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

The military said it had killed more than 80 militants in fighting in the region on Wednesday, but has not released casualty figures for civilians.

The army offensive in Swat has all but quashed a peace pact under which the government allowed the implementation of Islamic law in the surrounding region.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan has said February's peace deal is already "dead."

Authorities are bracing for an exodus of an estimated 500,000 civilians from the valley, an alpine resort popular with tourists before the Taliban violently seized control of it in late 2007.

More than 550,000 Pakistanis driven out by fighting in other regions of the northwest are already living in makeshift camps or with relatives, adding a growing humanitarian crisis to the country's daunting security, economic and political problems.

'Helpless, frustrated'

Much of the current fighting centres around the main Swat town of Mingora. A health worker said militants had instructed her to stay at home. She said she heard firing throughout Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.

"I don't know when some weapon will hit our home and kill us," she said.

Ayaz Khan, a 39-year-old from the Kanju area of Swat, said he loaded his family into his car early Thursday but that rocks, boulders and tree trunks laid across the road forced him to turn back.

"I am helpless, frustrated and worried for my family," he told The Associated Press by telephone. He appealed to authorities to clear the barriers and let people move to safety.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it no longer had access to the Swat region and could no longer verify casualty reports.

"Clearly, we're facing a major humanitarian crisis," said Red Cross spokesman Sebastian Brack, adding his organization was mobilizing trucks, medical and supplies and food.
"We're going to do everything we can to be ready to help in the medium run. Should the situation become more prolonged, we will be able to mobilize more people, more resources."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said Wednesday he was deeply concerned about the plight of the tens of thousands of displaced civilians and Afghan refugees in the northwest.

U.S. pressure

Pakistan has come under increasing international pressure, particularly from the United States, to crack down on the Taliban in the region. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday praised Pakistan's recent offensive.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday, offered assurances his country will deliver in the fight against the Taliban. He also appealed for more U.S help in reversing the extension of Taliban-held territory to within 100 kilometres of the capital, Islamabad.

U.S. and NATO officials have also condemned Pakistan's peace deal with the Taliban, saying they fear it creates a sanctuary for al-Qaeda allies who launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

But U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday there were no plans to deploy American forces in Pakistan. Speaking at a question-and-answer session at a U.S. army camp in southern Afghanistan, Gates told a sergeant he didn't have to "worry about going to Pakistan."

The Swat Taliban are estimated to have up to 7,000 fighters — many with training and battle experience — equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, explosives and automatic weapons. They are up against some 15,000 Pakistani troops who until recent days had been confined to their barracks under the peace deal.

Written by CBC.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Canadians released from quarantine in China
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed. May  06  2009  07:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 6th, 2009
A group of Canadian students who had been held in quarantine in China have been released two days early, after being cleared as free of the H1N1 virus.

The move came after the Canadian government and the World Health Organization asked Beijing to explain why the students were put under medical surveillance in the northeastern city of Changchun.

A Chinese official says the group of 29 Universite de Montreal students and a professor were released today instead of Friday because they are healthy.

The decision to release the students was made following a suggestion by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The Chinese government is maintaining a defiant tone, saying it will continue its strident checks on travellers from regions affected by the new strain of flu.

None of the students ever exhibited symptoms of the virus.

The students said they were treated well while being held at the hotel, provided with three meals a day, a garden to stroll in and a games room to relax in.
Canadian students under 'observation' walk inside a sealed-off hotel compound in Changchun, in northeast China's Jilin province, Wednesday, May 6, 2009. (AP)
A group of Canadians are transported by bus after being quarantined by Chinese officials in Changchun. (Jacob Homel for CTV News)
They were also able to use a hotel phone to talk briefly with their families while others were able to use email to contact family and friends.

The group was told on Saturday they would have to be quarantined for seven days. They had to have medical examinations four times a day, in which their temperatures were taken.

The students were granted a quick visit from Canadian diplomats Tuesday, but local officials allowed them only a few minutes of access before they were ushered out.

One of the students, Anne Marie Roberge, 21, spoke to CTV's Canada AM from the hotel Tuesday and said the group was feeling frustrated.

"We kind of understand that the government does not want an epidemic situation, or something like that," Roberge said by phone from her hotel. "But it's frustrating because we don't have a lot of information."

The students are in China to study Mandarin.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
=======================
 
EU Parliament passes import ban on seal products
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue. May  05  2009  07:39  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 5th, 2009
The European Parliament passed a bill Tuesday banning the import of seal products, a move that is expected to cripple the Canadian sealing industry.

The bill, which passed with 550 votes in favour to 49 against, calls commercial seal hunting "inherently inhumane."

All 27-member governments of the European Union are expected to endorse the ban in the coming weeks, which will likely ensure that the restrictions are in place before next year's seal hunt.
The sealing vessel Cathy Erlene, left, is dwarfed by the Marine Atlantic passenger ferry MV Caribou as they make their way through heavy ice as they leave North Sydney, N.S. on Saturday, March 28, 2009. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Inuit communities from Canada and Greenland are exempted in the bill but they still cannot engage in large-scale trading of seal products in Europe.

Another exemption allows for "small-scale hunts" to control the seal population.

Russia, China and Norway will also be affected by the ban but the Canadian industry, the largest in the world, is expected to be hit the hardest.

Canada and Norway have said they will contest the ban before the World Trade Organization.

Ottawa estimates that the ban will cost some 6,000 sealers in Canada about half of their annual $13 million in revenue.

Already, this year's commercial seal hunt was very quiet as harp seal pelt prices have dropped significantly over the last three years.

Only 306 sealing enterprises from Newfoundland and Labrador took part in this year's hunt, compared with 977 last year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirmed.

"For the Newfoundland and Labrador sealers, the seal hunt this year has gone very slowly compared to other years," Larry Yetman, a resource management officer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, told The Canadian Press.

"We're not surprised. We understood that prices were going to be very low before the season started and that led us to believe that the numbers of sealers participating would be low."

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Canadian Press
=======================
 
Mexico sends plane to pick up citizens in China
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon. May  04  2009  07:46  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 4th, 2009
Mexico sent a plane to China Monday to pick up any citizens who wanted to return home after some 70 Mexican travellers were quarantined amid H1N1 flu virus fears.

Mexican ambassador Jorge Guajardo said China has quarantined more than 70 Mexicans in hospitals and hotels. Guajardo also said Mexicans arriving on flights to China were being taken into isolation.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon complained about the backlash against Mexicans abroad.

"I think it's unfair that because we have been honest and transparent with the world some countries and places are taking repressive and discriminatory measures because of ignorance and disinformation," Calderon said in an interview with state television.

"There are always people who are seizing on this pretext to assault Mexicans, even just verbally."

Calderon did not single out China but the country's Foreign Relations Department announced Monday it was sending a plane to China.

Mexican officials say the epidemic is waning but health officials around the globe say its still too early to make that claim.

"Certainly, maybe, this current round of activity has peaked, but we are only 10 days into this outbreak," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told reporters in Switzerland. "I think we would want to wait a while before making a definitive decision."

In Mexico, businesses and schools have been shut down since last Friday and officials are deciding when to allow things to get back to normal.
A hotel worker wearing a mask as a precaution against swine flu walks out from a sealed-off hotel, where Mexican travellers are being held under quarantine, in Beijing, China, Monday, May 4, 2009. (AP / Andy Wong)
A hotel staff wearing a glove as a precaution against swine flu loads luggage belonging to quarantine travelers to carry them to a sealed-off hotel, where Mexican travelers are being held under quarantine, in Beijing, China, Monday, May 4, 2009. (AP / Andy Wong)
"We have succeeded in detaining or at least slowing the spread of the virus precisely because the measures have been the correct ones," Calderon said.

The World Health Organization says there have been 590 cases of the H1N1 flu virus and 25 deaths from the virus in Mexico.

Around the world, at least 1,033 people have been sickened by the virus.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Spain has 40 cases of H1N1 flu, hardest hit in Europe
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun. May  03  2009  09:32  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 3rd, 2009
Spain now has 40 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, Spanish health officials said Sunday, as the virus continues its march across Europe in a global epidemic that is showing little sign of slowing down.

The Spanish Health Ministry said five new cases of the virus were confirmed in the northeastern Catalan region, while another 99 Spaniards were being tested.

In Germany, health authorities said Sunday that there are now eight confirmed cases in the country. A married couple from Brandenburg state were newly diagnosed this weekend, after arriving home on the same flight as a Hamburg main who came down with the virus following a visit to Mexico.

Meanwhile, Italian officials reported the country's second case of H1N1 flu on Sunday. The patient is a 25-year-old man who recently returned from Mexico.

The Italian Health Ministry said the man is recovering well, but is being kept in isolation in his home.

The new cases bring the total global caseload to close to 800, with the majority occurring in Mexico, the United States and Canada. However, 18 countries worldwide have confirmed cases of the disease, including throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

On Saturday, Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said officials suspected that 11 more deaths in the country over the previous 24 hours may be attributable to H1N1 flu. That would bring the confirmed death toll in Mexico to 19.
Spanish Civil Guards, wearing face masks, are seen at Barajas Airport, in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday, April 30, 2009. (AP / Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
A thermal camera monitor shows the body temperature of passengers arriving from overseas, at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, on Sunday, May 3, 2009. (AP / Yonhap, Seo Myung-gon)
The only other death from the virus was a Mexican toddler who died while visiting Texas.

In addition to the rising death toll, Mexico's number of confirmed cases skyrocketed late Saturday from 25 to 473.

The ever-changing figures are leaving scientists with more questions about the virus than answers.

"Influenza is unpredictable," Dr. Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who has worked on SARS and H5N1 bird flu outbreaks, told The Associated Press. "There are so many unanswered questions. This is a brand new virus. There's so much we don't know about the human infections with this virus."

A team of Mexican and international experts are still trying to determine where the virus started and why some cases appear to be more severe than others.

According to Mexican epidemiologist Pablo Kuri, three of the dead were children, ages nine, 12 and 13. Four other dead were over 60.

The other nine are between the ages of 21 and 39, an age group for which a compromised immune system is not usually a problem.

And most of the dead came from different neighbourhoods in Mexico City and there appear to be no links in their medical histories.

Indeed, more questions about the virus arose Saturday when Canadian officials announced the first case of H1N1 human virus being transmitted from a person to pigs on a farm in Alberta.

An infected farm worker who had just returned from Mexico appears to have given the virus to the pigs, none of which have died.

The worker has since recovered.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff with files from The Associated Press
=======================
 
Worker may have passed H1N1 to Alberta pigs
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat. May  02  2009  22:02  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 2nd, 2009
Health authorities have confirmed the presence of H1N1 in Alberta pigs, and say the virus may have jumped from a farm worker to the animals, in what could be the first case of human-to-animal transmission of the virus.

Dr. Brian Evans, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said a Canadian returned from Mexico on April 12, and began work at an Alberta swine farm on April 14.

"This person was exhibiting flu-like symptoms following the return, and may have exposed swine on the farm to an influenza virus," said Evans. "I can tell you that the traveler has recovered."

It was later confirmed that the pigs were, in fact, infected with the same H1N1 virus spreading around the world.

"We have determined that the virus H1N1, found in these pigs, is the virus which is being tracked in the human population," said Evans.

The animals are now recovering, and the herd has been placed in isolation.
Dr. Brian Evans, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, speaks about the spread of the H1N1 flu virus on Saturday, May 2, 2009.
Health authorities are taking action to ensure the infected herd doesn't spread the virus.
Evans said it is not uncommon for influenza to jump from humans to pigs. He also said there is no evidence humans can get H1N1 from eating pork, and urged against any bans of Canadian products.

"I want to be clear: There is no food-safety concern related to this finding," said Evans.

"They key here is that influenza viruses do not affect the safety of pork," he added. "Therefore, we are calling on the international community that they base their decisions on facts, not fear."

Herman Simons, a spokesperson for Alberta Pork, told The Canadian Press he was worried about how the news may impact exports.

"That's our big concern," Simons said. "The biggest concern is it may impact exports of live animals into the U.S."

Scientists believe the H1N1 virus, or so-called "swine flu," has been passed from human to human for some time. But even though the virus contains swine flu genes, the World Health Organization says there is no evidence pigs are passing the disease to humans.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff
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Halifax brush fire forces more residents to evacuate
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri. May  01  2009  07:31  ET
Giant Dwarf Posted: May 1st, 2009
A shroud of thick choking smoke hung over Halifax Friday morning as a huge brush fire continued to burn on the outskirts of the city, forcing more evacuations overnight.

Lloyd Curry of the Halifax Region Fire Services told CTV's Canada AM that another 150 homes were evacuated after fresh flare-ups. More than 900 people have been forced to flee their homes.

"The community is very stressed. They're concerned and wondering about their homes. We're keeping updated as much as we can. Our first responders on the scene are getting tired," Curry said.

Evacuees are being housed in a recreational facility in the community of Herring Cove, just south of Halifax.

One evacuee said he escaped by driving through a wall of flames to reach safety.

Eight homes have been destroyed by the fast moving flames, with another eight to 10 suffering damage. But there are no reports yet of injuries or missing persons.
The Halifax brush fire is seen from Dartmouth, N.S. at approximately 9 p.m. AT, Thursday, April 30, 2009. (Deborah Sharpe / MyNews.CTV.ca)
Panoramic view (view larger image) of the plume of smoke as it burns in the suburbs of Halifax. (Piero Balestra/ MyNews.CTV.ca)
Fire crews continue to battle the blaze, but intense, shifting winds are whipping up new hot spots. More than 100 firefighters were on the scene yesterday. Aerial water bombers from neighbouring New Brunswick helped beat back the flames, and will be called back into service this morning.

Fire crews may also get some help from the skies, with rain forecast for later in the day.

The fire started yesterday but was thought to be under control, until winds picked up Thursday afternoon, sparking 15 metre flames that jumped from treetop to treetop.

The area the fire is threatening has a number of new subdivisions, featuring a number of very exclusive houses.
Local musician Brett Ryan told CTV Newsnet that he thought his home, along with a number of his neighbours', were destroyed in the Fortress Drive subdivision.

He said the situation went from distant smoke to fire in his backyard in a matter of minutes.

Ryan said he and his wife, got their kids, and decided to leave before an official evacuation order was given.

"If we waited another five minutes . . . I dare say we would not have gotten out of there," he said. "I was actually driving through the flames up the street in order to get out."

He said that fire officials were not able to tell him for sure that his home was lost, but that the subdivision was extensively damaged and at least one home "blew up" in a propane explosion.

Recent fires near Halifax have been partially blamed on the aftermath of 2003's Hurricane Juan, which knocked down many trees, leaving forests with a thick underbelly of kindling wood.

There was another massive fire within the HRM last year, and Kelly defended his administration's response to clearing Juan's debris.

"Again that's an issue that we need to deal with the province but that point, right now, we need to get people to make sure they are safe and fire crews have the resources they need to get this job done," Kelly told CTV Atlantic.

Written by CTV.ca News Staff