 Past Articles:
These "Articles" are dated from October 1st, 2005 - October 31st, 2005.
Volpe aiming for 300,000 immigrants a year
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31/10/05
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Pakistan, India to open border in Kashmir
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30/10/05
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'Friendly fire' pilot repeats coverup allegation
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29/10/05
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Ottawa promises to clean up water, offers to move aboriginal community
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28/10/05
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Single Alberta ticket will take $54M prize
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27/10/05
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Ontario to airlift 1,000 from Cree reserve
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26/10/05
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Martin, Layton to hammer out parliamentary pact
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25/10/05
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PM to press Rice on lumber, border and guns
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24/10/05
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No survivors found in Nigerian plane crash
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23/10/05
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Hurricane Wilma churns over Mexico
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22/10/05
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Wilma could worsen before hitting Mexico: forecasters
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21/10/05
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Wilma weaker, but still 'dangerous' threat
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20/10/05
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Saddam defiant as trial begins
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19/10/05
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B.C. teachers defiant in face of further punishment
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18/10/05
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B.C. workers walking out to back teachers
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17/10/05
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DART readies for Pakistan mission
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16/10/05
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Quake death toll nears 40,000
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15/10/05
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New testimony shows financial link between Guité and Brault
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14/10/05
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Aid shipments resume in quake zone
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12/10/05
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Wet weekend sets rainfall records
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11/10/05
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Beaten New Orleans Man Revisits Scene
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10/10/05
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Rescuers hunt for South Asia quake survivors
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09/10/05
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Seniors died of Legionnaires' disease: official
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07/10/05
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Newfoundland cancer lab produces false results
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06/10/05
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Canadian soldiers injured by failed suicide bomber near Kandahar
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05/10/05
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Guité and Brault to wait until May for jury trial
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04/10/05
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At least 20 seniors reported dead as U.S. tour boat overturns
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03/10/05
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Respiratory illness kills 4 in Toronto, SARS ruled out
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02/10/05
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More bad news for the Canadian tobacco industry
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01/10/05
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Volpe aiming for 300,000 immigrants a year
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon, 31 Oct 2005 05:56:06 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 31st, 2005
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Canada could be accepting as many as 300,000 immigrants each year by 2010, if Immigration Minister Joe Volpe convinces his cabinet colleagues to go along with new targets.
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Last year, the country took in 236,000 immigrants to feed a growing demand for workers, according to a report Volpe is expected to table in the House of Commons Monday. This year's number should be around 245,000 by the end of December.
Volpe told the Globe and Mail in an interview published Monday that he hopes 255,000 people will be admitted to Canada as immigrants in 2006.
A spokesman for his department said cabinet must still approve the plan.
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Joe Volpe
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At the moment, about 700,000 prospective immigrants are waiting to have their applications processed, Volpe told the Globe and Mail. The process can take up to four years.
The Liberal government has long been promising to deal with the backlog. In April, it announced a series of measures aimed at speeding up applications from people with close relatives already in Canada.
Now Volpe is proposing to accept more people on temporary visas to fill jobs that are going unfilled, mostly in the construction industry.
"We have to start thinking about the Immigration Department as a recruiting vehicle for Canada's demographic and labour market needs," he told the Globe and Mail. "We are the lungs of the country."
Written by CBC News Staff
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Pakistan, India to open border in Kashmir
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:46:36 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 30th, 2005
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India and Pakistan have agreed to open the militarized border in the disputed Kashmir region to help victims of South Asia's earthquake.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the two sides struck a deal early Sunday, agreeing to open crossings at five points along a dividing line that has split the region for nearly 60 years.
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As of Nov. 7, relief supplies are to be allowed to flow in either direction. People are also to be allowed to cross the Line of Control on foot, if they've been granted permits from officials on both sides.
The mostly Muslim territory was divided when Pakistan and India gained independence in 1947. The two countries have been jockeying to control the area ever since and have fought two wars over the region.
By one estimate, more than 3,000 soldiers have died there, almost all because of the weather.
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A woman sits next to her injured daughter in a hospital in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005.
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New Delhi has also been battling Islamic militants who want Indian Kashmir to be declared independent or joined with Pakistan.
Crossing the Line of Control was prohibited for nearly 60 years, until the two countries agreed to allow twice-monthly bus service earlier in 2005.
The resumption of limited bus service stemmed from two years of talks aimed at ending the dispute.
The Oct. 8 earthquake seemed to have spurred the latest thaw in relations. The disaster killed an estimated 79,000 people in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and more than 1,300 in Indian Kashmir.
About 65,000 others were injured and 3.3 million left homeless.
About 800,000 people are thought to still be without any shelter.
Humanitarian groups and the United Nations have repeatedly warned that many more people will die if aid doesn't arrive soon.
Just over a month remains before winter snows cut off aid delivery routes into remote mountain villages where survivors have no shelter or food. The routes won't be passable again for nearly six months.
Written by CBC News Staff
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'Friendly fire' pilot repeats coverup allegation
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri, 28 Oct 2005 18:09:11 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 29th, 2005
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U.S. Maj. Harry Schmidt, who dropped a bomb that accidentally killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002, has again claimed that he was the victim of a coverup by U.S. military authorities.
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In a new book on the incident, Friendly Fire: The Untold Story, he tells author Michael Friscolanti that any inquiry into the incident could raise questions about the control system the air force used on April 18, 2002, when Pte. Richard Green, Pte. Nathan Smith, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer and Sgt. Marc Léger died after Schmidt mistook them for Afghan insurgents and dropped a bomb.
"They didn't want to fix the problem. They wanted to fix the blame," Schmidt said, almost exactly the same phrase he used in his first talk on TV about the incident, in June.
However, Col. John Odom, who led the prosecution against Schmidt and his wingman, has said the pilots broke the rules. Schmidt was told not to drop the bomb, but did so.
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Maj. Harry Schmidt
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Friscolanti reported that the U.S. air force did not know the Canadians were in the area, even though Canadian officials informed the U.S. headquarters.
In the book, Schmidt said the attack only became an issue because it involved non-Americans.
"I think I'm a victim of the fact that it was an international accident," Schmidt told Friscolanti. If the bomb had killed Americans, the Pentagon would have hushed it up.
But because it involved Canadians, the Pentagon had to recognize the command system was flawed, or find someone to blame.
"You're going to put America's command-and-control structure on trial?" Schmidt told Friscolanti. "It's not going to happen."
Written by CBC News Staff
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Ottawa promises to clean up water, offers to move aboriginal community
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri, 28 Oct 2005 06:44:08 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 28th, 2005
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Ottawa has offered to relocate the entire aboriginal community of Kashechewan in northern Ontario to higher ground.
The offer was made during a meeting between native leaders and Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott on Thursday night.
There has been no formal reaction yet from the leaders of the Cree reserve on the shores of James Bay that has been at the centre of a political storm for the past week because of a contaminated water crisis.
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Prime Minister Paul Martin has promised to clean up the E. coli contaminated water. "We are very concerned about this totally unacceptable situation," Martin told the House of Commons.
The Opposition demanded repeatedly during question period Scott resign.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper called Scott "incompetent."
Harper criticized Scott for visiting the community in August and refusing to drink the water, and then doing nothing for eight weeks after his return to Ottawa.
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Andy Scott
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Calgary Conservative Jim Prentice backed Harper, saying: "While the people of Kashechewan were being poisoned by E.coli and hepatitis, this minister slept."
Martin defended his cabinet minister, accusing the Opposition of being insincere.
"We've had cabinet meetings with aboriginal leaders, we've had round tables ... day after day, this Opposition has said nothing for aboriginal Canadians, day after day, they have voted against every single proposition we've had for aboriginal Canadians."
Earlier in the day, Scott shouted down questions by reporters over whether he will resign after emerging from a cabinet meeting. Dozens of residents on the Cree reserve have had to leave the community to get medical treatment.
The minister has been under scrutiny since the Ontario government decided to fly dozens of people from Kashechewan to Sudbury, 650 kilometres to the south. They are being treated for skin rashes and other medical problems aggravated by five years of on-and-off water contamination. Another 175 people are scheduled to be flown out Thursday night.
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Scott told CBC News that he met with representatives from Kashechewan in mid-August to discuss what should be done with the water treatment plant that seems to be at the root of the problem.
"The community said they wanted no more Band-Aid solutions," Scott said about why he did not take immediate action to fix the problem. "They wanted to live like the rest of Canada, and I agreed with that ...
Scott also rejected criticism of Ottawa's decision to put an intake pipe for the water treatment plant downstream along the Albany River from the reserve's sewage lagoon.
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A young protester draws attention to Kashechewan's water woes.
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"The problem is the community is within tidal waters, so within the course of the day, the tide comes up and reverses the flow," he said.
The federal government did not ignore the immediate problems at Kashechewan while it worked on a long-term plan for the community, Scott insisted. Ottawa sent in extra water engineers, more health officials and "thousands – I think 16,000 – 18-litre bottles [of water] a day."
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Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has accused the federal government of being "missing in action" in addressing the problems at Kashechewan and other native communities living under boil-water orders.
Scott denied that Ottawa has neglected its duties on Canada's reserves, saying that in 2003 it initiated a $1.6-billion, five-year plan to improve water services.
That kind of talk did not go over well with Phil Fontaine, leader of the Assembly of First Nations.
"It needs to be addressed immediately. We can't afford to wait ..., Fontaine said in Ottawa on Thursday.
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"There are at least 100 First Nations communities that are in a boil-water situation. There are at least 40 of those in Ontario."
Kashechewan Chief Leo Friday called it a "travesty." "If [the federal government] had listened about four years ago, this would have been prevented."
In 2001, he said, Kashechewan commissioned an engineer to look at its problem-plagued water service and other infrastructure in the community. The report was handed to Scott on Aug. 17 – it was the community's second meeting with the minister concerning its critical water situation.
"We did the study ourselves, with our resources," he said. "At that time and to date, we never got anything from the government ...
Written by CBC News Staff
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Single Alberta ticket will take $54M prize
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu, 27 Oct 2005 04:28:54 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 27th, 2005
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A winning ticket was sold in Alberta for Wednesday night's record-setting 6/49 lottery – and the top prize ended up being worth more than $54 million.
According to the Western Canada Lottery Corporation's website, one ticket was sold somewhere in Alberta with the winning numbers of 5, 11, 20, 30, 37 and 43, and the ticket is worth much more than the $40 million estimated before the draw. Thanks to a rush of ticket sales, which generated extra money for the jackpot, It's worth $54,294,712.
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There's no word yet on the identity of the lucky individual or group , or when the rest of the country will find out who holds the winning numbers.
An unconfirmed report posted on a lottery website, lotterybuddy.com, said 14 tickets were sold containing five of the six numbers plus the bonus number of 31, for a prize of about $143,000 each. The website said the tickets were spread out across the country: two in Nova Scotia, four in Quebec, four in Ontario, three in the Prairies and Alberta, and one in British Columbia.
Before Wednesday's draw, lineups were long in every part of the country. In the past four days, Canadians have spent an amazing $90 million on 6/49 tickets.
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About 29 per cent of the money goes to provincial governments. A further 18 per cent is split between operating costs, payments to sellers and the federal government.
Peter Low, who owns a lottery ticket centre in Vancouver, says he's never seen anything like this week's ticket frenzy.
"It has been on-going, non-stop," Low said early Wednesday. "I think today will be the busiest day we've ever had."
On Toronto's Bay Street, where the nation's financial wizards make the calculations and take the risks that shape the entire country's economy, sales were brisk.
Investment researchers Richard Wong and Jason Stu were caught in the act. When asked if they thought they were making a good investment, they said, "Not really." But like millions of other Canadians they just couldn't miss out on an opportunity at $40 million.
Abdul Alladin, who runs a ticket kiosk, says regular customers are buying 10 times as many tickets – and the employees of some brokerage firms are going even bigger.
"I had one customers say they are collecting $100 from everyone in their office. They're going to collect $5,000 just from their office alone [for lottery tickets]," said Alladin.
But not everyone is enthralled with the lottery madness. Sean Villeneuve, a ticket store owner in Montreal, says he hopes it ends soon.
"The most annoying thing, I guess, are the people who say, 'I want the winning ticket.' I love that one, because I would love it too. I would want the winning ticket and yet they think they're special."
The chances of holding the winning combination of six numbers were estimated at 1 in 14 million. The odds of one ticket coming up with that combination were even higher – and someone in Alberta managed to pull it off.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Ontario to airlift 1,000 from Cree reserve
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:21:36 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 26th, 2005
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About 1,000 residents of the Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario will be evacuated from their reserve, where high amounts of E.coli bacteria have fouled drinking and bathing water for years.
Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay says about half of the residents of the remote reserve on the shores of James Bay will be flown out of the area beginning Wednesday.
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"We've decided we're going to start a medical evacuation of patients who need to be treated," said Ramsay. "The doctors told us better treatment could be obtained outside of the community."
Traditionally, he said, serious medical cases have been treated in Timmins or Cochrane, both about 450 km to the south.
"It is a medical emergency, so these people really need to be removed."
About half of the reserve's 1,900 residents are suffering from skin conditions aggravated by the high levels of chlorine being used to disinfect the water, which has high levels of E. coli.
The Cree reserve has been under a boil-water advisory for two years, but intermittent water problems have been reported for five years.
Ramsay also says that in the long term, the entire community may need to be relocated.
Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowak credits Premier Dalton McGuinty with ordering the medical evacuation, but wants to know why it took so long.
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Protesters on the Kashechewan First Nation reserve.
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As for the possible relocation of the entire community Louttit says, "There needs to be some discussions ... to the continuing problems of this community."
NDP critic Gilles Bisson says there are 50 other native communities in the province that also have to boil their drinking water.
The Walkerton inquiry recommended the province take over responsibility for drinking water in native communities. So far, Bisson said, nothing's been done.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Martin, Layton to hammer out parliamentary pact
Web Posted | Last Updated Tue, 25 Oct 2005 07:29:12 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 25th, 2005
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NDP Leader Jack Layton and Prime Minister Paul Martin will hold talks Tuesday about the future of health care and what legislation will be handled in this parliamentary session.
Layton will go to Martin's official residence at 24 Sussex Drive for the meeting, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT.
Among other things, Layton said he will lay out the conditions under which his New Democrats will continue to prop up Martin's minority Liberal government. One such condition is likely to be protection for publicly funded health care
"What I've said is if we don't see action on these things quickly, then the government should not count on the support of the NDP in the weeks to come," he said Monday.
Similar talks last spring ended with the Liberals agreeing to add $4.6 billion in new spending to their 2005 budget in return for the NDP's pledge to not vote with the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois to bring down the government.
"We're not sitting down to bargain," Martin told reporters Monday. "What we're doing is we're going to sit down to ensure, as I would hope, between the two parties, how we can make Parliament work."
The party that forms the official opposition expects the meeting to be all show and no substance.
The rendezvous at 24 Sussex will be "more posturing and pretending that they're actually doing something for Canadians," said Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay.
"It's all a pre-election mock-up. Nothing is going to happen in there for Canadians except that they're going to prop up Paul Martin for another period of time."
Written by CBC News Staff
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PM to press Rice on lumber, border and guns
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon, 24 Oct 2005 12:06:33 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 24th, 2005
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Prime Minister Paul Martin signalled Monday that he will continue to push the United States to respect a NAFTA ruling on softwood lumber during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Canada this week.
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"When we have a disagreement with the Americans, it is not friendship that should get in the way of pointing out to them ... that friends live up to their agreements," Martin said during a wide-ranging morning news conference in Ottawa.
"I believe that our relations with the United States are good, and I believe that our relations with the current administration are good," the prime minister added, citing the Bush administration's support of Canada's position that there is no continuing BSE threat in this country.
"Good relations with the United States does not mean that the prime minister of the country should not defend Canada," he said. "Good relations with the United States does not mean that the Canadian government should not look to the broader horizon when it looks to Canadian interests."
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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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Rice will arrive in Canada Monday evening for her first official visit as secretary of state – a visit that was abruptly postponed last year after Martin said Canada would not participate in the American missile defence shield program.
While Rice is in the country, Martin said he will talk to her about:
- Softwood lumber, in the wake of an August ruling by NAFTA's extraordinary challenge committee that the U.S.
owes Canada $5 billion Cdn because American tariffs on Canadian products have been too high.
- The U.S. insistence that Canadians must show passports in order to cross the border by 2008, a topic that will
be the subject of a special parliamentary debate Monday night.
- The illegal flow of handguns from the United States to Canada, a traffic that Martin said provides weapons for
up to 50 per cent of the gun crimes committed north of the border.
"The Americans ask us to do things in terms of the border, and security at the border is very important to Canada," Martin said, with regard to the gun traffic. "I think that there is an obligation on their side to work with us."
The prime minister suggested that it's time for Canada to place more emphasis on building relationships and trade with countries other than its historically biggest partner. He specifically mentioned India and China as trade targets.
"That's not an anti-American position," he said. "That simply says that we are a major exporting nation, and we're not going to put all our eggs in one basket."
PM, Layton to meet
On a topic closer to home, Martin said he would meet with NDP Leader Jack Layton this week to discuss how the Liberals and NDP can co-operate during the current session of Parliament.
Layton was able to cut a deal with Martin last spring that committed the NDP to propping up the minority Liberal government in return for a pledge of $4.6 billion in new spending.
Asked what the Liberals were prepared to offer Layton for his party's support this fall and winter, Martin said nothing is on the table.
"This is not a question of giving or bargaining, it's a question of what we can do to make Parliament work," he said.
Written by CBC News Staff
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No survivors found in Nigerian plane crash
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun, 23 Oct 2005 08:20:53 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 23rd, 2005
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A Nigerian official says the latest reports show nobody survived the crash of a passenger jet carrying 117 people, reversing his earlier statement.
Initial reports had said that as many as 50 people aboard a Nigerian passenger jet that crashed Saturday night may be alive.
The wreckage of the Bellview Airlines Boeing 737 lies about 195 kilometres north of Lagos. A police search and rescue team using a helicopter found the plane Sunday morning near the rural town of Kishi, in Oyo state.
State radio reported that several high-ranking government officials were on the plane, but did not name them.
The aircraft lost contact with the control tower shortly after taking off on a flight to the capital Abuja.
State television reports the pilots issued a distress call just before the plane disappeared from radar.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Hurricane Wilma churns over Mexico
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat, 22 Oct 2005 08:35:52 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 22nd, 2005
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Slow-moving Hurricane Wilma stalled over Mexico's Mayan Riviera on Saturday and was expected to pummel the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula all day before moving into the Gulf of Mexico toward western Cuba and Florida.
The centre of the hurricane passed directly over Cozumel Island early Saturday before making landfall near Playa de Carmen, south of Cancun.
It came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane, before being downgraded to a Category 3 when its centre was reported 45 kilometres southwest of Cancun.
The storm brought torrential rains and winds of 225 km/hr as it came ashore before slowing somewhat to 205 km/hr. By Saturday afternoon, Wilma had weakened to a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 177 km/hr.
As many as 30,000 tourists from Yucatan resorts have moved into crowded, stuffy makeshift shelters that have no electricity.
People trying to get information about Canadian tourists who may be affected by the storm can call the Consular Affairs Bureau of Foreign Affairs Canada at 1-800-387-3124.
At least two deaths have been reported in Playa del Carmen.
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Forecasters say Wilma is expected to reach Florida's shores on Monday, a day later than previously thought.
Authorities say anyone living in coastal areas from the Florida Keys to Fort Myers must clear out.
"The streets of Cancun are like moving rivers," said CBC reporter Connie Watson. "The first three stories of many hotels are submerged in water.
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Hurricane Wilma, Friday.
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"Over the next 24 to 48 hours, the storm will move very slowly, causing catastrophic damage because the storm will linger for many hours," Tim Schott of the U.S. National Weather Service told CBC News on Friday.
By Saturday afternoon, more than 500,000 people had left their homes in anticipation of the storm reaching Cuba, the island's civil defence officials said.
If Wilma stays on the forecasted track, it could hit Florida counties still recovering from Hurricane Charley, which hit in August 2004.
At a news conference Saturday in Tallahassee, Fla., state meteorologist Ben Nelson said parts of Florida could experience tornadoes because of a cold front moving in from the north.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Wilma could worsen before hitting Mexico: forecasters
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:43:01 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 21st, 2005
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Huge waves churned up surf and heavy rain pelted down along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning as forecasters warned hurricane Wilma could get even stronger before making landfall.
At 4 a.m. ET on Friday, Wilma was about 90 km southeast of the Mexican island of Cozumel, moving at a speed of 9 km/h, said forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The Category 4 storm, which two days ago was the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, has winds of up to 240 km/h. The storm gained some strength overnight and became more organized, said CBC meteorologist Claire Martin.
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"Over the next 24 to 48 hours, the storm will move very slowly, causing catastrophic damage because the storm will linger for many hours," Tim Schott, from the U.S. National Weather Service, told CBC News.
Schott says western Cuba and southern Mexico should expect to feel Wilma's wrath for about 36 hours. That means the storm will have time to dump up to 50 cm of rain on some areas.
Storm's eye is unusually wide
Mexico Gov. Felix Gonzalez Cantu, whose state includes Cancun, says he's worried that people might think the storm is over as the 65-km-wide eye passes through and venture out of shelter too soon.
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Tourists wait in a shelter in Cancun, Mexico, as hurricane Wilma churns toward the Yucatan peninsula.
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"In those six or seven hours of apparent calm, people might get confused," said Cantu.
For days now, Mexican soldiers have been helping move thousands of tourists who couldn't get flights home into schools and gymnasiums, where they're hunkered down on floor mats.
"All the hotels have been evacuated in the city at the moment," said Laura Perez Diaz, who works for the Ritz Carlton in Cancun. "The authorities have asked everyone to stay in their home or go to one of the 100 shelters in the city – mainly schools and hotels in downtown."
Local children don't have to go to school because their classrooms are now packed with those taking shelter from hurricane Wilma.
In Cuba, defence officials are warning people to stay out of flooded areas, as strong winds could knock down electrical wires.
Tens of thousands of people in the western Pinar del Rio region have been moved to safety.
Although the storm is expected to miss the oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, experts anticipate it will bring a wildly destructive force wherever it does touch down.
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Florida bracing for hit late Sunday
Forecasters say when Wilma hits the United States, its projected track could take it anywhere between Tampa and the Florida Keys. Their best guess is that the hurricane could strike as a Category 2 somewhere in southwestern Florida on Sunday afternoon or evening.
About 2,400 members of the U.S. National Guard are on alert in the state, with another 7,500 available if required.
Eighteen Blackhawk helicopters are on standby and all schools in southwest Florida will be closed on Friday to help people prepare their families.
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Hurricane Wilma shown southeast of Cozumel, Mexico.
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Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency in preparation for the storm's arrival, but says he's confident.
"We are battle-tested, well-resourced, well-trained," he said.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Wilma weaker, but still 'dangerous' threat
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:14:39 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 20th, 2005
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Hurricane Wilma weakened slightly overnight to a Category 4 storm, but forecasters warned Thursday morning that it was still "extremely dangerous" and likely to regain strength before it nears Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
As of 4 a.m. ET, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 240 km/h, down from more than 280 km/h a day earlier. Its eye was located about 315 kilometres southeast of the Mexican resort areas of Cozumel and Cancun.
"If the centre of Wilma makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, coastal storm surge flooding of seven to 10 feet [two to three metres] above normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous battering waves, can be expected near and to the north of the centre," the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned on its website.
A day earlier, the same website said Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, with minimum central pressure estimated at 882 millibars. The lower the pressure at the eye of a hurricane, the more powerful its winds will be.
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An Air Force reconnaissance plane measured the pressure at 900 millibars Thursday morning, the hurricane centre said.
The storm's heavy rains have already been blamed for the deaths of at least 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica, due to flooding and landslides.
Wilma's path is characterized by "wobbles," according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center update, but its eye looks likely to arrive on Mexico's eastern coast by early afternoon Friday.
After that, it will head into the Gulf of Mexico and could pick up strength again before hitting southwestern Florida Saturday or Sunday.
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An Oct. 19 satellite image of Wilma.
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High risk of big storm surge
Forecasters warned Wednesday that a "tremendous" storm surge as high as 7.5 metres could swamp the southwest coast of Florida after the eye passes over the state. They also say the storm could go on to hit New England.
"What could happen here is eventually this gets out of the water and turns northwards toward the Maritime provinces, in which case it would not be a very merry time up there," AccuWeather forecaster Joe Bastardi told CBC News Thursday morning.
Before that happens, Bastardi said, he expects Wilma "to beat the Yucatan like a rented mule over the next couple of days."
Tourists have been leaving Mexico, Cuba, Belize and Florida in droves over the past 24 hours, respecting the potential power of the hurricane.
Canadian tourists being flown out
Some Canadian-based travel companies have been sending special flights to those regions to pick up vacationers.
Air Transat spokesman Michel Lemay said his airline sent five planes to Cuba Wednesday to pick up 900 travelers from Canada in advance of the storm. All should be back in Canada by noon Thursday.
"Safety comes first, so yesterday we decided that the best thing to do was to evacuate our passengers," Lemay told CBC News on Thursday morning.
Residents of the Florida Keys have also started getting ready to evacuate, fearing their low-lying islands will be swamped.
Store windows are being boarded up and sheets of plywood are flying off the shelves in local hardware stores.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Saddam defiant as trial begins
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed, 19 Oct 2005 07:51:37 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 19th, 2005
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Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attacked the legitimacy of the special court trying him for crimes against humanity Wednesday as the trial began at a tightly guarded Baghdad courthouse.
"I preserve my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq," said Saddam in answer to questions from presiding judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin. "I do not recognize the body that has authorized you and I don't recognize this aggression."
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He went on to plead innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture.
The trial was supposed to begin by 11 a.m. Baghdad time Wednesday, or 4 a.m. EDT. Proceedings finally got underway an hour and a half later in the courtroom built out of Saddam's former Baath Party headquarters in the Iraqi capital's heavily defended Green Zone.
The 68-year-old former leader and his co-accused, seven top officers from his regime, sat in three rows in the courtroom, surrounded by a metre-high barred enclosure.
They faced a five-judge panel led by Amin, a Kurd from northern Iraq.
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Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein appears before a Baghdad court.
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Saddam was combative as he stood and faced the judge, demanding the right to make a statement, complaining about how he had been treated in jail, and refusing to identify himself in response to Amin's routine request for his name.
Another accused complained that court officials had removed his religious head covering. The judge then allowed four of the defendants to put on their headdresses again.
Saddam and his officers are accused of ordering the execution of 143 men and boys in the mainly Shia village of Dujail in 1982. The massacre followed a failed assassination attempt aimed at Saddam.
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If convicted on the murder and torture charges, Amin warned the defendants as the trial began, they face the death penalty.
Lawyers for Saddam had said Tuesday that they would seek a three-month postponement in the trial because they had not had enough time to prepare his defence.
They also object to the fact that the trial is taking place in an American-controlled part of Baghdad.
Saddam was arrested 22 months ago after U.S. forces involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq found him hiding in a hole in the ground near his hometown of Tikrit.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Iraqis hold pictures of people they allege were killed during Saddam Hussein's regime during a demonstration in Dujail, Iraq.
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B.C. teachers defiant in face of further punishment
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon, 17 Oct 2005 21:10:52 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 18th, 2005
Both sides in the British Columbia teachers dispute will be back in the province's Supreme Court on Tuesday, with the B.C. Public School Employers' Association seeking stiff fines against the union.
The province's 38,000 teachers continue to disobey a back to work court order issued more than a week ago. That court also found the teachers and their union in civil contempt.
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Teachers and other trade unionists march onto the lawn of the B.C. legislature in Victoria.
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Special prosecutor Len Doust, who was hired by the province, has decided against initiating criminal contempt proceedings, at least for now. He said Monday he is proceeding cautiously and will continue to monitor the teachers' conduct.
The comment came as thousands of teachers and other trade unionists marched onto the lawn of the B.C. legislature in Victoria, part of a "day of action" aimed at getting the government's attention.
The protesters ignored a heavy rainfall, demanding the province negotiate a new collective agreement, and brought the provincial capital to a virtual standstill.
The teachers' wildcat strike is illegal because the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell has deemed that the province's schools are an essential service.
But the appointment of a special prosecutor to follow the dispute has further irritated the situation.
"That just made us a little more angry and a little more resilient. And we're going to be here and walk the line no matter what," said Joan Ma, who teaches Grades 2 and 3.
Last week the B.C. Supreme Court ordered the union to stop paying teachers strike wages or giving them any other kind of financial support.
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Jinny Simms, the president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation, says teachers want smaller class sizes and accuses the premier of using the courts to attempt to silence the union.
"Teachers want to have their students back in the schools. But we need to have guarantees for our students' learning conditions and we need to have our rights as well," said Simms.
The dispute erupted into a wildcat strike after the government passed Bill 12. The legislation forces the teachers to accept a two-year contract with no wage increase.
About 600,000 students are affected by the strike.
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B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell
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But at a news conference Premier Campbell said there is "no excuse to break the law and show such flagrant contempt for the courts of British Columbia."
Campbell says he is willing to meet with teachers, but he says it won't be to renegotiate the collective agreement. He says the union must order its teachers back to their classrooms to avoid the possibility of criminal charges.
"I don't want that to happen. I don't think anybody will be served by that. But that will be the choice of the courts," he said.
But Simms says the teachers won't be bowed. "There is a big difference between breaking the law and having a law designed to break you. We will not be broken."
Union leaders say they are ready to deal with the consequences of their illegal strike, even if it means jail time.
Teachers say they are determined to continue their job action, in spite of receiving no pay from their union.
"I will eat up all the canned food and frozen dinners in my pantry and visit my mother more often," said Ma.
Written by CBC News Staff
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B.C. workers walking out to back teachers
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon, 17 Oct 2005 07:42:45 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 17th, 2005
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Thousands of unionized workers in British Columbia are expected to walk off the job Monday to take part in a major rally in Victoria in support of 42,000 striking teachers.
As many as 15,000 members of government unions on Vancouver Island, ranging from bus drivers to social workers, will begin to gather along with hundreds of teachers for the protest at about 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT).
Hospital and ferry workers are not expected to join the one-day protest.
The rally comes as British Columbia's labour minister hints at more court action aimed at stopping the illegal strike, which is now affecting its sixth school day.
Mike DeJong continues to say the government won't negotiate with teachers while they defy court orders aimed at ending the strike. During a conference call late Sunday, he hinted at even tougher legal action against teachers.
"First of all, my guess is you are going to see more involvement by the courts," he said.
At the same time, DeJong said he and other government officials are in talks with the B.C. Federation of Labour to try to end the impasse.
B.C. Government and Service Employees' union president George Heyman said the rally will go ahead as planned, despite the talks.
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"We want them to sit down with teachers and negotiate a settlement," he said. "This won't be settled in the courts."
The British Columbia Teachers' Federation is ignoring legislation that declares education an essential service, meaning teachers in the province don't have the right to strike, as well as a contempt of court ruling issued against it the weekend after the strike began on Oct. 7.
The teachers want a 15 per cent wage increase and smaller class sizes. They are angry that the government pushed through legislation unilaterally extended their existing collective agreement until June 2006, without a raise, instead of negotiating a new one.
About 600,000 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 have been out of class because of the strike.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees says Monday's rally is just the start of its job action aimed at supporting the teachers.
On Tuesday, all CUPE union members in the northern part of British Columbia will walk away from their jobs as a form of protest.
Written by CBC News Staff
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DART readies for Pakistan mission
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:37:49 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 16th, 2005
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About 150 members of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) are preparing to take off for Pakistan on Sunday evening.
The military team includes logistics experts, engineers and specialists who will be able to supply 50,000 litres a day of desperately needed clean water to the estimated two million people left homeless by the Oct. 8 earthquake.
The rain and low temperatures in the region could start killing the homeless as a Pakistani official on Sunday estimated the death toll may top 54,000, up from the previous estimate of more than 38,000.
The first priority will be to set up a base, engineer Sgt. Sean Connors told CBC News. "It will take a couple of days."
One of the big problems facing the team will be getting around in Pakistan, he said. But after returning from New Orleans, where DART was helping victims of hurricane Katrina, "people are very receptive wherever we go."
The plane, set to leave Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Eastern Ontario, is the third element of the team to depart for Pakistan in what the military has dubbed Operation Plateau.
A transport with 75 tonnes of cargo took off Saturday and an advance team of 24 people arrived before that to assess how DART can best help.
Three more loads of equipment are set to take off over the next few days.
The last time the DART team was used, during the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in late December, there was criticism that the $15 million it cost would have been more effective if given to an aid agency on the ground.
But the government says it is more useful to send people with expertise than money.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Quake death toll nears 40,000
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat, 15 Oct 2005 09:57:44 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 15th, 2005
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As the official death toll rose to 38,000, officials in Pakistan predicted more misery for survivors of the Kashmir earthquake on Saturday – cold temperatures and enough rain to ground relief flights.
An estimated 2.2 million were left homeless when the 7.6 magnitude quake struck the divided Himalayan region on Oct. 8. Half of those affected by the quake are children, UNICEF says.
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Relief workers on the ground said more delays in reaching the victims could be catastrophic. They've reported some food is rotting because there's no system in place to get in and out of the collection points. People in need of food and tents are being told they need to pick it up themselves, which is very difficult for many stranded in remote areas.
Rescue workers have abandoned the search for survivors. Jan Egeland, the UN undersecretary-general and emergency relief co-ordinator, said the search-and-rescue phase is now over.
"It's a cruel reality. But after a week, very few people survive," he said.
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A Pakistani earthquake survivor takes shelter from the rain under the rubble of a destroyed house in Balakot.
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But persistent rescue workers with a Pakistani team pulled an 18-month old girl from the ruins of her family's home in the town of Balimang in the northwest frontier province of Kashmir.
The little girl was unconscious but breathing when she was located beneath the fallen door of the collapsed home. Her mother and two brothers were found dead nearby.
Doctors say the toddler has a broken hand and fractured leg.
The UN is now focusing on the relief operation. Egeland said it would take billions of dollars and "five to 10 years" to rebuild.
The United Nations launched an appeal Tuesday for $272 million for quake victims. It now says an additional $40 million is needed.
Pledges for over $50 million have been received, with $4.6 million turned into firm commitments or contributions.
Earlier this week, torrential rains and hailstorms grounded helicopters flying food and other supplies to devastated areas.
UNICEF said the international relief effort must focus on helping children at risk of death from cold, malnutrition and disease. The UN agency said it was sending a number of supplies including high protein bars, boots and sweaters for children, medical supplies and blankets.
Written by CBC News Staff
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New testimony shows financial link between Guité and Brault
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:54:38 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 14th, 2005
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New details of the relationship between two of the central figures in the sponsorship scandal, show they were deeply linked financially.
The testimony was heard last spring before the Gomery inquiry, but only released on Friday after a series of rulings and court hearings in Quebec. The testimony comes from the former federal civil servant who used to run the program, Chuck Guité, and Groupaction ad executive, Jean Brault.
The newly released evidence shows the two men were linked by money in connection with the sponsorship program.
Brault got lucrative government contracts from Guité. In return Guité got loans, perquisites and eventually contracts from Brault and Groupaction.
In one instance, Guité borrowed $25,000 from Brault to buy a boat but never repaid any interest, or any of the principal.
Under testimony Guité called it "bridge financing."
Other testimony showed that Brault gave Guité tickets to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
"I requested four tickets, if I recall correctly," Guité testified at the time, "from Groupaction and I made the comment as I made here I think last week, I said, 'If there is a cost, I don't want them.' I was assured there was no cost."
Brault provided brand new Pirelli tires for Guité's sports car and then reluctantly bought the car itself when Guité tired of it after only a few months.
"I wasn't happy about it, but I bought it for $35,000," the ad executive told Gomery.
Brault says it all added up to a special, privileged relationship, with Guité.
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Guité continued to profit from GroupAction, even after he retired from the civil service in 1999, to the tune of about $136,000. "If you look at the contracts that I did with Groupaction, I think there was two contracts that I started and I did a lot of work," said the former civil servant.
The decision to drop the publication ban and make public more of the evidence became final after a judge in Quebec refused a request from the lawyer for Guité to keep the testimony under wraps, on the grounds that it would hurt Guité's chances at a fair trial.
Earlier this week, Justice John Gomery said he would release some previously restricted testimony from the sponsorship inquiry, but only after lawyers for the two men facing criminal charges were allowed to make one final attempt to keep the publication ban in place.
In a surprise move on Friday, Guité fired his lawyer without any explanation.
Guité and Brault are facing charges of fraud and conspiracy.
Justice Gomery is scheduled to release his report in two parts. The first part is scheduled to be released in November and the second in February of 2006.
The inquiry was called to look into the sponsorship program, a $250 million project intended to promote national unity and to oppose separatism in Quebec.
In her February 2004 report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said an estimated $100 million in commissions in relation to the program went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies for little or no work.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Aid shipments resume in quake zone
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:30:47 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 12th, 2005
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Aid has resumed pouring into areas of Pakistan and India devastated by the Oct. 8 earthquake, more than 12 hours after heavy rain and hail temporarily halted deliveries.
However, on Wednesday relief workers were still having trouble bringing food, clothing and medical supplies to remote areas of Kashmir, where the earthquake's worst damage occurred.
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Poor co-ordination among aid agencies was blamed for some of the problems.
As many as 40,000 people may have died in Saturday's earthquake, which injured at least 43,000 more and left an estimated 4 million people homeless with winter approaching.
On a brief visit to Islamabad Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the earthquake a natural disaster of "epic proportions." She also promised long-term aid for Pakistan, where the overwhelming majority of victims were located.
"I want the people of Pakistan to know that our thoughts are with you," Rice told reporters. "We will be with you not just today but tomorrow."
The United States has promised at least $50 million US in aid.
On Tuesday, the United Nations appealed for an initial $272 million US to provide food, shelter and water in the wake of the quake that has left millions homeless.
The quake damaged sanitation systems, destroyed hospitals and left many victims with no access to clean drinking water, making them more vulnerable to disease.
"Measles could potentially become a serious problem," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva.
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Piles of relief goods, donated by the Saudi government, at Chaklala Air Base in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005.
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"We fear that if people huddle closely together in temporary shelters and crowded conditions, more measles cases could occur."
Written by CBC News Staff
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Wet weekend sets rainfall records
Web Posted | Last Updated Sat, 11 Oct 2005 12:44:00 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 11th, 2005
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Many Maritimers were wielding mops and buckets Tuesday after a heavy rainfall set records in parts of the region over the long weekend.
By mid-afternoon Monday, Environment Canada weather stations had recorded a total of more than 143 millimetres of rain in Moncton over the three-day period, compared to 134 mm in Saint John and almost 93 mm in Fredericton.
The rain was forecast to dwindle by late Tuesday, with the weather system losing power as it moves toward the eastern tip of Newfoundland.
A causeway joining Moncton and the nearby community of Riverview was shut down for most of the day Saturday because of the torrents that fell, adding up to a one-day record of 120 mm.
The previous record for Moncton was less than one-third that amount, when 37.3 mm fell on Oct. 8, 1962.
Saint John also experienced a record rainfall, besting a 1961 mark. At one point, a dozen roads in the city were closed and several more were underwater.
The heaviest rainfall in the province was recorded on the Bay of Fundy island of Grand Manan, which was soaked with 239 mm falling since Saturday.
In neighbouring Nova Scotia, Halifax received 138.4 mm in the same period of time.
Police said a 22-year-old man from Lower Sackville, near Halifax, died when his car went off the road in heavy rain Monday night. Flash flooding was reported in northern Nova Scotia as well.
The downpour started when a slow-moving weather system hit the region on Saturday, washing out roads and flooding basements.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Beaten New Orleans Man Revisits Scene
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:58:00 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 10th, 2005
By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS - Robert Davis stood at the corner of Bourbon and Conti streets in the French Quarter and stared in disbelief at the brown stain on the sidewalk.
"Is that my blood? It must be," said the 64-year-old retired elementary schoolteacher, who was arrested and repeatedly punched by police over the weekend. "I didn't know I was bleeding that bad."
The confrontation, captured on videotape and broadcast across the country, has put another unwanted spotlight on the beleaguered, exhausted police force in this storm-struck city.
Three officers pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the incident and the U.S. Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation.
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A bruised Robert Davis describes, Monday, Oct. 10, 2005, how he was punched and arrested...
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Davis disputed contentions by police that he had been drinking.
"I haven't had a drink in 25 years," Davis said Monday. "I didn't do anything. I was going to get a pack of cigarettes and taking my evening constitutional."
The two city police officers accused in the beating, and a third accused of grabbing and shoving an Associated Press Television News producer who helped capture the encounter on tape, pleaded not guilty to battery charges and were released Monday.
After a hearing, at which trial was set for Jan. 11, officers Lance Schilling, Robert Evangelist and S.M. Smith were released on bond. They left without commenting. They were suspended without pay Sunday.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley said any misconduct found in an investigation would be dealt with swiftly. He noted the video showed "a portion of that incident."
"The actions that were observed on this video are certainly unacceptable by this department," Riley said.
Davis is black; the three city police officers seen on the tape are white. But Davis and police officials have said they don't believe race was a factor.
Two other officials in the video appeared to be federal officers, according to police. Numerous agencies have sent officers to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and police spokesman Marlon Defillo said it would be up to their commanders to decide if they would face charges.
Davis had stitches under his swollen left eye, a bandage around a finger and complained of aches in his left shoulder and soreness in his back. His lawyer said he suffered fractures to his cheek and eye socket.
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The confrontation came as the New Orleans Police Department — long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption — struggles with the aftermath of Katrina and the resignation last month of Police Superintendent Eddie Compass.
Davis said the confrontation began after he had approached a mounted police officer Saturday to ask about curfews in the city when another officer interrupted.
"This other guy interfered and I said he shouldn't," Davis said. "I started to cross the street and — bam — I got it. ... All I know is this guy attacked me and said, 'I will kick your ass,' and they proceeded to do it."
The APTN tape shows an officer hitting Davis at least four times in the head. Davis appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Davis' lawyer, Joseph Bruno, said his client did not resist police.
Another officer also kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was pushed to the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter. The officers accused of striking Davis were identified as Schilling and Evangelist.
During the arrest, another officer, identified as Smith, ordered an APTN producer and cameraman to stop recording. When producer Rich Matthews held up his credentials, the officer grabbed him, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
Davis had returned to New Orleans over the weekend from Atlanta to inspect six properties owned by members of his family, intending to clean them up or figure out how to rebuild them. He's no longer sure he'll return permanently to the city he's called home for 28 years.
"That's up in the air. The chaos that's here — I don't know," he said.
Associated Press writer Rachel LaCorte contributed to this report.
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Rescuers hunt for South Asia quake survivors
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun, 09 Oct 2005 19:16:43 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 9th, 2005
Rescuers struggled to reach remote, mountainous areas of Pakistan Sunday after one of the country's worst-ever earthquakes killed more than 20,000 people.
The quake wiped out entire villages, buried roads in rubble and knocked out electricity and water supplies. Pakistan said more than 40,000 people were injured and between 20,000 and 30,000 likely killed, and the death toll was expected to rise.
A Pakistani army spokesperson called the devastation the largest catastrophe in his country's history.
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A rescue worker looks for survivors in the rubble of three-storey hotel in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
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"I have been informed by my department that more than 30,000 people have died in Kashmir," said Tariq Mahmmod, communications minister for the Himalayan region.
Rescuers struggled to dig people from the wreckage in Pakistani Kashmir. They faced difficult work Sunday as rain and hail turned the debris into sticky mess.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appealed to the international community for medicine, tents and cargo helicopters. "We do seek international assistance. We have enough manpower but we need financial support ... to cope with the tragedy," said Musharraf. He said the only way to reach many isolated areas was by helicopter because roads were buried by landslides. "We need massive cargo helicopter support."
The toll included 250 girls who died when their school in northwestern Pakistan collapsed. Another 500 students were injured, said Ataullah Khan Wazir, police chief in the northwestern district of Mansehra.
Sardar Mohammed Anwar, the top government official in Pakistani Kashmir, said most homes in Muzaffarabad, the area's capital, were damaged, and schools and hospitals had collapsed.
In Abbotabad, north of Islamabad, dozens of quake victims and other patients, some hooked up to intravenous drips, lay on the lawn of the city hospital after officials said aftershocks made it unsafe to stay inside. Hospital staff used loudspeakers to ask the public for food and other relief supplies.
Damage was extensive in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory divided between India and Pakistan.
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Officials in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir reported at least 250 dead, including 20 soldiers who perished in a landslide. At least 850 people were injured and about 2,700 homes were destroyed or damaged across India-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, said senior state official B.B. Vyas.
In the capitals of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, buildings shook, walls swayed for about a minute, and people ran in panic from their homes and offices. Tremors continued for hours and communications systems were badly disrupted.
India's government offered condolences and assistance to Pakistan, a longtime rival with which it has been pursuing peace efforts after fighting three wars -- two over Kashmir -- since independence from Britain in 1947.
"While parts of India have also suffered from this unexpected natural disaster, we are prepared to extend any assistance with rescue and relief which you may deem appropriate," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a message to Musharraf.
Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz ordered the military to extend "all-out help" to quake-hit areas and appealed to the nation to stay calm.
Several villages in northern Pakistan were buried in landslides triggered by the quake, a spokesman for the Pakistani army reported.
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Rescue work at a collapsed 10-story apartment building in Islamabad, Pakistan.
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Pakistani army officials who flew over the quake-hit areas early Saturday reported seeing hundreds of flattened homes in northern villages, government officials in Islamabad said.
In Islamabad, scores of people were feared killed or trapped when two buildings collapsed.
Maj. Gen. Sultan said troops and helicopters have been sent to the earthquake-hit areas. Landslides were hindering rescue efforts in some areas.
The quake jolted parts of Bangladesh, but no casualties or damages were reported.
There have been no reports of Canadians killed or injured in the earthquake, and Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, says no Canadians are registered in the region.
The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website the quake hit at 8:50 a.m. local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centred about 100 kilometres northeast of Islamabad in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir.
Large parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are seismically active.
The region's most severe earthquake in memory was on May 31, 1935, when a quake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale destroyed Quetta, in what is now western Pakistan, killing between 30,000 and 60,000 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Seniors died of Legionnaires' disease: official
Web Posted | Last Updated Thu, 06 Oct 2005 17:23:25 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 7th, 2005
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Legionnaires' disease has been identified as the likely cause of deadly outbreak at Toronto nursing home, health officials say.
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Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical officer of health, said autopsies done on three of the 16 residents of the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged that have died since September 25th showed the presence of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires'.
Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia. It got the name because the first known outbreak occurred in a hotel hosting a convention of the Pennsylvania Department of the American Legion. In that outbreak, approximately 221 people contracted this previously unknown type of bacterial pneumonia, and 34 people died. The source of the bacterium was found to be contaminated water used to cool the air in the hotel's air conditioning system.
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Entrance to the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged in Toronto on Wednesday.
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Legionnaires' disease is most often contracted by inhaling mist from water sources such as whirlpool baths, showers, and cooling towers that are contaminated with Legionella bacteria. There is no evidence for person-to-person spread of the disease.
Although Legionnaires' disease has a mortality rate of 5 to 15 per cent, many people may be infected with the bacterium that causes the disease, yet not develop any symptoms. It is likely that many cases of Legionnaires' disease go undiagnosed.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Newfoundland cancer lab produces false results
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:45:44 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 6th, 2005
A major cancer-testing laboratory in Newfoundland has produced unreliable results.
The lab is located at the General Hospital in the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's. It does the majority of cancer tests annually in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Eastern Health Authority said Wednesday all samples are now being sent to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
According to the St. John's Telegram, the concern started in May when an initial test on a patient indicated that tumour cells were not cancerous. But after receiving new information on the patient's condition, the same sample was retested and showed a positive result.
Dr. Bob Williams, a vice-president of the health authority, says that as an added precaution results received as far back as 1997 also are being sent to Mount Sinai for retesting.
Williams said that 73 per cent of the tests performed in the past were positive, but the lab is mostly concerned with the 27 per cent of tests that were negative.
He said about 10 per cent of the tests performed over the past seven years may show conflicting results. The discrepancies were in tests for breast cancer. The authority receives seven or eight such samples each week.
The reason for the conflicting results is not known, but last year the facility brought in a new fully automated system for detecting hormone receptors in breast tissue. An older system required more steps in the testing process.
Williams said Eastern Health contacted other labs across the country, reviewed some literature and consulted oncologists and surgeons.
"After consultation it was determined that we should, in the interest of patient care, retest all patients who had tested negative".
Lab results from Mount Sinai are expected in about a month.
A quality review of the St. John's lab also is underway.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Canadian soldiers injured by failed suicide bomber near Kandahar
Web Posted | Last Updated Wed, 05 Oct 2005 05:52:53 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 5th, 2005
Three Canadian soldiers suffered minor injuries Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated his bomb early near their convoy outside Kandahar, Afghanistan. One Afghan boy was killed along with the bomber.
Canadian Forces Colonel Steve Bowes said the soldiers were part of a routine supply convoy bringing supplies to a nearby camp. A vehicle was passing the convoy when it made a U-turn and detonated an explosive, he said.
Kandahar provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid said the boy and one Afghan man were driving past in a tractor at the time of the explosion.
About a dozen Canadian troops were near the blast happened, said Capt. Francois Giroux, a spokesperson for the provincial reconstruction team. The soldiers are suffering from superficial injuries, minor burns and muscle ache.
"What we can say right now is that it was a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device and it was initiated by a suicide bomber," Giroux said.
After blocking the road, the military began an immediate investigation.
The bombing happened less than a week after Defence Minister Bill Graham warned that the Canadian army's move from Kabul, the relatively stable capital, to the heart of Taliban country boosts the odds of Canadian deaths and injuries.
A small Canadian force of about 250 troops is working in Kandahar right now with about 1,000 more set to deploy early next year.
Canada will assume command of the international operation in the region next year.
Written by CBC News Staff
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Guité and Brault to wait until May for jury trial
Web Posted | Last Updated Mon, 03 Oct 2005 14:19:44 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 4th, 2005
There'll be no trial this year for former civil servant Chuck Guité and ad exec Jean Brault -- instead, their case will be heard by a jury in May. That's to ensure the two men --both charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with the federal sponsorship scandal-- get a fair trial.
There had been a possibility that the trial would get underway as soon as this week, before a judge sitting with no jury.
Last week, Quebec Superior Court Justice Fraser Martin of the Quebec Superior Court granted an adjournment until next May. He had been concerned that if the trial were held this fall, jurors might be influenced by the release of the first phase of the Gomery report, which is expected at the beginning of November.
He gave the accused a choice: have a trial by judge now - or trial by jury later.
The Crown had initially opposed a trial by judge alone but reconsidered its options last week. Prosecutors asked officials of the Court of Quebec when a judge could be freed up to hear the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.
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Chuck Guité arrives at a courthouse in Montreal
September 19th, 2005.
Jean Brault arrives at a Montreal courthouse October 3rd, 2005.
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It turned out that no Quebec Court judge would be available until April.
The Crown announced to Mr. Justice Martin this morning that because April isn't much of an improvement in the timetable - and since the prosecution prefers a trial by judge and jury anyway -- the Crown would wait until next May.
While details are covered by a reporting ban, the prosecutor in the case told the court that negotiating with Guité's attorney is like negotiating with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat -- because no deal is ever final.
Written by CBC News Staff
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At least 20 seniors reported dead as U.S. tour boat overturns
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun, 02 Oct 2005 22:56:30 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 3rd, 2005
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At least 20 people, mostly senior citizens, died when a tour boat carrying 49 people on an afternoon cruise overturned Sunday on a lake in upstate New York, the county sheriff there said. The accident on Lake George may have occurred when the boat was hit by the wake of a larger vessel, Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said.
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The boat was carrying a tour group from the Trenton, Mich., area, among others. Cleveland had originally said that the boat was carrying a group from Canada but a spokesperson for Cleveland later said that was not the case.
The 12-metre, glass-enclosed Ethan Allen flipped at 2:55 p.m. on Lake George -- about 80 kilometres north of Albany in the Adirondack Mountains. The weather was clear, calm and in the low 20s.
"This was as calm as it gets," said Jerry Thornell, a Marion, Mass., resident who has a summer home in nearby Bolton. Thornell is a former Lake George Park Commission patrol officer and was a lake enforcement officer for the county sheriff's department. "The weather is not a factor."
Cleveland said it appears the accident happened so fast, none of the passengers was able to put on a life jacket. "I don't believe anyone had time," he said. Adult boat passengers in New York are not required to wear life jackets although there must be one jacket for each traveller.
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Rescuer Brian Hart, left, of East Greenbush, N.Y., is thanked by one of the women he saved after the Ethan Allen tour boat capsized on Lake George, Sunday afternoon, October 2nd, 2005.
Divers search the waters of Lake George Sunday, Oct. 2nd, 2005.
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Representatives of Shoreline Cruises, which operates the boat, could not immediately be reached for comment.
By 5 p.m., all the passengers had been accounted for, Cleveland said, and the Ethan Allen lay at the bottom of the lake in 21 metres of water.
Cleveland said the captain, who was well known by law enforcement and well liked, survived. He was the only crew member aboard.
Several police boats were on the water and there were at least half a dozen divers in the lake near a small cove on the west side of the lake about 8 kilometres north of Village of Lake George.
Patrol boats that reached the scene within minutes found other boaters already pulling people from the water.
Police were investigating whether a large passing tour boat created a wake that caused the accident.
As rescuers conducted recovery efforts, the dead were laid out along the shore and the scene was blocked off by police with tarps. By late afternoon, a hearse and police vehicles started to remove the bodies.
"Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened," said New York State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett. "It's unprecedented."
Written by CBC News Staff
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Respiratory illness kills 4 in Toronto, SARS ruled out
Web Posted | Last Updated Sun, 02 Oct 2005 07:52:45 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 2nd, 2005
The death of four elderly people in Toronto from a respiratory illness is being investigated.
Public health officials said 68 residents and five employees at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged have also been affected by the outbreak.
Fifteen people have been hospitalized but they have not been quarantined.
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A patient wears a mask at a Toronto hospital after a mysterious illness has killed four at a Toronto nursing home.
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"There are many other viruses it could be," said Dr. Allison McGeer, Director of Infection Control at Mount Sinai Hospital. "The Ontario Public Health lab is working very hard on identifying which one of those viruses it might be."
McGeer said the large number of people affected is the reason for the investigation. She ruled out SARS, influenza or avian flu.
Health officials said there is no threat to the public.
The four who died all had pre-existing medical conditions and two were in their mid-90s.
Written by CBC News Staff
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More bad news for the Canadian tobacco industry
Web Posted | Last Updated Fri, 30 Sep 2005 17:30:10 EDT
Giant Dwarf Posted: Oct 1st, 2005
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There's more bad news for the Canadian tobacco industry. Class-action lawsuits were filed in Quebec Friday, and the Rothmans Benson and Hedges credit rating was in danger of slipping.
Friday's developments came after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that allowed provinces to sue tobacco companies for health care costs.
Two Quebec legal firms said Friday a class-action suit has been filed claiming $17.8 billion from the industry, on behalf of about 1.78 million Quebecers addicted to nicotine. Each smoker was asking for $10,000 from Rothmans, JTI MacDonald and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., claiming they were deceived about the true nature of the tobacco products.
Don McCarty, vice-president legal of Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., called the Quebec class action suit an "attempt at theatrics."
In an interview Friday, McCarty said Imperial's liability insurance would only cover an "insignificant" portion of any legal judgements.
He said when the U.S. industry settlement was reached seven years ago, "cigarettes were a buck a pack. So what they did is increase the price of their product to pay for the settlement over 25 years. We don't have that option. Our cigarettes are already nine bucks a pop."
McCarty said that Imperial will not choose to settle the suits. "They want anywhere between $10-to-80 billion. After taxes, the three companies made maybe $500 million. Where do they think we're going to get the money from?"
McCarty wants to rally support from the other so-called "sin" industries, saying British Columbia has carved "a dangerous path" by assuming it can take on an industry "by passing a special law allowing it to sue them. Today it's tobacco, tomorrow it could be anybody. It could be the fast food industry, alcohol, junk food, gambling."
McCarty said: "We have many defences that we intend to bring forward. One is that the risks associated with tobacco have been well-known for decades. What we knew, the government knew. What we and the government knew, people knew. Our defence will be also that we're not the only ones involved in the regulation of tobacco, the government has been there."
He said the industry paid $9 billion in taxes last year. "They already have their settlement."
McCarty expects both the B.C. case and the class-action suit to drag on for more than five years.
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Dominion Bond Rating Service said Friday it was reviewing Rothmans credit rating "with negative implications," because of the Supreme Court decision.
In a note to clients early Friday, Blackmont Capital analyst David Hartley said shares of Rothmans Inc. dipped 11 per cent in three days, and he expected them to fall further.
Hartley said that when similar legal actions occured in the United States in the late 1990s -- one of which led to a $246 billion US settlement over 25 years -- tobacco stocks plunged by as much as 25 per cent in two days, and 40 per cent in six months.
He wrote: "The potential for the Canadian tobacco industry to pay the provinces large sums of money could create tremendous financial hardship for industry participants."
In a note to clients, analyst Marc Marzollo of Merrill Lynch said "it should be noted that the ruling was procedural in nature; it endorsed the legislation but did not pass judgement on the merits of the claim...in our opinion, the B.C. case is about recovery of costs and trying to reduce the impact of smoking on B.C. society as opposed to bankrupting the industry participants. . . .we would point out that there does need to be a viable tobacco industry in Canada for the 20 per cent of Canadians that either choose to smoke or are unable to quit."
Marzollo said he believes that an out-of-court settlement will ultimately be more likely than a verdict.
The 9-0 Supreme Court judgment upheld provincial legislation allowing British Columbia to seek damages to cover public health-care costs dating back five decades, as well as future costs for sickness linked to tobacco.
The B.C. law curtails some traditional defences in civil suits and makes it easier to prove a link between smoking and disease.
After the Supreme Court decision, Ontario's Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson said his province was considering going after tobacco companies for health-care costs.
If all of the provinces follow suit, observers say the tobacco industry could be facing damages of about $80 billion.
Written by CBC News Staff
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