Back to newsletter list 16/12/2006 23:07:16 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Sports | Weather Headlines  - New NATO offensive could implicate Canadians. - Landmine injures Canadian soldier. - Government offers soldiers extended danger pay.
KANDAHAR: NEW NATO OFFENSIVE COULD IMPLICATE CANADIANS NATO's latest big offensive in Afghanistan could implicate Canadian troops. Most of Canada's 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan are in the Panjwaii district of southern Kandahar province, where the new offensive against Taliban militants will be carried out. Canada sent a squadron of Leopard tanks to the region earlier this month, the first time that Canadian tanks have been used in combat in half a century. The commander of Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan, General Tim Grant, says that so far, his troops are not part of the offensive. NATO leaders describe Operation Falcon's Summit as a show of strength. Canada's chief of defence staff, General Rick Hillier, says the offensive aims to kill Taliban commanders and militants who make suicide bombs. KANDAHAR: LANDMINE INJURES CANADIAN SOLDIER A landmine seriously injured a Canadian soldier in southern Afghanistan on Saturday. Private Frederic Couture was on his way to a meeting of village elders at the time of the explosion about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar City. He was a member of a liaison team working with Afghan soldiers. He was working on a new road that Canadians are helping to build as a way to help farmers transport their produce to market. He was airlifted to Kandahar in serious but stable condition. OTTAWA: GOVERNMENT OFFERS SOLDIERS EXTENDED DANGER PAY Canada's government is changing a policy that angered Canadian soldiers wounded in combat. Soldiers taken off duty as a result of combat injuries lost a salary premium known as danger pay. But the Conservative Party government says that from now on, it will continue to pay danger pay to injured soldiers. Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor says that the change is retroactive to the start of this year, when Canadian forces were deployed in the dangerous combat zone in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province. OTTAWA: CANADIAN REPORT MAKES GRIM FORECAST FOR AFGHANISTAN A report by Canada's Privy Council submitted in September paints a grim picture of the future of Afghanistan. Entitled 'The Future of Afghanistan: The Next Five Years,' the seven-page report says that Afghanistan's future remains seriously hampered because of poor security, widespread corruption, limited capital and skilled labour, as well as social problems created by returning refugees. The large majority of Afghans continue to struggle for their daily needs as in the days of Taliban rule. The report's conclusions are largely at odds with the more optimistic picture painted more recently by some Canadian officials who claim that significant, steady progress has been made to return Afghanistan to democracy and stability. The report did, however, conclude that some progress was achieved in improving children's access to schooling and to basic health care. Reconstruction has largely been aided by foreign contributions. The report says that much more foreign financing will be needed for many years. The Privy Council coordinates activity between the Prime Minister's Office and the federal cabinet. The report, which was heavily censored, was compiled by the Privy Council's Intelligence committee who interviewed 'diplomatic and intelligence sources from Canada and allied countries.' It was widely circulated within the government about two weeks before Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, paid a visit to Canada. The report's findings were made public as a result of a request under Canada's Acces to Information Act. MONTREAL: RESIDENT CARDS WERE ISSUED TO FOREIGNERS WITH DUBIOUS DOCUMENTS At least 55 Pakistani nationals seeking to stay in Canada in 2003 received permanent resident cards despite doubts about the authenticity of their personal identification papers. According to a report by Radio-Canada, officials with Immigration Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service investigated at the time and seized identification cards that might have been false, stolen or altered. It was suspected that some of the documents had been used to obtain Pakistani passports. Canadian officials confiscated the documents, but returned the passports because the documents' doubtful authenticity could not be proven. The 55 Pakistani claimants were eventually granted permanent residency cards. REGINA: PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT WORKERS DELAY STRIKE Government workers in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan have agreed to delay a labour strike. A strike could have begun on Saturday. But workers want to give their union negotiators until Monday to break a deadlock in contract talks with the provincial government. The General Employees Union represents 13-thousand public-sector workers. The union issued a strike notice on Thursday, after negotiations broke down over several issues. The biggest obstacles are the union's demands for a salary increase of 27 per cent over the next three years. The government is offering nine per cent. Employees also want better benefits. CALGARY: ALBERTA'S NEW CABINET COMES UNDER CRITICISM Opposition parties are criticizing Alberta's new premier, Ed Stelmach, for his cabinet choices. Mr. Stelmach revealed the 18 members of his cabinet on Friday. But opposition members note that only two of the new cabinet ministers are women and none at all belong to visible minorities. Some observers also wonder about the political wisdom of choosing only two cabinet members from Edmonton and Calgary, the cities where most of the province's people live. Former cabinet members in those cities could choose to leave politics, a move that would open their ridings to elections in which opposition candidates might win. Mr. Stelmach was sworn in as premier this week, succeeding Ralph Klein, who governed as premier for 14 years. TORONTO: EQUAL VOTER SUPPORT FOR CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL PARTIES A new public opinion poll shows equal voter support for Canada's two largest political parties, the Conservative Party and the opposition Liberal Party. According to the poll, the Liberal Party has 36 per cent of voter support, compared with 34 percent for the Conservative Party. The poll's margin of error is 3.1 per cent. The Conservatives ousted the Liberals in a federal election in January but hold only a minority of seats in parliament. They need the support of other parties to stay in power. The Liberals and the separatist Bloc Quebecois have already hinted that they might try to bring the government down early next year, making a Spring election likely. VANCOUVER: ELECTRICITY STILL OUT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Tens of thousands of people in southwestern British Columbia still had no power on Saturday after the region was hit by winds of up to 155-kilometres an hour the day before. The worst-hit areas include southern Vancouver Island and the Greater Vancouver Area. Emergency hydro crews were working round-the-clock, but they warned that it could be days before everyone's electrcitiy is restored. The same storm left six people dead and over one million residents without power in the northwest U.S. States of Washington and Oregon. CALEDONIA: POLICE ARREST TWO MEN IN ONGOING ABORIGINAL DISPUTE Police in southern Ontario arrested two men on Saturday who defied warnings to stay away from an area disputed by local aboriginal tribes. The two, Gary McHale and Mark Vandermaas, were at the head of about 100 protesters who organized a rally near the disputed property outside the town of Caledonia. Both men crossed a line marking the property in defiance of police. In October, Mr. McHale organized a rally that first stormed the disputed land, then held off police in a two-hour standoff. Mr McHale contends that police are giving aboriginals preferential treatment, allowing them to occupy a former housing site that they claim belongs to them. The aboriginals of the Six Nations have occupied the land since February. They vow to stay there until it is officially returned to them. VATICAN CITY: POPE APPOINTS NEW CARDINAL FOR TORONTO Pope Benedict on Saturday announced that the Archbishop of Edmonton, Alberta, Monsignor Thomas Collins, would become head of the Roman Catholic church in Canada's largest city, Toronto. He would replace Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, who is retiring at age 76. In learning of his appointment, Monsignor Collins called Toronto 'one of the most diverse dioceses in the world.' He will become the tenth Archbishop of Toronto since the diocese was established in 1842. He'll be installed early next year.
GAZA CITY One boy was killed in Gaza City on Saturday when thousands of Palestinians took to the streets to protest a call for early elections by President Mahmoud Abbas. The boy was killed by gunfire as rival Fatah and Hamas factions clashed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. His grandmother and five other people were also injured. Earlier in the day, Mr. Abbas announced that he wants to hold presidential and parliamentary elections at the earliest possible date. He spoke in a major policy speech at his West Bank headquarters. The date for elections will be set within a week. It's expected to be held within three months. The Palestinian government's ruling Islamist group, Hamas, dismissed the call for early elections as illegal. The United States expressed hopes that elections will help calm violence and pave the way for a return to peace talks. Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, also gave his support shortly after arriving on Saturday in Cairo for talks with Egypt's leader, Hosni Mubarek. IRAQ Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, appealed on Saturday for Sunni Muslim military officers of Saddam Hussein's disbanded army to cease any insurgent activity. Mr. al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim, spoke at a national reconciliation conference involving both Muslim sects as well as Kurdish politicians. Names of the Sunni delegates were not revealed as a security measure. The army of former president Hussein was forcibly dissolved after the United States invasion of Iraq. It's believed that many of the army's officers later joined the Sunni insurgency fighting the Shi'ite-dominated government. Mr. al-Maliki's appeal is part of a plan to hasten the transfer of Iraq's security from foreign forces to local troops. BRITAIN Police in Britain have released video images of one of five prostitutes who were murdered this month in the area around Ipswich. The video of Anneli Alderton was taken in a train car on the day that she disappeared. She was three months pregnant. Her naked body was later found in a forest near Ipswich. Police are hoping that her image on the video will be recognized by a witness with information about her last movements. More than 350 police officers are investigating the murders across Britain. BRITAIN A former Russian spy has proposed a new explanation for the poisoning of his one-time colleague, Alexander Litvinenko. Yuri Shvets later became Mr. Litvinenko's business associate in Britain. In an interview with the BBC, Mr. Shvets said that Mr. Litvinenko had compiled a file on an unnamed British firm that was considering a Russian business partner. Mr. Shvets said that it was most likely that the file was leaked to the Russian business person, who then ordered Mr. Litvinenko's murder. The file is now in the hands of British detectives investigating the case. RUSSIA About two thousand people staged an anti-government rally in central Moscow on Saturday under close police guard. The demonstrators of various political stripes expressed hope that a new government would be in place after presidential elections are held in 2008. Under the constitution, President Vladimir Putin will be forced to step down at that time. The demonstration was addressed at one point by the former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, a prominent critic of the Kremlin's policy of centralized government. Rally organizers had hoped for at least twice the number of demonstrators, but the large police presence is believed to have deterred many people from attending. BHUTAN In a surprise move, the king of Bhutan announced on Saturday that he would hand over the reins of power to his son one year ahead of schedule. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck had announced last year that he would step down in 2008, when the country would hold its first democratic elections and introduce a new constitution. The king declined to say why he was stepping down early in favour of Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. The king has ruled for the past 34 years. ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, has had his term of office extended another two years. At its annual conference on Saturday, the governing ZANU-PF party approved a plan to move presidential elections from 2008 to 2010. Thousands of delegates cheered the decision, but the main opposition group called it the work of a dictatorship. Mr. Mugabe is 84. He's been in power since Zimbabwe declared independence from Britain 26 years ago. There's speculation that Mr. Mugabe fears that he would face international charges of war crimes if he leaves office. CUBA Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has dismissed suggestions that Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, has cancer. But Mr. Chavez did acknowledge that Mr. Castro is fighting a serious illness. The Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma reported on Saturday that Mr. Castro spoke by telephone to a working session of Cuban officials. He's not been seen in public since undergoing abdominal surgery in July. Raul Castro, his brother, has temporarily assumed power. In Washington on Friday, U.S. Intelligence chief John Negroponte said that Mr. Castro has terminal cancer and is near death. UNITED STATES Two U.S. states have declared a moratorium on killing prisoners by lethal injection. California and Florida decided to take the move after flawed lethal injections occurred in both States. A federal judge in California ruled that the method of execution violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, suspended all executions after a medical examiner said that prison officials botched the insertion of needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. So far this year, 53 people have been executed in the United States. BRAZIL Seventy-five police officers in Rio de Janeiro have been arrested as part of a probe into drug trafficking and organized crime. More than 500 police were deployed to arrest the officers. Brazilian police are regularly accused of corruption and brutality. Two recent reports suggest that they are widely involved in the drug and firearms trade. Those arrested in Rio were members of the city's heavily armed paramilitary police.
FIGURE SKATING Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon finished second in the ice-dance event at the Grand Prix Final competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday. Bulgaria's Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski were first. GYMNASTICS Canadian gymnast Kyle Shewfelt won a silver medal in the men's floor exercise at the World Cup Final in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday. The gold medal was won by Diego Hypolito of Brazil. Canadian Brandon O'Neill won the bronze. BASKETBALL The Toronto Raptors beat the New Jersey Nets on Friday, 90-78. Six Toronto players scored in double figures. Chris Bosh was still out with a knee injury. HOCKEY The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, on Friday. Mats Sundin had two goals and an assist for Toronto. Alexander Steen scored the winning goal with six minutes left in the game. SKIING Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis finished fifth in the men's downhill at a World Cup meet in Val Gardena, Italy, on Saturday. The Canadian finished just half-a-second behind the winner, American Steve Nyman. Osborne-Paradis won his first World Cup downhill race last month in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. BASEBALL The richest contract in Toronto Blue Jays history is expected to be signed on Monday. All-star centre-fielder Vernon Wells will sign a seven-year contract worth US$126 million. He was due to become a free agent next year.
Weather Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will have sunny periods. The high temperature in Vancouver will be three degrees Celsius. The Yukon: variable cloudiness. Whitehorse, minus 12. Northwest Territories: variable cloudiness. Yellowknife, minus 19. Nunavut: cloudy periods. Iqaluit, minus nine. Alberta: cloudy periods. Edmonton, minus six. Saskatchewan: sunny periods. Regina, minus nine. Manitoba: mainly cloudy. Winnipeg, minus nine. Ontario: mainly cloudy. Toronto, twelve. Ottawa, ten. Quebec: cloudy. Montreal, nine. New Brunswick: increasing cloudiness. Fredericton, five. Nova Scotia: mainly sunny. Halifax, five. Prince Edward Island: increasing cloudiness. Charlottetown, minus nine. Newfoundland: clearing skies. St. John's, three.
|
