Back to newsletter list 06/01/2007 22:46:11 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Business News | Sports | Weather Headlines  - Canadian soldier injured by landmine in Afghanistan. - Opposition party leader considering new role for Canada's military. - Canada's military begins radio broadcasts in Afghanistan.
KANDAHAR: CANADIAN SOLDIER INJURED BY LANDMINE IN AFGHANISTAN Another Canadian soldier has been wounded in Afghanistan. Corporal *** Malboueuf of the Royal 22nd Regiment was injured on Saturday when his armoured Bison personnel carrier hit a large landmine. The soldier is in stable condition with leg injuries. He'll be flown to an army hospital in Germany for treatment. The explosion occurred on a main highway in southern Afghanistan about three kilometres from a Canadian field base near Howz-e-Madad. Most of Canada's 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan are participating in the latest major offensive that NATO forces launched against Taliban militants last month. On Friday, Canadian and Afghan soldiers near the town of Howz-e-Madad fought a 45-minute battle with Taliban militants using mortars and rockets. At least two Taliban militants were believed killed or wounded. On the same day, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province. Four soldiers were wounded. Most of the troops in that region are American. OTTAWA: OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER CONSIDERING NEW ROLE FOR MILITARY The new leader of Canada's opposition Liberal Party, Stephane Dion, says he's working on a plan to change Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. Without being specific, Mr. Dion says his plan will allow Canada's military to help out in other conflict zones around the world. Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier recently said that such a plan would be difficult because Canada's Afghan mission has left the Canadian Forces too limited. On another issue, Mr. Dion says that as global warming continues, Canada must increase efforts to assert its sovereignty over melting Arctic waterways. He says that Canada must ensure other countries recognize its jurisdiction by signing treaties on shipping, fishing, and the rights of aboriginals. KINGSTON: CANADA'S MILITARY BEGINS RADIO BROADCASTS TO AFGHANISTAN Canada's military started radio broadcasts to the Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday. Broadcasts in the Afghan language, Pashto, are prepared in the central Canadian city of Kingston, Ontario. The decision to broadcast from Canada rather than in Afghanistan was made for security reasons. The radio station called RANA-FM plans to play mostly Bollywood and modern Afghan music, but it will also report on international sports and the activities of expatriate Afghans, as well as send messages from the commander of the Joint Task Force Afghanistan, Brigadier-General Tim Grant. The station primarily aims to target Afghans between 15 and 25. The station's name, RANA, means light in Pashtun-Dari. The station is found at 88.5 on Kandahar's radio dial. VANCOUVER: SECURITY SCARE DELAYS FLIGHTS FOR HOURS A security scare at Vancouver's International Airport delayed at least ten flights for hours on Friday. Airport security officials were obliged to re-screen about three thousand passengers after one of them walked through without screening. The suspect passenger had initially been found to have more liquid bottles than permitted under new security rules introduced last year. He left the screening area to dispose of the bottles in a public area. When he returned, he managed to pass through the security zone without being screened a second time. VANCOUVER: STORM DAMAGES STADIUM ROOF Officials at Vancouver's main stadium, B.C. Place, say that repairs to the stadium roof can begin this week after a replacement panel arrives. High winds on Friday caused a tear in the inflatable roof that displaced a panel. The roof is held in place by air pressure, and a tear can cause the roof to collapse. For safety reasons, stadium officials had to deflate the roof. The incident caused no injuries. It's not known how long repairs will take. It was the first time in the 20-year history of the stadium that the roof was damaged. The sixty-thousand-seat stadium hosts the city's football team, the B.C. Lions, as well as large-scale trade shows. The next scheduled event is in less than three weeks. British Columbia has suffered from several severe storms in the past two weeks. One storm caused a major power outage that affected thousands of people for three days. NEW ORLEANS: DOCTOR TO THE POOR PLANS FUNERAL FOR MURDERED WIFE Funeral arrangements are being made for the murdered wife of a Canadian doctor known for his work among the poor in New Orleans. Helen Hill, an American filmmaker, was killed on Thursday by an unknown gunman who came to the door of the couple's home. Her husband, Dr. Paul Gailiunas, originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was wounded in more than one part of his body. He's still recovering from his wounds. The couple's two-year-old son was unharmed. The couple moved to New Orleans in 2001. They returned to the city after the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina. Friends of Dr. Gailiunas say that it will likely be a long time before he returns to New Orleans. A funeral for Miss Hill will be held on Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina. OTTAWA: LONG LINEUPS FOR CANADIAN PASSPORTS Passport offices across Canada are being flooded with applications because of an approaching deadline in the United States. Starting on January 23, anyone flying to the U.S. will need a passport to enter the country. A spokeswoman for Passport Canada says that the busiest office in the country is in the western city of Edmonton. Those applying in person for their passports have faced long lineups. Passport Canada is hiring extra staff to deal with the rush. Officials are also urging people to fill out the passport application on the Internet to help speed up the process. TORONTO: WARM WINTER TEMPERATURES CAUSING PROBLEMS Temperatures across much of eastern Canada have been running about 15 degrees Celsius higher than normal. In some cases, the Spring-like weather is leading to problems. The lack of snow has forced a cross-country ski team in Nova Scotia that's training for the Canada Games to find other ways to prepare for competition. In central Ontario, the Blue Mountain ski resort has laid off 1,300 full-time and seasonal staff for at least three weeks. It's the first time in the resort's 65-year history that it's closed during the winter. The mild weather is also wreaking havoc on some industries across Quebec, such as maple syrup producers. MONCTON: ONE-TIME CHAMPION CONTENDER, YVON DURELLE, IS DEAD Yvon Durelle, a boxer from a small fishing village in New Brunswick who fought a legendary championship bout with Archie Moore, died in Moncton on Saturday at the age of 77. He had suffered from Parkinson's Disease. Mr. Durelle won fame when he fought Moore at The Forum in Montreal on Dec. 10, 1958, for the light-heavyweight championship. Durelle knocked Moore down three times, but Moore finally prevailed with an eleventh-round knockout. "I have fought smart men before," Durelle said, "but never anyone as smart as that fellow." Canadian sportswriters voted the bout the sporting event of the year.
SOMALIA Hundreds of angry Somalis took to the streets of Mogadishu on Saturday to protest against the presence of Ethiopia troops in the country. They burned tires, looted vehicles and said they would refuse the interim government's demand to hand over their weapons. The protestors want the Ethiopian soldiers to leave. The soldiers entered Somalia last month to help the government drive out Islamist fighters. Witnesses say that Ethiopian soldiers shot in the air to disperse the crowd. One person was killed and four people were wounded during the protest. SPAIN Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, made his strongest comments against the Basque separatist group, ETA, on Saturday. He said that the deadly explosion at Madrid's international airport last week had marked a 'full stop' to peace negotiations with ETA. The explosion killed two men from Ecuador. Also on Saturday, Basque separatist supporters clashed with police in northern Spain, demanding the release of ETA prisoners. Spain's King Juan Carlos called on Friday for citizens to stand united in the face of terrorism. Since the explosion, police have found two separate cashes of explosives linked to ETA, raising fears that ETA is planning more terrorist acts. ETA declared that it took violent action to protest against the slow pace of peace negotiations that began nine months ago. GAZA Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday declared the Hamas militia in the Gaza Strip to be illegal. The announcement came two days after members of the Hamas force killed a senior Gaza security commander who was loyal to Mr. Abbas's Fatah party. Fatah and Hamas have been locked in a power struggle over control of the powerful Palestinian security forces since Hamas defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections a year ago. MEXICO Nine bodies have been found in a mass grave in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. A state official said the bodies of eight men and one woman were found in a warehouse in the city of Uruapan after police received a tip. The victims' feet and hands were tied and their mouths were covered with tape. President Felipe Calderon sent 7,000 soldiers to Michoacan state last month in an attempt to curb drug violence. Of the 2,000 drug-related murders in Mexico last year, some 500 occurred in Michoacan state. BRAZIL Mudslides and flash floods triggered by torrential downpours have killed at least 27 people and drove thousands from their homes during the past five days in southeastern Brazil. Poor areas in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, about 500 kilometres northeast of Sao Paulo, were the worst hit. ITALY The Colosseum in Rome was illuminated at dusk on Saturday evening as a protest against the death penalty. The move specifically drew attention to the execution of Iraq's former president, Saddam Hussein, last weekend. The execution was widely condemned in Italy. Italy withdrew its troops from Iraq last year following widespread public pressure. RUSSIA Many Orthodox Christians around the world are celebrating Christmas on Sunday, the day in the Julian calendar that corresponds to December 25 in the Gregorian calendar. In Russia, the head of the country's Orthodox church, Patriarch Alexy II, sent a Christmas Eve message of peace to the Middle East. But he also expressed deep concern about continued tension in that part of the world. In Serbia, Patriarch Pavle urged his countrymen to overcome what he called 'senseless' internal divisions. Patriarch Alexy recently expressed dismay that churches are being destroyed in Kosovo, where a Serb Christian minority lives in enclaves surrounded by ethnic Albanian Muslims. SRI LANKA A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew up a bus in Sri Lanka's south coast resort area on Saturday. The female bomber and 14 passengers died. About 50 other people were injured. It was the second such attack on a bus in as many days. On Friday, six civilians were killed when a bomb exploded on a bus north of Colombo. Analysts fear Tamil rebels are changing their tactics and will now target civilians as they did in the earlier stages of the conflict. The rebels are fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils. INDONESIA A team of American aviation experts arrived in Indonesia on Saturday to help in the investigtion of the mysterious disappearance of a passenger jet carrying 102 people. The Boeing 737 vanished in bad weather on a flight from central Java island to Sulawesi nearly one week ago. Indonesia has been carrying out a massive air, sea and land operation aimed at finding the aircraft. But it's been hampered by bad weather and difficult terrain. The search has been expanded to the northeast after air traffic control detected a signal from the jet's emergency locator beacon. BANGLADESH A speeding bus packed with passengers veered off the road and caught fire in eastern Bangladesh on Saturday, killing at least 40 passengers. Several other passengers were injured, most of them with burns. The accident occurred in the district of Comilla, about 90 kilometres east of Dhaka. The bus had tried to pass another vehicle.
ST. CATHERINES: FORMER ACCOUNTANT CHARGED IN MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD Police in southern Ontario have charged a former accountant in what they say is one of the region's biggest cases of fraud. Christine Marie Papakriakou was arrested on Friday on suspicion that she syphoned CDN$7.4 million of a Niagara wine company's money into her own accounts over a period of 11 years. The company, Andres Wines---now operating as Andrew Peller Ltd.---dismissed her two years ago without suspecting that any funds were missing. The suspect will appear in court next month.
HOCKEY In the National Hockey League on Saturday, the Montreal Canadiens lost to the New York Rangers, 4-3, their fourth loss in the last five games. The Ottawa Senators lost to the New Jersey Devils, 3-2. On Friday, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2. Vancouver's Matt Cooke scored two goals including the winning goal in overtime. The Calgary Flames will be without the team's leading scorer, Jarome Iginla, for at least a week. He suffered an injury to his left knee in a game on Thursday. BASKETBALL The Toronto Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-92, on Friday. Toronto's Chris Bosh had 21 points while his team-mate, Jose Calderon, had a season-high 12 assists and 12 points. SKIING Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau won a bronze medal in freestyle skiing at a World Cup event in Sainte-Adele, Quebec, on Saturday. Dale Begg-Smith of Australia won the gold. France's Guilbaut Colas won the silver.
Weather Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will have rain. The high temperature in Vancouver will be nine degrees Celsius. The Yukon: sunny periods. Whitehorse, minus 15. Northwest Territories: mainly sunny. Yellowknife, minus 25. Nunavut: mainly cloudy. Iqaluit, minus 20. Alberta: snow flurries. Edmonton, four. Saskatchewan: snow. Regina, minus four. Manitoba: sunny periods. Winnipeg, minus five. Ontario: mainly cloudy. Toronto, four. Ottawa, two. Quebec: mainly sunny. Montreal, four. New Brunswick: mainly sunny. Fredericton, four. Nova Scotia: snow flurries. Halifax, five. Prince Edward Island: snow. Charlottetown, minus one. Newfoundland: rain showers. St. John's, six. .
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