Back to newsletter list 07/01/2007 22:25:18 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Business News | Sports | Weather Headlines  - Canada's foreign affairs minister meets Afghan president in Kabul. - Saskatchewan public-sector workers intensify strike action. - Government minister promotes human rights museum.
KABUL: FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER MEETS AFGHAN PRESIDENT IN KABUL Canada's foreign affairs minister, Peter MacKay, began a two-day visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, meeting with President Hamid Karzai, in Kabul. Canada has about 2,500 soldiers participating in NATO forces in Afghanistan. Mr. MacKay says that he and Mr. Karzai discussed several topics. Among them were ways to fight corruption within the Afghan government, and the difficulty in training an Afghan national army and police force. In a dialogue with journalists shortly before his meeting, Mr. MacKay disputed a report in the respected American journal Foreign Affairs that Afghanistan is falling into chaos. He said that there was 'tangible proof' of improvements, citing new schools, hospitals and roads. Mr. MacKay was expected to meet as well with Major-General Ton Van Loon, head of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, for a briefing on NATO's latest major offensive against the Taliban. Mr. MacKay will visit Canadian soldiers deployed in Kandahar before travelling to Pakistan. In Islamabad, Mr. MacKay plans to speak to President Pervez Musharraf about preventing insurgents from moving across Pakistan's border into Afghanistan. REGINA: SASKATCHEWAN PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS INTENSIFY STRIKE ACTION Public-sector workers in Canada's western province of Saskatchewan are increasing their strike activity. About 130 highway maintenance workers went on strike on Sunday, joining about 800 empoloyees at the province's prisons who went off the job last month. On Friday, 11 workers at the provincial Environment Department also went on strike. The workers' union broke off contract negotiations in a dispute over improvements to health and pension plans and the use of contractual workers. The strike by highway maintenance workers comes as meteorologists predict snow flurries that might make highway driving dangerous. WINNIPEG: GOVERNMENT MINISTER PROMOTES HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM The new president of Canada's Treasury Board says that he's commited to building a human rights museum. Vic Toews wants to build the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, the provincial capital of his home province, Manitoba. Canada's former Liberal Party government committed CDN$100 million to the project, with the rest of the museum's projected CDN$311-million budget to come from municipal and provincial governments. Mr. Toews wants to persuade the federal government to commit money for the museum's operating budget as well. He calls this a key part of creating the project. Mr. Toews says that he's encouraged by a recent comment by Canada's Heritage Minister, Bev Oda, to consider more partnerships with the private sector to support national institutions. VANCOUVER: MORE STORMS SWEEP BRITISH COLUMBIA Another major wind and rainstorm struck southwestern British Columbia on Sunday, leaving more than eight thousand people without power. Most of the affected homes and businesses are in North Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and on Bowen Island, some 15 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. The provincial power company, B.C. Hydro, expected to have electricity restored to all regions by late Sunday. The wind also hindered repairs to the roof of the main stadium in Vancouver, B.C. Place. The roof was damaged by high winds on Friday. The roof is made of material that inflates under air pressure. The stadium seats sixty thousand people. Stadium officials expect to know on Monday how much the repairs will cost. MONTMAGNY: FREIGHT TRAIN DERAILS NEAR QUEBEC CITY A freight train carrying a shipment of sulfuric acid derailed early on Sunday morning near Montmagny, about 60 kilometres from Quebec City. One rail car came to rest about 12 metres from a residential home. No one was injured. A spokeswoman for Canadian National Railways said that no acid was spilled and there is no danger to the environment. In all, 24 cars in the 80-car train went off the tracks. The cause of the derailment is not known. The train was travelling from Toronto, Ontario, to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. OTTAWA: DENMARK TO END PARTICIPATION IN CANADA FLIGHT TRAINING PROGRAM Denmark intends to stop participating in a military flight training program in Canada in three years' time. News of Denmark's decision was reported on Sunday. The advanced flight-training school operates at two bases in the western provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Begun in 1994, the program is funded by the government, but is operated by the private Canadian manufacturer, Bombardier. The program has an overall budget of CDN$3.4 billion. The decision puts the future of the NATO Flight Training in Canada program somewhat in doubt. But a spokesman for Canada's air force predicts that Denmark's withdrawal will have no impact on the program, though he added, 'We would have preferred them to stay.' He said that the program will continue to operate until the end of its 20-year contract with Bombardier. Canada's auditor-general, Sheila Fraser, has questioned whether the program is effectively using its government funds. Among other countries that have sent pilots for training at the centre are Hungary, Italy, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. CALGARY: CONVICTED PIMP FACES DEPORTATION TO JAMAICA A Jamaican man who lived as a permanent resident in Canada for the past 25 years is scheduled to be deported to his native country on Monday. John Bonnick, 40, was found guilty in 2002 of living off the avails of prostitution and aggravated assault. He had forced a woman to act as a prostitute for seven days a week. He regularly punished her by burning her skin with lit cigarettes. He was released on parole from federal prison last October. Bonnick filed appeals to remain in Canada because his children and family live in Calgary, Alberta. But a federal judge denied his appeals and ordered his deportation. Bonnick's lawyer, Raj Sharma, said that due legal process was served. 'It speaks to the fairness of the system that there are multiple levels of review that every permanent resident goes through,' he said. Bonnick will be eligible to return to Canada in 2013. VANCOUVER: FOREIGN-BORN VETERINARIANS SAY LANGUAGE TEST TOO TOUGH A group of foreign-born veterinarians is suing the Veterinary Medical Association in the province of British Columbia, claiming that the association's test for English-language proficiency is too tough. All veterinarians trained abroad must pass the test before they can legally practice in the province. The association's president says that it's essential for veterinarians to be able to communicate with clients.
POLAND A scandal has forced the new archbishop of Warsaw to resign, just two days after he was sworn in. Stanislaw Wielgus made the announcement on Sunday at the cathedral where his formal installation was supposed to be held. Instead, he offered his resignation to Pope Benedict. For the past week, Father Wielgus faced increasing media and public pressure amid reports that he had served for 20 years as an informer in Poland's secret service during the Communist era. After first denying the charges, he confessed on Friday. Warsaw's long-time archbishop, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, has been asked to continue in the post until another replacement is appointed. SOMALIA Hundreds of heavily-armed Somali soldiers deployed in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday. They wanted to prevent further unrest after protestors took to the streets of the city on Saturday to protest against the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia. The Ethiopian forces entered Somalia last month to help the government drive out Islamist fighters. During the protest on Saturday, Ethiopian soldiers shot in the air to disperse the crowd. One person was reportedly killed and four people were wounded. IRAQ Two major religious figures in Iraq on Sunday held their first meeting in more than a year. The radical Shi'ite cleric and militant leader, Moqtada al-Sadr met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf. They discussed security issues and the political situation in Iraq, but no details were reported. Moqtada al-Sadr's political bloc is part of the unity government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. But the cleric's militant followers in the Mehdi Army are blamed for sowing sectarian violence. On Saturday, Mr. al-Maliki announced a major crackdown against all armed groups in Baghdad, regardless of their sect. Sectarian violence has been killing hundreds of Iraqis each week, most of them in Baghdad. On Sunday, police in the city found the bodies of 17 people apparently killed by death squads. GAZA Tens of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Faction rallied in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The show of force took place in the stronghold of the governing Hamas Islamist movement. It came one day after Mr. Abbas declared a Hamas security force in Gaza to be illegal. The Hamas leadership responded by vowing to double the size of the force. The two factions have been locked in a violent power struggle for months. The unrest worsened after the Palestinian president's recent call for early elections to break the political deadlock. On Sunday as well, Palestinian militants released a journalist held captive for almost a week. Jaime Razuri works for the French news agency, Agence France Presse. He was kidnapped near the agency's office in Gaza City. No details were reported as to why he was freed. CHINA The leading French politician, Segolene Royal, on Sunday urged China to accept international human rights standards. As head of France's socialist party, Miss Royal is hoping to become her country's first president in elections ths Spring. She said that promoting France's ties with China should not mean that her country should lose its fundamental values. She expressed hope that China would ratify the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights. China signed the convention 40 years ago, but has never ratified it. Miss Segolene also linked human rights to China's pollution problems, saying that pollution of water and air was an attack on human rights. RUSSIA Most Orthodox and Coptic Christians around the world celebrated Christmas on Sunday. The Orthodox church uses the old Julian Calendar to mark the day rather than the Gregorian calendar used by Roman Catholics and Protestants. In Moscow, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, visited a nearby monastery. In Cairo, Coptic Christians heard a service led by the head of the country's Coptic church. INDIA Hundreds of soldiers and policemen raided insurgent hideouts in jungles of India's northeastern state of Assam on Sunday. The government action came after separatist rebels killed at least 57 people in two days of coordinated strikes. Police blamed the attacks on the United Liberation Front of Assam, which has been fighting for the independence of Assamese people in an insurgency over the past 30 years that has killed thousands of people. EL SALVADOR A riot at a high security prison in El Salvador on Saturday has left at least 20 people dead. Police later brought the situation under control at the prison in Apanteos, 70 kilometres west of San Salvador. Volence broke out between two rival gangs. Prison guards had to summon help from the military. El Salvador is known for overcrowded prisons that hold 13,000 inmates but were built to hold fewer than 6,000.
VANCOUVER: WORLD PRICE OF URANIUM PREDICTED TO RISE FURTHER An analyst with one of Canada's major banks predicts that the world price of uranium will continue to rise this year. Adam Schatzker of the Royal Bank of Canada's Capital Markets sees uranium trading at an average of US$100 a pound. 'The inventories that were being sold into the market are disappearing and we're actually in a supply-demand deficit,' he said. He said that the biggest reason for an increase is a shortfall in supply and a growing demand from China's projected new nuclear power plants and elsewhere. The world's biggest uranium producer, Cameco of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, added to the supply problems when it reported flooding at its mine in Cigar Lake, a major project that was slated to open in 2008. Uranium's price nearly doubled from 2005 to 2006, going from US$28.15 a pound to US$48.10. At the end of 2006, it reached at times US$72.
HOCKEY In the National Hockey League on Sunday, the Ottawa Senators beat Philadelphia, 6-1, for their sixth victory in the last eight games. The Montreal Canadiens lost to New Jersey, 3-0. Goalie Martin Brodeur had his seventh shutout of the season---the best in the NHL. On Saturday, Calgary beat Dallas, 4-2, Buffalo defeated Toronto, 4-3, the New York Rangers beat Montreal, 4-3, and New Jersey defeated Ottawa, 3-2. BASKETBALL The Toronto Raptors beat Washington, 116-111, on Sunday. Toronto's Chris Bosh had 24 points. Toronto now leads the Atlantic Division by half a game. LUGE Canadians Chris Moffat, Mike Moffat, Regan Lauscher and Jeff Christie were third in the team luge event at a World Cup race in Germany on Sunday. Germany was first and Austria was second. Canada still remains in first place overall this season. FREESTYLE SKIING Canadian Cord Spero won the Canada Post Grand Prix freestyle skiing event in Sainte-Adele, Quebec, on Sunday. It was his first medal on the World Cup circuit. Canadian Ryan Blais was second. American Jeret Peterson was third. Canadian Steve Omischl was fifth to remain overall leader on the World Cup circuit. In the women's event, Canadian Veronika Bauer was third. Australia's Jacqui Cooper was first, and Switzerland's Mauella Mueller was second.
Weather Here is Canada's weather on Monday. British Columbia will have rain. The high temperature in Vancouver will be six degrees Celsius. The Yukon: mainly cloudy. Whitehorse, minus 17. Northwest Territories: overcast. Yellowknife, minus 25. Nunavut: mainly sunny. Iqaluit, minus 14. Alberta: mainly sunny. Edmonton, minus two. Saskatchewan: snow. Regina, minus three. Manitoba: clearing skies. Winnipeg, minus nine. Ontario: rain showers. Toronto, five. Ottawa, five. Quebec: rain. Montreal, four. New Brunswick: heavy snow. Fredericton, ten. Nova Scotia: wet snow. Halifax, five. Prince Edward Island: variable cloudiness. Charlottetown, minus eight. Newfoundland: variable cloudiness. St. John's, one.
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