Back to newsletter list 27/01/2007 23:10:51 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Business News | Sports | Weather Headlines  - Canadian ministers urge resuming world trade talks. - Foreign minister marks Holocaust commemoration. - Famous Canadian pop musician is buried.
DAVOS: CANADIAN MINISTERS URGE RESUMING WORLD TRADE TALKS Canada was among a group of 30 major trading countries that called on Saturday for a quick resumption of trade talks at the World Trade Organization. The call came during a meeting on the sidelines of the annual meeting of world figures in Davos, Switzerland. Afterwards, Canada's international trade minister, David Emerson, said that the meeting was 'an important opportunity for all of us to take stock of where we stand, and to explore what is required to move forward.' But he noted that 'there is much work to do to bridge the gap between the players in key areas.' Canada's agriculture minister, Chuck Strahl, said afterwards that Canada would continue to press countries to eliminate all forms of export subsidies. The Doha round of World Trade Organization talks was suspended in July because of a deadlock among the European Union, the United States and developing countries. OTTAWA: FOREIGN MINISTER MARKS HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION Saturday was the International Day of Commemoration in memory of victims of the Holocaust. The day was designated last year by the United Nations to coincide with the liberation of prisoners from the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945. In an official statement, Canada's foreign affairs minister, Peter MacKay, said that marking the occasion allows Canadians to share the lessons of the Holocaust with new generations, and 'to ensure that humanity will never again remain silent in the face of such horrors.' OTTAWA: REPORT FINDS MANY CANADIANS CANNOT READ A new report finds that a large number of Canadians cannot read simple texts such as medical instructions. The report by an independent group, the Canadian Council on Learning, used data compiled by the federal government agency, Statistics Canada. The data was gathered in tests of more than twenty-three thousand Canadians in 2003. The report concludes that four in ten Canadians lack the reading and writing skills that are considered necessary to succeed in society and in the workplace. One of two Canadians aged 16 to 65 cannot understand safety instructions for the proper use of medicine. Only one person out of ten aged 65 or over could properly understand written medical instructions. The finding is particularly disturbing because nine out of ten Canadian senior citizens take one or more prescription drugs. Last year, Canada's human resources minister, Monte Solberg, cut CDN$18 million from a program to promote literacy among adults, saying that a new approach was needed. He said that new programs were particularly needed among immigrants so that they could become integrated within society more rapidly. Mr. Solberg estimates that almost one-and-a-half million new Canadians have inadequate literary skills in English or French. MONTREAL: LONGER PRISON SENTENCE FOR MAN REFUSING TO GRANT MUSLIM DIVORCE For the first time in the Canadian province of Quebec, a judge in Montreal has increased the prison sentence of a man because he refuses to grant his Muslim wife a religious divorce. The accused man was arrested last year for stabbing his wife and their small baby. Both victims recovered. But his wife fears returning to her native Lebanon until her husband grants her a divorce under Muslim Sharia law. If she returns to Lebanon without such a divorce, she could possibly be arrested for abducting her own child or be forced to live with her husband once he is released. Citing the husband's refusal to grant the divorce, the judge sentenced the husband to a six-year prison sentence---three more than the defence had been seeking. HEROUX: QUEBEC VILLAGE SENDS CULTURAL MESSAGE TO IMMIGRANTS Municipal officials in the Canadian village of Herouxville in the province of Quebec have signed a document requiring immigrants to respect local customs. Seven city councillors in the village of 1,300 people passed the document on Thursday. The document says that men and women are equal, and that women must be allowed vote freely, to dance, and to make their own decisions. From now on, local women are prohibited from covering their faces in public. The document also states that burning women alive or burning them with acid is not considered acceptable. The document also says that potential immigrants must know that residents of Quebec put up Christmas trees as part of their Christian tradition, that nurses in hospitals treat men and women alike, and that boys and girls swim together in the same swimming pool. Councillors say that they want immigrants to understand the customs and culture of Quebec. So far, there are no immigrants in the village in the Mauricie region of Quebec about 165 kilometres north-east of Montreal. The legality of the village's document is questionable under Canada's constitution. MONTREAL: UNIQUE INCENTIVE FOR TRAVELERS TO CUBA A travel agency based in Montreal is offering a unique incentive to Canadians willing to take a stranger's suitcase of personal items to Cuba. In exchange for taking the suitcase, Antillas Express will reduce the cost of its travel package to Cuba by CDN$300. Responsibility for the suitcase's contents rests with the agency. A local newspaper, the Journal de Montreal, reports that most of the goods that are being sent this way come from the United States, where people cannot send certain articles to Cuba because of a U.S. boycott. A company representative says that Cuban expatriates use the service to send such items as Aspirin, clothing and pens to family members in Cuba. Company representatives pick up the suitcase at the airport, then deliver the items to their intended recipients. The agency says that the practice is legal. FREDERICTON: CANADIAN SOLDIERS LEAVE FOR AFGHANISTAN NATO's chief commander in Afghanistan says that more alliance troops are expected on the ground in southern Afghanistan this Spring. General David Richards of Britain says that the new troops will serve in part as backup for battle-weary Canadian soldiers. Canada has about 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan. On Friday, more than 120 Canadian soldiers left for Afghanistan from their base near the Canadian city of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Their departure is part of a regular rotation of Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan. The U.S. military warns that Taliban militants are poised to unleash a Spring offensive across the southern half of the country. OTTAWA: CANADA CONSIDERING NO-FLY LIST Canada's government is considering the merits of having a no-fly list that would forbid certain people from flying within or over Canadian air space. Proposed regulations were quietly published in October. The public was given 75 days to respond. The transport minister, Lawrence Cannon, said on Friday that the government is now analyzing the comments. He says that the government will announce its position once the analysis is completed and final authorization from cabinet is given. OTTAWA: GREENHOUSE GAS STANDARDS STILL WEEKS AWAY Canada's new environment minister, John Baird, indicates that the government might announce mandatory targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions only weeks or even months from now. The former environment minister, Rona Ambrose, promised the targets would be made public in mid-January. The government's Clean Air Act was denounced last year by opposition parties and environmentalists because it set targets for cutting emissions only in 2050. The environment is a leading political issue for Canadians. RAVENNA: CANADIAN FAMILY FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST U.S. AUTHORITIES The parents of a Canadian woman murdered in the U.S. State of Ohio two years ago have launched a lawsuit against authorities in the county where she was killed. The victim, Sarah Positano, was a student at Ohio's Kent State University when she was shot dead by James Trimble, a man who earlier in the same day killed his girlfriend and her son. Trimble had taken Miss Positano hostage in her apartment while fleeing arrest. Miss Positano's parents charge that police actions prompted Trimble to shoot their daughter. They also charge that Ohio's probation office was negligent in supervising Trimble, who was on probation at the time of the murders. The parents have filed a civil suit claiming US$150 million. U.S. authorities deny responsibility. Trimble is on death row at Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.
UNITED STATES Hollywood celebrities and U.S. legislators were among thousands of people who took part on Saturday in a large anti-war protest in Washington, D.C. Carrying signs of protest against the war in Iraq, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered along the central concourse known as the Mall. Among those demonstrating was Jane Fonda, the Hollywood actress who spoke vigorously at anti-war rallies during the Vietnam war. Among federal government officials was John Conyers, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He has threatened to use a vote on congressional spending for the military as a way to stop military escalation in Iraq. IRAQ A double car bombing in Baghdad killed 13 people on Saturday, with more than 40 others wounded. The bombs went off in quick succession in a busy marketplace shortly after noon in a mainly Shiite Muslim district. Northeast of Baghdad, U.S. air strikes killed 14 militants in Baquba. GAZA Violence erupted for the third day on Saturday in Gaza. Palestinian gunmen from rival Hamas and Fatah factions exchanged fire near the Islamic University. Fighting also broke out near a security compound managed by Fatah. The two sides fired mortar shells and lobbed grenades. In all, six people were killed, including a six-year-old boy. In the last three days, sectarian violence has killed 24 people and injured at least 68 others. The latest violence comes after a two-week lull that had revived hopes of a deal to form a unity government. The political impasse has paralyzed the Palestinian Authority for months. President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that he would proceed with early elections if coalition talks fail to produce results in the next three weeks. NEPAL Police in Nepal killed at least one person and wounded several others on Saturday in a volley of gunfire aimed at protesters in the southern town of Kalaiya. Hundreds of protesters tried to storm a local police station in the latest incident of a wave of protest in southern Nepal. People in the region say that the government has ignored them in making its policy decisions while favouring residents in the north of the country. Curfews are in force in several main southern towns. Protesters have called general strikes to bring pressure on the government to heed their calls. CHINA China and Japan concluded three days of talks in Beijing on Saturday, vowing to improve relations in advance of a visit to Japan by China's premier, Wen Jiabao, later this year. China's Xinhua's news agency says that the two sides discussed how to build mutually beneficial ties. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been tense in recent years partly because of China's anger over the former Japanese prime minister's visits to a war shrine near Tokyo where Japanese war criminals are buried. RUSSIA Russia's prosecutor general's office has denied a British newspaper report that that Russia could deport a suspect in the poisoning of the former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko. The Guardian reported on Friday that Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB intelligence agency officer, might be sent to Britain next month to face trial. The report quoted unnamed government officials who suggested that Russia would demand the exiled oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, be extradited to Russia in return. Mr. Litvinenko fell ill in Britain last November after being poisoned by radioactive polonium. He died about three weeks later. His supporters have blamed the Kremlin for his death. SPAIN Spanish authorities have cleared the way for the extradition of Juan Carlos Fotea, a former police officer in Argentina who is accused of involvement in the kidnapping of a journalist in 1977. Rodolfo Walsh disappeared during the right-wing 'dirty war' dictatorship of the 1970s. Mr. Fotea has been living in Spain since 1985. He maintains that he is innocent.
CALGARY: OIL COMPANY EXPANDING IN ARGENTINA The Calgary-based oil company, Petro Andina Resources, plans to drill 157 more wells in an expansion of its operations in Argentina. The expansion will involve hiring a third drilling rig to explore the country's Neuquen Basin. The expansion is expected to cost CDN$85 million. Petro Andina's average daily oil production in the last two weeks of December was 3,100 barrels, surpassing the company's target of three thousand barrels.
SPEED SKATING Canadian Cindy Klassen won the women's one thousand-metre event at a World Cup long-track speed skating meet in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, on Saturday. She beat two of her biggest rivals. Anni Friesinger of Germany was second, and Chiara Simionato of Italy was third. BASKETBALL The Toronto Raptors beat the Boston Celtics on Friday, 96-90. Toronto's Chris Bosh had 26 points and his teammate Anothony Parker had 23. The victory gives the Raptors a .500 record at this point in the season. HOCKEY The Vancouver Canucks lost to Los Angeles on Friday, 3-2. The victory for L.A. coach Marc Crawford was his first in Vancouver since he was fired last year as the Canucks' coach after eight seasons. The Calgary Flames beat Minnesota, 2-1, in a shootout. Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff made 40 saves. SKELETON RACING Canadian Jeff Pain finished seventh on Saturday in the men's skeleton at the world bobsled and skeleton championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Gregor Staehli of Switzerland was first, while Americans Eric Bernotas and Zach Lund were second and third. WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES On the last day of the World University Games in Turin, Italy, Canada's men's hockey team beat Russia, 3-1, to win the gold medal. It was Canada's first gold medal in the event since 1991. In other events on Saturday, Canadian Brendan Davis won the silver medal in halfpipe snowboarding.
Weather Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will be sunny. The high temperature in Vancouver will be seven degrees Celsius. The Yukon: mainly cloudy. Whitehorse, minus six. Northwest Territories: sunny. Yellowknife, minus 20. Nunavut: variable cloudiness. Iqaluit, minus 15. Alberta: sunny. Edmonton, minus three. Saskatchewan: snow flurries. Regina, minus eight. Manitoba: snow flurries. Winnipeg, minus 17. Ontario: snow flurries. Toronto, minus seven. Ottawa, minus 12. Quebec: mainly sunny. Montreal, minus 11. New Brunswick: variable cloudiness. Fredericton, minus three. Nova Scotia: variable cloudiness. Halifax, minus three. Prince Edward Island: varible cloudiness. Charlottetown, minus ten. Newfoundland: windy. St. John's, zero.
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