Back to newsletter list 03/03/2007 23:07:56 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Business News | Sports | Weather Headlines  - Canadian mother recounts ordeal of recovering kidnapped children from Lebanon. - Soccer body rules against Quebec girl's head scarf. - Federal government to help ease Ontario gasoline shortage.
CALGARY: CANADIAN MOTHER RECOUNTS ORDEAL OF RECOVERING CHILDREN FROM LEBANON A Canadian mother of two small children, Melissa Hawach, has revealed that she spent 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' to hire lawyers and private investigators to recover her two small children from Lebanon. The children were allegedly kidnapped by their father, Miss Hawach's former husband, with the help of two other men, while the children were visiting their father in Australia last year. The father took them to Lebanon, where he holds dual citizenship. Miss Hawach found and reclaimed her daughters in December, when Lebanon ruled that she had rights to their custody. But fearful of another kidnapping, Miss Hawach and her children hid in several safe houses in Lebanon before returning to Canada in February. Canada is threatening the father with child abduction. His two cronies, an Australian and a New Zealander, are in jail in Beirut facing child abduction charges. Miss Hawach has sold her story to an Australian news organization. The Hollywood film actress, Angelina Jolie, is among several Hollywood parties reported to be interested in filming the story. MANCHESTER: SOCCER BODY RULES AGAINST QUEBEC GIRL'S HEAD SCARF Soccer's governing body ruled on Saturday that players may not wear a head scarf on the field. Meeting in Manchester, England, the International Football Association Board was asked to rule on a Canadian decision to ban an 11-year-old Muslim girl from playing in a schoolgirls' tournament near Montreal last weekend because she was wearing a head scarf, or hijab. Asmahan Mansour was told to remove her hijab or leave the field. The girl refused and her team forfeited the game. Quebec's soccer federation later ruled that the hijab violated a no-headgear rule set down for safety reasons. The incident has caused a political uproar in Quebec, where a debate is raging over the extent to which society should accommodate foreign cultural and religious demands. The mother of the girl had expected a more favourable ruling. 'As far as the decision, it is disappointing because... IFAB should clarify and be more sensitive to these cases. I truly think they should have (overridden) what Quebec's rule is. (Asmahan) is still hoping that Quebec will remove that rule someday so she will be able to play (in Quebec). There's nothing that has been accomplished.' TORONTO: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO HELP EASE ONTARIO GAS SHORTAGE Canada's government is negotiating with gasoline suppliers and railways to transport gasoline to the province of Ontario, where gasoline shortages have led dozens of service stations, mostly in the largest city, Toronto, to close. The shortages came about as a result of a fire last month at an oil refinery in the city of Nanticoke. The refinery predicts that full operations will recommence within two or three weeks. The Ontario Trucking Association had hoped that the federal government would ease the crisis by allowing the use of off-road diesel, an old style high-sulphur fuel that's banned because it can damage new vehicles. But the federal government refused. Oil industry observers say that the crisis reveals a weakness in the oil refinery business, where the difference between supply and demand remains precariously small. FREDERICTON: NEW BRUNSWICK LOOKING AT REGULATING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE CEREMONIES A bill has been re-introduced in the legislature of the Canadian east coast province of New Brunswick that would permit provincial clerks and clergy to refuse to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. The bill's sponsor, Conservative Party member of parliament David Alward, believes that same-sex couples have the right to be married. But he says that the bill shows that the religious rights of clerks and the clergy also have to be taken into consideration. New Brunswick's Conservative Party government first introduced the legislation in 2005. The bill wasn't passed before the end of the legislative session. TORONTO: WOMEN'S RIGHTS PIONEER, DORIS ANDERSON, IS DEAD The Canadian women's rights pioneer, Doris Anderson, has died in Toronto. She was 85. Born in Calgary, Ms. Anderson became editor of the national magazine, Chatelaine, in 1957. For more than 20 years, the magazine dealt with problems faced by working mothers---legalization of abortion, outdated divorce laws, family violence. In 1979, Ms. Anderson became president of the Advisory Council on the Status of Women and from 1982 to 1984, she was president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. She served as chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island from 1992 to 1996. In 1974, she was named to the Order of Canada, the country's roll call of honour. VANCOUVER: GOVERNMENT MOVES TO PROTECT OLYMPIC LOGO Canada's government wants to prevent the unauthorized use of the Olympic logo during the Winter and Para-Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010. Legislation has been introduced to protect investments made by sponsors of the Games. But opponents of the bill say that Canada's existing trademark laws are sufficient. The new bill's provisions would not apply to local businesses that used the Olympic word before 1998, when Vancouver was awarded the Olympic Games. But businesses who started using the word after 1998 could face prosecution. TORONTO: CANADA MANUFACTURES FIRST VICTORIA CROSS A Victoria Cross medal, the Commonwealth's highest medal for wartime bravery, has been produced in Canada for the first time. It has not been awarded in Canada since 1945. Canada assumed responsibility for the medal in 1993. The Globe & Mail newspaper quotes unnamed sources as predicting that the Canadian-made medal will be presented by the Queen at a ceremony in April in northern France marking the ninetieth anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge during the first World War. The medal will likely be presented to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a ceremony recognizing the gallantry of the Unknown Soldier. The Unknown Soldier's remains are in a tomb at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. The Victoria Cross has been awarded 1,350 times since the 1850s, including 94 times to Canadian military personnel. A jewellery store in London, England, cast the Canadian medals. NELSON: MYSTERY DEEPENS OVER INFORMANT The police chief in the city of Nelson, British Columbia, has added to the mystery surrounding the informant who led Canadian police to detain a U.S. army deserter, Kyle Snyder. Mr. Snyder was arrested at home in Nelson last month, but released after being questioned for several hours at the Canada Border Services Agency. Mr. Sndyer claims that the U.S. army requested his arrest. Nelson police initially said that the order came from Canada Border Services. But Nelson's police chief now hints that another source disclosed Mr. Snyder's whereabouts and made the request for his arrest. He declined to identify the source. Mr. Snyder, 23, hopes to remain in Canada. CLEVELAND: NEW DINOSAUR SPECIES FOUND IN ALBERTA A scientist at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History has published a report on a new species of dinasour discovered in the Canadian province of Alberta. Michael Ryan found the fossil of a plant-eater with horns one metre long over its eyes. The horns recall those of the triceratops, a dinosaur that lived ten million years later. The new dinosaur species might be a middle step between older dinosaurs with much larger horns and later dinosaurs with smaller horns. The new species is called Albertaceratops nesmoi. Cecil Nesmo is an Albertan farmer who has helped scientists find bones in Alberta's fossil-rich regions.
SAUDI ARABIA Iran's president arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on a visit that raised hope of calming tension among the Middle East's Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed in Riyadh by Saudi King Abdullah. Iran and Iraq have Shiite majorities, whereas Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world is largely Sunni. Iran and Saudi Arabia had been holding talks for weeks leading up to Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit. His visit began on the same day that leading diplomats from the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany began meeting in an attempt to agree on new sanctions against Iran. The meeting comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported last month that Iran was expanding its uranium enrichment activity, rather than suspending it. Enriched uranium can be used to make atomic weapons. IRAQ U.S. forces in Iraq staged air strikes around Baghdad on Saturday and claimed afterwards that several senior members of the insurgency were killed. The U.S. military identified them as those responsible for shooting down eight U.S. helicopters in the past two months. On the same day, a roadside bomb killed three American soldiers in the city. In the western province of Anbar, a suicide car bomb killed 12 people at a police checkpoint in Ramadi. NORTH KOREA The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, will travel to Pyongyang, later this month to discuss the new international deal on North Korea's nuclear program. At six-party talks last month, North Korea agreed to stop any nuclear arms activity in return for promises of energy supplies, aid and improved international trade. North Korea also agreed to participate within 30 days in working groups that would seek to normalize the country's relations with the United States. Among the issues to be discussed is the United States' contention that North Korea used a bank in Macau to launder dirty money. China's foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, is urging the signatories of the new deal to use diplomacy in resolving difficulties that he expects will arise in implementing the agreement. RUSSIA About two thousand demonstrators in St. Petersburg, Russia, defied a police ban on Saturday to protest in a downtown street. Demonstrators pushed past several police lines during the hour-long protest. The protesters accused President Vladimir Putin of exercising too much power, silencing dissent and generally limiting democracy. They also demanded that presidential elections next year be fair. Police detained at least several dozen protesters, including a novelist, Eduard Limonov, who organized the march as leader of an opposition coalition called 'Other Russia.' DENMARK For a third day, violent protests were seen on the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday. Demonstrators threw firebombs and stones at Danish police who retaliated with tear gas. Police detained at least 200 people. In the past three days, a total of 600 people have been arrested. Demonstrators are angry that police used force on Thursday to evacuate a housing complex where squatters have lived for more than 20 years. The complex was sold to new owners who demanded that the squatters leave. Demonstrators vow to protest until the squatters may return. ETHIOPIA A team of British officials arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday to promote diplomatic efforts to free at least five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians who are feared kidnapped in the remote northeast. One day earlier, Britain's foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, confirmed that five staff members or relatives of staff members at Britain's embassy in Addis Ababa were missing in the desert region that borders southern Eritrea. Italy's foreign ministry said on Saturday that one of those kidnapped has dual British-Italian citizenship. AFGHANISTAN A roadside bomb affixed to a bicycle exploded in western Afghanistan on Saturday killing three civilians and injuring 16 others. The bomb was left near a road normally used by NATO and Afghan military convoys in the city of Herat near the border with Iran. Canada has 2,500 troops with the NATO force in southern Kandahar province. INDONESIA At least 40 people were killed and dozens are missing as a result of landslides triggered by heavy rains on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores. Four people were found alive. Rescuers searched for those missing. PAKISTAN Pakistan test-fired a short-range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads on Saturday. The test was the second within eight days. The surface-to-surface Abdali has a range of 200 kilometres. It is one of the earliest missile systems developed by Pakistan. POLAND Pope Benedict on Saturday named a new archbishop of Warsaw, two months after Stanislaw Wielgus was forced to resign the post because of his involvement with Poland's former Communist secret police. The new archbishop is Kazimierz Nycz, a bishop from northern Poland. He is considered to have an irreprochable record. The late Pope John Paul nominated him as bishop of Krakow in 1988. He has served in northern Poland since 2004.
FREDERICTON: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INCREASING FUNDS FOR BIOFUEL PROJECTS Canada's agriculture minister, Chuck Strahl, has announced an extra CDN$10 million for a fund to encourage biofuel projects. The new money doubles the amount that the government initially announced last year. Biofuels are fuels made from organic sources like canola, mustard and soybeans. Mr. Strahl said that the extra money would help, for example, to pay for a pilot program at Eastern Greenway Oils refining plant in Waterville, New Brunswick. He said that the government hopes that similar projects, large and small, would be created across the country.
CRICKET About twenty thousand Canadian cricket fans watched India beat Pakistan by seven wickets on Saturday in the Legends of Cricket exhibition match in Toronto, Ontario. Pakistan-born Canadian players Farouk Kirmani and Rizwan Cheema represented the short-handed Pakistan team. India's Atul Wassan was named Man-of-the-Match. Ontario's premier, Dalton McGuinty, spun the toss to launch the match. HOCKEY The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to Carolina on Friday, 3-2, but Penguins' star Sidney Crosby became the youngest player in National Hockey League history to reach 200 points when he scored the game's first goal. Crosby is aged 19 years, 207 days. He's slightly younger than the former record holder, Wayne Gretzky. The Montreal Canadiens lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 8-5, to drop to ninth place in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres won their fifth straight game with five goals or more. The Toronto Maple Leafs beat New Jersey, 4-3, in a shootout. Toronto remains two points out of the last Stanley Cup playoff spot. The Ottawa Senators lost to Atlants, 4-2. Ottawa's Dany Heatley scored two goals for a total of 40 so far this season. BASKETBALL The Toronto Raptors were defeated by Milwaukee on Friday, 94-81, in what coach Sam Mitchell said was probably the team's worst shooting night of the season. Toronto all-star Chris Bosh scored 14 points. SKIING Canadian *** Bourque won the silver medal in the men's giant slalom at a World Cup meet in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on Saturday. Benjamin Raich of Austria won the gold by about half a second. At a World Cup meet in Tarvisio, Italy, Canadian Emily Brydon won a bronze medal in the downhill. American Julia Mancuso won the gold. It was the second time this season that Canadians won World Cup medals in different events on the same day. SPEED SKATING Canadians Kristina Groves and Cindy Klassen were second and third in the women's 1500-metre event at a World Cup race in Calgary, Alberta, on Saturday. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands was first. Canadian Denny Morrison won the men's one-thousand metre race on Friday. In the women's one-thousand metre event, Canadians Christine Nesbitt was second and Kristina Groves was third. FREESTYLE SKIING Canadian Jennifer Heil clinched the overall World Cup freestyle skiing title on Saturday. She won for the second time in two days in Voss, Norway. She called the course the most challenging that she ever saw. Canadian Kristi Richards was third. On Friday, her compatriot Stephanie St. Pierre also came third. LACROSSE The Edmonton Rush lost to the San Jose Stealth on Friday, 11-9. Dan Stroup and Chris Gill both had three goals for Edmonton. CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING Canadian Malindi Elmore won the senior women's six-kilometre race at the North America, Central America and Caribbean event in Clermont, Florida, on Saturday. In the junior women's four-kilometre race, Canadians Lindsay Carson was first and Marie-Louise Asselin was second. In the junior men's six-kilometre race, Canadians Matthew Leeder was second and Matthew Hughes was third. CURLING Canada defeated Italy, 8-4, at the opening of the women's junior world curling championships on Saturday.
Weather Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will be mainly cloudy. The high temperature in Vancouver will be ten degrees Celsius. The Yukon: increasing cloudiness. Whitehorse, minus 20. Northwest Territories: sunny. Yellowknife, minus 26. Nunavut: snow flurries. Iqaluit, minus 13. Alberta: overcast. Edmonton, minus four. Saskatchewan: increasing cloudiness. Regina, minus three. Manitoba: increasing cloudiness. Winnipeg, minus six. Ontario: mainly cloudy. Toronto, minus one. Ottawa, minus one. Quebec: mainly cloudy. Montreal, one. New Brunswick: cloudy. Fredericton, two. Nova Scotia: variable cloudiness. Halifax, four. Prince Edward Island: rain showers. Charlottetown, two. Newfoundland: cloudy. St. John's, three.
|
