Back to newsletter list 22/03/2008 20:42:30 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Sports | Weather Headlines  - Parliamentarian raises case of Canadian in Mexican prison. - Lawyers urge more help to defend new security law. - Snowstorm strands hundreds.
AMHERST: PARLIAMENTARIAN RAISES CASE OF CANADIAN IN MEXICAN PRISON An independent Member of Canada's Parliament, Bill Casey, says that Canadians should reconsider going to Mexico as long as a Canadian woman is still in prison there. Brenda Martin has been in a women's prison outside Guadalajara for the past two years on charges of money laundering. She was detained in connection with an investment scam involving her former boss, Alyn Waage, who has denied that she was involved. Mr. Casey says that it appears that Brenda Martin is a victim who's been treated inappropriately because she hasn't been convicted of anything. Mr. Casey has written a letter to Mexico's ambassador to Canada, calling for Miss Martin's release. He has raised questions about whether Canadians are safe in Mexico. He says that Canadian tourists can make a difference by spending their vacation money elsewhere. TORONTO: LAWYERS URGE MORE HELP TO DEFEND NEW SECURITY LAW Several of the 19 special advocates charged with upholding Canada's new security law are pressing the government to provide help that they say will be critical to their ability to function. Canada's newly rewritten national security law provides for testing top secret evidence against alleged terrorists. The lawyers fear that they lack resources. Under the legislation passed last month, the elite group of lawyers will gain access to top secret information that Canada's spy agency, CSIS, has against a suspected terrorist. They will be able to challenge its validity in front of a judge in closed hearings. Five men with alleged terrorism links have spent years without legal status in Canada because of undisclosed evidence. The Justice Department has no plans for a special advocates' office. That role will fall jointly to the Justice Department, to the immigration board and to the agency that provides administrative services for federal courts. The special advocates say that a separate independent office is required. MONTREAL: SNOWSTORM STRANDS HUNDREDS Hundreds of stranded motorists sought refuge in the town of Riviere-du-Loup in Quebec on Friday night after a snowstorm closed two major highways. Some 600 travellers took refuge in emergency shelters at a local high school and military hall. Many residents volunteered to open their homes to about 100 of the marooned travellers. Local hotels had little vacancy because of a weekend hockey tournament in the town about 200 kilometres northeast of Quebec City. The roadways are part of the Trans-Canada Highway that link Quebec City with New Brunswick. They were re-opened Saturday morning. TORONTO: CONTROVERSIAL ISRAELI TO VISIT CANADA Moshe Feiglin, an Israeli political activist who was banned from entering Britain, is scheduled to visit Toronto next week. Mr. Feiglin heads a faction of the right-wing Likud party. He was banned from England because he advocates harsh military action against Palestinians, pulling Israel out of the United Nations and encouraging non-Jews in Israel to emigrate. Canada's Jewish Defence League has invited him to meet with Jewish students at an undisclosed university campus and to attend a dinner at a synagogue in North York. A British government official said that his presence would not be conducive to the public good. Shimon Fogel, executive director of the Canada-Israel Committee, said he was disturbed by the news that Mr. Feiglin had been barred from Britain. Mr. Fogel rejected any concern that Mr. Feiglin's presence in Canada could stimulate hostility toward Israel. VANCOUVER: STUDY URGES HOMELESS SHELTERS A new study by Simon Fraser University says that providing shelter for the homeless with severe addictions and mental illness could save taxpayers in British Columbia millions of dollars. The paper says that providing non-housing services for people costs more than CDN$55,000 a year for each person. It says that providing adequate housing and supports could reduce this cost to CDN$37,000 per year. The overall economy of such a plan is about $211 million per year. The report notes that rent increases and a drop in the number of rooming houses has caused increased homelessness. The report says that 130,000 people in B.C. meet the criteria for having severe addictions and/or mental illness. Of those, 39,000 people are inadequately housed. At least 12,000 are considered homeless. ROSSLAND: AVALANCHE THREAT REMAINS HIGH The avalanche danger is still considerable in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, a part of the Rocky Mountains. Overhanging cornices are adding to the instability. No one was hurt in an avalanche at the Red Mountain ski area last weekend but the avalanche risk in most areas of the province is rated considerable to high. FREDERICTON: ELECTRICITY RETURNS FOLLOWING STORM Electricity is back in Canada's Atlantic province of New Brunswick after a severe freezing rain storm on Thursday cut electricity to some six-thousand people. Most of the outages were in Bouctouche, Moncton, Fredericton and Shediac. Freezing rain caused ice to build up on trees, which fell over and knocked down lines. HOUSTON: CANADIAN-MADE ROBOT NEEDS REPAIR NASA engineers were trying on Saturday to solve a problem with Dextre, the Canadian-made robot that was attached to the international space station last week. The shoulder joint in one of Dextre's arms does not seem to know which way it's oriented, and is not responding properly to signal commands. Engineers are thinking about sending a software patch to fix the problem. OTTAWA: CANADIANS MARK WATER DAY Saturday was World Water Day. Groups in Canada and around the world spent the day trying to raise awareness about the looming water crisis, which was sparked by climate change. They also tried to raise money to ensure all children have access to clean water. The United Nations has been observing World Water Day since 1992. FLORIDA: CONRAD BLACK ADAPTING TO PRISON LIFE The former Canadian media baron, Conrad Black, says that he's getting along fine in a Florida prison, where he began his six-and-a-half-year sentence earlier this month. In an e-mail message, he wrote that he's adapting well to life behind bars. Mr. Black is still calling the verdict for fraud and obstruction of justice a terrible injustice. The courts are expected to hear his appeal in about three months.
BRITAIN More demonstrations were held in various cities on Saturday to call for an end to China's crackdown on protests in Tibet. Some protesters continued to urge a boycott of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Demonstrators in London paused outside the Chinese embassy to sing Tibetan songs, many of them angrily waving their fists. Nearly 600 hundred people protested in Tokyo. Some 80 protesters marched to the Chinese embassy but police cordoned off the area, sparking verbal disputes. Protesters carried large photos of Chinese President Hu Jintao and banners calling him assassin. In France, about one thousand people marched in the southern port city of Marseille. In Geneva, some 300 people demonstrated outside the offices of the United Nations, decrying international silence on Tibet and calling for a response from the UN human rights agency, the Swiss news agency reported. Switzerland has one of the largest communities of Tibetan refugees in Europe, numbering some 3,000. TAIWAN Taiwanese voters on Saturday elected an opposition party leader, Ma Ying Jeou of the Kuomingtang or Nationalist Party, as the country's new president. He claimed victory after winning a landslide against his rival, Frank Hsieh, of the Democratic Party. Mr. Ma pledged to open greater ties with mainland China, including the creation of a formal peace treaty to help Taiwan's ailing economy. Taiwan's voters also rejected two referendum questions on Taiwan joining the United Nations. The question was seen as provocative by Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province of China. Voter turnout was high at 75 per cent. President Chen Shui-bian steps down in May. His pro-independence polices angered China. ISRAEL U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney arrived in Israel on Saturday to promote Middle East peace talks. He has planned a nine-day tour of the region. Upon arrival, Mr. Cheney said that the United States backed Israel's right to defend itself against rockets from Hamas-ruled Gaza and will not pressure the Jewish state to take steps that threaten its security. Mr. Cheney will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before heading to the West Bank on Sunday to meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Mr. Cheney will encourage peace talks that the two sides revived in November. U.S. President George W. Bush is expected visit to the region in May to celebrate the sixieth anniversary of the creation of Israel. Egypt held talks on Saturday with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, part of a push for a truce between the militant groups and Israel. AFGHANISTAN Two foreign soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan on Friday when their vehicle struck a landmine planted on a busy road. The soldiers were on a security patrol with Afghan forces. The nationalities of the troops were not reported. About 2,500 Canadian soldiers are part of the NATO force in southern Afghanistan. More than 30 international soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year. FRANCE British and French defence ministries are denying reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to announce that one thousand additional French troops will be sent to Afghanistan. The Times of London newspaper cited unnamed senior ministers. The report said that Mr. Sarkozy wants to demonstrate his commitment to the NATO alliance's Afghan mission during a visit to London that begins on Friday. Canada recently pledged to extend its mission in the southern region of Kandahar to 2011 on condition that NATO allies provide an additional one thousand troops in the region. France already has 1,900 soldiers in northern Afghanistan. TURKEY About 300 people were detained on Saturday as police used truncheons and tear gas to break up violent Kurdish protests in several Turkish cities. Among those arrested were three officials from the Kurdish Democratic Society Party. The disturbances erupted when celebrations marking the Kurdish New Year degenerated into demonstrations in favour of the armed separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party. The worst clashes took place in the eastern city of Van. NETHERLANDS About one thousand people protested in central Amsterdam on Saturday against the imminent release of a film, Fitna, by Geert Wilders that is expected to be critical of the Koran. Anti-racism protesters held placards that said 'Stop the witch-hunt against Muslims.' The anti-racism organization Nederland Bekent Kleur organized the protest. Mr. Wilders' film has triggered fury in the Muslim world. The Dutch government has distanced itself from his views out of fear of a backlash among Muslims similar to that against Denmark in 2006 after Danish newspapers published controversial cartoons. Mr. Wilders says that his film is not so much about Muslims as about the Koran and Islam. He says that the Islamic ideology aims at the destruction of freedom. The Netherlands has almost one million Muslims. SRI LANKA Sri Lanka says that one of its navy boats sank after apparently hitting a floating mine off the island's northern early on Saturday. Six sailors were rescued but ten sailors are missing. But Tamil Tiger rebels claim that the navy boat was hit by a suicide attack, and that three of its fighters were also killed. The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for an independent state for the country's ethnic minority Tamils since 1983. They operate a strong naval force. Suicide attackers often ram boats packed with explosives into government naval ships. PAKISTAN The Pakistan People's Party, formerly led by Benazir Bhutto, has named the one-time parliament speaker, Yousaf Raza Gilani, as its candidate for Pakistan's next prime minister. The Pakistan's People's party won the biggest parliamentary bloc in elections last month. It is preparing to lead a new coalition government President Pervez Musharraf. The party has the customary right to name the prime minister because it won the most seats. Mr. Gilani was a close aide to Bhutto. He spent four years in jail on allegations that he abused his authority as speaker under Bhutto's second term as prime minister in the 1990s. He was freed in 2005.
FIGURE SKATING Canadian Jeff Buttle is the new men's world figure skating champion. He won the free skate in Goteborg, Sweden, on Saturday after taking top spot in the men's short program on Friday. Brian Joubert of France was second and American Johnny Weir was third. Canadian Patrick Chan was seventh after the short program but dropped to ninth overall. On Friday, Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the free dance to capture a silver medal. BASKETBALL LeBron James became Cleveland's career scoring leader in the first quarter and finished with 29 points in leading the Cavaliers to a 90-83 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. HOCKEY Jason Blake and Darcy Tucker scored in the first period to give Toronto a 2-0 lead, and the Maple Leafs kept their Stanley Cup playoff hopes alive with a 4-1 victory over Buffalo on Friday. Toronto is five points back of Boston for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff berth. The Minnesota Wild beat Vancouverm, 2-1. Niklas Backstrom made 30 saves for the Wild, who opened a three-point lead over Vancouver and Calgary in the Northwest Division.
Weather Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will have showers. The high temperature in Vancouver will be nine degrees Celsius. The Yukon: overcast. Whitehorse, two. Northwest Territories: sunny. Yellowknife, minus five. Nunavut: snow. Iqaluit, minus nine. Alberta: increasing cloudiness. Edmonton, four. Saskatchewan: sunny. Regina, six. Manitoba: sunny. Winnipeg, minus five. Ontario: increasing cloudiness. Toronto, minus two. Ottawa, minus six. Quebec: sunny. Montreal, minus six. New Brunswick: variable cloudiness. Fredericton, minus five. Nova Scotia: snow flurries. Halifax, minus two. Prince Edward Island: snow flurries. Charlottetown, minus six. Newfoundland: snow flurries. St. John's, minus two.
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