Epidemic myopia levels among East Asian youth

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 11:25 AM - 0 Comments

Cheng Gong/ChinaFotoPress/CP

A staggering 90 per cent of East Asian youth may be shortsighted, according to new research published in the medical journal The Lancet. Epidemic levels of myopia have been recorded in China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, according to study author Ian Morgan, of Australia’s National University. The rate of myopia in Britain was 30 to 40 per cent and in Africa, only two to three per cent.

Researchers once believed myopia was genetic, but recent studies link it to reading and other eye-straining activities. PlayStation, Xbox and Facebook are not exclusively to blame, but the link to increased screen time is clear: being cooped up inside compounds the problem, since outdoor light helps release retinal dopamine, which may prevent myopia. “Children who have spent more time outside are much less at risk,” says Morgan.

Parents, it seems, may know best when they advise children to go outside and play. It also does their eyes a world of good.

Stockholm’s twenty-somethings cut loose at mid-day discos

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 3:43 PM - 0 Comments

Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

Some people work out, others go for a stroll, and many just eat lunch hunched over their desks. But in Stockholm, a growing number of twenty-somethings have been opting out of those tired routines; instead, they are hitting the dance floor for noon-hour parties.

Molly Ränge launched the midday discos last year because she was “working too hard.” The parties, known as “Lunch Beat,” break up the monotony of the workday, says the 28-year-old co-founder of CrowdCulture, a Swedish crowdsourcing start-up that supports cultural initiatives. Entry fees, which range from $6 to $15, include a bagged lunch and water. Drugs and alcohol are strictly banned—as is all talk of work. Dancing, however, is mandatory.

Ränge’s not-for-profit nooner discos are spreading across Europe and beyond. Dance enthusiasts from cities as far away as San Francisco, Taipei and Toronto have inquired about opening local chapters.

Obama: Same-sex couples should be able to get married

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 4:16 PM - 0 Comments

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he thinks same-sex couples should be able to get married, reversing his long-standing position on the issue.

The president made the comments during an interview with ABC News, following similar comments by his vice-president, Joe Biden, who earlier this week said he was “absolutely comfortable” with allowing same-sex marriages. Obama stopped short of going any further on the issue, saying that this is a personal position and that he supports the idea of leaving it up to individual U.S. states to legislate the matter on their own. On Tuesday, North Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitution amendment to ban same-sex unions, making the southern state the 31st to approve such an amendment.

The issue has become a hot topic in the race for the White House this fall, placing Obama now on side with defenders of same sex unions against his opponent, Republican Mitt Romney, who opposes the idea. Speaking to a local Fox News affiliate in Denver, Co., on Wednesday, Romney said “I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender.”

From ABC News:

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this decision, based on conversations with his staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and his wife and daughters.

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.

Canada considering new gender options for passports

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 12:30 PM - 0 Comments

The agency in charge of issuing Canadian passports is reviewing its policies towards gender, according to a report from the Montreal daily La Presse.

A note obtained by the Quebec newspaper under access to information request confirms that Passport Canada has placed the issue under review, and a spokesperson for the agency confirmed the review on Tuesday. It is yet unknown what kind of process for transgender individuals Passport Canada take, whether passport applicants will have an additional third gender to choose from or if transgender individuals will be allowed to apply under their new gender without having undergone sex reassignment surgery.

From the National Post:

Although the details of the change are not yet known, Canada may follow the Australian example and allow Canadians to mark their sex as “X” rather than “M” or “F.” Or the agency may simply streamline the process for transgendered people to obtain a passport denoting their new sex.

Under current requirements, Canadians can change the sex on their passport only if they provide medical proof of having undergone gender-reassignment surgery. If they are still in transition they can obtain a temporary two-year passport by furnishing medical documents showing the surgery is scheduled for sometime in the next 12 months.

Critics note the policy effectively excludes a minority of transgendered people who identify with a different gender, yet are unwilling or unable to undergo genital surgery.

Who wants to buy a dead golf course?

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 11:51 AM - 0 Comments

Mark Reis/The Gazette

When B.J. ran into the house yelping in pain, his paw bleeding, Lenny Leonov thought his 60-lb. dog had stepped on some broken glass. But when the brown and white boxer started convulsing and foaming at the mouth, Leonov rushed the dog to the vet. It was too late. B.J. had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and died in the emergency room. This wasn’t Leonov’s first brush with exotic animals at his suburban Florida home. A year earlier, a six-foot alligator had to be removed from his backyard.

Leonov doesn’t live in the jungle; he lives next to an abandoned golf course. His North Fort Myers home backs onto the former Lochmoor Country Club. It was shuttered in 2005 to make way for a lush new golf course, three condo towers and a marina. Then the financial crisis hit. The development was abandoned, another victim of the U.S. foreclosure crisis. The golf course has since grown wild. “It’s so bad,” says Leonov, “the weeds around the water hole next to me are 12 feet high.”

This post-apocalyptic scene is playing out across the U.S., where predictions of a boom in golf failed to materialize, leaving a trail of closed golf courses—and thousands of angry neighbours—in its wake. Starting in the mid-’90s, developers built thousands of new courses in the U.S., but the Internet bubble, 9/11 and the financial crisis, one after the other, ransacked Americans’ disposable income. Hundreds of golf courses have closed in recent years, many of them tied to grand real estate development plans, like the one behind Leonov’s home. “Most of these golf courses were built to sell real estate with very little due diligence as to whether the golf course could survive on its own,” says Greg Nathan, senior vice-president of the National Golf Foundation, based in Jupiter, Fla.

Continue…

Crown to wrap closing arguments in Rafferty trial

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 11:33 AM - 0 Comments

The Crown is expected to finish its closing arguments at the trial of Michael Rafferty on Wednesday, charged in the death of the eight year old Victoria Stafford, who disappeared in the spring of 2009 outside a school in Woodstock, Ont.

Rafferty has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping. His defence accused Rafferty’s former girlfriend Terri-Lynne McClintic, who testified as the prosecution’s star witness, of being a liar and accusing her of acting all by herself. McClintic testified as the Crown’s star witness in the case against Rafferty, detailing to the court how she and Rafferty had kidnapped, raped and murdered the little girl.

On Tuesday, crown attorney Kevin Gowdey tried to dissuade the jury from the idea that Rafferty was an innocent bystander, rather telling the court that he was the one who instigated McClintic to lure Stafford.

From the CBC:

“He knew from the very beginning because he was the leader of the operation,” prosecutor Kevin Gowdey said, adding that no “thinking, law-abiding person” would go along with what was clearly a kidnapping.

The Crown contends the Grade 3 student was lured to Rafferty’s vehicle by his then girlfriend, Terri-Lynne McClintic — a “violent pawn” acting on his orders.

McClintic pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Tori two years ago.

The Crown said it’s completely unrealistic to think that she acted alone.

“Together they did this to Tori Stafford,” Gowdey said. “Together they are guilty.”

Would-be suicide bomber was a double agent working with the C.I.A.

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 10:09 AM - 0 Comments

The suicide bomber who was supposed to board a U.S.-bound plane to blow up a bomb on board in April was actually an infiltrated Saudi intelligence agent working with the C.I.A., says the Associated Press.

In a story worthy of a 007 film, the agent was able to deliver to the C.I.A. the bomb, plans and other information about the affiliate of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, where he spent several years cooperating with the C.I.A., including providing precise information on the location of Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Al-Quso, who was killed by a C.I.A. drone strike in Yemen on Sunday. The agent, whose name has not been disclosed, has since been moved to a safe location in Saudi Arabia.

An American congressmen quoted by The New York Times commented about the Associated Press reporting on the operation, even after the agency kept the story secret for days under a C.I.A. request, reflecting fears from U.S. intelligence officials that foreign intelligence agencies may not cooperate with the Americans in the future.

From The New York Times:

“We are talking about compromising methods and sources and causing our partners to be leery about working with us,” said Mr. King, who spoke with reporters about the plot on Monday night and Tuesday after he was briefed by counterterrorism officials. Mr. King, who called the bomb plot “one of the most tightly held operations I’ve seen in my years in the House,” said he was told that government officials planned to investigate the source of the original leak. The C.I.A. declined to comment.

Intelligence officials believe that the explosive is the latest effort of the group’s skilled bomb maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Mr. Asiri is also believed to have designed the explosives used in the failed bombing attempt on an airliner over Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, and packed into printer cartridges and placed on cargo planes in October 2010.

Taxpayers will foot the bill for Harper’s lawyer in Guergis lawsuit

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 9:36 AM - 0 Comments

The federal government has hired a private lawyer at taxpayers’ expense to represent the prime minister and three other people in a lawsuit brought by former Tory cabinet minister Helena Guergis, according to Postmedia News.

According to the report, instead of using a staff lawyer from the Department of Justice, the government hired one of Canada’s top litigation lawyers, Robert Staley, to represent Prime Minister Harper, the Conservative Party of Canada and other defendants in the case.

From Postmedia News:

Andrew MacDougall, Harper’s spokesman, said Tuesday that the prime minister’s “counsel is being paid the standard rate that would be paid to a DoJ (department of justice) lawyer.” He did not specify the amount of that rate.

He said part of the claim involves issues related to “membership in cabinet” – Harper turfed Guergis from cabinet – and that this “is outside of the areas DoJ counsel would typically be involved in.”

NDP MP Charlie Angus said he’s not convinced.

“It raises a flag with me,” he said Tuesday, noting there are already justice department lawyers on staff with the required expertise. “It’s troubling, because if we have competent, very qualified lawyers able to do it who are already on staff, why are we going to the private sector for outside lawyers? And can we be assured that they are not bringing in high-priced lawyers that are going to ding the taxpayer more?”

What bubble? CMHC dismisses fears of a housing market bust

By Gustavo Vieira - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 9:24 AM - 0 Comments

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation issued its annual report on Tuesday, dismissing fears of a housing bubble in the country.

Contrary to the opinion of the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, the CMHC’s conclusion on the state of the current housing market is that “clear evidence of a bubble is lacking.” The report also showed housing starts— new housing units under construction— rose 14 per cent in April to 244,900, beating market expectations by 10 per cent.

Leaders of some of Canada’s biggest financial institutions gathered for an economic summit hosted by Bloomberg in Toronto seemed to corroborate the findings in the CMHC report.

From Bloomberg:

“When we look at the overall marketplace, there might be pockets of vulnerability but we remain quite comfortable,” said Gordon Nixon, chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Canada “Frankly, I’d like to see the rhetoric come down a little bit.”

A residential real-estate boom in the world’s 10th-largest economy has prompted senior policy makers such as Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to warn that Canadians may be taking on too much debt.

Carney told lawmakers April 24 that high levels of household debt remain the greatest domestic risk to Canada’s economy. In an appearance before a parliamentary committee, he reiterated that a rate increase “may become appropriate,” and warned Canadian families to exercise “caution” with their debt levels.

Carney has kept his key lending rate unchanged at 1 percent since September 2010 in the longest pause since the 1950s.

Housing prices in Canada are probably about 10 percent overvalued, economist Paul Fenton said at the Bloomberg summit.

There doesn’t seem to be a sense that there’s been overbuilding, and housing doesn’t pose a systemic threat to the function of the nation’s financial system, said Fenton, senior vice-president and chief economist at Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec.

Baby born at Tim Hortons

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 5:24 PM - 0 Comments

Two Tim Hortons’ employees helped deliver a baby girl in a washroom at one of the chain’s shops on Tuesday.

Coached by a 911 operator, Judy Glenn and manager Aaron Hayes helped Shireen Anderson give birth to Azauria, in the restroom of the Tim Hortons shop where they work in Windsor Ont. at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

From the CBC:

Hayes said Anderson was experiencing contractions when she arrived alone. He offered her a chair. Instead, she ran to the washroom screaming, he said.

Hayes and fellow employee Judy Glenn followed her and called 911.

The two employees laid out towels for Anderson, who gave birth with the help of Glenn and Hayes, who wiped the baby’s face and got her breathing.

“There wasn’t much time to be scared when that baby was coming out,” Hayes said. “The baby was coming out and we can’t wait for anybody.”

Environment Commissioner warns of steep costs of cleaning up to meet 2020 targets

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 5:16 PM - 0 Comments

Canada’s Environment Commissioner tabled his 2012 report on Tuesday, warning of a very expensive bill for cleaning up existing waste sites and slamming the federal government for not having a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Scott Vaughan said it will cost $7.7 billion for Canada to clean up 13,000 federally-owned contaminated sites across the country, but the government has only set aside a fraction of that to carry out the job. On reducing greenhouse gases emissions, the auditor noted that Canada won’t even reach the targets the government set as it pulled out of the Kyoto protocol last year, particularly because there’s no solid plan to do it. Vaughan said that as it currently stands, Canada will reach 2020 emitting seven per cent more greenhouse gases than in 2005, and not 17 per cent less.

From the CBC:

The big problem appears to be the government’s sector-by-sector approach. Each set of regulations takes up to five years to develop.

So far, only three sets of regulations have been written. There are two for the transportation sector, which are in place, and one for electricity, which doesn’t come into effect until 2015.

There are no regulations yet for the oil and gas sector, which is the fastest-growing GHG emitter, accounting for one-fifth of Canada’s total emissions. The auditor notes that regulations for this sector are expected to be made public by December.

All this is compounded by the lack of an overall implementation plan to show how the government’s multiple regulations will lead to the end goal of GHGs falling 17 percent below 2005 levels.

Borat benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 2:16 PM - 0 Comments

Vince Bucci/Getty Images

When the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan came out in 2006, officials in the Asian republic quickly banned the film about an outrageous, and fictitious, Kazakh journalist’s travels in the U.S., and threatened to sue its creator, Sacha Baron Cohen.

Then, in March, the organizers of the Arab Shooting Championship in Kuwait downloaded the Borat theme song by mistake and played it in place of the national anthem as Kazakh athlete Maria Dmitrienko stood with her hand on her heart.

Despite all this, Kazakhstan is changing its tune on the hit comedy, which depicted the country as backward, overtly sexist, anti-Semitic and homophobic.

In the capital of Astana last week, the country’s foreign minister, Yerzhan Kazykhanov, announced that Kazakhstan had issued 10 times more tourist visas since the film’s release. Indeed, Kazykhanov admitted he was “very grateful to Borat” for attracting visitors to the remote republic. He even hinted at possible “Borat tours,” targeting the rush of new tourists.

CIA foils new underwear bomb plot

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 1:43 PM - 0 Comments

American intelligence foiled an Al-Qaeda bomb plot against a US-bound plane last month. The plan was to use a more sophisticated version of the ‘underwear bomb’ used in a failed attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit in 2009.

According to U.S. officials quoted by the Associated Press, the FBI is analyzing the device apprehended in Yemen at its Quantico, Va., laboratories. Also according to the report, the CIA had an insider infiltrating a terror cell in Yemen, planning an attack around the anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

The BBC quoted US Republican Congressman Peter King linking the CIA mission to foil the bomb plot to the death of Fahd al-Quso, a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), who was killed by a drone strike on Sunday. Hours later, on Monday, an army base in Yemen was attacked by Al-Qaeda, killing 22 soldiers.

From the Associated Press (via CBC):

The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Monday that she had been briefed about an “undetectable” device that was “going to be on a U.S.-bound airliner.”

The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought his plane tickets when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It’s not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.

Maurice Sendak, author of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ has died

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 12:12 PM - 0 Comments

Maurice Sendak, the widely acclaimed and influential author and illustrator who introduced a not-so-rosy view of life to children’s literature died on Tuesday morning in Danbury, Conn.

Among Sendak’s most famous works is Where the Wild Things Are. According to the New York Times, Sendak died from complications after a recent stroke. He was 83.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Sendak’s work was the subject of critical studies and major exhibitions; in the second half of his career, he was also renowned as a designer of theatrical sets. His art graced the writing of other eminent authors for children and adults, including Hans Christian Andersen, Leo Tolstoy, Herman Melville, William Blake and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

In book after book, Mr. Sendak upended the staid, centuries-old tradition of American children’s literature, in which young heroes and heroines were typically well scrubbed and even better behaved; nothing really bad ever happened for very long; and everything was tied up at the end in a neat, moralistic bow.

Phoenix Coyotes likely to stay in Arizona

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 10:42 AM - 0 Comments

Just before the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Nasvhile Predators 2-1 Monday night to reach the Western Conference finals for the first time in the franchise’s history, NHL’s Commissioner Gary Bettmen announced the league had a preliminary deal to sell the Coyotes to a group led by former San Jose Sharks owner Greg Jamison.

As the tentative deal with Jamison includes keeping the Coyotes in Glendale, hopes that another Canadian city might get another NHL team soon have been postponed. In the three years since the NHL took ownership of the Coyotes after its previous owner, Jerry Moyes, entered the team into bankruptcy, three Canadian cities have been vying for the franchise’s relocation. First it was the former Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie who wanted to take the team to Hamilton, Ont.; then Quebec City, Que., and most recently Markham, Ont., have been working on new hockey arenas in hopes of to welcoming an NHL franchise.

According to the Toronto Star’s Mark Zwolinski, with the Coyotes possibly staying in Phoenix, Markham and Quebec City should now be eyeing the New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers as possible targets for a relocation to Canada.

From the Toronto Star:

Attention should fall on the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers. Both teams have bled money for several years, and the Devils, while potential Stanley Cup finalists and residing in a new arena in Newark, were trying to shed a $250 million debt reported a year ago.

Florida’s situation may come to a head this summer, mirroring the Coyotes in 2009 when the NHL rescued the franchise from bankruptcy.

For now, Bettman said the NHL will “proceed towards a final agreement (sale)” of the Coyotes while Jamison will “proceed towards an agreement with the city of Glendale.”

“I hope it can be concluded in weeks as opposed to months,” Bettman said, nearly three years after the NHL took over control of the team.

When asked what Monday’s news means for Quebec City, Bettman said “we’re not focused on any other place for the Coyotes other than Glendale.”

Deal on Quebec student strike fizzling

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 10:12 AM - 0 Comments

A tentative deal to end the three-month long student strike in Quebec has so far received a strong rejection from students. On Monday, students in more than a dozen institutions had rejected the deal reached on Saturday, while student leaders accused the provincial government of claiming victory over the striking students. The leaders of the student groups also accused the Charest government of failing to include in the deal what had been discussed during last week’s talks.

Under the deal, tuition fees would rise by $254 a year but other ancillary fees would be reduced and a special provisional council, including student members, would be created to review university spending and curb extra fees students pay in addition to tuition. The vote on the deal continues in Quebec throughout the week, but the early votes indicate it will not put an end to the crisis.

From the Globe and Mail:

Leaders of the student movement demanded that the agreement be clarified to include the government’s verbal commitment, made at the bargaining table, that reductions in surcharges as well as all savings made by the universities would go to lowering tuition fees.

And they contend that the minister’s comments inflamed an already heated debate over an agreement which, from the outset, failed to meet the students’ demands for a freeze on the fee hikes.

“The comments made by the government have done nothing to appease the confrontation. That was not what we agreed to at the bargaining table,” said Martine Desjardins, president of the Quebec federation of university students. “It has contributed to sabotaging the deal.”

Google car: forget the driver

By Gustavo Vieira - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Google shot to fame with its powerful Internet search engine, then added maps, data storage, email and all other sorts of useful online services. Then it turned to mobile phones. Now the tech behemoth is tinkering with cars. More specifically, the folks at Google are trying to eliminate the human behind the wheel.

As sci-fi as it may sound, the State of Nevada has issued the first licence for a driverless, self-driven car: a Toyota Prius modified by Google. Equipped with cameras, radar sensors and laser guidance, the car has covered more than 300,000 kilometres during tests without a single accident, according to Google. Most of the testing was done with a human driver ready to take control in case the car’s self-driving software failed, but the idea is catching on beyond Nevada. California, where the car was initially tested, is also planning to allow Google’s driverless car on the road.

From the BBC:

Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles, says he believes driverless vehicles are the “cars of the future”.

Nevada changed its laws to allow self-driven cars in March. The long-term plan is to license members of the public to drive such cars.

Google’s car has been issued with a red licence plate to make it recognisable. The plate features an infinity sign next to the number 001.

Other states, including California, are planning similar changes.

“The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error,” said California state Senator Alex Padilla, when he introduced the legislation.

“Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely.”

Postmedia shuts down wire service, cuts jobs, and signs back up for the Canadian Press

By Gustavo Vieira - Monday, May 7, 2012 at 3:44 PM - 0 Comments

Postmedia Network Inc. will shut down its wire service, reports the Globe and Mail. Since 2007, when its wire service was set up to compete with the Canadian Press, Postmedia produced stories from its Ottawa newsroom for the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, the Vancouver Sun, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal and a range of other Postmedia websites and newspapers.

According to the Globe and Mail, the company will cut 25 jobs at its Postmedia News division, and will sign back up with the Canadian Press. A company statement released to its employees and quoted by the Globe and Mail said the move reflected changes to the company and its industry.

From the Globe and Mail:

“Much has changed for our company and our industry,” the company said in a statement. “The way commodity news, such as international, breaking news and general-interest health and lifestyle issues is consumed is changing and no longer requires us to cover all of it directly.”

Rather than assigning its own reporters to stories already being covered by the Canadian Press – which is owned by The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star – Postmedia said it wants to focus its efforts on generating unique local news.

Rafferty’s defence calls McClintic a liar

By Gustavo Vieira - Monday, May 7, 2012 at 12:23 PM - 0 Comments

The defence for for Michael Rafferty, accused of raping and killing the eight-year-old Victoria Stafford, has told the court Terri-Lynne McClintic, the crown’s main witness, is a “prolific and accomplished liar.” Rafferty’s lawyer made the comments in his closing arguments to the jury on Monday.

Stafford disappeared in the spring of 2009 outside a school in Woodstock, Ont. Her body was found months later in a rural area more than two hours away from the school. Rafferty has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping. McClintic, who pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Stafford two years ago, spent six days as the crown’s star witness during Rafferty’s trial, detailing to the court how she and Rafferty had kidnapped, raped and murdered the little girl.

The crown is expected to present its closing arguments after the defence, which could still happen Monday afternoon.

Rafferty’s lawyer, Dirk Derstine, told the jury on Monday they should not believe McClintic on anything, except that she used a hammer to kill Stafford.

From Postmedia News:

“She was just putting on a fantastic performance,” Derstine told jurors, likening her testimony as that of an “Oscar winning actor.”

He told the jury to remember the multiple statements McClintic had made to police after she was arrested. On at least two occasions, she “happily and cheerfully” told investigators she just wanted to help them find the girl and denied any knowledge of the kidnapping.

She was a good liar who knew to include details to make what she was telling them more believable, said Derstine.

The reason she lied, he continued, is that she wants to escape moral responsibility for her actions. If the jury doesn’t believe her, then the Crown’s case is built completely on circumstantial evidence.

CBC renting out space at Toronto headquarters

By Gustavo Vieira - Monday, May 7, 2012 at 12:21 PM - 0 Comments

Faced with recent budget cuts and looking for new sources of revenue wherever possible, the CBC looking to rent out half a million square feet of commercial real estate at its downtown Toronto headquarters.

After years of searching for tenants in the public sector to fill space at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, built in 1992,  the CBC has finally applied to the City of Toronto for a rezoning permit to allow for the renting of the space to private commercial tenants.

From The Globe and Mail:

CBC’s building has about 1.5 million square feet of leasable space, meaning it’s sitting one-third empty. It was full when it opened, but a round of budget cuts in the mid-1990s saw scores of employees leave and parts of the building which were used to store sets and costumes were emptied as those services were outsourced.

And while there is a lot of space, it is spread throughout the building in small chunks. The CBC will need to move its people around so it can offer potential tenants larger spaces – an expensive and disruptive proposition.

The broadcaster has sat idle while the market boomed all around it. About 4.5 million square feet of new space has been built in Toronto’s downtown since the end of the recession, and virtually all of it has been snapped up by tenants looking for new space.

Government backs legislation to arrest masked rioters

By Gustavo Vieira - Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:09 AM - 0 Comments

The federal government has endorsed a bill allowing police to arrest anyone taking part in a riot and wearing a face disguise. The bill introduced by Alberta Conservative MP Blake Richards proposes five years of imprisonment or a fine of up to $5,000 for wearing a mask or disguise during a riot, or an unlawful assembly. The maximum current penalty for joining a riot is a two-year prison term under the Criminal Code.

According to a news release from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson on Sunday, the federal government is throwing its support behind the bill, which virtually guarantees it would pass into law.

From the Canadian Press (via CBC):

The bill, Richards said in an interview, is designed to give police more power to prevent the kinds of riots that have caused so much damage, including the current student riots in Quebec, the Stanley Cup riot of last spring in Vancouver and the G20 protests in Toronto two years ago.

“Certainly I’ve heard of instances where it is legitimate that there might be reasons that someone needs to protest anonymously and this bill certainly still allows for that,” said the second-term MP from Airdre, Alta., representing the riding of Wild Rose.

“I think it strengthens the right for peaceful protest. It’s only when individuals engage in criminal activity or become violent where this law would apply.”

French and Greek elections rattle financial markets

By Gustavo Vieira - Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments

The aftermath of the elections in Greece and France during the weekend has rattled financial markets on Monday. Fears over the eurozone’s ability to reduce spending and stop the bleeding after the election of a socialist president in France and the uncertainty over the results in Greece sent the euro tumbling to a three-month low.

The election of François Hollande in France has been rapidly overshadowed on Monday by the uncertainty surrounding the Greek election, where angry voters didn’t give any single party enough votes to form a government alone. The pro-austerity conservative New Democracy party came first with just under 19 per cent of the vote and now has three days to form a coalition with other parties to form a government, but an agreement is not likely and another election as early as next month is possible.

From the Associated Press (via Canadian Business Magazine):

The one certainty was that parties backing the draconian international rescue package lost their majority in parliament — raising the chances of a possible Greek exit from the common euro currency.

The uncertainty weighed on markets across Europe, with the Athens exchange tumbling 6.4 per cent in afternoon trading.

And from Reuters:

Investors sold bonds of other weaker euro zone member states after the two pro-bailout parties in Greece failed to win a parliamentary majority, rekindling fears over the country’s future in the single currency.

“The Greek election outcome is the ultimate Greek tragedy. Not having a cohesive government means the IMF will not release further funds. Without those funds, Greece will have to leave the euro zone,” Louis Gargour, chief investment officer of London-based hedge fund LNG Capital, said.

Letters reveal Osama bin Laden’s plans for 10th anniversary of 9/11 attacks

By Gustavo Vieira - Friday, May 4, 2012 at 5:13 PM - 0 Comments

A sheaf of letters obtained at Osama bin Laden’s last refuge in Pakistan showed that the former Al Qaeda leader planned to release a package of special materials to the media ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Journalists in the United States, the United Kingdom and in four other countries, including Canada, were mentioned by Al Qaeda’s spokesman Adam Gadahn, as possible recipients of the materials in the letters.

From the Toronto Star:

Among the journalists Gadahn favoured were Eric Margolis, a longtime columnist with the Toronto Sun, and Canadian author Gwynne Dyer, a syndicated columnist based in London.

Margolis, Dyer and others would receive a link to a password-protected website to download materials perhaps five days before the anniversary.

Al Qaeda’s plans to mark the Sept. 11, 2001, anniversary were included in a trove of documents bin Laden allegedly wrote and received between September 2006 and April 2011.

The correspondence was obtained last year in the raid in Pakistan that killed bin Laden. Seventeen of those documents, a collective 175 pages, were published Thursday by the U.S. Army’s Combating Terrorism Center.

Elections Canada says Conservative campaign worker’s IP address was used for robocalls

By Gustavo Vieira - Friday, May 4, 2012 at 4:55 PM - 0 Comments

Elections Canada investigators believe the same IP address used to send misleading robocalls to voters in Guelph, Ont., was used by the deputy campaign manager of Conservative candidate Marty Burke.

According to the CBC, the Globe and Mail and the Ottawa Citizen, documents filed in court by Allan Mathews, the main Elections Canada investigator in charge of the investigation, show that the fraudster behind the “Pierre Poutine” alias used the same IP address as the one used to order legitimate calls from the Guelph Tory candidate’s campaign. An IP number is akin to a telephone number assigned to computers on the Internet.

Mathews, however, does not directly accuse the Tory campaign staffer implicated, Andrew Prescott, of actually placing the calls.

According to previous court filings, the “Pierre Poutine” alias had been used as a fake name to register a cell phone to set up a scheme of dialing voters of other parties to mislead them to the wrong polling stations on election day.

From the CBC:

Prescott had an account with Racknine, a company that does robocalling, or voice broadcasting, and which was used by “Pierre Poutine” to make the false calls.

Prescott’s account was used to make legitimate calls on behalf of the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke.

Mathews found that both Prescott and “Pierre Poutine” used the same two IP addresses when logging into their accounts with Racknine. On May 2, 2011 — election day — both clients “accessed Racknine within four minutes of each other,” using the same IP address, Mathews says in the court document.