Are we prepared for a covert war against Syria?

By Richard Warnica - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:42 AM - 0 Comments

Western and Arab governments, stymied by Russian and Chinese vetoes at the UN, are struggling to find ways to support the fractious Syrian opposition as violence in that country persists.

The Guardian reported Tuesday that the U.S. may be considering an executive order that would authorize covert action against Bashar al-Assad’s increasingly chaotic regime. It is not clear, however, that President Obama would sign such an order. Nor is it certain that covert action would succeed.

“It would leak in an instant and it would be radioactive,” Robert Baer, a former CIA officer in the region told the paper. “They [the Obama administration] have no idea of what to do now.”

Hope for a negotiated end to the conflict, which has claimed thousands of civilian and rebel lives, faded after China joined Russia to veto a Security Council resolution last Saturday. On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister touched down in Syria, where he was to meet with al-Assad.

At the same time, reports from inside the country say the crackdown on the rebel stronghold of Homs is intensifying. At least 94 people were killed in shelling Monday alone, according to BBC sources. Russian-made tanks have surrounded the city, but an all-out ground assault has not yet commenced.

The U.S. and Britain recalled their ambassadors to Syria this week, part of a diplomatic push that has so far proved ineffectual. Canada is maintaining diplomatic relations with al-Assad’s regime for now. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to raise the issue of China’s UN veto during this week’s bilateral summit in Beijing.

Up a tree a princess, down a Queen

By Patricia Treble - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 3:02 PM - 0 Comments

Sean Kilpatrick/CP

I’ve got bad news for you, Prime Minister. The King is dead.—Edward Ford, private secretary to King George VI

Bad news? The worst!—British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 not only marks the 60^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne; it’s also the anniversary of her beloved father’s sudden death; a tragic event that shocked both Britain and the Empire.

“His Majesty had ruled for 16 years and he was the figurehead for his subjects during one of their homeland’s darkest periods,” the BBC said. “As the news of the King’s death spread, shops, pubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres closed, and some employers sent their upset workers home.” Nurses at St. Catharines General Hospital in Ontario discovered what happened when they exited the wards to investigate why the hospital was so suddenly quiet—the staff was crying in the corridors. Continue…

Iranian oil scheme helps Syria dodge sanctions

By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 11:20 AM - 0 Comments

New evidence has emerged of Iranian efforts to aid the beleaguered regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. U.S. officials say Iran is covertly importing Syrian crude oil, selling it on the international market, then returning the proceeds to Syria, in violation of international sanctions. Russia, meanwhile, remains committed to arming al-Assad as he continues a crackdown on local opposition that has left thousands dead. A Russian ship carrying four containers of munitions was stopped in Cyprus last month before continuing on to the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia and Iran have traditionally been two of Syria’s strongest allies.

Wall Street Journal

Quebec’s latest imaginary boyfriend

By Philippe Gohier - Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:32 PM - 0 Comments

Should it come as a suprise that what looked like a peace accord between Gilles Duceppe and Pauline Marois just two months ago turns out to have been a temporary ceasefire? According to credible reports, Duceppe is gunning for Marois’s job—and getting someone who was once very close to Marois, former PQ MNA Louise Beaudoin, who quit the party last year to sit as an independent, to help his chances.

Even considering the PQ’s rich history of backstabbing, Duceppe’s opinion of Marois has seemingly come a long way in a short time. His widely publicized November 8 letter had been unequivocal in its support of Marois. “With this letter, I want to reiterate a message to all sovereigntists,” the former Bloc leader wrote. “Let Pauline Marois and the Parti Québécois do their job.” But that was before Marois went ahead and… er, Marois and the rest of the PQ haven’t done much of anything since then. The National Assembly has been on break since December 9 and doesn’t get going again until mid-February. Continue…

Harper criticizes foreign influence on Northern Gateway debate

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 12:13 PM - 0 Comments

A decision on the Northern Gateway pipeline should rest in the hands of Canadians only, not foreign interest groups, Stephen Harper said in an interview with the CBC on Monday night. The $5.5 billion dollar project, proposed by Canadian oil and gas company Enbridge, envisions building two pipelines that will stretch almost 1,200 km from the Alberta oil sands to the West Coast, transporting up to 525,000 barrels of oil daily. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver raised the issue earlier this month that local environmental groups who are opposed to the project are receiving funds from outside Canada, particularly the United States. “Just because certain people in the United States would like to see Canada be one giant national park for the northern half of North America, I don’t think that’s part of what our review process is all about,” Harper said in an interview with Peter Mansbridge. Environmental groups, on the other hand, argue that much of the funding for the proposed pipelines would come from outside Canada as well.

CBC

New Republican weapon on Keystone XL: a map

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Monday, January 16, 2012 at 11:57 AM - 0 Comments

Congressional Republicans plan to keep TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline  high on their agenda when the US House of Representatives resumes its session tomorrow, two congressmen said this morning.

“We go back into session tomorrow. This issue will be first and foremost,” South Carolina congressman, Jeff Duncan, told me in an interview. “We’re going to ramp it up,” said Duncan, who sits on the Natural Resources committee and, a member of the Republican “energy action team” in the House.

“We’re going to keep attaching it to other bills. I’m not one who likes to attach non-related legislation to other pieces legislation, or bob-tailing, but this is an issue we’ve already passed its something we believe in and we’ll keep attaching it,” said Duncan. Last month, Republican lawmakers attached legislation that would give President Obama a 60-day deadline to decide on the Keystone XL permit to legislation extending a payroll tax cut by two months.

At an energy-themed breakfast in Myrtle Beach, SC, another Republican congressman, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, showcased a map that he said would be making the rounds of Capitol Hill in coming weeks.

“We have an opportunity here to win the messaging war and we are going to push this as hard as we can over the next several months,” he told a packed ballroom of hundreds of assembled Republican officials and activists.

“What you are going to see over the next few weeks in Washington are these two maps,” said Mulvaney. Showing the audience an image of a map of the proposed pipeline route from Albert to the Gulf Coast of Texas, Mulvaney said: “This is what the president wants you to see.” Switching the slide to a map of thousands of pipelines that cover the US. “…And this is reality. Often those two things are divorced in Washington.”

“What you see here is that pipelines already exist. What the president would have you believe is the pipeline is somehow unusual or extreme. The truth of the matter is that there are pipelines all over this country that function each and every day without any environmental impact at all.”

(Environmentalists who oppose the pipeline have argued that few pipelines in the US carry diluted bitumen and that they have particular concerns about a pipeline in the Sand Hills area of Nebraska that crosses a large aquifer.)

The Obama administration has delayed a decision on a permit in order to review an alternative route that would take the pipeline around the environmentally sensitive region of Nebraska. Republicans accuse President Obama of delaying the process to appease environmentalists ahead of the November presidential elections.

The breakfast was hosted by a former US ambassador to Canada and a former Speaker of the South Carolina legislature, David Wilkins. He told the audience: “What most Americans view as common-sense or no-brainer energy policy, like drilling off our own shores, or in ANWR, or approving a pipeline to ship oil from Canada – a trusted ally, a stalwart partners in the pursuit of liberty, and a strong environmental steward – somehow has all fallen victim to the worst kind of partisan politics in Washington.”

(Note: this post has been updated with the same map used in Rep. Mulvaney’s presentation.)

**

Twitter/luizachsavage

Adding fuel to the fire in Nigeria

By Kristy Hutter - Monday, January 16, 2012 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments

Sunday Alamba/AP

Africa’s most populated country has not had a good start to 2012. Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets of its two largest cities, Lagos and Abuja, to protest against President Goodluck Jonathan’s Jan. 1 decision to cancel fuel subsidies, which virtually doubled the price of gas across the country. The jump—45 cents to almost $1 per litre—has outraged Nigerians, most living on less than $2 a day. Ironically, Nigeria is Africa’s most oil-rich nation, but foreign companies such as BP and Shell own and operate the high-functioning refineries that produce two billion barrels each day—a process that resulted in two major oil spills in the past month.

The demonstrations come just as the president confirmed that the local Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has infiltrated parliamentary and legislative arms of the government. The group has already been held responsible for four Christmas Day bombings, and is fighting to impose a strict interpretation of sharia law throughout the country.

Pressure builds on Iran oil sector

By macleans.ca - Friday, January 13, 2012 at 1:39 PM - 0 Comments

The U.S. is ramping up its efforts to put pressure on Iran’s Islamic regime, thought to be pursuing a nuclear weapons program, by squeezing the country’s oil sector. Late Thursday night, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions against three large oil companies—including, including, in a bold move, China’s Zhuhai Zhenrong—for selling refined oil products to Iran. “This is an extremely unfriendly signal,” said analyst Li Guofu of the China Institute for International Studies, speaking with the Financial Times. Refined oil products are considered crucial to Iran’s economy since the country doesn’t have the domestic infrastructure to refine crude oil on its own. The targeted sanctions come as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner visited Asia’s two largest economies this week, pressuring China and Japan to reduce the amount of oil they import from Iran. Japan, which imports 10 per cent of its oil from Iran, pledged to reduce its crude trade with Iran after Geithner’s visit.

AP

The Financial Times

Pipelines and battle lines

By Alex Ballingall - Friday, January 13, 2012 at 7:15 AM - 0 Comments

After the U.S. delayed its decision on whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil sands bitumen from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quick to stress his government’s renewed enthusiasm for exporting more oil to Asia. He called it “an important priority” for Ottawa.

With those words, the heated pipeline fight shifted from Keystone to the Northern Gateway project in British Columbia, where Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., hopes to lay a 1,172-km oil sands pipeline to the port town of Kitimat. For environmentalists, the economic benefits—estimated by Enbridge to add $270 billion to Canada’s GDP over 30 years—don’t outweigh the risk of an oil spill, something Enbridge experienced with much publicity in July 2010, when one of its pipes burst into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. Nathan Lemphers, a Pembina Institute analyst, says Northern Gateway’s route leaves it vulnerable to landslides and avalanches, increasing odds of a rupture. He also points to the B.C. coastline, where an oil tanker spill could devastate salmon stocks and wipe out the region’s orcas, according to a 2010 report by the Raincoast Conservation Society. Alongside such disquiet are concerns over Aboriginal land rights. Continue…

NDP MP crosses floor to Liberals

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 2:09 PM - 0 Comments

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae welcomed MP Lise St-Denis, elected as an NDP candidate on May 2, to the Liberal caucus in a press conference on Tuesday, the Globe and Mail reports. In a statement Rae said “The rebuilding of the Liberal Party of Canada depends on people like Ms. St-Denis who have the courage of their convictions, and who join our fight against a Conservative government rooted in rigid and dangerous ideology.” Meanwhile, the NDP is calling for St-Denis to resign her seat: “If the Liberals think that this is what the voters of her riding want, we challenge them to run Ms. St-Denis in a by-election,” said the chair of the NDP’s Quebec caucus, MP Guy Caron. Ms. St-Denis said she hoped her constituents, who voted her in as part of the NDP’s “orange wave” in the last election, would understand her decision. “They voted for Jack Layton. Jack Layton is dead,” Ms. St-Denis said.

<a href=”http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mp-defects-to-liberals-ndp-decries-lack-of-respect-for-democracy/article2297353/”>Globe and Mail</a>

Joe Oliver vs. the radicals, or among them

By Paul Wells - Monday, January 9, 2012 at 6:47 PM - 0 Comments

The Natural Resources Department was always where you worked if you thought environmentalists were a bunch of kooks. In the late 1990s, when the world was young and Kyoto was fresh and new, Natural Resources used to leak like a firehose right into the notebook of a colleague of mine at the National Post. Herb Dhaliwal, then the minister in charge, made a great show of driving an SUV the size of a hockey rink.

But the leaks were always anonymous and Herb’s SUV was a bit of an inside joke. Times change, and now we have Joe Oliver, who’s written (well, whose signature appears under) an open letter as significant in the annals of Conservative government as the ones Stéphane Dion used to write for Jean Chrétien.

There’s nothing subtle about it. Continue…

Get your environmental concerns off Joe Oliver’s lawn

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 9, 2012 at 12:51 PM - 0 Comments

The Natural Resources Minister takes on the environmental regulatory system, environmentalists, celebrity, air travel, foreigners, America and civil law.

Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade. Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.

These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda. They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest. They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources. Finally, if all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further.

This is perhaps reminiscent of the rhetoric directed at the NDP in the House last month—see here, here and here.

Iran threatens to choke key global oil route

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 11:39 AM - 0 Comments

The chief of Iran’s navy has warned that Iran could easily close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to western sanctions, according to the Globe and Mail. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced on Iranian state-run Press TV on Wednesday, “closing the Strait of Hormuz is very easy for Iranian naval forces,” echoing similar remarks made on Tuesday by Vice President Mohamed Reza Rahimi. The comments come as the Iranian navy conducts a ten-day military exercise in the region. The West has shown increasing concern over Iran’s nuclear program, accusing the regime of attempting to develop weapons under the guise of civilian nuclear energy and medical research. Meanwhile, Saudi officials have said Gulf countries can step up oil production to make up for any potential shortfalls in Iranian oil. The nation currently produces about four billion barrels daily, and depends on oil exports for 80 per cent of its revenues.

Globe and Mail

B.C. defends bid to televise Stanley Cup riot trials

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 23, 2011 at 2:33 PM - 0 Comments

Attorney-General of British Columbia Shirley Bond is defending the provincial government’s bid to televise the trials of those accused in Vancouver’s Stanley Cup riots, The Globe and Mail reports. Her office issued a statement standing by its proposal in response to suggestions that televising the trials will jam the court system. Bond says televising the trials is important because it will provide the public with transparency. Some defense lawyers are critical of the idea, presuming clients will not want to appear on television as accused rioters. So far, charges have been recommended for 80 people, 8 of whom appeared in court last week. In each appearance the crown tabled a request to televise their trial. Judges will rule on the applications and consent of all parties be required in order for any trial to be televised.

Globe and Mail

Harper shrugs off Keystone stall

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:35 PM - 0 Comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he’s serious about selling Canadian oil to Asia, and cast doubts on a U.S. approval of the Keystone XL pipeline in an interview with CTV National News to be aired on Boxing Day. The comments were made a day after the Obama administration signalled it could reject the $7-billion project linking the Alberta tar sands to Texas, following approval by the U.S. Senate of a bill that could force his government to make a decision on the project within 60 days. Although approval of the project is still possible, pending a U.S. State Department review of alternate pipeline routes, Harper seemed skeptical it would actually go forward. When asked about the likelihood of selling oil to China at the expense of angering Washington, the prime minister said he was recently told in the U.S. that Keystone would get done, but added that Canada is now on a different track.

Postmedia

REVIEW: When I Fell From the Sky: The True Story of One Woman’s Miraculous Survival

By Joanne Latimer - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 4:00 PM - 0 Comments

At the age of 17, Koepcke took a 60-minute flight in Peru with her mother, from Lima to Pucallpa for Christmas. The final destination was Panguana, a research station in the Peruvian jungle where Juliane lived, on and off, with her zoologist parents. The plane hit a thunderstorm and cracked into pieces, sending Juliane into a 10,000-foot descent, still strapped into her seat, separated from everything and everyone else. She survived, miraculously, then spent 11 days inching toward civilization, undetected by rescue planes. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the air disaster that made Juliane—as even strangers call her—a famous sole survivor.

When I Fell From the Sky breaks her silence about it. “If I had been a pure city child, I never would have made it back to life,” she says, crediting her parents for teaching her about the dangers of the rainforest. Her account of the 11-day trek is enthralling. In shock and suffering from injuries, she made it to a river’s edge without her eyeglasses, wearing just a minidress and one sandal. It was rainy season, so there was no fruit to eat. She was either freezing or boiling, set upon by bugs. She contended with stingrays, snakes, king vultures and caimans. Eventually, local woodcutters found her and mistook her for a water goddess. Brought to safety, she became an international icon of hope.

Unhappy with her portrayal in early interviews, Juliane refused most media requests until 1998, when Werner Herzog did a documentary about her accident. The film worked like therapy and freed Juliane from her “protective shield.” Yet readers still sense she would rather take the details to her grave. There’s only one thing that would make her write this book: drawing attention to Panguana, her parents’ nature reserve, and her goal of preserving it from encroaching civilization. If she has to peddle the details of her past to get everyone’s attention, so be it. She has been through worse.

Alberta’s oil for Alaska’s natural gas?

By macleans.ca - Monday, December 12, 2011 at 10:22 AM - 0 Comments

The Obama administration’s move earlier this year to delay approval—or rejection—of the proposed Keytone XL pipeline, which would link Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the American Gulf Coast, rocked the Canadian energy industry. The decision on Keystone won’t now be made until after next year’s U.S. presidential election. Into the policy void steps Gregg Easterbrook, author of Sonic Boom: A Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the New Global Economy, with a proposal for an entirely new pipeline strategy. In this New York Times commentary, Easterbrook argues Washington’s strategic priority should be shifting its energy economy from heavy reliance on imported oil to more consumption of American natural gas. That includes huge Alaskan natural gas reserves. His proposition: “American consent for moving Canadian oil-sand products across the Midwest should be tied to Canadian consent for an Alaskan natural gas pipeline across British Columbia.” This “package deal” would satisfy the Alberta oil patch and the growing U.S. lobby for a made-in-America energy strategy. As well, Easterbrook points out that natural gas contributes considerably less to global warming than oil or coal.

The New York Times

How the winners were selected

By Philippe Gohier - Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments

This week, Maclean’s, in partnership with L’Actualité and the Historica-Dominion Institute, is pleased to present our fifth annual Parliamentarians of the Year awards. Bob Rae wins the top honour. His lifetime of political experience, unparalleled debating skills and intelligent approach to difficult issues belie the current state of the federal Liberal party and his title as its interim leader. When Rae speaks, colleagues on both sides of the House know to pay attention. He joins previous honourees John Baird, Jason Kenney, Bill Blaikie and Ralph Goodale.

From the hardest working to most knowledgeable, these awards celebrate those who represent what is right about Ottawa. To determine the winners, Ipsos Reid asked all 308 members of Parliament to nominate the best MPs from both inside and outside their own parties, in each of seven categories. (Votes were converted to a point system to ensure that larger parties did not have an advantage. The winner of Parliamentarian of the Year was awarded on the basis of the highest number of total points across all categories.)

And this year, for the first time, we are presenting a Lifetime Achievement award, as chosen by the editors. The winner, Jack Layton, made history this spring by single-handedly lifting the NDP to Canada’s official Opposition in a mesmerizing display of campaigning skill and character, before succumbing to cancer over the summer. His presence is sorely missed in Parliament.

Canadian Mint sells bullion for $20 apiece

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 1:28 PM - 0 Comments

The Royal Canadian Mint announced plans on Monday to sell gold bullion for $20 apiece through a new “exchange traded receipt.” Once the ETRs have been sold in an initial public offering, they will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Toronto Star reports. The IPO, estimated at $250 million, is believed to be a first for a national Mint. Analysts speaking with the Star described the initiative as aimed at offering small, private investors a chance to bet on today’s hottest commodity.

The Toronto Star

Gadhafi killed in Libya

By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 10:19 AM - 0 Comments

Former Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi allegedly died on Thursday from wounds received as rebel fighters seized control of his hometown of Sirte, the New York Times reports. The claim, initially made by the Misrata Military Council, which has been leading the two-month siege of Sirte, has been confirmed by the Transitional National Council, Libya’s interim government. The rebels told reporters they captured Gaddafi at around noon local time on Thursday. Those reports were soon followed with an update that the Colonel had died. Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are showing graphic images of what they said is Gaddafi’s corpse, which has reportedly arrived in Misrata. The news, delivered on Libyan State Television, sparked mass celebrations in the capital, Tripoli, as streets filled with crowds and mosques began celebratory prayers. The NTC told Al Jazeera it will announce the liberation of Libya “within hours”.

The New York Times

Al Jazeera

Tim Cook: Apple’s most humble servant

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Monday, October 17, 2011 at 8:20 AM - 0 Comments

Paul Sakuma/AP

Tim Cook took the stage, but not the spotlight. In his public debut as Apple chief at the unveiling of the updated iPhone on Oct. 4–the day before Steve Jobs died—the 50-year-old seemed comfortable enough, dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt and his trademark Nike runners (he also sits on the sportswear giant’s board). He even cracked a couple of jokes in his measured Alabama drawl. “This is my first product launch since being named CEO,” he said, the threat of a smile crossing his face. “I’m sure you didn’t know that.”

But it was the things that Cook didn’t do that garnered the most notice. There were no stirring Jobs-ian speeches about future-altering technology. The “ta-dah” introductions of the new phone, a social network, and a greeting card application were all left to other Apple executives. And the CEO’s sales pitch—such as it was—was all about the brand, rather than the vision. “I’m so incredibly proud of this company,” Cook told the assembled journalists. “I consider it the privilege of a lifetime to have worked here for 14 years and I am very excited about this new role.” The message was clear. Apple’s cult of personality begins and ends with its founder.

And all indications suggest that is just the way the new boss likes it. A lifelong number two—he even finished second in his class at high school—Cook has always preferred to stay in the background. He almost never gives interviews, or speaks in public settings. (The exception being his beloved alma mater Auburn University, where he gave the commencement address in 2010.) He was raised in Robertsdale, a small farming town near Alabama’s Gulf Coast, whose only other “celebrity” son appears to be Obie Trotter, a college basketball star now playing in Szolnok, Hungary. The middle of three boys born to a shipyard worker and a homemaker, Cook played in the marching band and was voted “most studious” by his peers. He went on to take engineering at Auburn, where professors remember him as “very quiet, very reserved.” After graduating in 1982, he took a job at IBM in North Carolina, distinguishing himself as the guy who volunteered to work over the Christmas holidays so that the company could fill its orders by year-end. In 1994, he joined the computer-reselling division of an electronics wholesaler, rising to COO before jumping to Compaq in 1997. Six months later, an executive recruiting firm came knocking on Apple’s behalf.

Continue…

Former Quebec cabinet minister charged with fraud

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:42 PM - 1 Comment

Tony Tomassi, a former minister in Jean Charest’s cabinet in Quebec has been charged with three criminal offences in connection with his use of a credit card linked to a private security firm that received millions in government grants. Tomassi was fired over the scandal and will now face charges of charges of fraud and breach of trust. He is due to appear in a Quebec City courtroom on November 14.

Montreal Gazette

Anti-miscarriage drug DES causes multi-generational health problems

By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 12:56 PM - 2 Comments

DES (or diethylstilbestrol), an anti-miscarriage drug widely used between 1940 and 1970, has been linked to health problems—including breast cancer, infertility, difficult pregnancies and early menopause—in the daughters and the granddaughters of women who used it. Sons of DES mothers also have been found more likely to develop testicular cysts and other problems. A form of artificial estrogen prescribed to pregnant women between 1938 and 1971 with mid-pregnancy complications or previous miscarriages, DES was discontinued when it was found daughters of women who used it were developing a rare vaginal cancer. It’s estimated between four and 10 million people were exposed. The drug’s cumulative harm will be documented in The New England Journal of Medicine this week.

Time

American Cancer Society

Clement fails to show up for conference

By Philippe Gohier - Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 12:53 PM - 4 Comments

For the first time, Canada is hosting the biennial international gathering of information commissioners this week in Ottawa, but the federal cabinet minister slated to kick-off the conference, embattled Treasury Board President Tony Clement, failed to show up this morning—and apparently didn’t bother to alert organizers that he’d be a no-show. The Canadian Bar Association is co-sponsoring the event with the office of Suzanne Legault, Canada’s information commissioner, hosting freedom-of-information watchdogs from 22 countries. Clement was scheduled to open the proceedings with remarks today at 8 a.m. Clement, who’s responsible for the administration of the Access to Information Act, failed to show up because he was attending the weekly Conservative caucus meeting on Parliament Hill, a few blocks from the hotel where the conference is being held, according to his spokesman. He is under fire these days for G8 spending last year in his riding, and some critics also allege he has used his personal email, rather than the standard government address, to skirt access-to-information rules.

The Chronicle-Herald