Doctors' job action backed
TORONTO -- A majority of Ontarians support tomorrow's job action by the province's anesthesiologists -- even if it means cancelled elective surgeries, a Sun Media/Leger Marketing poll shows. Craig Worden, associate vice-president of public affairs for Leger Marketing, said 60 per cent of Ontarians polled supported the job action, while 30 per cent were opposed.
Funnyman uses his melon for Leno
SIMCOE -- Funnyman Jonah Logan's career could really blow up on Jay Leno's late-night talk show tonight. The 32-year-old professional clown from Scotland, near Brantford, who travels the world doing daring stunts, is booked to explode a watermelon on his head in front of Leno's studio audience.
Huge blaze destroys soy plant
THAMESFORD -- A soy plant at Cold Springs Farm was destroyed in a fire that burned for hours and was fought by 45 firefighters from four area departments. The fire started in the basement of the soy plant at the turkey and pork producer about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Missing sailor search proves futile
HALIFAX -- Sailors on a Canadian warship on manoeuvres in the Baltic Sea were told to stay off the frigate's icy decks shortly before a crewman disappeared, triggering a massive and futile ocean search. Leading Seaman Robert Leblanc, 24, was last seen shortly before midnight Tuesday smoking a cigarette in the port breezeway -- an enclosed room that leads to an outside deck on HMCS Montreal.
Defence staff returns after bomb scare
YELLOWKNIFE -- About 100 Department of National Defence employees returned to their building yesterday afternoon after bomb experts decided a suspicious item found outside the northern headquarters of the Canadian Forces was not explosive. "They . . . confirmed that it's not an improvised explosive device," said Capt. Joanna Campbell.
PM testifies at inquiry today
OTTAWA -- The man who hired the orchestra faces the music today, as Paul Martin appears before the Gomery inquiry he created and explains his role in the ill-fated sponsorship program. Martin is the first sitting prime minister in more than 130 years to testify publicly about a scandal but to judge by advance word from the Prime Minister's Office, nothing could be simpler.
Greenbelt deadline nears
TORONTO -- Farmers and landowners who don't want their properties included in a huge, development-free zone across southern Ontario have only one month left to convince the government to exclude them from the proposed greenbelt. "We're getting down to the short strokes now in terms of those decisions," said Liberal Brad Duguid, parliamentary assistant to the minister of municipal affairs and housing.
U.S. border restrictions ease March 7
WASHINGTON -- The United States is on track for dropping a ban on young live cattle from Canada on March 7 but will delay resuming trade in Canadian beef products from older animals. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who has been under increasing pressure from some legislators and ranchers, announced the change yesterday after meeting with Canada's Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell.
Falsely jailed get Blair apology
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized yesterday to 11 people wrongfully jailed for IRA bombings three decades ago, a case seen as one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice, dramatized in the film In the Name of the Father. Members of the Conlon and Maguire families were jailed for 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings in Guildford and Woolwich in England that killed seven people and injured more than 100. The 11 people convicted in the attacks were subsequently acquitted.
John Paul celebrates start of Lent in hospital
VATICAN CITY -- His forehead smeared with the traditional mark of mortality, Pope John Paul celebrated Ash Wednesday in his hospital room, missing public prayers opening the Lenten season of fasting and reflection for the first time in 26 years. The frail 84-year-old Pope, surrounded by his personal physician and other doctors treating him for the flu and breathing trouble, held mass in his tightly guarded suite at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic.
Cardinal says Pope should keep job
QUEBEC -- Pope John Paul deserves to remain at his post until he dies, one of the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada said yesterday. Marc Cardinal Ouellet, one of three Canadian cardinals who will eventually take part in the election of a new pope, brushed aside recent talk of retirement for the ailing 84-year-old pontiff.
Khadr lawyers allege abuse
TORONTO -- Lawyers for a Canadian teenager held by American authorities in Guantanamo Bay say Ottawa has been complicit in his alleged abuse by failing to speak out against his treatment. They also said Canadian diplomatic efforts to bring Toronto-born Omar Khadr home from the U.S. prison camp in Cuba have failed miserably.
Results delayed in Iraqi election by discrepancies
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi officials said yesterday they must recount votes from about 300 ballot boxes because of various discrepancies, delaying final results from the landmark national elections. Hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of other ballots were declared invalid because of alleged tampering.
Exec quits board over straitjacketed teddy bear furor
MONTPELIER -- The head of Vermont Teddy Bear Co. resigned from the board of Vermont's largest hospital yesterday after coming under fire from mental-health activists for selling the straitjacket-wrapped Crazy for You bear. "The recent controversy surrounding one of my company's teddy bears will detract from my ability to serve effectively, and I cannot allow this to occur," Elisabeth Robert said in a statement issued by the hospital, Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington.
Woman surrenders in teen punk's scalping
BOISE -- A member of a punk clique surrendered yesterday after another member was scalped, apparently as punishment for her disrespectful behaviour toward women, police said. The victim, a 16-year-old girl who wore a mohawk-style haircut, survived.
Nepal arrests hundreds of activists, politician says
KATHMANDU -- Hundreds of politicians and activists have been detained in Nepal since the king suspended civil liberties and imposed emergency rule in the Himalayan kingdom last week, a politician said yesterday. Earlier, the government said it had arrested 43 people to ensure law and order, including top political leaders and student activists.
Crowd applauds defiant professor
BOULDER -- An embattled University of Colorado professor who likened victims of Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to Nazis got a standing ovation when he told a campus audience of more than 1,000 that "I'm not backing up an inch." Ward Churchill, who had filed a lawsuit after the state-funded university threatened to cancel his address, was interrupted several times by thunderous applause.
Bombing controversy still burning
DRESDEN, GERMANY -- When the air raid siren sounded in Dresden on Feb. 13, 1945, Rudi Warnatsch's family went wearily to the basement, hoping it was just another false alarm. After all, their beautiful city on the Elbe River, known for art more than industry, had survived more than five years of war with little damage.
Woman gets jail for son's abduction
RED DEER, ALTA. -- An Alberta woman whose son was said to have discovered he was a missing child when he Googled his name on the Internet will serve jail time for child abduction. Gisele Marie Goudreault, 46, was convicted last month of taking her son Orey out of Canada in May 1989 just as his father was to be granted sole custody of the boy.
Israel to lift some travel restrictions
JERUSALEM -- Israel has agreed to lift travel restrictions in parts of the West Bank in coming weeks, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday, in what would be the strongest signal yet to Palestinians that a ceasefire with Israel is beginning to pay off. Abbas made the announcement after returning to the West Bank from a Mideast summit in Egypt, where he and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared an end to four years of bloodshed. Freedom to travel would improve the lives of Palestinians, whose economy has been decimated by roadblocks.
Bigger role forecast for ambassador to U.S.
TORONTO -- Canada's outgoing ambassador to the United States says his successor will have a bigger role in Washington than he played. In a speech to the Toronto business community, Michael Kergin said Canada's next ambassador will play a central role in a new government program that links Canadian legislators with their American counterparts.
Ontario likes its nurses: poll
TORONTO -- A new poll has found Ontarians think nurses are tops among the province's health-care professionals. Vector Research and Development Inc. contacted 505 adults across Ontario by phone in December and found nearly nine out of 10, or 88 per cent, had "positive feelings" about nurses.
'Misleading' ads cost GoodLife $75,000
Canada's competition watchdog, concerned about "misleading" membership offers, has slapped a $75,000 penalty against London-based GoodLife Fitness. GoodLife, Canada's largest fitness chain with nearly 100 clubs countrywide, has not admitted breaching the Competition Act, but it was co-operative in ending a "pattern of advertising" that irked some consumers by not disclosing full membership costs, said Competition Bureau official Glenn McDonald .
London 150 ~years~
FEB. 10, 1958 Ex-con found dead in car
Two years after celebrating the recruitment of one of North America's top stem cell scientists, the Robarts Research Institute is losing the leading-edge researcher. Dr. Melissa Carpenter is leaving to work for a biotechnology firm in San Diego, Calif., researching the use of human embryonic stem cells in the treatment of diabetes.
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