| Thousands without power on Christmas as communities recover from ice storm Posted: 25 Dec 2013 10:19 PM PST  TORONTO, Cananda - Tens of thousands of people in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick had no power in their homes this Christmas as communities recovered from an ice storm that walloped much of eastern Canada. The weather system that hit on the weekend downed power lines, splintered trees and caused wide-spread travel delays. In Toronto — where some 300,000 customers were without power at the height of the storm — about 69,000 customers remained without electricity on Christmas Day. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said it "has been a very challenging four days," but the city is doing its best through the holidays to restore power to all homes as soon as possible.
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| 2 Canadian Greenpeace activists clear to come home after Russian charges dropped Posted: 25 Dec 2013 06:08 PM PST  ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - It was hoped that two Canadian Greenpeace activists would return home by the weekend after Russia dropped charges against them following a protest outside an oil rig in the Arctic. A Greenpeace spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that Alexandre Paul of Montreal and Paul Ruzycki of Port Colborne, Ont., were among 29 members of the group who had their criminal cases closed under an amnesty that was passed by Russian parliament earlier this month. This news is the best Christmas present that the families of the activists could receive," Diego Creimer said in a phone interview. Paul and Ruzycki were held in custody for two months along with their fellow activists before they were released in November pending trial.
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| Lac-Megantic disaster chosen as 2013's Canadian Press News Story of the Year Posted: 25 Dec 2013 07:03 AM PST  LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. - Heading into 2013, Lac-Megantic was known as a quiet holiday town in a Quebec region recognized abroad for its mountaintop observatory and its inky, starry skies. The community finishes the year remembered for a deadly train crash that horrified people around the world and ignited a fire so big its rage could be seen from space. Last summer's Lac-Megantic derailment, which killed 47 people and pushed the issue of rail safety into the spotlight, has been voted Canada's 2013 News Story of the Year in the annual survey of the country's newsrooms by The Canadian Press. Editors and news directors across Canada selected a story that circled the world after a runaway train hauling crude oil careened off the tracks and exploded, levelling dozens of buildings in the heart of town.
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| BlackBerry co-founder sells 3.5 million shares, trims stake to just below 5 pct Posted: 24 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST  BlackBerry co-founder Michael Lazaridis has trimmed his stake in the troubled smartphone pioneer to just below 5 per cent after selling 3.5 million shares during the past two days. The sales disclosed in a Tuesday regulatory filing came after BlackBerry Ltd. announced a third-quarter loss of $4.4 billion last week. The setback marked the latest sign of the company's deepening distress as BlackBerry's products fall further behind the iPhone and devices running on Android software. Lazaridis and BlackBerry co-founder Douglas Fregin said they were mulling a bid to buy the company in October.
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| Number of H1N1 confirmed cases in Edmonton nearly double in one week Posted: 24 Dec 2013 04:08 PM PST  EDMONTON - One person has died from H1N1 influenza in Alberta, and the province's senior medical officer of health says this year's strain is causing a small number of people to get seriously ill. Dr. Gerry Predy also says the number of confirmed influenza cases in the Edmonton area has jumped this week to 125, up from 65 last week. Predy says those numbers, and the death, are not unusual, but what is is that there's a small number of people who have been seriously ill with the flu.
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| Windsor man who swam across Detroit River doesn't want anyone to follow his lead Posted: 25 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST  Over the last six months, John Morillo has received free drinks in local pubs, been asked for his autograph and has even been called "Aquaman." But the Windsor, Ont., resident, who prompted an international rescue operation after swimming across the Detroit River to the U.S. earlier this year, doesn't want anyone to follow his lead.
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| Video: Cold, dark Christmas Posted: 24 Dec 2013 06:22 PM PST  Thousands of Canadians are without heat and power this Christmas in the wake of an ice storm that hit southern Ontario and Quebec
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| Finance minister says don't expect election goodies in New Brunswick budget Posted: 25 Dec 2013 11:00 AM PST FREDERICTON - New Brunswick's finance minister has begun preparing his final budget before the next provincial election, but Blaine Higgs says no one should expect a fiscal plan full of pre-election goodies. Despite a promise before the 2010 election to return to balanced budgets by 2014, the Progressive Conservative government has run large deficits each year, with the projected deficit for 2013-14 now at $538 million. Higgs has blamed lower than expected revenues for the fiscal situation, which means a realistic view of the province's finances in 2014 as well. "The people in the province are not expecting us to show any signs of an election budget, they are expecting it to be real," Higgs said in a recent interview.  |
| Justin Bieber flirts with retirement in Christmas Eve tweets Posted: 25 Dec 2013 07:35 AM PST  By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) - Teenage pop star Justin Bieber sent out a series of mixed messages over his Twitter feed on Tuesday night, one of which said he was retiring, on the eve of the Christmas Day release of the latest film chronicling the life of the Canadian singer. The tweet to the 19-year-old's nearly 48 million followers - "My beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring" - was quickly followed by another message: "I'm never leaving you, being a belieber is a lifestyle." And then: "IM HERE FOREVER." Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. Later that month, police were called to his Los Angeles area home after a neighbor claimed he had been threatened and struck by Bieber. In June, Bieber struck a photographer with his Ferrari sports car while driving away from a comedy club in Los Angeles, though police said the accident was not considered a hit-and-run.
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| PQ produces holiday guide to defending values charter Posted: 24 Dec 2013 12:20 PM PST  Parti Québécois partisans wondering how to spin the government's controversial values charter at holiday gatherings now have a handbook to guide them.
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