Slain soldier is returned home.
Japan's emperor begins 11-day visit.
More deaths linked to H1N1 flu.
KANDAHAR: SLAIN CANADIAN SOLDIER IS RETURNED HOME
Hundreds of soldiers gathered at Kandahar airfield on Saturday to say goodbye to Corporal Nick Bulger, the 121st Canadian soldier to be killed on duty in Afghanistan. He was killed on Friday when his armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb. Five other soldiers were injured. One of them attended his comrade's sendoff the next day, seated in a wheelchair. Three others were flown to Germany for medical treatment. The fifth returned to duty. Corporal Bulger's casket was loaded onto a military transport plane to begin the journey back to Canada. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended his condolences to Corporal Bulger's family.
OTTAWA: JAPANESE EMPEROR IN CANADA'S CAPITAL
Japan's emperor, Akihito, and his wife arrived in Canada's capital, Ottawa, on Friday to begin an 11-day trip. On his previous visit in 1953, Akihito was 19 years old and still Crown Prince. On Sunday night, the emperor has scheduled a public meeting in Ottawa to meet ordinary Canadians. About 300,000 Canadians are of Japanese descent. The emperor hopes to reach out to them during stops in Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver.
TORONTO: MORE DEATHS LINKE TO H1N1 FLU
There are two more Canadian deaths linked to the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu. One victim is a 37-year-old Toronto man who had other medical problems. The other death occurred in Quebec. No other details were available. So far, 33 people have died in Canada as a result of the virus. The World Health Organization says that there are about 77,000 H1N1 cases worldwide including 332 deaths, most of them in Mexico, the United States and Argentina.
TORONTO: WEAK ECONOMY ENCOURAGING FRAUDSTERS
Canadian police are warning citizens to beware of fraudsters who are proliferating because of a faltering economy. A police anti-fraud centre, Phonebusters, finds that more Canadians are falling victim to scams. Police say that people in tough economic times sometimes make bad decisions, while others turn to crime. Scams involving promises of employment are increasing. Even some obvious scams continue to be successful, including the Nigerian letter scam in which people are offered millions of dollars from an African country in exchange for a few bank transactions. An average of ten Canadians each month continue to fall victim to the letter scam. In the first six months of the year, Phonebusters heard from more than 7,000 fraud victims, including 3,903 Canadians.
OTTAWA: GOVERNMENT TO RENOVATE ARCTIC STATIONS
Canada's government will spend CDN$44 million to renovate four Arctic research stations. The Arctic Research Infrastructure Fund is part of the government's overall economic stimulus package that was announced earlier this year. Research at the centres examines a wide variety of subjects from plants and animals to the lifestyles of Arctic people. The centres will also provide data to support Canada's territorial claims to waters off its Arctic coastlines.
TORONTO: CANADIANS STILL HIGH ON NEW U.S. PRESIDENT
A new opinion poll suggests that U.S. President Barack Obama is still extremely popular with Canadians. The Harris-Decima survey shows almost three-quarters of Canadians feel that Mr.Obama is doing a good or excellent job. About 76 per cent believe that his brief tenure as president has been good for Canada. On Saturday, Americans celebrated their nation's 233rd birthday.
HONDURAS
Honduras's ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, said on Saturday that he would return to his country from Costa Rica the following day, defying threats by the military that overthrew him last week. Mr. Zelaya said that would arrive at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, accompanied by several local presidents and members of international organizations. Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, expressed willingness to accompany Mr. Zelaya even though the trip, he said, would be risky. Mr. Zelaya also demanded that the current government of interim leader Roberto Micheletti should step down. The archbishop of the Honduran capital read out a message from the Honduras Bishop's Conference, calling for Mr. Zelaya to stay away. Thousands of Mr. Zelaya's supporters and opponents have demonstrated daily since the president was flown forcibly to Costa Rica. Clashes injured an unknown number of people.
NORTH KOREA
Russia and China issued a joint call for calm on Saturday after North Korea test-fired a series of missiles. Seven Scud-type ballistic missiles with a range of about 500 kilometres were fired in an apparent act of provocation on the Independence Day holiday in the United States. Russia and China urged North Korea to return to six-party talks. North Korea is banned from ballistic missile activities under United Nations sanctions.
AFGHANISTAN
Militants in eastern Afghanistan staged an attack on a foreign coalition military base on Saturday, wounding seven American and two Afghan troops. U.S. forces retaliated with airstrikes. A provincial government spokesman said that more than 30 militants were killed. The insurgent attack occurred several hundred kilometres from the area in southern Afghanistan where a large U.S. force began a major new offensive this week. U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan's military says that its forces killed at least 12 insurgents in its latest attack on militant positions in the northwest Orakzai region. Government forces struck at three different positions. The strikes occurred in the same region where a military transport helicopter crashed on Friday, killing 26 people on board. The government rejected the Taliban's claim of shooting the aircraft down, saying that the crash was caused by a technical problem. The military's latest attacks are in preparation for an offensive in South Waziristan, a region where Taliban and al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding.
SUDAN
Two foreign aid workers in Sudan were kidnapped on Friday. Hilda Kawuki from Uganda and Sharon Commins from Ireland were taken from a compound in Darfur operated by the Irish humanitarian group, Goal. It was the third case of abducted foreign aid workers in Darfur in the past four months. In the two earlier cases, the victims were later released. Local rebel groups have denied responsibility for the latest kidnapping. Last March, Sudan's government expelled 13 foreign aid groups to express displeasure over an international arrest warrant issued for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
CHINA
More than 300,000 people have been forced from their homes after three days of torrential rainfall in southern China. The weather caused the collapse of hundreds of homes in Jiangxi province and the Guangxi region. At least three people have died as a result of flooding and four others remain missing. In Guangxi, local residents and troops have been struggling to contain a breach from a flood diversion tunnel at the base of the Kama Dam in Luocheng Country.
UNITED STATES
The former U.S. Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, is resigning as governor of Alaska. Her term was due to end in 2010. Mrs. Palin declined to reveal what she intends to do after leaving office, and gave no reason for her resignation. There had been speculation that she would seek the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2012.
TENNIS
Canadian Daniel Nestor and his partner, Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, successfully defended their men's doubles title at Wimbledon on Saturday, defeating American twins Bob and Mike Bryan in four sets. Nestor and Zimonjic were seeded second after the top-ranked Bryan brothers. It was Nestor's sixth major doubles title.
BASEBALL
The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5, on Saturday thanks to a run batted in by Jorge Posada in the twelfth inning.
Weather
Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will have variable cloudiness. The high temperature in Vancouver will be 24 degrees Celsius. The Yukon: mainly sunny. Whitehorse, 22. Northwest Territories: overcast. Yellowknife, 17. Nunavut: sunny. Iqaluit, 16. Alberta: mainly sunny. Edmonton, 22. Saskatchewan: showers. Regina, 20. Manitoba: sunny. Winnipeg, 23. Ontario: variable cloudiness. Toronto, 25. Ottawa, 23. Quebec: sunny periods. Montreal, 23. New Brunswick: showers. Fredericton, 20. Nova Scotia: cloudy. Halifax, 20. Prince Edward Island: showers. Charlottetown, 16. Newfoundland: rain. St. John's, 15.
