Senior diplomat returns to testify in Afghan prisoner flap
Canada starts another war crimes trial
Once mighty high-tech firm continues selloff
OTTAWA: DIPLOMATS RETURNS TO TESTIFY OF AFGHAN ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
Canada's ambassador to China, David Mulroney, has come back home to testify before a special House of Commons committee investigating alleged prisoner abuse in Afghanistan. Mr. Mulroney used to direct Prime Minister Stephen Harper's special task force on Afghanistan. Last week, he was named in testimony by fellow diplomat Richard Colvin. Mr. Mulroney wants to address the committee on Thursday so he can deny Mr. Colvin's allegations that senior government officials tried to suppress his reports about the treatment of Afghan detainees handed over to the Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers.
OTTAWA: CANADA STARTS SECOND WAR CRIMES TRIAL
Canada will again put on trial a Rwandan accused of perpetrating genocide. The lawyer representing Jacques Mangwarere says he has been charged with one count of genocide and will appear in court on Dec. 7. He was arrested by federal police on Nov. 6. Police say he's accused of acts of genocide committed in the western Rwandan region of Kibuye. Last month, former Rwandan militia leader Désiré Munyaneza was found guilty of a range of crimes against humanity during his country's genocide in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison. He was the first person to be sentenced under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
OTTAWA: RECESSION SAID WORSE THAN OFFICIAL RECORD
A new independent economic analysis shows Canada's recession has been longer and deeper than the official record indicates. The report by a private research group Dale Orr Economic Insight shows that Canadians have been on a downward spiral in terms of their standard of living since 2007. It estimates that there has been a 4.3 per cent fall in the standard of living in Canada since 2007 in terms of real gross domestic product per capital. The report shows individuals living in most of the larger provinces, with the exception of Quebec, have fared worse, especially Alberta and Ontario.
OTTAWA: CHILD PORN LEGISLATION PRESENTED
The Canadian government has introduced legislation requiring Internet service providers to report child pornography to police. The law would force Internet service providers to report sites carrying images of child pornography and to protect the evidence for authorities. Child protection advocates have been asking for years for new legislation that would allow law enforcement officials to track down people more quickly who were distributing child pornorgraphy material. A new study released last week found Canada has the second-highest number of servers hosting pornographic content featuring children after the U.S.
MONTREAL: PROVINCE SETS GREENHOUSE TARGET
The premier of the Canadian province of Quebec, Jean Charest, says the province will cut its carbon gas emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. Mr. Charest also says Canada has to do better than reduce its emissions by three per cent compared to 1990 levels. Mr. Charest will represent the province of Quebec at next month's climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be among world leaders attending the Copenhagen summit with the aim of finding a new treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change by 2012.
MONTREAL: WOMEN'S GROUP DEFENDS GUN REGISTRY
The president of a major women's group in the Canadian province of Quebec is calling on Members of Parliament to save the national gun registry. Alexa Conradi of the Quebec Women's Federation says she's not surprised that the Conservative Party government has presented a motion in Parliament to end the obligation to register rifles and shotguns. Miss Conradi says what's surprising is the lack of political leadership on the issue by two oppostion parties, the Liberals and the New Democrats. Miss Conradi made the comments as she and others prepare to mark the 20th anniversary of the Montreal massacre in which 14 women were killed by a gunman at the University of Montreal's engineering school on Dec. 6, 1989.
WASHINGTON: CANADIAN CRIBS RECALLED
More than two million baby cribs made in Canada are being recalled after they caused four infants to suffocate. The cribs were made by the Stork Craft Manufacturing firm of British Columbia. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has advised people either to get rid of the "drop-side" cribs or to order kits from the Canadian company to immobilizie the crib sides. Stork Craft Manufacturing had already recalled cribs last January for a different problem.
UNITED STATES
U.S. President Barack Obama says the world has moved closer to an new agreement on climate change at next month's international conference in Copenhagen after his talks with Chinese and Indian leaders. He told a joint news conference with Indian President Manmohan Singh that their talks on the subject had gone well. Mr. Obama discussed climate last week during his visit to China. The two presidents also says they'll finalize the implementation of a tentative agreement reached four years ago that would end India's status as a nuclear pariah state.
CHINA
China has executed two men for their roles in a contaminated milk powder scandal last year that led to the deaths of at least six infants and made 300,000 others sick. The protein powder was mixed with the industrial chemical melamine. The two persons, Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping, had been sentenced to death earlier this year by a court in the city of Shijiazhuang for producing and selling toxic ingredients that ended up in the infant milk powder. The scandal became public in September 2008. It caused fears over product safety in China and led to recalls and bans around the world of goods containing Chinese dairy products.
AUSTRIA
Six world powers have drafted a resolution at the UN nuclear watchdog urging Iran to clarify the
purpose of its previously secret uranium enrichment site and confirm it has no more hidden atomic work. The draft text, backed by the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China, is to be presented at the year-end meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation governing board that starts on Thursday. Nevertheless, it was not certain if the draft text would
muster a majority among IAEA governors, almost half of whom belong to a developing nation bloc that includes Iran.
TORONTO: NORTEL UNLOADS ANOTHER ASSET
Ciena Corp. based in the U.S. state of Maryland has emerged the victor in the three-day auction of another asset of the bankrupt Canadian high-technology firm Nortel Networks Corp. Ciena will acquire Nortel's optical and ethernet business units with a cash-and-debt offer worth US$769 million, US$248 million more than its initial bid in October. A bid by Nokia Siemens, a joint venture of Nokia of Finland and German firm Siemens, was unsuccessful. Ciena says it will offer jobs to at least 2,000 Nortel employees.
VANCOUVER: ROGERS NO LONGER 'MOST RELIABLE'
A court has ruled that Rogers Communications Inc. can no longer claim without qualification in advertisements that is has "Canada's Most Reliable" wireless network. The ruling was a victory for competitor Telus Corp, which had asked the court to prevent Rogers from continuing to make the longstanding claim. Telus had argued that new networks which it and Bell Canada put into place this month made the advertising false. However, the judge ruled he wouldn't go so far as to pull any ads making the claim and ordered the two parties to work on the wording of a court order.
MARKETS
TMX on Tuesday: 11,552, down 72. Canadian dollar: US94. Euro: C$1.58. Oil: $76.15, down $1.41.
FOOTBALL
The Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders arrived in Calgary Tuesday to begin preparation for Sunday's Grey Cup. It's the first time in Canadian Football League history the two teams have squared off for the league title. It's the second straight Cup appearance for the Als, who lost to the Stamps last year.
BASKETBALL
Canada's women's basketball team will face Australia, China and Belarus in the opening round of next year's FIBA world championships. The No. 3-ranked Aussies should provide the toughest test for the 12th-ranked Canadians, who were slotted into Group A in Tuesday's draw for the Sept. 23-Oct. 3 tournament in the Czech Republic.
Weather
British Columbia on Wednesday: rain, high C10 Vancouver. Yukon, Northwest Territories: snow. Nunavut; mix sun cloud. Whitehorse, Yellowknife -6, Iqaluit -11. Prairies; mix sun cloud. Edmonton 7, Regina, Winnipeg -1. Ontario, Quebec: rain. Toronto 11, Ottawa 7, Montreal 5. Maritimes: rain. Newfoundland and Labrador: cloud. Fredericton, Charlottetown 10, Halifax 11, St. John's 5.
