Commonwealth summit outlines climate program.
Railway engineers stage labour strike.
PORT OF SPAIN: CANADA AND INDIA FINISH NUCLEAR COOPERATION TALKS
Canada and India have finished negotiations on a nuclear cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, Canadian firms dealing with India will be allowed to export and import controlled nuclear materials, equipment and technology. Canada stopped nuclear cooperation with India after India used material from Canadian-designed reactors to make a nuclear bomb in 1974.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad, where the negotiations were finished, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper said that Canadian companies will benefit from greater access to one of the world's largest and fastest expanding economies. Steps will now be taken to prepare and sign the agreement. Canada's nuclear energy industry exports are worth CDN$1.2 billion.
PORT OF SPAIN: COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT OUTLINES CLIMATE PROGRAM
Leaders of Commonwealth nations, including Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, have pledged to support negotiations leading to a binding global climate-change deal at the U.N. conference in Copenhagen next month. In a declaration at their summit in Trinidad and Tobago, Commonwealth leaders also supported an initiative to create a Copenhagen Launch Fund next year. The fund would involve contributing ten billion dollars annually over the following two years. It would help poor and vulnerable states to fight the effects of global warming. At the summit, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon criticized Canada. He said that Canada needs to to do more to stop global warming. He suggested that Canada set a good example as host of next year's Group of Eight and Group of Twenty summits.
OTTAWA: RAILWAY ENGINEERS STAGE LABOUR STRIKE
Canada's biggest railway, CN Rail, is dealing with a strike by 1,700 unionized locomotive engineers. The engineers walked out Friday at midnight after mediated contract talks broke down in Montreal. The dispute is over wages and the distances that engineers are required to drive each month. The engineers have been without a contract for almost 11 months. Freight traffic has slowed as a result of the strike, but passenger service remains unaffected. The freight trains are being operated by managers who are qualified locomotive engineers.
OTTAWA: NO RE-APPOINTMENT FOR RCMP WATCHDOG CHIEF
Canada's government has decided not to re-appoint Paul Kennedy as chair of the committee that acts as the watchdog of Canada's federal police force. Mr. Kennedy was head of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He was critical of the RCMP's use of Tasers, or stun guns. He also recently accused the government of giving his committee too little funds to do its job properly. Mr Kennedy assumed the job four years ago.
OTTAWA: WALLMART WINS VICTORY AT SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court of Canada has supported the right of the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, to close one of its stores in Quebec after its workers formed a labour union. Wal-Mart opened a store in Jonquière in 2001, and closed it four years later after a union was certified. The store was the first Wal-Mart outlet in Canada or the United States to unionize. The high court found that no legislation obliges an employer to remain in business.
MONTREAL: FILMMAKER, GILLES CARLE, IS DEAD
One of Quebec's most famous filmmakers, Gilles Carle, died on Saturday in a hospital in Granby. He was 80. Mr. Carle suffered from Parkinson's disease for the past few years. He made some 30 films in a long career. In 1990, he won the Palme d'Or for the short film, 50 ans, and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1999.
RUSSIA
Russian security officials say that a terrorist bomb caused a passenger train to derail on Friday, killing at least 26 people. Nearly 100 others were injured. Eighteen people remain missing. The luxury Nevsky Express was carrying over 700 passengers and crew when it derailed northwest of Moscow en route to St. Petersburg. The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Borotnikov, says that the bomb was equivalent to seven kilograms of TNT. The bomb crater was 1.5 metres deep. The last three carriages of the 14-car train careered off the tracks. No group has claimed responsibility.
BANGLADESH
A ferry carrying more than one thousand passengers capsized in southern Bangladesh on Saturday, killing at least 26 people. The accident happened as the vessel approached a ferry terminal near the town of Lalmohan on Bhola Island. Transport officials say the weight of disembarking passengers caused the vessel to tip and partially sink. Divers searched for the bodies of dozens of people believed trapped on the lower deck of the vessel.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
A boat carrying logs sank in a lake in western Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, killing at least 73 people. Two hundred and seventy-two passengers survived. But many people are still missing. The boat sank in bad weather. Boats are a major form of transportation in Congo, where there are few roads between major cities.
CHINA
A cargo plane crashed on takeoff on Saturday at Shanghai
Pudong International Airport, killing three American crew members. Four other crew were injured. The Zimbabwe-registered aircraft was going to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. The charter aircraft left the runway and
burst into flames, setting fire to a nearby storage facility. Two runways were closed after the accident, delaying 68 flights and leaving thousands of
passengers stranded. By mid-afternoon, flight services were back to
normal. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
PAKISTAN
Facing growing pressure to resign, Pakistan's president on Saturday relinquished command of the country's nuclear arsenal. Asif Ali Zardari transferred command to the prime minister. He also signalled that he was ready to shed more power. Mr. Zardari took the move on the same day as an amnesty protecting him and thousands of others from corruption charges expired. His political opponents have called on him to step down. Mr. Zardari is also challenged by Pakistan's military leaders who object to his overtures toward India, as well as to the multi-billion dollar U.S. aid bill for Pakistan that the military fears will impose controls over the army.
LUGE
Canadian Alex Gough finished fourth in a women's luge World Cup race in Igls, Austria, on Saturday. Natalie Geisenberger of Germany was first, the 92nd women's World Cup race in a row that was won by a German.
FOOTBALL
The Queen's Golden Gaels beat the Calgary Dinos, 33-31, on Saturday in Quebec City to win the Vanier Cup university championship. It was the first Vanier Cup title since 1992 for Queen's. Queen's scored 26 unanswered points in the second half.
SKIING
Switzerland's Didier Cuche won the men's downhill on Saturday in the first speed race of the alpine World Cup season on Lake Louise's Whitehorn
Mountain course in British Columbia. Italy's Werner Heel was second and Carlo Janka of Switzerland was third.
HOCKEY
In the National Hockey League on Friday, Calgary beat Detroit, 3-0, Toronto defeated Florida, 6-4, and San Jose defeated Edmonton, 5-4, in a shutout.
BASKETBALL
In the National Basketball Association, the Toronto Raptors lost to Boston on Friday, 116-103.
Weather
Here is Canada's weather on Sunday. British Columbia will have rain. The high temperature in Vancouver will be 11 degrees Celsius. The Yukon: overcast. Whitehorse, minus one. Northwest Territories: overcast. Yellowknife, minus three. Nunavut: increasing cloudiness. Iqaluit, minus 16. Alberta: variable cloudiness. Edmonton, eight. Saskatchewan: sunny. Regina, zero. Manitoba: sunny. Winnipeg, zero. Ontario: mainly cloudy. Toronto, nine. Ottawa, four. Quebec: sunny periods. Montreal, four. New Brunswick: variable cloudiness. Fredericton, two. Nova Scotia: variable cloudiness. Halifax, four. Prince Edward Island: sunny periods. Charlottetown, three. Newfoundland: rain. St. John's, seven.
