Canada the site of Arctic conference
Ottawa sticks to refusal to bring home Guantanamo detainee
Canadian military faces crucial decision
OTTAWA: CANADA TO HOST ARCTIC CONFERENCE
Canada will host a meeting of foreign ministers from the world's five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean. Delegates from Russia, Denmark, Norway and the United States will meet with Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon on March 29 in Chelsea, QC. Mr. Cannon will present Canada's Northern Strategy: asserting Canadian Arctic sovereignty, promoting social and economic development, protecting the environment and improving local governance of Arctic territories. As melting Arctic ice makes the Northwest Passage more accessible to shipping and economic development, Canada is placing greater emphasis on its Arctic policies. The meeting in Quebec will take place earlier on the same day that Mr. Cannon will host a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers in Gatineau, QC.
OTTAWA: GOVT. WON'T REPATRIATE GUANTANAMO CANADIAN
The Conservative government says it won't request the repatriation of the only Canadian being held as a terrorism suspect at Guantanamo, Cuba, despite a ruling in the case of Omar Khadr last week by the Supreme Court of Canada. A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government's policy regarding Khadr hasn't shifted. Mr. Harper has said that U.S. legal proceedings against him must be completed before a decision in the matter is taken. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Canadian officials had violated Khadr's rights by participating in the military régime at Guantanamo. Canadian interrogators who interviewed him knew that Khadr had been subjected to sleep deprivation and forbidden access to a lawyer. The high court stopped short of ordering the government to request his repatriation. The U.S. military said it captured Khadr in Afghanistan in 2002 after the then 15-year-old had killed a U.S. soldier.
OTTAWA: DILEMMA ARISES OVER TROOP DEPLOYMENTS ABROAD
Defence experts say that Canada's government will soon have to make a decision about Canadian troops currently in the earthquake devastated country of Haiti. About 1,000 soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Valcartier in Quebec province are needed to come home by the end of March because the same unit is set to deploy to Afghanistan in December. But defence experts believe gang violence and social unrest in Haiti is likely to increase in the coming months and the troops will be needed there.
OTTAWA: OPPOSITION PRESSES PM ON ABORTION
The leader of Canada's official opposition Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, is urging Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper to include abortion and contraception in his plan to become an international supporter of children's and women's health. Mr. Harper has promised to use the Group of 8 summit in Canada this June as a podium from which to launch a major initiative to improve the welfare of women and children around the world. Mr. Ignatieff says women are entitled to the full benefit of reproductive health services including termination of pregnancy and contraception. The Liberals are also concerned that Mr. Harper's government is backing away from Canada's longstanding tradition of supporting women's reproductive rights under its foreign-aid program.
IRAQ
At least 20 people were killed in a bomb attack in the holy city of Kerbala near Baghdad. The bomb had been on a cart pulled by a motorcycle when it exploded in a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims gathered for a religious rite. The attack was the third this week on Shiites as they were making their way to the religious site in Kerbala some 80 kilometres from the Baghdad. Sunni Islamist insurgents such as al-Qaeda frequently atack Shi'ite gatherings with suicide bombers, grenades and shootings in the hope of re-starting the sectarian violence that existed in Iraq in 2006-2007. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has made improved security across Iraq a central theme of his campaign for the March 7 parliamentary election and he has called on the security forces to ensure pilgrims heading to Kerbala are protected.
SOMALIA
Somali pirates have hijacked a North Korean-flagged cargo ship owned by Libya. The hijacking occurred in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen's coast, north of a transit corridor that is recommended for international shipping. The nationality of the crew was not immediately known. Somali pirates are holding around a dozen ships and 250 seamen for ransom. On Tuesday, pirates released a Greek-owned cargo ship after a ransom was air-dropped onto the ship.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel has joined lawmakers and anti-communist dissidents to nominate a Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Liu was sentenced in December to 11 years in prison for
co-writing a document entitled Charter 08. It called for expanded political freedoms in China and an end to Communist Party rule. The document was modeled on the Charter 77 human rights manifesto co-written by Mr. Havel, then a dissident playwright. China has warned against giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Mr. Liu without saying why. Lius imprisonment has been criticized by many countries, including Canada the United States.
NETHERLANDS
Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders will face a court hearing on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims. Mr. Wilders has described Islam as a fascist religion and wants to ban the Islamic holy book, the Koran. Many of his views were expressed in a short film called Fitna. The film generated widespread complaints, but courts initially declined to charge Mr. Wilders, citing his right to freedom of speech. An appeals court finally ordered prosecutors to put him on trial, saying that politicians must not be allowed to incite hate. If convicted, he could face up to one year in jail. Mr. Wilders leads the right-wing Party for Freedom, which has nine out of 150 parliamentary seats.
TORONTO: BARRICK DEFENDS ITS GOOD NAME
A Canadian gold company says its personnel acted in good faith at its mine in Papua New Guinea. The Barrick Gold firm rejects allegations made by the rights group Amnesty International that company officials acted inadequately as police illegally evicted families and burned their homes near a Barrick mine. Barrick says its officials immediately communicated with police and community leaders upon learning of the evictions. Barrick also says Amnesty's report did not take into account social and other issues such as clan rivalries that contribute to crime in the region. Barrick is the world's biggest gold firm.
MARKETS
TSX on Wednesday: 11,392, down 17. Canadian dollar: US94. Euro: C$1.47. Oil: $76.95, down.28.
FOOTBALL
The Canadian Football League's board of governors is in Florida for meetings the next two days. The Toronto Argonauts' ownership issue is expected at the top of the agenda. Businessmen Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon currently own the franchise but the governors are expected to formally approve the sale of the club to B.C. Lions owner David Braley.
Weather
British Columbia on Thursday: rain south, mix sun cloud north, high 10 Vancouver. Yukon: mix sun cloud snow. Northwest Territories: sun. Nunavut: snow. Whitehorse -6, Yellowknife -22, Iqaluit -7. Alberta: sun south, mix sun cloud north. Saskatchewan: snow south, sun north. Manitoba: sun. Edmonton -6, Regina -10, Winnipeg -9. Ontario, Quebec: sun. Toronto 0, Ottawa -6, Montreal -8. Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick: mix sun cloud. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island: snow. Fredericton -10, Halifax -5, Charlottetown -6, St. John's -7.
