Friday, February 27, 2009

Cars of the Future

International Auto Show showcases new fuels for autos

Recently, Detroit has seen some tough times: turbulent Senate meetings about the auto company bailouts and subzero temperatures. But the annual North American International Auto Show in January shined a beacon of hope for Detroit.

The auto show is the largest show of its kind in North America, hosting the best and the newest from domestic and foreign carmakers. Just before opening its doors to the public January 17-25, the auto show gave a tour to this member of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.

Since 1907, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) has held an annual auto show in Detroit. In 1987, it became international.

Fifty-eight new vehicles were introduced this year, many of which were fuel-efficient hybrids such as the 2010 Honda Insight hybrid, the Cadillac Converj, and the third generation Toyota Prius hybrid.

William Perkins of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association gave me the inside scoop on the new "green" cars of the future. He is especially excited about the Cadillac Converi.

"It's an electric vehicle, and it's built on the same platform that the Chevrolet Volt was built on," he explained. The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in electric hybrid that will be in production in 2010. A plug-in hybrid can be literally plugged into a wall outlet to recharge its lithium-ion battery.

The highlight of my visit was riding in the Chevrolet fuel cell car in the EcoXperience display sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The auto show and MEDC partnered to created this exhibit to promote "green."

"In other words, fuel efficiency," Perkins said. "We're trying to alleviate our dependency on oil."

I tested the car on an indoor test track covering 1/8 mile. The car was much quieter than a gas-powered car, yet still looked the same. These alternative-fuel cars are the cars of the future, says Perkins. "The future of the auto industry is very bright!" he said. I know Michigan, which is home to the Big Three auto makers—General Motors, Ford, Chrysler—is counting on it.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Health Care for More Kids

Children's health-care insurance bill passes the Senate

About 9 million American kids are growing up in families that do not have health insurance. But it appears that help is on the way for many families that do not have the money to pay for doctors or medicine.

Last week, the Senate passed a bill that will expand a U.S. government program that provides children's health insurance coverage for families who can't afford it.

The bill is called SCHIP, or State Children's Health Insurance Program. The program provides insurance to children in families that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid coverage, but not enough to afford private insurance.

More than 7 million kids received health care insurance from an older version of SCHIP during 2008. This new version of the bill extends that coverage to an additional 4 million kids.

SCHIP is an important piece of President Barack Obama's plan to reform health care overall.

"Providing health care to more than 10 million children through the Children's Health Insurance Program will serve as a down payment on my commitment to ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care," President Obama said in a statement.

The program will be funded by an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes, from 39 cents to $1 a pack. This tax increase will generate $32 billion to finance expansion of the program.

States have different eligibility rules for the program. But in most states, uninsured children below the age of 19, whose families earn up to $44,100 a year (for a family of four) would be eligible under the Senate bill.

This insurance pays for doctor visits, immunizations, illnesses that require a stay in the hospital, and emergency room visits.

Although there was some support for expanding SCHIP from Republicans, many of them have proposed amendments to limit the program. Republicans generally believe the government should have a very limited role in health care. But because Democrats now hold a majority in the Senate, they were able to defeat amendments to the bill.

But even with the expansion of SCHIP, about 5 million children will still be uninsured.

During his election campaign, Obama called for requiring all children to have health coverage. SCHIP may prove a strong step in that direction. The House of Representatives still needs to pass the bill before it can go to President Obama for his signature.


Question:

Do you think this will help or hurt Americans ability to access health care? Why?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Cutting Nurses, Cutting Care

10 Feb 09 -- The "Cutting Nurses, Cutting Care" campaign, which launched on February 9, is an effort to stop cuts to registered nursing positions and nursing care hours that threaten patient care.

ONA has received notices of hundreds of cuts to RN positions, and expects the numbers to balloon as Ontario health-care facilities grapple with balancing their budgets.

The "Cutting Nurses, Cutting Care" campaign features radio spots airing in Toronto, Hamilton, Kingston, Windsor, Ottawa, London, Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay and Thunder Bay. The ads ask listeners how long they’re willing to risk their health and urge them to take action to stop cuts that will damage the quality of health care.

To inform Ontarians about the cuts and their implications, ONA has also created a new website - www.cuttingnursescuttingcare.ca. In addition to facts about the cuts, the nursing shortage and risks to patient care, the site also features a way for visitors to easily e-mail their MPP. By entering their postal code, Ontarians can urge politicians to stop nursing cuts.

To view the advertisement and to learn more about registered nursing cuts and Ontario’s nursing shortage, visit www.cuttingnursescuttingcare.ca.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Language flap over extreme skating race in Quebec

Women take part in breakneck speed skating race for first time this year

Last Updated: Friday, January 23, 2009 4:12 PM ET Comments60Recommend13

CBC News

A Quebec language rights group is pressing organizers of a popular extreme skating race to translate the event's name to French.

Crashed Ice is an annual skating race through Quebec City's old city centre that involves heavily padded contestants barrelling down a steep 550-metre ice track at breakneck speeds.

Energy drink producer Red Bull sponsors the event, which has always been called Crashed Ice, but the name isn't appropriate in Quebec City, said Mouvement Montréal français, a French language lobby group.

About 30 of the group's members protested in downtown Montreal Friday afternoon, chanting slogans like "Red Bull spits on French."

The race should be called "Patinage extrème" (extreme skating) or "Descente casse-cou" (Breakneck descent) out of respect for the fans, said group spokeswoman Sophie Beaupré.

Most of the race's estimated 100,000 spectators are francophone, she said.

Red Bull should follow the example set by its Italian affiliate, which calls its Formula 1 team "Toro Rosso."

The provincial government said Friday it would ask the company to have a logo or another name that would give some indication, in French, that the event takes place in Quebec.

"It is clear in Quebec that French comes first," said Quebec Employment Minister Sam Hamad.

Red Bull argues the event takes place in several countries, including Russia, the U.S. and Sweden, and everywhere, it is called Crashed Ice.

"We have committed to keeping a consistent and recognizable name," said Red Bull Canada director of communications Lubor Keliar. "However, we always strive to offer all event-related materials and content in the host country's native languages.

Women race for the first time

The 2009 race will feature a women's competition for the first time in the race's Quebec history.

Jodie Bracco, one of 20 women vying for 16 spots in the finals, admits to being a bit scared about the race and "not knowing what it's gonna feel like, [given] how fast you're gonna be going," she said.

Bracco, who hails from Kanata, an Ottawa suburb, also admits to never having done anything like this before.

The huge crowds will be daunting, said contestant Jessica Hunter-Newman.

"Hopefully, I can keep it under wraps," said the Langley, B.C., native

."The unknown is what is exciting, but it's what is scary, too.

"Preliminary rounds start Friday night, with the men's and women's finals scheduled for Saturday night.

The event will see 100 skaters from around the world race on an ice course that runs from Chateau Frontenac to the Old Port for prizes up to $5,000.

The race has been held in Quebec City since 2006.

Japanese learn English using Obama speeches

Published: Friday, January 23, 2009 6:46 AM ET

Canadian Press NewsItem/NewsComponent/NewsLines/ByLine

TOKYO - Aspiring English speakers in Japan have made U.S. President Barack Obama's book of speeches and accompanying CD a national best-seller.

In Aichi, central Japan, a Buddhist monk has reportedly been playing the president's speeches during his temple service. And dozens of students in an English-language class in Tokyo have been memorizing his 2004 Democratic Convention speech to improve their understanding and pronunciation.

"Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely," the students at Kaplan Japan school recited together Friday.

"The Speeches of Barack Obama" has sold 420,000 copies since its release on Nov. 20 - an "unprecedented huge hit" for an English-language text, according to publisher Asahi Press.

Any book that sells more than 100,000 copies in Japan, which has a population of 128 million, is considered a success, and foreign-language publication sales rarely exceed 20,000, the publisher said.

Obama's book of speeches surged to No. 2 in Japan's main best-seller list this week, according to Hiroki Tomatsu, an official of Japan's largest book distributor Tohan Co. that publishes the ranking.

The 95-page book compiles Obama's speeches including the one at the 2004 convention, many from the party primaries, and his victory speech after he beat Hillary Rodham Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. Each English-language transcript comes with a Japanese translation.

Although the simplicity of campaign speeches makes them an obvious choice as a language-learning tool, other American presidents have rarely been so feted.

"We don't publish every single president's speeches," Asahi Press official Yuzo Yamamoto said. "Would you buy the text of former President George W. Bush's speeches?"
The great lobster crash

Friday, January 23, 2009 08:43 AM ET

by Kevin Yarr

CBCNews.ca

One of the scary things about recessions is how they have a tendency to spiral downward. For an illustration of this, consider P.E.I.'s lobster industry.

Lobster are worth $250 million a year to the P.E.I. economy, by far the biggest part of the fishery, which is one of the big four industries on the Island: fisheries, agriculture (potatoes), tourism (Anne of Green Gables) and aerospace (yes, aerospace).

While people tend to think of sticking live crustaceans in boiling water when they think of lobster, a huge part of the industry is processing and freezing it. In peak season, 7,500 people work in the Island's lobster industry on the water and in processing plants.

Like many businesses, lobster processors have a cash flow issue, in their case made worse by the seasonal nature of the business. They have to put up a big load of cash at the beginning of the season to buy the lobster from the fishermen, and then to run the plants. Money comes back in dribs and drabs as throughout the year as they sell the frozen lobster.

But this year those dribs and drabs turned into a trickle. As the markets crashed and consumer confidence went with it, luxury products are taking a big hit. A delicacy like lobster definitely qualifies as a luxury product.

So lobster processors on P.E.I. are now finding themselves sitting on $25 million worth of frozen lobster as the spring lobster fishery approaches. If you're a banker, carefully doling out funds in a market where credit is tight, opening up a line of credit for a business already chock full of a product nobody seems to want so it can buy more is not looking like a good option.

The processor's trouble is the fisherman's trouble. Prices for lobster on the wharf have dropped so low many fishermen are wondering whether they can break even if they drop traps this year.

So people stop buying because they are worried about their jobs and financial future, threatening the jobs and financial future of thousands. Multiply this same formula over an untold number of industries.
Quebec director's film falls short of Oscar nomination

Last Updated: Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:45 AM ET Comments2Recommend10

CBC News

While a Canadian film about an Inuit tuberculosis patient did not score an Academy Award nomination Thursday, its director says he's honoured to have come close to an Oscar nod.

Quebec director Benoît Pilon's film Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life ), a story about an Inuit hunter in a Quebec sanatorium, was Canada's entry for a foreign film Oscar this year.

The film had made the shortlist of nine nomination contenders in the best foreign language film category, but it did not make the final five nominated films announced Thursday morning in Los Angeles.

Still, Pilon told CBC News he was surprised and honoured to see his film on the shortlist, adding that the film has already secured some distribution deals.

"Already we've had some good news, like the film has been taken for distribution around the U.S.," he said Wednesday.

"It was also sold to Belgium and Spain, and there are some other countries that are interested, and it's going to open in English Canada in February.

"Pilon's French and Inuktitut-language film follows Tivii, an Inuit hunter who was taken from his Baffin Island home to a sanatorium in Quebec City for treatment during the tuberculosis epidemic of the 1950s.

Tivii, played by Igloolik, Nunavut-based actor Natar Ungalaaq, appears to be giving up on life until a nurse arranges for a young Inuit orphan named Kaki to move to the sanatorium.

Tivii begins teaching the boy traditional ways and regains his will to live.

Ungalaaq told CBC News his grandfather was sent south for tuberculosis treatment and recovered, but others were not as fortunate. He said he hopes the film will help heal wounds from the past.

"We made this film for the people who didn't survive it, but there's a lot of victims … still living," he said.

Pilon said not many Canadians know about the terrible impacts of the tuberculosis epidemic in Canada's North.

"I did my own research, I read a few books, and I learned more about this whole episode and I was really moved by all these stories that I was reading," he said.

Ce qu'il faut pour vivre won several awards at last year's Montreal World Film Festival, including the audience favourite award and the Grand Jury Prize.

Ungalaaq, who also starred in Zacharias Kunuk's acclaimed film Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner, has won best actor awards at international festivals for his role in Pilon's film.
Quebec actor nominated for César film award

Last Updated: Friday, January 23, 2009 6:34 PM ET Comments1Recommend3

CBC News

For the first time in the 34-year history of the César Awards, a Quebec actor has been nominated for the French film awards.

Marc-André Grondin is nominated as most promising young male actor for his role in the film Le Premier Jour Du Reste de Ta Vie (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life).

The family drama, directed by France's Rémi Bezançon, centres on certain days that changed the course of lives in an extended family.

Marie-José Crozes was nominated as most promising young female actress in 2004 for her role in Denys Arcand film The Barbarian Invasions. The film and Arcand won three awards, but Crozes did not win.

Grondin, who has appeared on TV and in film, first came to wide attention when he starred in C.R.A.Z.Y. Now 24, he also appears in Che and La Belle Bête.

He is cautious about his chances in France's prestigious film awards.

"I don't want to sound too pretentious," he told CBC News, speaking in French.

"I have a chance to do so many projects in France right now, and if all goes well, then I think I will be offered lots of jobs, but I don't think I could fit more into my timetable. At the same time, I could be surprised and that will change."

The film has been nominated for nine César awards, including best picture and best director.

Others in the most promising new actor category:

Ralph Amoussou, Aide-Toi, Le Ciel T'aidera

Laurent Capelluto, A Christmas Tale (Un Conte De Noel).

Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, La Belle Personne.

Pio Marmai, The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.

Mesrine (Public Enemy No. 1), a France-Canada co-production shot partly in Quebec, leads César nominations with 10, including best picture.

The two-part biopic follows the life of a legendary 1970s gangster, played by Vincent Cassel, who scored a nomination for best actor.

The other contenders for best film:

Entre Les Murs (The Class), by Laurent Cantet.

Séraphine, by Martin Provost.

A Christmas Tale, by Arnaud Desplechin.

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've Loved You So Long) by Philippe Claudel.

Paris, by Cédric Klapisch.

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life, by Rémi Bezançon.

The comedy A Christmas Tale has nine nominations and Séraphine has eight.

Kristin Scott Thomas picked up a nomination for best actress César for her lauded role in Claudel's I've Loved You So Long, which was overlooked by the Oscars.

The Class, Cantet's Oscar-nominated film scored five César nominations, including best director.
Murder, she wroteLegendary author P.D. James discusses the art of the crime novel

Last Updated: Monday, September 22, 2008 2:56 PM ET Comments5Recommend65

By Rachel Giese

CBC News

Crime writer P.D. James, who at 88 has just published her 18th novel, The Private Patient. (Random House Canada) To borrow a phrase from Jane Austen, one of P.D. James's favourite authors, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single sleuth in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. And so in James's new work, The Private Patient, it finally comes to pass that the British novelist's most famous creation, the sensitive and brooding poet-policeman Commander Adam Dalgliesh, marries. This ends his 45-year stretch as the mystery world's most eligible bachelor.

Over the phone from her home in London, James says this "valedictory tone" is, to a degree, deliberate. The 88-year-old author finished The Private Patient — her 18th novel — while recuperating from heart failure following hip replacement surgery. She even drew on some details from her own convalescence for the novel, which is set at a posh private cosmetic surgery clinic. She says she intends to keep writing as long as she can, but it seems typical of James — whose novels are as psychologically complex as they are precisely plotted — to want to leave the affairs of her characters in order. In a James novel, ethical and moral questions abound, and killers have even eluded justice — but there are never any loose ends.

During James's writing career, which didn't begin until she was in her 40s, the best-selling author has brought a literary, almost poetic sensibility to the mystery genre. (Her characters are endearingly, if a little unbelievably, well-versed in the classics.) She has received a title (Baroness James of Holland Park) and has been named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Her work has been adapted for television, and a film version of her dystopian novel Children of Men earned three Oscar nominations.

Although modest about her achievements ("I do forget sometimes that I'm now part of the establishment"), James admits that success "gives one an assurance that's very useful; it's dishonest to pretend that it's not much more agreeable to be successful than not. And success is good for one's character as long as you don't get conceited."

James spoke to CBCNews.ca about modern-day motives, real crime versus the imagined kind and the power of love.

Q: What has it been like to have Adam Dalgliesh in your life for so long?

A: When I began, I didn't know he'd be a serial character, and of course there's the challenge of having readers suspend their disbelief. He hasn't aged that much over 40 years and each novel is set in the time of its writing. But I did try to create a character that was someone I'd really like. I gave Dalgliesh the qualities I admire in both men and women: he's good-looking, highly intelligent, compassionate but not sentimental, and reserved. It was important too that he was a character who could develop. I never wanted to know him too well. I think Agatha Christie got rather fed up with Hercule Poirot at the end, because she had made him both too old and just too bizarre.

Q: You first began writing mystery novels in the 1960s, before the sexual revolution and well before the internet and cellphones. Is it very different to write a mystery novel now than it was 40 years ago?

A: Certainly in the old days, it was entirely possible to believe that character A would murder character B because B had discovered something about A's sex life. Nowadays, people write about their sex lives in newspapers and no one seems at all bothered by it. So a sex scandal has ceased to be a credible reason for murder.But other motives are timeless. I think that the lust for money is powerful, as is the wish to help someone you greatly love. Revenge is always a strong motive. I think that's the one most universally understood. There's a desire we all have for some kind of justice in the world, and that's perhaps the strongest motive.And of course, scientific changes have affected all serious writers of mystery novels. DNA evidence, for example, has revolutionized the investigation of murder. If you had a dead body with some blood or skin from their attacker under their nails and you had six suspects, well, it wouldn't take very long at all to solve the mystery, would it?

Q: By creating an inner life for killers and the detectives who solve their crimes, have you become desensitized to real crime and murder?

A: There's such a chasm between the imagined world, no matter how horrific, and the real one. A few years ago, when I was researching a novel and I visited a forensics laboratory, they showed me a new camera that could detect bloodstains on wallpaper. There was a file from a particular crime where this camera was used and without thinking, I leafed through the pages and came across a photo of the two victims. They were a young couple who had just bought a flat and were setting up a life together, and here they were, dragged out of bed by an intruder and left naked on the floor, stabbed to death. It was a great shock to see that image. Reality, the reality of crime and war and suffering, has always affected me in a way that fiction can't.

Q: I think that might be why mystery novels are so satisfying, because in the end, unlike in the real world, the puzzle is solved, the criminal is identified and justice is done.

A: Exactly. I think at their heart, detective novels are about bringing order out of disorder and that's tremendously reassuring — probably even more so in an age where it doesn't seem to matter how many resources we put into our social problems, they seem impossible to fix. In a novel, you're not going to get divine justice, but human justice, which is always fallible. You're going to get justice of a kind.

Q: Your victims are often very unlikable and your killers often have, if not a good reason, then at least an understandable one for wanting someone dead. Do you have compassion for both?

A: Ultimately, my sympathy is always with the victim. I can tell myself intellectually that the murderer was confused, or had terrible temptation, or was mentally ill, and all those things should make me sorry for him, but I still feel most sorry for the victim, even if the victim was a terrible person. Murder is the unique crime, because a killer can't ever give back what was taken and can't make reparations. How do you live your life knowing that you've taken one?

Q: The Private Patient is a very romantic novel. Alongside the violence and death, there are several happy, adoring couples and families. Tell me why you wanted to explore the theme of love.

A: One of my friends said that [this] novel is about the various kinds of loving: sexual love, maternal love, the love between friends and siblings. Some forms, like obsessive love, can be quite dangerous. I wanted to explore these various kinds of love because while some make for happiness, some make for sorrow, or jealousy, or disappointment. But in the end, love is the greatest power we have.
New Zealand reptile becomes dad at age 111

Last Updated: Monday, January 26, 2009 8:37 AM ET Comments13Recommend20

The Associated Press

A captive reptile in New Zealand has unexpectedly become a father at the ripe old age of 111 after receiving treatment for a cancer that made him hostile toward prospective mates.

The centenarian tuatara, named Henry, was thought well past the mating game until he was caught canoodling with a female named Mildred last March — a consummation that resulted in 11 babies being hatched on Monday.

Tuatara are indigenous New Zealand creatures that resemble lizards but descend from a distinct lineage of reptile that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.

An endangered species, the hatchlings born at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery will provide a badly needed boost to the tuatara's genetic diversity, said the gallery's tuatara curator, Lindsay Hazley.

Henry was at least 70 years old when he arrived at the museum, "a grumpy old man" who attacked other reptiles, including females, until a cancerous tumour was removed from his genitals in 2002, said Hazley.

"I went off the idea he was good for breeding," Hazley told the Associated Press, but once the tumour was removed, "he was no longer aggressive."

The museum now has 72 of the reptiles after 42 hatchings in the past two years.

Hazley hopes to use Henry regularly in the breeding program that is helping expand tuatara numbers after they had been savaged by predators.

Tuatara are estimated to number about 50,000, most of them living in predator-free sanctuaries, including offshore islands.

A male Tuatara takes 70 years to fully mature but reaches sexual maturity about age 20.

While there's no scientific data on the life span of the ancient reptiles, "they go beyond 100 well and truly," Hazley said. "They can be around for 150 to 250 years."
Exploding 'bath bombs' hurt 13

Last Updated: Friday, January 30, 2009 10:53 AM ET Comments27Recommend33

CBC News

At least 13 people have been injured by exploding containers used to hold materials to make "bath bombs" or bath balls, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported Friday.

A buildup of carbon dioxide has popped the caps off 88 jars of bath bombs/balls or bath fizzies found in Spa Factory's Aromatherapy Fountain kits and Spa Factory's Bath Benefits kits, the commission said.

The flying caps have hurt children, including causing two eye injuries, a cheek welt, a cheek cut and irritated eyes.

"Injuries to adults include four reports of bruising, one swollen joint, and one face gash," the commission said in a recall notice.

Consumers should immediately stop using the products, the notice said.

Health Canada said it is aware of the situation. The product was sold in Canada, and "the department is in the process of gathering Canadian-specific information, including numbers and distribution, as well as instructions for consumers regarding how the recall is being handled," a spokeswoman said in a emailed note.

The mixture in the bath bombs/balls or bath fizzies may include citric acid, which could further irritate eyes.

The importer of the Chinese product, JAKKS Pacific Inc. of Malibu, Calif., has recalled about 516,000 of the kits.

They were sold at Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Target, and toy stores across the U.S. from August 2008 to January 2009. The products cost about $13 US for the Bath Benefits Kit and between $30 and $50 for the Aromatherapy Fountain.

The purple caps on the recalled products are found on Spa Factory's Bath Benefits Kit (model 37836), Deluxe Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 37908), Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 37837), Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 54892) and Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 54857).

JAKKS is offering a replacement cap with vent holes.

"After testing potential solutions, we found that placing two small holes in the caps adequately allows all built up pressure to escape, thereby preventing the caps from flying off," the company said on its website.
Book return required too much personal info, student says

Last Updated: Sunday, February 1, 2009 8:50 PM ET Comments6Recommend19

CBC News

The Alberta privacy commissioner's office says consumers need to force the issue if a retailer asks for too much personal information.

Sean Steel, a PhD student at the University of Calgary, said he had concerns about his privacy when he returned a book to the campus bookstore.

"It seemed to me that a lot of information was being gathered that was really unusual in my experience," he said.

According to Steel, the clerk asked him for a student card or driver's licence as identification — and then wrote down his driver's licence number.

"I thought, 'Oh you just want ID…. I'll flash you my driver's licence.' I set it down in front of her and then I took it back and she says, 'Wait, I still need that.'

"Jill Clayton, a spokesperson with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, said people often call with privacy concerns when it comes to retailers collecting information.

"Ask questions of the cashier or the clerk who was assisting you," she advised.

"If you're not satisfied with that response, ask to speak to the privacy officer. They might not be called the privacy officer, but every organization is required to have somebody named or appointed."

Personal Info Missing

When CBC News brought the concern to the store, manager Brent Beatty said it was the first he had heard of it.

"My initial reaction was kind of shocked because that's not our policy. Our policy is to show ID — if it's a student ID or driver's licence or something like that. We have no mechanism to write down [any] bank information," he said.

The duplicate of Steel's return slip, which Beatty showed CBC News, has the book's price and inventory number, but no bank card or driver's licence information."It's just part of our return policy that everyone shows ID to do a return. We don't record driver's licences. It's just to validate who is actually doing the return," Beatty said.

However, Steel was not satisfied with the response.

"I still don't think it's justified to have that amount of questioning just to take a book back," he said. "It seems to me a little bit much."
Heat wave oppresses southern Australia

Last Updated: Sunday, February 1, 2009 7:59 PM ET Comments5Recommend7

The Associated Press

Australia remained in the grip of a record-breaking heat wave that continued claiming lives and maintaining its oppressive grip on southern parts of the country on Sunday.

Adelaide is expected to match its longest heat wave in a century on Monday, with six consecutive days exceeding 40 C. The heat there buckled train and tram lines.

"Not for 100 years has it been six days or more than six days of 40 degrees or more," Matt Collopy from the South Australian Weather Bureau said

.About six people died from the heat in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, over three days before the temperature mellowed to 31 C on Saturday, the Victoria state police deputy commissioner said.

On Friday, Melbourne recorded its third consecutive day of temperatures above 43 C for the first time since record-keeping began in 1855.

South Australia state authorities said on Saturday that the heat had probably caused some of the recent 22 sudden deaths in Melbourne. It was not yet clear how many, state Health Minister John Hill said.

Heavy air conditioner use caused a breakdown in Melbourne's electricity grid Friday night, blacking out 500,000 homes and businesses while pulling the plug on the city's electric train network.

Both Melbourne, capital of Victoria, and South Australia's capital Adelaide have experienced local blackouts in recent days as energy providers share electricity to cope with the unprecedented demand.

Ambulance services in both cities have reported increases in emergency calls because of the heat. On Friday, there were 900 calls to the ambulance service for help because of the extreme heat.

While authorities won't officially confirm some recent deaths are heat-related, extreme temperatures are taking their toll, particularly on the elderly.

One of the latest victims was a man in his 60s, living alone in the Adelaide suburb of Marion.

Police said there were no fans or air-conditioning inside his home.

The Red Cross is contacting those at risk of heat stroke and the state government is sending out thousands of text messages to warn the public to drink plenty of water and stay indoors.

In Victoria, at least 23 houses were destroyed on Friday night and Saturday by wildfires that burned 63 square kilometres of forest and farm land, a country fire service spokesman said.

Five hundred firefighters remain on high alert after fires destroyed more than two dozen homes.

Worst affected was the town of Boolarra in the Gippsland region, where some residents returned home to find that they had lost everything.
The legal case of Benjamin Button

Last Updated: Monday, February 2, 2009 11:05 AM ET Comments17Recommend22

CBC News

An Italian office worker has filed a court case alleging The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was based on a story she wrote in 1994.

The film, starring Brad Pitt and which has been nominated for 13 Oscars, plots the life of a man who ages backward. It is said to be inspired by a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

But Adriana Pichini of Rome claims the movie is based on her 15-year-old story, Il ritorno di Arthur all'innocenza (Arthur's Return to Innocence ), which was registered with Italian copyright authorities in 1994. She says she sent it to publishers in the U.S. but it was never published.

"At this point it's still a matter of principle," Pichini's lawyer, Gianni Massaro, told the Hollywood Reporter.

"What happens next will depend on what the judge rules."

Massaro opened a file with the Rome Tribunal Court. A judge will watch the film and read the story. The judge then has to determine if there are enough similarities to warrant a court investigation.

Massaro says he's unsure whether his client wants to seek financial compensation from director David Fincher, screenwriter Eric Roth and the film's producers.

No date has been set for a court decision.
Strong winds wallop Alberta

Last Updated: Saturday, January 31, 2009 4:43 PM MT Comments12Recommend8

The Canadian Press

Heavy winds knocked out power and downed trees throughout Alberta on Friday night.

Environment Canada issued wind warnings for several regions of the province in Friday, saying a cold front was producing very strong winds as it tracked east.

Power crews worked through the night to restore electricity to approximately 10,000 customers in some areas of Alberta, after winds gusting up to 100 km/h knocked down trees and power lines.

Jennifer MacGowan, a spokesperson for Calgary-based power supplier FortisAlberta, said power outages stretched from Athabasca, 146 kilometres north of Edmonton, to central Alberta.

"I have to say that Mother Nature was our toughest customer last night," McGowan said.

"The cause [of the outage] was mainly due to the windstorm and trees coming down on our lines. In some cases we actually had to rebuild poles that came down with the wind."

As of Saturday afternoon, power had been restored to most Fortis customers, though crews were still working to get the lights back on for some rural customers near Drayton Valley, 145 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, McGowan said.

Tim le Riche, a spokesperson for Epcor which supplies electricity to customers in Edmonton, said at the height of the storm, power was out to eight areas of the city.

Crews worked through the night and power was restored to the last of Epcor's customers around 7 a.m. Saturday, he said.
Parasite claims stingray at Calgary Zoo

Last Updated: Sunday, February 1, 2009 2:54 PM MT Comments23Recommend25

CBC News

A new stingray at the Calgary Zoo has died of a parasite, less than a year after the unexplained death of 41 rays.

Ten new stingrays delivered to the zoo in December came with a parasite that causes skin discolouration, said zoo spokeswoman Laurie Herron.

"Most people that have aquariums know that occasionally you have to treat for parasites," she told CBC News on Sunday. "There's a number of different, common ones and it's probably not unlike deworming your dog or cat. They pick up these parasites and you have to try to get rid of them."

The ray that died a few days ago was in particularly bad shape when it arrived, Herron said."

Because of its weakened state, it ended up not being able to cope with the parasite, but as far as I know ,the treatments are working and they're treating the other rays daily, and everybody else seems to be doing OK.

"The zoo reopened the stingray exhibit last month after the sudden deaths of 41 of 43 stingrays in May. Despite an investigation, zoo officials could not find a conclusive cause of death.

The original display was designed for visitors to touch the rays, but that was abandoned when the exhibit reopened.

Earlier this month, a two-year-old male Turkmenian markhor, a type of wild goat, died in an accident at the zoo when the animal became entangled in a toy.
Students, staff return to classes at York University

Last Updated: Monday, February 2, 2009 7:09 AM ET Comments21Recommend11

CBC News Almost 50,000 students will return to classes at Canada's third-largest university Monday following a contentious 12-week strike by teaching staff ended only by provincial legislation last week.

Almost 3,300 teaching, graduate and research assistants and contract professors at York University walked off the job Nov. 6, demanding improved job security for contract staff, among several other issues. The school immediately suspended most academic activities, keeping students out of class.

The Ontario government passed legislation Thursday requiring teaching staff to return. The vote passed by a margin of 61-8, with only NDP members voting against it.
The government bill calls for the two sides to appoint a mediator within five days of the legislation passing, or the government will select one.

The union representing the striking staff, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903, has voiced its discontent with the bill, saying it takes away the union's bargaining rights.

Last week, the union threatened legal action against the government if it passed the legislation, but later changed its tune, saying it wanted to help get students back in classes. The union maintains the issues at the core of the dispute still haven't been resolved.

Last week, about 5,000 students were able to attend courses taught by tenured professors under a special deal with the university. Classes will now be extended by about a month to June 2 because of the strike.