“In a nutshell we went from a 20-centimetre base to over 100 centimetres now,” Mr. Rideout said. “That perked everybody up because there wasn't much snow around.”*
-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN and VANCOUVER -- An agricultural expert from British Columbia is now the leading candidate in the urgent search for a new governor of Kandahar, The Globe and Mail has learned.**********
The post is a key political seat in southern Afghanistan but a dangerous task with little chance of glory.
-- TORONTO -- Municipal property assessments that were mailed to homes across Ontario this fall are “unrealistic” given the dramatic drops in the real estate market, Premier Dalton McGuinty admitted Wednesday.And what will the "Slippery One" do about this issue?
Despite that, the province will not direct Ontario's Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to scrap the 2008 assessments, the first in several years, and do fresh ones in 2009.Don't look at me... I didn't vote for him.
It's unclear when the markets will reopen, and the exchange hasn't responded to any interview requests. It's believed the backup system also failed, preventing an easy fix.Most large financial institutions, like banks and insurance companies are tied into large mainframe computers which usually employ a duplicate set of hard drives... known in the trade as "mirroring."
The average daily volume on the TSX through the end of November was 451 million shares.The TSX computer-monkeys must be going ape.
Mr. Bertrand and company representatives declined to comment on the exact nature of the computer problem. “The important thing now is to get things going again,” Mr. Bertrand said.Perhaps the earlier reference to a failure of "backup systems" was just unfounded rumour.
In a statement, the exchange, which is owned by the TMX Group, said that the computer systems that execute trades were not affected. The problem appeared to be with the computers that delivered trading information to brokerage houses and news organizations.
In an interview with BNN, a Canadian business news television channel, Luc Bertrand, the deputy chief executive at TMX, said that the exchange decided to suspend trading after it discovered that only some users were able to track trades.
-- December 17, 2008 (TORONTO) -- Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange will not resume trading today due to continuing technical issues with its data feeds.*
The market will be put into a Pre-Open state from 3:00PM to 5:00PM to allow participants the option of cancelling, adding or changing orders.
The company intends to open the exchanges tomorrow morning.
Additional information on the nature of the problem will be provided when the investigation is complete.
-- TORONTO -- A proposed $3.4-billion rescue package for struggling automakers is likely just the beginning of the money Ottawa and Ontario must provide to keep the sector afloat, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.*
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said he believes Ontario's share of the current auto aid will be about $1 billion to $1.5 billion, but that more overall economic aid is needed.
"We should invest a further $2 billion in an economic stimulus package," Hampton said.
"The glaring exception is the tally of gun incidents."Oh yeah, that... those pesky little "incidents" and "occurrences".
As of Monday morning there had been at least 236 occurrences, an 18-per-cent increase over last year. Still more striking is the number of people shot: 336, compared with 237, a rise of almost 42 per cent.But, but, but... Mayor Super Dave is chasing all of the gun clubs out of Toronto... how can this be?
"There's something wrong with my gun. Everytime I unlock the safe and tell it to go get me some venison for the freezer, all it does is sit there."**********
"Am I doing something wrong?"
..."more social workers".**********
An official in the speaker's office said he was unsure about the seriousness of al-Mashhadani's announcement, but said it may have been made because he was nervous.*
"It costs us an average $3,500 to return somebody. Am I not worth $3,500 if I'm the victim?"*
"There should be no place in Canada you can hide from charges like kidnapping or sexual assault."
Just don't try tell that to fiberal Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant."Bryant is one of the biggest sideshows in McGuinty's government - and that takes some doing."*
"I wonder where he'll be demoted to next?"
-- CHICAGO (AP) -- Jailed political fundraiser Tony Rezko's attorneys sent a strong signal today that he has resumed cooperation with federal prosecutors in the criminal case against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.*
Today, both sides agreed to postpone Rezko's sentencing indefinitely. That's a sign prosecutors think Rezko has more to tell them.
His devotion to al Qaeda was clear when his will - which he spent eight hours writing, according to records on the laptop on which it was discovered - was read to court.*
Addressed to Osama bin Laden, Abdulla made clear he wanted to kill British and American soldiers and said he was willing to target women and children.
In the document, he declared his thirst to “lick the blood” of Westerners and attack the “Kingdom of Evil”. He wrote that a population “busy with alcoholic drinking and with their intimate friends” could only be awoken “by the sound of booby trapped vehicles”.
-- NEW YORK - (Dow Jones) -- Users of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Internet Explorer Web browser could be open to attacks from criminals hoping to glean passwords and financial information as the software giant works to fix a security flaw.*
"This type of attack has been happening for a while, what's new is the unpatched IE tips off and draws attention that this sort of attack is working," said Cross Research analyst Richard Williams.
"Ordinarily, by the time the news hits, the flaw has been fixed."
Ontario's falling house prices may exacerbate unfairness in the province's four-year property tax assessment process and the province may want to cap or cancel its 2008 assessment, the head of a ratepayer group says.**********
Bob Topp, chairman of Coalition After Property Tax Reform (CAPTR), said almost one million property owners in Ontario saw increases of more than 30% in their 2008 assessments.
However, homes are beginning to fall in price and properties aren't scheduled to be re-assessed for four years.
...the Ignatieff camp continues its stringent vetting process....which houses 668 convicts, said he was not surprised by the decision to ‘drop Jesus’ from show. He added: ‘This is typical. On one side of the room there are heated foot baths for the Muslim inmates, but on the other side there is this silly little movable alter that can be hidden away at a moment’s notice.**********
‘And there is just a wooden cross, not a crucifix showing the suffering Jesus went through, because those in power thought it might offend the Muslims.’
‘I don’t think the Muslim prisoners would give a monkeys to be honest, it’s just the normal PC brigade poking its nose in when it isn’t needed.’
"Sadly, these days the minorities don't even have to squeak. The PC police come along and add preemptive grease."*
...after all...A crucial Atomic Energy of Canada reactor at Chalk River, Ont., has restarted after a routine maintenance shutdown ran a couple of days longer than expected.Despite all the hysteria on CTV news the last three or four days... it seems there is, well... no crisis after all.
Dr. Christopher O'Brien of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine says the isotope supply should be completely restored by Thursday.
Meanwhile, he says, there are enough doses available for emergency treatments, so no patients will be affected.
Ontario's medical community has "dodged the bullet," learning today that cancer treatments that depend on nuclear isotopes will be back to full strength by the end of the week.Oh no... what are Lloyd & Lisa gonna have to freak out about tonight?
Al Baghdadiya in turn has called for the reporter's release. The network said that freeing al-Zaidi would be in line with what it called the "freedom of expression" the U.S. has promised all Iraqis.Of course, this being Iraq, there has to be further ironic icing on this particular "clown cake"...
Saddam Hussein's former chief lawyer told al Jazeera network that he would defend al-Zaidi in court.Oh gawd... stop it... yer killin' me.
-- KABUL, Afghanistan (AP -- A joint Afghan-NATO operation in a volatile region in the country's dangerous south has killed 40 militants, including the Taliban's leader in that region, a government official said Monday.See... sneaking out in the middle of the night and setting booby-traps is not winning. Nor is strapping explosives to 13 year-old kids and using them as human bombs.
The operation in the Nad Ali and Murja districts of Helmand province began on Thursday and continued through Monday, said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor.
Among the dead was a Mullah Salim, a Taliban leader who was the head of the militant's council in the two districts, Ahmadi said.
-- TEHRAN -- Ameneh Bahrami once enjoyed photography and mountain vistas. Her work for a medical equipment company gave her financial independence. Several men had asked for her hand in marriage, but the hazel-eyed electrical technician had refused them all. "I wanted to get married, but only to the man I really loved," she said.*
Four years ago, a spurned suitor poured a bucket of sulfuric acid over her head, leaving her blind and disfigured.
Late last month, an Iranian court ordered that five drops of the same chemical be placed in each of her attacker's eyes, acceding to Bahrami's demand that he be punished according to a principle in Islamic jurisprudence that allows a victim to seek retribution for a crime.
After Theresa Bascombe heard several loud bangs near her home Saturday night, she didn’t expect to see her 12-year-old son standing at the front door with a bullet hole in his right thigh and blood streaming down his leg.Shooting pre-adolescent kids... for sport.
His mother said she was shocked when she saw him. “I was very terrified,” she said. “His other friend said after they ran, the men ran away laughing, before driving away in a car.”
A young woman was stabbed this afternoon at the Kennedy subway station. The woman, who is believed to be about 16 years old, was slashed across the forehead and in the neck at around 4 p.m. She has been transported to the Hospital for Sick Children for treatment. She is in stable condition.*
Police are looking for a 17-year-old female suspect. The platform was busy at the time and police say they are looking for eyewitnesses."
