Oslo train station partially evacuated over suspect bag

 AFP July 27, 2011 4:25 AM

 

  

A woman places flowers to pay her respects to the victims of the shooting spree and bomb attack in Norway, on the shore in front of Utoeya island, northwest of Oslo, July 26, 2011. Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik is in all likelyhood "insane", his lawyer said after the anti-Islam radical admitted to the bomb and shooting spree in Norway on Friday that killed 76 people.

Photograph by: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

OSLO — Oslo's central train station was partially evacuated and bomb disposal teams deployed on Wednesday morning because of a suspicious item of baggage, Norway's NTB news agency reported.

"A bag apparently with no owner was found next to the platform used by the airport shuttle, number 19. The area around the platform was evacuated. Therefore trains and buses do not travel in this area," railways spokesman Olav Nordli told the agency.

"Police are on the scene and taking the measures they deem necessary. The area has been evacuated . . . this measure does not concern the entire central station but a good part of it," he said.

Bomb sniffing dogs are on the scene, TV2 television station reported, adding that a man had got onto a bus that is temporarily replacing the train to the airport, put his baggage down and left again.

Police are looking for a man aged 25-30 wearing black with white headgear, TV2 said.

Norway is on the alert after twin bombing and shooting attacks on Friday left 76 people dead, the worst bloodshed in the country since WWII.

© Copyright (c) AFP

Kandahar mayor killed in suicide attack: Afghan police

By William Marsden, Postmedia News July 27, 2011 4:20 AM

 

What is fast becoming known as the turban war has claimed another high-profile victim as a suicide bomber Wednesday morning took the life of the mayor of this volatile city in southern Afghanistan.

Photograph by: Ahmad Masood, Reuters

KANDAHAR — What is fast becoming known as the turban war has claimed another high-profile victim as a suicide bomber Wednesday morning took the life of the mayor of this volatile city in southern Afghanistan.

With explosives hidden in his turban, a man grabbed Mayor Ghulam Haidar Hameedi after he had left his office and triggered explosives hidden in his turban instantly killing the mayor and a nearby citizen and injuring a man, Zalmay Ayoubi, spokesperson for the governor's office told Postmedia News.

"Whoever carried out the heinous act are against Afghans and the people of Kandahar," Kandahar Governor Tooryalia Wesa said in a statement. "But this won't deter Afghans from rebuilding the country. There will be hundreds more Afghans like the mayor who will stand against enemy."

Hameedi was about to speak to citizens who were protesting the destruction of about 200 illegal houses in the city's sprawling northend slum of Lowe-Wala, which is considered a breeding ground for Taliban supporters.

The mayor had launched a campaign against squatters in Lowe-Wala. This sparked a protest Tuesday in front of the governor's palace during which about 200 angry residents of the slum chanted "death to the mayor."

Wahidullah Jan who works in the mayor's office said that he was roaming in his the garden where the suicide bomber suddenly appeared.

"When I heard the explosion, I rushed out and saw the mayor covered in blood and I saw the headless body of the suicde bomber on the ground," he said. "The explosion was powerful. It smashed the windows."

This is the second time this month that a suicide bomber has used his turban to conceal explosives with deadly results.

Two weeks ago a teenage bomber entered a mosque where a memorial service was being held for Ahmad Wali Karzai, the assassinated brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The bomber triggered explosives in his turban and killed a senior cleric in Kandahar as well as two mourners and injured 15.

It is forbidden to touch a man's turban in Afghanistan because it is considered an act of disrespect.

Also Wednesday, an improvised explosive device ripped into a police vehicle causing an as yet unspecified number of casualties.

The Taliban has recently stepped up its attacks in and around Kandahar City, which is the craddle of the Taliban. The governor and the mayor last week called a meeting with the leaders of coalition and Afghan forces seeks to increase security in the city, but so far to no avail.

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Layton's illness underlines questions about future NDP leadership

By Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News July 26, 2011

 

NDP Leader Jack Layton leaves a press conference with his wife, Toronto NDP MP Olivia Chow, after announcing that he has been diagnosed with a second form of cancer and that he is temporarily stepping down as leader of the federal NDP, Monday afternoon, July 25, 2011 in Toronto.

Photograph by: Aaron Lynett, National Post

OTTAWA — It's the question everybody is thinking but doesn't want to ask: What happens if Jack Layton isn't healthy enough to return to Parliament Hill in September? What happens if he isn't well enough to ever return ?

Though cagey on the subject of succession ever since his leader suffered a broken hip weeks before the writ dropped last spring, the party's senior Quebec member Thomas Mulcair is certainly known to harbour leadership ambitions.

Looking more frail than ever, Layton on Monday vowed to be back by the time Parliament resumes in the fall and recommended newly elected Hull-Aylmer MP and former Public Service Alliance of Canada president Nycole Turmel be named interim leader.

As caucus leader she already has the unanimous support of fellow MPs and her selection is considered good for party unity since Mulcair and Libby Davies of B.C. currently share the role of deputy leader and are said to represent different aspects of the NDP base.

Both Mulcair and Davies said Tuesday that they support Layton's recommendation but were reluctant to look ahead any farther.

"Under the circumstances, I think it was by far the best choice so we could concentrate on our jobs," Mulcair told Radio-Canada, noting for him, that means being the Opposition House leader.

"What's on the table right now is an interim (position) . . . We'll stay with that for now. All the rest is pure speculation and we won't go there."

Mulcair said it's important that New Democrats now, more than ever, work as a team, so their leader can focus 100 per cent of his energy on his recovery.

For her part, Davies said she "wholeheartedly supports" Layton's recommendation that Turmel be named interim leader. She's not surprised that people are already speculating over the long-term leadership of the party, but is for now "focused on the very immediate situation before us."

She's also confident that Layton has instilled the sort of work ethic within his team that will allow the party to weather this storm.

"I think we'll miss him but I don't think there will be a vacuum," she said, adding if anything, the NDP's resolve will be stronger. "It's like we're working to meet his expectations. What we know he wants done as official Opposition."

Still, many questions over long-term leadership and the future of a suddenly successful party that has put so many eggs in its charismatic leader's basket remain.

Does Mulcair, the sometimes arrogant "Den Mother" tasked with looking after the 58 newbies elected in an unprecedented orange sweep of la belle province have what it takes to keep growing the party and ensuring its historic second place finish isn't a one-time fluke?

Does Davies, a relic from the party's one-time socialist union base?

Does anybody?

Experts suggest these questions were bound to come up eventually, but Layton's shocking announcement he was stepping down temporarily as leader to fight a new form of cancer has sped up speculation over the party's future.

Ipsos Reid pollster John Wright said Layton is by far the most popular politician in Canada. Three-quarters of Canadians said Layton ought to stay in politics even if he had lost his seat in the recent election, compared to just 11 per cent who said the same for former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, he said.

On characteristics like honesty, commitment and likability, Layton was in the 55-60 per cent range, while fellow leaders hovered around 25 per cent.

Canadians, he suggested, especially those in Quebec, voted in large part for the man rather than the party, its policies or ideals and as such, he believes the party is now "vulnerable."

Wright describes Layton as the "bridge" that holds the party's traditional base of "isms," its newer urban supporters and its recently disenfranchised moderate ex-Bloquists together.

"People are genuinely hopeful for his recovery but it's not going to stop people from raising the question as to what happens to the party, not only a couple of months from now, but a year from now," he said, noting it's a discussion that will probably be happening quietly within party ranks.

"(The NDP) has a chance to regenerate and rejuvenate in a way that very few political parties ever have or what it can do, is it can fracture."

Another "unknown quantity," he said, is the Liberal party. Reduced to just 35 seats and currently under the leadership of former Ontario New Democratic premier Bob Rae, he would not be surprised if talks of a merger were to come up again as both parties go "soul searching."

As for Mulcair, Wright has no idea what Canadians think of him. As a pollster, he never thought to ask.

Political science professor Bruce Hicks of Montreal's Concordia University said Mulcair's "street fighter" political style is "totally different" from that of Layton who is personable and has a way of connecting with voters.

"The role Thomas Mulcair played since he came to Ottawa has been very much the harsh critic of the government. Sometimes a little too loud, too aggressive, taking a few too many risks with the facts and too much hyperbole which you don't really want in a leader but you do need it in a deputy leader when in opposition," he said.

"Can somebody with that personality change that personality? It happened in history. People have risen to the occasion"

He also enjoys a lot of support in Quebec and was responsible for recruiting many of the candidates who now sit as NDP MPs, he added.

Davies, he suggested, would also likely seek the leadership and would likely win the support of party stalwarts.

Unlike the Conservatives and Liberals, the NDP has traditionally selected leaders from within caucus, Hicks said, but given how much the party has changed, its certainly possible that provincial leaders and others might step up.

That said, he doesn't expect anybody will be putting "feelers" out any time soon.

"You have to be very careful in these situations," he suggested. "Especially when health issues are involved."

The NDP caucus will meet Wednesday morning and a final decision on the interim leader will be made by the party's federal council on Thursday. Officials say Layton may decide to address his supporters via video link. While possible, its not expected that any other names besides Turmel's will be put forward for interim leader.

There's no current contingency plan in place should Layton not be able to resume the leadership by Sept. 19, added party spokeswoman Kathleen Monk.

"I think that Mr. Layton intends to come back for the fall session and we're all hopeful and optimistic that that happens," she said.

"I don't think anybody in the party . . . would deny him more time if he requires it."

tcohen@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/tobicohen

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Feds silence scientist over salmon study

 

 By Margaret Munro, Postmedia News July 26, 2011

 

 

 

Federal fisheries biologist Kristi Miller.

Photograph by: Photo Handout, Postmedia News

VANCOUVER — Top bureaucrats in Ottawa have muzzled a leading fisheries scientist whose discovery could help explain why salmon stocks have been crashing off Canada's West Coast, according to documents obtained by Postmedia News.

The documents show the Privy Council Office, which supports the Prime Minister's Office, stopped Kristi Miller from talking about one of the most significant discoveries to come out of a federal fisheries lab in years.

Science, one of the world's top research journals, published Miller's findings in January. The journal considered the work so significant it notified "over 7,400" journalists worldwide about Miller's "Suffering Salmon" study.

Science told Miller to "please feel free to speak with journalists." It advised reporters to contact Diane Lake, a media officer with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Vancouver, "to set up interviews with Dr. Miller."

Miller heads a $6-million salmon-genetics project at the federal Pacific Biological Station on Vancouver Island.

The documents show major media outlets were soon lining up to speak with Miller, but the Privy Council Office said no to the interviews.

The Privy Council Office also nixed a Fisheries Department news release about Miller's study, saying the release "was not very good, focused on salmon dying and not on the new science aspect," according to documents obtained by Postmedia News under the Access to Information Act.

Miller is still not allowed to speak publicly about her discovery, and the Privy Council Office and Fisheries Department defend the way she has been silenced.

But observers say it is indefensible and more evidence of the way the government is undermining its scientists.

"There is no question in my mind it's muzzling," said Jeffrey Hutchings, a senior fisheries scientist at Halifax's Dalhousie University.

"When the lead author of a paper in Science is not permitted to speak about her work, that is suppression," he said. "There is simply no ifs, ands or buts about that."

The Harper government has tightened the leash on federal scientists, whose work is financed by taxpayers and is often of significant public interest — be it about fish stocks, air pollution or food safety.

In one high-profile case reported by Postmedia News last year, Natural Resources Canada scientist Scott Dallimore had to wait for "pre-clearance" from political staff in the minister's office in Ottawa to speak about a study on a colossal flood that swept across northern Canada at the end of the last ice age.

Researchers, who used to be free to discuss their science, are now required to follow a process that includes "media lines" approved by communications officers, strategists and ministerial staff in Ottawa. They vet media requests, demand reporters' questions in advance and decide when and if researchers can give interviews.

Environment Canada now even has media officers in Ottawa tape-recording the interviews scientists are allowed to give.

Yet transparency as well as open communication and discussion are essential to science, Hutchings said, and Ottawa's excessive control over communication is "really poisoning the science environment within government."

"An iron curtain has been draped over communication of science in the last five to six years," he said.

The Privy Council Office and the Fisheries Department said Miller has not been permitted to discuss her work because of the Cohen Commission, a judicial inquiry created by the prime minister to look into declines of the famed Fraser River sockeye salmon. She is expected to appear before the commission in late August.

The Privy Council Office has "management responsibility" for the commission and decided Miller should not give media interviews about her study because of the ongoing inquiry, said PCO spokesman Raymond Rivet.

"Fisheries and Oceans Canada is conscious of the requirement to ensure that our conduct does not influence, and is not perceived to be attempting to influence, the evidence or course of the inquiry," department spokeswoman Melanie Carkner, said in a written statement.

Hutchings doesn't buy it, saying he finds it "inconceivable that the Cohen Commission would have viewed the communication of brand new scientific information as somehow interfering with its proceedings."

To Hutchings, the muzzling of Miller is "all about control — controlling the message and controlling communication."

The government released 762 pages of documents relating to the Miller study to Postmedia News. Many passages and pages were blacked out before they were released.

The documents give a glimpse of the way media strategists, communication specialists and officials control and script what government scientists say — or, in Miller's case, do not say —about their research.

The documents show the Fisheries Department wanted to publicize Miller's study, which raises the spectre of a mysterious virus killing huge numbers of Fraser River salmon before they reach their spawning grounds.

In November, two months before Miller's findings were published in Science, Fisheries Department communications staff started preparing "media lines."

The lines said Miller's findings "demonstrate unequivocally that salmon are entering the river in a compromised state and that survivorship can be predicted based on gene expression more than 200 kilometres before salmon reach the river."

Miller's team has not yet identified a culprit, but her Science study said one possibility was a virus associated with leukemia, which can be transmitted from fish to fish.

Reporters from Postmedia News, CBC and many other media, including Time Magazine, asked to speak with Miller after receiving the Jan. 9 notice from Science.

The documents show DFO communications staff firing off a series of "URGENT" emails as they tried to get clearance from Ottawa for Miller's "media lines" and the OK for her to speak with reporters.

They eventually got approval from DFO's deputy minister and the federal fisheries minister's office but then had to go "to PCO for sign off," the documents say.

"You need to write a note for hot-button approval," Rhonda Walker-Sisttie, director of DFO public affairs and strategic communications in Ottawa, told the Vancouver communications branch by email, advising them to use the "PCO template for media requests."

As the reporters' deadlines loomed, Terence Davis, DFO's Pacific regional director of communications, implored Ottawa to clear Miller to talk.

"If we are unable to set up a technical briefing or interviews for later today, the opportunity for DFO to gain the profile we would like for Kristi's work may be lost or very much diluted," Davis said in one email.

"We are pushing hard," Walker-Sisttie assured the Vancouver communications office.

Then, weeks after the department learned Miller's findings were to be published in Science and several days after 7,400 journalists were notified about the study, the PCO decided not to let Miller talk about her findings and their significance.

"PCO has decided that we can only respond in writing," Walker-Sisttie reported from Ottawa. Another explained: "Kristi was not approved to provide interviews."

The reporters, who the documents show were baffled and miffed by DFO's inability to get Miller on the phone or on camera for interviews, filed stories based on her highly technical Science report and interviews with some of Miller's colleagues at the University of B.C.

Miller is still not allowed to speak about the Science report, which she wrote in a Nov. 12 memo "reflects only a fraction of what we know."

But Miller will finally be able to discuss her work in late August, when she is scheduled to testify at the Cohen Commission.

Hutchings said government communication strategists are likely now busy telling Miller: "Here is what you can say. Here is what you can't say. Here is what we want you to stick to. Don't talkabout this."

"I'd be amazed if she is not receiving such quote, unquote 'advice,' " said Hutchings.

mmunro@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/margaretmunro

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Jason Momoa takes his savagery from HBO to big-screen Conan remake

 

 

By Chris Lackner, Postmedia News July 24, 2011

 

 

Actor Jason Momoa attends 'Conan The Barbarian' Autograph Signing during Comic-Con 2011 on July 22, 2011 in San Diego, California.

Photograph by: Michael Buckner, Getty Images

SAN DIEGO — At a pop culture convention brimming with superheroes and superpowers, Conan stands alone. No mutant healing factor or radioactive spider bites required: Conan the Barbarian is a hero who has never needed anything more than his wits and a trusty broadsword.

First introduced by pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard in 1932 and brought to life in the 1982 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Conan is about get a big-screen reincarnation in the form of the Hawaiian-born Jason Momoa.

Momoa is one of the biggest stars of this year's annual ComicCon, and he owes it all to embracing his inner savage. Momoa was a highly-anticipated presence on HBO's panel for Game of Thrones, the acclaimed series in which he played the primal warrior king Khal Drogo. His work on Thrones has paved the way for audiences to accept him as the ultimate barbarian, Conan of Cimmeria.

"Oh, they hate me," he said of Conan fans' initial reaction to his casting. "Everyone's like, 'Who? Baywatch? Stargate?' It's like, 'I can do more than that.'

"Once Game of Thrones came out, people were like 'holy sh—', Conan is going to be badass," Momoa said in an interview at ComicCon. "After seeing Drogo, they were like 'all right, this guy can do it.'"

Before being cast as the two barbarians, Momoa was probably most known for stints on the TV series Baywatch and Stargate: Atlantis. He said Conan and Drogo are different beasts altogether.

"This is a lone warrior," he said of Conan. "At any given time he could take over a kingdom, but he wouldn't know how to run a kingdom. (Conan) is just a pirate, a thief, he's also more adolescent, too. Drogo is just this silverback, he's this monster of a man and he has to have this certain air of elegance about him ... but to carry yourself around like that (was) difficult. I'm not used to being the king."

During the Thrones panel, Momoa did reveal one tidbit that Conan fans might dispute. When asked who would win in a battle between the two skilled fighters, Momoa was far from neutral.

"Between you and me, Drogo would kick Conan's ass," he said before yelling a Dothraki war cry into the microphone.

As for Conan, Momoa admits he's never watched Schwarzenegger's original film or its sequel.

"I've never played a role that had already been played before and I really don't feel that I would need to see Arnold's performance to help me with mine. There is so much source material, tonnes of stories, comic books and the (art was) big for me. I wanted to build my character from the ground up."

Momoa said he studied Conan stories and artwork to help shape his performance.

"It's movement to me, all movement," he said of the character. "In those Dark Horse (Comics) . . . I tried to train my body and (do) stance work. Also the way he prowled, I felt like he was just a big cat, so I went and studied lions and watched how lions and panthers moved . . . I also studies a lot of old samurai movies, I wanted to be able to wield a broadsword like a samurai sword . . . and having to shave your body and put 20 pounds of weight on absolutely changes the way you move."

Conan was shot in Bulgaria, where the landscape lent itself to recreating Conan's pre-historic world. Ironically, Momoa shot Conan before his turn in Game of Thrones, though the HBO series reached audiences first. Momoa had to be in peak physical form for the role, but admitted he let things go a bit for Drogo.

"I got to play Drogo right after Conan," he said. "Conan's a big drinker, but you've got to keep the abs and that's hard. You just eat boiled chicken and raw meat and you can't drink as much. When I got (the part of) Drogo, I was like pizza, beer, pasta. I went straight to Rome."

Producer Fredrik Malmberg said it was a drawn-out process for the film to find their Conan, auditioning nearly 150 people around the world,

"It was a little funny because either they were huge, muscular and couldn't act or they were scrawny and it was like "that's not really Conan."

And one of those auditions was Jason but he was in Stargate: Atlantis at the time, so he had dreadlocks and he had this beard and he's got this deep voice."

Malmberg said it was director Marcus Nispel who watched Momoa's audition tape and knew he had his Conan immediately. Soon after, everyone was convinced.

"He's just a natural barbarian," Malmberg said.

When asked what draw the sword and sorcery film might have for a female audience, Conan co-star Rachel Nichols did not hesitate.

"I think it's Jason's abs," she said.

"I think I've got about four good reasons why," Momoa followed with a big grin and a burst of laughter, while moving to begin slowly unbuttoning the rest of his collared shirt. "One . . . two . . . three."

Momoa's mighty abs aside, fans of realistic combat scenes will also be drawn to film. Producers wanted as much of the film grounded in the real world — they can expect the 3-D fight scenes to feel up close and personal. And there may be more to come; Momoa said he is signed on to do sequels.

"(There are) so many more adventures we could do," Momoa said. "I love the fact that he's not this superhero . . . I love the fact that he's a self-made man, he is a thief, he is a pirate, he loves his drink, he's just this barbarian. He's a man's man. I liked playing that."

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Public inquiry planned for judge caught in sex scandal

 

 

By Kevin Rollason, Winnipeg Free Press July 7, 2011 3:01 AM

 

 

Lori Douglas, the associate chief justice of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, Family Division. The CJC, headed exclusively by the country's top judges including Douglas, said that it has concluded a rare public inquiry should be held after a detailed review of allegations that Douglas's husband tried to have his client have sex with his wife.

Photograph by: Handout, Handout

WINNIPEG — Her lawyer husband has called comments from his former client "fabrications," but the Canadian Judicial Council announced Wednesday it believes the allegations could be serious enough to result in removing from the bench one of the highest ranking judges in the province — Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas.

The CJC, headed exclusively by the country's top judges including Douglas, said that it has concluded a rare public inquiry should be held after a detailed review of allegations that Douglas's husband tried to have his client have sex with his wife.

"A Review Panel of five judges has concluded that the matter may be serious enough to warrant the judge's removal from office," the CJC said in a statement. Douglas has removed herself from all cases since the allegations emerged last year, and she was not on the Review Panel that ruled on her case.

A public inquiry has so rarely been called by the CJC that it has only occurred eight times in the last 40 years.

Alex Chapman, whose allegations against Douglas and her husband, veteran lawyer Jack King, sparked the entire matter, said Wednesday he is pleased with how the CJC is handling the matter.

"I am not vindicated yet," Chapman said.

"But the fact they are going to take this action gives me the confidence that justice will prevail.

"It gives me some faith. It shows them five judges cannot be swayed. In Manitoba, I won't be treated fairly. Judges and lawyers here all go to dinner, they are all friends. For example, my computer was taken away by one of Lori's colleagues.

"I couldn't do my income tax this year because everything I need was on my computer."

A spokeswoman for the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench said it would have no comment about the CJC's decision.

Neither King nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

The CJC said the next step will be to appoint an inquiry committee made up of an uneven number of members, with the majority being members of the CJC, with the federal justice minister also appointing one or more members.

As well, the CJC, whose role includes reviewing the conduct of all federal judges and improving judicial service, will select an independent lawyer to bring forward all of the evidence to the committee.

After holding hearings, the inquiry committee would then report its decision to the CJC which can then give its own recommendations about what to do to the justice minister.

The entire matter flows from allegations and complaints made by Chapman, who in 2003 was a client of King.

Chapman has said King not only wanted him to have sex with Douglas, but the lawyer also pointed him to a website where there were explicit nude photos of her. Douglas was appointed a judge in 2005.

Later, King paid Chapman $25,000 to bind him to secrecy, but last year, when Chapman went to the media with his allegations, he tried to return the $25,000, but had it sent back to him.

In March, King pleaded guilty to a Law Society of Manitoba charge of professional misconduct and was given a reprimand and ordered to pay the society's costs of $13,650.

"To my wife, I can never apologize enough," King told the law society panel at the time, adding that his wife had done nothing wrong.

King didn't comment after the hearing, but he later wrote a letter to the Winnipeg Free Press chastising the press for "allow(ing) Mr. Chapman the forum in which to broadcast his fabrications."

kevin.rollason(at)freepress.mb.ca

© Copyright (c) Winnipeg Free Press

French boat to Gaza blocked in Crete: organizer

 

Agence France Presse July 7, 2011 4:04 AM

 

 

An activist stands in front of the "Freedom Flotilla II", during a demonstration against the Greek authorities' ban on Gaza-bound ships on the Greek island of Corfu Saturday. A lone French yacht carrying activists hoping to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza was on Thursday blocked in Crete by the Greek coast guard when it stopped to refuel, an organizer said.

Photograph by: Marko Djurica, REUTERS

JERUSALEM — A lone French yacht carrying activists hoping to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza was on Thursday blocked in Crete by the Greek coast guard when it stopped to refuel, an organizer said.

"The Dignite/Al Karama was taken to Sitia in Crete by the Greek coast guard after being stopped in a nearby port while it was refuelling," Claude Leostic told AFP by telephone from Paris.

"The authorities are stopping the boat from setting sail for various administrative reasons," Leostic said.

The boat, which is carrying 12 pro-Palestinian activists, had sneaked out of a Greek port early on Tuesday in defiance of a ban on any ships setting sail from Greece in an attempt to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

All the other boats, including a Canadian vessel, that had been expected to participate in a 10-vessel international aid flotilla to Gaza are currently being blocked from leaving ports in Greece, while an Irish boat, which organizers say was sabotaged, is undergoing repairs in Turkey.

© Copyright (c) AFP

Royal visitors raise spirits in fire-ravaged Slave Lake

 

 

 

By Jana G. Pruden and Jennifer Fong, Postmedia News July 6, 2011

 

 

 

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge talk with Premier Ed Stelmech (R), City Reeve Denny Garratt (C) and Mayor Karinas Pillay-Kinnee (L) while visiting the damage left after a forest fire in Slave Lake, Alberta, July 6, 2011. The Royal couple made a side trip to visit the community that was 30 percent destroyed by the fire earlier this year. The Prince and his wife are on a royal tour of Canada from June 30 to July 8.

Photograph by: Andy Clark, Reuters

SLAVE LAKE, Alta. — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge left Slave Lake after an almost three-hour visit Wednesday to tour the fire-ravaged Alberta community.

After their arrival a string of motorcycles led the couple's minibus to the entrance of Northern Lakes College. As they pulled in, fans erupted in cheers and chants of "Will and Kate."

People were decked out many in their finest party dresses and fascinators. Others wore "I Heart Slave Lake" T-shirts and came bearing little paper Union Jacks and bouquets of flowers for the duchess.

Kate, in a navy blazer, reportedly by Toronto-based label Smythe, and Prince William waved briefly at the crowd before going inside to meet emergency responders and families affected by the fires.

RCMP officer Leigh Drinkwater, whose home was destroyed in the fire, was one of the emergency responders to meet with the royal couple at the college.

Drinkwater said the meeting was an opportunity for emergency services personnel to talk to the duke and duchess, and for the royals to ask questions about the fire.

"They seem very, very humble," Drinkwater said, after the meeting. "They were an absolute pleasure to speak with."

He said the visit means a lot to the community.

"It's nice to see people of their stature that can acknowledge what happened here, and recognize what has happened and make a point of coming," he said.

"I think that it will offer a lot of encouragement to the people here in town, to show that their matters are still in the forefront of a lot of people's minds."

After the private meetings, the royal couple emerged to cheers, screams, and a sea of cameras and flowers.

Prince William made a beeline for Yolande and Dion Klyne, who had been waiting for the royals since 4:30 a.m.

Dion had gone to the barricades every hour on the hour last night to check on crowds for his wife.

"He's the best husband ever," Yolande said.

Yolande told the duke that after she and her husband lost their home in the fire, this visit from the royals means a lot.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," he told her.

The prince complimented the couple on the I Heart Slave Lake T-shirts they were wearing and told them how happy he was to be there.

"It was amazing," said Yolande. "You can tell he really cares."

The duchess came next, and the couple presented her with flowers.

"I lost a lot memories in the fire, but these are new ones," Yolande said afterwards, in tears. "It's truly the start of rebuilding."

Afterwards, the duke and duchess strolled separately along the barricades, shaking hands and speaking with those in the crowd.

Some people cried as they met the royals.

"Thank you so much for coming," one woman sobbed.

After leaving Slave Lake, the royal couple flew to Calgary later Wednesday afternoon for a quiet overnight at an undisclosed destination the mountains west of the city.

Dozens of royal-watchers stood behind a metal fence at the airport, hoping to catch a glimpse of the comely couple or even shake hands if they were lucky. But it was not to be.

William and Kate boarded a helicopter and flew away.

In Slave Lake, some royal fans drove many hours from out of town to catch a glimpse of the couple.

Sheila Haugen and her teenage daughter, Abby, got up at 2 a.m. to make the four-hour drive from their home in B.C.

As they staked out a spot along the barricade, the Haugens were tired, but happy.

"This is a once in a lifetime moment," Sheila Haugen said. "We are so excited."

"We heard they were coming yesterday so I immediately made plans to take the day off," said Rulene Mare, who drove more than three hours from Grande Prairie, Alta., with friends Jacomie Strydom, 14, and Strydom's mom Johanine.

"We'd been following their whole tour through Canada and to see them live is amazing," said Mare. "I would like to say to William that he made a perfect choice in a wife."

It has been a whirlwind two months for Slave Lake, beginning with the devastating wildfires that tore throughout the town seven weeks ago, thrusting the small community into the national spotlight.

The wildfire that ripped through Slave Lake in May caused more than $700 million in damages, making it the second-costliest insured disaster in Canadian history, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The wildfire, fuelled by tinder-dry conditions and high winds, tore through Slave Lake on May 15, destroying about one-third of the town and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Edmonton Journal

jpruden(at)edmontonjournal.com

jfong(at)edmontonjournal.com

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Canada ends disastrous World Cup with another loss

 

 

 

By George Johnson, Postmedia News July 5, 2011

 

 

Melissa Tancredi of Canada looks dejected during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 Group A match between Canada and Nigeria at Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion on July 5, 2011 in Dresden, Germany.

Photograph by: Martin Rose, Getty Images

Yes, the lights actually did go out (insert your own punchline here).

Canada returns home from a big dance widely hailed as its potential coming-out party cast in the awkward role of FIFA Women’s World Cup wallflowers.

No points. One goal in three matches. Three shots on net of any consequence, all by the same player.

Beaten 1-0 by Nigeria in a bottom-of-Group-A-barrel match Tuesday at Rudolf-Harbig Stadium in Dresden, Germany, the team carrying such lofty ambitions was undone on the night by a double-carom killer ball and the sheer athleticism of the Nigerian women.

The emotional high of the gritty 2-1 loss to two-time reigning champions Germany in front of 73,000 at the Berlin Olympiastadion quickly gave way to the 4-0 shellacking by France that officially punted the Canadians from the knockout stage, followed by Tuesday’s final defeat.

The problems for the current CONCACAF champions as they begin preparations for Olympic qualifying this January are easily defined:

• Still too Christine Sinclair dependent in attack.

• Still too wobbly at the back.

• Still not as comfortable on the ball across the pitch as the top nations (or, for that matter, 27th-ranked Nigeria).

An 11 1/2-minute second-half power outage delayed the match in the 84th minute, managing the neat trick of not only prolonging Canada’s suffering in Germany, but actually exacerbating it.

Because it was 60 seconds after the re-start that the previously winless, previously goalless Nigerians assumed the lead, two through passes ricocheting off Canadian defenders — the final unintentional glance pinging off centre back Candace Chapman — and directly into the path of an onrushing Perpetua Nkwocha.

She coolly slotted the ball inches inside the far post on a startled Karina LeBlanc, making her first start of the tournament between the sticks for Canada.

From there, the emotionally-bagged Canadians went fruitlessly in search of a tying strike and a cosmetic sort of redemption for the miserly that’s dogged them at this tournament.

The best chance, as always, fell to Sinclair, the masked woman, her second dangerous opportunity of the game charged down by inside the area by Nigerian goalkeeper Precious Dede, a searching through pass from midfielder Diana Matheson — the best Canadian on the night — setting the table.

Both sides had chances before. Canada hit the woodwork once, via Melissa Tancredi, Nigeria twice.

“We have to think about it. This has to be a start,” Canadian coach Carolina Morace said on CBC in the gloom of the 0-3 finish. “Maybe we did too much in the last two years (fast-tracking expectations).

“The players gave us everything. They played with their heart.”

Sixth-ranked heading into this World Cup, so much had been anticipated from this national side, first and foremost by the coaches and players themselves. Particularly given that the 2015 edition is set for Canada.

They were 1-1-1 in China four years ago, failing to qualify for the final eight only an an extra-time poach by the Australians, and surprised the soccer world by reaching the semifinals in 2003 before bowing out to Sweden.

So this result is definitely a large step backwards.

Doubtless the obvious systematic problems inside the Canadian soccer umbrella are going to be blamed and dissected into the wee small hours, as will the lack of funding compared to other countries, as well as the lack of a quality women’s league in the country to keep players close and big-match prepared.

The unlucky broken nose suffered by Sinclair against the Germans played a part, certainly. And so, as it always does, did luck.

But this was FIFA’s sixth-ranked team in the world and it arrives back home with nothing.

The disappointment, on every level, is profound.

Calgary Herald

gjohnson@calgaryherald.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald