The Quebec man arrested in the death of a provincial cabinet minister’s aide will be in court Friday for an unrelated case in which he is alleged to have stolen $100,000 from an 87-year-old woman. In Vancouver, two heart specialists told the Taser inquiry the weapon can “almost certainly” cause heart problems and possibly cardiac arrest, while a senior police officer said his training from Taser manufacturers suggests Tasers do not cause cardiac arrest. Labrador’s multibillion dollar Lower Churchill hydroelectric project, hailed as one of the most promising sources of clean, renewable energy in North America, could be halted if the Innu Nation insists on compensation for the Upper Churchill Falls project, Newfoundland’s premier says. Across the country, food items such as rice and flour and quickly disappearing from shelves as poorer shoppers stock up, anticipating a rise in food prices. Members of a Canadian rescue team plan on heading back to China to help quake victims after being refused permission to enter devastated Sichuan province because they could not get the necessary visas.
Chinese officials say they have either recovered or cordoned off all 30 “radioactive sources” such as nuclear facilities buried in the recent earthquake. Myanmar has given the UN permission to use nine helicopters to bring relief supplies to stranded cyclone victims. In Japan, an anonymous “drop box” for unwanted newborns, created last year after a numerous children were abandoned in parks and supermarkets, received 17 children in its first year. The alleged “20th hijacker” in the Sept. 11 attacks tried to kill himself at Guantanamo Bay after hearing he could face the death sentence, his lawyer has said. Meanwhile, Senator Edward Kennedy could have less than a year to live. He was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour following a seizure this weekend.
Kiefer Sutherland officially completed his divorce, Shania Twain’s breakup with her husband was rehashed, Ellen DeGeneres and George Takei both planned to marry their partners, and a British tabloid thinks Justin Timberlake is “thinking about marriage and kids.” After writing more than 1000 columns for Metro, Rick McGinnis finally comes up with a good excuse to use the word schadenfreude.
