Prime Minister Stephen Harper says there are no security concerns now that classified government documents Maxime Bernier left in his former girlfriend Julie Couillard’s home have been returned. Harper also says he has no reason to believe Couillard’s claims that her bed’s box spring had been bugged. Bernier stepped down as foreign affairs minister Monday. The federal government is being called on to intervene in two aboriginal disputes in Ontario, which the country’s top aboriginal chief says will worsen unless the government brings solutions forward. Twenty-six Canadians will receive bravery awards from the Governor General, including four troops who unloaded explosive materials from a burning vehicle after a man detonated himself near Kandahar in 2006. Rights activists are asking Canadian women to send their panties to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa to protest the actions of the country’s military regime (who reportedly fear their power is lessened by contact with women’s panties). In Vancouver, a grandmother shopping for furniture on a classifieds website found an ad listing a week-old baby girl at $10,000. Police say the baby is safe and are contemplating charges. In Saskatchewan, a helium balloon worth $390,000 floated away with no explanation, dashing the dreams of a French man preparing to freefall 40,000 metres. He planned on travelling to the stratosphere in a capsule attached to the balloon, which was being filled with helium when it broke free.
In China emergency workers rushed to evacuate 80,000 people in danger of potential floodwaters that are building up behind a dam created in the recent earthquake. Myanmar’s military junta has extended the house arrest of democracy activist and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years and her detention has been extended by one year despite international pressure on the government and a worldwide campaign lobbying for her release. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is being investigated for allegedly taking $500,000 in illegal campaign contributions from an American businessman, though Olmert says the funds were legal. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will ask his European partners to suspend part of the tax on fuel to counter soaring prices, while in England, hundreds of truckers are set to jam central London with a convoy before delivering a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Liv Tyler wants to be a mom, Scarlett Johansson wants to be a singer, Ben Affleck wants to be an advocate and Robert Downey Jr. wants to be Hugh Heffner. Meanwhile, Marty York just wants the Penguins to be quiet and score a goal already.
