FIBA: Canada targets Olympic success after first World Cup bronze

MANILA -- Small forward Dillon Brooks said Canada would take "good momentum" into next year's Paris Olympics after beating the United States to win bronze at the FIBA World Cup on Sunday.

Canada won 127-118 in overtime in Manila to claim their first World Cup podium finish, denying the United States a medal for a second straight tournament.

Canada had already qualified for their first Olympics since 2000 by finishing as one of the two highest-placed teams from the Americas at the World Cup.

Brooks, who finished the game as Canada's top scorer with 39 points, said the medal would fuel their ambitions when the new NBA season starts next month.

"It's good momentum for us, we'll hold on to that throughout the season," he said.

"I'm going to see a lot of my team-mates during the season.

"Guys that weren't here, that's motivating to them as well, to want to join us, to get better, to make a run at the Olympics."

Canada led for most of the game and built double-digit leads in both the first and third quarters.

They looked to have the game won until the United States' Mikal Bridges hit a game-tying three-pointer with 0.2sec remaining.

Canada quickly took control in overtime, with Brooks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in imperious form.

"This team was amazing, special, it's the beginning of something that's going to last for a long time," said head coach Jordi Fernandez.

"All 12 guys came in and worked every day since August 1, they got at least 1 percent better every day.

"They built the identity that we just showed."

Fernandez said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 31 points, was "to me the MVP of this World Cup".

Bridges called Canada's point guard a "slithery" player to defend.

"He knows how to get away from you," Bridges said of Gilgeous-Alexander.

"He's an unbelievable player."

Fernandez paid tribute to Brooks's leadership after the Houston Rockets player helped keep the United States' stars quiet while scoring points at the other end.

Brooks was booed by the Manila crowd earlier in the tournament but they serenaded him with chants of "MVP" against the United States.

Brooks said he was determined to help the team win after losing in the semi-finals to Serbia.

"Having that edge every single game, how I prepared for the game, how I was trying to be a leader out there for my team-mates, I've got to bring this back to Houston," he said.

Agence France-Presse

Justin Bieber says he's suffering from facial paralysis

NEW YORK — Justin Bieber on Friday told fans in a video posted on Instagram that he's been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is causing him partial facial paralysis.

The 28-year-old pop singer recently announced he was pausing his Justice World Tour due to illness, hours before his first slated concert in Toronto.

Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is a complication of shingles that occurs when an outbreak impacts the facial nerve near one ear. In addition to facial paralysis, it can cause hearing loss.

"As you can see, this eye is not blinking, I can't smile on this side of my face, this nostril will not move," Bieber explained in a video.

"So, there’s full paralysis on this side of my face. So for those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows, I'm just physically, obviously, not capable of doing them. This is pretty serious, as you can see."

The "Peaches" singer said he was doing facial exercises and taking time to "rest and relax and get back to 100 percent so I can do what I was born to do."

He did not give an estimated timeline for his recovery.

It's the third instance Bieber's tour has been postponed, the first two due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Canada bans passenger flights from India, Pakistan for 30 days

OTTAWA - Canada suspended all passenger flights from India and Pakistan on Thursday for 30 days, Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra announced, citing increased Covid-19 cases detected in travelers arriving from these countries.

"Given the higher number of cases of Covid-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan... I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from Indian and Pakistan for 30 days," Alghabra told a news conference.

"This is a temporary measure, while we assess the evolving situation and determine appropriate measures going forward," he added.

The restriction will go into effect at 11:30 pm Eastern Time Thursday (0330 GMT Friday).

It will not apply to cargo flights, Alghabra said, particularly to ensure the continued shipment of vaccines, personal protective equipment and other essential goods.

India, which is undergoing an alarming surge being blamed on a "double mutant" variant and super-spreader events, reported a single-day high of more than 300,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu said that overall only 1.8 percent of travelers to Canada have tested positive for coronavirus.

While India accounts for 20 percent of recent air travel to Canada, more than half of all positive tests at the border were from flights arriving from the country, she said, adding that "a similarly high level of cases... have also been linked to Pakistan."

"It is a significant volume," she said, "and given the epidemiological situation in India, it makes sense to pause travel from that region while our scientists and researchers (try) to better understand this variance of interest, to better understand where the trajectory of the cases in that region are going."

BAN ON NON-ESSENTIAL FLIGHTS

Health Canada data showed 18 flights from Delhi and two from Lahore, to Toronto or Vancouver, in the past two weeks had at least one passenger onboard who was diagnosed with the illness.

Canada last December briefly suspended flights from Britain over concerns about outbreaks of a Covid variant. 

Earlier on Thursday Parliament voted unanimously to urge the government to ban non-essential flights from Covid hotspots where variants have surged, including India and Brazil.

Alghabra said there are currently no scheduled flights between Canada and Brazil, but added that "we will not hesitate to ban travel to other countries if the science bears that out."

Several dozen cases of the variant of the virus initially declared in India have already been identified in Canada, according to media reports.

Some countries have taken similar steps to prevent worsening outbreaks due to this variant: the United Arab Emirates announced Thursday that it will suspend all flights from India.

Britain also this week banned entry to travelers from India, and France has announced that they will be subject to a 10-day quarantine upon arrival in the country.

All travelers to Canada are already subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. They must also present a negative Covid test before boarding an international flight, and another upon arrival in Canada.

Struggling with a third wave of infections, Canada recorded 9,000 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 1,151,276 cases and 23,812 deaths.

Agence France-Presse

Canada’s Trudeau to be vaccinated publicly ‘when turn comes’

Montreal, Canada — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will receive the COVID-19 shot in public once those in his age group are in line to be vaccinated, he said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Canada began vaccinating people in high-risk categories — including frontline health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities — on December 14, with a relatively limited supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“Absolutely,” Trudeau told the CBC public network in a year-end interview. “When my turn comes, I will do it publicly and enthusiastically.”

Trudeau added that he would follow the recommendations of public health experts.

“Whenever, you know, healthy adults in their 40s are open to getting vaccines, I’ll be getting vaccinated,” said the prime minister, who turns 49 on Christmas Day, December 25.

Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive for the coronavirus in March, and he spent two weeks in self-imposed quarantine.

He said Sunday he might have had an extremely mild case of the disease.

“It’s very possible that I caught it,” Trudeau said. “I don’t know. I was absolutely asymptomatic.”

He said doctors told him to get tested if he had so much as a sniffle, but “(I) didn’t have a sniffle.”

Canada expects to receive additional vaccine doses soon both from the Pfizer and Moderna suppliers, once health officials authorize the latter.

The Moderna authorization is expected “in coming weeks,” according to the government’s Health Canada.

In total, Canada — a country of 38 million — has placed orders or options on more than 400 million doses of vaccine from seven pharmaceutical groups.

The country will share any excess doses with other countries, Trudeau said in a separate interview Sunday with the CTV network.

The spread of the virus has accelerated as the year-end holidays approach.

On Saturday, Canada passed the grim mark of 500,000 confirmed cases, reaching more than 509,000 by Sunday, along with 14,212 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Quebec, the province with the highest toll, set a new daily record Sunday with 2,146 new cases.

Agence France-Presse

First batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Canada

OTTAWA - The first COVID-19 vaccines landed on Canadian soil on Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, and some Canadians are expected to roll up their sleeves for a shot as soon as Monday.

Canada and the United States are set this week to become the first Western nations after the UK to begin inoculations with the newly approved vaccine.

"The first batch of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Canada," Trudeau said on Twitter on Sunday night above a picture of a cargo plane apparently used to transport the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and Germany's BioNTech SE.

The initial 30,000 doses will go to 14 sites across Canada. The most vulnerable people, including the elderly in long-term care facilities and healthcare workers, will be first in line for shots.

The vaccines left Belgium, where they were produced, on Friday, and traveled to Germany and the United States before being split up and sent to different parts of Canada.

"The intent here is to ensure that we continue to have regular drip feed of vaccines in the coming weeks," with 249,000 doses expected by the end of the year, Major-General Dany Fortin, who is in charge of vaccine distribution, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp earlier in the day.

While it is "good news" that the vaccine has arrived, Trudeau said: "Our fight against COVID-19 is not over."

Forecasting a rapid acceleration of the spread of the novel coronavirus during the second wave, Canada's federal health authorities called on Friday for provinces to impose more health restrictions heading into the holidays.

The country has had 460,743 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 5,891 new infections reported on Sunday. On Friday, health officials said Canada could see 12,000 new cases a day by January.

The highly contagious respiratory disease has claimed 13,431 lives in Canada, including 81 on Saturday.

'BRIDGE TO RECOVERY'

"While we have a long way to go, this marks the beginning of our bridge to recovery," Procurement Minister Anita Anand said on Twitter of the vaccine arrival.

Canada is expected to approve a second vaccine from Moderna Inc "reasonably soon" and the country will be ready to accept shipments of it by the end of the week, Fortin said earlier.

Supriya Sharma, senior medical adviser at Health Canada, said on the CBC the review of the Moderna vaccine was ongoing and that important data was expected later this week.

She also outlined guidance about potential allergic reactions to the Pfizer shot after reports of two such incidents on the first day of vaccinations in Britain.

On Saturday, Canada said anyone with vaccine allergies should not take the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

"If you have an allergy to a vaccine or this vaccine or any components of the vaccine, you should not get it," Sharma said. "But if you have other allergies, you can go ahead and get vaccinated."

Health Canada will be monitoring people who are inoculated for adverse reactions or side effects, she said.

Officials have said they expect to receive 6 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines before the end of March. Each vaccine requires two doses, given about three weeks apart.

-reuters-

Canada sends army to combat pandemic in Ontario, Quebec

OTTAWA, Canada — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday the army would be sent in to help Ontario and Quebec provinces combat coronavirus outbreaks at long-term care facilities hardest-hit by the pandemic.

"There have been requests for military assistance by both Ontario and Quebec which, of course, we will be answering," Trudeau told a daily briefing.


"Our women and men in uniform will step up with the valour and courage they've always shown."

Quebec asked for 1,000 troops in addition to 130 military doctors and medics previously requested, to help overwhelmed staff at elderly care homes.

Ontario has asked for an unspecified number of soldiers to be deployed at five of its most affected care homes.

Seventy to 80 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the two provinces were at long-term care homes, with the number of fatalities at the homes surpassing 1,000 in Quebec and 500 in Ontario.

Trudeau said the Canadian military "will be there with support so that provinces can get control of the situation."

"But this is not a long-term solution," he added. "In Canada, we shouldn't have soldiers taking care of seniors."

"Going forward in the weeks and months to come, we will all have to ask tough questions about how it came to this," he commented.

"I think the system needs to be changed, and we are (going to be) changing the system," Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters.

"But right now, our main focus is to make sure we protect the people inside these long-term care homes," he said

Quebec had tried to recruit 2,000 new staff for its long-term care facilities in recent weeks to ease the workload for existing staff, but few applied.

Even with a salary top-up from the government, the jobs are relatively low-paying.

One of the worst cases in Montreal, where 31 elderly residents died after their caregivers fled the Herron nursing home, leaving them to fend for themselves, provoked a public outcry.

Another in Laval, north of Montreal, has recorded 69 COVID-19 deaths.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault lamented on Thursday that 9,500 healthcare and senior care workers in the province had not shown up for work this week; 4,000 are under quarantine or are being treated for the virus, while 5,500 feared exposure.

"This isn't a normal situation," he said. "This is a crisis and we need more hands."

As of 1800 GMT Thursday, there were 41,752 coronavirus cases in Canada, including 2,199 deaths.

Agence France-Presse

Trudeau's Liberals win Canada vote, will form minority govt

OTTAWA, Canada — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party held onto power in a nail-biter of a Canadian general election on Monday, but as a weakened minority government.

Television projections as of 2 a.m. Tuesday (0600 GMT) declared the Liberals winners or leading in 156 of the nation's 338 electoral districts, versus 122 for his main rival Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives, after polling stations across six time zones closed.

As early as Tuesday, Trudeau will have to form an alliance with one or more smaller parties in order to govern a fractured nation.


The first test of his future government will follow in the coming weeks with a speech to parliament outlining his legislative priorities and a confidence vote.

"From coast to coast to coast, tonight Canadians rejected division and negativity," Trudeau said. "And they rejected cuts and austerity and voted in favor of a progressive agenda and strong action on climate change."


He reassured Quebec that his Liberal government, despite an electoral setback in the French-speaking province, "will be there for you."

He also spoke directly to a growing sense of Western Canada's alienation within the federation, telling those in Saskatchewan and Alberta provinces: "I've heard your frustration."

The 47-year-old former school teacher dominated Canadian politics over the four years of his first term, but faced a grilling during the 40-day election campaign, which he described as one of the "dirtiest and nastiest" in Canadian history.


Trudeau and Scheer exchanged barbs as attack ads and misinformation multiplied.

Trudeau evoked the bogeymen of past and current Tory parties fostering "politics of fear and division" while Scheer called the prime minister a "compulsive liar," "a phony and a fraud."

Going into the election Trudeau's golden boy image had already been damaged by ethics lapses in the handling of the bribery prosecution of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. His popularity took a further hit with the emergence during the campaign of old photographs of him in blackface makeup.

At one rally, the prime minister was forced to wear a bulletproof vest due to a security threat.

"Trudeau has really lost his halo. It's pretty tarnished," commented Lois Welsh, 77, in Regina, disappointed over the Liberal win.

'Cheap shots' during campaign 

Outside polling stations, Canadians told AFP they had wished for a more positive campaign focused on issues.

"I deplored the cheap shots during the campaign. I think we're better than that," said Andree Legault in Montreal.

In his concession speech, Scheer said, "Canadians have passed judgment on (Trudeau's) Liberal government," noting that the Liberals shed more than 20 seats as well as "support in every region of the country."

"Canada is a country that is further divided," he said, warning that its oil sector, the fourth largest in the world but struggling with low prices and a lack of pipeline capacity, is "under attack."

"We have put him on notice, his leadership is damaged and his government will end soon and when that time comes, the Conservatives will be ready and we will win!"

Some 27.4 million Canadians were eligible to vote in the election, and the turnout was reported to have been large, at almost 65 percent.

A record 97 women were elected to parliament, including Canada's first indigenous attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, who ran as an independent candidate after Trudeau kicked her out of his caucus.

The night also saw Conservative deputy leader Lisa Raitt turfed and Liberal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale lose the seat he held for 26 years.

Scheer, only two years after winning the leadership of his party, struggled to win over Canadians with his bland minivan-driving dad persona and a throwback to the thrifty policies of past Tory administrations.

Social democrats and resuscitated Quebec separatists also chipped away at Liberal support.

The Bloc Quebecois came back from a ruinous 2015 election result, tapping into lingering Quebec nationalism to take 32 seats, while the New Democratic Party (NDP) won 24 seats, according to projections.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, a leftist former criminal defense lawyer, is the first non-white leader of a federal political party in Canada, and will likely emerge as kingmaker.

Michel Mercer in Montreal said he voted for the Liberals, but only to keep the Tories at bay.

"I would have voted NDP but I didn't want to see the Conservatives in power," he told AFP.

The Green Party, hopeful for a breakout, meanwhile managed to add only one seat, bringing its tally to three.

source: philstar.com

Top seed Nadal surges into ATP Montreal quarterfinals

MONTREAL, Canada – Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal defeated Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday (Friday, Manila time) to reach a second straight quarterfinal at the ATP Montreal Masters.

The Spaniard improved to 36-8 in Canada as he seeks his fifth title at the event.

Nadal will be competing in his ninth quarter-final in Canada after advancing on his fourth match point. Argentina's Pella saved three Nadal match-winners in the penultimate game.

source: philstar.com

Greek teen upsets Djokovic in Rogers Cup

TORONTO — Greek teen Stefanos Tsitsipas upset Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 on Thursday in the Rogers Cup (Friday Manila time).

The 19-year-old Tsitsipas broke the ninth-seeded Serb's serve early in the third set and held serve from there to reach his first career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarterfinal.

"I feel very proud for me, myself, and my country. I'm putting Greece more deep into the map of tennis," Tsitsipas said. "I'm pretty sure I'm making my family proud, all of those people that are watching, my coach, my father. It was a very emotional win. I've never felt so many emotions after a victory."

Djokovic, a four-time Rogers Cup champion, faded late on a warm, breezy afternoon at Aviva Centre on the York University campus.

"Losing in this kind of tournament, it's not something I don't care about," Djokovic said. "It really frustrates me. But I have to accept it, deal with it, and move on. ... He just played better in the decisive moments. I had my chances to come back in the third set when I dropped my serve at 15-40. An easy forehand. I missed it, but that's sport. You have to deal with these kind of situations."


Tsitsipas set up match point with a scorching cross-court winner before completing the victory in 2 hours, 17 minutes.

"I knew he had some issues in some particular shots in his game, I would say. So I was waiting and I grabbed him like a bulldog and stuck there and executed, I executed my plan," Tsitsipas said. "I knew that at some point he's going to break, and I just patiently waited for this moment and it happened."

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal beat Swizterland's Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a night match delayed by rain late in the first set. Nadal, playing his first event since losing to Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals, will face sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia.

"Very positive victory for me against a very tough opponent," Nadal. "That's what I needed, a match like this to be a little more confident. Just happy to be in the quarterfinals."

Cilic beat 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.

Tsitsipas will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, the defending champion coming off a tournament victory last week in Washington that included a semifinal win over Tsitsipas. The 21-year-old Zverev beat Russia's Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 for seventh straight match win and tour-high 43rd of the year.

"I feel physically pretty well. I feel like I'm playing well," Zverev said. "I get into a rhythm of playing matches one after another, and right now, I'm in that rhythm."

Fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa and fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria set up another quarterfinal. Anderson topped qualifier Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 7-5, 6-3, and Dimitrov beat American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (4).

In the other quarterfinal, Karen Khachanov of Russia will play Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Khachanov beat eighth-seeded John Isner of the United States 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), and Haase topped Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-2.

source: philstar.com

Trudeau does not back down on rights defense in Saudi spat

OTTAWA, Canada — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday refused to apologize for calling out Saudi Arabia on its human rights record, after Riyadh said it was considering further punitive measures against Ottawa over its criticisms of the kingdom.

Tensions have been high between the two countries since Monday, when Riyadh expelled Canada's ambassador, recalled its own envoy and froze all new trade and investments.

Riyadh also said it will relocate thousands of Saudi students studying in Canada to other countries, while state airline Saudia announced it was suspending flights to Toronto.

The kingdom was angry at Ottawa for openly denouncing a crackdown on rights activists in Saudi Arabia.

But on Wednesday, Trudeau stood firm.


"Canada will always speak strongly and clearly in private and in public on questions of human rights," he said.

"We do not wish to have poor relations with Saudi Arabia," he added, saying Ottawa recognizes that Riyadh "has made progress when it comes to human rights."

Trudeau noted that his foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, had "a long conversation" on Tuesday with her counterpart Adel al-Jubeir to try to resolve the dispute.

"Diplomatic talks continue," he said.

On Wednesday, Saudi state media said the kingdom has nevertheless also stopped all medical treatment programs in Canada and was working on transferring all Saudi patients there to other countries.

Further straining ties, the Saudi central bank has instructed its overseas asset managers to dispose of their Canadian equities, bonds and cash holdings "no matter the cost," the Financial Times reported.

But in an apparent effort to safeguard its economic interests, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said the dispute will not affect state oil giant Aramco's clients in Canada.

Saudi oil supplies are independent of political considerations, Falih was quoted as saying by state media.

'Matter of national security'
Last week, Canada sparked fury in Riyadh by calling for the "immediate release" of rights campaigners, including award-winning women's rights activist Samar Badawi, the sister of jailed blogger Raif Badawi.

That arrest came after more than a dozen women's rights campaigners were detained and accused of undermining national security and collaborating with enemies of the state.

When asked about the jailed activists, Jubeir on Wednesday reiterated the government's stance that they had been in contact with foreign entities, but did not specify the charges against them.

"The matter is not about human rights, it is a matter of national security," Jubeir told reporters.

"Saudi Arabia does not interfere in the affairs of Canada in any way. Therefore, Canada must correct its actions towards the kingdom."

Jubeir ruled out mediation as a way to put an end to the row.

"There is nothing to mediate," he said.

"Canada made a big mistake... and a mistake should be corrected."

Jubeir added that Saudi Arabia was "considering additional measures" against Canada, without elaborating.

Experts have said the Saudi move illustrates how the oil-rich kingdom is increasingly seeking to use its economic and diplomatic muscle to quell foreign criticism under its young de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In Canada, there was disappointment that major Western powers including the United States — a key ally of Saudi Arabia — have not publicly come out in support of Canada, though it is not the first country to be targeted for speaking up.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Stockholm over criticism by the Swedish foreign minister of Riyadh's human rights record.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Arabia was scaling back its dealings with some German companies amid a diplomatic spat with Berlin.

The move came after Germany's foreign minister last November remarked that Lebanon was a "pawn" of Saudi Arabia after the surprise resignation of its Prime Minister Saad Hariri while in Riyadh.

source: philstar.com

Airliners collide at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, passengers safe

TORONTO – Dozens of passengers were evacuated from an aircraft at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Friday, after a plane under tow struck an arriving jet that was waiting to park, sparking a small fire, the airport authority said.

Fire and emergency services responded to the collision between the two planes from Sunwing Airlines and Westjet Airlines, which happened at 6:19 p.m. (2319 GMT), the Greater Toronto Airport Authority said in a statement.

Calgary-based Westjet said it had unconfirmed reports of “minor injuries” in the incident, but that all 168 passengers and six crew members on board its plane were safe and accounted for.

The jet, a Boeing 737-800, had just arrived in Toronto from the resort of Cancun, Mexico, and was waiting to proceed to the gate at the time of the collision, Westjet said

Sunwing, part of the privately held Sunwing Travel Group, said there were no passengers or crew onboard its plane at the time of the collision, and that the aircraft was being towed by ground handler Swissport International Ltd.

A spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board, Canada’s transportation regulator, said that a team was headed to the airport to investigate.

source: interaksyon.com

Canadian pharmaceutical billionaire, wife found dead in Toronto

TORONTO —  Canadian police said they were investigating the mysterious deaths of the billionaire founder of Canadian pharmaceutical firm Apotex Inc, Barry Sherman, and his wife, Honey, who were found dead in their Toronto mansion on Friday.

The two were found dead after police responded to a medical call just before noon (1700 GMT) at their home in an affluent section of northeast Toronto.

“The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and we are treating it that way,” said Constable David Hopkinson. Homicide detectives later told reporters gathered outside the home that there were no signs of forced entry.

Two bodies covered in blankets were removed from the home and loaded into an unmarked van on Friday evening. The property is listed for sale for nearly C$7 million ($5.4 million).

Sherman, 75, founded privately held Apotex in 1974. He stepped down as chief executive in 2012, but remained as executive chairman. Forbes has estimated his net worth at $3.2 billion.

Apotex employs 11,000 people and is the world’s No. 7 generic drugmaker, according to its website.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said in statement that he was “shocked and heartbroken” to learn of the deaths, and noted the couple had made extensive contributions to the city.

“Toronto Police are investigating, and I hope that investigation will be able to provide answers for all of us who are mourning this tremendous loss,” he said.

Other politicians echoed that sentiment.

“I am beyond words right now,” Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins said in a tweet.“My dear friends Barry and Honey Sherman have been found dead. Wonderful human beings, incredible philanthropists, great leaders in health care. A very, very sad day.”

Apotex says it is the largest Canadian-owned pharmaceutical firm, with annual sales of more than C$2 billion. It has operations in more than 45 countries, including the United States.

source: interaksyon.com

Canada's oil sands must be phased out - Trudeau

OTTAWA, Canada -- Canada must "phase out" Alberta's oil sands and end the country's dependence on hydrocarbons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.

"We can't shut down the oil sands tomorrow. We need to phase them out," he said. "We need to manage the transition off our dependence on fossil fuels."

He was responding to a question at a town hall event about his decision in late November to authorize an increase in the capacity of two oil pipelines in the country's west.

Upgrading them will increase Canada's export capacity by nearly a million barrels a day.

"You can't make a choice between what's good for the environment and what's good for the economy," he said about reconciling the fight against climate change with economic growth.

Canada is the world's sixth-largest oil producer.

However, Trudeau is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet the requirements of the United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change, which Canada has ratified.

The prime minister last year announced a national carbon tax effective in 2018.

It was supported by the province of Alberta, where the country's petroleum industry is concentrated.

But the prime minister's latest remarks on oil sands have prompted a furious response from the conservative opposition.

"If Mr. Trudeau wants to shut down Alberta's oil sands, and my hometown, let him be warned: He'll have to go through me and four million Albertans first," said Brian Jean, leader of Canada's hardline conservative Wildrose Party, who formerly represented Fort McMurray, Alberta's oil capital, in Parliament.

Environmental activists are highly critical of projects involving oil sands because of their economic and environmental costs. Oil locked in the subsoil of the boreal forest must be extracted by a long, polluting and energy-intensive process.

The oil is profitable only when global prices are high. Two major oil companies, Shell and Statoil, pulled out of the Canadian oil sands late last year.

source: interaksyon.com

Leonard Cohen, music’s poetic visionary, died in his sleep after fall

Songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen died in his sleep after a fall in his Los Angeles home in the middle of the night, his manager has said.

“The death was sudden, unexpected, and peaceful,” his manager Robert Kory said in a statement published on the Cohencentric website.

Cohen, music’s man of letters whose songs fused religious imagery with themes of redemption and sexual desire, died on Nov. 7. He was 82. No cause was given for his death when it was announced three days later on his Facebook page.

Cohen has been buried in Montreal in an unadorned pine box next to his mother and father, his son Adam said on Facebook on Sunday.

“As I write this I’m thinking of my father’s unique blend of self-deprecation and dignity, his approachable elegance, his charisma without audacity, his old-world gentlemanliness and the hand-forged tower of his work,” Adam Cohen wrote.

Born into a Jewish family in 1934 and raised in an affluent English-speaking neighborhood of Quebec, Cohen read Spanish poet Federico García Lorca as a teenager – later naming his daughter Lorca. He learned to play guitar from a flamenco musician and formed a country band called the Buckskin Boys.

Cohen moved to New York in 1966 at age 31 to break into the music business. Before long, critics were comparing him with Bob Dylan for the lyrical force of his songwriting.

Although he influenced many musicians and won many honors, including induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada, Cohen rarely made the pop music charts with his sometimes moody folk-rock.

His most ardent admirers compared his works to spiritual prophecy. He sang about religion, with references to Jesus Christ and Jewish traditions, as well as love and sex, political upheaval, regret and what he once called the search for “a kind of balance in the chaos of existence”.

Cohen’s most famous song, “Hallelujah,” in which he invoked the biblical King David and drew parallels between physical love and a desire for spiritual connection, has been covered hundreds of times since he released it in 1984.

Cohen’s other well-known songs include “Suzanne,” “So Long, Marianne,” “Famous Blue Raincoat” and “The Future,” an apocalyptic 1992 recording in which he darkly intoned: “I’ve seen the future, brother/It is murder.”

source: interaksyon.com

INFERNO GROWING | Canada fire 'out of control,' could double in size

FORT MCMURRAY, Canada - A ferocious wildfire wreaking havoc in Canada could double in size Saturday, an official warned, cautioning the situation in the parched Alberta oil sands region was unpredictable and dangerous.

"This remains a big, out of control, dangerous fire," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said of the raging inferno the size of London that forced the evacuation of the city of Fort McMurray.

Some 1,570 square kilometers (600 square miles) had been devastated since the blaze began almost a week ago and the fire had grown by an additional 50 percent in less than 24 hours, Goodale told a televised news conference.

"There is one prediction -- that if it continues to grow at the present pace, it could double today," he warned.

But "there would not appear to be imminent danger to another community."

The situation remains highly worrying regardless, Goodale indicated.

"It looks like the weather in and around Fort McMurray will still be, sadly, very conducive to serious burning conditions," he said.

"The situation remains unpredictable and dangerous."

Alberta's government crisis cell warned that fire conditions remained extreme in the province due to low humidity, high temperatures and gusty winds.

Still, in a glimmer of positive news, authorities have recorded no fatalities directly linked to the blaze so far, the minister said.

Shuttling to safety

In the latest harrowing chapter, police convoys shuttling cars south to safety through Fort McMurray -- now a ghost town -- resumed at dawn Saturday morning.

Making their way through thick, black smoke, the cars were filled with people trapped to the north of the city, having sought refuge there earlier in the week.

Police, wearing face masks, formed convoys of 25 cars, with kilometers (miles) of vehicles, smoke swirling around them, patiently awaiting their turn.

With elevated risk that something could go wrong, the convoys along Highway 63 were reduced in size compared to the previous day.

Those being evacuated -- for a second time, after first abandoning their homes -- had fled to an area north of the city where oil companies have lodging camps for workers.

But officials concluded they were no longer safe there because of shifting winds that raised the risk of them becoming trapped, and needed to move south to other evacuee staging grounds and eventually to Edmonton, 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the south.

Some 2,400 vehicles have so far been able to make it to safety.

Oil company Syncrude, one of several in the region, announced Saturday that it had shut down its facility 50 kilometers north of Fort McMurray due to smoke.

"In order to ensure the safety of our personnel and the integrity of our operations, we are taking all units offline in a safe and orderly manner," it said.

But "there is no imminent threat from fire."

Escape route

Security camera footage from the inside of one family's home underscored the speed at which the blaze could overcome any stragglers. Thick grey smoke filled the living room within 30 seconds, while flames quickly ate away a wall.

Among the first evacuees to reach Wandering River, a hamlet about 200 kilometers south of Fort McMurray, Margarita Carnicero said she had feared for her life on the journey to safety.

"It was a terrible experience," she told AFP, sitting in her dust-covered SUV alongside her teenage daughter Michelle. "I was afraid, but I tried not to show it (so as) not to frighten my daughter."

"With all of the smoke, the trip was hard on the lungs," said Greg Stengel, an oil company employee who also joined the convoy.

The government has declared a state of emergency in Alberta, a province the size of France that is home to one of the world's most prodigious oil industries.

Alberta has been left bone-dry after a period of unusually scant rainfall and unseasonably high temperatures.

Slashed oil output

More than 1,100 firefighters are battling 45 separate blazes across the province -- six of them totally out of control, including three in and around Fort McMurray.

Oil companies crucial to the region such as Suncor, Syncrude and Shell have pulled out non-essential employees, and analysts said the three have slashed output by a total of a million barrels a day.

The cuts amount to around a quarter of the country's entire production, and one-third of Alberta's, and mean a loss of tens of millions of dollars per day in income.

source: interaksyon.com

The Best Student Credit Cards of 2016

These days, if you want to be able to buy a house later or get a good deal on your insurance rates, you need good credit. One of the easiest ways to build good credit is with the help of a credit card. If you are responsible in your use of credit, making occasional purchases and paying them in full before you are charged interest, you can build a good credit history.

The best student credit cards in Canada help those who have little to no credit established themselves. You can start building a financial reputation with the right credit card. Below are the best credit cards for students.


Scotiabank SCENE VISA Card – You can build your credit and earn cool movie rewards with the SCENE VISA card. Earn one point for each dollar you spend anywhere, and redeem those points for movie admissions and concessions. You can earn extra points (five for each dollar spent) at participating Cineplex locations.

There is no annual fee with this student credit card, and you get 2,000 bonus points with your first SCENE VISA card purchase. That’s enough for up to two free movies. Buy what you normally would, pay off the balance, and then get your entertainment for free. (Full Review)


MBNA Rewards Student Awards Card – This is a very straightforward credit card that can be used to build your credit history while earning rewards. You receive one point for each dollar that you spend. The MBNA Rewards Student Awards card also provides you with 1,000 points after your first purchase, and you get 1,000 bonus points each year on your cardmember anniversary. Points are flexible, and can be redeemed for merchandise, travel, cash back, and even charitable donations.

This card comes with no annual fee. You are also not capped on how many rewards points you can earn. The interest rate is 19.99% for all transactions from purchases to balance transfers to cash advances.


Scotiabank L’earn VISA Card – Earn up to 1% back every year with the L’earn VISA Card from Scotiabank. There is a tiered rewards system, starting at 0.25% cash back and working up to 1%. If you use your card wisely, though, paying for things you would buy anyway, it’s possible for you to earn rewards quickly and get that cash back faster.

There is no annual fee with this credit card, which means that you don’t have to worry about extra costs. The interest rate is 19.99% on purchases and 21.99% on cash advances and balance transfers. You can also get special discounts with various partners. Scotia bank also offers student credit tips for free so that you can learn how to best manage your credit card. You need to apply for this card at a branch, or by calling 1-888-882-8958.

source: canadianfinanceblog.com

West thumps East in Kobe Bryant’s final All-Star Game

The West All-Stars breezed past the East All-Stars, 196-173, to conclude the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend festivities that set the stage for a fitting tribute to retiring superstar Kobe Bryant.

The annual showcase played in Toronto, Canada for the first time centered on Bryant who played in a record 18th All-Star appearance. A video montage showing the highlights of his 20-year career was showed before the game in a ceremony em-ceed by Lakers great Magic Johnson.

“I just want to thank you guys for all your support all these years,” Bryant told the “Ko-be!” chanting crowd.

“I’ve just been extremely fortunate to play the game I love and be in the NBA for over half my life.”

“He’s the Michael Jordan of our era,” said Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, an Eastern All-Star who like Bryant hails from Philadelphia.

“He’s the most competitive a lot of us have played against. And the things he’s done throughout his career and the things he’s done to change the game and motivate other players is unbelievable.”

Bryant, the top vote-getter in the All-Star Game, finished with 10 points, six boards and seven assists as his younger counterparts stole the spotlight.

Russell Westbrook won the NBA All-Star MVP award for the second straight year after piling up 31 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

“We were just playing lockup defense at the end,” said Russell, although for the most part defense wasn’t part of the program at the Air Canada Centre, where the annual exhibition was being held outside US borders for the first time.

Reigning NBA MVP scored 26 points, Anthony Davis had 24 while Kevin Durant and James Harden each had 23 markers. Chris Paul also collected 16 assists to go along with 14 points.

East’s Paul George top-scored the game with 41 points, one shy of tying the record for the most points made in an All-Star Game.

He just missed the All-Star single-game record of 42 points set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962.

It was a night of soaring dunks and long-range bombs all adding up to unprecedented numbers.

The 369 total points was an All-Star Game record, as was the West’s 196 total and their 104 points in the second half.

The Western Conference made a record 31 three-pointers — including seven apiece from Westbrook and James Harden and six from Curry.

source: interaksyon.com

4 dead in Canada school shooting, suspect caught

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Four people were killed and others injured in a school shooting in a remote part of Saskatchewan on Friday and a male suspect is in custody, Canadian police said.

Officials have not given a motivation for the shooting in La Loche, about 600 km (375 miles) north of the city of Saskatoon.

"Obviously this is every parent's worst nightmare," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who initially reported five people were killed. He was in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States. In the country's worst school shooting, 14 college students were killed at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique in 1989. A shooting in 1992 at Concordia University in Montreal killed four.

The latest shooting occurred in the high school, called the Dene Building, and another location in Saskatchewan, Trudeau and Canadian police said.

Police took the suspect into custody outside the school and seized a gun.

La Loche acting Mayor Kevin Janvier told the Canadian Press the incident may have started at the suspect's home.

“I’m not 100 percent sure what’s actually happened but it started at home and ended at the school," Janvier said.

Among Canada’s provinces, Saskatchewan had the highest rate of police-reported family violence in 2014, double the national rate of 243 incidents per 100,000 people, according to a Statistics Canada report on Thursday.

Extra doctors and nurses were sent to treat patients in Keewatin Yatthe Regional Health Authority's 16-bed hospital, said spokesman Dale West. He declined to say how many people had been injured.

Teddy Clark, chief of the Clearwater River Dene Nation, said his daughter told him about the shooting, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

"We're just trying to pull together here and make sense of all this," Clark told CBC television. "It's not a very pretty scene right now."

La Loche student Noel Desjarlais told the CBC that he heard multiple shots fired at the school, which has about 900 students.

"I ran outside the school," Desjarlais said. "There was lots of screaming, there was about six, seven shots before I got outside. I believe there was more shots by the time I did get out."

A cellphone video taken by one resident and broadcast by the CBC showed students walking away from the school across the snow-covered ground and emergency personnel moving in.

In 2014, a teacher expressed concern about violence at the La Loche school, noting that a student who had tried to stab her was put back in her classroom after serving his sentence, and another attacked her at her home.

"That student got 10 months," Janice Wilson told the CBC of the student who tried to stab her in class. "And when he was released he was returned to the school and was put in my classroom."

source: interaksyon.com

New ‘Star Wars’ sets $57 million opening night record

LOS ANGELES | “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has set a new opening night record in the United States and Canada and was poised to become one of the biggest grossing movies ever, industry experts said Friday.

The latest instalment of the highly anticipated space epic raked in $57 million dollars for its opening night Thursday, beating the previous record — $43.5 million — held by “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ in 2011.

“This represents a new record for the industry and portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracker Rentrak.

The “Harry Potter” film holds the all-time record for opening day at $91 million, but the new “Star Wars” is expected to also force it out of that slot.

Overall, “The Force Awakens” has grossed some $130 million dollars worldwide since it opened overseas on Wednesday, setting records in Britain, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

Analysts predict that the seventh instalment of the iconic space saga, which cost Disney an estimated $200 million to produce, could score the biggest opening weekend ever and could even become the biggest film of all time.

The opening weekend record is currently held by “Jurassic World” which premiered earlier this year to $208.8 million at the box office.

As far as all-time box office sales, two films by James Cameron hold the record — “Avatar” ($2.78 billion) and “Titanic” ($2.18).

“The potential for ‘The Force Awakens’ to ultimately break into the $2 billion club worldwide is certainly in the realm of possibility,” Dergarabedian said.

Added Jeff Bock, box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations: “As far as breaking records go, it’s the strongest candidate weve seen in a long, long time.

“It might join the $2 billion club worldwide, and maybe, just maybe, be the highest grossing film of all-time.”

Disney, which bought the rights to the “Star Wars” franchise from its creator Georges Lucas for $4 billion in 2012, has built up the hype around “The Force Awakens,” rolling out a well-orchestrated marketing campaign that has left fans wanting more.

Early reviews of the movie have given it a thumbs up, and three more instalments are due in the coming years.

“The Force Awakens” picks up the intergalactic story of good versus evil 30 years on from “The Return of the Jedi,” the finale of the original trilogy.

The trio of heroes who appeared in the first of the blockbusters in 1977 — smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and her twin brother Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) — are all back and played by the actors that Star Wars first made famous.

The film is being screened in 4,134 theatres in North America, a record for a December opening.

source: interaksyon.com

Canada's Trudeau topples PM Harper in stunning election win

MONTREAL/CALGARY - Canada's Liberal leader Justin Trudeau rode a late campaign surge to a stunning election victory on Monday, toppling Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives with a promise of change and returning a touch of glamor, youth, and charisma to Ottawa.

The Liberals seized a Parliamentary majority, an unprecedented turn in political fortunes that smashed the record for the number of seats gained from one election to the next. The Liberals had been a distant third place party in Parliament before this election.

Harper conceded defeat, ending his government's nine-year run in power and the 56-year-old's brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism.

Trudeau, 43, the photogenic son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, pledged to run a C$10 billion annual budget deficit for three years to invest in infrastructure and help stimulate Canada's anemic economic growth.

This rattled financial markets ahead of the vote and the Canadian dollar weakened on news of his victory.

Trudeau has said he will repair Canada's cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State militants in favor of humanitarian aid and training, and tackle climate change.

Trudeau vaulted from third place to lead the polls in the final days of the campaign, overcoming Conservative attacks that he is too inexperienced to govern to return to the Prime Minister's residence in Ottawa where he grew up as a child.

"When the time for change strikes, it's lethal," former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in a television interview. "I ran and was successful because I wasn't Pierre Trudeau. Justin is successful because he isn't Stephen Harper."

The Conservatives were projected to become the official opposition in Parliament, with the left-leaning New Democratic Party in third.

Liberal supporters at the party's campaign headquarters broke into cheers and whistles when television projected that Trudeau would be the next prime minister.

Top Trudeau advisor Gerald Butts tweeted "Amazing work #TeamTrudeau. Breathtaking really."

The Conservatives weren't the only party that appeared headed for a crushing defeat. The third place left-leaning New Democratic Party's fall was highlighted in Quebec, where it had the majority of its seats.

Radio Canada projected it would end up with just seven seats, down from 54 in the last Parliament.

The Liberals' win marks a swing toward a more multilateral approach in global politics by the Canadian government, which has distanced itself from the United Nations in recent years.

The former teacher took charge of the party just two years ago and guided it out of the political wilderness with a pledge of economic stimulus and stirring appeals for a return to social liberalism.

Trudeaumania again?

Born to a sitting prime minister who came to power in 1968 on a wave of popular support dubbed "Trudeaumania," Trudeau will become the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history and brings an appeal more common in movie stars than statesmen.

Pierre once jumped from a trampoline into the crowd. With boyish good looks, Justin thrusts himself into throngs and puts his hand to his heart when listening to someone.

Selfie requests are so common he happily takes the camera and snaps the photo himself, often cheek to cheek. He is the married father of three young children.

Criticized for being more style than substance, Trudeau has used attacks on his good looks and privileged upbringing to win over voters, who recalled his father's rock-star presence and an era when Canada had some sizzle on the world stage.

Pierre Trudeau, who died in 2000, was in power for 15 years - with a brief interruption - and remains one of the few Canadian leaders to be known abroad.

Single when he took power, the elder Trudeau dated movie stars and models before marrying. He had three boys while prime minister, the eldest of whom now succeeds him in the nation's top office.

Financial market players had praised the Conservative government for its steady hand in economic management, which had spared Canada the worst of the global financial malaise. Trudeau has also promised to raise taxes on high-income Canadians and reduce them for the middle class.

Political pundits have already began to speculate on the makeup of a Trudeau government while pondering what caused the downfall of Harper, 56, who has been criticized for his aloof personality but won credit for economic management in a decade of global fiscal uncertainty.

(Writing by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Amran Abocar and Alan Crosby)