A Canadian company has put an ice-breaking ship, suitable for navigating icebergs and the often frozen waters of the Arctic, up for sale for a cool one million dollars. The sale of the unusual vessel by the Newfoundland-based Burry group will be conducted on the internet auction site Ebay.
Television cameras captured dramatic images of an Air France passenger jet in flames moments after the packed plane apparently skidded off a runway and fell into a ravine on Tuesday night. Steve Shaw, a vice-president of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, said there were no fatalities among the 297 passengers and 12 crew on board the plane.
De Beers announced on Tuesday that it will team up with Canada’s Cameco Corporation to look for uranium for the first time in the far North. De Beers will allow Cameco to search its Aberdeen Lake property in the eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut for the mineral that is becoming increasingly valuable.
An Air France passenger jet skidded off the end of the runway and burst into flames after landing in a thunderstorm at Toronto’s Pearson International airport on Tuesday, media reports said. There were up to 200 passengers on the jet on the Paris-Toronto flight, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other media.
Dozens of urbanised black bears are making life uncomfortable for residents of the coastal mountain suburbs of Vancouver in Canada’s westernmost province of British Columbia. The number of complaints against black bears in north Vancouver has reached an all-time high of 1Â 200 so far this year, four times the number conservation officers received last year.
A team of divers is searching at the bottom of the Baie des Ha! Ha! in north-eastern Canada for 800kg of cheddar sunk by an entrepreneur hoping to revolutionise cheesemaking. Dairy owner Luc Boivin was inspired by a fisherman’s tale to dunk 10 barrels of cheddar into the water to test the effects of cool temperatures and high pressure.
Australian Grant Hackett became the first swimmer to win four world titles in the same event on Sunday as he claimed his fourth straight 1 500m freestyle crown at the 11th World Swimming Championships. He had already triumphed in the 400m freestyle and had a world-record-breaking victory in the 800m freestyle.
Ian Crocker avenged his Athens Olympic defeat in the 100m butterfly with a world-record-setting victory over fellow American Michael Phelps on Saturday at the 11th World Swimming Championships. South African Roland Schoeman continued to display blistering form as he posted the second-fastest 50m freestyle time to date to capture that crown.
Aaron Peirsol and Leisel Jones became the latest world record-breakers at the 11th World Swimming Championships on Friday. America’s Peirsol lowered his own world record to win his third straight 200m backstroke world title in a time of one minute and 54,66 seconds. Jones won the women’s 200m breaststroke in 2:21,72.
Italian Filippo Magnini became the second-fastest 100m freestyle swimmer in history on Thursday, winning the coveted title in a blistering 48,12 seconds at the 11th World Swimming Championships. Magnini fended off the formidable challenge of South Africans Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling, who finished second and third.
The great predators of the seas — tuna, swordfish, marlin and others — could be on the way out. Canadian researchers who surveyed the catches from ocean fishery ”hotspots” warn that not only are numbers in decline, but also the variety of species in any region.
Australian distance great Grant Hackett added the 800m freestyle world record to his resume in scintillating fashion on Wednesday to claim the gold at the 11th World Swimming Championships. ”I feel like it was probably a perfectly swum race,” said Hackett, who opened an early gap on his rivals and relentlessly extended it.
Michael Phelps left failure in his wake on Tuesday, winning his first individual gold medal of the 11th World Swimming Championships in the 200m freestyle. Phelps’s roller-coaster opening day at the meet included failing to qualify in the 400m freestyle and winning a 4x100m freestyle relay gold.
South African veteran Roland Schoeman and United States newcomer Jess Hardy surprised themselves with world-record performances at the 11th World Swimming Championships on Monday. Schoeman broke the 50m butterfly world record for the second time in as many days as he captured the gold in 22,96 seconds.
Michael Phelps recovered from a stunning failure in his first event of the World Swimming Championships to lead off a dominating United States victory in the 400m freestyle relay on Sunday. South Africa’s Roland Schoeman set the first world record of the meet in the semifinals of the 50m butterfly.
Veteran Laura Wilkinson and youngster Chip Peterson made sure the United States wouldn’t have to wait for the arrival of superstar Michael Phelps to strike gold at the 11th World Swimming Championships. Wilkinson won the women’s 10m platform diving and Peterson captured the men’s 10km open-water swimming title.
Alexandre Despatie gave Canada another gold medal to celebrate at the World Swimming Championships when he won the 3m springboard title on Tuesday. The Montreal resident was cheered loudly, especially for earning two perfect marks of 10 on his third dive. American Troy Dumais earned the silver.
Canada’s Blythe Hartley led all the way in winning the 1m springboard title at swimming’s World Championships on Monday night. It was Canada’s second medal, and first gold, in as many days. Hartley easily outdistanced silver medallist Wu Min Xia of China, preventing the Chinese from a possible sweep of diving gold medals.
Germany’s Thomas Lurz fended off a tenacious challenge by American Chip Peterson on Sunday to win the men’s 5km open-water gold medal at the 11th World Swimming Championships. Russia’s Larisa Ilchenko claimed the women’s 5km crown. They were the first medals awarded as competition got under way on Sunday.
The ripples of the 2004 Athens Olympics will still be felt when the 11th swimming World Championships open in Montreal on Sunday. Several of the sport’s superstars — including Australian Ian Thorpe — are taking the post-Olympic year off, while others — such as Michael Phelps — have chosen instead to refocus their efforts.
Team chief Ron Dennis was angry and happy at the same time on Sunday night as he celebrated Kimi Raikkonen’s victory for McLaren in the Canadian Grand Prix and disputed the disqualification of his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. For Raikkonen, who saw Alonso crash out while running at the front, it was some consolation for suffering a similar fate in the previous race at the European Grand Prix.
Africa’s chief negotiator for the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety has been denied entry into Canada to attend meetings to finalise key provisions regarding the international movement of genetically engineered organisms. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the Ethiopian government’s chief scientist, had his passport returned without the requested Canadian visa on Wednesday despite previous visits to Canada.
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/ 25 February 2005
Canadian wildlife officers are tracking smugglers in the macabre slaughter and mutilation of 40 bald eagles, which has shaken aboriginal people on Canada’s west coast. The first dead birds were discovered on February 2 by a woman walking her dog on the reserve of the Burrard Indian band, a forested area across an ocean inlet from Vancouver, in British Columbia.
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/ 18 December 2004
Santa Claus is coming to town … and in these uncertain times, he’s being offered a jet-fighter escort. Canadian pilots seconded to the North American Aerospace Defence Command, who normally spend their nights scouring the skies for intruders, will scramble on Christmas Eve for a special mission.
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/ 9 December 2004
Canada’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that government plans to allow same-sex marriage are constitutional, in a landmark ruling in the long battle for equal rights for gays and lesbians. The government had asked the court to examine its Bill before it enters Parliament, a step expected to follow early next year.
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/ 18 September 2004
Dane Squires was late for his own funeral. At least it seemed that way after people gathered on Thursday at a Toronto funeral home to mourn the retired welder, whom they believed had been hit by a train. Relatives were watching the casket being loaded into a hearse when his daughter was told she had an important phone call.
An earthquake measuring 6,2 points on the Richter scale struck Vancouver Island off the Pacific coast of Canada early on Monday, but caused little damage and no known casualties. ”We have no report of damage” from the temblor, said Brad Fraser, spokesperson for the city’s police department.
The escaped killer of a Mozambican journalist who exposed the country’s biggest bank fraud has requested refugee status in Canada, a Justice Ministry official said on Tuesday. Officials in Mozambique earlier said that Anibal Antonio dos Santos, alias Anibalzinho, was arrested by Interpol at Toronto airport.
A Vereeniging family have won a five-year battle to live in Canada because three of them suffer from a potentially fatal skin condition which makes them allergic to sunshine. The ruling means that Johannes and Margharetha Viviers can finally settle down in the Canadian fishing port of Prince Rupert, which is known for its dreary weather and overcast days.
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/ 15 January 2004
The Grand Seminaire de Montreal, a Catholic seminary, will this year begin requiring all men who apply to study to become priests to take an HIV test.
Researchers have identified two separate cases where ARV-resistant HIV was transmitted up to three years after the virus developed its resistance.
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/ 14 January 2003
A Canadian judge began hearing evidence on Monday to decide whether a pig farmer should stand trial on accusations he is the country’s worst serial killer.