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/ 14 August 2006

Empower women to fight Aids, says Gates

The power to prevent HIV should be put in the hands of women, who depend on men to use a condom and can’t always choose to abstain, Bill Gates told thousands of delegates to the International Aids Conference in Toronto on Sunday. ”We need tools that will allow women to protect themselves,” Gates said.

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/ 13 August 2006

Federer joins Gasquet in Toronto final

World number one Roger Federer fended off a tenacious challenge from Fernando Gonzalez on Saturday, downing the 15th-seeded Chilean 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 to reach the Toronto Masters Series final. It wasn’t exactly the Federer Express, but the top-seeded Swiss finally chugged into his 17th straight ATP final — a streak dating back to his semifinal exit at Roland Garros in 2005.

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/ 12 August 2006

Federer battles into Toronto semifinals

Roger Federer battled through to the Toronto Masters semifinals with a 7-6 6-7 6-3 win over Xavier Malisse on Friday. Playing his first event since claiming his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, the world number one has yet to slip into a comfortable rhythm and for the second consecutive night was taken to three sets.

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/ 11 August 2006

‘Hungry people can’t eat Aids messages’

Good nutrition could be the only available life-prolonging alternative to people living with HIV/Aids in rural areas, a senior officer for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Thursday. He said the South African Department of Health can ”do more and do better” when it comes to fighting HIV/Aids.

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/ 10 August 2006

Federer eases through in Toronto

Top seed Roger Federer and number four Ivan Ljubicic swept through into the third round while American James Blake fell flat to exit on an off-day at the Toronto Masters on Wednesday. Federer, playing his first event since winning his fourth straight Wimbledon title a month ago, rolled over Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 6-3.

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/ 27 July 2006

Red-faced spellcheck firm corrects own spelling

A company that sells software to correct irritating internet spelling mistakes has reissued its latest news release to correct a minor snafu. ”It’s very embarrassing,” said Pat Brink, public relations consultant for the Toronto-based company. ”I made the mistake, not TextTrust — they do a much better job, It’s certainly egg on the face of this public relations person.”

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/ 3 May 2006

Da Vinci Code popularity a sign of trouble for religion

A new documentary film screened this week in Toronto about author Dan Brown’s hugely popular The Da Vinci Code reveals a widespread dissatisfaction with organised religion, the director told Agence France-Presse. ”This was a spiritual road trip, a search for meaning,” said Emmy award-winning veteran director Jonathan Stack at the packed screening of his film Secrets of the Code.

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/ 24 March 2006

Lord of the Rings musical opens

The curtain rose in Toronto on Thursday night on an epic musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings that has taken four years to produce, features 55 actors, 500 pieces of armour and 17 elevators, and cost about -million — making it almost certainly the most expensive stage production in history.

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/ 26 November 2005

Zoo finds hidden red panda

The Toronto zoo has recovered a red panda that had escaped its pen and evaded capture for more than a month by blending in with Canada’s colourful red maple leaves, officials said on Friday. The nine-year-old animal was found by a gardener this week sitting in a tree about 2km away, healthy, but a bit thinner.

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/ 6 October 2005

16 dead in mysterious flu outbreak in Canada

Health officials were still struggling on Thursday to discover an unknown virus that claimed 16 lives at a Toronto retirement home in recent weeks, according to officials. ”We’re still trying to find the source of the outbreak,” said a spokesperson for the Toronto Public Health Authority. ”And, we may never know. In almost half of such cases the actual strain is never identified.”

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/ 3 August 2005

Passengers escape death as plane crashes in Toronto

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.

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/ 2 August 2005

Air France jet crashes in Toronto

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.

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/ 29 June 2005

Canada legalises gay marriages

Canada became the third country to legalise gay marriage on Tuesday, as Parliament passed landmark legislation allowing same-sex civil unions despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other nations that allow gay marriage nationwide.

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/ 26 May 2004

Cardoso’s killer fetches up in Toronto

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.