Robbie Williams is planning to splash out on a life-size sculpture of his wife. The singer, who had that controversial "Rock DJ" music video in 2000, wants a statue of actress Ayda Field for the garden of his Mulholland Drive home in Los Angeles and has even made plans to follow it up with sculptures of the couple's beloved dogs.
A source told the Sun newspaper: "Robbie likes the idea of a tour of his gardens telling the story of his life since moving to L.A. Ayda is a big part of that, along with his reunion with the band. It's a wacky idea but, knowing Rob, will be something he gets stuck into. He's even thinking of having copies of their dogs made. Some people have garden gnomes, Robbie wants copies of his real life family."
Mr. Williams isn't the only person to spend cash money on expensive art. Mark Owen has reportedly spent $31,000 on a painting by a British artist to celebrate his 40th birthday.
The source added: "Mark bought a painting by a London street artist called Bambi. It's of an 80-year-old woman called Mrs. Welsh, who is a character in a trendy part of London. Mark is really into urban art and has some other pieces from top UK talent. He's become a serious collector."
Does anyone really listen to the Spice Girls anymore? Some people still have their CDs from the late 90s.
The Spice Girls look set to reunite for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The 'Wannabe' group, who were formed in 1994 and went on a hiatus in 2000 before reforming again for a comeback tour in 2007, look like they're set to get back together to mark the British monarch's 60th year on the throne later this summer after band member Melanie Brown revealed some "top secret" information.
When asked if the group, who are made up of Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Mel Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Melanie Brown, were going to reform for the 2012 London Olympics, she said in an interview on Australian TV: "I think the Queen's Jubilee concert is the event I'd be looking at more closely for that to happen."
However, she quickly changed the subject after realizing she had made the omission and after the show she admitted it was all "top-secret" information still.
According to The Sun newspaper, Ms. Brown told the TV crew off-air: "I am going to be in such strife for saying that. It's all so totally bloody top-secret still."
She also recently admitted she would "love it" if the Spice Girls went on tour again and wouldn't rule out the possibility of the 'Spice Up Your Life' hit-makers performing at the 2012 Olympics.
That would be... interesting.
When asked if the group would be keen to play at the sporting spectacle, she replied: "I would never say never. I think it's possible. I'd love it if we got back together and got to go on tour."
The Edmonton Police Service has ticketed nearly 780 people for distracted driving in their first four months enforcing Alberta's new law. Almost all of those tickets, at 94%, were for inappropriate cellphone use behind the wheel.
Acting Staff Sergeant Barry Maron said that motorists can expect to see a crackdown in February on drivers trying to text, groom themselves or eat snacks while they navigate city streets or idle at red lights.
Up until now, Sergeant Maron said, police were not actively looking for distracted drivers. If they noticed distracted driving in addition to another offence or an egregious case of inattention, officers would issue a ticket. But they were not specifically looking for multi-tasking drivers.
"We believe it was one of those things that the public needed time to get their head around," Maron said. "It takes a long time to change your habits. Even myself, four months later, when the phone rings, you feel like you want to answer it."
Under legislation that came into effect on September 1, 2011, drivers are prohibited from talking or texting on a hand-held cellphone, personal grooming, reading or writing. Drivers are still allowed to use a cellphone if it is hands-free.
The fine distracted driving is $172. Revenue from those tickets is split between the city and the Government of Alberta.
From September to December, Edmonton police also issued 884 tickets for careless driving, which carries $402 fine and six demerit points.
Two senior Credit Union Centre managers have been fired over a trip to Arizona where there was more than $7,000 of "inappropriate" spending, the chair of the organization's board says.
The former employees, Brian Swidrovich, who was Director of Business Development, and Will Antonishyn, who was Director of Finance and Ticketing, have filed lawsuits in which they claim an October trip to Phoenix was one of several trips that included looking into sponsorship, event production, relationship building and the possibility of a Canadian Football League franchise and stadium for Saskatoon.
In separate statements of claim filed Monday, the gentleman both say that the trip was approved by the executive director at the time, Ken Wood, who retired before he went on the Arizona trip.
The trip, which was taken with two others not identified in the statements of claim, was also to "provide recognition" and "solidify the relationship with these individuals," says Mr. Swidrovich's statement of claim against defendants Credit Union Centre and board chair Rich Gabruch.
"The trip taken was consistent with past trips with the same individuals," the statement of claims indicates.
The trip was used to "deal with issues that were of direct value and importance" to the Credit Union Centre, the plaintiffs have indicated.
The Credit Union Centre, formerly Saskatchewan Place, is owned by the City of Saskatoon.
The centre is overseen by a board of directors that includes the mayor, two city councillors and members of the community.
The October trip included flights, meals and "club seats" to a National Football League game, says Mr. Gabruch, chair of the CUC board of directors, in an interview yesterday morning before the suits were filed. There was more than $7,000 spent, he says.
"There was some inappropriate spending that had occurred," Mr. Gabruch says. "Once (a review) was completed, it was determined that termination was reasonable."
The review showed the expenses, charged to a Credit Union Centre credit card, "were not for Credit Union Centre business or City of Saskatoon business," Mr. Gabruch says.
Larry Seiferling, the lawyer for the two terminated gentleman, said that the trip was approved by the executive director at the time, Mr. Wood, who retired in September and was replaced by Will Lofdahl.
"They were just following all the past practices," Mr. Seiferling says. "The approval came from the executive director (who) had been approving this exact same trip for two years. This was not a trip that was first taken this year. The court will decide whether the trip was appropriate or not, and I have no doubt they will find that these guys, the guys that went on the trip, were just doing what they've always done. So why were they let go for it? I understand that a new guy can change rules, but you have to tell these people. You can't fire them for it. That's really the issue."
In the claim, the plaintiffs say that Mr. Gabruch knew about the trip and there were "at least two occasions" to tell the employees it was "inappropriate" prior their leaving.
Mr. Gabruch said he was not aware of the trip until afterwards.
Mr. Antonishyn and Mr. Swidrovich, employees of the Credit Union Centre since 1988 and 1994, respectively, were never disciplined during their tenure with the organization, the statements of claim say.
The trip was planned in 2010, one of the statements of claim says. It "carried many of the same business objectives as the approved client appreciation trips taken in prior years and was based on previously approved sponsorship objectives and plans."
Investigating the possibility of a CFL team and stadium for Saskatoon was a "secondary objective" of the trip, the claims say. In Mr. Antonishyn's statement of claim, he says he still believed looking into a CFL franchise for Saskatoon was viable because he was asked about it when he interviewed for the CUC executive director position in September.
"(Venue) observations pertained to the possibility of a CFL franchise and stadium project," for Saskatoon, the plaintiffs say.
Do you live in Love, Saskatchewan or Saint-Valentin, Quebec? Well, if you do, your local post office offers unique postmarks for your outgoing mail. So, if you sent someone a letter to someone in Saskatoon, or anywhere in the world, the local post office/postmaster will apply a unique postmark to your mail consisting of Cupid, or hearts.
Canada Post says that the Love and Saint-Valentin post offices will usually postmark twice as much mail as usual at this time year. This is similar to Christmas Island during the holidays.
Sweet deal... if only I had someone to send a Valentine too, then I'd take advantage of this cool service.
For the first time in about 20 years, Canadian singer Bryan Adams will be touring his home country.
The singer, best known for hits like "Straight from the Heart," and "(Everything I do) I Do It for You," hasn't toured Canada since 1992, when he went on that "Waking Up the World" tour.
Mr. Adams will be performing 20 shows in 20 different cities beginning April 11, 2012. This will be his first full-blown arena tour in 20 years.
Mr. Adams has toured six continents and has reached #1 in over 40 countries.
I bet Mr. Adams would be an interesting political opponent to the Conservative government... they could use the being-away-from-Canada-for-XX-years thing against him too!
A former justice minister is considering a run for mayor as speculation surrounding Saskatoon's 2012 civic election begins to build nine months before the vote is called.
"If I decide that I'm going to do something, I'll decide within the next month or two," said former NDP cabinet minister Frank Quennell, who was defeated in Saskatoon-Meewasin in last year's provincial election after serving eight years.
Mr. Quennell said he's considering a run for the mayor's chair or a seat on city council and says he has been approached by a number of backers to consider municipal politics. The election is on October 24, 2012.
"I haven't ruled anything out," Mr. Quennell said in a brief interview recently. "I've talked to a lot of people on the doorstep and you hear a lot about people's concerns about municipal issues. It's had me thinking about what can be done differently and better."
Mr. Quennell joins a growing list of potential candidates. Retired NDP stalwart Pat Atkinson, twice-defeated mayoral candidate Lenore Swystun and former mayor Henry Dayday, who was defeated after 12 years in office in 2000, continue to weigh the possibility. Mr. Dayday has been building support for a potential campaign focused around improving core services such as road maintenance and has questioned city financing in opinion pieces and letters to council since last year.
Mayor Don Atchison was elected for a third term in November 2009 with 58% of the vote, while runner-up Lenore Swystun took 38%. If re-elected for a fourth term, Mr. Atchison would be in line to break Mr. Dayday and Cliff Wright's record as longest-serving mayor in Saskatoon's history because of a legislative move to four-year terms.
Councillor Darren Hill said he will run in the election, but declined to say if he was running for mayor or to retain his Ward 1 council seat. Mr. Hill was defeated running for the Liberals in Saskatoon-Humboldt in last year's last federal election, finishing in third with eight per cent of the vote.
"I'm running for Saskatoon city council," he said. "All I'm saying is I'm running."
Mr. Hill said that the opposition to those seeking re-election will come from people pushing a back-to-basics platform with the Mendel Art Gallery move and opposition to the $84-million Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan coming to the fore again.
"The community is more than just pot holes and garbage and snow removal, all of which we've improved. You have to have an arts and culture program," Mr. Hill said.
A number of incumbent councillors have indicated they will seek re-election, including Tiffany Paulsen, Randy Donauer, Ann Iwanchuk, Mairin Loewen, Pat Lorje and Bev Dubois. Mr. Atchison said in his year-end interview in December he would seek-re-election.
Councillor Charlie Clark said that he is still weighing his options, as is Councillor Myles Heidt, who would face off again against Sean Shaw in what was the closest ward race in the 2009 civic election.
"I'll know by Easter," Mr. Heidt said.
At least four candidates are lining up in Ward 8, where Councillor Glen Penner is considering retirement, and 10 candidates have confirmed to The StarPhoenix they are running in ward races.
The high level of interest this early could reverse a trend toward declining participation evident in the last municipal elections. In total, 28 candidates ran in 2009 and three councillors were acclaimed. By comparison, 75 people ran in the 1988 election, 67 in 1994, a record-low 27 in 1997, 32 in 2000, 44 in 2003 and 32 in 2006.
Mr. Penner would retire as the second-longest serving councillor in Saskatoon's history, roughly 50 days shy of John Cairns' record 26 years. He said the iron-man streak has no bearing on his decision.
"I feel as though I need to make a final decision within the next month or so," Mr. Penner said. "But I have not yet made a final decision. (The longest-serving councillor record) would be the last reason why a person should seek re-election. A person's health and enthusiasm, whether you still feel the way you can represent the citizens."
Mr. Quennell, a lawyer, would not yet comment on what his platform could centre around.
"I don't want to start a debate I'm not willing to finish," he said.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's surge ahead of rival Newt Gingrich continues in the polls, one day before Florida's primary election. The former Massachusetts governor has an average lead of almost 12 points on the ex-House speaker in opinion polls.
The other hopefuls, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, have abandoned campaigning in Florida, making it in effect a two-man race. The contenders are vying to oust Barack Obama from the White House in November.
Primaries and caucuses will be held in every U.S. state to pick a Republican candidate until the eventual winner is crowned at the party's convention in August. Mr. Gingrich scored a resounding victory in South Carolina's primary earlier this month, but his momentum has since been stymied in the face of a Romney fight-back.
Both candidates are crisscrossing Florida in a final hunt for votes. A Quinnipiac University opinion poll published on Monday found that Mr. Romney had a 14-point lead over Mr. Gingrich, by 43% to Mr. Gingrich's 29%.
"If this margin holds up tomorrow, it's hard to see where Gingrich goes from here," Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown told the Reuters news agency.
Several surveys released on Sunday gave Mr. Romney a lead of between 5-16 points.
However, Mr. Gingrich vowed to continue his campaign in the "Sunshine State" and beyond, attacking Mr. Romney's conservative credentials.
"On big philosophical issues, he is for all practical purposes a liberal and I am a conservative and that's what this fight is going to be about all the way to the convention," he told CBS News on Monday.
At least 1,114 delegates are needed to win the Republican nomination at the August convention. In Florida, there are 50 delegates are at stake.
"This race is just getting started," Martin Baker, Mr. Gingrich's national political director, told reporters, saying there was "a long way to go" before the nomination was decided.
The former House speaker also campaigned with former President Ronald Reagan's son Michael on Monday, hoping to strengthen his campaign's ties to the revered Republican leader's legacy. But talking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Romney cast doubt on the Mr. Gingrich campaign's talk of staying in the race for the long haul.
"That's usually an indication that you think you're gonna lose," said Mr. Romney. "When you say 'I'm gonna go on no matter what happens', that's usually not a good sign."
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum left Florida over the weekend to be at the hospital bedside of his three-year-old daughter, who has a rare genetic condition. Rather than return to Florida, he will campaign in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and Nevada over the next two days.
Libertarian Texas congressman Ron Paul, meanwhile, is already focusing on Nevada.
Mr. Gingrich picked up the endorsement on Saturday night of former rival Herman Cain, who dropped out of the Republican race in December. The former House speaker is portraying himself as the only viable conservative in the race.
Mr. Romney has struggled to dispel misgivings among some Republicans about his political record as governor of the liberal state of Massachusetts and his Mormon faith.
In the past, Mr. Romney has adopted a pro-choice stance on abortion, switched positions on gay rights and pushed through a healthcare reform in Massachusetts that was the template for President Obama's overhaul of the system nationally.
The next contest after Florida will be Nevada on Saturday.
Well-known anti-drunk driving speaker Norbert Georget died last Tuesday from a stroke. Mr. Georget was known for his ability to reach schoolchildren and teens in motivational presentations under his banner of 'Smart Youth Power Assembly.'
He began giving the talks in his spare time more than 20 years ago and the demand became so great that he gave up his career as one of the first paramedics in Saskatchewan, said Dave Dutchak, owner of MD Ambulance, where Mr. Georget had worked.
Mr. Georget travelled extensively in Canada and the United States where he spoke with thousands of students, many of whom sent him emails expressing the change in attitude they experienced toward drinking and drug use.
A group of 44 senators, all but one Republican, have signed on to proposed legislation that would authorize the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline despite the refusal of U.S. President Barack Obama to advance the project.
Republican Senator John Hoeven is set to introduce the bill today that, if passed into law, would allow work to begin immediately on all but the sensitive Nebraska portion of TransCanada's $7 billion controversial project.
It's not yet clear how the bill will advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the lone Democrat to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill, but other Democratic senators have in the past expressed support for the project.
Mr. Obama put the pipeline on the backburner earlier in January, saying the administration needed more time to review the environmental impact in Nebraska, where the state government is evaluating a new route after rejecting an initial plan that sent the line through a sensitive aquifer region. The bill, led by Mr. Hoeven, Richard Lugar and David Vitter, incorporates an environmental review done by the U.S. Department of State, and allows Nebraska time to find a new route.
"It will create thousands of jobs, help control fuel prices at the pump and reduce our reliance on Middle East oil," Mr. Hoeven said in a statement.
Environmentalists pushed for Mr. Obama to block the pipeline because they believe oil-sands crude is a bigger polluter than other grades of oil. They have also accused TransCanada and its supporters of inflating job creation numbers from the project.
Mr. Obama has not rejected the project altogether, and TransCanada has said it plans to apply for another presidential permit. However, that process would stretch beyond the 2012 election.
The new Senate bill, which would require Mr. Obama's signature to become law, would bypass Mr. Obama and instead allow Congress approve the project. A study by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said Congress has the constitutional right to legislate permits for cross-border pipelines.
The Department of State has said authority for the pipeline should stay with the administration because of the foreign policy, economic, environmental and safety issues involved.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives also are considering legislation to advance the project. House Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday that Keystone legislation could be included in a highway and infrastructure bill that Congress will consider in February.
If Congress were in the same parliamentary system as Canada, the bill would be passed by now.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved a rate increase for SaskTel customers in high cost served areas. Those are areas serviced by SaskTel outside of the Saskatchewan's nine largest urban areas.
The decision affects approximately 144,000 customers.
"The rate increase was essentially required by the CRTC decision that mandated high cost serving area (HCS) rates need to increase to $30 per month across the country by June 30, 2013, in order to reduce the amount these rates are subsidized from the National Contribution Fund," SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles said in a press release.
In 2007, the CRTC reduced the amount of subsidy SaskTel received to provide local service in HCSA and in 2011, released a decision allowing the rates to increase to $30 per month in three equal installments.
Rates will increase from seven cents to $2.03 per month on February 1, 2012, depending on the customer's current rate and will be applied retroactively to a customer's bill beginning on May 1, 2012.
There will be two additional increases after that (on June 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013). The third increase will bring the rate up to $30 per month.
After the third increase, rates may be increased by inflation starting in 2014. SaskTel claims the increase will be revenue neutral for the company.
Ian Ambercrombie, the classically trained British stage actor best known to American TV audiences as Elaine Benes' nutty boss Mr. Pitt on Seinfeld, died of a heart attack on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 77 years old.
Mr. Abercrombie appeared on several other U.S. TV shows. He played the 800-year-old Professor Crumbs on Wizards of Waverly Place and a butler on Desperate Housewives, and made guest appearances on Twin Peaks, Dynasty and Days of Our Lives.
He appeared in a number of movies, including Stalag 17, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and The Prisoner of Zenda, with Peter Sellers.
He did voiceover work in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties and Rango, and had completed Green Lantern for the Cartoon Network just before he died.
As Mr. Pitt in Seinfeld, he was known for his obsession with socks and quirky habits like eating candy bars with a knife and fork.
Former GOP (Republican) presidential candidate Herman Cain has decided to endorse the thrice-married Newt Gingrich after dropping out of the race for the party's presidential nomination. This development occurs after Rick Perry dropped out of the race and also endorsed Newt Gingrich.
Since then, polls have shown that he is losing ground against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in Florida, even as Mr. Gingrich has gained a lead in national surveys.
"I had it in my heart and mind a long time," Mr. Cain said of his endorsement, appearing with Mr. Gingrich at a Republican fundraiser. "Speaker Gingrich is a patriot. Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas."
Mr. Gingrich joked, "I had no idea it would be this interesting an evening."
Mr. Cain is the latest in a series of popular conservative figures to back the former House speaker, while much of the GOP establishment is marshaling against him. Among Mr. Gingrich's other recent supporters are former Alaska governor Sarah Palin; his onetime presidential rival, Texas Governor Rick Perry; and former senator Fred Thompson from Tennessee.
Mr. Cain's own presidential bid ended in November amid allegations of sexual harassment and marital infidelity. However, the former Godfather's Pizza executive had ridden a wave of popularity prior to that scandal with his signature "9-9-9" tax reform plan and a charismatic and confident conservatism that found broad appeal among tea party-friendly activists. At the peak of his popularity, Mr. Cain was attracting thousands of supporters to his rallies and earning cheers and applause in his folksy debate performances.
He remains popular today among grassroots conservatives. He demonstrated particular popularity in Florida, where he earned a surprising win of a straw poll last summer (and launched his dramatic, if short-lived, rise to the top of the field).
Since he left the race, Mr. Cain has been quiet about whom he would endorse; last week, he said he was planning to endorse "We The People."
Although Mr. Gingrich needs any boost he can get in Florida, the timing of the endorsement was odd (too late to make the evening television newscasts, and sandwiched before the release of a new NBC/Marist poll showing a widening lead for Mr. Romney).
Mr. Gingrich said he hopes Mr. Cain will co-chair a commission to lead the policy discussion on the economy and taxes. He compared the idea to his request that Mr. Perry lead a commission on the 10th Amendment, which he proposed when Mr. Perry endorsed him in advance of last weekend's South Carolina primary.
"I realize that as a co-chair of a commission like that, there would be a little thing called 9-9-9 that would be brought in and put on the table. So I fully expect that," Mr. Gingrich said.
Are you looking for a piece of pre-presidential history? Do you have $1 million sitting around? Well, if you do, someone's got a deal for you.
A 2005 Chrysler 300C that was once leased by U.S. President Barack Obama when he was a U.S. Senator is up for sale on eBay.com. The opening bid is $1 million, and no less, apparently.
CNN reports that Chicago-area resident Lisa Czibor, who describes herself as a "life-long Ronald Reagan old-school conservative" is selling the car. She did not disclose how she managed to acquire the car that currently has just 20,800 miles (around 34,000 kilometres) on it.
Despite her best efforts, experts don't believe Ms. Czibor will get any near the $1 million she seeks at auction. For example, the hearse that John F. Kennedy following his 1963 assassination recently sold for $160,000. And the Kelly Blue Book value for a comparable car is only around $15,000.
Craig Jackson, president of Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction Company in Scottsdale, Arizona told CNN: "Maybe this car would be worth $50,000 to $100,000."
This kind of shows you how lame Mr. Obama's tastes in cars is...
Effective Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Alaska Airlines passengers who need a moment of prayer will have to bring their own materials. The airline announced on January 25, 2012 that they will stop serving a side of Psalms via a trio of prayer cards with their first-class meal trays.
"This difficult decision was not made lightly. We believe it's the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees," reads an email sent to customers from Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer and Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden. "Some of you enjoy the cards and associate them with our service. At the same time, we've heard from many of you who believe religion is inappropriate on an airplane."
The cards have been a part of Alaska Airlines flights since the 1970s (and were a feature that they swiped from Continental). However, they have only been a first-class perk since 2006 after meal service was cut for passengers traveling in coach.
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin took to Facebook to express her displeasure with this turn of events.
"It feels so odd that some may be offended by a little card with an encouraging non-denominational verse from the Psalms, but how often do we hear complaints about tawdry ads or billboard images flashing at us everywhere we turn?," Ms. Palin writes, seemingly unaware that being "from the Psalms" actually makes them Judeo-Christian specific. "People of faith and common decency just shrug and move on from the constant assault on their sensibilities; we don't call for censorship -- at least I don't.
"So, why in this day and age must every reference to faith in God be censored from the public square? Why must a private company buckle under pressure from a handful of people who find a little card saying 'the Lord is my shepherd' offensive? I'm sure there are many more people who appreciate the cards, or at least are ambivalent about them."
The former vice presidential candidate also sent an email to Alaska Airlines, asking for them to reverse their decision:
"It's come to my attention that the cards may be discontinued due to a few who are offended. I really hope this is just a rumor. Please remain strong and courageous in the face of a cultural trend that wants to wage war on any positive thing that a few may construe as offensive. The Alaska Airlines tradition should be looked upon as an all-American, hopeful, encouraging gesture. Please don't discontinue the cards."
Last week, Alaska Airlines announced a frequent-flier partnership with the Dubai-based airline Emirates, but deny that the discontinuation of the prayer cards is in any way related.
"Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice," say Mr. Ayer and Mr. Tilden.
Starbucks aims to open 50 outlets in India by the end of 2012, through a 50-50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, the companies said Monday. Tata Starbucks Ltd., as their venture is known, hopes to capitalize on the rising aspirations (and fattening wallets) of many Indians, who are eager to partake of the global latte life.
"What we are seeing is an evolution in lifestyles," said R.K. Krishnakumar, vice chairman of Tata Global Beverages. "In some ways the distinctions between the developed world and the developing world are blurring."
He said the partners would initially invest 4 billion rupees ($80 million), with the first outlet to open in Mumbai or New Delhi by September. Long known as a nation of tea drinkers (despite a rich tradition of coffee in the south), India has embraced coffee house culture with a vengeance.
Last year, India had 1,600 cafes, up from just 700 in 2007, according to Technopak Advisors, which expects India's $170 million cafe market to grow 30% a year, adding up to 2,700 more outlets over the next five years.
"We're going to move as fast as possible in opening as many stores as we can so long as we are successful and so long as we are embraced by the Indian consumers," said John Culver, president of Starbucks China and Asia Pacific.
Unusually, the stores will be cobranded "Starbucks Coffee: A Tata Alliance."
The companies will also develop a tea for the Indian market under the Tata Tazo brand.
Last January, Starbucks signed an agreement with Tata Coffee, a unit of Tata Global Beverages, to source and roast coffee beans in India. The alliance with Tata could help ease one of the main burdens for retailers in India: the high cost of real estate.
Mr. Krishnakumar said that the joint venture would open outlets at properties owned by group companies, for example at the Taj chain of luxury hotels.
Mr. Culver said the company would also look at opening outlets in shopping malls, office parks, universities, airports and train stations.
The alliance will also help Tata Global Beverages expand its international footprint. All coffee beans for the cafes in India will be sourced from Tata Coffee, which also hopes to ramp up exports to regional Starbucks outlets, Mr. Krishnakumar said. He said other Tata Beverage brands, like Himalayan water, should also find their way into Starbucks outlets globally.
Mr. Culver said that Starbucks did not consider trying to open stores itself in India, despite the government's recent decision to allow foreign companies to operate single-brand retail outlets without a local partner. A storm of populist fury forced Parliament to pull back a parallel proposal that would have allowed multi-brand retailers, like Wal-Mart, to open retail outlets with local partners.
"We never considered 51%," Mr. Culver said. "When we looked at the opportunity to enter India, understanding the complexities of the market and the uniqueness that is India, we wanted to find a local business partner."
Starbucks currently operates over 17,000 stores in 57 countries.
Its India venture will face competition from existing players like Cafe Coffee Day, which dominates the market.
Technopak founder Arvind Singhal said India's flourishing cafe culture has less to do with coffee than a social need for clean, safe gathering places for young and old alike, who often live in cramped quarters.
"India doesn't have too many places for people of any age to just go out," he said. "It's not about a coffee culture. It's a gathering place where people can sit and meet."
He added that Starbucks' entry, however much delayed, is likely to fan competition and speed the proliferation of coffee shops. It could also help boost flagging investor confidence in India. "It's almost like an endorsement that India's still a good story," he said.
Three members of a Montreal family have been imprisoned for life after a jury found them guilty of murdering four other family members in a crime the judge called "cold-blooded, shameful murders" based on a "twisted notion of honour."
Mohammad Shafia, 58, his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, were each found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder after a jury deliberated for 15 hours. The verdicts came after a three-month-long trial that heard from 58 witnesses.
Hamed appeared to collapse onto the front railing of the prisoner's box as the verdicts were announced. His father, standing next to him, put his hand on his shoulder and then on top of his head. Ms. Yahya appeared to begin crying.
"You have each been convicted of the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family," Judge Robert Maranger, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said before he passed sentence. "It's a verdict clearly supported by the evidence presented at this trial. It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime.
"There is nothing more honourless than the deliberate murder of, in the case of Mohammad Shafia, three of his daughters and his wife, in the case of Tooba Yahya, three of her daughters and a stepmother to all her children, in the case of Hamed Shafia three of sisters and a mother.
"The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your twisted notion of honour, a notion of honour that is founded upon the domination and control of women, a sick notion of honour that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
Judge Maranger imposed the mandatory sentences of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
All three accused protested innocence when given a chance to speak in the courtroom.
Coincidentally, their relatives support the notion of "honour killings," according to this report.
It could be a monumental week for Facebook, the wildly successful social network, which may file for its initial public offering in the coming days (rumour has it that it will be Wednesday). The IPO, which is expected for the second quarter, could raise as much as $10 billion and could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal is reporting (anything less than $75 billion would be seen as a disappointment).
Such sky-high expectations will make the challenges for Facebook's CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, that much harder. Anytime a start-up grows up and goes public, it means a host of extraordinary leadership demands, from wrestling with how to incent and reward employees so the stock price doesn't take on too much weight, to struggling with retaining overnight millionaires who have been critical to the company's success thus far.
Facebook's IPO is on such a grand scale (if it raises $10 billion, it will be the fourth largest in U.S. history), dwarfing the $1.9 million Google raised in 2004. This could very well exacerbate the challenges for Mr. Zuckerberg and his team.
Mr. Zuckerberg recently said that he worries about the short-term focus of Silicon Valley enough that if he were to start Facebook again, he'd consider doing so in Boston. In recent years, he has brought in executives like Sheryl Sandberg from Google and Ted Ullyot from AOL Time Warner to help with the company's maturation while keeping it from losing its start-up feel. When he hired contractors to renovate a 57-acre campus for the company's employees to move into, he retained the company's no-office, un-partitioned spaces and chose architects and designers who could give the space a "casual eclectic," "random," and "idiosyncratic" feel.
At the same time, Mr. Zuckerberg appears to be readying himself with a realistic outlook for what he faces as a public company. Company executives have been practicing with dummy scripts for earnings conference calls. Its CFO has been professionally auditing its financial statements, and Mr. Zuckerberg is shifting his own focus as CEO toward the much longer term.
As he told The Wall Street Journal, "We want to be operating in a way that we're working towards this longer vision of where we think the world should be."
With just 3,000 employees, Facebook is relatively small for the $4 billion in revenues it brings in, and the new campus can only scale to 3,600 without getting approval from the local city council. If Mr. Zuckerberg is forced to scale (at least in headcount at headquarters) just a little more slowly, that could help Facebook retain a smaller feel. There is nothing quite like extra layers of management and needless levels of hierarchies to make a place feel corporate and slow.
Still, the most critical thing that Mr. Zuckerberg will need to do to keep Facebook from feeling too big too fast will be setting up the right incentives and retaining some of his best veteran employees. Some will leave, without question, emboldened by their massive riches and ready to take on new challenges or start their own future "Facebooks of the world." Those who are motivated to stay will do so because they continue to feel challenged, appreciated and motivated by a culture that remains focused on innovative products rather than the whatever-the-price profits.
The companies that store the data of millions of MegaUpload users plan to start deleting their accounts as early as Thursday. The site was shut down on January 19, 2012 following the arrest of seven men, including the company's founder Kim Dotcom, in New Zealand on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.
MegaUpload employs Virginia-based storage companies Carpathia Hosting Inc. and Cogent Communications Group Inc. to store data uploaded by its users for a fee, but has not met its payment obligations because the government has frozen the firm's assets.
Both companies filed a letter in U.S. court on Friday stating they will likely begin wiping data on Thursday.
MegaUpload attorney Ira Rothken said that the company is working with prosecutors to try to keep the data of at least 50 million users from being erased.
Aside from its value to customers, the data is critical to MegaUpload's defence in the legal case, he said.
"We're cautiously optimistic at this point that because the United States, as well as MegaUpload, should have a common desire to protect consumers, that this type of agreement will get done."
The FBI is seeking to extradite founder Kim Dotcom and three other men from New Zealand to the United States to face charges of conspiring to commit racketeering, conspiring to commit money laundering, copyright infringement, and aiding and abetting copyright infringement over the internet through the website MegaUpload.
Now that the website is shut down, was there really a need to hold on to the user information? Similarly, the personal information of customers that Blockbuster Canada Co. had before, is likely gone, according to court documents I remember reading during their receivership proceedings.
Cell phones really can be distracting. A lot of accidents have occurred because someone was talking on their cell phone while they were driving, and the RCMP here in Saskatchewan has recently expressed anger/frustration with those who are distracted behind the wheel.
A number of studies have looked into whether or not hands-free devices are a safer alternative. There are many systems available, from headsets to speakerphones, but are they any safer?
Recent research is showing that the conversation itself, is just as dangerous as using a handset.
Ray Klein, a psychology professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, has studied reviews of the available research.
"When people are using a hands-free phone they tend not to make that compensatory adjustment in speed," Dr. Klein told the CBC. "They go at least as fast if not faster than an individual simply carrying on no conversation on a phone.
"So, they're distracted. Their reaction times are slower," he added.
Dr. Klein explained that many drivers believe they can multi-task, but talking and driving at the same time is not like walking and chewing gum at the same time.
Obviously, it's just better not to talk at all when driving.
The era of "Big TV," or vast cable television packages made up of scores of channels, appears to be ending. Remember when you could get hundreds of channels for a higher price? Those days appear to be over.
As programming costs climb while more nimble and cheaper Internet-based competitors encroach, the future of Canada's television distribution business will instead be based on more customizable tiers, many have begun to say.
The challenge the $8.1-billion industry must master is in creating the right mix of product and price to protect the comfortable margins the old model has produced.
Erosion in the existing model doesn't appear to be imminent, though.
Montreal-based Cogeco, the fourth-largest cable provider in the country, reported better-than-expected subscriber additions to its premium digital television service while also posting gains in basic cable. Indeed, asked by one analyst whether the company saw any downsizing of packages by customers who may be augmenting television viewing by going online -- called "cord-shaving" as opposed to "cord-cutting" -- Mr. Audet said no. "We don't see that right now."
However, trends are undoubtedly changing. Rate increases have hummed along for the past decade, up another 6% to an average $59.73/month in 2010, according to the latest data from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Consumers have begun seeking refuge, some through regulatory complaints others via new Internet alternatives.
Regulators at the CRTC have been spurred to action, telling the biggest providers, including Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc., they must report back by April 1, 2012 on measures they will take to give consumers greater flexibility.
"Canadians enjoy watching programs online as it gives them the freedom to effectively pick and pay for what they want," Konrad von Finckenstein, the commission's then-chairman, said last fall. "They find it difficult to accept that their cable and satellite television providers do not offer similar choice and flexibility."
Failing "significant strides" being made, hearings will follow as well as "regulatory action," he warned.
Mr. Audet predicted a full transition to slimmer tiers"to take many years," but added, "you have to start now." The possible end-game is the introduction of "a la carte" packages that allow customers to select individual channels.
Prices may not budge, however. To start, there will be heavy resistance from broadcasters to stop "tied selling" or grouping less-popular channels with top-performing ones. Even if it does happen, rates will simply elevate for popular networks.
George Cope, chief executive of BCE, now the owner of the largest broadcaster in Canada in CTV, has said if a la carte is adopted, he will increase rates on popular channels to offset lost revenue.
"It is price versus volume. It is not more complicated than that," he told a Scotiabank investor conference recently. "It is our job to manage that price as the market changes and that's what we're going to do."
The greater likelihood is for smaller basic packages to be introduced that allow customers to layer on optional channels more easily, something already being done to a limited extent by Bell and Vidéotron Ltée. in Quebec.
Pared-back tiers have been introduced in the United States, albeit on a limited basis. Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable, the two largest distributors in that country, now offer basic "value" packages that strip out sports specialty channel ESPN and other popular but expensive networks, for example.
That's a shame...
Will cable and satellite companies be out of business? It may happen, but they still have time to adapt to technological changes. Bandwidth caps on the Internet are one way... so far.
A Calgary woman found badly beaten in a Mexican resort has arrived back in Canada several weeks earlier than expected. Sheila Nabb, 37, suffered severe facial injuries in an attack last week that left her bloodied and unconscious inside an elevator at the Hotel Riu Emerald Bay in the resort town of Mazatlan.
The woman's uncle, Robert Prosser, said that Ms. Nabb was flown back to Calgary late Thursday night.
Yesterday, Mexican authorities said they were examining surveillance footage of the apparent perpetrator, but remain tight-lipped about the probe into the attack. Authorities had not questioned her about the beating on the advice of her medical team, who said the Calgary office manager should be allowed more time to recuperate, said Oralia Rice, minister of tourism for the Mexican state of Sinaloa, in an interview conducted yesterday on behalf of Sinaloa Gov. Mario Lopez Valdez.
Ms. Rice said she could provide little information about the investigation, but confirmed police are reviewing surveillance video footage that reveals a man believed to be responsible for the attack.
She confirmed that Ms. Nabb's husband is not a suspect.
It's not clear if the suspect's identity has been confirmed and if he has been located by state police.
Ms. Nabb, whose jaw is wired shut, was due to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery this week to repair the broken bones in her face, but the operation was delayed after she contracted pneumonia. It was previously expected to be several weeks before Ms. Nabb would be fit to return to Canada.
Ms. Nabb's attack has again raised concerns about the safety of Canadians traveling in Mexico, but travel agents and tourism officials say the attacks on Canadians are rare and isolated.
So far this year, two Canadians have died in Mexico and five have been assaulted, according to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
A retired British Columbia mechanic died earlier this month after being shot by robbers. He'd been living in the country for four years.
Although Mexico is embroiled in a fierce drug war (one that has killed nearly 50,000 people), it still doesn't have the highest homicide rate in the world among popular destination spots, according to the United Nations. A global study examining data from 1995 to 2010 placed the sunny destinations Guatemala, Belize and Jamaica higher on the list than Mexico.
Most of the violence in Mexico is concentrated along its border with the U.S. Canadians continue to flock to Mexico for its all-inclusive resorts, sunny beaches and ruins. Roughly 1.6 million Canadians visited Mexico in 2009, and 1.4 million visited in 2010.
When it comes to figuring out your class requirements for your degree at the University of Saskatchewan, it's usually pretty frustrating for a lot of students, and usually, your only course of action is to speak to an academic advisor.
Now, the school has officially made that a little bit easier for most undergraduate students pursuing their degrees, whether it is a 3-year or 4-year degree.
This week, the school launched an initial version of DegreeWorks, which lists which classes you've taken, and how many more credits you need to fulfill specific degree requirements.
To check out DegreeWorks, log into PAWS. From there, click on the "Academics" tab, and look for a channel that looks similar to this:
Lydia Holden will spend the next six months building a home measured in inches, not feet. Miss Holden, a 22-year-old server at a downtown Italian restaurant, lives in a 300 square-foot attached apartment behind a business in Sutherland, a home smaller than some suburban living rooms.
But compared to her next home, the apartment is a mansion. Miss Holden is building a do-it-yourself 130 ft2 home designed by California-based Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.
The cabin-style home, powered by solar panels and sitting on a utility trailer, will have a living room, a loft bedroom, and a bathroom with a shower and a composting toilet. Instead of a refrigerator, Miss Holden will have an ice box to cut down on power demand. She has just ordered the required nine windows, which came to $3,926, and convinced a college construction program at SIAST Kelsey campus to do the framing, roofing and window installation. The entire project, she estimates, will cost about $23,000.
"I don't want to be in debt," Miss Holden said. "I'm not comfortable living above my means. So I want something small, something to call my own. You look around at these small, wartime slab bungalows and even they are too expensive. You can't find anything less than 600 sq. ft. So I started looking at these and I'll be able to do it without going into debt. I'll be able to bring it with me and be able to live off the grid."
While Saskatoon still has a way to go to rival Vancouver, which boasts tiny "micro-lofts" with fold-up beds, Miss Holden is at the extreme end of a trend toward smaller living. In the past four years, as housing prices have spiked, unit sizes have dropped as developers look to keep prices affordable, but profitable, with escalating land and building costs.
Mark Bucsis, president of Blairmore Landing Development Corp., is promoting the first project approved under the Government of Saskatchewan's Head Start on a Home program, which helps finance entry-level housing across Saskatchewan. His company will build apartment-style condos in west-side Blairmore starting at 500 ft2 and $138,500.
Mayor Don Atchison praised the project at a city committee meeting this week: "These are prices people told us we weren't going to see again," he said.
At Mr. Bucsis' under-construction condominium project in Hampton Village, he tested the market by dividing three, 1,200 ft2 apartments into six 500 ft2 units for $138,500. The units sold out fast with young, single professionals and retired snowbirds attracted by affordability.
"It's how Prairie people are," said Mr. Bucsis, referring to a lesson he learned in a marketing class in university. "Buy the big box of laundry detergent... buy the biggest car - the bigger the better. That's changing."
Saskatoon-based 3twenty Solutions is an example of the change. The company has developed a national reputation for living small, specializing in modular homes and offices that are on average 320 ft2. The group made a successful pitch on CBC's Dragon's Den and can now count famous entrepreneur W. Brent Wilson among its investors.
"There is a shift in thinking. It's about using a little less and still getting more out of the space," said Bryan McCrea, one of the company's founders. "We all say we want to live in 'McMansions,' but there is a trend, especially in a certain demographic, to look at smaller spaces."
Mr. McCrea said his company is in the process of exploring residential opportunities in Saskatoon. There is consideration being given to bringing the small homes to the city. Mr. McCrae believes Saskatoon is ready for the kind of small-scale living his modular homes provide.
"Is the market huge? No, but there is a market there and I don't necessarily think it's being served. We are in the process of trying to take a snapshot of the person who would live in our units. That person is out there and they are coming to Saskatoon," he said.
This would be really cool... if I were living alone.
Several of Italy's consumer groups signed an agreement with Costa Cruises to offer about €11,000 (about $15,000 Canadian) to each of the more than 3,000 passengers aboard the Costa Concordia when it hit a rock and capsized near the Italian island of Giglio on January 13, 2012, a statement from the consumer groups said.
The company has agreed to pay €11,000 for items lost and any psychological damages to each passenger who suffered no physical injuries. In addition, the cost of the cruise and all transportation will be covered. Passengers injured while abandoning the ship will be dealt with individually.
Those who accept the offer must agree to drop all future legal actions against Costa Cruises, according to the agreement. Children will receive the same financial settlement as adults, and passengers will be paid within a week of accepting the offer.
Codacons, a consumer group that did not sign the agreement, recommended that passengers not accept it and urged them to undergo a check to see if they suffered any psychological trauma as a result of the shipwreck, according to Carlo Rienzi, the group's president.
Codacons is collecting names to file a class action suit in Miami against parent company Carnival Plc., requesting €125,000 for each passenger.
A French court has fined perfume giants including Chanel, Christian Dior and L'Oreal €40 million ($53 million Canadian or so) for colluding to keep prices high.
A French court has fined perfume giants including Chanel, Christian Dior and L'Oreal a total of €40 million for colluding to keep prices high.
A Paris appeals court upheld the fine imposed in 2006 by the French competition bureau, which said the companies involved had reached illicit agreements on price fixing, enforced by procedures to monitor prices in outlets and backed up by commercial threats for non-compliance.
Thirteen leading perfume and luxury goods companies were fined: Jean-Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake, Chanel, Clarins Fragrance Group, Hermes, Christian Dior, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Guerlain, l'Oreal, LVMH Fragrance Brands, Sisheido Europe and YSL. Distributors Marionnaud, Sephora and Nocibe were also fined.
In its original ruling, which concerned events between 1997 and 2000, the price bureau said that the companies "had arrangements with distributors to put an end, for each product under the brand name, to any competition between retail outlets for these products."
The agreements saw "price police" ensuring distributors were sticking by the deal, and "pressure and threats of commercial reprisals for those distributors that refused to apply the prices imposed by the brand", it said.
A Saskatoon Cancer Centre doctor who misrepresented his qualifications will be allowed to continue working under supervision. Dr. Assem Sultan El-Sayed was hired as a clinical associate in hematology in 2010, after saying he held a master's of science degree from Cairo University in addition to his genuine medical degree from that university.
No patients were ever at risk because of the falsehood, said Dr. Julie Stakiw, provincial leader of hematology and medical director of the blood and transplant program with the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, of which the Saskatoon centre is one facility.
Dr. El-Sayed was granted a licence based in part upon the document he showed to support his claim of the graduate degree, said Dr. Karen Shaw, registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan.
The misrepresentation came to light when Dr. El-Sayed's degrees were checked by the national credential repository, which confirms the veracity of all internationally educated physicians in Canada, Dr. Shaw said.
The cancer agency placed Dr. El-Sayed on a paid leave of absence in early December. He returned to work on January 16, 2012 after a licencing hearing before the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where his original licence was withdrawn and he was issued one that included a supervision restriction.
Dr. El-Sayed apparently completed the work for a master's degree but never defended his thesis, which is the final step in earning the academic title, Dr. Shaw said. Dr. El-Sayed was hired in June 2010 as a clinic associate and always worked under the supervision of a fully qualified blood specialist, Dr. Stakiw said.
"He had the exact same responsibilities (as now). At no time was he ever the most responsible physician. At no time was he ever in independent practise or had any independent patients of his own. That continues to be the way he practises now," Dr. Stakiw said.
Asked if the falsehood gave Dr. El-Sayed an unfair advantage when he competed for the job, Dr. Stakiw said he brought "a substantial amount of experience" working with stem cell transplant and hematology in Egypt.
"Hematology experience is hard to come by, specifically transplant experience is hard to come by and somebody who's had both the training and experience that Dr. El-Sayed has is the reason why he was hired."
"There's never been a concern about his clinical ability," she said.
The licencing decision is separate from an ongoing disciplinary investigation into the matter.
The cancer agency will decide what, if any, repercussions will result after the college's process is complete, said spokesperson Gladys Wasylenchuk.
Corman Park Reeve Mel Henry is supporting a move to split the rural municipality in two, prompting some to question his leadership. A petition is circulating in the community asking residents to support carving Corman Park into two RMs divided by the South Saskatchewan River. Henry said he is throwing his support behind the petition because he feels dysfunction on the RM council is caused by the competing interests of the east and west sides of the RM, which surrounds Saskatoon and several towns.
"The east-side councillors don't have any interest in co-operating with anything the west side, or the rest of the RM, wants to do so it's possibly best that they go on their own," Mr. Henry said in an interview. "Since we can't expel them, the only thing we can do is take the west side away."
A petition last year led to a referendum that reduced the number of divisions to eight from 11. Some RM councillors fought to halt the change, but the Government of Saskatchewan stepped in and upheld the referendum results.
Frequent clashes on the RM council, and among ratepayers, about its governance are the result of two distinct groups, Mr. Henry said. The west side is more rural-centric and the east side has more hamlets, which creates different wants and needs for ratepayers, Henry said.
"They want to live in the country with all the benefits of living in the city and they want the rest of the RM to pay for it," Mr. Henry said, referring to the east side. He said issues such as paved roads and front-door garbage pickup are examples of the differences.
Division 1 Councillor Perry Ulrich asked Mr. Henry to step down as reeve at a council meeting this week because elected officials should not be promoting the breakup of their own government.
"We're all elected and paid by the ratepayers of Corman Park to provide good governance and to build a strong municipality, not to the support the breakup of the RM," Mr. Ulrich said in an interview.
There are benefits to remaining a large RM, such as economies of scale on infrastructure projects and centralized administration and public works operations, which saves ratepayers money, Mr. Ulrich said.
Mr. Henry said he is not stepping down because he sees no conflict in supporting the RM's split.
"The RM is as it is today, but that doesn't mean that it can't break up," he said. "As the reeve, I represent every division ... If something needs to be done in the RM, I'll be there to get it done."
Mr. Ulrich is not running to retain his council seat in the upcoming election. The election for reeve happens in October.
There are about 8,350 residents within Corman Park's jurisdiction, according to the 2006 census. That number likely increased in the past five years as the RM has seen unprecedented growth and interest in residential and commercial developments in its boundaries.
Lame... wouldn't it be easier if the Government of Saskatchewan just combined that rural municipality with Saskatoon? After all, they have the power to do so.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver can claim one more victory in his food revolution after McDonald's stopped using what he called "pink slime" in its burgers. Yesterday, McDonald's USA announced it was discontinuing the use of ammonia hydroxide in its beef.
The chef had publicly denounced the use of the additive on his show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. He also questioned how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could allow the compound to be used in foods.
Ammonia hydroxide is made of water and ammonia and is used to kill bacteria. Typically, it is used in household cleaning products. On one episode of his show, Mr. Oliver said that beef producers take beef "trimmings" that would normally go to dog food and wash it with the compound until it is fit for human consumption.
"Imagine how happy an accountant is, you just turned dog food into what can potentially be your kids' food," he said on the episode.
Beef Products Inc. produces the beef for McDonald's USA. On its website, the company said that ammonia hydroxide naturally occurs in most foods. The company claims that the use of it in processing beef results in a reduction in bacteria such as e-coli. The website pointed to a 1973 study printed in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition to substantiate its facts.
However, Mr. Oliver campaigned against its use and argued that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should at least force the company to put the compound on the list of ingredients. He further claimed it can be found in 70% of beef in the United States.
Todd Bacon, the senior director of quality systems for McDonald's USA, said in an email that food safety was a top priority for the restaurant, but it was not Mr. Oliver's show that influenced them.
"The decision to discontinue its use was not related to any particular event, but rather a result of our efforts to align our standards for beef around the world," he said.
Karin Campbell, spokeswoman for McDonald's Canada, said the additive had not been used in the burgers in Canada. McDonald's beef in Canada came from Cargill beef producers, a different company from the one used in the United States. She said the only ingredients used in their burgers was 100% beef, salt and pepper.
Charlie Sheen thinks Two and a Half Men should be axed. The 43-year-old actor, who was sacked from the sitcom last year because of his erratic behaviour and public criticisms of creator Chuck Lorre, thinks his replacement Ashton Kutcher and the rest of the cast are being given substandard material to work with and says they "deserve" better.
He said: "I don't think it should go on past this year. I just think that people are there because there's nowhere else to go... yet."
"Hats off to Ashton for doing the best job that he can. I don't think that he's working with the best writing because (Lorre is) doing too many shows. He and (Jon Cryer) and (Angus T. Jones) deserve better material."
Despite his comments, Mr. Sheen, who is now working on a new comedy show, Anger Management, insists he doesn't care what happens to the show because he has moved on and now feels "free."
He added to The Hollywood Reporter: "I don't want to harp on them. Let the clueless stay clueless. I was a puppet there for ratings. But whatever, I don't care. I've moved on, and whatever they're doing there is none of my business."
He may be disappointed with the quality of Two and a Half Men, but Mr. Sheen promised fans will love his new show.
Bloc Québécois officials insisted yesterday that the party reimbursed the House of Commons $12,000 to pay a retired reporter to write a book on its former leader, Gilles Duceppe.
The party denied a media report it used public funds to pay former La Presse journalist Gilles Toupin to write a book highlighting the 20th anniversary of the election of Mr. Duceppe to the House of Commons.
The party admitted it initially used its Commons office budget for the project, but claims it paid back every penny.
"Initially, Mr. Toupin was hired to do research, but when it became clearer this would lead to a book and a potentially commercial venture, the party was asked to pay the bill," Bloc Québécois leader Daniel Paille said in an interview Thursday.
Mr. Paille released a copy of a $12,000 cheque the Bloc Québécois wrote to the Receiver General of Canada on October 4, 2010. The cheque was delivered on October 6, 2010 to the House of Commons auditor and Mr. Paille produced a document to confirm it was related to Mr. Toupin's work.
"Everything was done according to the rules," Mr. Paille said.
The Bloc Québécois said that the reimbursement covered the costs of two contracts awarded to Mr. Toupin to conduct research and interviews and to write the book between April and June 2010.
The book, Gilles Duceppe: Entretiens avec Gilles Toupin, was published in French only in October 2010.
A spokeswoman for the House of Commons confirmed yesterday that the Bloc Québécois indeed repaid the funds in October 2010.
This comes after other reports questioning Mr. Duceppe's use of public funds. Montreal's La Presse reported Saturday that Mr. Duceppe knowingly allowed his party to use its parliamentary research budget to pay political operatives, including the Bloc Québécois' director in Montreal.
The party claims this is not against the rules, but other federal political parties say this raises serious questions that need to be addressed by Parliament. The board of internal economy, which usually investigates MPs' spending issues behind closed doors, will tackle the allegations on Monday when the House of Commons re-convenes.
The controversy led Mr. Duceppe to put an end for good to his musings about a possible political comeback to replace Pauline Marois as leader of the Parti Québécois.
Saputo is recalling one of its milk products sold in Ontario and Aylmer, Quebec because it may contain a cleaning solution.
The affected product is called Neilson Trutaste 2% Micro-filtered Partly Skimmed Milk and is sold in four litre bags.
They bear the UPC code 0-66800-00404-4 and a best before date of February 12 that appears on the bag closure tab. No other codes are affected.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency there has been one reported reaction associated with using this product. Milk containing this cleaning solution may not look or smell spoiled, but drinking it may cause symptoms such as nausea, upset stomach or vomiting.
Montreal-based Saputo is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates pledged a further $750 million to the troubled global AIDS fund today and urged governments to continue their support to save lives.
"These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world's poorest," he said in Davos at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria announced two days ago that its executive director, Michel Kazatchkine, was stepping down early following criticism over misuse of funds and cuts in funding. The public-private organization, which has the backing of celebrities like rock star Bono, accounts for around a quarter of international financing to fight HIV and AIDS, as well as the majority of funds to fight TB and malaria.
However, it has been forced to cut back and said last year it would make no new grants or funding until 2014. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $750 million through a promissory note (a fresh injection in addition to the $650 million that the Gates' charity has contributed since the fund was launched 10 years ago).
While that will give an immediate boost, more is needed from governments, which have provided the bulk of the $22.6 billion that has been raised by the Geneva-based organization to date for its work in 150 countries. The commitment of governments was shaken last year when the fund reported "grave misuse of funds" in four recipient nations, prompting some donors such as Germany and Sweden to freeze their donations.
Mr. Gates, however, played down the problem and praised the fund's transparency, which he said had exposed corruption problems that might well have remained hidden at other organizations.
"If you are going to do health programs in Africa you are going to have some percentage that is misused," he said. "We've looked at where they've found money that wasn't applied properly and how they tracked that... the fact is the internal checks and balances have worked."
Recent scientific studies have shown that getting timely AIDS drug treatment to those with HIV can significantly cut the number of people who become newly infected with the virus, increasing the case for maximum access to drugs. So, the decision in 2011 to cancel fresh funding, due to waning political commitment, has alarmed healthcare activists like Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
"Now that new scientific evidence shows that HIV treatment itself could be one of the best ways to turn the epidemic around, it's time for governments to roll up their sleeves and commit to getting the Global Fund back on track," said Tido von Schoen-Angerer, MSF's head of access.
Saskatoon Transit is taking security at the downtown bus mall into its own hands... which is usually the best way to do things. Transit supervisors have replaced private security guards at the downtown terminal located on 23rd Street East between 2nd Avenue North and 3rd Avenue North in the latest attempt to crack down on loitering.
"There's the perception, rightly or wrongly, that the bus terminal is not a safe place to be. We didn't seem to be getting a handle on that," said Harold Matthies, operations manager at Saskatoon Transit.
It's a problem that's plagued the terminal since it was built more than 20 years ago. In 2003, the City of Saskatoon began hiring private security guards to patrol the bus mall from late afternoon until the final bus run of the night. More street lamps were installed and classical music was piped into the mall to discourage loitering, but complaints about safety continued.
The service supervisors had been using the bus garage as their home base. In assigning them to work out of the downtown terminal, Saskatoon Transit is providing better service to its customers, says Mr. Matthies. Depending on the time of day, two or three supervisors are at the terminal from morning to night and available to answer questions about bus service. During the extremely cold weather last week, they opened the transit office so people could wait for buses in the warm building. This new method explains why transit operators have been leaving on time as of recently.
"The added value of being able to provide transit specific information is a huge benefit," said Mr. Matthies.
The latest move to improve security seems to be working, he says. Saskatoon Police Service Inspector Shelley Ballard agrees.
"We were getting a lot of disturbance type of calls, suspicious activity type of calls, intoxicated persons. Several of the businesses in the area would call about kids just hanging out, perhaps making their customers feel uncomfortable, not that the kids were necessarily doing anything, but the fact that they were hanging out was making people a little bit uncomfortable," said Ms. Ballard, who is in charge of central division.
The transit supervisors are having more success in "moving along" those people who aren't waiting for buses.
"The supervisors who are out there are older. They're perhaps more mature. In speaking to the beat officers who are out there all the time, they have noticed a difference in the attitude of some of the people who frequent the area who they may have had problems with before. Part of that goes to the supervisors perhaps dealing with people differently than the security officers did and setting down the rules a bit more firmly about what behaviours will be accepted and not accepted," she said.
By using its own staff members to supervise the transit terminal, Saskatoon Transit is also saving money. The contract for the private security guards was costing about $175,000 per year. In some cases, those security guards seemed to blend in with the troublemakers.
British Columbia polygamist leader Winston Blackmore revealed in court today that he was compelled to pay money 15 times to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to prepare for various apocalypses.
The request for money from the church was made over a 20-year period, with the most recent payment being $25,000.
Mr. Blackmore noted in an article he wrote for a Bountiful, British Columbia publication the president of FLDS predicted the apocalypse 15 times in a span of 20 years. His demeanour suggested each apocalyptic prediction meant his prosperous community had to cough up more cash.
Mr. Blackmore further testified at his landmark tax trial that he personally owned various properties which were not transferred to a trust fund for the polygamous commune he led. He admitted this contravened the dictates of the FLDS.
Under cross-examination by Lynn Burch, a lawyer conducting the Government of Canada's case against him, Mr. Blackmore admitted that one of the basic principles of the FLDS is to "consecrate" or transfer all privately held property to the United Effort Plan (UEP) trust.
The trust, of which Mr. Blackmore was the sole Canadian trustee up until his excommunication from the FLDS in 2002, held the title to the property in Bountiful.
To win his case, Mr. Blackmore must prove to Tax Court of Canada Judge Diane Campbell that it is more likely than not that the flock he led before and after 2002 is a "congregation," as defined in the federal Tax Act.
His personal holdings and his 40% share in the large, private company J.R. Blackmore and Sons (JRB) that dominated the commerce of Bountiful could lead a tax auditor to believe that the community did not share equally in it.
That is what brings him to Tax Court. Mr. Blackmore's tax returns for the years 2000 to 2004 and 2006 are in dispute. In them, he calculates his income as being a tiny fraction of JRB's because he claims the commune shared equally in the bounty and its income should be spread among the roughly 400 residents.
Two Toronto teenagers with an interest in space flight became popular overnight after their mission to send a Lego man into near space captured international attention.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, two 17-year-old Agincourt Collegiate students, successfully sent a balloon carrying a Lego man and a small Canadian flag to the edge of Earth's atmosphere.
The mission was more than a year in the making and was completed two weeks ago. It gained the attention of local media on Wednesday and, within 24 hours, their exploits and the images they collected were being talked about across North America and mentioned as far away as Australia and Germany.
"We are enjoying it. We are just really glad we are getting our images out there," Mr. Ho told CTV's Canada AM this morning before laughing off the suggestion that they now had an entourage.
The two boys first started sketching out their plans to send a pod into the middle stratosphere last September, working only on weekends as they balanced life as supposedly-troublemaking high school seniors.
Two weeks ago, the unit was attached to a helium-filled balloon and launched from a park near Mr. Ho's east-end home, ascending 24 kilometres in 97 minutes before the balloon popped. The Lego man and his cargo fell safely to Earth, with the help of a homemade parachute, where it landed in a field near Rice Lake, about 120 kilometres from the launch point.
The whole mission, which cost about $400, was captured by four cameras on board the shuttle and tracked by the GPS inside a phone. The astonishing photographs showed the Lego man hovering well above earth and captured glorious views of our planet from space.
"Our parents were really supportive. But other family and friends, they were like, 'You are sending cameras into space? Sure.' Once they saw the results they were astonished," Mr. Ho said.
Mr. Ho and Mr. Muhammad first met in the seventh grade, when Mr. Muhammad's family moved to Toronto from Pakistan.
"He was one of the first people I met when I came here to Canada. When I came here from Pakistan, I didn't speak any English and Mathew was really nice to me," Mr. Muhammad said. "He was really supportive."
The pair said they don't have any more space flights planned at the moment and are going to focus on graduating high school and getting into a good university.
Whitecap Dakota First Nation officials have signed an agreement in Ottawa that will put the thriving community on the path to self-government.
"It's an important day. This is the first step," long-time Whitecap Chief Darcy Bear said in a telephone interview from Ottawa on Wednesday. "The bottom line is accountability. 'Deficit' is a bad word at Whitecap."
Whitecap, located 20 kilometres south of Saskatoon, is the first individual Saskatchewan First Nation to reach this stage of independence. The Meadow Lake Tribal Council, which represents several First Nations in northwest Saskatchewan, has also moved to implement self-government.
The self-government framework agreement was signed Wednesday by Chief Bear and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister John Duncan. The agreement followed Tuesday's meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper, members of his cabinet and First Nations leaders from across Canada.
"Today's announcement is another step for Whitecap Dakota," Mr. Duncan told reporters in Ottawa following the announcement. "A self-government agreement will mean greater decision making at the local level over key issues that affect community members. This will no doubt deliver even more results for the people in Whitecap Dakota."
Whitecap will now begin negotiations with the Government of Canada on 34 jurisdictional questions, from environmental protection to justice to education. The process is expected to take several years, Chief Bear said.
"Some are straightforward, but many are very complex," he said.
Chief Bear said the outdated and archaic federal Indian Act has held back First Nations economic development and condemned generations to lives of poverty and dependence.
Under the Indian Act, for example, a band must obtain written permission from the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to rent reserve land to neighbouring farmers. In the event of an oil spill or other major environmental disaster, First Nations are not allowed to sue for losses and the maximum federal fine is $1,000. Chief Bear hopes all that will soon change.
The reserve already contains a casino, golf course and several new housing developments and is planning a hotel, but self-government would give Whitecap even greater control of its land. One possible idea involves construction of a "resort community" for Saskatoon residents or anyone who's interested.
Two decades ago, Whitecap was deeply in debt with more than 70% unemployment. On Chief Bear's watch, the First Nation, which includes roughly 300 on-reserve and 300 off-reserve members, has received 20 consecutive favourable audits and jobs are plentiful.
"There are more jobs than people," Chief Bear said with a laugh.
More than 150 non-band members already live at Whitecap, with another 500 commuting there daily to work. Chief Bear said he's proud that the crime rate is so low, the reserve only qualified for one-third of an RCMP officer under the government formula. Chief Bear said Whitecap convinced government officials to station two fulltime officers there, though, due to the large numbers of visitors and workers.
"Public safety is key for us," he said. Chief Bear thanked Mr. Duncan and other federal officials, as they "let Whitecap lead the charge.
"Minister Duncan is very well-informed. The trust is there and I look forward to our continued relationship."
Once negotiations are complete, Whitecap members will vote on the final agreement. If approved, it would take effect soon afterwards. Chief Bear said the initiative has strong community support, as he received a strong mandate to enter into the negotiations at one of Whitecap's four annual band meetings.
"This process of self-government wasn't something that was imposed on us by the federal government," Chief Bear told reporters in Ottawa. "It was something we said we're ready for, our community wants to move forward on this."
Robbie Williams is planning to splash out on a life-size sculpture of his wife. The singer, who had that controversial "Rock DJ" music video in 2000, wants a statue of actress Ayda Field for the garden of his Mulholland Drive home in Los Angeles and has even made plans to follow it up with sculptures of the couple's beloved dogs.
Does anyone really listen to the Spice Girls anymore? Some people still have their CDs from the late 90s.
The Edmonton Police Service has ticketed nearly 780 people for distracted driving in their first four months enforcing Alberta's new law. Almost all of those tickets, at 94%, were for inappropriate cellphone use behind the wheel.
Two senior Credit Union Centre managers have been fired over a trip to Arizona where there was more than $7,000 of "inappropriate" spending, the chair of the organization's board says.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's surge ahead of rival Newt Gingrich continues in the polls, one day before Florida's primary election. The former Massachusetts governor has an average lead of almost 12 points on the ex-House speaker in opinion polls.
Well-known anti-drunk driving speaker Norbert Georget died last Tuesday from a stroke. Mr. Georget was known for his ability to reach schoolchildren and teens in motivational presentations under his banner of 'Smart Youth Power Assembly.'
A group of 44 senators, all but one Republican, have signed on to proposed legislation that would authorize the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline despite the refusal of U.S. President Barack Obama to advance the project.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved a rate increase for SaskTel customers in high cost served areas. Those are areas serviced by SaskTel outside of the Saskatchewan's nine largest urban areas.
Ian Ambercrombie, the classically trained British stage actor best known to American TV audiences as Elaine Benes' nutty boss Mr. Pitt on Seinfeld, died of a heart attack on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 77 years old.
Former GOP (Republican) presidential candidate Herman Cain has decided to endorse the thrice-married Newt Gingrich after dropping out of the race for the party's presidential nomination. This development occurs after Rick Perry dropped out of the race and also endorsed Newt Gingrich.
Effective Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Alaska Airlines passengers who need a moment of prayer will have to bring their own materials. The airline announced on January 25, 2012 that they will stop serving a side of Psalms via a trio of prayer cards with their first-class meal trays.
Starbucks aims to open 50 outlets in India by the end of 2012, through a 50-50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, the companies said Monday. Tata Starbucks Ltd., as their venture is known, hopes to capitalize on the rising aspirations (and fattening wallets) of many Indians, who are eager to partake of the global latte life.
Not long ago, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford launched a "Cut the Waist" challenge, with him and his brother Doug pledging to lose 50 pounds by June 18, 2012.
Three members of a Montreal family have been imprisoned for life after a jury found them guilty of murdering four other family members in a crime the judge called "cold-blooded, shameful murders" based on a "twisted notion of honour."
It could be a monumental week for Facebook, the wildly successful social network, which may file for its initial public offering in the coming days (rumour has it that it will be Wednesday). The IPO, which is expected for the second quarter, could raise as much as $10 billion and could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal is reporting (anything less than $75 billion would be seen as a disappointment).
The companies that store the data of millions of MegaUpload users plan to start deleting their accounts as early as Thursday. The site was shut down on January 19, 2012 following the arrest of seven men, including the company's founder Kim Dotcom, in New Zealand on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.
Cell phones really can be distracting. A lot of accidents have occurred because someone was talking on their cell phone while they were driving, and the RCMP here in Saskatchewan has recently expressed anger/frustration with those who are distracted behind the wheel.
The era of "Big TV," or vast cable television packages made up of scores of channels, appears to be ending. Remember when you could get hundreds of channels for a higher price? Those days appear to be over.
A Calgary woman found badly beaten in a Mexican resort has arrived back in Canada several weeks earlier than expected. Sheila Nabb, 37, suffered severe facial injuries in an attack last week that left her bloodied and unconscious inside an elevator at the Hotel Riu Emerald Bay in the resort town of Mazatlan.
When it comes to figuring out your class requirements for your degree at the University of Saskatchewan, it's usually pretty frustrating for a lot of students, and usually, your only course of action is to speak to an academic advisor.
Several of Italy's consumer groups signed an agreement with Costa Cruises to offer about €11,000 (about $15,000 Canadian) to each of the more than 3,000 passengers aboard the Costa Concordia when it hit a rock and capsized near the Italian island of Giglio on January 13, 2012, a statement from the consumer groups said.
A French court has fined perfume giants including Chanel, Christian Dior and L'Oreal €40 million ($53 million Canadian or so) for colluding to keep prices high.
A Saskatoon Cancer Centre doctor who misrepresented his qualifications will be allowed to continue working under supervision. Dr. Assem Sultan El-Sayed was hired as a clinical associate in hematology in 2010, after saying he held a master's of science degree from Cairo University in addition to his genuine medical degree from that university.
Corman Park Reeve Mel Henry is supporting a move to split the rural municipality in two, prompting some to question his leadership. A petition is circulating in the community asking residents to support carving Corman Park into two RMs divided by the South Saskatchewan River. Henry said he is throwing his support behind the petition because he feels dysfunction on the RM council is caused by the competing interests of the east and west sides of the RM, which surrounds Saskatoon and several towns.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver can claim one more victory in his food revolution after McDonald's stopped using what he called "pink slime" in its burgers. Yesterday, McDonald's USA announced it was discontinuing the use of ammonia hydroxide in its beef.
Charlie Sheen thinks Two and a Half Men should be axed. The 43-year-old actor, who was sacked from the sitcom last year because of his erratic behaviour and public criticisms of creator Chuck Lorre, thinks his replacement Ashton Kutcher and the rest of the cast are being given substandard material to work with and says they "deserve" better.
Bloc Québécois officials insisted yesterday that the party reimbursed the House of Commons $12,000 to pay a retired reporter to write a book on its former leader, Gilles Duceppe.
Saputo is recalling one of its milk products sold in Ontario and Aylmer, Quebec because it may contain a cleaning solution.
Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates pledged a further $750 million to the troubled global AIDS fund today and urged governments to continue their support to save lives.
Saskatoon Transit is taking security at the downtown bus mall into its own hands... which is usually the best way to do things. Transit supervisors have replaced private security guards at the downtown terminal located on 23rd Street East between 2nd Avenue North and 3rd Avenue North in the latest attempt to crack down on loitering.
British Columbia polygamist leader Winston Blackmore revealed in court today that he was compelled to pay money 15 times to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to prepare for various apocalypses.
Two Toronto teenagers with an interest in space flight became popular overnight after their mission to send a Lego man into near space captured international attention.
Whitecap Dakota First Nation officials have signed an agreement in Ottawa that will put the thriving community on the path to self-government.
