Anders Behring Breivik screamed a “battle cry” and appeared both angry and joyous as he shot his victims one by one, survivors of the Norwegian far-right killer’s massacre told a court on Wednesday. “I heard screaming but I couldn’t make out the words,” Ingvild Leren Stensrud, 17, who was shot in the leg and shoulder, [...]
Mexican novelist, essayist Carlos Fuentes wrote with a social conscience
Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America’s novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital where he was taken after his doctor, Arturo Ballesteros, found him in shock in [...]
Social issues take centre-stage after Obama’s gay marriage declaration
Will it be Greece or gay marriage? As the American presidential election campaign enters the serious phase, social issues seem to have taken a front seat in the debate over who best can lead the country into an almost certainly tumultuous future. Less than 24 hours after Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at Barnard [...]
Ottawa has second chance to save millions of lives
Canadians want to take concrete action on behalf of those in developing countries who are needlessly suffering from fully treatable ailments. They want to help millions of people worldwide gain access to live-saving, affordable medicine. Our politicians have this very opportunity in the form of Bill C-398, currently making its way through Parliament. The bill [...]
Ouster of China’s security chief points to battle between reformists, hardliners
First came the purge of Bo Xilai, a rising star in the Communist Party who fell into disgrace just before he was expected to join the inner circle of power in China. Now a sitting member of that omnipotent club – the Standing Committee of the Politburo – has reportedly been stripped of his main [...]
At least 9 killed in Nepal plane crash
A plane carrying 21 people crashed Monday while trying to land at a mountain airstrip in Nepal’s northern Himalayas, killing at least nine, authorities said. Eight survivors in critical condition were flown by helicopter to a hospital. The plane hit a mountain while it was turning around to land at Jomsom Airport, said Laxmi Raj [...]
49 dismembered bodies found dumped on Mexican highway
Forty-nine decapitated and mutilated bodies were found Sunday dumped on a highway connecting the northern Mexican metropolis of Monterrey to the U.S. border in what could be the latest outburst in an escalating war of terror among drug gangs. Mexico’s organized crime groups often abandon multiple bodies in public places as warnings to their rivals, [...]
Greek president makes last ditch effort to avoid elections
Greece’s president met party leaders on Sunday in a final bid to cobble together a coalition and avert a repeat election, but the veteran politician’s effort looked set to fail because of deep splits over an EU/IMF rescue plan. Leaders of the three biggest parties, each of whom had failed to form a government in [...]
Greece faces new election as politicians abandon coalition talks
Greek politicians abandoned their quest to form a government on Saturday, leaving the President with one final chance to avert new elections that could drive Greece out of the European single currency. Greece’s political landscape is in disarray after voters last week humiliated the only parties backing a rescue plan tied to spending cuts, leaving [...]
U.S. to resume shipping arms to Bahrain despite rights concerns
The Obama administration is resuming some arms shipments to Bahrain after most were suspended last year because of a government crackdown on political dissent. The State Department said Friday the administration still has human-rights concerns about the strategic Persian Gulf island nation and will work with that government to improve the situation. But it said [...]
Venezuela’s crossword conspiracy draws ridicule from Chavez’s friends and foes
Government critics, and even some supporters, are ridiculing a state TV host’s allegation that a newspaper crossword puzzle may have had a hidden call for a plot to kill President Hugo Chavez’s elder brother. Intelligence agents questioned the author of the puzzle after state TV presenter Miguel Perez Pirela pointed out that Wednesday’s crossword contained [...]
Hopes for Greek deal appear slim as politicians locked in last-ditch efforts
Greece’s wrangling politicians were locked in last-ditch efforts Friday to form a coalition government, with chances of a deal appearing slim and the country’s future in Europe’s common currency at stake. Voters on Sunday punished both main parties, the conservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK, for their handling of the country’s protracted financial crisis, deserting [...]
Let the job market choose our immigrants
This is part of The Immigrant Answer –The Globe’s series on the future of immigration in Canada. Read the original story here. Since the early 1980s, Canada’s immigration selection policies have focused on the principal applicant’s highest educational achievements and language skills, explicitly to ensure that immigrants would be suitable for employment and economically successful [...]
Romney counters notion he bullied gay classmates
Mitt Romney is countering the notion that he bullied high school classmates and insists he didn’t know some were gay. The Republican presidential candidate apologized Thursday to anyone he may have offended by what he said were “hijinks and pranks during high school.” His comments in a hastily arranged radio interview followed a Washington Post [...]
How immigrants affect the economy: Weighing the benefits and costs
This is part of The Immigrant Answer –The Globe’s series on the future of immigration in Canada. Read the original story here. A few months after arriving in Canada in 2005, Edwin Sonsona was working 20 hours a day at six different jobs. He began each morning at 3 a.m., delivering the local newspaper. By [...]
Court bans Exxon Valdez tanker from entering India for dismantling
India’s Supreme Court has banned the Exxon Valdez from entering India, saying the ship involved in one of the worst U.S. oil spills will not be allowed in for dismantling until it has been decontaminated. The ship, now known as the “Oriental Nicety,” entered Indian waters last week and was headed for the western Indian [...]
North Carolina voters approve ban on gay marriage
North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, becoming the latest state to effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages. With most of the precincts reporting Tuesday, unofficial returns showed the amendment passing with about 61 per cent of the vote to [...]
