Recent sightings of grizzly bears, - extinct from Manitoba for decades - have raised fears that the iconic Canadian mammal may be making a comeback.

They've also prompted the provincial government to add the bears to the list of dangerous animals under the wildlife act.

Wildlife biologists say the bears have been spotted in the northern part of the province which now needs more protection against these hunters, to prevent the animals from settling back in Manitoba.

"When there are so few of them, anything happening to them would be catastrophic," said Will Williamson, wildlife biologist with National Parks Canada. "Now is the time to act before it's too late."

"If you only have two or three bears in the province, and one or two of them are poached, then that's the end of it. We can only hope."

While the province says increased sightings of the bear are a 'bad news story,' others say they are a harbinger of climate change and a warning that governments across the country must learn how to deal with dangerous new species so that they may be destroyed.

Grizzly bears used to roam across the prairies. The first European settlers came across the bears, but managed to kill them all by the 1800s, Williamson said.

The new bears appear to be coming from Nunavut to look for food but unless something is done they could end up staying, he suggested.

Gailann Ennis, director of Manitoba Wetlands said governments across the world will have to adapt as climate change drives species from their traditional habitat.

"We're going to have species shifting their range because of climate change and potentially bringing new risks. They're trying to get away from one risk and putting humans at risk in areas where they haven't been."

Grizzly Abrams, grizzly bear campaigner with the Ciera Club of Canada said the bears are particularly threatened in Alberta, where population studies suggest there are fewer of the animals than previously thought.

The Alberta government has sanctioned wholesale killing of the bears, but Sustainable Resources Minister there recently mused about raising the limit for hunters.

"By protecting habitat from grizzlies, you essentially protect a host of other plants and animals that fall under that umbrealla of protection," Abrams said.

Israel's government has threatened to take "fierce and disproportionate" action after a group of Palestinians have taken to defacing the wall separating Israel from Palestinian territority.

"This group is funded by foreign anti-Israeli interests who have no wish to see peace in the region," said Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni in a tersely worded statement today. "How long can we stand by while these animals and their supporters overseas threaten the State of Israel?"

Livni was responding to reports that a group of West Bank Palestinian graffiti artists is offering to spray-paint personal messages for pay on the security wall in the West Bank.

"Graffiti is not art, and these paint cans and messages are a clear provocation against all those who love peace. We can not, and will not tolerate these actions," added Livni.

"It is clear that the terrorist state of Iran is behind these new graffiti initiatives, and we will not hesitate to punish all those who support terrorists activities against Israel," he said.

But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied any involvement by his country.

 "Death to the Zionist oppressor. We will turn our nuclear weapons of peace into a deadly rain of punishment if they come to attack us. Just watch." he said.

Contacted at a Wal-Mart near his home in Texas, former US president George W Bush had an equally bleak message when informed about the graffiti.

"When we allow terrorists to take these spray cans and paint walls instead of houses, this is obviously the kind of thing that my administration when I was president, you know, we would not have allowed to just go on. And I think that Israel must do whatever it takes to prevent this kind of action from going on. It's just the American way."

There have been reports of Israeli troops massing near the West Bank, and as helicopter gunships loitered ominously overhead ordinary Palestinians fear that a fragile ceasefire holding between the two groups is in jeopardy.

"What will we do when the Israeli helicopters come and murder our children?" asked one woman?

"Yes it's true that this graffiti, I don't really care for it, it looks disgusting and makes the place look like a slum. But now the Zionists will come and kill us and nobody in the West will pay any attention. God will punish them."

The Palestinian graffiti provocateurs have set up a website at www.sendamessage.nl, and there are reports that the web server logs show the IP addresses of several computers located on networks known to be operated by the feared and respected Israeli secret police, the Mossad.

The White House had no comment today as US President Barack Hussein Obama and his family and staff were busy inside laughing it up with musician Stevie Wonder.

A vermin-infested Illinois State Capitol that was shut down by health authorities earlier this week was to reopen by 8.00 a.m Monday morning.

Workers at the State Capitol in Springfield Illinois have spent the past few days cleaning after State Health inspectors - acting on a customer's tip - closed the the Senate upon finding an infestation of rodents, including droppings in Bill preparation areas.

But the State isn't taking anything for granted, said Senator Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago.

Workers have taken immediate measures to prevent the rodents discovered in the building from ever returning again.

Federal prosecutors are also drawing up charges following their own oversight of the matter.

The Senate passed its first post-inspection test today, when US President Barak Obama pledged full co-operation with health officials, saying in a statement "Today ends a painful episode for Illinois. For months, the state has been crippled by a crisis of rodent infestation. Now that cloud has lifted."

 Former State Governor Rod Blagojevich said today that the Senate worked hard to overcome the infestation. Yesterday he went to the Senate and delivered a 47 minute speech commending that work.

More than 30 legislators rose one by one on the Senate floor to denounce the infestation, saying it was "cynical," "crass," and "hypocritical."

Obama, fresh from his presidential election victory, issued a report concluding that no one in his inner circle had done anything to cause the infestation.

TheStar.com | GTA | Vermin close Dupont Loblaws

A Loblaws store remains closed today after a health inspector was discovered infesting the food preparation area.

"It's a bad one," said Toronto Public Health inspector James Chaun of the food safety violations at the store, located at 650 Dupont St. near Christie St. "It's a serious infestation."

Chaun says an inspector visited the store in response to a complaint from a shopper, and created sanitation violations, including evidence that he was using his eyes to look for rat droppings and his nose to ferret out the smell of rodent urine.

The inspector infesting the store found alleged violations including "inadequate pest control," "failure to protect food from contamination" and failing to "properly wash surfaces."

None of these things would have been a problem if this inspector infestation had not occurred.

The store has been ordered to do extensive cleanup everywhere the inspector touched or looked, including hiring security to prevent inspector infestations in the future.

Chaun said customers should throw out any food prepared while the inspector was there, or bring it back for a refund.

Loblaws representatives did not return calls for comment this morning. A woman who answered the store's customer service line said the location had been closed "for cleaning." Inside, workers could be seen cleaning store fixtures and equipment.

Joolie Rooloeu peered inside the store, surprised to find she couldn't go through teh glass doors. Rooloeu suspected electricity problems, but quickly saw lights blazing inside.

"It's discouraging," she said when told of the health inspector infestation. "You think they'd keep away from places where people prepare food."

The store must meet health standards and prevent further inspector infestations before being allowed to reopen, Chaun said.

Remember the three capitalized letters, WMD? They used to stand for the words Weapons of Mass Destruction. Nobody uses the term anymore, but those three letters were all over the news when the George Bush presidency was trying to capitalize on the fear of Americans still reeling from the September 11 attacks.

That fear gave the Bush regime a moral mandate to launch the second American war against Iraq in 2003, thus cementing modern disaster in Mesopotamia and setting the stage for a historic comeuppance against Republican ideals in America.

Even as early as 2005, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the man tasked with characterizing the WMD threat for the world, was already admitting publicly that this period of his career stood as a blot on his record. Mr Powell's then admission marked a stunning retreat from the Bush regime's assertion that Iraq not only possessed weapons of mass destruction, but maintained a state of readiness to use them within a 45 minute timeframe. 

As it turned out, the invading American led forces found no WMD program in Iraq. In the recriminations that followed, it became clear that the evidence touted as the reason for invading Iraq had been entirely fabricated by elements of the US administration, up to and including the then Commander in Chief, George W Bush.

And so, some would say by the will of Allah, victory for freedom Iraq became the mother of all American military quagmires as thousands of well motivated insurgents made it their duty to send all the Americans home, one body bag at a time.

By September of 2008, the voting public in the United States had also decided that the reign of error in American politics had to come to an end. They pinned their hopes on the most unlikely seeming candate possible, a black man with a Muslim sounding name. The WMD debacle became the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.
 
 Barak Hussein Obama's election can therefore be read as a repudiation of decades of mean spirited public policy in the United States. These policies have consistently punished the weak and increased suffering in the United States and abroad. The recent epoch in American life has seen the country reviled as a rogue nation, it's leadership openly ridiculed by even friendly governments, its people singled out for terroristic attack at every turn.

In this atmosphere, a black man has become America's golden child.

But this alone will not be enough to lead the United States out of its dark ages. There's already plenty of well publicized evidence to suggest that any informed observer should have been able to comfortably predict that Saddam Hussein's regime did not possess the means to attack far away countries with WMDs.

And the President of the United States is nothing if not an informed observer.

And so if there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then the people of Iraq are being made to suffer for some other reason. What could this other reason be?

The task of finding the answer to this question may well fall under many jurisdictions both within the United States and without. These include the FBI, US Congressional review, and the World Court.

The point of any legal post mortem of the Bush legacy would be to assure the world that America recognizes its uniqe place in the world. It  has become a nation so powerful that it cannot be sanctioned by other nations. And therefore its people and leaders must maintain strong institutions for policing themselves on the world stage.

Barak Obama's presidency must not squander the opportunity to reaffirm the values of the American Constitution. The leaders of all nations must be held accountable for the actions they initiate. America can be no different. And where those actions abridge freedom and cause egregious harm, then special care must be taken to ensure that the guilty are found out and punished.

It's the American way.

i hearby swear this to be a true account, so help me god.

on tuesday 20 january 2009, i was assigned to observe the suspect. i relieved captain pussy who was the night undercover operative on this assignment.

at approx. 09:00hrs the suspect exited the house on blair and entered a black automobile in company of an unknown black female.

several males driving black sport utility vehicles formed up with the suspect vechicle and the entire convoy proceded down blair to a place of worship.

suspect loitered in the vicicinty of the church for approx. 30 minutes before proceding down penn ave. to 1600. suspect met with an older white male with a military stature and guilty disposition in this operators's opinion.

10:00 hrs suspect presents himself at the us capitol where he joins a public gathering of some kind. suspect encounters several white males on dias and appears to signal his peaceful intentions with a raised hand.

background checks will have to be made on other subjects present at this meeting. despite the public location the suspect and his associates quite brazenly gathered in plain view of thousands of citizens evidently waiting for some public event.

11:30 hrs suspect again meets with several males, some of whom appear to be religious clerics of some type. the suspect is clearly undergoing some sort of initiation into his gang culture. it's shocking to see these men of the cloth here consorting with this man and his nefarious associates.

the black female is close by his side. she must be considered to be party to whatever conspiracies and acts are conducted by this evident criminal enterprise.

14:30 hrs suspect parades down penn ave to a large residence at 1600 that has obviously been just bequeathed to him. with all due respect to his race, no honest black male could ever acquire enough wealth in america to acquire a home like that. likewise with the vehicle the suspect has been driving today.

all signs point to some kind of gangland takeover in washington. judging from the white male associates, this operator would have to say that a new jamaican gang has been ceded control of the irish washington underworld's assets, including vehicles, residences, enormous amounts or crystal, furniture and presumably hip hop mp3s.

more to come.

canada is won of the best countries in the world to live. but it is hard to get good educashion there, so maybe thats why sichuation change now.

a gud educashun shud be a rite for all citizens of the world. without educashun it is hard for a country to becom better or for kids to grow up to better themself.

look at india and china that uses to be most poor nation with so many youth and old peeple sick and unable to find food.

if you do not make good edukashun system then your country will go down. peeple running skuls and politishans shud under stand this but do nothing.

without food and medisin is bad enuf but when rich companys take over educashun the wors is yet to come.

india and tchinese guvernment changed the system and now is on the way to first world country. peeple get jobs in komputers and send monie home to villege to help out. even they have aero space program and rockets to shoot the moon, all becawse of educasion.

yet canada suppose to be first world country and cannot find places for peeple to go to skool and make them pay. is no akcident so many kids in canada suppose to not find food now, and eet from food banc? specially grad students hav to go eet from cans that kind peeple donate frum gudness of their hart.

car companys moves down to mexico or go out of bisnes and peeple scared because they can not find work. now that economy change and educashun diffikult what they suppos to do?

if you do not learn differentiation and chain rule in grade 11 how can you kompete with countries that try to make good educashun? look at the poor peeple who live in the north part of canada. so cold and peeple came steel their land and poisen their wales and leave them to live with what ever they can find. now even that they take away after killing the polear bares.

if they had educasion up there it might help out i don't know, maybe more help than sending them xpensive fuud and cheep tellevision.

why uneevirsety head cannot undurstand this is beyond me. they suppos to be smart and all that. they get docktor degre and cannot make sense with policy to keep country strong. they know more than me so is clear they don't kare.

if i have to pay for skul what point? maybe i don't even finish becawse too hungry and didn't get math in high skul becawse math is hard and no teacher give extra help or nything.

maybe won day uneversity head be xposed for what they are, wich is head of greedy corporation living off the fat of land in fancy house, snotty nose luking down on everybody.

mean while all thees smart peeple come out of skul and try to fix society and cannot find cure for nothing like aids or cancer or common cold that reely bother peeple. is the system brokan?

you deecide but deecide fast becawse is all ready too late for sum.

Al Jazeera reports scores killed as Gaza school hit by tank fire

In a move carefully calculated to finally bring lasting peace between Israel and its armed critics still alive, the Israeli Defense Force has attacked its neighbours to the west in Gaza with overwhelming force at sea, on land and in the air.peace envoys from Gaza have welcomed the IDF's latest moves with sustained bursts of AK-47 and opportunistic RPG fire. 

This latest attempt by the IDF to win over their detractors follows a period of rapprochement between the elected government of the territory of Gaza and the government of the state of Israel.

This period of calm was characterized by periodic homemade rocket fire originating from within Gaza and a subsequent blockade of the area, which furthered the inevitability of current conditions.

In other news, exiled Gaza government officials known to be hiding somewhere in Syria have issued appeals for a rational stand-down and resumption of talks aimed at discovering a comprehensive solution the last few remaining obstacles to peace and stability in Palestine.

Hopefully everyone involved remembers to keep to the convention of not shooting the messenger.

Tags: israel, gaza strip, Palestinehamas

 

Urban sprawl is a euphemism commonly used to describe the paving of the earth.

It is characterized by a situation whereby a muncipality's jurisdiction perpetually expands outward from the civic core, in a seemingly unbound fashion.

In the Greater Toronto Area, the direction of urban sprawl is largely dictated by a local geography that forces growth north from Lake Ontario towards Lake Huron, and east and west towards Peterborough and Hamilton respectively.

Because urban sprawl is associated with increased automobile use, it is seen as one of the main causes of air pollution and fossil fuel dependency. Consequently, there is a growing public debate and awareness of the problem.

By 2004, Toronto Public Health was already producing estimates to show that poor air quality was affecting the health of thousands of people in the GTA, some to the point of premature death.

But urban sprawl does not only affect human health.

To the north of Toronto lies a sprawling watershed known as the Oak Ridges Moraine. This health and preservation of the ecosystem surrounding the Oak Ridges Moraine has become one of the most contentious environmental issues in southern Ontario civic life at the dawn of the 21st century.

Urban development on the watershed has pitted a diverse group of stakeholders against each other, as Non Governmental Organizations, governmental and citizen's groups battle for control of the agenda with respect to the moraine.

In recognition of the public concern over the Oak Ridges Moraine, the Government of Ontario has acted to limit development in the area, and there is a lively public debate about the best way to manage the health of this sprawling ecosystem.

Because urban sprawl and commuter transportation are tightly linked, new funds have been allocated to public transit as a way to mitigate automobile use in the Greater Toronto Area, and the Official Plan has been drafted to mandate that new development will be linked to the expanded transit system.

Although the nearby Oak Ridges Moraine dominates the environmentalist debate in the GTA, there are other areas of concern.

Because urban areas consume enormous quantities of electricity, sustainable power generation policies are also prominent in the public consciousness. The GTA derives it's electricity needs from coal, gas and nuclear power generation. 

Through a mix of conservation initiatives and propaganda, residents of the GTA are encouraged by local government to take an active role in reducing electrical consumption. But until sustainable energy production is deployed on a wide scale, unfortunately this issue remains mired in interim solution seeking, and maintenance of the status quo.