Briefs

Local News Missing Ontario child found dead Police believe they have found the body of 15-year-old Ontarian Brandon Crisp. Crisp ran away from home on Thanksgiving Day after his parents took away his Xbox. Autopsy results show Crisp died from a blow to the chest, likely a result of falling from a tree.

Local News

Missing Ontario child found dead

Police believe they have found the body of 15-year-old Ontarian Brandon Crisp. Crisp ran away from home on Thanksgiving Day after his parents took away his Xbox. Autopsy results show Crisp died from a blow to the chest, likely a result of falling from a tree. Police have ruled out foul play.

Take that Yankees!

Canadian author and artist Douglas Coupland has done his part to curb what he called a “creeping revisionism” of the War of 1812. In an effort to remind the public who really won the war, Coupland unveiled a 4-metre tall monument depicting a British toy soldier standing over a fallen American soldier.

Get goats, go green

A new study suggests goats should perform weed control on environmentally sensitive lands, not herbicides. The study, conducted by the University of Northern British Columbia in partnership with the City of Prince George, found that goats are able to digest a variety of weeds, providing an effective and environmentally-friendly form of weed control.

Syphilis makes a comeback

The recent syphilis outbreak is not showing any signs of going away, health officials warned residents in the Northwest Territories. Officials with the Northwest Territories Health Department are pointing the finger at Alberta, saying that initial cases of the STI were imported from there. Syphilis is typically transmitted through sexual contact. The initial stage can easily be treated with antibiotics. If left untreated, though, the infection can grow to damage bones, the heart, brain and eyes.

Montreal puts out smog warning
By Noah Gibson

On Thursday Nov. 6, the City of Montreal extended its smog warning to include Friday’s early morning hours. The smog, which began on Wednesday, worsened on Thursday, prompting the extended warning. Smog is uncharacteristic at this time of year and most smog warnings occur in the summer months, but last week’s unseasonably warm weather provided the right conditions for the smog to form. Smog forms when ozone and other particles become trapped in the air due to a lack of wind or precipitation combined with warm temperatures. There were 14 smog warnings in 2007, a slight increase from 2006 while the number of days with general “poor” air quality diminished by six per cent. Environment Canada, City of Montreal and the Ministere du Developpement Durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs, update Montreal’s air quality daily at the INFO-SMOG website at www.rsqa.qc.ca.

International News

The world celebrates Obama’s victory

Kenya declared a public holiday Thursday to celebrate the election of Barack Obama. The President-elect has also received letters of congratulations from the Somalian and South African governments.

Dutch take on eugenics

Women who are deemed unfit mothers will be forced to take contraceptive pills, if legislation proposed to the Dutch parliament is passed. The draft bill goes even further by stipulating that if a woman who was ordered to take the pill gets pregnant, the child would be taken away at birth and placed in a foster home.

Man arrested for child neglect

A Florida man was arrested last week after he left a 7-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy alone in his home for an hour and a half. In all fairness, he provided them with protection in the event that something went wrong; he gave the girl an axe, a baseball bat and a hunting knife.

Victim drives rapist to jail

A 22-year-old New Zealand man has been found guilty of abduction and two counts of rape. The verdict stems from an incident in early 2006. The accused met a woman at a bar, kidnapped and raped her. Afterwards, he told her to drive, but fell asleep in the passenger seat. So she drove to the police station where he was arrested.

R.I.P pinball

Pinball machines might be on their way to becoming extinct. There was news last week that Stern Pinball Inc., the only pinball manufacturer left in the world, laid off workers and designers. Pinball aficionados are speculating the layoffs are a result of the global economic crisis.

It runs in the family

Police in Indiana had trouble finding a sober driver to take a one-year-old boy home last Saturday. The boy was with his mother when police stopped her for speeding and discovered she had been drinking and arrested her. But when the child’s father arrived to pick him up, police discovered he too had been drinking and arrested him as well. The child’s grandparents then arrived, who had also been drinking. However the grandmother was under the legal limit and was allowed to take the boy home.

It doesn’t matter if it’s real

A 15-year-old boy in Florida was arrested for possession of a bag of parsley. According to police the youth was trying to play a trick on a friend by telling him the parsley was marijuana. But possession of fake pot is also illegal in Florida. He was charged with “possession of a counterfeit controlled substance with the intent to deliver.”

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