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National

Early in the summer, British street artist Banksy's documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop opened in Toronto, and was accompanied by Banksy-style stencil paintings emerging around the city. Banksy's publicist later confirmed that these pieces were authentic, but not before five of the seven were painted over.

Banksy is a British street artist. Though he appears in the film, his face is not shown and his voice is distorted to protect his anonymity. To date, his identity remains a mystery.

In anticipation of their Pin It For The Planet week, from May 31 — June 6, the World Wildlife Fund conducted a survey across Canada asking Canadians if they could give up their cars.

Out of over 2,000 Canadians polled, 78 per cent said they know driving has a negative impact on the environment, but only one per cent said they could give up their car. Two per cent of Canadians polled said they would give up sex before their car.

Canadian Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson signed off on the extradition of Marc Emery, Canada's Prince of Pot, on May 10, allowing the U.S. to assume custody of Emery at the Washington/British Columbia border. Emery was born and raised in London, Ontario.

Emery pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, receiving a five-year prison sentence to be served in Seattle, as a way to avoid a further charge of distribution and engaging in money laundering. B.C. authorities delivered him to those in Washington on May 20.

International

Actor Kevin Costner stepped forward to aid in the oil cleanup caused when a BP oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and The Field of Dreams star founded Costner Industries Nevada Corp. with his scientist and inventor brother Dan years ago and presented a device to be tested for the clean-up.

The device uses centrifugal force to separate oil from water. It currently returns water 97 per cent free of pollutants. Costner also donated $26 million to aid in clean-up efforts.

The “Israeli Defense Forces” raided a humanitarian aid ship killing 10 and wounding dozens more who were attempting to bring medical supplies and other necessities into the Gaza Strip on May 30. The raid, which was illegal under international law, is considered an act of piracy and has drawn condemnation from most nations in the world. The Gaza flotilla, an international convoy of humanitarian aid vessels determined to break Israel's siege on the Palestinians of Gaza, was carrying aid as well as doctors, media, members of governments, and human rights observers when attacked. Gaza has been under an Israeli military blockade for several years now, which has led to mass poverty and horrid living conditions.

Working out of the J. Craig Venter Institute in Maryland, a team of scientists has successfully created the first self-replicating synthetic bacterium. They extracted the genetic strand of an existing bacterium, replacing it with one designed on a computer and created chemically in their labs. Once the new, synthetic genome was introduced, the cell “booted up” and began replicating itself, as in nature.