360º News: International & National briefs
NATIONAL NEWS
An amateur video was posted on YouTube after a medical evacuation plane with five people on board, including a patient, landed in Quebec on only its back wheels, as the front wheels failed to dislodge. Emergency vehicles waited while the pilot attempted a first landing, but pulled back up after deciding to try again. After 10 seconds with the rear wheels on the ground during the second landing, the front wheels finally appeared. Paul Strachan, head of the Air Canada Pilots Association, told CBC, "It's quite spectacular. I've never seen anything quite like it," after watching the video.
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Campaigning has begun for the controversial upcoming Federal election. Parties are already taking stances on issues such as post-secondary education, corporate tax cuts, tax rates on small businesses and job creation. The issue of a coalition forming between the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois has also be raised, should the Conservatives win by a minority in this election. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has hired a lawyer after not being invited to take part in the televised candidate debates.
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A plan that was launched in Prince Edward Island's South Shore in 2004 has proven successful. After the fishermen were struggling to make ends meet, they decided it was necessary to make their industry more sustainable. They collectively decided to throw back all female lobsters over a certain size. Seven years later, it is clear that their plan has worked, as many fishermen are seeing many more juvenile lobsters in their traps. The South Shore fisherman have pitched their idea to the rest of the island, but with the industry still struggling, it is unlikely that many fishermen will be willing to give up that portion of their income. The South Shore fishermen, however, have voted unanimously to continue this practice for another year.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The American Supreme Court justices have voted eight to one that Westboro Baptist Church members' right to protest is protected under the First Amendment freedom of speech. Members of the Kansas-based church had been protesting on public property near the funerals of American soldiers, saying that their deaths are God's way of punishing Americans for being tolerant of homosexuals. The vote comes after the father of a fallen soldier sued Westboro Baptist Church for harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress after church members protested at his son's funeral.
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French urban climber Alain Robert (a.k.a. Spiderman) has climbed the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in Dubai as a part of the Education Without Borders conference. Robert climbed the 828-metre tower in just seven hours. Though he normally climbs without ropes and harnesses, this time he did in order to comply with the conference's request that he follow safety requirements. Robert has also climbed New York's Empire State Building, Chicago's Sears Tower and Taiwan's Taipei 101, which, when he climbed it in 2004, was the world's tallest building.
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The death toll in Sanaa, Yemen has reached 150, with 85 more injured after an explosion at an ammunition factory. Most of the people killed or injured in the explosion were locals who were ransacking the factory after it was taken over by militants. The provincial government is blaming al Qaeda for the attacks, as the explosion followed a weekend of clashes between al Qaeda members and government forces in the Arabian Peninsula. This occurs after months of demonstrations targeting Yemeni President Ali Abdulah Saleh.
— compiled by Kirsten Rosenkrantz
An amateur video was posted on YouTube after a medical evacuation plane with five people on board, including a patient, landed in Quebec on only its back wheels, as the front wheels failed to dislodge. Emergency vehicles waited while the pilot attempted a first landing, but pulled back up after deciding to try again. After 10 seconds with the rear wheels on the ground during the second landing, the front wheels finally appeared. Paul Strachan, head of the Air Canada Pilots Association, told CBC, "It's quite spectacular. I've never seen anything quite like it," after watching the video.
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Campaigning has begun for the controversial upcoming Federal election. Parties are already taking stances on issues such as post-secondary education, corporate tax cuts, tax rates on small businesses and job creation. The issue of a coalition forming between the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois has also be raised, should the Conservatives win by a minority in this election. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has hired a lawyer after not being invited to take part in the televised candidate debates.
-----
A plan that was launched in Prince Edward Island's South Shore in 2004 has proven successful. After the fishermen were struggling to make ends meet, they decided it was necessary to make their industry more sustainable. They collectively decided to throw back all female lobsters over a certain size. Seven years later, it is clear that their plan has worked, as many fishermen are seeing many more juvenile lobsters in their traps. The South Shore fisherman have pitched their idea to the rest of the island, but with the industry still struggling, it is unlikely that many fishermen will be willing to give up that portion of their income. The South Shore fishermen, however, have voted unanimously to continue this practice for another year.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The American Supreme Court justices have voted eight to one that Westboro Baptist Church members' right to protest is protected under the First Amendment freedom of speech. Members of the Kansas-based church had been protesting on public property near the funerals of American soldiers, saying that their deaths are God's way of punishing Americans for being tolerant of homosexuals. The vote comes after the father of a fallen soldier sued Westboro Baptist Church for harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress after church members protested at his son's funeral.
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French urban climber Alain Robert (a.k.a. Spiderman) has climbed the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in Dubai as a part of the Education Without Borders conference. Robert climbed the 828-metre tower in just seven hours. Though he normally climbs without ropes and harnesses, this time he did in order to comply with the conference's request that he follow safety requirements. Robert has also climbed New York's Empire State Building, Chicago's Sears Tower and Taiwan's Taipei 101, which, when he climbed it in 2004, was the world's tallest building.
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The death toll in Sanaa, Yemen has reached 150, with 85 more injured after an explosion at an ammunition factory. Most of the people killed or injured in the explosion were locals who were ransacking the factory after it was taken over by militants. The provincial government is blaming al Qaeda for the attacks, as the explosion followed a weekend of clashes between al Qaeda members and government forces in the Arabian Peninsula. This occurs after months of demonstrations targeting Yemeni President Ali Abdulah Saleh.
— compiled by Kirsten Rosenkrantz
