NRI Law Group Canada: Alberta, Sask. to reap biggest increases in worker...

NRI Law Group Canada: Alberta, Sask. to reap biggest increases in worker...: EDMONTON – A report from the Conference Board of Canada suggests it’s better to be a rig pig on the Prairies than a health-care worker...

Soceys to sell 23 stores in Western Canada

Edmonton Today - Edmonton News Blog of Oilers' Oil Country: Sobeys to sell 23 stores in Western Canada: Competition Bureau orders sale to preserve grocery competition in Western Canada STELLARTON, N.S. –   The Competition Bureau has ord...

Typhoon Francisco heading for Japan

TORONTO – As Japan recovers from one typhoon, another is on its doorstep.

Typhoon Wipha struck the country just a week ago. Typhoon Francisco is now on its way to the island, packing sustained winds near 150 km/h with gusts of 222 km/h and is moving west-northwestward at 15 km/h.

The storm is expected to make landfall near Tokyo Friday or Saturday as a category one typhoon.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the storm was about 530 km southwest of Okinawa, Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued warnings and advisories for much of the eastern part of the country.

Projected path of Typhoon Francisco (left) and Typhoon Lekima (right).

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), the storm is generating wave heights of up to 13.1 metres in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.

Apple unveils new ‘iPad Air’ and iPad mini with Re...

Edmonton Tech Blog: Apple unveils new ‘iPad Air’ and iPad mini with Re...: TORONTO – Both the iPad and the iPad Mini are getting an image overhaul just in time for the holidays. Apple unveiled the latest gener...

Australian court defers bail pleas of 2 Indians accused of rape

Melbourne, October 22
The bail pleas of two Indian-origin men from northern India charged of abducting, raping and blackmailing a Canberra woman was today deferred by an Australian court.

Ajitpal Singh (31) and Randhir Singh (20) appeared in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) magistrate's court on charges of rape, abduction, unlawful confinement, and committing acts of indecency and pleaded not guilty.

The duo applied for bail, but Magistrate Peter Dingwall deferred the request until the men's immigration status could be confirmed. The court heard a third man had fled the country back to India earlier this month.

The two allegedly used a dating app to lure the woman into meeting them at the Kippax shopping centre in Holt suburb, according to an ABC report.

It was said that the victim who was from Canberra was also once threatened by the accused who told her that they were aware of her son's school before driving her to an apartment where they repeatedly assaulted and raped her.

The woman told police she had no idea how the men found out her private details, but that she thought she recognised one of the men after they followed her onto a bus at an earlier date.

ACT police said the case was an example of the perils of social media applications. Both men are being held in Canberra's jail while concerns over their immigration status are resolved. The next hearing of the case will be next week. 

Indian PM reaches China, border defence pact on cards

Beijing, October 22
India and China are likely to sign a new Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) signalling the common intent of leadership on either side to maintain peace and tranquility across the borders that are not clearly demarcated.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived here today, will hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang tomorrow. Manmohan Singh was received at the airport by the Chinese Vice- Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhai Jun and the Chinese Ambassador to India Wei Wei. “China is our great neighbour. We have centuries old civilisational links. There are a lot of things we have to discuss. I am looking forward to promote further cooperation between our two countries,” said the Prime Minister.
Besides delegation-level talks with Li, Manmohan Singh will also meet President Xi Jinping and former Premier Wen Jiabao. Both sides will also exchange views on the situation in the region and the world, including Afghanistan whose stability is a must for India, Russia and China.
New Delhi, however, is unwilling to oblige Beijing immediately by agreeing to a liberalised visa regime providing for multiple one-year entry, especially for businessmen. The recent Chinese move to give stapled visas to Indian archers from Arunachal had irked India. At the Union Cabinet meet last week, liberalised visa issue was taken off the agenda.
Sources said Sino-Indian relations should be viewed in the context of an altered landscape in which both countries are to deal with each other as growing economic powers in the world who have benefited from an open international system and have aspirations on the world stage.
According to reports, the draft BDCA that was handed over to India earlier suggested a slowdown of activities not acceptable to India. What appears possible is having a `no-tailing’ by patrols, and among other things opening of two border meeting points in Arunachal Pradesh in addition to existing three -one each in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. India believes it has the right to develop its side of the border, including military bases and develop advanced landing grounds closer to Sino-Indian Border.
The BDCA will seek to address issues on a more firm ground and prevent incidents like Depsang in Ladakh this summer when Chinese patrols parked themselves for 21 days.
``We could handle Depsang in three weeks time with a minimum of fuss. Unlike the 1986 Wangdun that took seven years…we have mechanism in place. We have differences and because of which we have face-offs …have to handle until we settle the boundary question’, the sources said.
Ahead of his Beijing visit, the Prime Minister told the Chinese media that the boundary question is both ``complex and sensitive’’ and the Special Representatives having arrived at the political parameters and guiding principles were now seeking a framework for its resolution. 

Addressing Boundary issues

* The Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, mooted by China last year, is expected to be signed on Wednesday when Manmohan meets his Chinese counterpart.

* The BDCA will seek to address border issues on a more firm ground and prevent incidents like Depsang in Ladakh this summer

* New Delhi, however, is unwilling to oblige Beijing immediately by agreeing to a liberalised visa regime The recent Chinese move to give stapled visas to Indian archers from Arunachal had irked India.

Nevada School Shooting: student kills teacher and himself

A student at a Nevada middle school shot dead a teacher hailed as a hero for trying to convince the boy to drop his gun, authorities have said.

SPARKS, Nevada - Michael Landsberry, a 45-year-old Afghanistan veteran, was "defending the students", a local official said.

The student wounded two other students before turning the gun on himself, police said.

Sparks Middle School and a nearby primary school was evacuated and classes cancelled.

The incident occurred at 07:15 local time (14:15 GMT) shortly before the scheduled start of classes.

As many as 200 police officers responded to the scene but fired no shots, authorities said.

Police say a Nevada middle school boy used a semi-automatic handgun to wound two students and kill a math teacher before turning the weapon on himself.

The shooting occurred about 15 minutes before the opening bell at Sparks Middle School on Monday. The student's name wasn't released, and his motive for the shooting wasn't known.

The teacher was being hailed as a hero for trying to protect children from their gun-wielding classmate outside the school. Twenty to 30 horrified students witnessed the shooting as they returned to classes from a weeklong fall break.

Police said between 150 and 200 officers, including some from as far as 100 kilometres away, responded to the shooting.

Motive unknown

The names of the suspect and two other victims have not yet been released.

"As you can imagine, the best description is chaos," Robinson said. "It's too early to say whether he was targeting people or going on an indiscriminate shooting spree."

Students from the middle school and neighbouring elementary school were evacuated to the nearby high school, and classes were cancelled. The middle school will remain closed for the week.

At the evacuation centre, parents comforted their children.

"We came flying down here to get our kids," said Mike Fiorica, whose nephew attends the school. "... It's really chaotic. You can imagine how parents are feeling. You don't know if your kid's OK."

Sparks Middle School east of Reno, Nev., was the scene of a shooting early Monday that left two people dead and two boys wounded, police said.

One of the students injured in the violence that erupted around 7:15 a.m. is out of surgery and the other is doing well, according to police.

The shooting happened on the school's campus and ended outside the school building itself, according to police.

"I was deeply saddened to learn of the horrific shooting at Sparks Middle School this morning," Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement extending his thoughts and prayers to those affected.

About 700 students in 7th and 8th grades are enrolled at the school, located in a working class neighbourhood.

"It's not supposed to happen here," Chanda Landsberry said. "We're just Sparks — little Sparks, Nevada. It's unreal."

The violence erupted nearly a year after a gunman opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., leaving 26 dead. The Dec. 14 shooting ignited debate over how best to protect U.S. schools and whether armed teachers should be part of that equation.

In a statement on the website of Sandy Hook Promise, a gun control advocacy group, Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was killed in the shooting said, "It's moments like this that demand that we unite as parents to find common sense solutions that keep our children — all children — safe, and prevent these tragedies from happening again and again."

Vegas club shooting

The local education authority held a session earlier this year on safety measures in its schools after 26 people, including 20 children, were killed at a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.

The attack briefly revived calls for gun control. But in a country where fatal shootings are an everyday occurrence, even that massacre did not lead to nationwide reforms.

Elsewhere in Nevada on Monday, a man opened fire in a Las Vegas nightclub after being denied a refund for an entry fee, killing a patron who tried to intervene, police said.

According to media reports, the suspect demanded his money back after he found Drai's After Hours, a club at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, too small.

The club's manager and a security guard were also shot and taken to hospital, police Sgt John Sheahan said.

The suspect was transported to hospital with unspecified injuries. Authorities believe he acted alone and expect to charge him with murder and attempted murder.

NRI Bollywood: Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan set to promote Sholay 3D

NRI Bollywood: Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan set to promote Sho...: Mumbai, October 22, 2013 Jai and Veeru of Sholay Cult classic Sholay (1975) is finally set to return to the big screen 38 years la...

Jai and Veeru of Sholay

Don Iveson elected Edmonton's next mayor, Iveson's...

Edmonton Today - Edmonton News Blog of Oilers' Oil Country: Don Iveson elected Edmonton's next mayor, Iveson's...: Don Iveson settles into mayor’s office with eye on budget, roads, council initiatives Mayor-Elect Don Iveson Edmonton, (ET) - Do...