Tag Archives: Canada

Recipes

Q&A with Suzanne Husseini, author of 'Modern Flavors of Arabia'

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By Kemp Minifie It’s more than a week into the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims refrain from consuming any food or liquid from sunrise to sunset. Once the sun goes down, however, the fast is broken with what’s known as the iftar meal. For the home cook, getting a delicious meal on the table in a timely manner when you’re tired is hard enough, but when you as well as everyone around you is tired and famished it can be a real challenge. We turned to Suzanne Husseini, a television food celebrity in the Arab world and Canada, and author of The Modern Flavors of Arabia (Appetite by Random House of Canada, Limited), for her take on Ramadan traditions and Arabic iftar specialties. Husseini is the Nigella Lawson of Arabian food. She’s effervescent with enthusiasm for teaching people the world over how to cook the Arabic dishes she adores. Husseini was raised in Canada, but has led a trans-continental life for almost 20 years, splitting her time between Dubai, where she lives most of the year with her husband and three children, and Ottawa, where she enjoys the summer and Christmas season. Epicurious: Tell me about your family’s heritage. How old were you when you arrived in Canada? Suzanne Husseini: I was 5 years old and it was the first time I had seen snow. It was magical! My parents are Palestinian and came to Canada to offer their family a new life and a promising future. For my father, Canada was the natural choice and he is proud of being part of its multicultural mosaic. Our Arabic heritage was something that was kept alive in our home through language, music, and stories. My mother made sure that our table was always full of the most amazing Arabic food, made by her with love, of course. Her homemade Arabic breads were the vessels for exotic fillings like hummus, baba ghanouj, cauliflower fritters or falafel. These were the sandwiches that prompted my school friends to be curious and ask “What are you eating? Where are you from?” Following my father’s advice I replied by saying, “I’m Arabian and this is Arabic food.” My friends welcomed my invitations to come to my house for lunch and sample the many delicacies my mother prepared. After tasting they were hooked–I started taking orders. I made a connection through food and I have never looked back. Epi: What countries does The Modern Flavors of Arabia encompass? Or is it not so much about countries but about traditions and flavors in a widespread area? SH: In my book I wanted to acquaint the reader with the food of the Arab Mediterranean as a whole. There are flavors, ingredients, cooking techniques, and a diverse food history that connects them all. It is the food I fell in love with, and I was served growing up in Canada. The flavors are authentic Arabic and honor the integrity of each dish. I do shake things up a bit by presenting…<div …read more

Source: Epicurious

News, Politics, Government

Canadian railways review rules after derailment

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Canada’s two largest railways said Thursday they are reviewing procedures for securing stopped trains, pending new federal rules following the derailment of a runaway train in Quebec.

Canadian National (CN) told AFP it is reviewing what it described as already “robust policies” to secure its trains.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) meanwhile reportedly issued an internal bulletin announcing changes to its safety operations in anticipation of a Transport Canada order.

The bulletin, cited by the daily Globe and Mail, says parking trains carrying dangerous goods on main lines is now prohibited, and hand brakes must be applied whenever a train is left unsupervised for more than one hour.

“With the recent tragic incident that occurred in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in preparation to a pending order by Transport Canada, Canadian Pacific is revising our operating instructions,” the companysaid.

In an email to AFP, a CP spokesman added that unattended locomotives outside a terminal or yard will now be locked.

“These enhanced safety and operating rules,” CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said, “are an update to (the company’s) current general operating instructions for our employees” and “were identified from what recently occurred” in Lac-Megantic.

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway’s runaway oil tanker train derailed and exploded on July 6, flattening part of the picturesque Quebec town of Lac-Megantic and killing up to 50 people.

The railway’s chairman said last week that the disaster appeared to have been caused by an engineer’s failure to properly set hand brakes on the train.

The train was carrying crude oil from the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota in 72 tanker cars through the resort town of 6,000 near the Canada-US border.

It had been scheduled to cross Maine to an Irving Oil refinery in New Brunswick.

Canada’s transportation minister was not immediately available for comment nor to confirm the pending new train safety rules.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Computers

Microsoft deal offers free Xbox LIVE Gold sub for Office 365, with numerous caveats

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It sounds great: Microsoft now offers a free year’s subscription to its Xbox LIVE Gold service if you pick up an Office 365 subscription or Office 365 University.

But dig into the terms and conditions attached to the promotion, and you’ll find out quickly that it doesn’t apply to everybody. In fact, if you purchased either subscription within the United States, you’re out of luck.

What this does imply, however, is that Microsoft hopes to beef up its international penetration of Office 365 by piggybacking it onto the more popular Xbox game console. The deal is available in Canada and Mexico, plus many European countries like France, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Two of the so-called BRIC countries are also included: Brazil, and Russia.

Microsoft

But you’re also out of luck if you purchased any of the following, which are not eligible for the deal:

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

News, Politics, Government

Ken Fisher Buys Bank Of America, Citigroup, CapitalSource, Gilead Sciences, Tencent

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By GuruFocus, Contributor Ken Fisher just reported the second quarter portfolio of his firm, Fisher Asset Management, LLC. As most of times, Ken Fisher is bullish with the stock market. He wrote in his latest Forbes column: “Where are we today? We have one foot planted firmly in skepticism with the other straddling over to optimism. That means we’re about halfway through the bull market–with about four more years to go.” He is also bullish on Canada. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

Major economies still struggling to create jobs

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Jobs growth remains weak among the world’s 20 biggest economies, where almost a third of the 93 million unemployed have been out of work for more than a year, top labor and development officials reported Wednesday.

In a batch of new figures intended to push G-20 governments into action, the U.N.’s International Labor Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned the rate of employment growth remains low. The G-20 countries represent 80 percent of the world’s economic output.

Over the last 12 months, unemployment dropped slightly in half of the G-20 countries, but it rose among the other half.

It was highest, above 25 per cent, in South Africa and Spain. It was 11 percent or above in France, Italy and for the European Union as a whole, and above 7 percent in Britain, Canada, Turkey and the United States. Unemployment was below 5 percent in only four countries: China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Among the total unemployed, about 30 percent on average were jobless for over a year, the agencies said.

Youth unemployment rates were twice as high as those for adults in all G-20 nations but Germany and Japan and despite the wide use of subsidies to encourage hiring of young people in Britain, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Spain.

The weakness of the global economy even six years after the onset of the global financial crisis has “blunted” many countries’ efforts to find jobs for people, said Guy Ryder, the ILO director-general, and Angel Gurria, the OECD secretary-general, in a joint statement.

They advised labor ministers scheduled to begin two days of meetings on Thursday in Moscow that governments must ensure “a careful balancing between providing adequate income support for those out of work and with low incomes and activation measures which help them to find rewarding and productive jobs.”

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Science & Technology

Image: Fires in the Canadian Yukon province

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In the Yukon territory of Canada, several large wildfires continue to burn unabated. The fires on this image are located near Carmacks and also near Stewart Crossing. The Yukon Wildland Fire Management map dated July 15, 2013 shows quite a few fires in the Yukon territory with many currently uncontained. These MODIS image fires appear to be the uncontained fires noted on the map. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Automobiles

ETC: Lexus' LFA Works now making carbon fiber bicycles… kind of

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By Jonathon Ramsey

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The LFA Works that produced the Lexus LFA hasn’t had too much to do since the 500th example of the V10 supercar left the plant on December 15, 2012. So what are a bunch of carbon fiber experts meant to do with their time when they have some of the world’s most advanced CFRP machinery but no engine to wrap it with? Why, make a bicycle, of course – and not just any bicycle, but the kind that costs one million Japanese yen ($10,000 US) and of which only 100 will be made.

Only they didn’t really “make” it – the carbon fiber frame was sourced from Takumi, in Taiwan. On the face of it that’s a shame, but it makes sense; when you’ve got a company like McLaren assisting bike manufacturer Specialized produce a road bike, it’s clear that ‘pushies’ have got so advanced that a company can’t just hop in and mold a $10K bike in six months. Beyond that frame it’s got a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group with electronic shifters, and it weighs 15 pounds.

However, the Lexus crafstmen did polish each frame for three hours, and the bike is said to embody the “principles and philosophy” of the supercar, while the brochure for the bike says it represents “a new chapter in Lexus history.” That chapter is still all about rarity, though, since there’s only one bike headed for Canada and two for the US.

Lexus’ LFA Works now making carbon fiber bicycles… kind of originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog

News, Politics, Government

Lawsuit pursued in Canada oil train derailment

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Two residents of a Quebec town devastated after an oil train derailment killed 50 people have registered a motion to file a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. rail company and some of its employees.

One resident is Yannick Gagne, who owned the Musi-Cafe bar where many died in the July 6 disaster.

The other is Guy Ouellet, whose partner was killed.

The defendants include the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway, chairman Edward Burkhardt and president Robert Grindrod.

The court documents were filed Monday in Quebec Superior Court.

No financial sum is mentioned.

Yves Bourdon, a member of the railway’s board of directors, says he is not in a position to comment.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Canada PM shuffles cabinet amid plunging polls

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Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper will appoint eight fresh faces in a cabinet shuffle Monday, hoping to reanimate a Tory government sagging in polls after seven years in power.

Ministers with key portfolios such as finance and foreign affairs, however, will remain at their posts, according to leaks.

The formal announcement had been planned for 11:00 am (1500 GMT).

But Harper started naming new ministers an hour earlier in Twitter messages, saying he is “looking forward to welcoming 8 new faces to the ministry this morning” and is “proud to be naming four new strong, capable women to the ministry.”

“This fall (they) will carry our new agenda forward,” he added.

With two years to go in its first majority mandate, Harper’s government is at its lowest polling levels since sweeping to power in 2006.

In the weeks prior to the announcement, a half-dozen ministers announced they were stepping down, including Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Environment Minister Peter Kent.

The prime minister said Monday that former cop Shelly Glover will be named minister of Canadian heritage and official languages, rising star Michelle Rempel will become minister of state for Western economic diversification, and Candice Bergen will be minister of state for social development.

Orthopedic surgeon Kellie Leitch will be named labor minister, Harper said in a Twitter message.

Veteran minister Leona Aglukkaq will move to the environment ministry, while Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose will take on Aglukkaq’s old job at the health department.

Helping Finance Minister Jim Flaherty return the federal budget to the black within a promised two years will be Kerry Lynne Find, as minister of national revenue and Kevin Sorenson, the new minister of state for finance.

James Moore will take over the industry portfolio and Bernard Valcourt will become minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development, while Gail Shea returns to his old fisheries job.

John Duncan and Peter Van Loan, meanwhile, will shepherd the government’s agenda as whip and House leader, respectively.

Chris Alexander is to become the new immigration minister, while John Baird remains at foreign affairs but is joined by junior minister Lynne Yelich.

Stephen Blaney replaces Toews as Canada’s top anti-terrorism official, and attorney general Rob Nicholson swaps jobs with defense minister Peter MacKay.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Christian News

Blasphemy Case Finally Dismissed

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By George Whitten

pakistan-map2

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (Worthy News)– The Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed an appeal against the decision of the Islamabad High Court to revoke the First Information Report formerly lodged against Rimsha Masih under Section 295 B and C of the Pakistani Penal Code, finally putting a legal end to her controversial blasphemy case.

During the hearing, Justices Tasaduq Hussain Gillani and Nasir ul Malik dismissed the application filed by Malik Ammad to reopen the blasphemy case against Masih.

Abdul Hameed Rana, Masih's counsel, said now that the High Court has declared that Masih — a 14-year-old Christian girl who suffers from Down Syndrome — is innocent, there's no longer a case pending against her.

Masih was first arrested in the Mehrabad colony of Islamabad after Ammad had lodged a complaint with the Ramna police accusing her of burning pages of the Quran. When word of this got out, Muslim mobs attacked her home and other Christian homes in Meherabad, so the Masih family was secretly moved to an undisclosed location in Pakistan.

Masih and her family were apparently granted asylum in Canada after local Canadian news recently spotted them and then broke the story.

…read more

Source: Worthy News

News, Politics, Government

Delivering mail in Kabul, where streets have no name

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In Kabul, many streets have no name and houses often have no number, meaning that postmen already braving the constant threat of suicide bombings must play detective to deliver mail.

Mohammad Rahim makes his rounds on the tattered, hilly streets of the Afghan capital riding an old bicycle. After 10 years on the job he is undaunted by even the vaguest addresses on letters.

“Here we have a letter for a man who lives near Doctor Hashmat’s house,” Rahim, 46, says. “I don’t know the address, so let’s see, how can we find the right place?”

His only clues are the addressee Mohammad Naeem, the doctor’s name and instructions on the back of the envelope saying “Kart-e-Sakhi hilltop, behind the agricultural ministry”.

Wearing a black fur hat, blue jeans and a violet T-shirt, he cuts a familiar figure and is often recognised by Kabul residents. He sets off from the neighbourhood post office to start asking people for help.

“Brother, can you tell me — where is Doctor Hashmat’s house?” Rahim shouts at a shopkeeper.

“Go up the hill, and turn right,” comes the reply, so Rahim sets off up the rocky road.

Further on, another man tells him: “Turn right and it is the third house on the left.”

After waiting outside the gate, a woman in her 40s comes out: Mohammad Naeem’s wife, who takes the letter for her husband.

“We have received letters from the US, Canada, Germany and Pakistan, and the postman always brings them safely and on time,” she says.

Rahim delivers dozens of letters every day across west and southwest Kabul, a city reduced almost to ruins in the brutal 1992-96 civil war.

The Kabul population has boomed to five million as people have flooded in seeking employment and an escape from the fight against the Taliban, but much of the recent expansion is illegal, with many houses and shacks built on contested land or without planning permission.

But the days of confusion over addresses could soon be over, as last month the communications ministry signed an agreement with the city authorities to create a comprehensive new address system.

All streets and houses will be coded, numbered and mapped in a two-year project that the government hopes to expand to other cities.

The scheme — which will use global positioning system (GPS) surveying — should help Rahim, and fellow postmen such as Khan Agha, 42, who works in a post office in the central Shar-e-Naw district.

For now Agha, who first started delivering mail 22 years ago, says the chaotic street mapping makes it “the most difficult job in the world”.

“We don’t care about traffic, summer or winter, smog or rain but there are many vague addresses, though a telephone number on the back of the envelope can help,” he says.

“We ring them up and they say ‘I’m standing here’ so we go and hand over the letter.

“I do my best to treat people well. We see on television that postmen are admired in foreign society, because we connect the sender and receiver.”

The job is even more challenging for …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Canada rail disaster official death toll hits 35

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Two more bodies were found Sunday in downtown Lac-Megantic, the Quebec town devastated when an oil tanker train derailed and exploded, bringing the body count to 35 of the 50 presumed dead.

Two damaged and unstable buildings in the disaster zone were demolished Sunday afternoon, police added, to allow searchers safer access to the area as the search for corpses continues.

“Temperatures are very high, which slows down the operations. Three firefighters were lightly wounded Sunday, but they were cared for on the scene,” said provincial police spokesman Michel Forget.

The train, made up of 72 tanker cars loaded with crude oil, derailed in the early hours of July 6 in Lac-Megantic, a town of 6,000 near the Canada-US border. Waves of fire gutted several streets in the town center.

The disaster appears to have been caused by an engineer’s failure to properly set the hand brake on the runaway, the railway’s chairman said this week.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

'Glee' TV star Monteith found dead

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‘Glee’ TV series star Cory Monteith was found dead in his hotel room in the western Canadian city of Vancouver on Saturday, local police reported.

No cause of death was given for the 31-year-old actor — known for his role as sensitive jock Finn Hudson in the hit series — but Acting Police Chief Doug LePard said that there appeared to be no foul play.

Shortly after noon Saturday (1900 GMT) police received a call from the local ambulance service “regarding a sudden death in a room” at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in downtown Vancouver, city police said in a statement.

“Police attended within minutes of the call and paramedics advised the man in the room was clearly deceased. “

“The deceased has been identified as 31-year-old actor Cory Monteith, who achieved great fame on the popular TV series Glee,” said LePard.

“As was the case in countless homes, I watched Glee regularly with my daughters, and I know there will be shock and sadness in many households with the news of his tragic death.”

The star of the Fox TV musical comedy-drama, who was dating co-star Lea Michele, checked into a rehabilitation center in April for substance abuse, his publicist said in a statement.

In a June 2011 interview with Parade magazine, the actor spoke openly about past struggles with drugs, including getting drunk and smoking pot by age 13.

By age 16 “I had a serious problem,” he told Parade, and checked into a rehab center at age 19. However ” I did the stint but then went back to doing exactly what I left off doing,” he said.

“I’m lucky on so many counts-I’m lucky to be alive,” he told Parade.

Monteith was born in Calgary, in Alberta province, but grew up in Victoria, on Canada’s west coast close to the US border and Vancouver, according to his IMDB profile.

Monteith checked into the hotel in July 6th and was due to check out on Saturday.

“There were others with Mr. Monteith in his room earlier last night, but video and … key entries show him returning to his room by himself in the early morning hours and we believe he was alone when he died,” the statement read.

“When he missed his check-out time, staff went to the room at noon and found his body.”

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, “but all indications are that there was no foul play.”

Monteith has also had minor roles in series such as “Smallville” and “Kyle XY”.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Death toll in Canada rail crash rises to 28

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The death toll from the Lac-Megantic train disaster rose to 28 on Friday after four more bodies were pulled from rubble of the devastated Canadian town.

A further 22 people remain missing and presumed dead after the rail disaster, Quebec police said, as accident investigators continue to comb through the destruction.

A spokesman from the coroner’s office added they have now identified eight of the 28 bodies, up from just one earlier.

Part of a train made up of 72 tank cars loaded with crude oil derailed in the early hours of Saturday in Lac-Megantic, near the Quebec-Maine border, igniting a huge explosion that laid waste to the center of the lakeside town.

Police working in the disaster zone have had “a great deal of difficulty” because of strong petrol fumes, Quebec provincial police spokesman Michel Forget said.

“These are the places where there is a much denser concentration of oil. So, when we lift pieces, these fumes” reach insupportable limits for the investigators, he explained.

“We have had therefore to review our strategy and deploy to other spots,” Forget explained, emphasizing that “the ground is contaminated with oil in some places.”

Police are examining “different measures to ensure ventilation to make sure the work can continue” as efficiently as possible.

The approximately 200 police on the scene, including 60 investigators, will be reinforced in the coming days by crime scene technicians from Montreal and Quebec City “in order to accelerate the work,” he added.

Earlier, investigation official Jean Laporte said the Lac-Megantic crash was “extremely likely the most devastating rail accident in the history of Canada.”

The US transportation safety agency will also come help the investigators, Laporte added.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Khan agrees to buy Fulham

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Pakistan-born billionaire Shahid Khan agreed a deal to buy English Premier League club Fulham on Friday.

Khan, who owns NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars, has been in talks with Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed for several days and the pair have struck an agreement that will put the west London team under new ownership for the first time in 16 years.

The transaction, reported to have cost Khan around ??150 million, has been approved by the Premier League and the tycoon assumes 100 per cent ownership of the club, with a press conference scheduled for 1200GMT on Saturday to officially introduce the new Cottagers supremo.

“Mr Al Fayed is giving me the privilege and responsibility of serving as the next custodian of Fulham Football Club,” Khan told the club’s website.

“I am extremely honoured to accept and want to thank him, on behalf of everyone who loves Fulham, for 16 years of exceptional service to the Club. He rescued the club in its hour of need and has led it to a sustained place within the Premier League.

“Fulham is the perfect club at the perfect time for me. I want to be clear, I do not view myself so much as the owner of Fulham, but a custodian of the club on behalf of its fans.

“My priority is to ensure the club and Craven Cottage each have a viable and sustainable Premier League future that fans of present and future generations can be proud of.

“We will manage the club’s financial and operational affairs with prudence and care, with youth development and community programs as fundamentally important elements of Fulham’s future.”

Khan, who was born in Lahore but now has American citizenship, is ranked 179th in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans with an estimated worth of $2.5 billion after making his fortune as a car parts manufacturer.

The 62-year-old, the first non-American to own a NFL franchise, already has ties to London, with the Jaguars scheduled to play one regular season game a season at Wembley for the next four years.

In 1967, at the age of 16, Khan left his native Pakistan for the United States and the opportunity to study engineering at the University of Illinois.

Khan struck it rich when he purchased Flex-N-Gate, a car parts supplier, and built it into a global leader that now employs more than 16,000 people at 52 manufacturing and nine product development and engineering facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Spain.

Al Fayed, the 84-year-old former Harrods owner, had transformed Fulham from a third-tier outfit to an established Premier League side since taking over in 1997.

Off the field, training facilities have improved markedly and Craven Cottage has been revamped, with planning permission in place to redevelop the Riverside Stand and increase the stadium’s capacity to 30,000.

The club is also effectively debt-free after Al Fayed converted previous loans into equity earlier this year.

But the Egyptian was keen to step down and Khan has taken advantage of the chance to expand his sporting portfolio.

“My time of serving as …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Walmart worker says chiding customer for leaving dog in car cost her job

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A Walmart worker in Canada claims that speaking up for a doggie in distress cost her her job.

Carla Cheney, a former Kemptville, Ottawa, Walmart pharmacy technician, told CBC News she was worried about a canine left unattended in a truck by a customer. But when she confronted the customer instead of first reporting it to her supervisor, she apparently broke the retail giant’s protocol – not to mention ticking off the customer.

“He told me it was none of my business and I said that that was fine, that if I saw him do it again I would just call the police next time,” Cheney said. “He said he was no longer going to be shopping at that Walmart, and I said, ‘OK.'”

A Walmart Canada spokeswoman said there are guidelines for employees to follow when it comes to identifying dangers, including those involving pets. But the company said the associate was not fired for “trying to help a dog in a locked car.”

“We require our associates to follow these guidelines, which include reporting any safety concerns to a member of management, and engaging customers in a manner that is respectful,” Felicia Fefer told the CBC.

Walmart Canada also said in a statement that they will be posting signs in the front of their stores across Canada advising customers of the dangers of leaving kids and pets in hot vehicles.

A Facebook group dedicated to supporting Cheney, “Animal Rights for Kemptville Walmart,” had more than 12,000 members as of Friday afternoon.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News