Local
Toronto Police Search For Two Missing Teenage Boys
TORONTO, Ont. – Toronto police are asking for the public’s help in locating two missing
teenaged boys.
The two 16-year-old boys were last seen in the Yonge and Gould streets area Monday
night. Police are concerned for their safety.
Michael Dussaualt is described as White 5’5 – 5’6″, about 145-155 lbs. with Blue eyes and
Short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black/grey lumber jacket, black toque and
blue jeans. He has a tattoo “zig zag” on his left shoulder
Sheldon MacDonald is described as white, 5’7 and Medium build, Blue eyes and Brown
hair. He was last seen wearing a black sweater with orange writing, black toque, blue
jeans and a black baseball hat.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5100, Crime Stoppers
anonymously at 416-222-8477.
TTC General Manger Fired
TORONTO, Ont. – Gary Webster is no longer TTC chief general manager
He was fired Tuesday. The motion to fire Webster was passed by a vote of 5-4 during a
special transit meeting.
Webster will reportedly receive two years severance pay, which amounts to over
$500,000, because he was let go without cause.
In the meantime, TTC is now in search for a new boss, in the meantime, TTC chief
operating officer Andy Byford will be in charge for the time-being. Byford is seen as a
world-class transit expert. He came to Toronto after acting as chief operating officer of
the transit system in Sydney and general manager of the London Underground.
Byford was just hired by the TTC late last summer and started in November.
Police Lay Almost 10,000 Charges During Distracted Driving Campaign
Toronto police handed out some 10, 000 tickets to distracted drivers over the long
weekend.
Police laid the charges during their distracted driving campaign, and they say the
numbers are up from the close to 9,000 charges laid during last year’s blitz.
Officers were targeting people on things like using a hand-held device while driving, and
using a hand held entertainment device.
Arrest Made In York University Shooting
Police say they have made an arrest in a shooting at York University over the long
weekend.
Officers were called out to the campus around 6:30 Saturday morning.
When they arrived, they noticed damage to the front door of an apartment on Assinboine
Road , and quickly determined a shot was fired through one of the student dormitories.
There was a resident home at the time, but no one was hurt.
Police are expected to give an update on the shooting later today
407 ETR Customer Service Workers On Strike
More than 100 407 ETR customer service workers have walked off the job.
Workers began picketing the ETR offices in Woodbridge, just north of Toronto, at 7 a.m.
The workers, represented by CAW Local 414, are striking over the issue of not getting
more pay for doing more work.
All lanes of the Highway 407 toll highway are open, but you could run into problems if
you need to inquire about your bill.
The strike will affect customer service staff – those that deal with transponders and bill
payments.
Community
Several schools in the Caribbean are now connected with their counter parts here in
Canada.
The program known as the International Twinning Initiative, pairs a school in Canada
with a school in a developing country with the aim of providing a valuable and educational
exchange.
Three schools in Jamaica, one in Antigua and one in Grenada along with two schools in
Mali are participating in this Canadian International Development Agency’s two-year ISTI
pilot at a cost of $1.09 million over two years.
Riverside Elementary School in Manitoba is twinned with St. Elizabeth Technical High in
Jamaica;Rossburn Elementary School in Manitoba with Eltham High in Jamaica; Samuel
W. Shaw Elementary School in Alberta twinned with Excelsior High in Jamaica; St. James
Elementary School in Alberta twinned with Presentation Brothers College in Grenada and
Summit Alternative School in Ontario twinned with Antigua Grammar School in Antigua.
During the summer of 2012, teachers from Canada and developing countries will come
together to share lessons learned from the first year of the initiative and to plan activities
for the second year.
Toronto -The Trinidad and Tobago Consulate General in Toronto is now delivering
passports to nationals at a faster pace.
The consulate said it can now deliver Machine Readable Passports to nationals within
three to four weeks. This is down from three months a year ago.
The Consulate said since the beginning of 2012, the Immigration Department in Trinidad
had processed over 600 new passports for applicants here in Canada, and that it is now
working at reducing the time factor in the overall delivery process.
The Trinidad and Tobago Consulate also announced the commencement of an outreach
program through which the Consulate will connect with nationals across Canada to assist
those residing out of Ontario with their applications for the new Machine Readable
Passports.
The Consulate’s Immigration Team will begin phase one of this program on Thursday
March 22 and Friday March 23 in Edmonton and on Monday March 26 and Tuesday
March 27 in Calgary.
The outreach program will continue on May 28 and 29 with the team heading to
Winnipeg, followed by Vancouver in July, Montreal and Ottawa in September and New
Brunswick in November.
February 23 marks the great Jamaica patty war
If you were to travel to France, Italy or Taiwan and ask for a Jamaican Beef Patty chances
are you may find it at the local corner store.
Well as part of Black History celebration, Toronto will get a chance to bite into and learn
about a small taste of Jamaica, “Jamaican Patty”.
The celebration of the Jamaican Patty will take place on Feb 23rd, 10.00 am – 12.00pm, at
A Different Booklist, 746 Bathurst Street.
Michael Davidson of Patty Palace, members of the JA50th, patty vendors, celebrities and
other special guests will be in attendance for this historic event. Students will be invited to
meet Mr. Davidson, and receive a patty and a poster.
All Torontonians to eat a patty, take it to work, get intimate with it, talk about its history,
twitter, munch it in the classroom, and have a good laugh at Patty or pie.
African Region
Ethiopian, Somali Troops Capture Key Somali Town
Residents say Ethiopian troops and Somali soldiers have seized a key town in south central
Somalia.
Baidoa resident Isaq Haji says tanks and infantry troops swept into the town on
Wednesday after a gunfight. He said al-Shabab fighters retreated into jungle areas outside
the town, about 160 miles (256 kilometers) northwest of Mogadishu.
Haji said the fighting had stopped, but gunfire could still be heard.
In a website statement, al-Shabab confirmed the seizure of the town, saying their fighters
conducted a tactical retreat. Baidoa is a major base for al-Shabab.
Resident Tifow Abdi says he joined hundreds of others who fled the fighting.
Ethiopian and pro-government troops seized two villages earlier this week in a push aimed
at capturing Baidoa.
Nigeria’s Ex-leader To Meet Senegal Opposition
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is in Senegal to observe and help
mediate a solution to this weekend’s contentious election, is meeting opposition
candidates on Wednesday.
The retired leader, who has helped mediate conflicts elsewhere in Africa, told reporters
upon his arrival Tuesday that Senegal “is a very beautiful country and nothing should be
done to destroy it.”
Senegal is tense and an air of uncertainty blankets the capital with just five days to go
before Sunday’s presidential election. Businesses on the main commercial avenues
surrounding the presidential palace are boarded up and pieces of plywood cover shop
windows as if a hurricane is about to pass through town.
The country has been rocked by daily protests after the opposition vowed to render the
country ungovernable if 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade runs for a third term on
Sunday. Wade has been dismissive, characterizing the protests as nothing more than a
“light breeze which rustles the leaves of a tree, but never becomes a hurricane.”
He has insisted that he still has a strong following and on Wednesday, and to prove his
point he was planning to hold a campaign rally in Pikine, a downtrodden suburb of Dakar
that is an opposition stronghold. Many are worried because the pace of the protests are
unlike anything Senegal has experienced in years. The country is considered the most
stable in the region. Its democratic traditions run deep, with historians dating Senegal’s
democracy to at least the mid-1800s, when France allowed citizens of this former colony to
elect a deputy to the French parliament.
Witness Describes Attempt On Exiled Rwandan
A witness says that days before an exiled Rwandan army general was shot and wounded in
South Africa, two of the men charged in the shooting were plotting another attempt on his
life.
The witness testified Wednesday in the trial of three Rwandans and three Tanzanians
accused of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons charges in the
June, 2010 shooting of Lt.
Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. The witness, Adriani Kamali, was once a roommate of
one of the defendants.
Rwandan authorities deny allegations of involvement that have been made by Rwandan
President Paul Kagame’s opponents.
Prosecutors won’t say whether they believe Kagame’s government was behind plots
against Nyamwasa. But they have said key witnesses are under police protection in South
Africa because they fear Rwanda’s government.
US Troops Now In 4 African Countries To Fight LRA
A top military official says that U.S. troops are now deployed in four central African
countries as part of U.S. efforts against a brutal rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance
Army.
Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey, the top U.S. special operations commander for Africa, said
Wednesday that U.S. troops are now stationed in bases in Uganda, Congo, South Sudan
and the Central African Republic.
The U.S. announced in October it was sending about 100 U.S. troops — mostly special
operations forces to central Africa to advise in the fight against the LRA and its leader
Joseph Kony.
Losey said officials are already seeing a decrease in the lethality of LRA actions, which
he thinks is part of the pressure the U.S. and partner countries are applying.
Caribbean Region
Jamaica-The government of Jamaica has cut its spending plans for the rest of the fiscal
year by 21 and a half billion dollars.
The plan will now see total expenses at 525 billion dollars.
Those cuts will come mainly in two areas, reduced spending on the debt and cuts in
capital projects.
Two weeks ago the Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips indicated that the government
was seeing falling revenues and increased spending which will force it to borrow 10
billion dollars more this year, than it had projected. And refusing to increase new
borrowings beyond that.
Region in Crisis
A comprehensive CARICOM document, submitted by a Project Management Team and
circulated to Heads of Government ahead of their forthcoming Inter-Sessional Meeting,
has reportedly found the region is in ‘crisis’.
The report, which is based on a mandated assessment of the region, says the ‘crisis’ “is
sufficiently severe to put CARICOM’s very existence in question”.
It adds that hopes for arresting the problems depend on willingness on the part of Heads
of Government to address the elusive issue of “fundamental changes” in the management
structure and operational modalities of the CARICOM Secretariat.
Heads of Government are due to meet in Suriname on March 8th and 9th. Prior to that
meeting, specific recommendations outlined in the report will be considered by a special
session of the Community Council of Ministers.
KINGSTOWN, St Vincent — A number of cabinet secretaries from the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) region will begin arriving in St Vincent and the Grenadines
on Wednesday for a top level meeting.
The fourth Commonwealth Caribbean Consultative meeting will be convened under
the theme “From Public Sector Reform to Governance” on February 23 and 24.
The cabinet secretaries will look at a number of issues including public administration and
the new public governance, taxation, tax reform and governance in developing countries,
and approaches to improving governance in the public service.
The overall aim is to focus the attention of the regional cabinet secretaries on a new system
of values, policies and institutions, all aimed at enhancing economic, social and political
governance in the region.
Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves will deliver the feature address at the opening
ceremony on February 23. Other addresses will come from Dr. Colin McDonald of the
Commonwealth Secretariat, and Susan Dougan, the cabinet secretary in St Vincent and
the Grenadines.
Guyana-The Caribbean needs to do much more to stimulate mass interest in renewable
energy sources to help create a market for those technologies and reduce the cost-
something the IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest is expected to do, officials said Tuesday.
Programme Manager for Energy at the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom)
Headquarters, Joseph Williams said the region was yet to address the gap of creating
demand and interest in newer technologies that use wind or solar energy.
He explained that key inputs in a regional renewable energy strategy that would involve
and benefit the wider public at a lower cost must include special financing facilities,
technical assistance and public awareness over the next two years.
“First of all, they have to be aware that this is a better way to go,” he said… “That has to
be an effort led by the top, it has to be an effort led by the governments,” he added.
While Caribbean governments appear keen on pursuing a low carbon strategy, the
Caricom official, he said ultimately newer technologies must not see members of the public
digging deeper into their pockets.
“Once the demand starts to build and people start to make the kind of requests for these
technologies, then there are going to be business opportunities and then now it’s a
question of the governments putting in place the incentives to support the cleaner
technologies and the market is what’s going to make it happen,” he said.
The Caribbean Regional Sustainable Energy Road Map and Strategy has already examined
the needs and gaps that are to be filled with assistance from International Development
Partners and Caricom member-states.
Williamexplained that in fact one of the objectives is to develop successful clean-energy
ventures that would over time generate demand and contribute to development of local
markets and sustainable supplies of renewable energy.
Carnival crowns
Trinidad -Machel Montano’s “Pump Yuh Flag” was played 233 times to make him a
runaway winner of the 2012 Road March, adding to his Digicel International Power
Soca Monarch and Play Whe Groovy Soca Monarch triumphs.
“Miss Behave” by Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez was played 96 times for second spot, with Neil
“Iwer” George’s “No Pain” being played 84 times to come in third.
Mas man Brian Mac Farlane equalled Wayne Berkeley’s record of six successive Band of
the Year victories when his 2012 presentation “Sanctification – In Search Of” amassed
1,337 points to cop the George Bailey Large Band of the Year title.
Trini Revellers’ “Carnival – The Golden Years” was second with 1,278 points, while
“Flight” by Legacy collected 1,246 points for third spot.
RESULTS
Road March
1. Machel Montano – “Pump Yuh Flag” – 233
2. Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez – “Miss Behave” – 96
3. Neil “Iwer” George – “No Pain” – 84
George Bailey Band of the Year (Large)
1. “Sanctification – In Search Of” – Brian Mac Farlane – 1,337 points
2. “Carnival – The Golden Years” – Trini Revellers – 1,278
3. “Flight” – Legacy – 1,246.
Band of the Year (Medium)
1. “Exodus – The Second Book Of The Bible” – The Words & Associates – 1,208
2. “Jus Friends” – Jus Friends – 1,198
3. “Dis Is We Thing” – D Harvard Revellers – 1,176
Band of the Year (Small)
1. “The Iroquois Nation” – Tribal Connection Cultural Promotions – 1,273
2. “Xante Trinbago Xante” – Rosalind Gabriel & Village Productions – 1,247
3. “Festivals of the World” – BOSS (Belmont Original Stylish Sailors) – 1,187
