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Loney recounts anguish as captive

Sault Star (On) Wednesday, March 7, 2007 Page: A1 Section: Front Byline: Michael Purvis Source: Idnumber: 200703070003 Length: 707 words

If James Loney could talk to his captors now, he says escape from his handcuffs using a trick he learned he would try to impress on them some of the anguish from a movie. they have caused. As the anniversary of Loney's rescue at the hands of "I think I'd like them to really know about Tom (Fox, British special forces draws near, the former hostage an American who was murdered) and I'd like them to said he has returned to the area where he grew up to know the suffering that they caused by what they pore over the notes he took during his captivity. did," Loney told a packed lecture theatre at Algoma University College on Tuesday. "We asked for notebooks and (our captors) gave them to us, so what I did was I sort of imagined what we "I would love to know the truth about what they were were living as a play," Loney said in an interview. doing, why they were doing it, what are their lives like, what led them to do this," said Loney, who He has been staying at his parents' cottage on St. reiterated that he has forgiven the men who held him Joseph Island since January, writing out the bits of hostage. dialogue and events he jotted down. At AUC, Loney recounted the 118 days he spent as a "It's this thing that I want to come out of the prisoner in Iraq, handcuffed to his fellow captives. captivity, that I was almost obsessed with," said Much of the time he felt as if he were "watching from Loney. another room," including when Fox was separated from fellow Christian Peacemaker Teams members, He is unsure what will become of the play. He said in the days before he was found shot to death. now he is concentrating on putting it down on paper. Loney said that at times during his captivity he felt he Loney and the two other hostages who were freed - could snap his handcuffs through "sheer rage." fellow Canadian Harmeet Sooden, and Briton Norman Kember - publicly forgave their captives in At other times he felt despair, particularly during a December. three-day period when he fell ill with pneumonia and a fever. Loney said he believes the hostage-takers are currently being held by the U.S., awaiting some kind "God had died, God did not exist; there was no of trial for kidnapping, which is a capital offence in reality but suffering and I had lots of fantasies or Iraq. ideas of just sliding into the abyss," Loney recalled. He said he has "very little information" on the Loney, who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie and process. graduated from St. Mary's College, was this year's speaker for the 10th annual Peter McGregor "Our own feeling is that we have no desire to punish Memorial Lecture, a free lecture night presented by (our captors), and what we would like is for them to AUC, Algoma Family Services and the Algoma be restored to the human community because that chapter of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. would be the best thing for them and for everyone around them who was part of their life," said Loney. Loney said the message of his speech was freedom, and the "many kinds of freedom" he has learned Loney won't return to Iraq - CPT no longer has a about. team there, and the former hostage has previously said the dangers are too great now that his "That's power, to hold a baby, or to care for someone homosexuality is public - but he said he will likely be who is dying or to be a servant, to serve others, to sent out to another part of the world as he makes a care, that is power," said Loney. return to his work with CPT.

"What comes out of the barrel of a gun isn't really "There will be fear and butterflies, probably more freedom," he said. than there would normally be, but I would like to do that," said Loney. Loney's parents, Pat and Claudette Loney, attended Tuesday night's speech. James' father at one point © 2007 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. prompted his son to tell the crowd how he was able to

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Former hostage Loney to speak at AUC

Sault Star (On) Friday, February 23, 2007 Page: A5 Section: Local News Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200702230027 Length: 215 words Illustration: Loney

Freed hostage James Loney will speak at Algoma University College next month. The Toronto peace activist, who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, will discuss the nearly four months he spent as a captive in Iraq and reflect on the relationship between nonviolence and the quest for authentic human freedom. "We try to bring a guest speaker who can raise awareness of social justice in a thoughtful, compassionate way," said Linda Savory- Gordon, a professor in AUC's social welfare department. "James Loney's experience, dedication to non-violence and reflections on both will challenge us on our own positions on these issues." Loney will tie in his experiences in global conflict with the day- to-day experience of violence within families. Loney and his fellow captives, Canadian Harmeet Sooden and Briton Norman Kember, were freed by coalition forces 118 days after being plucked from the streets of Baghdad in November 2005. Their American counterpart, Tom Fox, was found shot to death. The Christian Peacemaker Teams members who survived publicly forgave their kidnappers in December. The 10th annual Peter McGregor Memorial Lecture will take place March 6 at 7 p.m. in the Great West Life Amphitheatre. The free lecture night will be presented by AUC, Algoma Family Services and the Algoma chapter of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. © 2007 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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Here is a brief look at the major news events of Canada and the world

Brantford Expositor (On) Saturday, December 30, 2006 Page: D23 Section: Special Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612300090 Length: 2511 words

JANUARY 24 - Rodney MacDonald, 34, becomes Canada's 10 - Iran removes UN seals from its nuclear youngest premier when he is sworn in Nova Scotia. enrichment facility at Natanz, effectively ending a freeze on the process that can produce fuel for 28 - Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser takes nuclear weapons. command of coalition troops in southern Afghanistan. 23 - Stephen Harper's Conservatives win slim minority in Canada's 39th general election, ending 12 MARCH years of Liberal rule. Defeated prime minister Paul Martin resigns as Liberal leader. 1 -Marshall Rothstein is confirmed as the newest member of the Supreme Court. 25 - Frank McKenna resigns as Canada's ambassador to the United States. Hamas wins huge majority in 2 - Cpl. Paul Davis, and Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson Palestinian parliamentary elections as voters rejected are killed when their armoured vehicle runs off the the longtime rule of the Fatah party. road in Afghanistan. Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Heather stage a seal hunt protest on ice 26 - Hudson's Bay, Canada's oldest company, accepts floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. $1.5-billion friendly takeover offer from U.S-based Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, headed by Jerry 5 - Underdog "Crash," directed by Canadian Paul Zucker. Haggis, wins best picture honours over "Brokeback Mountain" at the Academy Awards. 29 - Seventy-two miners are trapped after underground fire at potash mine in Esterhazy, Sask. 22 - The B.C. ferry Queen of the North goes off All are rescued after 30 hours. course, hits a rock and sinks off the coast of Prince Rupert, B.C. All but two of the 101 people aboard are 30 - Trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton rescued. Basque militant group ETA announces officially begins in New Westminster, B.C. permanent ceasefire to end a decades-long campaign of terror aimed at winning independence for the FEBRUARY northern Spanish region. 1 - In final report on the federal sponsorship scandal, 23 - Canadian hostages James Loney and Harmeet Justice John Gomery proposes rules to make Sooden and a Briton, Norman Kember, were freed government more accountable and transparent. after being held for four months in Iraq. French and German newspapers republish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in an effort to defend 29 - Pte. Robert Costall, 22, killed in a firefight in freedom of expression, re-igniting anger of Muslims Afghanistan. who were outraged when a Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons five months earlier. APRIL 2 - Sea King helicopter with five crew members 4 - Alberta's Ralph Klein, the country's aboard crashes in ocean off Denmark; all are rescued. longest-serving premier, announces plans to step down by the end of the year. Three Canadian- 3 - Red Sea ferry sinks after fire breaks out, killing Venezuelan brothers found dead outside Caracas 1,000 of the 1,400 people aboard. after being kidnapped by men dressed as police. 6 - Stephen Harper is sworn in as the 22nd prime 5 - Gail Vickery is named Alberta's first female chief minister of Canada. judge.

14 - Former Ontario premier Mike Harris tells 8 - The bodies of eight men with ties to the Bandidos judicial inquiry into the 1995 police shooting of a biker gang are found stuffed in four abandoned cars native protester that he uttered a profane slur at near Shedden in the worst mass killing in recent aboriginals at a meeting with police just before the Ontario history. Other gang members are charged in shooting. the killings.

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10 - Federal government makes it illegal for anyone in Canada to support or help the Tamil Tigers, JUNE fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka. 2 - Seventeen suspects arrested in Toronto area in 20 - Ontario Provincial Police try and fail to end a biggest terrorism-related raid in Canada. 52-day occupation of a southwestern Ontario construction site by aboriginals claiming it is their 6 - Chuck Guite, former head of the federal land. sponsorship program, is found guilty of five counts of fraud totalling $1.5 million, which he later appealed. 22 - Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lt. William Turner and Cpl. Randy Payne 8 - Former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew's are killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan. It is the conviction for promoting hatred against Jews Canada's worst one-day combat loss since the Korean overturned, new trial ordered. War. 11 - "The Drowsy Chaperone," a Canadian-born 27 - Federal government announces it has reached musical celebration of Broadway's past glories, wins framework deal to end the longstanding softwood five Tony Awards. lumber dispute with the United States. 21 - Ed Byrne, natural resources minister in MAY Newfoundland and Labrador, resigns post after audit raises questions about financial irregularities within 1 - Federal government calls public inquiry into the the provincial legislature. Air India tragedy. 22 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers formal 2 - In his first federal budget, Finance Minister Jim apology and compensation for head tax applied to Flaherty announces GST will be cut by one Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923. percentage point on July 1. JULY 3 - U.S. federal jury rejects death penalty for al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, sends him to prison 1 - Canadian and U.S. trade officials work out final for life for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. wording of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement reached in April. China opens first 5 - In the first slaying of a Windsor police officer on Beijing-to-Tibet railway, the highest-altitude railway duty, Const. John Atkinson is killed while in the world. approaching two drug suspects at a convenience store in Windsor, Ont. 4 - In so-called keepsake scandal, report by Newfoundland and Labrador auditor implicates four 10 - Federal cabinet approves $2-billion deal to politicians of overspending on office budgets by compensate former students of aboriginal residential about $3.4-million. schools for physical and sexual abuse. 6 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets U.S. 17 - Federal government announces plans to kill the President George Bush during his first official visit to long-gun registry, as well as an immediate one-year the United States. Official recount holds up amnesty so owners of rifles and shotguns will not presidential election result in Mexico, giving have to register them. Capt. Nichola Goddard dies in conservative candidate Felipe Calderon the victory. Afghanistan, the first Canadian woman to be killed in action while serving in a combat role. House of 7 -Two Saskatchewan RCMP officers are shot and Commons vote 149- 145 to extend the deployment of seriously wounded after responding to a domestic Canadian troops in Afghanistan to February 2009. disturbance in the hamlet of Mildred. They later die Former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills of their wounds; manhunt leads to the surrender of a announce they are separating. suspect. 25 - Former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey 9 - Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, killed in battle in Skilling are convicted of conspiracy to commit Afghanistan. securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history. 11 - Eight bombs hit seven trains on a commuter rail network in Mumbai, India, during evening rush hour, 27 - Earthquake in Indonesia kills almost 6,000 killing more than 200 people and wounding 700. people. 13 - Cormorant search and rescue helicopter crash off 31 - Bans that prohibit smoking in all enclosed the eastern tip of Nova Scotia during a training workplaces and public places take effect in Ontario exercise, killing three men and injuring four others. and Quebec

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including two Canadians. Toronto-bred Kiefer 17 - Undersea earthquake triggers tsunami on Sutherland and his action series "24" walk off with Indonesia's Java island, killing about 700 people. top honours at the Emmy Awards. 19 - Canadian government charters seven ships to SEPTEMBER evacuate Canadians from Lebanon as the war between Hezbollah and Israel escalates. 3 - Four Canadian soldiers - Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Pte. William 19 - Jenna Lambert, 15, of Kingston, Ont., born with Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan - cerebral palsy, becomes the first woman with a are killed at the start of Operation Medusa, an disability to swim across Lake Ontario. anti-Taliban offensive into the Panjwaii region in Afghanistan. 22 - Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, and Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren, 29, are killed by suicide bombers in 4 - A U.S. warplane mistakenly fires on Canadian Afghanistan. soldiers, killing Pte. Mark Anthony Graham. 25 - Israeli bombs destroy UN observer post on the 6 - U.S. President George W. Bush admits for first border in southern Lebanon, killing four time the CIA operated clandestine prisons outside the peacekeepers, including one Canadian. United States.

AUGUST 7 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair promises to resign within a year. U.S. formally hands over control 1 - After having surgery, Cuban leader Fidel Castro of Iraq's new military to Prime Minister Nuri temporarily cedes power to his younger brother. al-Maliki's government. 3 - Four soldiers are killed and 10 injured in Canada's 9 - Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean and five bloodiest day to date in fighting in Afghanistan. The crewmates lift off on the shuttle Atlantis on a mission dead are Cpl. Christopher Reid, Sgt. Vaughan to resume construction on the International Space Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire. Station. 5 - Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt is killed in 13 - Kimveer Gill, 25, randomly opens fire at Afghanistan. Dawson College in Montreal, killing 18-year-old Anastasia DeSousa and wounding 20 others. He kills 9 - Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh killed in himself after being shot by police. Afghanistan while on patrol, apparently in an accidental discharge of a firearm by another 15 - Ford Motor Co. announces plans to close two Canadian. plants, one of them in Windsor, Ont., cutting 10,000 salaried jobs as part of a restructuring. Canada 11 - Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom is killed in announces another 200 troops and 15 battle tanks will Afghanistan. be sent to Afghanistan, bringing the total Canadian military contingent in Afghanistan to 2,500. 13 - The 16th International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto, attended by more than 30,000 delegates 18 - Public inquiry concludes RCMP provided from 170 countries but not Prime Minister Stephen Americans with inaccurate evidence against Maher Harper. Arar, a Canadian citizen who was deported from the United States to Syria in 2002, where he was tortured 14 - UN-brokered ceasefire ends Israel-Hezbollah as a terrorist suspect. Suicide bomber on a bicycle combat in Lebanon. kills Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating, Cpl. Keith Morley and Cpl. Glen Arnold in Afghanistan. 21 - Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's trial Liberal Shawn Graham bests Bernard Lord's begins in Baghdad on charges of genocide for a two-term Conservative government in an election and military campaign against Kurds in 1988. becomes premier of New Brunswick. 22 - Cpl. David Braun is killed in a suicide bomb 20 - Commons unanimously apologizes to Maher attack in Afghanistan. Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Arar for Canada's involvement in his deportation Boisclair sworn in as a member of the Quebec from the United States to Syria. legislature. 21 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes his first 24 -International Astronomical Union approves new address to the UN General Assembly in New York, definition of planet, stripping Pluto of its status and appeals for more help in Afghanistan. placing it in a new category known as dwarf planets. 25 - Air India inquiry opens in Ottawa. 27 - A Canadian-built commuter plane crashed on take off at Lexington, Ky., airport, killing 49 people, 26 - Former Enron financial whiz Andrew Fastow

Page 5 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. receives six-year prison term for his role in the 2001 Quebec police say deal a major blow to the Montreal collapse of the energy giant. mafia. 28 - RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli 23 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduces apologizes to Maher Arar and his family for the legislation to make people charged with gun crimes force's role in his deportation. prove they are not a threat to society in order to be freed on bail. Former KGB agent Alexander 29 - Pte. Josh Klukie killed in Afghanistan. Litvinenko dies in London hospital of radiation poisoning. 30 - Five people are crushed to death when an overpass in Laval, Que., collapses. 27 - Motion recognizing the Quebecois as a nation in a united Canada, introduced by Prime Minister OCTOBER Stephen Harper, passes in the Commons by a vote of 222-16. In byelections, Liberals retain Ontario riding 2 - Five Amish schoolgirls are massacred after while male-prostitute-turned-priest wins for BQ in gunman enters their one-room schoolhouse in Quebec. Rare winter storm dumps up to 50 Pennsylvania. centimetres of snow on B.C.'s Lower Mainland. Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard and Cpl. 3 - Sgt. Craig Gillam and Corp. Robert Mitchell are Albert Storm killed in Afghanistan. killed in Afghanistan. 28 - Auditor General Sheila Fraser says Ron Stewart, 5 - Premier Rodney MacDonald announces his former CFL star, made more than $325,000 in government will not appeal Nova Scotia Supreme questionable claims and improperly cashed out Court decision striking down regulations stopping vacation entitlements when he was ombudsman for Sunday shopping. federal prison inmates. 7 - Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson killed by roadside DECEMBER bomb in Afghanistan. 1 - Pope Benedict XVI ends four-day trip to Turkey 14 - Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson that is seen as a landmark to reconciliation of Islam are killed in a Taliban ambush. and Christianity. 18 - Outspoken MP Garth Turner is suspended from 2 - Liberal delegates choose Quebec MP Stephane the Conservative caucus, accused of breaching party Dion as their new federal leader at Montreal confidentiality with entries on his Internet blog. convention. Norwalk virus is blamed for making more than 300 students ill at Mount Allison University in Sackville, 3 - Ed Stelmach is elected Alberta Conservative N.B., and 60 at St. Francis Xavier University in leader, replacing Premier Ralph Klein. Antigonish, N.S. 7 - Giuliano Zaccardelli is forced to resign as RCMP 27 - Quebec Inuit vote overwhelmingly in favour of a commissioner after misleading parliamentary massive land claim agreement that gives them committee probing Maher Arar case. ownership of 80 per cent of the small islands in the waters off their northern shore and a share of offshore 12 - In response to the release of a second report into resource royalties. the Maher Arar affair, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announces an inquiry into the cases of 31 - Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty three men who suffered a fate similar to Arar. announces new tax on income trusts, sparking outrage because the Conservatives had promised © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. during the election campaign they would not tax the trusts. NOVEMBER 5 - Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity for a campaign against Shia Muslims in 1982 and sentenced to death.

15 - Major storm knocks out power and causes flooding in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and boil-water advisory for about two million people in the Vancouver area. 22 - More than 70 people are arrested in raids that

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Centre of the looniverse

The Toronto Star Saturday, December 30, 2006 Page: A01 Section: News Byline: Rosie DiManno Source: Toronto Star Idnumber: 200612300203 Edition: Met Length: 2907 words Illustration: BILL ROBERTS newmarket era Banner The pairing of Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, above left, and Tie Domi was deemed impolitic by the former Leaf's wife in 2006. Also populating the news were, below from left, accused terrorist Abdullah Khadr, indicted by a Boston court but fighting extradition, Ronald "Ernie the hot dog guy" Alexander who retired, Leafs captain Mats Sundin who put his Forest Hill mansion on the market, singer Avril Lavigne who dropped the price on her Toronto digs and former hostage in Iraq James Loney, who forgave his captors. Rick Eglinton toronto star Peter Power toronto star Lucas Oleniuk toronto star NATHAN DENETTE cp Rob Dutchin photo RENe JOHNSTON toronto star ADRIAN WYLD cp Richard Lautens toronto star Anne de haas photo Toronto police horse Brigadier, above, was given a funeral this year after being killed by a hit-and-run driver. Also in 2006, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, top right, started using a chauffeur after making an illegal turn and bending a fender on a signpost. American actor Sean Penn, middle right, got some people smoking mad for his puffed-up performance at the Toronto International Film Festival. Insurance salesman lounge singer Brian Roman paid $60,000 to rent Roy Thomson Hall and then sold 2,500 tickets to fill the seats. Lucas Oleniuk toronto star Peter Power toronto star Rick Eglinton toronto star Rob Dutchin photo NATHAN DENETTE cp Anne de haas photo Toronto police horse Brigadier, above, was given a funeral this year after being killed by a hit-and-run driver. Also in 2006, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, top right, started using a chauffeur after making an illegal turn and bending a fender on a signpost. American actor Sean Penn, middle right, got some people smoking mad for his puffed- up performance at the Toronto International Film Festival. Insurance salesman lounge singer Brian Roman paid $60,000 to rent Roy Thomson Hall and then sold 2,500 tickets to fill the seats. RENe JOHNSTON toronto star ADRIAN WYLD cp Richard Lautens toronto star

It was another year of living stupidly. dream of singing on stage to 2, 500 friends, at a cost of about $60,000. We've got a knack for it, here at the centre of the universe - even if some global destination appraisers Son-of-a-snitch don't share our enchanted view of ourselves. A mother turns in her 17-year-old son after finding a Imagine, leaving Toronto off the list of hot North loaded AK-47 military assault rifle in his bedroom American cities. and is praised by Police Chief Bill Blair, who says she "set a standard for others to follow." Actually, didn't make the Canadian short list either. Alien abduction Even the CN Tower came up short as a phallic monument to towering ambitions. But what do they Immigration officials go to a school and threaten to know, them punts that don't have the privilege of take away two young sisters if their parents, illegal living here, in the nexus of all things self- reverential immigrants, don't turn themselves in within 30 and self-referential. We are sublimely confident of minutes. our pre-eminence and panache, so bugger the rest. Digest item Okay, a bit loopy maybe, quixotically weird. And, um, chronically perverse, it must be admitted, all the Thanks to a hacker, the scrolling sign on a GO train time fiddling and diddling, gobs of sex and sleaze from Oakville repeats this message every three and scandal. Tie Domi went from enforcer to seconds during morning rush hour: "Stephen Harper divorcer, trading in his skates for a game-worn Eats Babies." Stronach. An immigration adjudicator allegedly tried coercing sex from a refugee claimant. Refuge was Fanny packing also the prize for scores of delegates to the International Aids Conference who came to Toronto A Dora the Explorer backpack taken from a and then wouldn't leave. 14-year-old Rexdale girl is found to contain a loaded Magnum handgun and two 25-centimetre knives. Seemed like everybody was on the game, one way or another. Driving while under influence More prosaically, homegrown terrorism reportedly of stubbornness and old age roosted in the suburbs, briefly eclipsing our very own Al Qaeda first family in notoriety. Shootings were Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion finally agrees down but crimes against canines were up. Robbers to get a chauffeur after making an illegal right-hand robbed and cops copped pleas. turn and slamming her car into a signpost. Herewith, one final look back at the year that was, Nursing your drink and went. An interactive exhibit at the Ontario College of Art I Did It M-y-y-y-y Way and Design is allowed to serve pasteurized breast milk for taste-testing purposes - six flavours from six An insurance salesman mortgages his home to rent donor moms. Roy Thomson Hall for one night so he can fulfill his

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terrorism suspect, remains in custody at Guantanamo Home Swede Home Bay. Rumours fly that Mats Sundin is looking for a trade Welcome back Khadr after putting his Forest Hill mansion on the market over the summer. Abdullah Khadr, 24, is indicted by a Boston court on terrorism charges, including allegedly plotting to kill Working for peanuts Americans overseas, but remains in Canada while fighting extradition. Marquee defence lawyer Clayton Ruby is on the case after two elephants are charged with stepping foot in Bio-terrorism the city illegally. Abdurahman Khadr, black sheep of the family for Crew-cut renouncing violence and allegedly assisting the CIA, sells Hollywood rights to his life story for the movie In the biggest gang sweep ever by Toronto police, Son of Al Qaeda. targeting the notorious Jamestown Crew, nearly 100 people are charged with some 1, 000 offences. Dumb and dummier Union-jacked A 39-year-old Aurora woman is caught using a decoy dummy in her vehicle so she could drive in the TTC employees stage a wildcat strike during a hot, carpool lane. "It looked like Kenny from South Park muggy, morning rush hour, forcing 700,000 was strapped in the child seat," said OPP Sgt. Cam commuters to walk, bicycle or carpool. Woolley. What did jihad in mind? Cause and affectation Eighteen Muslim teenagers and young men are Christian peace activist James Loney, taken hostage charged as members of a suspected homegrown in Iraq, returns home after being freed by British terrorist cell, allegedly attending a "training camp" commandos and forgives his abductors. north of the city and trying to purchase bomb-making materials. Cos and defamation Academic third degree Bill Cosby settles a lawsuit by a Pickering woman who alleged the comedian drugged and sexually Protestors, including faculty members, vilify Ryerson assaulted her at his Philadelphia mansion. for awarding an honorary doctorate to Margaret Somerville, ethicist and outspoken opponent of Stickup-to-itiveness same-sex marriage. The "Camouflage Bandit" - dressed in sunglasses, Bored of the Rings toque and army pants - robs his 21st bank. Bad reviews and slow ticket sales shut down $28 In case of emergency, million musical, The Lord of the Rings, after only seven months. learn English Locked and loaded The TTC commits a spelling mistake on its bilingual escape-window instructions. Security guards stumble on an arsenal of high-powered weapons and drugs stashed in lockers Frankly, we don't give a damn at Fairview Mall. After 25 years of flipping franks outside Ryerson, Cocked and loaded Ernie the Hot Dog Vendor retires to much fanfare. Jerry Hall appears in Toronto to promote an Horse's mass due to horse's ass anti-impotence drug, not a problem that ex-husband Mick Jagger had suffered from, apparently. "No, no, Twelve hundred mourners attend a lavish memorial he had the opposite problem." service for Brigadier, a police horse mortally injured in a hit-and-run. I can't GITMO satisfaction ... The housing market is just all so ... Complicated Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Bush administration's war crimes tribunals violate Avril Lavigne can't sell her Toronto home and drops international law, Toronto's Omar Khadr, 19-year-old the price.

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Casa nostra More than a thousand bikers mourn at the mandatory attendance funeral for a Hells Angel sergeant-at-arms According to Police Chief Armand La Barge, there shot to death at a strip club, allegedly by a Bandidos are at least a dozen Mafia fugitives who either rival. consider York Region home or visit regularly. Poop-decked Avian flew victim A Toronto principal is charged with two counts of Big Becky, a peregrine falcon, leaves her downtown assault after allegedly tossing excrement at children. nest at King and Victoria Sts., sails into the window of an office building, and dies. F - you Ego-swelling dwelling Big wheel Tory lawyer Peter Shoniker pleads guilty after a money- laundering sting. During a meeting A mansion on The Bridle Path goes on the market for with an undercover officer, Shoniker boasted that $15 million, the most expensive home ever listed for "not a f -ing judge in this city" would authorize sale in Toronto. wiretaps on his phone.

Pool shark Examination for discovery A man who was involved in an international steroid The Toronto District School Board asks students as trafficking ring, and admitted to helping a friend burn young as 14 whether they are bisexual, gay, and dispose of a murder victim's butchered body, is heterosexual, lesbian, transsexual, transgendered or reinstated as swim coach at an Oakville club. two-spirited (an aboriginal term). Now coaching behind parallel bars Moo-d disorder A gymnastics coach who taught at five clubs in the Canada's popular Snowbirds go ahead with their GTA over the past decade is charged in a child flyover of a Whitby school despite noise complaints exploitation investigation, accused of using blogs to from nearby residents, including a farmer who claims advertise his sexual interest in young girls and of one of his cows dies every time the precision team stealing items - including young girls' underwear - screeches overhead. from gyms where he worked. Verbal diarrhea Grandma-ll seizure CBC chair Guy Fournier resigns amid furor over his A 97-year-old grandmother is hospitalized after being remarks about the joys of defecation and the legality left alone in a sweltering car for almost an hour of bestiality in Lebanon. during the worst heat wave of the summer while her family went shopping. Bel-omi, she said Shop till the cop shows up Tie Domi's wife, Leanne, files a combustible divorce petition, accusing her husband of having an affair A 26-year-old mother is charged after leaving her with Liberal MP Belinda Stronach. five children - including 19-month-old twins and a 4-month-old infant - unattended in a car while she Borderline stupid mall-shopped. A California man attempting to join his family in Attack ads Burlington is stopped by customs and cited for attempting to smuggle child pornography into the Three people at Yonge and Dundas Sts. are injured country on his cell phone - a picture of his unclothed by sections of a billboard sign that plummet 18 baby son. storeys. Bureaucratic waste-watchers Beer and loathing on the waterfront Toronto City Council restricts the number of garage In a precedent-setting move, the Alcohol and Gaming sales residents can have to just two a year. Commission of Ontario revokes the liquor licence of the Docks, a waterfront nightclub and entertainment Fourth down and punt up here complex, over noise complaints. Ricky Williams signs a one-year contract with the Actually, most Harley knew him Argonauts after being suspended by the Miami

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Dolphins for failing an NFL drug test for the fourth time. "High" rise horticulture Bench-pressed Drug squad detectives arrive at a Jane St. apartment After missing the playoffs, Leafs coach Pat Quinn is building and discover 6,600 marijuana plants fired. growing in 22 separate apartments. Misguided bomb Hot spot flame-out delivery system A fast-moving kitchen fire destroys Yorkville's celebrated Sassafraz restaurant. A man discovers a World War II-era bomb while working in the backyard of a west-end home, puts it Flushed with success in the back of his truck and takes it to a police station. After paying $102 to enter a Caribbean poker D-listed tournament, a 22-year- old University of Waterloo student comes home $1.3 million richer. Toronto is left off Travel and Leisure Magazine's list of top 10 U.S. and Canadian cities, because it lacks Party animal politics one main feature to make it stand out. Vancouver, Quebec City, Victoria and Montreal make the list. George Smitherman, the province's first openly gay cabinet minister, reveals that for five years in the '90s Pigskin-in-a-poke he fought and beat an addiction to "party drugs". Leafs owner Larry Tanenbaum and Blue Jays owner Yoke's on them Ted Rogers admit they want to bring an NFL team to Toronto. Three youths are charged after an egg-throwing prank leaves a child with possible permanent eye damage. Local vocal yokel Lord's hoard on ice Lukas Rossi, a 29-year-old from Toronto, is chosen to front the band Supernova, ending the TV talent An Ontario judge freezes Conrad Black's assets search on Rock Star: Supernova. around the world. Bylaw kisses butt Pollster-heist Sean Penn brazenly lights up a cigarette at the Sutton A Mississauga City Council candidate is charged Place Hotel during Toronto's film festival but isn't with impersonating a police officer and trying to charged. intimidate a rival candidate into abandoning her campaign. YouBoobs Penal ejection A 13-year-old girl suffers second-degree burns when her top is set alight by two teenage boys who were Given a choice between jail and exile to Canada, an allegedly videotaping the prank for posting on American man convicted of having sex with a minor YouTube. chooses Fort Erie, Ont. Mummyfied Pussy A 24-year-old woman is charged with concealing the Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay refers to death of her baby by hiding the body in a freezer for Newmarket Liberal MP Belinda Stronach - his several years. She was arrested while out on bail for a ex-lover - as a dog in the House of Commons. similar offence, involving another dead baby found six months earlier in Mississauga. Rinky-dink Beg pardon? Councillor Rob Ford first denies and then admits he was the drunken boor who was tossed from the Air A retired science teacher at Upper Canada College is Canada Centre after a couple complained about his sentenced for a pair of sexual assaults against former profanity-laced rants during a Leafs game. Ford had students. The one-year jail terms are made handed out business cards before being ejected. conditional - served in the community - because the judge rules the assaults were misguided and not made Trans-sexual offence for sexual gratification.

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bringing 45 kilograms of khat - worth about $250,000 A self-employed taxi driver on contract for - into the country. Wheel-Trans is facing sexual assault charges after a 27-year-old handicapped woman is allegedly Barking mad assaulted. A Scarborough man accused of killing his 90% of home accidents do occur in the bathroom 78-year-old mother through neglect - she was "bitch-slapped", kicked and starved for days - admits A North York woman hears what sounds like a bomb to detectives that he treated his dog better. "I could going off in her two-storey brick house and is communicate with the dog more." horrified to find that a Honda Accord with a dead woman inside has plowed through the side of her Wonder-struck home and into her bathroom. Toronto's CN Tower is snubbed by selectors of Yuck-Yuck worldwide landmarks, surpassed by the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, in an interactive global A Toronto comic, who plays an obnoxious Scot in campaign to identify the New 7 Wonders of the beer commercials, is arrested on child pornography World. charges. Air farce plot Slippery thieves A Vaughan man, who apparently didn't want to visit A pair of priceless 19th century slippers, diamond- overseas relatives, is arrested after anonymous bomb and ruby- covered, is stolen in broad daylight from threats delay an Air Canada flight to Heathrow. the Bata Shoe Museum. Contempt of court Footnote A Brampton judge who was named that city's The slippers are found in a church. "Citizen of the Year" in 2002 faces complaints of judicial misconduct for allegedly being "rude, Fridge magnate insulting and disrespectful" to fellow jurists. Former mayor Mel Lastman rejoins Bad Boy, the Token payment appliance store emporia he founded in 1955. A transit-fare counterfeit ring costs the TTC $5 Bow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow million in lost revenue. A dog is shot at least six times at point-blank range Tunnel vision with a pellet gun as he sits on his owner's veranda. Most commuters remain oblivious as a woman gives Psycho therapy birth on Wellesley subway platform. A former CAS social worker who once counselled Optical illusionist drug-addicted teens is sentenced for trafficking a kilogram of crystal meth while on bail for The founder of a small eyeglass dynasty is fined an gun-smuggling charges. eye-popping and record $1 million for illegally dispensing glasses without a valid prescription. Executive sweets Constricted access An audit finds that senior Toronto CAS executives are driving SUVs worth up to $60,000, getting $150 A 1.5-metre-long poisonous cobra moves into a luxury car washes and receiving gym memberships west-end Toronto home uninvited, evading all efforts worth $2,000. to locate it by police, firefighters, animal services and zoo officials. By year's end, the snake is still in situ Poke-check and the house declared off limits by public health officials. A judge imposes only a $2,000 fine on a father who choked his son's hockey coach until the man blacked Pontius Pious out. A Brampton man who taught at the Mississauga Khat-nip Christian Academy is charged with having sexually explicit chats over the Internet with a 13-year-old Two teenagers, apparently recruited over an Internet female student and sexually assaulting her. dating site, are busted at Pearson for allegedly

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Seeking a Seoul mate Happy news year Former Toronto city councillor Steve Ellis is suspended as an immigration and refugee appeal A burglar breaks into a widow's bungalow on board judge as the RCMP investigates accusations he Christmas morning and steals her husband's ashes. offered to approve a South Korean woman's refugee Fortunately, police find them in a neighbour's application if she had an affair with him. driveway. Fear of flying parts DiManno The wing flap of a cargo jet falls out of the sky and © 2006 Torstar Corporation slams into a SUV just after its owner had hopped out to attend her tap-dance class in Mississauga. Bug-a-boo A $2 million lawsuit alleges that former Toronto police chief Julian Fantino was involved in wiretapping the head of the police services board.

Tomb raiders Two young men are charged after a drunken birthday party spree leaves 188 headstones toppled at Park Lawn Cemetery. Immune efficiency Up to 150 delegates to the International AIDS conference in Toronto stay behind after it's over and file refugee claims. Kayak attack Three-time Olympic canoeist Tamas Buday Jr. is cut in the face with rocks tossed by youths from a railway bridge as he trains on Mississauga's Credit River. Fashion crime Toronto paralegal Harry Kopyto claims he was ejected from court and his client's case adjourned after a justice of the peace complains his jacket "clashed" with his shirt and was a "breach" of court decorum. Pot luck bust A Durham cop going to the assistance of a man who had rolled his car off Highway 401 discovers duffel bags containing $220,000 worth of marijuana. Kicking ass More than 1,715 high-steppers join the Rockettes outside the Hummingbird Centre, setting a Guinness Book of World Record for longest line of dancers. Xmas fir-or A Toronto judge banishes a Christmas tree from her courthouse lobby. It returns, is banished again.

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Newsmaker of 2006

Sault Star (On) Friday, December 29, 2006 Page: A8 Section: Editorial & Opinion Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612290024 Length: 299 words

It's a tradition for news organizations to look back over a year of coverage and select a top newsmaker. The practice is designed to generate debate because there is no right or wrong answer. In most years, there are numerous good choices and 2006 in Sault Ste. Marie is no exception. Denis Turcotte is certainly a worthy candidate. He was named Canada's top CEO for leading the successful efforts of turning around the fortunes of Algoma Steel. Dr. David Walde was front and centre in the effort to raise money for the new Sault Area Hospital. Philip Garforth's vision of the Borealis Centre certainly puts him in the running. Then there's Frank D'Angelo who put the Steelback name on our new arena and of course the many local soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan. Mayor John Rowswell's resounding win at the polls and his role in leading the city in some important strategic initiatives can't be overlooked, though when handing out these newsmaker titles, many news organizations look to politicians far too often. But among all the possibilities one stands out. We select James Loney as our newsmaker of 2006. Critics could argue - with some justification - that Loney did little in a concrete way for the city. The impact he had on our lives was minimal. In this case, however, we chose to look beyond pocket book issues. Loney's courage in captivity, his faith and his message of forgiveness touches us on a spiritual level. He was our local connection to the Iraq story which has dominated the world's headlines and will surely cast a shadow over 2007 and beyond. Whether you agree with his tactics or his politics, Loney forced us to think of issues beyond our local borders. That's why he's our newsmaker of the year. © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Christmas Story according to John

The Daily News (Kamloops) Saturday, December 23, 2006 Page: B3 Section: Religion Byline: Don Mccallum Column: On Religion Source: The Daily News Idnumber: 200612230022 Edition: Final Story Type: Column Length: 837 words Illustration Type: Black & White Photo Illustration: Photo: (See hardcopy for photo description.)

The only account of the Christmas story in John's country, but his own people did not receive him" Gospel is this: "The Word became a human being (or (John 1:11). King Herod (who ruled in Israel from 40 literally became flesh) and, full of grace and truth, to 4 BC) sought him out -- not to worship him -- but lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he to kill him as a possible competitor for his throne. received as the Father's only Son" (1:14). On a bright note, we read: "Some, however, did About a year ago, four hostages (two from Canada, receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the one from the U.S. and one from Britain) held in Iraq right to become God's children" (John 1:12). were much in the news. Many of you followed the suspenseful unfolding of this story. The Canadians Today, we see the same kind of tension: between (with the Christian Peacemakers team) were Harmeet those who want to silence or distort Christ's teachings Sooden from Calgary and James Loney from and those who joyfully welcome Christ and his truth. Toronto. Their captors threatened to execute them if certain demands were not met. Despite the intense opposition he faced again and again, Jesus came full of "grace and truth." (John To try to avert their execution, The Canadian Islamic 1:14). Congress did more than send messages asking for the release of these men. They sent an envoy, Ehab Grace is one of those words used numerous times in Lotayef, to appeal to the kidnappers and to urge the Bible. Yet, it's meaning is often vague. Steve Muslim leaders to speak out in aid of the hostages. Flairty, writing in the Dec. 8, 2005, Upper Room Daily Devotional, helps us to see with greater clarity It was a journey half way around the world involving what grace means -- for him and us. Once he arrived considerable expense, time and danger. When Ehab at 4 p.m. for an exam and was shocked to find that it Lotayef arrived in Baghdad, at the headquarters of was over. Then he remembered that it had been the Association for Muslim Scholars, he said, "I am scheduled for two o'clock instead. He immediately here in Baghdad as a representative of the Canadian dashed across campus to his professor's office, where Islamic Congress and other Muslim organizations all he explained the mixup and begged for a chance to across Canada." take the exam. His personal intervention was instrumental in the Steve said: "As I expected, the crusty educator eventual release of three of the four hostages. grumbled and asked a series of pointed questions before finally allowing me to take the test late. It was Likewise, out of love for us, God did more than send a harrowing experience, and in the end my grade was the Ten Commandments to help us with our struggles saved only by the professor's grace." Flairty added: on Earth. In the fullness of time, on behalf of all "I'm not sure why my professor allowed me to take people, God sent a special envoy -- his only Son, the the test that day. But I know one thing for sure: grace living Word made flesh. He came to seek our release pours out on our lives because God loves us." from bondage -- from resentment to forgiveness; from hatred to love; from selfishness to generosity; In the Final Test, the Bible is clear that none of us from aimlessness to purpose; from deception to truth. can pass by means of our own human efforts, our good deeds or persuasive ability. We need God's He came to set us free to serve and worship God. He grace. came risking his life in a dangerous situation. Unlike Lotayef, he ended up giving his life for our sakes. Thinking deeply about the significance of this Living Word, who came full of race and truth, Philips Born in a stable, with the smell of manure in the air, Brooks was inspired to write the familiar Christmas he experienced some of what the poorest people in carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem. In the first verse, the world go through. Yet he came with a choir of he said, in Jesus "the hopes and fears of all the years angels singing in the sky (for those who had ears to (are) met . . " In the last verse, he added this beautiful hear). John's Gospel describes the tension that his prayer: coming brought. He says, "He came to his own

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"O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in; be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; - come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel. May the words of this carol be our prayer as well. Message by Don McCallum. minister of St. Andrew's United and St. Mary's Anglican Church, Lillooet. © 2006 The Daily News (Kamloops)

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Embarrassed by so-called Christians

National Post Friday, December 22, 2006 Page: A19 Section: Letters Byline: Robert A. Jason Source: National Post Idnumber: 200612220155 Edition: National Story Type: Letter Length: 92 words

Re: Perverting The Holy Spirit, Barbara Kay, Dec. 20. As a Christian, I'm embarrassed by so called "Christians" like James Loney and his pacifist Christian Peacemaker Teams. These "Christians" drive me up the wall. We imperfect Christians who fight the good fight every day for God and His righteousness are just not good enough for them. These utopian idealists -- especially "useful idiots" like Jimmy Carter & ilk -- put all of us in grave danger in the real world out there. Robert A. Jason (an imperfect Christian), Fonthill, Ont.

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Perverting the Holy Spirit

National Post Wednesday, December 20, 2006 Page: A24 Section: Editorial Byline: Barbara Kay Column: Barbara Kay Source: National Post Idnumber: 200612200121 Edition: National Story Type: Column Length: 681 words Keywords: RELIGION

Comes Christmas, columnists rummage through their metaphorical larders for a hidden morsel of topical To distinguish what is admirable from what is originality to tempt readers' jaded palates. perverted in the spiritual impulse to holiness, ask: Is the individual or group using their religion as a This year, my musings are inspired by two otherwise tribunal to plead all of fallible mankindÆs case to a unrelated stories highlighting the distortion rather compassionate Father; or as a tribunal for expediting than the beauty of religious faith. In both cases, the a partisan Judge's punitive dissatisfaction with certain protagonists' actions resulted in immediate abuses of lesser men and women? the faith they claimed to represent and, as a result of their folly, continuing grief to co-religionists. Abraham risked God's wrath by using His own moral law to argue for the depraved city of Sodom on One story's essence was captured in a photograph, behalf of a few righteous inhabitants. In the throes of taken at the recent Holocaust denial conference, of his death agony, Jesus asked God to forgive his Iran's President Ahmadinejad exchanging a warm tormentors. These spiritual titans defended mankind greeting with a representative of Neturei Karta, billed at its weakest before a Father perceived as merciful. as "Orthodox Jews United Against Zionism." By contrast, anti-Semites, partisan terrorists and anti- Western bigots, acting as prosecutors for a wronged Although numerically negligible, this fanatical sect and vindictive Deity, justify their all-too-human has attracted wildly disproportionate media attention vendetta against infidels and political apostates as by publicly aligning itself with Israel and world holy war. Jewry's worst enemies: Before Ahmadinejad, they had befriended, amongst other bottom feeders, Neturei Karta assumes God is angry with other Jews Yasser Arafat, Hezbollah and the virulently for their support of a prematurely created Israel. anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Christian Peacemakers assumes God is angry with America for invading Iraq. In their treasonous The other story concerns James Loney and his embrace of this angry God's proxies, these quislings pacifist Christian Peacemaker Team. Falsely are guilty of spiritual as well as worldly sabotage. appropriating the ideal of Christian mission, the group decamped from Toronto in 2005 to act as Shamefully, Neturei Karta flouts the post-Holocaust human shields in Iraq. Predictably, these "useful sanctity of Jewish survivalism, given eloquent voice idiots" were promptly kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents. in what philosopher Emil Fackenheim called the "11th commandment": Thou shalt not give Hitler a Loney displayed no gratitude whatsoever to the posthumous victory. British soldiers who at great risk eventually rescued him. Roundly lambasted by the media--a Post Hubristically, Christian Peacemakers (comparing editorial criticized the Christian Peacemakers Team themselves to "Gandhi, Martin Luther King and for being "either callous or woefully naive" -- Loney Jesus") has put fellow Christians and Westerners at haughtily shrugged off such censure as the ignorance risk by imitating a simplistically masochistic version of spiritual yahoos. of a theologically complex Christ. (Compounding their narcissistic fecklessness, they refuse to testify The two stories are an object lesson in the fungibility against their captors, which will doubtless inspire of religious extremism. In Judaism, holiness has those liberated criminals to further crimes against traditionally been associated with devotion to God's humanity.) Torah laws and moral precepts, interpreted more or less literally. In Christianity, belief in Jesus and These subversive Jews and Christians who give imitation of his moral perfection is the measure of comfort to their communities' enemies have been spiritual progress, mediated through the distinctive treated by those betrayed with remarkable interpretations of various denominations. In both indulgence. Neturei Karta and Christian Peacemakers, what perhaps began as spiritual motivation ended in dark Neturei Karta are loathed by mainstream Jews, but parody. the official community hasn't publicly blacklisted them. Nor has the Toronto Catholic Worker

Page 17 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. community, which supports Loney's group, disassociated itself from the Peacemakers. Real saints are accountable only to God. But in these parlous times, when a photograph can shift history, mischievous pretenders should answer to their peers. As George Orwell wisely noted, "Saints should always be judged guilty until proved innocent." [email protected]

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Suspected terrorist would have 'star power' with youth: CSIS agent

The Western Star (Corner Brook) Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Page: 9 Section: Canada Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612120047 Length: 280 words

A suspected terrorist, who once worked for Osama bin Laden, should not be released on bail because it could present new opportunities for him to draw on his "star power" and inspire impressionable Muslim youth, a federal court heard Monday. An intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service testified someone with Mohamed Mahjoub's "impressive pedigree" and "credibility" could "influence individuals in the global Jihadist cause." "Young impressionable extremists have big buttons that could be pushed," said the officer identified only as JP. "You can have an inspirational influence that can act as an accelerant." Mahjoub has been held for six years on a national security certificate, which allows suspects to be detained without charge and deported without knowing the full evidence against them in terrorism cases. Most of Mahjoub's celebrity comes from the media attention garnered by his case and a handful of others like him, also held on security certificates. Alexandre Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, and former Iraq hostage James Loney have condemned the certificates. When questioned by one of Mahjoub's lawyers, Barbara Jackman, JP said young Muslims could be drawn to Mahjoub, in part, because he has "walked the walk in the company of Osama bin Laden." Proposed bail conditions include being allowed out of the home three times a week for up to four hours with 48-hours approval, wearing an electric ankle bracelet, having no access to electronic devices, allowing his phone to be tapped and mail opened, and ensuring all visitors are pre-approved. Mahjoub, 46, watched the proceedings by video from the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, which was built for security certificate detainees and is located on the grounds of Millhaven Penitentiary. © 2006 Transcontinental Media G.P. All rights reserved.

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Stockholm Syndrome

National Post Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Page: A18 Section: Editorial Byline: Source: National Post Idnumber: 200612120132 Story Type: News Length: 408 words

Last November, Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney were kidnapped by Islamic terrorists operating in Iraq. These two Canadians were working with the pacifist group Christian Peacemaker Teams when they and two colleagues -- an American and a Briton -- were taken hostage and held for 118 days. Three of the four were rescued by coalition forces at the end of March; Tom Fox, the American, was found dead two weeks before the others were discovered. On Saturday, nearly 10 months later, the three survivors met for the first time since being freed, to talk about their experiences. Surprisingly, in recounting what must have been a terrifying five months, the former hostages actually spoke warmly of their captors, even as they described the horrifying events of those 118 days. Mr. Sooden called his time as a captive a "very contradictory experience -- horrific yet filled with humanity as well," citing the time one of the terrorists delivered a springtime rose to cheer up the hostages, just a few weeks after the same man had injured Mr. Sooden's arm for disobeying a command. Here is a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome. Mr. Sooden and Mr. Loney believe their captors were simply victims of the violence in Iraq. While they can't quite forgive the terrorists, they say they can at least understand why they felt the need to tie up a few innocent Westerners for 118 days. Mr. Loney has suggested that the three survivors would be unwilling to testify against their captors (a number of the alleged hostage takers are expected to go on trial early in 2007) if their testimony could be used by prosecutors to impose a penalty of death. In a shared statement, the three survivors said: "Punishment can never restore what was taken from us ... we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution." Islamic terrorists certainly don't share Mr. Sooden's and Mr. Loney's warm and fuzzy naivete. If the captors get off scot-free, they and their terrorist friends will be out looking for a new batch of hostages in a few days. The kidnapping of the four peace workers, and the murder of Mr. Fox, were nothing more than desperate, inhumane acts of terrorism. The three former hostages can keep their fond memories of captivity if they wish. But for the safety of all Westerners working for peace in Iraq, we advise them to co-operate with Iraqi authorities.

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Former hostages forgive their captors

Peace River Block Daily News Friday, December 8, 2006 Page: A5 Section: News Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: Canadian Press; Associated Press Idnumber: 200612080039 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 332 words

LONDON (CP-AP) -- Three Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them © 2006 Peace River Block Daily News face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember said in a statement released to coincide with a news conference in London. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us." The three were on a Christian Peacemaker Teams mission in Iraq when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq. Sooden, Loney and Kember said they've been asked by Canadian and British police to testify at their abductors' trial, but Kember indicated that was in doubt. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part," he told the news conference. The former hostages said their abduction was just a part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced," they said. "While this in no way justifies what the men charged with our kidnapping are alleged to have done, we feel this must be considered in any potential judgement."

"What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution," they said, adding that they are vehemently opposed to the death penalty.

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Ex-hostages forgive captors

The Toronto Star Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A14 Section: News Byline: Sandro Contenta Sandro Contenta Source: Toronto Star Idnumber: 200612090188 Edition: Ont Length: 1003 words Illustration: JOHN STILLWELL ap Former hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden address a news conference in London yesterday in which they said they have forgiven their captors. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed.

As a devout Christian, James Loney makes searching for good where others find evil a matter of principle. Loney and his colleagues were members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were One hundred and eighteen days as a hostage in Iraq, kidnapped in Baghdad on Nov. 26, 2005. Tom Fox, a and the murder of a colleague by his kidnappers, 54-year-old U.S. citizen, was separated from the severely tested his moral certainty. But yesterday, group and killed two weeks before British soldiers with a distinctively Christian act, the Toronto rescued them on March 9. resident felt true to himself. They were held chained and handcuffed to each other "We unconditionally forgive our captors for in a two-storey house outside Baghdad, unshackled abducting and holding us," Loney told a press only for trips to the bathroom and a half-hour of daily conference, flanked by the two other Christian peace exercise. As time rolled by, they tried to break the workers who survived the ordeal. "We have no desire suffocating boredom with daily prayers, discussions to punish them. Punishment can never restore what of the Bible, games of tic-tac-toe and by listening to was taken from us. Kember recount Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield. "What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering," he "There were times I thought I could just break out of added. "Yet we bear no malice towards them and my handcuffs with rage," Loney said. "I hated what have no wish for retribution." they were doing." The former hostages, including Canadian Harmeet But even escape plans were problematic. "It's a bit of Singh Sooden, 34, and Briton Norman Kember, 75, a moral dilemma to try and plan your escape when also called on Iraqi authorities to be lenient with their you're a pacifist," he said. "What happens if I knock captors, four of whom have been arrested and face them on the head and they start bleeding? Do I have trial. to give them first aid before I go?" The former hostages have been asked to testify at the Loney decided to treat his kidnappers with respect. trial but are reluctant to do so. Loney said he doesn't want to legitimize a process that could lead to the "For me, the strategy from the very beginning was to death penalty, an "irrevocable judgment" he fully make myself a human being to them. That was the rejects. only protection I could create for myself, because it's hard to follow an order to kill someone you see as a "But what if these guys do it again?" he said in an human being." interview. "What would I say to their next victims? It's an enormously complicated moral issue." Five men kept guard, all Sunni Muslims and former Iraqi soldiers. They called their group the Swords of Nine months after his release, Loney wants to focus the Righteous Brigades, insisted they weren't on reconciliation. His goal is to help break the cycle members of Al Qaeda and described Shiite Muslims of devastating violence engulfing Iraq. Were it not as greater enemies than the U.S. for the U.S.-led invasion and the violence it unleashed, he said his kidnappers would likely be Loney discovered war had dramatically touched leading normal lives. them. One had his home destroyed by bombs. Another lost several family members when U.S. "I know there is goodness in these men because I saw soldiers opened fire at a checkpoint. The youngest, a it," said Loney, 42, who works at the Christian man in his mid-20s whom the hostages called Junior, Peacemaker Teams' Toronto office. told Loney his parents, sister, girlfriend and best friend were killed when their house was bombed The former hostages reunited in London for the first during a U.S. attack on Fallujah. time to issue their call for leniency. With Kember and Sooden writing books about their experience, it also Had the war not intervened, Junior told Loney he became a time to reminisce. would be selling vegetables at the market. Instead, "a big boot stomped down on his life and crushed the

Page 22 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. people he loved," Loney said. "He would say to me, 'What would you do if the United States invaded Canada? Would you not fight back?' I would say, 'No ... I cannot kill anybody, I do not believe in that.' He'd say, 'You are stupid,'" Loney said. Loney learned to cherish moments of humanity. Occasionally, they'd watch Hollywood action movies with their captors. When spring arrived, Junior gave the hostages a rose. "It was amazing to have this beautiful, fragile, lovely thing in this dim room where we never saw the sky," he said. When the hostages finally got permission to trim their beards, one of the captors, a massive man, finished the job by daintily trimming Loney's eyebrows, an act that left everyone laughing. "It was a profoundly human moment for me. For those five seconds, the chains, the guns, the locked room - everything dissolved away and we were just human beings together. And I know that there was goodness in them." But there was also the ability to kill. On Feb. 12, the hostages were told they would be released one at a time. Fox was the only one taken away. Two days later, as their captors channel surfed, the hostages caught a glimpse of Fox's picture on TV and a closeup of the dirt road where his body was found. His death was confirmed by the British soldiers who rescued them two weeks later. The captors were gone when the soldiers kicked in the door. British officials described the operation as "intelligence led," and Loney assumes no ransom was paid. Loney rejects suggestions the compassion he has for his kidnappers is a symptom of "Stockholm syndrome," when hostages begin identifying with the cause of their abductors. "We never lost ourselves. We were able to maintain who we are, to maintain our principles, which is a commitment to non-violence, compassion and forgiveness," he said. © 2006 Torstar Corporation

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Kidnapped men forgive Iraqi abductors: Christian peace activists, including two Canadians, urge court to be lenient with abductors

Edmonton Journal Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A4 Section: News Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: The Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090429 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 611 words Illustration Type: Black & White Photo Illustration: Photo: Reuters / Former hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden listen to a question during a news conference in London on Friday. The three Christian activists, who were held captive in Iraq for 118 days, said on Friday they forgive their captors.

LONDON - Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for them face the death penalty. clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the "We unconditionally forgive our captors for only reason to take part," Kember said. abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman The former hostages said their abduction was just a Kember told a news conference that marked their part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the first reunion since they were freed in March. U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We understand a number of men alleged to be our "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers captors have been apprehended, charged with were part of a cycle of violence they themselves kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central experienced," they said. Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney Reconciliation in central London. said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh for us." and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we want is for good to come out of what has been a very "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can awful experience." never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no Tom Fox would be equally concerned for his captors. malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do that they be granted all possible leniency." know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker executed. Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was "And so we feel very confident that Tom, if he were killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were alive, would be standing with us in speaking against rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. the death penalty." A number of men alleged to be their captors have It was exactly one year ago Friday that Loney and his been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a fellow captives were threatened with execution capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on unless their captors' demands were met. That trial as early as January. One of the men may also be deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. 10, charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. which is International Human Rights day. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

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Forgive Iraqi captors, former hostages plead

CBC.CA News Section: World Byline: Source: Broadcast Date: Saturday, December 9, 2006 Time: Fri December 08 12:04:19 2006 EST Network: CBC Idnumber: 200612090002 Length: 456 words

Two Canadians and a Briton held hostage in Iraq last after 117 days in a dramatic rescue by multinational year said Friday that they have been asked to testify forces in March, after a raid on a house near at the trial of their alleged captors, but are reluctant to Baghdad. They had been held hostage by a do so because they are opposed to Iraq's death little-known Iraqi group, the Swords of penalty. Righteousness Brigade. Loney returned to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., after the ordeal while Singh Sooden, James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden and Norman who has lived in Montreal, returned to Auckland, Kember, all members of the Christian Peacemaker New Zealand, to continue studying. Kember returned Teams, told a news conference in London that their to northeast London, England. alleged captors should be forgiven instead of punished. The rescue was the work of an elite multinational unit known as Task Force Black, led by British Special Freed in March, the three peace activists had been Air Service members. The three originally went to held hostage for 117 days in Iraq. Baghdad to investigate allegations of abuse against Iraqi detainees. "What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and friends great suffering. Yet we bear © 2006 CBC. All Rights Reserved. no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution," Loney said. "We would like to know more about the court process itself, how it works and how we could speak to leniency in that process. We are very, very concerned about the death penalty. It would be the worst possible outcome for us if they were to be sentenced to death." Loney said the three want more information before they decide whether to testify. Suspects in the hostage-taking have been arrested in Iraq and charged with kidnapping. If convicted, they could be executed. The trial is expected to begin next year. Canadian and British police have asked the three peace activists to give evidence at the trial. The three acknowledged that their captors did commit a crime when they abducted four members of Christian Peacemakers, a human rights organization. The fourth hostage, Tom Fox, an American, was shot and killed in March and his body found in Baghdad. Kember said the three have no desire for the alleged captors to be executed and will only testify to call for leniency. "If it's necessary for us to take part in the trial in order to plead for clemency - if that's the only effective way we can do it, then we would be prepared to take part."

Loney said he would like to talk to the suspects, which he thinks would help him heal from his experience in Iraq. All four were kidnapped in November 2005 and freed

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Des otages en Irak ne veulent pas la peine de mort aux ravisseurs

Nouvelles Télé-Radio Samedi, 9 décembre 2006 Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612090015 Length: 145 mots Keywords: INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE SOCIAL

LONDRES (PC) _ Trois otages, dont deux Canadiens, qui ont été détenus ensemble pendant 118 jours l'année dernière, en Irak, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs et ne veulent pas qu'ils soient condamnés à la peine capitale. Lors d'une conférence de presse tenue vendredi, à Londres, les Canadiens Harmeet Singh Sooden et James Loney de même que le Britannique Norman Kember, tous membres de l'organisation humanitaire Christian Peacemaker Teams, ont dit avoir reçu la demande de leurs gouvernements de témoigner au procès de certains de leurs ravisseurs qui ont été arrêtés. En Irak, de tels enlèvements peuvent valoir la peine de mort à leurs auteurs. MM.Singh Sooden, Loney et Kember disent n'avoir aucune volonté que les suspects soient punis même s'ils ont mal agi. Un autre otage qui avait été détenu avec eux, Tom Fox, un Américain, a pour sa part été tué en mars dernier. (BN,NTR,jpd) NGJPD1O © 2006 Nouvelles Télé-Radio

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Held 118 days in Iraq, Christian activists forgive their captors

The Globe And Mail Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A21 Section: International News Byline: Paula Adamick Dateline: London ENGLAND Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090105 Edition: Metro Length: 789 words Keywords: KIDNAPPING; HOSTAGES; STRIFE; HUMAN RIGHTS; MURDER; STATEMENTS

PAULA ADAMICK Canadian Press LONDON Three activists for a Christian peace group held "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday clemency and that was the only way we could come they forgive their captors and don't want to see them to it, then we would take part, but that would be the face the death penalty. only reason to take part," Mr. Kember said. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for The former hostages said their abduction was just a abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman U.S.-led invasion and subsequent occupation. Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves "We understand a number of men alleged to be our experienced," they said. captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping and are facing trial in the Central In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Mr. Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement Loney said if any of the hostage takers were to get read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for the death penalty "that would be the worst possible Reconciliation and Peace in central London. outcome for us." "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors want is for good to come out of what has been a very for abducting and holding us," they said. awful experience." "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can Mr. Loney said he is also confident that Mr. Fox never restore what was taken from us. What our would be equally concerned for his captors if he were captors did was wrong," Mr. Loney said. "They alive. caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping have no wish for retribution. and our feelings with regard to that," Mr. Loney said. "We're not speaking for Tom's family. We do know "Should those who have been charged with holding that Tom was clearly opposed to the death penalty. us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask He signed a statement that if he were to be murdered, that they be granted all possible leniency." that he would not want his murderer to be executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if he were The three men were on a mission in Iraq with the alive, would be standing with us in speaking against Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker the death penalty." Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was The reason for yesterday's news conference was killed March 9. Mr. Sooden, Mr. Loney and Mr. two-fold, Mr. Loney said. The first is that it was Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on exactly one year ago yesterday that he and his fellow March 23. captives were threatened with death unless their captors' demands were met. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a That deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on 10, which is International Human Rights day. trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Mr. Fox's slaying. "We feel this connection between our opposition to the death penalty and our call for the protection of Mr. Loney said no decision had been made on human rights and trying to work towards a different testifying at the trial, while Mr. Kember indicated he future, one that forgiveness allows," Mr. Loney said, would testify only to prevent the accused from being adding that he has been enjoying "this wonderful put to death. rediscovery of freedom" since returning to Canada.

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Asked whether he thought his joint statement might undermine efforts to establish a fair judicial system in Iraq, Mr. Loney said Iraqi authorities would have to make their own decisions. "But I think any judicial system worth its salt has to account for the feelings of the victims and I would hope would allow for a possibility of restoration and of healing rather than simply retribution and punishment," he said. ". . . We don't want to be part of a cycle of punishment and revenge. We want healing and restoration." © 2006 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Page 28 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

National Journal

New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A6 Section: News Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612090076 Length: 546 words Keywords: TPNEWS; TP NEWS

Security Canadian wants answers from U.S. OTTAWA - Maher Arar is pressing the government to launch an independent investigation of leaks to the OTTAWA - An Ottawa man who was turned back by media that falsely painted him as a terrorist. Arar said American authorities when he tried to make a Friday he's afraid the people responsible will destroy business trip to Chicago in October is asking the other lives unless they are identified and held federal government to help him win an explanation accountable. Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was and compensation from the United States. Ali detained in New York in September 2002 and soon SeifAnNasr, a Canadian of Arab background, says he after deported by U.S. authorities - winding up in a was stopped at Chicago's O'Hare airport en route to a cell in Damascus. An inquiry led by Justice Dennis training session with a U.S. company that hired him O'Connor concluded that Canadian officials leaked as a business analyst. He was declared inadmissible inaccurate details about Arar to the media to damage to the United States, but was not told why. his reputation and protect themselves. SeifAnNasr said he wants to know why he was refused entry and wants compensation for the loss of International his consulting work. Former hostages urge forgiveness Crime LONDON - Three activists for a Christian peace Charges dropped in online abuse probe group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see TORONTO - Toronto police have dropped sexual them face the death penalty. Canadians Harmeet interference charges in an online child abuse Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman investigation and now allege the suspect was actually Kember were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- viewing a recorded video from a third party. A and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams Toronto man was arrested after a California-based when they were abducted in November of last year. sex-trade worker told local police she saw a man she A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed was chatting with online sexually abuse a young girl March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued "around the age of seven" in the presence of other on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their children. Police now believe the abuse was captors have been charged with kidnapping and are previously recorded. Matthew Hughes, 26, who was expected to go on trial as early as January. arrested Dec. 1, appeared in court Friday and was released on $20,000 bail. The allegations against him © 2006 Telegraph-Journal (New Brunswick) still remain to be proven in court. Politics Dion willing to give up French passport TORONTO - The new Liberal leader says he'd be willing to give up his French citizenship if it poses a problem with the Canadian public. Dion was born in Canada but his mother was born in France. As a result he holds dual citizenship. In a TV interview Thursday, the Liberal leader said he has kept his French citizenship out of respect for his mother. "I'm born like that. It's part of me. "... This being said, if I see that it's a liability for our winnability, I will do it." Justice Arar calls for probe of leaks to media

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'They're in a whole other world view'

Sault Star (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A1 Section: Front Byline: Michael Purvis Source: Idnumber: 200612090005 Length: 300 words Illustration: Loney

Long before James Loney publicly forgave his alleged captors on Friday, the Sault Ste. Marie native said he tried to put himself in their shoes. "I don't think they particularly liked what they were doing, but it was necessary," Loney said, in an interview during a week-long visit to the Sault in June. Loney and his fellow captives, Canadian Harmeet Sooden and Briton Norman Kember were held for 118 days after being plucked from the streets of Baghdad. Their American counterpart, Tom Fox, was found shot to death. Loney, a long-time peace activist, has said he does not wish to justify what his captors did, but said the experience helped him to see more clearly that violence is a dead end. "Everyone sees himself as the good guy," Loney said in the same interview. "We have this image of the terrorist - ruthless kidnappers who have no respect for human life - but that's our world view, they're in a whole other world view," said Loney. The kidnappers' motivation appeared to be to raise money to buy weapons and fund their insurgency, he said. Loney described the plight of one of his captors, a 25-year-old man dubbed 'Junior' by the hostages because of his youth. "He said his house had been bombed by the Americans and (they had) killed his mom and dad, his fiancee, his best friend and his sister, and this was why he was doing what he was doing," Loney said. 'Junior' would push Loney to say what he would do if the United States invaded Canada. He asked, "Would you not be mujahedeen, fight back?" Loney's answer, of course, was always no. Loney said he came away from the experience with both a clearer understanding of the dynamics around violence and a strengthened stance against it. © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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[The three men held captive in Iraq for more than three months say they have forgiven their abductors. Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, along]

CBC Television - The National Byline: Source: Broadcast Date: Friday, December 8, 2006 Time: 22:00 EDT Network: CBC Television - The National Idnumber: 200612080007 Length: 404 words

CAROLE MACNEIL (HOST): It would be the worst possible outcome for us if they were to be sentenced to death. The three men held captive in Iraq for more than three months say they have forgiven their abductors. STUART ALFORD (INTERNATIONAL BAR Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, ASSOCIATION): along with Briton Norman Kember aren't even sure they want to be witnesses at the trial of the men who But the danger is that the rule of law does fall apart. held them. The CBC's Azeb Wolde-Giorghis reports on their appeal for clemency. AZEB WOLDE-GIORGHIS (REPORTER): AZEB WOLDE-GIORGHIS (REPORTER): This lawyer helps train Iraqi judges. He says the three men cannot put conditions on their testimony. Norman Kember, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden appeared in front of cameras for the first time STUART ALFORD (INTERNATIONAL BAR since their release. They were held captive in Iraq for ASSOCIATION): 118 days, handcuffed to each other. Today, they had this message for their abductors... But if the three men that we've heard from today try to, if you like, hold the court to ransom, to say, JAMES LONEY (FORMER HOSTAGE): "Well, we're only going to participate if you promise that you're not going to give a particular sentence at We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting the end", no court can operate like that. and holding us. AZEB WOLDE-GIORGHIS (REPORTER): AZEB WOLDE-GIORGHIS (REPORTER): But for the former hostages, forgiving their captors is The three men and American Tom Fox were in one step towards healing and reconciliation in a Baghdad with a group called the Christian country that sees so little hope. Azeb Peacemaker Teams. Abductors took them in Wolde-Giorghis, CBC News, London. November last year. Throughout their ordeal, a massive campaign to free them took place in Britain, © 2006 CBC. All Rights Reserved. in the U.S. and in Canada. On March 11th, the body of Tom Fox was found. He had been shot dead. Two weeks later, British Special Forces rescued the others. Now, with a trial looming, police have asked the three men to testify, but they're uncertain about taking the stand. JAMES LONEY (FORMER HOSTAGE): We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. AZEB WOLDE-GIORGHIS (REPORTER): Four of the alleged captors could face the death penalty if convicted, an outcome that makes the former hostages uneasy. JAMES LONEY (FORMER HOSTAGE): We are very, very concerned about the death penalty.

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INDEX:International, Justice, Defence, Religion

Broadcast News Friday, December 8, 2006 Section: General And National News Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612080134 Length: 126 words Keywords: INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE DEFENCE RELIGION

LONDON - Three peace activists held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year say they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember - members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams - held a news conference today in London.

A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq. Sooden, Loney and Kember say they've been asked by Canadian and British police to testify at their abductors' trial. The three activists say they don't have any desire to punish their hostage-takers, even though what they did was wrong. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed in March. (BN)

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[- Three peace activists abducted a year ago in Iraq say they forgive their kidnappers. - A year ago three Christian peace activists were being held captive in Iraq. Today, three]

CBC Radio - World Report Byline: Source: Broadcast Date: Friday, December 8, 2006 Time: 08:00 EDT Network: CBC Radio - World Report Idnumber: 200612080001 Length: 305 words

JUDY MADDREN (NEWSCASTER): would like a chance to meet his captors face to face so he can forgive them in person. Laura Lynch, CBC - Three peace activists abducted a year ago in Iraq News, London. say they forgive their kidnappers. - © 2006 CBC. All Rights Reserved. A year ago three Christian peace activists were being held captive in Iraq. Today, three of them, two Canadians, were in Britain to ask for leniency for those accused of their kidnapping. James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden and Norman Kember also forgave their captors. And they said their American colleague who was kidnapped along with them and later killed, would do the same. Our correspondent, Laura Lynch reports, from London. LAURA LYNCH (REPORTER): The three former hostages are marking their reunion with a call for mercy. The men who captured them, who held them for 118 days, who executed their friend Tom Fox, are all forgiven. James Loney says he and the others aren't interested in retribution, and he says they also don't want to testify against their alleged captors unless they can use the witness box as a platform to plead for clemency. JAMES LONEY (CHRISTIAN PEACE ACTIVIST): Punishment retribution is part of this whole cycle of violence in which Iraq is now embroiled. And we want our participation to be... to speak to something good coming out of this. LAURA LYNCH (REPORTER): All three men have been trying to move on with their lives but Harmeet Singh Sooden believes this reunion is helping to heal the emotional scars left by their experience. HARMEET SINGH SOODEN (CHRISTIAN PEACE ACTIVIST): It's very reassuring being amongst people that actually understand the experience that we went through, a feeling of security.

LAURA LYNCH (REPORTER): That sense of security might be tested if the three men do return to Iraq to testify. Still, Loney says he

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Trois militants pacifistes pardonnent leurs à ravisseurs irakiens

Agence France Presse (Français) Vendredi, 8 décembre 2006 Section: General News Byline: Dateline: LONDRES Source: Time: 17:20:00 GMT (12:20 Heure de l'Est) Priority: Rush Idnumber: 200612080389 Length: 321 mots Keywords: IRAK; GB; CANADA; USA; OTAGES

LONDRES, 8 déc 2006 (AFP) - Un militant pacifiste par un groupe se présentant comme les "Brigades des britannique et deux Canadiens, otages pendant quatre sabres de la vertu". Il a menacé d'éxécuter les otages mois en Irak, ont déclaré vendredi qu'ils avaient si tous les prisonniers irakiens n'étaient pas libérés. pardonné à leurs ravisseurs et s'opposaient catégoriquement à leur éventuelle condamnation à © 2006 AFP mort. "Nous avons pardonné inconditionnellement à nos ravisseurs pour nous avoir enlevés et maintenus en détention. Nous n'avons aucun désir de les punir", ont annoncé les trois pacifistes, Norman Kember, James Loney et Harmeet Singh Sooden, dans un communiqué commun lu lors d'une conférence à Londres. Les trois hommes, membres de l'Equipe des Pacifistes chrétiens, ont été pris en otage le 26 novembre 2005 avec l'Américain Tom Fox, âgé de 54 ans. Ce dernier a été retrouvé mort à Bagdad en mars, deux semaines avant la libération du reste du groupe par les forces multinationales. Les trois otages survivants ont souligné que les actes de leurs ravisseurs étaient condamnables et qu'ils leur avaient causé ainsi qu'à leur famille une grande souffrance. Cependant "nous ne gardons aucune rancoeur envers eux", ont-ils insisté. "Si ceux qui sont accusés de nous avoir maintenus en otage sont jugés et condamnés, nous demandons la plus grande clémence. Nous abandonnons catégoriquement tous les droits que nous pouvions avoir sur eux", ajoutent-ils. Les ravisseurs ont participé à "un cycle de violence qu'ils ont subi eux-mêmes" en Irak et qui était "lié inextricablement" à l'invasion des forces américaines en mars 2003, ont affirmé les trois hommes. Alors que le kidnapping est un crime en Irak passible de la peine capitale, les trois victimes se sont dit "catégoriquement" opposées à ce qu'une peine de mort soit prononcée.

Ils ont précisé que leur participation à un procès à Bagdad l'an prochain serait conditionné à la clémence de la justice envers les accusés. L'enlèvement des quatre hommes a été revendiqué

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Peace activists forgive their Iraqi abductors, oppose death penalty

Agence France Presse (English) Friday, December 8, 2006 Section: International News Byline: Dateline: LONDON, Dec 8 Source: Time: 11:26:00 GMT (06:26 Eastern Time) Priority: Urgent Idnumber: 200612080318 Length: 368 words Keywords: IRAQ; HOSTAGES; BRITAIN

LONDON, Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) - A Briton and two Canadians held hostage for four months in Iraq said Any decision on whether the peace campaigners will Friday that they unconditionally forgave their captors attend the trial in Baghdad next year is dependent on and strongly opposed the death penalty if they were whether they can achieve clemency for the convicted at a future trial. defendants, they added. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for The abduction of the men was claimed by a group abducting and holding us. We have no desire to calling itself the Brigades of the Swords of punish them," Norman Kember, James Loney and Righteousness, which threatened to kill them unless Harmeet Singh Sooden said in a joint statement read all Iraqi prisoners were released. at a central London news conference. phz/ccr The men -- from the pacifist Christian Peacemakers Teams -- were kidnapped in Iraq on November 26, Iraq-hostages-Britain-Canada-US 2005 with American Tom Fox, 54. © 2006 AFP He was found dead in Baghdad in March this year, about two weeks before the group's rescue by multi-national forces. The three men, whose abduction sparked round-the-clock vigils from church and religious groups the world over, said what their captors did was wrong and caused them, their families and friends great suffering. But they added: "Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency. We categorically lay aside any rights we may have over them." The trio said their kidnappers were "part of a cycle of violence that they themselves experienced" in Iraq, which was "inextricably linked" to the US-led invasion in March 2003. "While this in no way justifies what the men charged with our kidnapping are alleged to have done, we feel this must be considered against any potential judgement." Kidnapping is a capital offence in Iraq but the men said they "categorically" opposed the death penalty.

"The death penalty is an irrevocable judgment. It erases all possibility that those who have harmed others, even seriously, can yet turn to good. We oppose the death penalty," they said.

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Hostages Speak

GLOBAL NATIONAL Byline: Source: Broadcast Date: Friday, December 8, 2006 Time: 17:30:00 ET End Time: 18:00:00 ET Network: GLOBAL Idnumber: 200612080008 Length: 176 words

TARA NELSON: Three Christian peace activists, including two Canadians, taken hostage in Iraq a year ago say they unconditionally forgive their captors. James Loney, Harmit Singh Sudan and Briton Norman Kember met in London today for the first time since their release eight months ago. The three were held captive in Iraq for almost four months before being freed in a military operation. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed. The men accused of the kidnap and murder are now in custody, but the former hostages say they have no desire to see them severely punished. JAMES LONEY (Former Hostage in Iraq): What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and friends, great suffering, yet we bare no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency. NELSON: The former hostages say they haven't yet decided if they will testify at the trial of their alleged kidnappers.

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Les ex-otages en Irak, dont deux Canadiens, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs

Presse Canadienne Service Français Vendredi, 8 décembre 2006 Section: Nouvelles Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612080132 Length: 365 mots Keywords: INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE SOCIAL

LONDRES (PC) _ Trois otages, dont deux Fox, un Américain, a été assassiné par les ravisseurs Canadiens, qui avaient été détenus ensemble pendant le 9 mars. MM. Sooden, Loney et Kember ont été 118 jours en Irak, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs et ne libérés par les forces britanniques et américaines le veulent pas qu'ils soient condamnés à la peine 23 mars. capitale. NGJPD10-WW5064.FGNOS2.mag Lors d'une conférence de presse vendredi à Londres, les Canadiens Harmeet Singh Sooden et James Copyright © 2006 La Presse Canadienne. Tous droits Loney, de même que le Britannique Norman Kember, réservés. tous membres de l'organisation humanitaire Christian Peacemaker Teams, ont dit avoir reçu la demande de leur gouvernement de témoigner au procès de certains de leurs ravisseurs qui ont été arrêtés. En Irak, de tels enlèvements peuvent valoir la peine de mort à leurs auteurs. Les trois hommes disent n'avoir aucunement l'intention que les suspects soient punis même s'ils ont mal agi. "Nous pardonnons inconditionnellement à nos ravisseurs de nous avoir enlevés et détenus", ont-ils déclaré en commun lors de cette conférence de presse qui était également la première occasion qu'ils avaient de se rencontrer depuis leur libération en mars. "Nous avons appris que quelques hommes qui sont présumés être nos ravisseurs ont été appréhendés et accusés d'enlèvement, et qu'ils comparaîtront en cour criminelle en Irak", ont déclaré en commun les trois ex-otages dans un communiqué lu aux journalistes au Centre St.Ethelburga pour la réconciliation de Londres. "Après mûres réflexions basées sur nos croyances chrétienne et sikh, nous avons décidé de pardonner inconditionnellement à nos ravisseurs. Nous n'avons pas le désir de les voir être punis. Toute punition ne nous permettra pas de retrouver ce qui nous a été enlevé. "Ce qu'ils nous ont fait était mal. Ils ont causé à nos familles, à nos amis et à nous-mêmes d'immenses souffrances. Mais nous ne ressentons à leur égard aucune haine et n'attendons aucune compensation financière. Nous demandons à la cour d'être clémente envers ceux qui sont accusés de nous avoir détenus".

Les trois hommes étaient en mission en Irak dans le cadre d'un voyage chapeauté par des organismes chrétiens basés à Toronto et Chicago lorsqu'ils ont été kidnappés en novembre 2005. Un autre otage qui était été détenu avec eux, Tom

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Advance Calendar for Tuesday, March 6

Broadcast News Monday, March 5, 2007 Section: Notes And Advisories Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200703050227 Length: 1162 words Keywords: ADVISORIES

LONDON -- National Portrait Gallery opens exhibit Ste-Catherine St. East) about Britain and its colonies in past centuries. MONTREAL -- Major construction products firm BOSTON -- Eye treatment developer OccuLogix Canam Group reports fourth-quarter earnings; reports fourth-quarter earnings before market opens conference call March 7. followed by conference call. (8 a.m. at 1-877-871-4051) OTTAWA: SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- USBX Security OTTAWA -- Statistics Canada releases January Growth conference; Vancouver-based firm Extreme 2004 study of seniors as victims of crime. (8:30 a.m. CCTV presents. at www.statcan.ca) ATLANTIC: OTTAWA -- Statistics Canada releases January building permits. (8:30 a.m. at www.statcan.ca) GANDER, N.L. -- First-degree murder trial continues for Nelson Hart, accused in the drowning OTTAWA -- Bank of Canada policy interest rate deaths of his twin three-year-old daughters in August announcement. (Media lockup 8 a.m. at Bank of 2002, through March 16. (10 a.m. at 98 Airport Canada, 234 Wellington St., East Tower., Blvd., Law Courts Building) announcement 9 a.m. at www.bankofcanada.ca) ANTIGONISH, N.S. -- Service Nova Scotia OTTAWA -- Air India inquiry public hearings Minister Jamie Muir and ACOA Minister Peter continue. (9:30 a.m. at Bytown Pavilion, Victoria MacKay make announcement under Canada-Nova Hall, 111 Sussex Dr.) Scotia Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund. (2:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 274 Main St.) OTTAWA -- B'nai Brith news conference to present indictment of Iranian President Mahmoud HALIFAX -- Legislature committee on economic Ahmedinejad on charges of incitement to genocide development looks at the province's tourism sector. against the Jewish people. (11:30 a.m. at Room (9 a.m. at Third Floor, Dennis Building, 1740 130-S, Centre Block, Parliament Hill) Granville St.) ONTARIO: HALIFAX -- Scotiabank annual meeting (10 a.m. at World Trade and Convention Centre, Port Royal TORONTO -- Alliance Atlantis conference call on Room); conference call on first-quarter earnings (2 fourth-quarter earnings. (9 a.m. at 416-641-6108) p.m. at 1-800-732-6179) TORONTO -- Campaign 2000, a group of more HALIFAX -- ``Race realist'' Jared Taylor to debate than 120 organizations, releases report card on child philosophy professor Peter March; group opposed to poverty in Ontario. (10 a.m. at Ontario legislature, the debate will protest outside at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. at Media Studio) Saint Mary's University, Burke Education Building, Theatre A, Robie Street) TORONTO -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes announcement; accompanied by Ontario TRENTON, N.S. -- Conciliator joins contract talks Premier Dalton McGuinty as well as ministers John between TrentonWorks and the union representing Baird, Lawrence Cannon and Jim Flaherty. (11 a.m. about 220 workers. at The Hangar at Downsview Park, 75 Carl Hall Rd.) QUEBEC: TORONTO -- Home furnishings and applieances leasing firm Easyhome conference call on MONTREAL -- Tennis Canada chairman Jack fourth-quarter results. (11 a.m. at 1-866-905-2211) Graham and other executives hold news conference. (11 a.m. at Uniprix Stadium media lounge) TORONTO -- News conference to announce latest inductees into Canada's Walk of Fame (11:30 a.m. at MONTREAL -- Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles 18 St. Thomas Street) Duceppe speaks to university students. (12:30 p.m. at Universite du Quebec, Salle DS-R510, 320 TORONTO -- CVRD Inco talks about its new

Page 38 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. exploration technology at PDAC Convention. (2:45 p.m. at Metro Convention Centre -North Building YORKTON, Sask. -- Sentencing of 14-year-old girl room 104A) who pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting a police officer and uttering threats; an RCMP constable TORONTO -- Ryerson University panel discussion serving as a replacement worker for striking SGEU on media's performance on covering Ipperwash guards was kicked in the head by a youth while the inquiry. (3:30 p.m. at Ryerson School of Journalism, girl was being restrained at the Orcadia Youth room 204, 80 Gould St.) Residence Dec. 22, 2006. (Youth Court) TORONTO -- Prospectors and Developers EDMONTON -- Trial of Joseph Laboucan and Association of Canada 2007 mining convention, Michael Briscoe for first-degree murder in the death through March 7. (Metro Toronto Convention Centre, of 13-year-old Nina Courtepatte. (Law Courts) North Building) EDMONTON -- Diplomat Stephen Lewis and his TORONTO -- Court decides on Sunrise REIT's son, broadcaster and commentator Avi Lewis, speak request to allow an $18 bid from Health Care on one family's quest for social change. (7 p.m. at Property while a Ventas offer of $15 is on the table. Shaw Conference Centre) TORONTO -- Golf Town reports year-end earnings; RED DEER, Alta. -- Walter Raymond Anderson on conference call March 7. trial for first-degree murder in the death of a mentally disabled hotel worker. HAMILTON -- Canadian men's curling championship, through March 11. (Copps Coliseum) CALGARY -- Trial concludes for Dr. Joseph Li, a dentist charged with sexually assaulting a patient. HAMILTON -- Lakeport Brewing Income Fund (Court of Queen's Bench) (Honey Lager and Pilsener) fourth-quarter earnings conference call. (10 a.m. at 416-641-6105) CALGARY -- Bail hearing for Aset Magomadova, charged with second-degree murder in the death of LONDON, Ont. -- London Aboriginal Housing her 14-year-old daughter Aminat. (provincial court) Forum to highlight housing initiatives from across Canada and address opportunities and solutions for CALGARY -- Transport firm Mullen Group Income providing aboriginal housing and related services. (9 Fund reports financial results; conference call March a.m. at Best Western Lamplighter Inn, 591 7. Wellington Rd. S.) CALGARY -- Mapping firm Intermap Technologies SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -- Ontario government reports 2006 earnings before market opens followed consultation on future of province's health-care by conference call. (4:30 p.m. at 416-644-3418) system. (6 p.m. at Sault Area Hospital, 969 Queen St. E., Plummer Site, Riverview Centre, Riverview LETHBRIDGE, Alta. -- Senate hearings on rural Auditorium) poverty in Canada. (6 p.m. at Exhibition Park 3401 Parkside Dr S) SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -- Former Iraq hostage and Christian peace activist James Loney speaks. (7 BRITISH COLUMBIA: p.m. at Great West Life Amphitheatre, Algoma University College 1520 Queen Street E.) KELOWNA, B.C. -- MLA Compensation Public Hearings (4 p.m. at Thompson/Shuswap Room, PRAIRIES: Woodfire Conference Centre Best Western Inn, 2400 Hwy 97 North) WINNIPEG -- Inquest into death of Tracia Owen, 14, who hanged herself in a garage two years ago, SALMON ARM, B.C. -- National women's hockey through April 4. championships involving nine teams. Through March 10. WINNIPEG -- University of Manitoba engineering students vote on proposed 38.5 per cent tuition NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- Murder trial of increase. Robert Pickton on six counts of first-degree murder. (9:30 a.m. at B.C. Supreme Court) WINNIPEG -- Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police national crime prevention symposium VANCOUVER -- International Olympic committee concludes. holds a fourth meeting in advance of the 2010 Winter Games. (10:30 a.m. at 3585 Graveley St. ) SASKATOON -- Sentencing of Curtis Bear, who drove drunk and killed one woman and injured VICTORIA -- Legislature sits Monday-Thursday; another. morning session Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 10 a.m.-noon; afternoon sitting Monday-Thursday 1:30

Page 39 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. p.m.-6:30 p.m. VICTORIA -- Rear-Admiral Tyrone Pile, Canadian Forces Chief of Military Personnel, holds media availability at CF Recruiting Centre. (3:30 p.m. at 827 Fort St.) NORTH: WHITEHORSE, Yukon -- Canada's top amateur athletes compete in the Canada Winter Games, through March 10. (12 p.m. at various locations)

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BASEBALL American League TORONTO BLUE JAYS--Agreed to terms with RHP Jeremy Accardo, INF Russ Adams, RHP Josh Banks, LHP Gustavo Chacin, C Robinzon Diaz, ...

Centre Daily Times Monday, March 5, 2007 Page: 7 Section: C Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200703050036 Note: 200703050301KNRIDDERPASTATCD_t0504bc-glf-hondaclassicsco Length: 383 words

BASEBALL American League CLEVELAND BROWNS--Signed OL Eric Steinbach to a seven-year contract. TORONTO BLUE JAYS--Agreed to terms with RHP Jeremy Accardo, INF Russ Adams, RHP Josh DENVER BRONCOS--Acquired DT Dan Wilkinson Banks, LHP Gustavo Chacin, C Robinzon Diaz, INF from Miami for a 2007 sixth-round draft pick. John Hattig, INF Aaron Hill, RHP Ryan Houston, RHP Casey Janssen, RHP Brandon League, OF HOUSTON TEXANS--Agreed to terms with RB Adam Lind, RHP Shaun Marcum, RHP Dustin Ahman Green. McGowan, RHP Ismael Ramirez, LHP Davis Romero, RHP Francisco Rosario, INF Sergio Santos, JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS--Agreed to terms with LHP Brian Tallet, RHP Ty Taubenheim and RHP WR Dennis Northcutt. Tracy Thorpe on one-year contracts. Assigned 1B-C Erik Kratz to minor league camp. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS--Agreed to terms with OF Damion McIntosh on a six-year contract. National League MINNESOTA VIKINGS--Agreed to terms with LB ATLANTA BRAVES--Agreed to terms with RHP Vinny Ciurciu and TE Visanthe Shiancoe. Jose Ascanio, RHP Blaine Boyer, RHP Lance Cormier, RHP Kyle Davies, RHP Joey Devine, RHP NEW ORLEANS SAINTS--Agreed to terms with OF Anthony Lerew, RHP Peter Moylan, RHP Chad Jon Stinchcomb on a two-year contract. Paronto, LHP Chuck James, LHP Macay McBride, INF Willy Aybar, INF Kelly Johnson, INF Tony ST. LOUIS RAMS--Signed WR Drew Bennett to a Pena and INF Martin Prado on one-year contracts. six-year contract. Renewed the contracts of OF Jeff Francoeur and RHP Phil Stockman. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS--Agreed to terms with OL Kris Dielman. LOS ANGELES DODGERS--Agreed to terms with INF Wilson Betemit, RHP Yhency Brazoban, RHP SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS--Signed DT Aubrayo D.J. Houlton, OF Andre Ethier, C Russell Martin, Franklin and WR Bryan Gilmore. INF Wilson Valdez, LHP Eric Stults, OF Delwyn Young, LHP Mike Megrew, INF Andy LaRoche, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS--Signed QB Jeff INF James Loney and OF Matt Kemp on one-year Garcia and FB B.J. Askew. Acquired the rights to QB contracts. Jake Plummer from Denver for a 2008 draft pick. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS--Assigned RHP Merkin TENNESSEE TITANS--Released RB Travis Henry. Valdez to Fresno of the PCL, RHP Kelyn Acosta to Connecticut of the EL and INF Julio Cordido and RHP Carlos Hines to minor league camp. FOOTBALL National Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS--Agreed to terms with RB Marcel Shipp and S Hanik Milligan on three-year contracts. BALTIMORE RAVENS--Re-signed LB Jarret Johnson to a three-year contract.

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2006: a year of new beginnings, controversy

The Whitehorse Daily Star Friday, December 29, 2006 Page: 12 Section: Year In Review Byline: Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612290041 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 5017 words Illustration: Photo: Ron Albertson, Hamilton Spectator Canadian Press / NATIVE OCCUPATION: A native protester shouts from the top of a truck at a barricade at a Caledonia, Ontario housing development. Photo: Tom Hanson, Canadian Press / INQUIRY: Relatives of Air India bombing victim Sugra Sadiq break down as the names of all the victims are displayed. Photo: Tom Hanson, Canadian Press / EVACUATION: A woman holds onto her Canadian passport as she is carried off a ferry that was chartered to evacuate Canadian nationals from Lebanon. Photo: Jeff McIntosh, Canadian Press / ELECTION: Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper celebrates his minority government win with his wife and kids in Calgary. Photo: Richard Lam, Canadian Press / SWITCHING SIDES: Carice Bowers shows off one of the buttons she made to protest David Emerson's defection. Photo: James Loney. Photo: Richard Lam, Canadian Press / SINKING: A survivor from the Queen of the North ferry waves to people on shore upon arriving in Prince Rupert, B.C.

PART 1 OF 2 1 -- In final report on the federal sponsorship scandal, JANUARY Justice John Gomery proposes rules to make government more accountable and transparent. 10 -- Iran removes UN seals from its nuclear French and German newspapers republish caricatures enrichment facility at Natanz, effectively ending a of the Prophet Muhammad in an effort to defend freeze on the process that can produce fuel for freedom of expression, re-igniting anger of Muslims nuclear weapons. who were outraged when a Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons five months earlier. 12 -- At least 363 Hajj pilgrims are killed and more than 1,000 injured in a stampede during the stoning 2 -- Sea King helicopter with five crew members the devil ritual in Saudi Arabia. aboard crashes in ocean off Denmark; all are rescued. 15 -- Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry is killed, three 3 -- Red Sea ferry sinks after fire breaks out, killing Canadian soldiers injured in suicide bombing in 1,000 of the 1,400 people aboard. Afghanistan. 6 -- Stephen Harper is sworn in as the 22nd prime 23 -- Stephen Harper's Conservatives win slim minister of Canada. minority in Canada's 39th general election, ending 12 years of Liberal rule. Defeated prime minister Paul 14 -- Former Ontario premier Mike Harris tells Martin resigns as Liberal leader. judicial inquiry into the 1995 police shooting of a native protester that he uttered a profane slur at 25 -- Frank McKenna resigns as Canada's aboriginals at a meeting with police just before the ambassador to the United States. Hamas wins huge shooting. majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections as voters rejected the longtime rule of the Fatah party. 17 -- At least 1,800 people believed dead in mudslides caused by torrential rains in the 26 -- Hudson's Bay, Canada's oldest company, Philippines. accepts $1.5-billion friendly takeover offer from U.S-based Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, headed 22 -- Insurgents detonate bombs inside one of Iraq's by Jerry Zucker. most famous Shiite shrines in Samarra, destroying its golden dome and triggering reprisal attacks on Sunni 29 -- Seventy-two miners are trapped after mosques. underground fire at potash mine in Esterhazy, Sask. All are rescued after 30 hours. 24 -- Rodney MacDonald, 34, becomes Canada's youngest premier when he is sworn in Nova Scotia. 30 -- Trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton officially begins in New Westminster, B.C. 28 -- Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser takes command of coalition troops in southern FEBRUARY Afghanistan.

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MARCH 5 -- Gail Vickery is named Alberta's first female chief 1 --Marshall Rothstein is confirmed as the newest judge. member of the Supreme Court. 7 -- At least two suicide attackers wearing women's 2 -- Cpl. Paul Davis, and Master Cpl. Timothy cloaks blow themselves up in a Shiite mosque in Wilson are killed when their armoured vehicle runs Baghdad, killing at least 85 people and wounding off the road in Afghanistan. Former Beatle Paul more than 164. London court rules that author Dan McCartney and his wife Heather stage a seal hunt Brown did not steal ideas for his massive bestseller protest on ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. "The Da Vinci Code" from a non-fiction work. 5 -- Underdog "Crash," directed by Canadian Paul 8 -- The bodies of eight men with ties to the Bandidos Haggis, wins best picture honours over "Brokeback biker gang are found stuffed in four abandoned cars Mountain" at the Academy Awards. near Shedden in the worst mass killing in recent Ontario history. Other gang members are charged in 11 -- Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, the killings. on trial for war crimes, is found dead in a prison cell in the Netherlands. 10 -- Federal government makes it illegal for anyone in Canada to support or help the Tamil Tigers, 12 -- In his first foreign trip since taking office, Prime fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka. Minister Stephen Harper pays surprise visit to Afghanistan. 11 -- Iran announces it has successfully enriched uranium for the first time. 13 -- ''C.R.A.ZY.'', the movie of a gay youth coming of age in 1960s Quebec, wins 10 awards at the Genie 20 -- Ontario Provincial Police try and fail to end a Awards. 52-day occupation of a southwestern Ontario construction site by aboriginals claiming it is their 16 -- Long-awaited first session of Iraq's new land. parliament lasts about 30 minutes before being indefinitely adjourned because of a deadlock between 22 -- Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles political parties. Mansell, Lt. William Turner and Cpl. Randy Payne are killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan. It is the 22 -- The B.C. ferry Queen of the North goes off Canada's worst one-day combat loss since the Korean course, hits a rock and sinks off the coast of Prince War. Rupert, B.C. All but two of the 101 people aboard are rescued. Basque militant group ETA announces 27 -- Federal government announces it has reached permanent ceasefire to end a decades-long campaign framework deal to end the longstanding softwood of terror aimed at winning independence for the lumber dispute with the United States. northern Spanish region. MAY 23 -- Canadian hostages James Loney and Harmeet Sooden and a Briton, Norman Kember, were freed 1 -- Federal government calls public inquiry into the after being held for four months in Iraq. Air India tragedy. 28 -- Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, 2 -- In his first federal budget, Finance Minister Jim facing war crime charges, is captured on the run in Flaherty announces GST will be cut by one Nigeria. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's percentage point on July 1. Kadima party wins 28 of 120 seats in the Israeli election, more than any other party. Massive protests 3 -- U.S. federal jury rejects death penalty for and a nationwide public transport strike hit France al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, sends him over a new youth employment law. to prison for life for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 29 -- Pte. Robert Costall, 22, killed in a firefight in Afghanistan. 5 -- In the first slaying of a Windsor police officer on duty, Const. John Atkinson is killed while APRIL approaching two drug suspects at a convenience store in Windsor, Ont. 4 -- Alberta's Ralph Klein, the country's longest-serving premier, announces plans to step 10 -- Federal cabinet approves $2-billion deal to down by the end of the year. Three compensate former students of aboriginal residential Canadian-Venezuelan brothers found dead outside schools for physical and sexual abuse. Caracas after being kidnapped by men dressed as police. 15 -- Iraqi officials formally charge dictator Saddam

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Hussein with crimes against humanity. agreement reached in April. China opens first Beijing-to-Tibet railway, the highest-altitude railway 17 -- Federal government announces plans to kill the in the world. long-gun registry, as well as an immediate one-year amnesty so owners of rifles and shotguns will not 4 -- In so-called keepsake scandal, report by have to register them. Capt. Nichola Goddard dies in Newfoundland and Labrador auditor implicates four Afghanistan, the first Canadian woman to be killed in politicians of overspending on office budgets by action while serving in a combat role. House of about $3.4-million. Commons vote 149-145 to extend the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan to February 2009. 6 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets U.S. Former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills President George Bush during his first official visit to announce they are separating. the United States. Official recount holds up presidential election result in Mexico, giving 19 -- Nepal declares itself a secular state, ending its conservative candidate Felipe Calderon the victory. unique status as the world's last Hindu kingdom. 7 --Two Saskatchewan RCMP officers are shot and 25 -- Former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey seriously wounded after responding to a domestic Skilling are convicted of conspiracy to commit disturbance in the hamlet of Mildred. They later die securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest of their wounds; manhunt leads to the surrender of a business scandals in U.S. history. suspect.

27 -- Earthquake in Indonesia kills almost 6,000 9 -- Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, killed in battle in people. Afghanistan. 31 -- Bans that prohibit smoking in all enclosed 11 -- Eight bombs hit seven trains on a commuter rail workplaces and public places take effect in Ontario network in Mumbai, India, during evening rush hour, and Quebec killing more than 200 people and wounding 700. JUNE 12 -- To retaliate for the Hezbollah's capture of an Israeli soldier, Israel bombs southern Lebanon and 2 -- Seventeen suspects arrested in Toronto area in sends ground troops over the border for the first time biggest terrorism-related raid in Canada. in six years. It starts 34 days of fighting that kills 855 Lebanese and 159 Israelis. 6 -- Chuck Guite, former head of the federal sponsorship program, is found guilty of five counts of 13 -- Cormorant search and rescue helicopter crash fraud totalling $1.5 million, which he later appealed. off the eastern tip of Nova Scotia during a training exercise, killing three men and injuring four others. 7 -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq, killed in American raid near Baghdad. 17 -- Undersea earthquake triggers tsunami on Indonesia's Java island, killing about 700 people. 8 -- Former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew's conviction for promoting hatred against Jews 19 -- Canadian government charters seven ships to overturned, new trial ordered. evacuate Canadians from Lebanon as the war between Hezbollah and Israel escalates. 11 -- ''The Drowsy Chaperone,'' a Canadian-born musical celebration of Broadway's past glories, wins 19 -- Jenna Lambert, 15, of Kingston, Ont., born with five Tony Awards. cerebral palsy, becomes the first woman with a disability to swim across Lake Ontario. 21 -- Ed Byrne, natural resources minister in Newfoundland and Labrador, resigns post after audit 22 -- Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, and Cpl. Jason raises questions about financial irregularities within Patrick Warren, 29, are killed by suicide bombers in the provincial legislature. Afghanistan. 22 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers formal 25 -- Israeli bombs destroy UN observer post on the apology and compensation for head tax applied to border in southern Lebanon, killing four Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923. peacekeepers, including one Canadian. 29 -- Women vote for the first time in history in the AUGUST Kuwait election. 1 -- After having surgery, Cuban leader Fidel Castro JULY temporarily cedes power to his younger brother. 1 -- Canadian and U.S. trade officials work out final 3 -- Four soldiers are killed and 10 injured in wording of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber Canada's bloodiest day to date in fighting in

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Afghanistan. The dead are Cpl. Christopher Reid, officially begins in New Westminster, B.C. Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire. FEBRUARY 5 -- Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt is killed in 1 -- In final report on the federal sponsorship scandal, Afghanistan. Justice John Gomery proposes rules to make government more accountable and transparent. 9 -- Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh killed in French and German newspapers republish caricatures Afghanistan while on patrol, apparently in an of the Prophet Muhammad in an effort to defend accidental discharge of a firearm by another freedom of expression, re-igniting anger of Muslims Canadian. who were outraged when a Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons five months earlier. 10 -- British authorities arrest 24 men accused of being part of a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft 2 -- Sea King helicopter with five crew members heading to the United States using explosives aboard crashes in ocean off Denmark; all are rescued. smuggled in hand luggage. The arrests lead to tough restrictions on bringing liquids onboard flights. 3 -- Red Sea ferry sinks after fire breaks out, killing 1,000 of the 1,400 people aboard. 11 -- Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom is killed in Afghanistan. 6 -- Stephen Harper is sworn in as the 22nd prime minister of Canada. 13 -- The 16th International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto, attended by more than 30,000 delegates 14 -- Former Ontario premier Mike Harris tells from 170 countries but not Prime Minister Stephen judicial inquiry into the 1995 police shooting of a Harper. native protester that he uttered a profane slur at aboriginals at a meeting with police just before the Here is a brief look at the major news events of shooting. Canada and the world in 2006: 17 -- At least 1,800 people believed dead in JANUARY mudslides caused by torrential rains in the Philippines. 10 -- Iran removes UN seals from its nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, effectively ending a 22 -- Insurgents detonate bombs inside one of Iraq's freeze on the process that can produce fuel for most famous Shiite shrines in Samarra, destroying its nuclear weapons. golden dome and triggering reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques. 12 -- At least 363 Hajj pilgrims are killed and more than 1,000 injured in a stampede during the stoning 24 -- Rodney MacDonald, 34, becomes Canada's the devil ritual in Saudi Arabia. youngest premier when he is sworn in Nova Scotia. 15 -- Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry is killed, three 28 -- Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser takes Canadian soldiers injured in suicide bombing in command of coalition troops in southern Afghanistan. Afghanistan. 23 -- Stephen Harper's Conservatives win slim MARCH minority in Canada's 39th general election, ending 12 years of Liberal rule. Defeated prime minister Paul 1 --Marshall Rothstein is confirmed as the newest Martin resigns as Liberal leader. member of the Supreme Court. 25 -- Frank McKenna resigns as Canada's 2 -- Cpl. Paul Davis, and Master Cpl. Timothy ambassador to the United States. Hamas wins huge Wilson are killed when their armoured vehicle runs majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections as off the road in Afghanistan. Former Beatle Paul voters rejected the longtime rule of the Fatah party. McCartney and his wife Heather stage a seal hunt protest on ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 26 -- Hudson's Bay, Canada's oldest company, accepts $1.5-billion friendly takeover offer from 5 -- Underdog "Crash," directed by Canadian Paul U.S-based Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, headed Haggis, wins best picture honours over "Brokeback by Jerry Zucker. Mountain" at the Academy Awards.

29 -- Seventy-two miners are trapped after 11 -- Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, underground fire at potash mine in Esterhazy, Sask. on trial for war crimes, is found dead in a prison cell All are rescued after 30 hours. in the Netherlands. 30 -- Trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton 12 -- In his first foreign trip since taking office, Prime

Page 45 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Minister Stephen Harper pays surprise visit to Afghanistan. 11 -- Iran announces it has successfully enriched uranium for the first time. 13 -- ''C.R.A.ZY.'', the movie of a gay youth coming of age in 1960s Quebec, wins 10 awards at the Genie 20 -- Ontario Provincial Police try and fail to end a Awards. 52-day occupation of a southwestern Ontario construction site by aboriginals claiming it is their 16 -- Long-awaited first session of Iraq's new land. parliament lasts about 30 minutes before being indefinitely adjourned because of a deadlock between 22 -- Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles political parties. Mansell, Lt. William Turner and Cpl. Randy Payne are killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan. It is the 22 -- The B.C. ferry Queen of the North goes off Canada's worst one-day combat loss since the Korean course, hits a rock and sinks off the coast of Prince War. Rupert, B.C. All but two of the 101 people aboard are rescued. Basque militant group ETA announces 27 -- Federal government announces it has reached permanent ceasefire to end a decades-long campaign framework deal to end the longstanding softwood of terror aimed at winning independence for the lumber dispute with the United States. northern Spanish region. MAY 23 -- Canadian hostages James Loney and Harmeet Sooden and a Briton, Norman Kember, were freed 1 -- Federal government calls public inquiry into the after being held for four months in Iraq. Air India tragedy. 28 -- Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, 2 -- In his first federal budget, Finance Minister Jim facing war crime charges, is captured on the run in Flaherty announces GST will be cut by one Nigeria. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's percentage point on July 1. Kadima party wins 28 of 120 seats in the Israeli election, more than any other party. Massive protests 3 -- U.S. federal jury rejects death penalty for and a nationwide public transport strike hit France al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, sends him over a new youth employment law. to prison for life for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 29 -- Pte. Robert Costall, 22, killed in a firefight in Afghanistan. 5 -- In the first slaying of a Windsor police officer on duty, Const. John Atkinson is killed while APRIL approaching two drug suspects at a convenience store in Windsor, Ont. 4 -- Alberta's Ralph Klein, the country's longest-serving premier, announces plans to step 10 -- Federal cabinet approves $2-billion deal to down by the end of the year. Three compensate former students of aboriginal residential Canadian-Venezuelan brothers found dead outside schools for physical and sexual abuse. Caracas after being kidnapped by men dressed as police. 15 -- Iraqi officials formally charge dictator Saddam Hussein with crimes against humanity. 5 -- Gail Vickery is named Alberta's first female chief judge. 17 -- Federal government announces plans to kill the long-gun registry, as well as an immediate one-year 7 -- At least two suicide attackers wearing women's amnesty so owners of rifles and shotguns will not cloaks blow themselves up in a Shiite mosque in have to register them. Capt. Nichola Goddard dies in Baghdad, killing at least 85 people and wounding Afghanistan, the first Canadian woman to be killed in more than 164. London court rules that author Dan action while serving in a combat role. House of Brown did not steal ideas for his massive bestseller Commons vote 149-145 to extend the deployment of "The Da Vinci Code" from a non-fiction work. Canadian troops in Afghanistan to February 2009. Former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills 8 -- The bodies of eight men with ties to the Bandidos announce they are separating. biker gang are found stuffed in four abandoned cars near Shedden in the worst mass killing in recent 19 -- Nepal declares itself a secular state, ending its Ontario history. Other gang members are charged in unique status as the world's last Hindu kingdom. the killings. 25 -- Former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey 10 -- Federal government makes it illegal for anyone Skilling are convicted of conspiracy to commit in Canada to support or help the Tamil Tigers, securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka. business scandals in U.S. history.

Page 46 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

27 -- Earthquake in Indonesia kills almost 6,000 people. 9 -- Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, killed in battle in Afghanistan. 31 -- Bans that prohibit smoking in all enclosed workplaces and public places take effect in Ontario 11 -- Eight bombs hit seven trains on a commuter rail and Quebec network in Mumbai, India, during evening rush hour, killing more than 200 people and wounding 700. JUNE 12 -- To retaliate for the Hezbollah's capture of an 2 -- Seventeen suspects arrested in Toronto area in Israeli soldier, Israel bombs southern Lebanon and biggest terrorism-related raid in Canada. sends ground troops over the border for the first time in six years. It starts 34 days of fighting that kills 855 6 -- Chuck Guite, former head of the federal Lebanese and 159 Israelis. sponsorship program, is found guilty of five counts of fraud totalling $1.5 million, which he later appealed. 13 -- Cormorant search and rescue helicopter crash off the eastern tip of Nova Scotia during a training 7 -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida exercise, killing three men and injuring four others. in Iraq, killed in American raid near Baghdad. 17 -- Undersea earthquake triggers tsunami on 8 -- Former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew's Indonesia's Java island, killing about 700 people. conviction for promoting hatred against Jews overturned, new trial ordered. 19 -- Canadian government charters seven ships to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon as the war 11 -- ''The Drowsy Chaperone,'' a Canadian-born between Hezbollah and Israel escalates. musical celebration of Broadway's past glories, wins five Tony Awards. 19 -- Jenna Lambert, 15, of Kingston, Ont., born with cerebral palsy, becomes the first woman with a 21 -- Ed Byrne, natural resources minister in disability to swim across Lake Ontario. Newfoundland and Labrador, resigns post after audit raises questions about financial irregularities within 22 -- Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, and Cpl. Jason the provincial legislature. Patrick Warren, 29, are killed by suicide bombers in Afghanistan. 22 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers formal apology and compensation for head tax applied to 25 -- Israeli bombs destroy UN observer post on the Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923. border in southern Lebanon, killing four peacekeepers, including one Canadian. 29 -- Women vote for the first time in history in the Kuwait election. AUGUST JULY 1 -- After having surgery, Cuban leader Fidel Castro temporarily cedes power to his younger brother. 1 -- Canadian and U.S. trade officials work out final wording of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber 3 -- Four soldiers are killed and 10 injured in agreement reached in April. China opens first Canada's bloodiest day to date in fighting in Beijing-to-Tibet railway, the highest-altitude railway Afghanistan. The dead are Cpl. Christopher Reid, in the world. Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire. 4 -- In so-called keepsake scandal, report by Newfoundland and Labrador auditor implicates four 5 -- Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt is killed in politicians of overspending on office budgets by Afghanistan. about $3.4-million. 9 -- Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh killed in 6 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets U.S. Afghanistan while on patrol, apparently in an President George Bush during his first official visit to accidental discharge of a firearm by another the United States. Official recount holds up Canadian. presidential election result in Mexico, giving conservative candidate Felipe Calderon the victory. 10 -- British authorities arrest 24 men accused of being part of a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft 7 --Two Saskatchewan RCMP officers are shot and heading to the United States using explosives seriously wounded after responding to a domestic smuggled in hand luggage. The arrests lead to tough disturbance in the hamlet of Mildred. They later die restrictions on bringing liquids onboard flights. of their wounds; manhunt leads to the surrender of a suspect. 11 -- Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom is killed in

Page 47 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Afghanistan. plants, one of them in Windsor, Ont., cutting 10,000 salaried jobs as part of a restructuring. Canada 13 -- The 16th International AIDS Conference opens announces another 200 troops and 15 battle tanks will in Toronto, attended by more than 30,000 delegates be sent to Afghanistan, bringing the total Canadian from 170 countries but not Prime Minister Stephen military contingent in Afghanistan to 2,500. Harper. 18 -- Public inquiry concludes RCMP provided 14 -- UN-brokered ceasefire ends Israel-Hezbollah Americans with inaccurate evidence against Maher combat in Lebanon. Arar, a Canadian citizen who was deported from the United States to Syria in 2002, where he was tortured 21 -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's trial as a terrorist suspect. Suicide bomber on a bicycle begins in Baghdad on charges of genocide for a kills Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating, Cpl. military campaign against Kurds in 1988. Keith Morley and Cpl. Glen Arnold in Afghanistan. Liberal Shawn Graham bests Bernard Lord's 22 -- Cpl. David Braun is killed in a suicide bomb two-term Conservative government in an election and attack in Afghanistan. Parti Quebecois Leader Andre becomes premier of New Brunswick. Boisclair sworn in as a member of the Quebec legislature. 20 -- Commons unanimously apologizes to Maher Arar for Canada's involvement in his deportation 24 --International Astronomical Union approves new from the United States to Syria. definition of planet, stripping Pluto of its status and placing it in a new category known as dwarf planets. 21 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes his first address to the UN General Assembly in New York, 27 -- A Canadian-built commuter plane crashed on appeals for more help in Afghanistan. take off at Lexington, Ky., airport, killing 49 people, including two Canadians. Toronto-bred Kiefer 25 -- Air India inquiry opens in Ottawa. Sutherland and his action series ''24'' walk off with top honours at the Emmy Awards. 26 -- Former Enron financial whiz Andrew Fastow receives six-year prison term for his role in the 2001 27 -- Ecuadorian Maria Esther de Capovilla, believed collapse of the energy giant. to be the world's oldest person, dies at age 116. 28 -- RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli SEPTEMBER apologizes to Maher Arar and his family for the force's role in his deportation. 3 -- Four Canadian soldiers -- Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Pte. William 29 -- Pte. Josh Klukie killed in Afghanistan. Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan -- are killed at the start of Operation Medusa, an 30 -- Five people are crushed to death when an anti-Taliban offensive into the Panjwaii region in overpass in Laval, Que., collapses. Afghanistan. OCTOBER 4 -- A U.S. warplane mistakenly fires on Canadian soldiers, killing Pte. Mark Anthony Graham. 2 -- Five Amish schoolgirls are massacred after gunman enters their one-room schoolhouse in 6 -- U.S. President George W. Bush admits for first Pennsylvania. time the CIA operated clandestine prisons outside the United States. 3 -- Sgt. Craig Gillam and Corp. Robert Mitchell are killed in Afghanistan. 7 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair promises to resign within a year. U.S. formally hands over control 5 -- Premier Rodney MacDonald announces his of Iraq's new military to Prime Minister Nuri government will not appeal Nova Scotia Supreme al-Maliki's government. Court decision striking down regulations stopping Sunday shopping. 9 -- Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean and five crewmates lift off on the shuttle Atlantis on a mission 7 -- Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson killed by roadside to resume construction on the International Space bomb in Afghanistan. Station. 9 -- North Korea conducts its first test of a nuclear 13 -- Kimveer Gill, 25, randomly opens fire at weapon. Dawson College in Montreal, killing 18-year-old Anastasia DeSousa and wounding 20 others. He kills 14 -- Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson himself after being shot by police. are killed in a Taliban ambush. 15 -- Ford Motor Co. announces plans to close two 18 -- Outspoken MP Garth Turner is suspended from

Page 48 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. the Conservative caucus, accused of breaching party confidentiality with entries on his Internet blog. Norwalk virus is blamed for making more than 300 27 -- Motion recognizing the Quebecois as a nation in students ill at Mount Allison University in Sackville, a united Canada, introduced by Prime Minister N.B., and 60 at St. Francis Xavier University in Stephen Harper, passes in the Commons by a vote of Antigonish, N.S. 222-16. In byelections, Liberals retain Ontario riding while male-prostitute-turned-priest wins for BQ in 27 -- Quebec Inuit vote overwhelmingly in favour of Quebec. Rare winter storm dumps up to 50 a massive land claim agreement that gives them centimetres of snow on B.C.'s Lower Mainland. ownership of 80 per cent of the small islands in the Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard and Cpl. waters off their northern shore and a share of offshore Albert Storm killed in Afghanistan. resource royalties. 28 -- Auditor General Sheila Fraser says Ron 30 -- Government task force recommends the Stewart, former CFL star, made more than $325,000 Canadian Wheat Board give up its monopoly on in questionable claims and improperly cashed out Canadian wheat and barley sales and compete with vacation entitlements when he was ombudsman for other companies on the open market. Cpl. Michael federal prison inmates. Seeley of Fredericton is killed by insurgents while on patrol with U.S. forces in Iraq. 30 -- After 22 years in prison for murdering his wife, former Saskatchewan cabinet minister Colin Thatcher 31 -- Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is granted full parole. announces new tax on income trusts, sparking outrage because the Conservatives had promised DECEMBER during the election campaign they would not tax the trusts. 1 -- Pope Benedict XVI ends four-day trip to Turkey that is seen as a landmark to reconciliation of Islam NOVEMBER and Christianity. 1 -- Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser officially 2 -- Liberal delegates choose Quebec MP Stephane hands over control of NATO operations in Dion as their new federal leader at Montreal Afghanistan to the Dutch. convention. 5 -- Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against 3 -- Ed Stelmach is elected Alberta Conservative humanity for a campaign against Shia Muslims in leader, replacing Premier Ralph Klein. 1982 and sentenced to death. 6 -- Iraq Study Group report, a sweeping rejection of 7 -- Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is named winner current U.S. policy in Iraq, recommends pulling out of the presidential election in Nicaragua. Republicans most U.S. c suffer stinging losses in the U.S. mid-term elections, losing control of both the House of Representatives © 2006 Whitehorse Star. All rights reserved. and the Senate to the Democrats. 8 -- U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigns. 15 -- Major storm knocks out power and causes flooding in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and boil-water advisory for about two million people in the Vancouver area. 18 -- Actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are married in a Scientology ceremony at a 15th-century castle in Bracciano, Italy. 22 -- More than 70 people are arrested in raids that Quebec police say deal a major blow to the Montreal mafia.

23 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduces legislation to make people charged with gun crimes prove they are not a threat to society in order to be freed on bail. Former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko dies in London hospital of radiation poisoning.

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A diary of top news events in 2006 in Canada and the world

Canadian Press Newswire Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Section: National General News Byline: BY THE CANADIAN PRESS Source: Idnumber: 200612120510 Length: 3173 words Keywords: ADVISORIES

Here is a brief look at the major news events of 1,000 of the 1,400 people aboard. Canada and the world in 2006: 6 _ Stephen Harper is sworn in as the 22nd prime JANUARY minister of Canada. 10 _ Iran removes UN seals from its nuclear 14 _ Former Ontario premier Mike Harris tells enrichment facility at Natanz, effectively ending a judicial inquiry into the 1995 police shooting of a freeze on the process that can produce fuel for native protester that he uttered a profane slur at nuclear weapons. aboriginals at a meeting with police just before the shooting. 12 _ At least 363 Hajj pilgrims are killed and more than 1,000 injured in a stampede during the stoning 17 _ At least 1,800 people believed dead in the devil ritual in Saudi Arabia. mudslides caused by torrential rains in the Philippines. 15 _ Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry is killed, three Canadian soldiers injured in suicide bombing in 22 _ Insurgents detonate bombs inside one of Iraq's Afghanistan. most famous Shiite shrines in Samarra, destroying its golden dome and triggering reprisal attacks on Sunni 23 _ Stephen Harper's Conservatives win slim mosques. minority in Canada's 39th general election, ending 12 years of Liberal rule. Defeated prime minister Paul 24 _ Rodney MacDonald, 34, becomes Canada's Martin resigns as Liberal leader. youngest premier when he is sworn in Nova Scotia. 25 _ Frank McKenna resigns as Canada's ambassador 28 _ Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser takes to the United States. Hamas wins huge majority in command of coalition troops in southern Palestinian parliamentary elections as voters rejected Afghanistan. the longtime rule of the Fatah party. MARCH 26 _ Hudson's Bay, Canada's oldest company, accepts $1.5-billion friendly takeover offer from 1 _Marshall Rothstein is confirmed as the newest U.S-based Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, headed member of the Supreme Court. by Jerry Zucker. 2 _ Cpl. Paul Davis, and Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson 29 _ Seventy-two miners are trapped after are killed when their armoured vehicle runs off the underground fire at potash mine in Esterhazy, Sask. road in Afghanistan. Former Beatle Paul McCartney All are rescued after 30 hours. and his wife Heather stage a seal hunt protest on ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 30 _ Trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton officially begins in New Westminster, B.C. 5 _ Underdog "Crash," directed by Canadian Paul Haggis, wins best picture honours over "Brokeback FEBRUARY Mountain" at the Academy Awards. 1 _ In final report on the federal sponsorship scandal, 11 _ Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, on Justice John Gomery proposes rules to make trial for war crimes, is found dead in a prison cell in government more accountable and transparent. the Netherlands. French and German newspapers republish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in an effort to defend 12 _ In his first foreign trip since taking office, Prime freedom of expression, re-igniting anger of Muslims Minister Stephen Harper pays surprise visit to who were outraged when a Danish newspaper first Afghanistan. printed the cartoons five months earlier. 13 _ ``C.R.A.ZY.'', the movie of a gay youth coming 2 _ Sea King helicopter with five crew members of age in 1960s Quebec, wins 10 awards at the Genie aboard crashes in ocean off Denmark; all are rescued. Awards. 3 _ Red Sea ferry sinks after fire breaks out, killing 16 _ Long-awaited first session of Iraq's new

Page 50 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. parliament lasts about 30 minutes before being indefinitely adjourned because of a deadlock between 22 _ Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles political parties. Mansell, Lt. William Turner and Cpl. Randy Payne are killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan. It is the 22 _ The B.C. ferry Queen of the North goes off Canada's worst one-day combat loss since the Korean course, hits a rock and sinks off the coast of Prince War. Rupert, B.C. All but two of the 101 people aboard are rescued. Basque militant group ETA announces 27 _ Federal government announces it has reached permanent ceasefire to end a decades-long campaign framework deal to end the longstanding softwood of terror aimed at winning independence for the lumber dispute with the United States. northern Spanish region. MAY 23 _ Canadian hostages James Loney and Harmeet Sooden and a Briton, Norman Kember, were freed 1 _ Federal government calls public inquiry into the after being held for four months in Iraq. Air India tragedy. 28 _ Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, 2 _ In his first federal budget, Finance Minister Jim facing war crime charges, is captured on the run in Flaherty announces GST will be cut by one Nigeria. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's percentage point on July 1. Kadima party wins 28 of 120 seats in the Israeli election, more than any other party. Massive protests 3 _ U.S. federal jury rejects death penalty for and a nationwide public transport strike hit France al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, sends him over a new youth employment law. to prison for life for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 29 _ Pte. Robert Costall, 22, killed in a firefight in Afghanistan. 5 _ In the first slaying of a Windsor police officer on duty, Const. John Atkinson is killed while APRIL approaching two drug suspects at a convenience store in Windsor, Ont. 4 _ Alberta's Ralph Klein, the country's longest-serving premier, announces plans to step 10 _ Federal cabinet approves $2-billion deal to down by the end of the year. Three compensate former students of aboriginal residential Canadian-Venezuelan brothers found dead outside schools for physical and sexual abuse. Caracas after being kidnapped by men dressed as police. 15 _ Iraqi officials formally charge dictator Saddam Hussein with crimes against humanity. 5 _ Gail Vickery is named Alberta's first female chief judge. 17 _ Federal government announces plans to kill the long-gun registry, as well as an immediate one-year 7 _ At least two suicide attackers wearing women's amnesty so owners of rifles and shotguns will not cloaks blow themselves up in a Shiite mosque in have to register them. Capt. Nichola Goddard dies in Baghdad, killing at least 85 people and wounding Afghanistan, the first Canadian woman to be killed in more than 164. London court rules that author Dan action while serving in a combat role. House of Brown did not steal ideas for his massive bestseller Commons vote 149-145 to extend the deployment of "The Da Vinci Code" from a non-fiction work. Canadian troops in Afghanistan to February 2009. Former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills 8 _ The bodies of eight men with ties to the Bandidos announce they are separating. biker gang are found stuffed in four abandoned cars near Shedden in the worst mass killing in recent 19 _ Nepal declares itself a secular state, ending its Ontario history. Other gang members are charged in unique status as the world's last Hindu kingdom. the killings. 25 _ Former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey 10 _ Federal government makes it illegal for anyone Skilling are convicted of conspiracy to commit in Canada to support or help the Tamil Tigers, securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka. business scandals in U.S. history. 11 _ Iran announces it has successfully enriched 27 _ Earthquake in Indonesia kills almost 6,000 uranium for the first time. people.

20 _ Ontario Provincial Police try and fail to end a 31 _ Bans that prohibit smoking in all enclosed 52-day occupation of a southwestern Ontario workplaces and public places take effect in Ontario construction site by aboriginals claiming it is their and Quebec land. JUNE

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12 _ To retaliate for the Hezbollah's capture of an 2 _ Seventeen suspects arrested in Toronto area in Israeli soldier, Israel bombs southern Lebanon and biggest terrorism-related raid in Canada. sends ground troops over the border for the first time in six years. It starts 34 days of fighting that kills 855 6 _ Chuck Guite, former head of the federal Lebanese and 159 Israelis. sponsorship program, is found guilty of five counts of fraud totalling $1.5 million, which he later appealed. 13 _ Cormorant search and rescue helicopter crash off the eastern tip of Nova Scotia during a training 7 _ Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida exercise, killing three men and injuring four others. in Iraq, killed in American raid near Baghdad. 17 _ Undersea earthquake triggers tsunami on 8 _ Former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew's Indonesia's Java island, killing about 700 people. conviction for promoting hatred against Jews overturned, new trial ordered. 19 _ Canadian government charters seven ships to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon as the war 11 _ ``The Drowsy Chaperone,'' a Canadian-born between Hezbollah and Israel escalates. musical celebration of Broadway's past glories, wins five Tony Awards. 19 _ Jenna Lambert, 15, of Kingston, Ont., born with cerebral palsy, becomes the first woman with a 21 _ Ed Byrne, natural resources minister in disability to swim across Lake Ontario. Newfoundland and Labrador, resigns post after audit raises questions about financial irregularities within 22 _ Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, and Cpl. Jason the provincial legislature. Patrick Warren, 29, are killed by suicide bombers in Afghanistan. 22 _ Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers formal apology and compensation for head tax applied to 25 _ Israeli bombs destroy UN observer post on the Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923. border in southern Lebanon, killing four peacekeepers, including one Canadian. 29 _ Women vote for the first time in history in the Kuwait election. AUGUST JULY 1 _ After having surgery, Cuban leader Fidel Castro temporarily cedes power to his younger brother. 1 _ Canadian and U.S. trade officials work out final wording of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber 3 _ Four soldiers are killed and 10 injured in agreement reached in April. China opens first Canada's bloodiest day to date in fighting in Beijing-to-Tibet railway, the highest-altitude railway Afghanistan. The dead are Cpl. Christopher Reid, in the world. Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire. 4 _ In so-called keepsake scandal, report by Newfoundland and Labrador auditor implicates four 5 _ Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt is killed in politicians of overspending on office budgets by Afghanistan. about $3.4-million. 9 _ Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh killed in 6 _ Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets U.S. Afghanistan while on patrol, apparently in an President George Bush during his first official visit to accidental discharge of a firearm by another the United States. Official recount holds up Canadian. presidential election result in Mexico, giving conservative candidate Felipe Calderon the victory. 10 _ British authorities arrest 24 men accused of being part of a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft 7 _Two Saskatchewan RCMP officers are shot and heading to the United States using explosives seriously wounded after responding to a domestic smuggled in hand luggage. The arrests lead to tough disturbance in the hamlet of Mildred. They later die restrictions on bringing liquids onboard flights. of their wounds; manhunt leads to the surrender of a suspect. 11 _ Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom is killed in Afghanistan. 9 _ Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, killed in battle in Afghanistan. 13 _ The 16th International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto, attended by more than 30,000 delegates 11 _ Eight bombs hit seven trains on a commuter rail from 170 countries but not Prime Minister Stephen network in Mumbai, India, during evening rush hour, Harper. killing more than 200 people and wounding 700. 14 _ UN-brokered ceasefire ends Israel-Hezbollah

Page 52 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. combat in Lebanon. Arar, a Canadian citizen who was deported from the United States to Syria in 2002, where he was tortured 21 _ Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's trial as a terrorist suspect. Suicide bomber on a bicycle begins in Baghdad on charges of genocide for a kills Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating, Cpl. military campaign against Kurds in 1988. Keith Morley and Cpl. Glen Arnold in Afghanistan. Liberal Shawn Graham bests Bernard Lord's 22 _ Cpl. David Braun is killed in a suicide bomb two-term Conservative government in an election and attack in Afghanistan. Parti Quebecois Leader Andre becomes premier of New Brunswick. Boisclair sworn in as a member of the Quebec legislature. 20 _ Commons unanimously apologizes to Maher Arar for Canada's involvement in his deportation 24 _International Astronomical Union approves new from the United States to Syria. definition of planet, stripping Pluto of its status and placing it in a new category known as dwarf planets. 21 _ Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes his first address to the UN General Assembly in New York, 27 _ A Canadian-built commuter plane crashed on appeals for more help in Afghanistan. take off at Lexington, Ky., airport, killing 49 people, including two Canadians. Toronto-bred Kiefer 25 _ Air India inquiry opens in Ottawa. Sutherland and his action series ``24'' walk off with top honours at the Emmy Awards. 26 _ Former Enron financial whiz Andrew Fastow receives six-year prison term for his role in the 2001 27 _ Ecuadorian Maria Esther de Capovilla, believed collapse of the energy giant. to be the world's oldest person, dies at age 116. 28 _ RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli SEPTEMBER apologizes to Maher Arar and his family for the force's role in his deportation. 3 _ Four Canadian soldiers _ Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Pte. William 29 _ Pte. Josh Klukie killed in Afghanistan. Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan _ are killed at the start of Operation Medusa, an 30 _ Five people are crushed to death when an anti-Taliban offensive into the Panjwaii region in overpass in Laval, Que., collapses. Afghanistan. OCTOBER 4 _ A U.S. warplane mistakenly fires on Canadian soldiers, killing Pte. Mark Anthony Graham. 2 _ Five Amish schoolgirls are massacred after gunman enters their one-room schoolhouse in 6 _ U.S. President George W. Bush admits for first Pennsylvania. time the CIA operated clandestine prisons outside the United States. 3 _ Sgt. Craig Gillam and Corp. Robert Mitchell are killed in Afghanistan. 7 _ British Prime Minister Tony Blair promises to resign within a year. U.S. formally hands over control 5 _ Premier Rodney MacDonald announces his of Iraq's new military to Prime Minister Nuri government will not appeal Nova Scotia Supreme al-Maliki's government. Court decision striking down regulations stopping Sunday shopping. 9 _ Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean and five crewmates lift off on the shuttle Atlantis on a mission 7 _ Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson killed by roadside to resume construction on the International Space bomb in Afghanistan. Station. 9 _ North Korea conducts its first test of a nuclear 13 _ Kimveer Gill, 25, randomly opens fire at weapon. Dawson College in Montreal, killing 18-year-old Anastasia DeSousa and wounding 20 others. He kills 14 _ Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson himself after being shot by police. are killed in a Taliban ambush. 15 _ Ford Motor Co. announces plans to close two 18 _ Outspoken MP Garth Turner is suspended from plants, one of them in Windsor, Ont., cutting 10,000 the Conservative caucus, accused of breaching party salaried jobs as part of a restructuring. Canada confidentiality with entries on his Internet blog. announces another 200 troops and 15 battle tanks will Norwalk virus is blamed for making more than 300 be sent to Afghanistan, bringing the total Canadian students ill at Mount Allison University in Sackville, military contingent in Afghanistan to 2,500. N.B., and 60 at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. 18 _ Public inquiry concludes RCMP provided Americans with inaccurate evidence against Maher 27 _ Quebec Inuit vote overwhelmingly in favour of

Page 53 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. a massive land claim agreement that gives them Albert Storm killed in Afghanistan. ownership of 80 per cent of the small islands in the waters off their northern shore and a share of offshore 28 _ Auditor General Sheila Fraser says Ron Stewart, resource royalties. former CFL star, made more than $325,000 in questionable claims and improperly cashed out 30 _ Government task force recommends the vacation entitlements when he was ombudsman for Canadian Wheat Board give up its monopoly on federal prison inmates. Canadian wheat and barley sales and compete with other companies on the open market. Cpl. Michael 30 _ After 22 years in prison for murdering his wife, Seeley of Fredericton is killed by insurgents while on former Saskatchewan cabinet minister Colin Thatcher patrol with U.S. forces in Iraq. is granted full parole. 31 _ Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty DECEMBER announces new tax on income trusts, sparking outrage because the Conservatives had promised 1 _ Pope Benedict XVI ends four-day trip to Turkey during the election campaign they would not tax the that is seen as a landmark to reconciliation of Islam trusts. and Christianity. NOVEMBER 2 _ Liberal delegates choose Quebec MP Stephane Dion as their new federal leader at Montreal 1 _ Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser officially convention. hands over control of NATO operations in Afghanistan to the Dutch. 3 _ Ed Stelmach is elected Alberta Conservative leader, replacing Premier Ralph Klein. 5 _ Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity for a campaign against Shia Muslims in 6 _ Iraq Study Group report, a sweeping rejection of 1982 and sentenced to death. current U.S. policy in Iraq, recommends pulling out most U.S. combat troops from the country by 2008. 7 _ Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is named winner of the presidential election in Nicaragua. Republicans 7 _ Giuliano Zaccardelli is forced to resign as RCMP suffer stinging losses in the U.S. mid-term elections, commissioner after misleading parliamentary losing control of both the House of Representatives committee probing Maher Arar case. and the Senate to the Democrats. 12 _ In response to the release of a second report into 8 _ U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigns. the Maher Arar affair, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announces an inquiry into the cases of 15 _ Major storm knocks out power and causes three men who suffered a fate similar to Arar. flooding in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and boil-water advisory for about two million people in the Copyright © 2006 The Canadian Press Vancouver area. 18 _ Actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are married in a Scientology ceremony at a 15th-century castle in Bracciano, Italy. 22 _ More than 70 people are arrested in raids that Quebec police say deal a major blow to the Montreal mafia. 23 _ Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduces legislation to make people charged with gun crimes prove they are not a threat to society in order to be freed on bail. Former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko dies in London hospital of radiation poisoning. 27 _ Motion recognizing the Quebecois as a nation in a united Canada, introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, passes in the Commons by a vote of 222-16. In byelections, Liberals retain Ontario riding while male-prostitute-turned-priest wins for BQ in Quebec. Rare winter storm dumps up to 50 centimetres of snow on B.C.'s Lower Mainland. Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard and Cpl.

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'Star power' makes terror suspect risk, court told

The Toronto Star Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Page: E01 Section: Gta Byline: Isabel teotonio Source: Toronto Star Idnumber: 200612120022 Edition: Ont Length: 585 words

A suspected terrorist, who once worked for Osama bin Laden, should not be released on bail because that could present new opportunities for him to draw Mahjoub, 46, displayed little emotion as he watched on his "star power" and inspire impressionable the proceedings by video from the Kingston Muslim youth, a federal court heard yesterday. Immigration Holding Centre, which was built for security certificate detainees and is located at An intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Millhaven Penitentiary. Almrei and Jaballah are also Intelligence Service testified someone with Mohamed being held there. Mahjoub's "impressive pedigree," and "credibility" could "influence individuals in the global jihadist According to Canada's spy agency, Mahjoub is cause. believed to be part of the Vanguards of Conquest, which is a radical wing of al Jihad, an Egyptian "Young impressionable extremists have big buttons Islamist terrorist group that wants to establish an that could be pushed," said the officer identified only Islamic state that adheres strictly to sharia law. as "JP," adding Mahjoub could encourage their development. "You can have an inspirational Both groups have been linked to bin Laden, and al influence that can act as an accelerant." Jihad is suspected of having been involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Mahjoub has been held for six years on a national Tanzania, according to CSIS. Mahjoub denies any security certificate, which allows suspects to be links to the terrorist group. Court heard yesterday that detained without charge and deported without he was convicted in Egypt of belonging to the knowing the full evidence against them in terrorism Vanguards of Conquest. cases. Before coming to Canada as an Egyptian refugee in Most of Mahjoub's celebrity comes from the media 1995, Mahjoub worked for an agricultural company attention garnered by his case and a handful of others in Sudan owned by bin Laden and met the Al Qaeda like him, also held on security certificates. Alexandre leader several times. Since leaving the company over Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, and former a wage dispute, Mahjoub says he has had no contact Iraq hostage James Loney have condemned the with bin Laden.He has since married a Canadian certificates. Trudeau offered to be a surety for Syrian citizen and fathered two sons. Ottawa issued the refugee Hassan Almrei, and Loney for Egyptian security certificate in June 2000. refugee Mahmoud Jaballah. The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration ruled When questioned by one of Mahjoub's lawyers, earlier this year that even if Mahjoub were to face Barbara Jackman, JP said he believes young Muslims torture if deported to Egypt, the risk he poses to could be drawn to Mahjoub, in part because he has Canada outweighs concerns for his safety. "walked the walk in the company of Osama bin Laden." That decision was reviewed last month in federal court, but there has been no judgment on the matter. "A delayering of the global command structure of Al Qaeda since 9/ 11 and increased 'freelancing' of © 2006 Torstar Corporation home-grown self-starters may present new opportunities for Mr. Mahjoub to draw on his 'star power' to motivate impressionable young Muslims in Canada, regardless of whatever release conditions the court might impose," according to court documents provided by CSIS.

Proposed bail conditions include being allowed out of the home three times a week for up to four hours with 48-hours pre-approval, wearing an electric ankle bracelet, having no access to electronic devices, allowing his phone to be tapped and mail opened, and ensuring all visitors are pre-approved.

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CSIS agent testifies against Mahjoub

Owen Sound Sun Times (On) Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Page: A2 Section: Page Two Byline: Source: AP Idnumber: 200612120006 Edition: Final Length: 374 words

A suspected terrorist, who once worked for Osama of al Jihad, an Egyptian Islamist terrorist group that bin Laden, should not be released on bail because it wants to establish an Islamic state that adheres could present new opportunities for him to draw on strictly to Sharia Law. his "star power" and inspire impressionable Muslim youth, a federal court heard Monday. Both groups have been linked to bin Laden, and al Jihad is suspected of having been involved in the An intelligence officer with the Canadian Security 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Intelligence Service testified someone with Mohamed Tanzania, according to CSIS. Mahjoub's "impressive pedigree" and "credibility" could "influence individuals in the global Jihadist Mahjoub denies any links to the terrorist group. cause." © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. "Young impressionable extremists have big buttons that could be pushed," said the officer identified only as JP. "You can have an inspirational influence that can act as an accelerant." Mahjoub has been held for six years on a national security certificate, which allows suspects to be detained without charge and deported without knowing the full evidence against them in terrorism cases. Most of Mahjoub's celebrity comes from the media attention garnered by his case and a handful of others like him, also held on security certificates. Alexandre Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, and former Iraq hostage James Loney have condemned the certificates. When questioned by one of Mahjoub's lawyers, Barbara Jackman, JP said young Muslims could be drawn to Mahjoub, in part, because he has "walked the walk in the company of Osama bin Laden." Proposed bail conditions include being allowed out of the home three times a week for up to four hours with 48-hours approval, wearing an electric ankle bracelet, having no access to electronic devices, allowing his phone to be tapped and mail opened, and ensuring all visitors are pre-approved. Mahjoub, 46, watched the proceedings by video from the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, which was built for security certificate detainees and is located on the grounds of Millhaven Penitentiary.

Mahjoub is being held there with Syrian refugee Hassan Almrei and Egyptian refugee Mahmoud Jaballah. According to CSIS, Mahjoub is believed to be part of the Vanguards of Conquest, which is a radical wing

Page 56 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Suspected terrorist would have `star power' with youth, CSIS agent testifies

Canadian Press Newswire Monday, December 11, 2006 Section: National General News Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612110557 Length: 378 words Keywords: JUSTICE DEFENCE INTERNATIONAL

TORONTO (CP) _ A suspected terrorist, who once worked for Osama bin Laden, should not be released According to CSIS, Mahjoub is believed to be part of on bail because it could present new opportunities for the Vanguards of Conquest, which is a radical wing him to draw on his ``star power'' and inspire of al Jihad, an Egyptian Islamist terrorist group that impressionable Muslim youth, a federal court heard wants to establish an Islamic state that adheres Monday. strictly to Sharia Law. An intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Both groups have been linked to bin Laden, and al Intelligence Service testified someone with Mohamed Jihad is suspected of having been involved in the Mahjoub's ``impressive pedigree'' and ``credibility'' 1998 bombings of U.S. mbassies in Kenya and could ``influence individuals in the global Jihadist Tanzania, according to CSIS. cause.'' Mahjoub denies any links to the terrorist group. ``Young impressionable extremists have big buttons that could be pushed,'' said the officer identified only (Toronto Star) as JP. ``You can have an inspirational influence that can act as an accelerant.'' Copyright © 2006 The Canadian Press Mahjoub has been held for six years on a national security certificate, which allows suspects to be detained without charge and deported without knowing the full evidence against them in terrorism cases. Most of Mahjoub's celebrity comes from the media attention garnered by his case and a handful of others like him, also held on security certificates. Alexandre Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, and former Iraq hostage James Loney have condemned the certificates. When questioned by one of Mahjoub's lawyers, Barbara Jackman, JP said young Muslims could be drawn to Mahjoub, in part, because he has ``walked the walk in the company of Osama bin Laden.'' Proposed bail conditions include being allowed out of the home three times a week for up to four hours with 48-hours approval, wearing an electric ankle bracelet, having no access to electronic devices, allowing his phone to be tapped and mail opened, and ensuring all visitors are pre-approved. Mahjoub, 46, watched the proceedings by video from the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, which was built for security certificate detainees and is located on the grounds of Millhaven Penitentiary. Mahjoub is being held there with Syrian refugee Hassan Almrei and Egyptian refugee Mahmoud Jaballah.

Page 57 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Hostages urge forgiveness

Peterborough Examiner (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: D6 Section: World Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090088 Length: 145 words

Three Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember said in a statement released to coincide with a news conference in London.

"We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us." The three were on a Christian Peacemaker Teams mission in Iraq when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq. © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Page 58 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Former Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for captors

The Guelph Mercury Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A10 Section: News Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: Associated Press Idnumber: 200612090098 Edition: Final Story Type: NEWS Length: 303 words Illustration Type: PHOTO Illustration: Photo: GUELPH MERCURY / Former hostage in Iraq James Loney describes his 118 days in captivity at the University of Guelph last month.

Three Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the © 2006 Torstar Corporation death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember said in a statement released to coincide with a news conference in London. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us." The three were on a Christian Peacemaker Teams mission in Iraq when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq. Sooden, Loney and Kember say they've been asked by Canadian and British police to testify at their abductors' trial. "What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution," the trio said, adding that they are vehemently opposed to the death penalty. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." The former hostages said their abduction was just a part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced," they said. "While this in no way justifies what the men charged with our kidnapping are alleged to have done, we feel this must be considered in any potential judgment."

Page 59 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Hostages forgive Iraqi captors

The Telegram (St. John's) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A7 Section: National/World Byline: Source: The Canadian Press and The Associated Press Idnumber: 200612090019 Length: 353 words Illustration: Freed Iraqi hostages (from left) Briton Norman Kember, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden attend a news conference in central London where they announced they forgave their captors and wished them no retribution Friday. - Photo by The Associated Press

Three Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their 'Should those who have been charged with holding us captors and don't want to see them face the death hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that penalty. they be granted all possible leniency.' 'We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting © 2006 Transcontinental Media G.P. All rights and holding us,' Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden reserved. and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember said in a statement released to coincide with a news conference in London. 'We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us.' The three were on a Christian Peacemaker Teams mission in Iraq when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq. Sooden, Loney and Kember said they've been asked by Canadian and British police to testify at their abductors' trial, but Kember indicated that was in doubt. 'If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part,' he told the news conference. The former hostages said their abduction was just a part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. 'As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced,' they said. 'While this in no way justifies what the men charged with our kidnapping are alleged to have done, we feel this must be considered in any potential judgement.'

'What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution,' they said, adding that they are vehemently opposed to the death penalty.

Page 60 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Former hostages urge forgiveness for captors; Three Christain Peacemakers were held by Iraqis for 118 days before being rescued

Times & Transcript (Moncton) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: B4 Section: News Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612090112 Length: 212 words Keywords: TTNEWS; TT NEWS

Three Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember said in a statement released to coincide with a news conference in London. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us." The three were on a Christian Peacemaker Teams mission in Iraq when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq. Sooden, Loney and Kember said they've been asked by Canadian and British police to testify at their abductors' trial, but Kember indicated that was in doubt. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part," he said. © 2006 Times & Transcript (Moncton)

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Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

The Daily News (Truro) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A35 Section: World Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090061 Length: 459 words

Three activists for a Christian peace group held part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday U.S.-led invasion and occupation. they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves "We unconditionally forgive our captors for experienced," they said. abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney Kember told a news conference that marked their said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death first reunion since they were freed in March. penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome for us." "We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central want is for good to come out of what has been a very Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint awful experience." statement. © 2006 Transcontinental Media G.P. All rights "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh reserved. and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

"If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part," Kember said. The former hostages said their abduction was just a

Page 62 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Ex-hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

The Hamilton Spectator Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A3 Section: Canada/World Byline: Dateline: London Source: The Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090135 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 183 words Illustration Type: PHOTO Illustration: Photo: Dylan Martinez, Reuters /

Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. "We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution." RELATED STORY: A5 © 2006 Torstar Corporation

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Three former Christian Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

Cornwall Standard-Freeholder (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: 10 Section: World Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090046 Length: 314 words

Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney, who has an aunt who lives in Cornwall, Ont., and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. "We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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Hostages forgive their captors

Owen Sound Sun Times (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A7 Section: Canada Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090039 Edition: Final Length: 603 words Illustration: Freed Iraqi hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden at a news conference in central London Friday.

Three activists for a Christian peace group held were part of a cycle of violence they themselves hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they experienced," they said. In an interview later with forgive their captors and don't want to see them face The Canadian Press, Loney said if any of the hostage the death penalty. takers were to get the death penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome for us." "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman want is for good to come out of what has been a very Kember told a news conference that marked their awful experience." first reunion since they were freed in March. Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive "We understand a number of men alleged to be our Fox would be equally concerned for his captors. captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central The reason for Friday's news conference was Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement two-fold, Loney said. The first is because it was read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for exactly one year ago Friday that he and his fellow Reconciliation in central London. captives were threatened with execution unless their captors' demands were met. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors That deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. for abducting and holding us," they said. 10, which is International Human Rights day. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can "We feel this connection between our opposition to never restore what was taken from us. What our the death penalty and our call for the protection of captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families human rights and trying to work towards a different and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no future, one that forgiveness allows," said Loney, malice towards them and have no wish for adding that he has been enjoying "this wonderful retribution." rediscovery of freedom" since returning to Canada. All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Asked whether he thought his joint statement might Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker undermine efforts to establish a fair judicial system in Teams when they were abducted in November of last Iraq, Loney said Iraqi authorities would have to make year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was their own decisions. killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. "But I think any judicial system worth its salt has to account for the feelings of the victims and I would Loney once lived for a time in southern Grey County. hope would allow for a possibility of restoration and of healing rather than simply retribution and A number of men alleged to be their captors have punishment," he said. been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

The former hostages said their abduction was just a part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers

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Three former Christian Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for captors

Cape Breton Post Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: D5 Section: Classified Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090090 Length: 570 words

Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, forgive their captors and don't want to see them face while Kember indicated he would testify only to the death penalty. prevent the accused from being put to death. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh clemency and that was the only way we could come Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman to it, then we would take part, but that would be the Kember told a news conference that marked their only reason to take part," Kember said. first reunion since they were freed in March. The former hostages said their abduction was just a "We understand a number of men alleged to be our part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the captors have been apprehended, charged with U.S.-led invasion and occupation. kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement were part of a cycle of violence they themselves read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for experienced," they said. Reconciliation in central London. In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome for abducting and holding us," they said. for us." "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we never restore what was taken from us. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience." What our captors did was wrong. Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive They caused us, our families and our friends great Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and captors. have no wish for retribution. "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping "Should those who have been charged with holding and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be Teams when they were abducted in November of last executed. year. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if he were A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed alive, would be standing with us in speaking against March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued the death penalty." by British and U.S. forces on March 23. © 2006 Transcontinental Media G.P. All rights A number of men alleged to be their captors have reserved. been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying.

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Peace activists want mercy for their captors: 'We have no desire to punish them'

Calgary Herald Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A12 Section: News Byline: Paula Adamick Dateline: LONDON Source: The Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090201 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 257 words Illustration Type: Colour Photo Illustration: Colour Photo: John Stillwell, Associated Press / Freed Iraqi hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden announce Friday that they "unconditionally" forgive their captors.

Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty.

"We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. "We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23.

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Former hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

Belleville Intelligencer (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: B12 Section: International Byline: Paula Adamick Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090060 Length: 526 words Illustration: Freed Iraqi hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden at a press conference in central London, Friday.

Three activists for a Christian peace group held only reason to take part," Kember said. hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face The former hostages said their abduction was just a the death penalty. part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman were part of a cycle of violence they themselves Kember told a news conference that marked their experienced," they said. first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney "We understand a number of men alleged to be our said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death captors have been apprehended, charged with penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central for us." Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Reconciliation in central London. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience." "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive for abducting and holding us," they said. Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his captors. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do malice towards them and have no wish for know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death retribution. penalty." "Should those who have been charged with holding © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the

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Former hostages in Iraq forgive captors

Winnipeg Free Press Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A14 Section: World Wire Byline: Paula Adamick Source: Idnumber: 200612090109 Length: 451 words

LONDON -- Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said The former hostages said their abduction was just a Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the them face the death penalty. U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh were part of a cycle of violence they themselves Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman experienced," they said. Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death "We understand a number of men alleged to be our penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome captors have been apprehended, charged with for us." kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement -- Associated Press read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. © 2006 The Winnipeg Free Press. All rights reserved. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

"If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part," Kember said.

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Former Iraq hostages ask leniency for captors

The Daily News (Halifax) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: 10 Section: World News Byline: Paula Adamick - The Canadian Press Source: Idnumber: 200612090029 Length: 330 words Illustration: JAMES LONEY

Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March.

"We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. © 2006 Transcontinental Media G.P. All rights reserved.

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Iraq kidnap victims urge forgiveness

The Daily News (Kamloops) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: B4 Section: World Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090021 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 375 words Illustration Type: Black & White Photo Illustration: Photo: James Loney: No retribution for captors

LONDON (CP) -- Three activists for a Christian clemency and that was the only way we could come peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last to it, then we would take part, but that would be the year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't only reason to take part," Kember said. want to see them face the death penalty. © 2006 The Daily News (Kamloops) "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. "We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying.

Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for

Page 71 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Freed hostages forgive captors

Timmins Daily Press (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A7 Section: World Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090027 Length: 472 words Illustration: Freed Iraqi hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden appear at a press conference in central London, where they announced that they "unconditionally" forgave their captors and wished them no "retribution" Friday. Three Christian peace activists who were kidnapped in Iraq on Friday pleaded for "all possible leniency" for their captors.

Three activists for a Christian peace group held only reason to take part," Kember said. hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face The former hostages said their abduction was just a the death penalty. part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman were part of a cycle of violence they themselves Kember told a news conference that marked their experienced," they said. first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney "We understand a number of men alleged to be our said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death captors have been apprehended, charged with penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central for us. Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Reconciliation in central London. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience." "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the

Page 72 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Loney, other hostages urge mercy for captors

Sault Star (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A1 Section: Front Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090004 Length: 746 words

Three activists for a Christian peace group held only reason to take part," Kember said. hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face The former hostages said their abduction was just a the death penalty. part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Sooden and James Loney, a native of Sault Ste. were part of a cycle of violence they themselves Marie, and Briton Norman Kember told a news experienced," they said. conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with CP, Loney said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death penalty "that "We understand a number of men alleged to be our would be the worst possible outcome for us." captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we want is for good to come out of what has been a very Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement awful experience." read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh captors. and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do never restore what was taken from us. What our know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be malice towards them and have no wish for executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if retribution. he were alive, would be standing with us in speaking against the death penalty." "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask The reason for the Friday's news conference was that they be granted all possible leniency." two-fold, Loney said. The first is because it was exactly one year ago Friday that he and his fellow All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the captives were threatened with execution unless their Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker captors demands were met. Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was That deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were 10, which is International Human Rights day. rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. "We feel this connection between our opposition to A number of men alleged to be their captors have the death penalty and our call for the protection of been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital human rights and trying to work towards a different offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as future, one that forgiveness allows," said Loney, early as January. One of the men may also be charged adding that he has been enjoying "this wonderful separately with murder in Fox's slaying. rediscovery of freedom." since returning to Canada. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, Asked whether he thought his joint statement might while Kember indicated he would testify only to undermine efforts to establish a fair judicial system in prevent the accused from being put to death. Iraq, Loney said Iraqi authorities would have to make their own decisions. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come "But I think any judicial system worth its salt has to to it, then we would take part, but that would be the account for the feelings of the victims and I would

Page 73 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. hope would allow for a possibility of restoration and of healing rather than simply retribution and punishment," he said. © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canadian activists forgive Iraqi captors

The Windsor Star Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: B8 Section: News Byline: Paula Adamick Dateline: LONDON Source: The Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090058 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 568 words Illustration Type: Black & White Photo Illustration: Photo: James Loney Photo: Harmeet Singh Sooden

LONDON - Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see clemency and that was the only way we could come them face the death penalty. to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part," Kember said. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh The former hostages said their abduction was just a Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the Kember told a news conference that marked their U.S.-led invasion and occupation. first reunion since they were freed in March. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers "We understand a number of men alleged to be our were part of a cycle of violence they themselves captors have been apprehended, charged with experienced," they said. kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement In an interview later, Loney said if any of the hostage read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for takers were to get the death penalty "that would be Reconciliation in central London. the worst possible outcome for us." "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors want is for good to come out of what has been a very for abducting and holding us," they said. awful experience." "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive never restore what was taken from us. What our Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families captors. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping retribution. and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. "Should those who have been charged with holding "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death that they be granted all possible leniency." penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker he were alive, would be standing with us in speaking Teams when they were abducted in November of last against the death penalty." year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

Page 75 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Three hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

The Leader-Post (Regina) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: F9 Section: News Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090020 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 475 words

LONDON (CP) -- Three activists for a Christian only reason to take part," Kember said. peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't The former hostages said their abduction was just a want to see them face the death penalty. part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman were part of a cycle of violence they themselves Kember told a news conference that marked their experienced," they said. first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with the Canadian Press, Loney "We understand a number of men alleged to be our said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death captors have been apprehended, charged with penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central for us." Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Reconciliation in central London. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience." "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the

Page 76 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information.

Former hostages urge forgiveness: Two Canadians, one Briton were held for 118 days in Iraq

The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: B7 Section: World Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090063 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 506 words Illustration Type: Black & White Photo Illustration: Photo: Associated Press / Freed Iraqi hostages, Briton Norman Kember (left) and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden announced Friday they 'unconditionally' forgive their captors

LONDON (CP) -- Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't clemency and that was the only way we could come want to see them face the death penalty. to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part," Kember said. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh The former hostages said their abduction was just a Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the Kember told a news conference that marked their fi U.S.- led invasion and occupation. rst reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney "We understand a number of men alleged to be our said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death captors have been apprehended, charged with penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central for us. Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Reconciliation in central London. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience. "After much refl ection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors "We feel this connection between our opposition to for abducting and holding us," they said. the death penalty and our call for the protection of human rights and trying to work towards a different "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can future, one that forgiveness allows," said Loney, never restore what was taken from us. What our adding that he has been enjoying "this wonderful captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families rediscovery of freedom" since returning to Canada. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

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Former hostages urge forgiveness

St. Catharines Standard (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: D8 Section: News Byline: Source: By The Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090093 Length: 409 words

Three activists for a Christian peace group held said. hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney the death penalty. said, "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we want is for good to come out of what has been a "We unconditionally forgive our captors for very awful experience." abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March.

"We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

The former hostages said their abduction was just a part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced," they

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Forgiving their captors

St. Catharines Standard (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A2 Section: News Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612090013 Length: 68 words

Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their first reunion since they were freed in March. © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for captors

Niagara Falls Review (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: D7 Section: World Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090066 Length: 763 words Illustration: Freed Iraqi hostages, from left, Briton Norman Kember, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden at a press conference in central London, where they announced that they "unconditionally" forgave their captors and wished them no "retribution" Friday. Three Christian peace activists who were kidnapped in Iraq Friday pleaded for "all possible leniency" for their captors.

Three activists for a Christian peace group held only reason to take part," Kember said. hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face The former hostages said their abduction was just a the death penalty. part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman were part of a cycle of violence they themselves Kember told a news conference that marked their experienced," they said. first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney "We understand a number of men alleged to be our said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death captors have been apprehended, charged with penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central for us." Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Reconciliation in central London. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience." "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive for abducting and holding us," they said. Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his captors. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do malice towards them and have no wish for know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death retribution. penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be "Should those who have been charged with holding executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask he were alive, would be standing with us in speaking that they be granted all possible leniency." against the death penalty." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the The reason for the Friday's news conference was Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker two-fold, Loney said. The first is because it was Teams when they were abducted in November of last exactly one year ago Friday that he and his fellow year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was captives were threatened with execution unless their killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were captors demands were met. rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. That deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. A number of men alleged to be their captors have 10, which is International Human Rights day. been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as "We feel this connection between our opposition to early as January. One of the men may also be charged the death penalty and our call for the protection of separately with murder in Fox's slaying. human rights and trying to work towards a different future, one that forgiveness allows," said Loney, Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, adding that he has been enjoying "this wonderful while Kember indicated he would testify only to rediscovery of freedom." since returning to Canada. prevent the accused from being put to death. Asked whether he thought his joint statement might "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for undermine efforts to establish a fair judicial system in clemency and that was the only way we could come Iraq, Loney said Iraqi authorities would have to make to it, then we would take part, but that would be the their own decisions.

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"But I think any judicial system worth its salt has to account for the feelings of the victims and I would hope would allow for a possibility of restoration and of healing rather than simply retribution and punishment," he said. ". . . We don't want to be part of a cycle of punishment and revenge. We want healing and restoration." © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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Former hostages urge forgiveness for captors

North Bay Nugget (On) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A11 Section: Canada/World Byline: Source: CP Idnumber: 200612090006 Length: 624 words Illustration: Freed hostages Briton Norman Kember, left, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden speak Friday during a news conference in central London, where they announced they "unconditionally" forgave their captors and wished them no "retribution." AP Photo

Three activists for a Christian peace group held clemency and that was the only way we could come hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said Friday they to it, then we would take part, but that would be the forgive their captors and don't want to see them face only reason to take part," Kember said. the death penalty. The former hostages said their abduction was just a "We unconditionally forgive our captors for part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the abducting and holding us," Canadians Harmeet Singh U.S.-led invasion and occupation. Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman Kember told a news conference that marked their "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers first reunion since they were freed in March. were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced," they said. "We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death Criminal Court of Iraq," they said in a joint statement penalty "that would be the worst possible outcome read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for for us. Reconciliation in central London. "We are opposed to the death penalty and what we "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh want is for good to come out of what has been a very and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors awful experience." for abducting and holding us," they said. Loney said he is also confident fellow captive Tom 'No desire to punish' Fox, would be equally concerned for his captors. "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can "What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping never restore what was taken from us. What our and our feelings with regard to that," said Loney. captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families "We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) we do and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death malice towards them and have no wish for penalty. retribution. "He signed a statement that if he were to be "Should those who have been charged with holding murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if that they be granted all possible leniency." he were alive, would be standing with us in speaking against the death penalty." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker The reason for Friday's news conference was Teams when they were abducted in November of last two-fold, Loney said. The first is because it was year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was exactly one year ago Friday he and his fellow killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were captives were threatened with execution unless their rescued by British and U.S. forces March 23. captors demands were met. A number of men alleged to be their captors have That deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. been arrested and charged with kidnapping - a capital 10, which is International Human Rights day. offence in Iraq - and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged © 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. separately with murder in Fox's slaying.

Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for

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Former hostages urge forgiveness

The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge And Waterloo) Saturday, December 9, 2006 Page: A10 Section: Front Byline: Dateline: LONDON Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612090141 Edition: Final Story Type: NEWS Length: 506 words Illustration Type: PHOTO Illustration: Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS / Freed hostages (from left) Briton Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden announce at a London news conference yesterday they "unconditionally" forgive their captors and wish them no "retribution".

Three activists for a Christian peace group held clemency and that was the only way we could come hostage in Iraq for 118 days last year said yesterday to it, then we would take part, but that would be the they forgive their captors and don't want to see them only reason to take part,'' he said. face the death penalty. The three said their abduction was just a part of the "We unconditionally forgive our captors for spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the U.S.-led abducting and holding us,'' Canadians Harmeet Singh invasion and occupation. "As for many others, the Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of Kember told a news conference that marked their violence they themselves experienced,'' they said. first reunion since they were freed in March. In an interview later, Loney said if any of the hostage "We understand a number of men alleged to be our takers were to get the death penalty "that would be captors have been apprehended, charged with the worst possible outcome for us. We are opposed to kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central the death penalty and what we want is for good to Criminal Court of Iraq,'' they said in a joint statement come out of what has been a very awful experience.'' read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation in central London. Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive Tom Fox would be equally concerned for his captors. "After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors The news conference was held yesterday, Loney said, for abducting and holding us,'' they said. because it was exactly a year after the captives were threatened with execution unless their captors' "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can demands were met. That deadline was then extended never restore what was taken from us. What our two days, to Dec. 10, which is International Human captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families Rights Day. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for © 2006 Torstar Corporation retribution. "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency." All three men were on a mission in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams when they were abducted in November 2005. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying.

Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death. "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for

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Christian Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

The Whitehorse Daily Star Friday, December 8, 2006 Page: 28 Section: World Byline: Paula Adamick Dateline: LONDON Source: Canadian Press Idnumber: 200612080031 Edition: Final Story Type: News Length: 573 words Illustration: Photo: John Stillwell, Associated Press / KIND WORDS: Freed Iraqi hostages, from left, Norman Kember, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, hold a press conference in London.

LONDON (CP) -- Three activists for a Christian peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last ''If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for year said today they forgive their captors and don't clemency and that was the only way we could come want to see them face the death penalty. to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part,'' Kember said. ''We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us,'' Canadians Harmeet Singh The former hostages said their abduction was just a Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the Kember told a news conference that marked their U.S.-led invasion and occupation. first reunion since they were freed in March. ''As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers ''We understand a number of men alleged to be our were part of a cycle of violence they themselves captors have been apprehended, charged with experienced,'' they said. kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney Criminal Court of Iraq,'' they said in a joint statement said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for penalty ''that would be the worst possible outcome for Reconciliation in central London. us.'' ''After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh ''We are opposed to the death penalty and what we and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors want is for good to come out of what has been a very for abducting and holding us,'' they said. awful experience.'' ''We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive never restore what was taken from us. What our Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families captors. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for ''What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping retribution. and our feelings with regard to that,'' said Loney. ''We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do ''Should those who have been charged with holding know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be that they be granted all possible leniency.'' murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the he were alive, would be standing with us in speaking Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker against the death penalty.'' Teams when they were abducted in November of last year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was © 2006 Whitehorse Star. All rights reserved. killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. A number of men alleged to be their captors have been arrested and charged with kidnapping -- a capital offence in Iraq -- and are expected to go on trial as early as January. One of the men may also be charged separately with murder in Fox's slaying. Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, while Kember indicated he would testify only to prevent the accused from being put to death.

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Three former Christian Peacemaker hostages urge forgiveness for Iraqi captors

Canadian Press Newswire Friday, December 8, 2006 Section: Foreign General News Byline: BY PAULA ADAMICK Source: Idnumber: 200612080910 Length: 763 words Keywords: INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE DEFENCE RELIGION

LONDON (CP) _ Three activists for a Christian to it, then we would take part, but that would be the peace group held hostage in Iraq for 118 days last only reason to take part,'' Kember said. year said Friday they forgive their captors and don't want to see them face the death penalty. The former hostages said their abduction was just a part of the spiralling violence in Iraq caused by the ``We unconditionally forgive our captors for U.S.-led invasion and occupation. abducting and holding us,'' Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney and Briton Norman ``As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers Kember told a news conference that marked their were part of a cycle of violence they themselves first reunion since they were freed in March. experienced,'' they said. ``We understand a number of men alleged to be our In an interview later with The Canadian Press, Loney captors have been apprehended, charged with said if any of the hostage takers were to get the death kidnapping, and are facing trial in the Central penalty ``that would be the worst possible outcome for us.'' Criminal Court of Iraq,'' they said in a joint statement read to reporters at the St. Ethelburga's Centre for ``We are opposed to the death penalty and what we Reconciliation in central London. want is for good to come out of what has been a very awful experience.'' ``After much reflection upon our traditions, both Sikh and Christian, we unconditionally forgive our captors Loney said he is also confident that fellow captive for abducting and holding us,'' they said. Tom Fox, would be equally concerned for his captors. ``We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our ``What we're addressing is specific to our kidnapping captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our feelings with regard to that,'' said Loney. and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no ``We're not speaking for Tom's family. (But) We do malice towards them and have no wish for know that Tom was clearly opposed to the death retribution. penalty. He signed a statement that if he were to be murdered, that he would not want his murderer to be ``Should those who have been charged with holding executed. And so we feel very confident that Tom, if us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask he were alive, would be standing with us in speaking that they be granted all possible leniency.'' against the death penalty.'' All three men were on a mission in Iraq with the The reason for the Friday's news conference was Toronto- and Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker two-fold, Loney said. The first is because it was Teams when they were abducted in November of last exactly one year ago Friday that he and his fellow year. A fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was captives were threatened with execution unless their killed March 9. Sooden, Loney and Kember were captors demands were met. rescued by British and U.S. forces on March 23. That deadline was then extended two days, to Dec. A number of men alleged to be their captors have 10, which is International Human Rights day. been arrested and charged with kidnapping _ a capital offence in Iraq _ and are expected to go on trial as ``We feel this connection between our opposition to early as January. One of the men may also be charged the death penalty and our call for the protection of separately with murder in Fox's slaying. human rights and trying to work towards a different future, one that forgiveness allows,'' said Loney, Loney said no decision had been made on testifying, adding that he has been enjoying ``this wonderful while Kember indicated he would testify only to rediscovery of freedom.'' since returning to Canada. prevent the accused from being put to death. Asked whether he thought his joint statement might ``If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for undermine efforts to establish a fair judicial system in clemency and that was the only way we could come Iraq, Loney said Iraqi authorities would have to make

Page 85 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. their own decisions. ``But I think any judicial system worth its salt has to account for the feelings of the victims and I would hope would allow for a possibility of restoration and of healing rather than simply retribution and punishment,'' he said. ``... We don't want to be part of a cycle of punishment and revenge. We want healing and restoration.'' Copyright © 2006 The Canadian Press

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Voici le bulletin de nouvelles de 20 heures 00

Nouvelles Télé-Radio Samedi, 9 décembre 2006 Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612090123 Length: 2286 mots Keywords: AVIS

((SPECIALISTES-CSE)) les plus touchées. Le Conseil des services essentiels ordonne aux Malgré ses craintes, le président du conseil de médecins spécialistes de mettre fin à leurs moyens de l'industrie, Guy Chevrette, admet toutefois que la pression. publication des nouveaux calculs permettra aux entreprises d'enclencher leur processus de Selon le ministre de la Santé, Philippe Couillard, il ne consolidation. s'agit pas d'une victoire pour le gouvernement, mais d'une décision qui va rassurer la population. ((FORESTIER-GREENPEACE)) Il espère qu'elle fera en sorte de convaincre la Greenpeace est déçu des nouveaux calculs de Fédération des médecins spécialistes de reprendre les possibilité forestière qui ont été rendus publics négociations. vendredi par le Forestier en chef du Québec, Pierre Levac. Le Conseil exige que cesse toute menace de refuser de pratiquer des accouchements à partir du 1er L'organisme environnemental admet que ces calculs janvier. montrent dans certaines régions des baisses de possibilité. Toutefois, il déplore que le Forestier en Il ordonne aussi aux membres qui assurent des tâches chef ait laissé peu de place à une plus grande de formation de ne pas mettre en péril la diplomation protection de la forêt boréale, ne faisant aucune de cohortes d'étudiants en médecine de troisième et recommandation pour la création de nouvelles aires de quatrième années. protégées. La présidente du Conseil du trésor, Monique La responsable du dossier à Greenpeace, Melissa Jérôme-Forget, croit que les spécialistes vont Filion, rappelle que le Québec présente un grand respecter les ordonnances, estimant que leur retard pour la conservation de la biodiversité, alors professionnalisme va l'emporter sur leur rancoeur. qu'il ne reste que 15 pour cent de forêt publique intacte. Les médecins spécialistes demandent un correctif salarial de 40 pour cent pour rattraper l'écart qui les Greenpeace presse donc le gouvernement du Québec sépare de leurs collègues du reste du pays. d'identifier et de chiffrer, de façon scientifique, le minimum de forêt boréale à protéger. Pour sa part, le gouvernement a proposé une offre de départ de 15 pour cent de rattrapage salariale pour ((VETEMENT-FORTIER)) lancer un processus de médiation. Le gouvernement fédéral réduit ou élimine des tarifs ((POSSIBILITE FORESTIERE)) douaniers sur certains tissus importés par les entreprises canadiennes du vêtement, une mesure qui Une nouvelle réduction de la possibilité forestière de devrait leur permettre d'épargner environ 4,5 millions 3,8 pour cent sera appliquée pour les résineux en $ par an. 2008-2013; c'est ce qu'a tranché le Forestier en chef du Québec, Pierre Levac. C'est le ministre responsable de la région de Montréal, Michael Fortier, qui en a fait l'annonce, Selon le Conseil québécois de l'industrie forestière, vendredi, à l'usine de vêtements Peerless, au nord-est cette décision frappera durement des régions comme de la ville. le Bas-St-Laurent et la Côte-Nord. Le ministre a précisé que l'abolition de ces droits de Le ministre des Ressources naturelles, Pierre Corbeil, douane touchera des tissus qui ne sont plus fabriqués estime qu'il s'agit toutefois d'un geste nécessaire, dans au Canada ou qui le sont, mais en petites quantités. le cadre d'une incontournable restructuration de l'industrie forestière au Québec. La mesure sera rétroactive au 1er janvier 2005. Sans nier que cette diminution d'exploitation pourrait Du côté de l'opposition, le Bloc québécois a bien se traduire par de nouvelles fermetures d'usines, il réagi à la mesure annoncée, même s'il la trouve soutient que son gouvernement supportera les régions insuffisante. Le porte-parole du Bloc pour les

Page 87 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. questions d'industrie, Paul Crête, explique qu'on tient toutefois à éviter que celle-ci devienne publique. attend encore les mesures concernant l'industrie du textile. Le juge André Denis, de la Cour supérieure, entendra lundi sa demande de mise sous scellé de même Les syndicats de ce secteur, ainsi que le Bloc qu'une série d'autres requêtes. québécois, demandent en fait deux autres actions. Selon son nouvel avocat, Jean Lozeau, son client Pour le vêtement, ils demandent des "mesures de Weinberg veut remettre de l'ordre dans son dossier. sauvegarde", à savoir que les droits soient réinstaurés pendant une période temporaire de trois ans pour les M. Weinberg se trouve dans une situation fort vêtements importés au Canada, question de protéger inconfortable. Il a perdu tous les recours qu'il avait les emplois. entrepris, notamment une poursuite contre la firme de services comptables Ernst & Young. ,Pour l'industrie du textile il réclame de permettre que des vêtements fabriqués à l'étranger, mais à partir de Les requêtes déposées aujourd'hui sont nombreuses: tissu canadien, puissent revenir au Canada sans droits quatre pour permissions d'en appeler, quatre de douane. inscriptions en appel et quatre en rétraction de jugement. Il y en a également quatre autres. Selon une coalition syndicale, plus de 50 000 emplois dans l'industrie du vêtement ont disparu au Canada, la Il faudra attendre de voir ce qu'en fera le juge Denis majorité étant au Québec. lundi. ((LOI-RESPONSABILITE)) M. Weinberg est poursuivi par Cinar pour 110 millions $, dont un détournement d'un montant de 59 La Chambre des communes a finalement adopté à millions $ aux Bahamas. l'unanimité, aujourd'hui, la Loi sur la responsabilité, qui constitue la réponse des conservateurs au ((MUNICIPALITES-SQ)) scandale des commandites. Les municipalités québécoises dont la surveillance du Le projet de loi a été adopté par consentement territoire est assurée par la Sûreté du Québec se unanime, sans qu'un vote en bonne et due forme n'ait partageront bientôt plus de 3,5 millions $ en raison de été pris en Chambre. Le texte final, qui comprend 90 la nouvelle base de calcul établie par le amendements, recevra la sanction royale au début de gouvernement, par voie de règlement, et qui a pour la semaine prochaine. effet d'adoucir graduellement la facture annuelle de ces municipalités au moins jusqu'à 2009. Le projet de loi constituait la plus importante promesse des conservateurs lors de la dernière Les 3,5 millions $ constituent les sommes versées en campagne électorale. trop en 2006 en vertu du nouveau règlement qui entre en vigueur dès le 27 décembre et qui plafonne la part ((SUBSTANCES-TOXIQUES)) exigée des municipalités pour les services de la SQ. Un allègement à peu près de la même ampleur est Ottawa règlementera davantage les substances aussi prévu pour les années 2007, 2008 et 2009. toxiques. Le premier ministre Harper en a fait l'annonce vendredi à Ottawa. Le règlement en cause a été adopté mercredi au conseil des ministres. Il vise à corriger l'augmentation L'homologation de nouveaux produits chimiques sera du coût des services de la SQ occasionnée par la resserrée. Ottawa réévaluera même certaines hausse de la valeur foncière dans plusieurs substances déjà permises pour en mesurer l'impact municipalités. sur l'environnement et la santé. Le gouvernement fédéral a à l'oeil quelque 23000 substances ((ARAR-ZACCARDELLI)) chimiques. Maher Arar ne croit pas que justice ait été rendue Les producteurs des substances évaluées auront six avec le départ du commissaire de la GRC, Giuliano mois pour répondre aux craintes soulevées par les Zaccardelli. évaluateurs du gouvernement. M. Arar réclame la tenue d'une enquête indépendante Cette évaluation coûtera 300 millions $ au cours des sur les agissements qui ont mené à sa déportation en quatre prochaines années. Syrie, où il a été torturé jusqu'à ce qu'il admette des liens pourtant inexistants avec des mouvements ((WEINBERG-ACTIFS)) terroristes. Il avait été appréhendé en 2002 par les autorités américaines agissant sur la base de fausses L'ex-pdg de Cinar, Ronald Weinberg, a déposé informations transmises à son sujet par la GRC. aujourd'hui la liste de ses actifs au palais de justice de Montréal, comme requis depuis un certain temps. Il Maher Arar demande aussi au premier ministre

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Stephen Harper de rendre publiques les portions du vendredi, alors que des centaines d'entre eux se rapport O'Connor qui ont été censurées pour des réunissaient pour rendre leurs derniers hommages à raisons de sécurité nationale et que soient dévoilés les un ancien camarade, récemment abattu. noms des personnes qui ont fourni aux médias des informations erronées pour salir sa réputation afin de Des membres en règle d'aussi loin que de la protéger la leur. Colombie-Britannique, du Nouveau-Brunswick et du Massachusetts étaient réunis, sous les caméras de la M. Arar réclame également d'Ottawa qu'il fasse police, pour un dernier adieu à David Buchanan, du pression sur les Etats-Unis pour que son nom soit chapitre de l'ouest de Toronto. Il a été tué, samedi retiré de la liste de surveillance de terroristes dernier, dans un club d'effeuilleuses de Vaughan, en présumés et estime que des excuses du premier Ontario, alors qu'il célébrait son anniversaire de ministre Harper seraient la moindre des choses. naissance. Francesco Lenti, que la police considère comme un membre des Bandidos, est accusé ((AUBERGE-DUHAIME)) d'homicide involontaire dans cette affaire. L'homme d'affaires Yvon Duhaime a été acquitté Buchanan est le premier Hells ontarien à être abattu d'avoir mis le feu à sa propriété commerciale, depuis que l'organisation s'est étendue en Ontario il y l'Auberge Grand-Mère, le 2 février 2004. a six ans. Un juge a statué ce matin au palais de justice de ((MANITOBA-POLICIERS)) Shawinigan que les preuves présentées par la Couronne n'étaient que circonstancielles, et que M. Des accusations de tentatives de meurtre ont été Duhaime devait ainsi bénéficier du "doute déposées contre une homme de 21 ans de Winnipeg, raisonnable". aujourd'hui, après que ce dernier eut blessé trois policiers par balles, dont un grièvement. La Couronne a plaidé que l'homme d'affaires était la seule personne qui avait intérêt à incendier l'auberge, Le suspect, Daniel Ian Anderson, a aussi été blessé au puisqu'il se trouvait alors dans une situation cours de cette opération policière, mais sa vie n'est financière difficile. La prime d'assurances qu'il pas en danger. La police de Winnipeg refuse de devrait toucher dépasse les 4 millions $. dévoiler si ces blessures ont été causées par des tirs des policiers. Yvon Duhaime a toujours nié les allégations. Les trois policiers blessés faisaient partie d'un Le nom d'Yvon Duhaime, âgé de 48 ans, a défrayé contingent de 12 agents qui ont participé à une les manchettes pendant plusieurs années, ayant déjà intervention, hier soir, dans une résidence où ils été un associé d'affaires de l'ex-premier ministre du espéraient appréhender un présumé revendeur de Canada, Jean Chrétien. drogues. Les policiers ont été accueillis par une rafale de coups de feu. ((JUGE-ARRESTATION)) ((OLYMEL-CSN-BOUCHARD)) Le juge Yves Alain, de la Cour supérieure du Québec, a été arrêté hier, dans la région de Québec, La CSN soupçonne Lucien Bouchard d'être derrière pour avoir conduit son véhicule avec les facultés le choix d'Olymel de faire payer à ses seuls affaiblies. travailleurs syndiqués son opération de rationalisation qui prend la forme de fermetures d'usines en L'alcootest a démontré que M. Alain avait plus de Montérégie et peut-être ailleurs. deux fois la limite permise d'alcool dans le sang. En conférence de presse, ce matin, le président de la Agé de 59 ans, le juge conservera toutefois ses Fédération du commerce-CSN, Jean Lortie, s'est dit fonctions en attendant la suite des procédures prêt à reconnaître les difficultés de l'industrie de la judiciaires. transformation porcine, en raison de la montée du dollar et de la maladie qui a frappé le cheptel porcin Le juge en chef associé de la Cour supérieure du au Québec, mais il croit cependant qu'Olymel fait Québec, Robert Pidgeon, a expliqué que les juges fausse route. sont d'abord et avant tout des citoyens et qu'ils sont eux aussi présumés innocents jusqu'à preuve du Le syndicaliste rappelle que l'ex-premier ministre contraire. C'est pourquoi il ne suspend pas le juge Bouchard a reçu un mandat d'Olymel pour établir un Alain pour l'instant. plan de rationalisation.

((HELLS-FUNERAILLES)) M. Lortie estime que l'entreprise n'a pas fait la démonstration qu'elle pouvait mener à un Des Hells Angels de partout au pays ont littéralement redressement réel et durable. transformé le terrain de stationnement d'une résidence funéraire en rassemblement de motards, ((METRO-ENTENTE))

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Les trois anciens otages sont membres de Metro a conclu une entente d'une durée de neuf ans l'organisation humanitaire Christian Peacemaker avec ses employés de l'entrepôt d'épicerie de Team. Montréal qui, après avoir déclenché une grève le 24 novembre dernier, reprendront leur travail dimanche. nb20 Les 315 employés ont accepté les offres patronales © 2006 Nouvelles Télé-Radio dans une proportion de 72,8 pour cent, selon ce qu'a indiqué le syndicat des Travailleurs unis de l'alimentation et du commerce dans un communiqué. Dans un autre communiqué, Metro a affirmé que l'entente ratifiée aujourd'hui fait en sorte que la nouvelle convention collective sera en vigueur pour les neuf prochaines années, soit jusqu'en 2015. Avant le déclenchement de la grève, la négociation avait été amorcée le 25 septembre. Un des points importants pour le syndicat, et sur lequel la discussion achoppait, portait sur le travail exécuté par une vingtaine de sous-traitants. Dans leurs communiqués, les parties n'ont pas fait mention des conditions de l'entente. ((URGENCES-SANTE-REJET)) Les ambulanciers-paramédics d'Urgences-Santé, membres du RETAQ-CSN, ont rejeté massivement l'entente de principe conclue le 10 novembre dernier, lors d'un vote pris hier, à Montréal. Près de 400 syndiqués ont pris part à deux assemblées générales tenues cette semaine. Près de 90 pour cent d'entre eux ont voter contre l'entente de principe. Selon Daniel Proulx, responsable syndical pour la région de Montréal-Laval, ce rejet massif s'expliquerait, entre autres, par l'incapacité chronique de la direction d'Urgences-Santé à respecter les conditions de travail actuelles des paramédics, ainsi que par un désengagement total de l'employeur à leur égard. Une autre assemblée générale est prévue pour la semaine prochaine. ((IRAK - OTAGES CANADIENS - PARDON)) Trois otages, dont les Canadiens Harmeet Singh Sooden et James Loney, qui ont été détenus ensemble pendant 118 jours, l'an dernier, en Irak, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs et ne veulent pas qu'ils soient condamnés à la peine capitale. Avec leur compagnon d'infortune britannique Norman Kember, ils ont tous dit avoir reçu la demande de leurs gouvernements de témoigner au procès de certains de leurs ravisseurs qui ont été arrêtés. En Irak, l'enlèvement peut valoir la peine de mort.

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Voici le bulletin de nouvelles de 15 heures 30

Nouvelles Télé-Radio Samedi, 9 décembre 2006 Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612090078 Length: 1518 mots Keywords: AVIS

((ARAR-ZACCARDELLI)) Le juge Yves Alain, de la Cour supérieure du Maher Arar ne croit pas que justice ait été rendue Québec, a été arrêté hier, dans la région de Québec, avec le départ du commissaire de la GRC, Giuliano pour avoir conduit son véhicule avec les facultés Zaccardelli. affaiblies. M. Arar réclame la tenue d'une enquête indépendante L'alcootest a démontré que M. Alain avait plus de sur les agissements qui ont mené à sa déportation en deux fois la limite permise d'alcool dans le sang. Syrie, où il a été torturé jusqu'à ce qu'il admette des liens pourtant inexistants avec des mouvements Agé de 59 ans, le juge conservera toutefois ses terroristes. Il avait été appréhendé en 2002 par les fonctions en attendant la suite des procédures autorités américaines agissant sur la base de fausses judiciaires. informations transmises à son sujet par la GRC. Le juge en chef associé de la Cour supérieure du Maher Arar demande aussi au premier ministre Québec, Robert Pidgeon, a expliqué que les juges Stephen Harper de rendre publiques les portions du sont d'abord et avant tout des citoyens et qu'ils sont rapport O'Connor qui ont été censurées pour des eux aussi présumés innocents jusqu'à preuve du raisons de sécurité nationale et que soient dévoilés les contraire. C'est pourquoi il ne suspend pas le juge noms des personnes qui ont fourni aux médias des Alain pour l'instant. informations erronées pour salir sa réputation afin de protéger la leur. ((POSSIBILITE FORESTIERE)) M. Arar réclame également d'Ottawa qu'il fasse Une nouvelle réduction de la possibilité forestière de pression sur les Etats-Unis pour que son nom soit 3,8 pour cent sera appliquée pour les résineux en retiré de la liste de surveillance de terroristes 2008-2013; c'est ce qu'a tranché le Forestier en chef présumés et estime que des excuses du premier du Québec, Pierre Levac. ministre Harper seraient la moindre des choses. Selon le Conseil québécois de l'industrie forestière, ((AUBERGE-DUHAIME)) cette décision frappera durement des régions comme le Bas-St-Laurent et la Côte-Nord. L'homme d'affaires Yvon Duhaime a été acquitté d'avoir mis le feu à sa propriété commerciale, Le ministre des Ressources naturelles, Pierre Corbeil, l'Auberge Grand-Mère, le 2 février 2004. estime qu'il s'agit toutefois d'un geste nécessaire, dans le cadre d'une incontournable restructuration de Un juge a statué ce matin au palais de justice de l'industrie forestière au Québec. Shawinigan que les preuves présentées par la Couronne n'étaient que circonstancielles, et que M. Sans nier que cette diminution d'exploitation pourrait Duhaime devait ainsi bénéficier du "doute se traduire par de nouvelles fermetures d'usines, il raisonnable". soutient que son gouvernement supportera les régions les plus touchées. La Couronne a plaidé que l'homme d'affaires était la seule personne qui avait intérêt à incendier l'auberge, Malgré ses craintes, le président du conseil de puisqu'il se trouvait alors dans une situation l'industrie, Guy Chevrette, admet toutefois que la financière difficile. La prime d'assurances qu'il publication des nouveaux calculs permettra aux devrait toucher dépasse les 4 millions $. entreprises d'enclencher leur processus de consolidation. Yvon Duhaime a toujours nié les allégations. ((FORESTIER-GREENPEACE)) Le nom d'Yvon Duhaime, âgé de 48 ans, a défrayé les manchettes pendant plusieurs années, ayant déjà Greenpeace est déçu des nouveaux calculs de été un associé d'affaires de l'ex-premier ministre du possibilité forestière qui ont été rendus publics Canada, Jean Chrétien. vendredi par le Forestier en chef du Québec, Pierre Levac. ((JUGE-ARRESTATION)) L'organisme environnemental admet que ces calculs

Page 91 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. montrent dans certaines régions des baisses de le choix d'Olymel de faire payer à ses seuls possibilité. Toutefois, il déplore que le Forestier en travailleurs syndiqués son opération de rationalisation chef ait laissé peu de place à une plus grande qui prend la forme de fermetures d'usines en protection de la forêt boréale, ne faisant aucune Montérégie et peut-être ailleurs. recommandation pour la création de nouvelles aires protégées. En conférence de presse, ce matin, le président de la Fédération du commerce-CSN, Jean Lortie, s'est dit La responsable du dossier à Greenpeace, Melissa prêt à reconnaître les difficultés de l'industrie de la Filion, rappelle que le Québec présente un grand transformation porcine, en raison de la montée du retard pour la conservation de la biodiversité, alors dollar et de la maladie qui a frappé le cheptel porcin qu'il ne reste que 15 pour cent de forêt publique au Québec, mais il croit cependant qu'Olymel fait intacte. fausse route. Greenpeace presse donc le gouvernement du Québec Le syndicaliste rappelle que l'ex-premier ministre d'identifier et de chiffrer, de façon scientifique, le Bouchard a reçu un mandat d'Olymel pour établir un minimum de forêt boréale à protéger. plan de rationalisation. ((VETEMENT-FORTIER)) M. Lortie estime que l'entreprise n'a pas fait la démonstration qu'elle pouvait mener à un Le gouvernement fédéral réduit ou élimine des tarifs redressement réel et durable. douaniers sur certains tissus importés par les entreprises canadiennes du vêtement, une mesure qui ((URGENCES-SANTE-REJET)) devrait leur permettre d'épargner environ 4,5 millions $ par an. Les ambulanciers-paramédics d'Urgences-Santé, membres du RETAQ-CSN, ont rejeté massivement C'est le ministre responsable de la région de l'entente de principe conclue le 10 novembre dernier, Montréal, Michael Fortier, qui en a fait l'annonce, lors d'un vote pris hier, à Montréal. vendredi, à l'usine de vêtements Peerless, au nord-est de la ville. Près de 400 syndiqués ont pris part à deux assemblées générales tenues cette semaine. Près de Le ministre a précisé que l'abolition de ces droits de 90 pour cent d'entre eux ont voter contre l'entente de douane touchera des tissus qui ne sont plus fabriqués principe. au Canada ou qui le sont, mais en petites quantités. Selon Daniel Proulx, responsable syndical pour la La mesure sera rétroactive au 1er janvier 2005. région de Montréal-Laval, ce rejet massif s'expliquerait, entre autres, par l'incapacité chronique Du côté de l'opposition, le Bloc québécois a bien de la direction d'Urgences-Santé à respecter les réagi à la mesure annoncée, même s'il la trouve conditions de travail actuelles des paramédics, ainsi insuffisante. Le porte-parole du Bloc pour les que par un désengagement total de l'employeur à leur questions d'industrie, Paul Crête, explique qu'on égard. attend encore les mesures concernant l'industrie du textile. Une autre assemblée générale est prévue pour la semaine prochaine. Les syndicats de ce secteur, ainsi que le Bloc québécois, demandent en fait deux autres actions. ((PQ-KYOTO)) Pour le vêtement, ils demandent des "mesures de Le Parti québécois a déposé à l'Assemblée nationale, sauvegarde", à savoir que les droits soient réinstaurés une pétition réclamant que le gouvernement Harper pendant une période temporaire de trois ans pour les revienne sur sa décision et honore l'objectif de vêtements importés au Canada, question de protéger réduction des gaz à effet de serre prévue par le les emplois. Protocole de Kyoto. ,Pour l'industrie du textile il réclame de permettre que C'est le député du comté de Verchères et porte-parole des vêtements fabriqués à l'étranger, mais à partir de de l'opposition officielle en matière d'environnement, tissu canadien, puissent revenir au Canada sans droits de faune et de parcs, Stéphane Bergeron, qui a déposé de douane. la pétition qui compte 117 742 signatures. Selon une coalition syndicale, plus de 50 000 emplois Le PQ souhaite maintenant que le gouvernement dans l'industrie du vêtement ont disparu au Canada, la Charest exerce des pressions à cette fin sur les majorité étant au Québec. conservateurs. ((OLYMEL-CSN-BOUCHARD)) Les libéraux avaient alors promis la somme de 328 millions $ à Québec, afin que la province puisse La CSN soupçonne Lucien Bouchard d'être derrière mettre en branle son Plan vert. Le PQ estime que sans

Page 92 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. cette somme, le Québec ne pourra remplir ses engagements environnementaux. ((LOI-RESPONSABILITE)) La Chambre des communes a finalement adopté à l'unanimité, aujourd'hui, la Loi sur la responsabilité, qui constitue la réponse des conservateurs au scandale des commandites. Le projet de loi a été adopté par consentement unanime, sans qu'un vote en bonne et due forme n'ait été pris en Chambre. Le texte final, qui comprend 90 amendements, recevra la sanction royale au début de la semaine prochaine. Le projet de loi constituait la plus importante promesse des conservateurs lors de la dernière campagne électorale.

((SUBSTANCES-TOXIQUES)) Ottawa règlementera davantage les substances toxiques. Le premier ministre Harper en a fait l'annonce vendredi à Ottawa. L'homologation de nouveaux produits chimiques sera resserrée. Ottawa réévaluera même certaines substances déjà permises pour en mesurer l'impact sur l'environnement et la santé. Le gouvernement fédéral a à l'oeil quelque 23000 substances chimiques. Les producteurs des substances évaluées auront six mois pour répondre aux craintes soulevées par les évaluateurs du gouvernement. Cette évaluation coûtera 300 millions $ au cours des quatre prochaines années. ((IRAK - OTAGES CANADIENS - PARDON)) Trois otages, dont les Canadiens Harmeet Singh Sooden et James Loney, qui ont été détenus ensemble pendant 118 jours, l'an dernier, en Irak, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs et ne veulent pas qu'ils soient condamnés à la peine capitale. Avec leur compagnon d'infortune britannique Norman Kember, ils ont tous dit avoir reçu la demande de leurs gouvernements de témoigner au procès de certains de leurs ravisseurs qui ont été arrêtés. En Irak, l'enlèvement peut valoir la peine de mort. Les trois anciens otages sont membres de l'organisation humanitaire Christian Peacemaker Team. nb15 © 2006 Nouvelles Télé-Radio

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Forgive Iraqi captors, former hostages plead

CBC.CA News Section: World Byline: Source: Broadcast Date: Friday, December 8, 2006 Time: Fri December 08 07:44:31 2006 EST Network: CBC Idnumber: 200612080099 Length: 409 words

Two Canadians and a Briton held hostage in Iraq last to northeast London, England. year said Friday that they have been asked to testify at the trial of their alleged captors, but are reluctant to The rescue was the work of an elite multinational unit do so because they are opposed to Iraq's death known as Task Force Black, led by British Special penalty. Air Service members. The three originally went to Baghdad to investigate allegations of abuse against James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden and Norman Iraqi detainees. Kember, all members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, told a news conference in London that their © 2006 CBC. All Rights Reserved. alleged captors should be forgiven instead of punished. Freed in March, the three peace activists had been held hostage for 117 days in Iraq. "What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution," Loney said. "We would like to know more about the court process, how it works and how we could speak to leniency. We are very, very concerned about the death penalty. It would be the worst possible outcome for us." Suspects in the hostage-taking have been arrested in Iraq and charged with kidnapping. If convicted, they could be executed. The trial is expected to begin next year. Canadian and British police have asked the three peace activists to give evidence at the trial. The three acknowledged that their captors did commit a crime when they abducted four members of Christian Peacemakers, a human rights organization. The fourth hostage, Tom Fox, an American, was shot and killed in March and his body found in Baghdad. Kember said the three have no desire for the alleged captors to be executed and will only testify to call for leniency. "If it's necessary for us to take part in the trial in order to plead for clemency - if that's the only effective way we can do it, then we would be prepared to take part." All four were kidnapped in November 2005 and freed after 117 days in a dramatic rescue by multinational forces in March, after a raid on a house near Baghdad. They had been held hostage by a little-known Iraqi group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. Loney returned to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., after the ordeal while Singh Sooden, who has lived in Montreal, returned to Auckland, New Zealand, to continue studying. Kember returned

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Nouvelles Télé-Radio Vendredi, 8 décembre 2006 Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612080407 Length: 825 mots Keywords: AVIS

((CANCER - TRAITEMENT PRIVE)) des écoles parmi les plus menacées, assure qu'il faut être à l'extrême limite avant de fermer une école. Pour la première fois dans tout le Canada, des L'Est du Québec subit les effets de la décroissance de cancéreux pourront recevoir des traitements leur étant la population. niés par les services publics, moyennant de 22 000 à 40 000 $. ((S-P-V-M - PROFILAGE RACIAL)) Ces médicaments par voie intraveineuse pourront être Le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal administrés dans 18 cliniques qui devraient voir le présentera en début de prochaine année un plan jour au pays, si ce n'est déjà fait. Sept cliniques ont triennal d'intervention destiné à combattre le déjà été mises sur pied et 11 autres devraient l'être en phénomène du profilage racial parmi son personnel. janvier, dont au Québec et au Nouveau-Brunswick. Aujourd'hui, le Conseil interculturel publie son ((TEXTILE - FIN TARIFS TISSUS ETRANGERS)) rapport sur le sujet. Ses membres ont constaté que des gens de minorités visibles faisaient bel et bien Le gouvernement du Canada annonce l'abolition des l'objet de suspicion, une vingtaine de cas présentant tarifs douaniers s'appliquant aux tissus importés par deux dénominateurs communs: la couleur de la peau l'industrie canadienne pour fins de fabrication de et l'habillement. vêtements au Canada. Le plan d'intervention du service de police consistera Le ministre canadien des Travaux publics et des surtout à fournir de la formation aux policiers. La Services gouvernementaux, Michael Fortier, rappelle Ligue des Noirs du Québec aurait préféré que ces tarifs avaient été imposés il y a plusieurs l'établissement d'une instance indépendante. années, à une époque où l'industrie du tissu était florissante au Canada. De nos jours, cette industrie ((MTL - FAUSSES ALERTES D'INCENDIE)) est concentrée à l'étranger. Bientôt, les Montréalais qui déclencheront ((MISES EN CHANTIER au QUEBEC)) volontairement ou non de fausses alertes d'incendie recevront une facture des pompiers. La construction résidentielle était en progression au Québec en novembre alors que 4158 logements ont Le Service de police impose déjà des frais pour des été mis en chantier dans les centres urbains de 10 000 appels non-fondés. Un amendement à la charte de la habitants et plus, selon la Société canadienne Ville sera requis pour que les pompiers aient la même d'hypothèques et de logement. possibilité. Cette croissance de 4 pour cent par rapport à En 2005, les pompiers de Montréal ont répondu à 35 novembre 2005 est attribuable à l'accroissement des 317 appels d'incendie qui n'étaient pas fondés. mises en chantier de logements collectifs surtout à Québec et à Gatineau. ((ISRAEL - PALESTINE I.HANIYEH)) A Montréal, les mises en chantier ont reculé de 5 Le premier ministre palestinien Ismaïl Haniyeh jure pour cent que son gouvernement dirigé par le Hamas ne reconnaîtra jamais Israël et poursuivra le combat pour ((EST DU QUEBEC - SORT des ECOLES)) la libération de Jérusalem. Une vingtaine d'écoles de village de l'Est du Québec En visite en Iran, il a indiqué qu'à son avis, les se trouvent en situation de maintien fragile ou de arrogances américaine et sioniste exigent l'usurpation fermeture possible. des terres palestiniennes et que les Palestiniens arrêtent la guerre sainte pour accepter les accords Dans ce vaste territoire où vivent 300 000 personnes, obtenus par l'ennemi sioniste par le passé. M.Haniyeh la Coalition urgence rurale signale qu'avant de a juré que tout cela n'arrivera pas. trancher, les commissions scolaires doivent consulter un comité régional de concertation. ((CHILI A.PINOCHET - SANTE)) La Commission des Monts-et-Marées, qui regroupe Le général Augusto Pinochet a quitté le service de

Page 95 FPinfomart.ca Canada's source for research, media monitoring and company information. soins intensifs et continue de bien se remettre de sa crise cardiaque, selon l'hôpital militaire chilien de Santiago. L'ancien dictateur âgé de 91 ans est hospitalisé depuis dimanche dernier après un infarctus. Les médecins ont pratiqué rapidement une angioplastie ce qui lui a probablement sauvé la vie. ((IRAK - OTAGES CANADIENS - PARDON)) Trois otages, dont les Canadiens Harmeet Singh Sooden et James Loney, qui ont été détenus ensemble pendant 118 jours l'an dernier, en Irak, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs et ne veulent pas qu'ils soient condamnés à la peine capitale. Avec leur compagnon d'infortune britannique Norman Kember, ils ont tous dit avoir reçu la demande de leurs gouvernements de témoigner au procès de certains de leurs ravisseurs qui ont été arrêtés. En Irak, l'enlèvement peut valoir la peine de mort. Les trois anciens otages sont membres de l'organisation humanitaire Christian Peacemaker Team ((U-S-A en IRAK - SONDAGE)) Moins de 10 pour cent des Américains s'attendent à une victoire claire en Irak et ils sont de moins en moins nombreux à penser que ce pays aura un gouvernement démocratique et stable, selon un sondage Ipsos mené cette semaine. De plus, la gestion de la crise irakienne par le président George W. Bush atteint des sommets d'impopularité, avec 71 pour cent d'insatisfaits. Néanmoins, les Américains ne sont pas forcément prêts à un retrait immédiat des troupes, 71 pour cent préférant un calendrier de désengagement graduel sur deux ans. NB1O © 2006 Nouvelles Télé-Radio

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Des otages en Irak ne veulent pas la peine de mort aux ravisseurs

Nouvelles Télé-Radio Vendredi, 8 décembre 2006 Byline: Source: Idnumber: 200612080379 Length: 145 mots Keywords: INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE SOCIAL

LONDRES (PC) _ Trois otages, dont deux Canadiens, qui ont été détenus ensemble pendant 118 jours l'année dernière, en Irak, pardonnent à leurs ravisseurs et ne veulent pas qu'ils soient condamnés à la peine capitale. Lors d'une conférence de presse tenue vendredi, à Londres, les Canadiens Harmeet Singh Sooden et James Loney de même que le Britannique Norman Kember, tous membres de l'organisation humanitaire Christian Peacemaker Teams, ont dit avoir reçu la demande de leurs gouvernements de témoigner au procès de certains de leurs ravisseurs qui ont été arrêtés. En Irak, de tels enlèvements peuvent valoir la peine de mort à leurs auteurs. MM.Singh Sooden, Loney et Kember disent n'avoir aucune volonté que les suspects soient punis même s'ils ont mal agi. Un autre otage qui avait été détenu avec eux, Tom Fox, un Américain, a pour sa part été tué en mars dernier. (BN,NTR,jpd) NGJPD1O © 2006 Nouvelles Télé-Radio

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