Christmas weather: Rain on the coasts, possible snow elsewhere

Ottawa cuts funding for immigrant settlement groups
Last updated Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010 10:43AM EST The Federal Government is cutting funding to immigrant settlement groups in Ontario by more than $40-million, a move several agencies say will lead to their demise. Citizenship and Immigration Canada says the reductions – which total $53-million nationally – will more fairly redistribute money based on where newcomers choose to live. But immigrant organizations and the Liberals say the government is forcing agencies that help the mos...

Ontario hit hard by federal cuts to immigrant settlement centres
Last updated Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010 10:59AM EST The Federal Government is cutting funding to immigrant settlement groups in Ontario by more than $40-million, a move several agencies say will lead to their demise. Citizenship and Immigration Canada says the reductions – which total $53-million nationally – will more fairly redistribute money based on where newcomers choose to live. But immigrant organizations and the Liberals say the government is forcing agencies that help the mos...

Ticats stadium debacle: What now?
There was a moment during Wednesday’s Hamilton City Council meeting when nobody knew what to do next. Councillors had just voted 9-6 to defeat Mayor Bob Bratina’s motion, which would have asked city staff to investigate Confederation Park as a potential site for a new stadium. Should the city formally withdraw from the process and tell the 2015 Pan-Am Games organizing committee that it would no longer be building a stadium? Should the city turn its attention to the West Harbour site ...

Heavy snow strands Christmas travelers in Europe
Brussels (Reuters) - Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travelers in Europe on Friday, with Belgium's main airport closed for landing and icy roads in Sweden choked with traffic. Cold weather during the busy Christmas period has disrupted travel and business across Europe this week, and the prolonged period of severe weather is expected to clip Economic Growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy. A spokesman for the Brussels airport warned travelers to prepare to spend the night in Bru...

Heavy snow strands Christmas travelers in Europe
By Justyna Pawlak Brussels | Sat Dec 25, 2010 4:26am EST Brussels (Reuters) - Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travelers in parts of Europe on Friday, with Belgium's main airport closed for most of the day to landing and icy roads in Sweden choked with traffic. Cold weather during the busy Christmas period has disrupted travel and business across Europe this week, and the prolonged period of severe weather is expected to clip Economic Growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy. A s...

Heavy snow strands Christmas travelers in Europe
By Justyna Pawlak Brussels | Sat Dec 25, 2010 4:26am EST Brussels (Reuters) - Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travelers in parts of Europe on Friday, with Belgium's main airport closed for most of the day to landing and icy roads in Sweden choked with traffic. Cold weather during the busy Christmas period has disrupted travel and business across Europe this week, and the prolonged period of severe weather is expected to clip Economic Growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy. A s...

At least 12 reported dead in Colombia landslide
Civil defense authorities in Panama say more than 2,500 homes have been damaged and 10 people killed in more than a week of Flooding caused by Heavy Rains. The rains are continuing, and have washed out the access road to one of the bridges crossing over the Panama Canal. The National Civil Defense System says eight people died last week in Mudslides and two others drowned. Rescue Workers say a bus ran off a foggy, rainy mountain road in Ecuador and plunged about 1,100 feet (350 meters), killi...

California storm leaves mudslides, polluted water
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California residents who endured Flooding, Mudslides and Evacuations during a week-long onslaught of rain now have another problem: contaminated water and fouled beaches. The rain washed trash, Pesticides and Bacteria into waterways, prompting health warnings. Four beaches were closed in Northern California's San Mateo County and another 12 miles of beach from Laguna Beach to San Clemente in Southern California's Orange County were off-limits because of sewer overflows. P...

More snow chaos in Western Europe
Two thousand travellers were left stranded at the main Paris airport, Charles de Gaulle, on Friday as further snow hit France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Half the flights at Charles de Gaulle were cancelled, largely because of a shortage of de-icing fluid. In Belgium, police strongly advised drivers to stay at home. Hundreds of accidents were reported across Germany. While in northern Italy, Heavy Rain has caused Flooding in parts of Venice. Unusually high water levels were reported ...

Storm lashes California and leaves polluted water
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California residents who endured Flooding, Mudslides and Evacuations during a weeklong onslaught of rain now have another problem: contaminated water and fouled beaches. The rain washed trash, Pesticides and Bacteria into waterways, prompting health warnings. Four beaches were closed in Northern California's San Mateo County and another 12 miles of beach from Laguna Beach to San Clemente in Southern California's Orange County were off-limits because of sewer overflows. While...

Biblical flooding, tornadoes and 13 feet of snow as mammoth storm batters California
© Mammoth Times Extreme conditions: A powerful storm has pelted California with heavy rain and snow - an incredible 13ft of snow has accumulated at Mammoth Mountain ski resort California residents should brace themselves for the most severe of an ongoing series of storms to hit the state, forecasters have warned. More than 12 inches of rain have fallen in parts of the Santa Monica Mountains in the south and up to 15.5ft of snow has accumulated at Mammoth Mountain ski resort over the last...

Colombia mudslides destroy homes; 2 people missing
A resident walks through debris left by homes destroyed by a landslide triggered by Heavy Rains in Gramalote, northeastern Colombia, Wednesday Dec. 22, 2010. Weeks of rainfall have caused Flooding and landslides that have killed more than 250 people and left tens of thousands Homeless this year. Colombian authorities say that another mudslide caused by weeks of rains has destroyed more than 50 makeshift mountainside homes. Two people are missing. Police Col. Mario Aurelio Pedroza says that the ...

Storm lashes California and leaves polluted water
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California residents who endured Flooding, Mudslides and Evacuations during a weeklong onslaught of rain now have another problem: contaminated water and fouled beaches. The rain washed trash, Pesticides and Bacteria into waterways, prompting health warnings. Four beaches were closed in Northern California’s San Mateo County, and another 12 miles of beach from Laguna Beach to San Clemente in Southern California’s Orange County were off-limits because of sewer...

New Santa Anita track survives flooding
ARCADIA, Calif., Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Officials at Santa Anita Park said Thursday the race course's new dirt surface had survived the recent Heavy Rains and the season will open as scheduled. The track's season is set to begin Sunday, although that had been in question because of the more than a foot of rain that had fallen in the area since last Friday. "This racetrack is fantastic," said Ted Malloy, who was in charge of the installation of the new surface. "We've been very cautious through all of ...

Federal cuts to immigrant services won’t impact B.C., says minister
Last updated Friday, Dec. 24, 2010 1:37PM EST In stark contrast to the federal cutbacks for Immigration services, British Columbia is pitching in additional funds to ensure that new arrivals get the help they need, B.C. minister Ida Chong says. Immigrant settlement services agencies were told just before Christmas that the Federal Government is chopping $53-million from its $598.7-million Budget to help newcomers settle and adapt to life in Canada. Ontario will receive about $43-million less wh...

2010 in review: The year in religion
Every year there is a plethora of religion news for the simple reason there are several billion faithful people in the world. Any exhaustive list would run many thousands upon thousands of words. The highlights below are just a sampling, with some examples in our own backyard. Feel free to mention what you consider the best religion stories of 2010. Twenty imams issued a “Fatwa” against any Muslim who would attempt to commit an act of Terrorism in Canada or the United States. It note...

The unhappy launch of Happysavings
People like to be happy and they like to save Money. But advertising your Credit Union as an online bank called "Happysavings"? Some people most certainly do not like that – least of all the Canadian financial Regulators who view this name game as a "fiction" aimed at deceiving savers and funding unsound banking practices. Credit union on a rampage? As a result, the story of Happysavings isn't all that happy, though it does offer a window into the lengths some guys will go ...

Deeper shale gas deposits may be tapped
The Utica Shale lies under the Marcellus. Its potential is not known, but it may be lucrative. WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The Marcellus Shale may be Pennsylvania's biggest Economic Development story in decades, but it is not the state's only potentially lucrative shale play. "What we are likely to see in some areas of the Marcellus region is that there will be the potential of additional shales being developed," said Thomas Murphy, a Penn State Cooperative Extension educator and co-director ...

Heavy snow strands Christmas travelers in Europe
By Justyna Pawlak Brussels | Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:40am EST Brussels (Reuters) - Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travelers in Europe on Friday, with Belgium's main airport closed for landing and icy roads in Sweden choked with traffic. Cold weather during the busy Christmas period has disrupted travel and business across Europe this week, and the prolonged period of severe weather is expected to clip Economic Growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy. A spokesman for the Brussels ai...

Heavy snow strands Christmas travelers in Europe
By Justyna Pawlak Brussels | Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:40am EST Brussels (Reuters) - Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travelers in Europe on Friday, with Belgium's main airport closed for landing and icy roads in Sweden choked with traffic. Cold weather during the busy Christmas period has disrupted travel and business across Europe this week, and the prolonged period of severe weather is expected to clip Economic Growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy. A spokesman for the Brussels ai...

Snow hits European festive travel
Stranded air passengers have spent the night at airports in Paris and Brussels after freezing weather severely disrupted Christmas travel. Some 200 people slept overnight at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, which cancelled 400 flights because of snow and ice. Flights and trains were also disrupted in Belgium, where significant snow fell overnight, and in Germany. Conditions were expected to ease throughout Christmas Day. Problems were made worse on Friday as a strike by workers at France'...

California readies for new storm
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- California is cleaning up ahead of yet another wet-weather onslaught while parts of Nevada are digging out from under several feet of snow, forecasters said. A strong subtropical storm dumped heavy rain on San Diego County for a full week, but crews were cleaning up flooded streets and restoring power ahead of another storm expected Christmas night, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. "We got an incredible conveyor belt of moisture from the subtropics that not only...

Montreal Joins the War against Israel
Posted by David Solway on Dec 24th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Montreal is a diverse and cosmopolitan city, primarily French speaking but with an exotic mix of many of the world’s languages and cultures enlivening the atmosphere. There’s a bit of New York here, a soupçon of Paris, the flavor of pre-Katrina New Orleans, perhaps a tou...

No ‘dramatic’ spending cuts in the offing, says Flaherty
Any Spending Cuts in the next federal Budget will be smaller than the ones already announced last year, says Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in a year-end interview. For weeks, the minister has been stating that there won’t be any major new spending in the 2011 budget. Now he’s saying there won’t be major new cuts either. Economic confidence? A narrow, stay-the-course Budget would leave the opposition with little new to attack as the three opposition parties decide whether to ...

Pretty people get edge over others
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- People pay more attention to attractive people and identify the personality traits of physically attractive people more accurately, Canadian researchers say. Study co-authors Jeremy Biesanz of the University of British Columbia, doctoral Candidate Lauren Human, and undergraduate Student Genevieve Lorenzo, say the study separated 75 male and female participants into groups of five to 11 people for 3-minute, one-on-one conversations. After each interac...