company:ctv

Woman charged with pretending to practice witchcraft after allegedly bilking man out of $600K | CTV News
▻https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/woman-charged-with-pretending-to-practice-witchcraft-after-allegedly-bilking

A Toronto woman has been charged with fraud and pretending to practice witchcraft after she allegedly convinced a man that he needed to sell his house and transfer the money to her account in order to get rid of evil spirits.

York region police say the 67-year-old victim met with a psychic who used the name Evanna approximately five years ago. “Evanna” allegedly convinced the man that in order to get rid of evil spirits in his home, he had to sell the house and transfer the money to her account, where it would remain until the spirits were gone.

Police said the money was never returned and the victim was asked for another $6,000, which the psychic said she would burn in order to ward off the evil spirits.

The man sold his car and used his credit cards in order to meet her demands. He lost more than $600,000 in the alleged scheme, police said.

Following a nearly year-long investigation, police have charged 27-year-old Samantha Stevenson with pretending to practice witchcraft, fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime.

Police say Stevenson used the alias Evanna Lopez.

Witchcraft is among the antiquated offences that the federal government plans to remove from the Criminal Code. That legislation is currently before a House of Commons committee.

cc @mona

Canada sending largest icebreaker to North Pole to bolster Arctic claim | CTV News
▻http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-sending-largest-icebreaker-to-north-pole-to-bolster-arctic-claim-1.29

http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2996695.1469125954!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

HALIFAX — Canada’s largest icebreaker is preparing for a critical expedition to the North Pole, marking the country’s final mission in the High Arctic before making an official claim to the barren, but strategically important area at the top of the world.

The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent is scheduled to leave Halifax harbour on Friday, carrying a team of international — and somewhat excited — scientists and high-tech gear for mapping the ocean floor.

#arctique #frontières #canada

U.S.-Canada Joint Statement on Climate, Energy, and Arctic Leadership | whitehouse.gov

▻https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/10/us-canada-joint-statement-climate-energy-and-arctic-leadership

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau share a common vision of a prosperous and sustainable North American economy, and the opportunities afforded by advancing clean growth. They emphasize and embrace the special relationship between the two countries and their history of close collaboration on energy development, environmental protection, and Arctic leadership. The two leaders regard the Paris Agreement as a turning point in global efforts to combat climate change and anchor economic growth in clean development. They resolve that the United States and Canada must and will play a leadership role internationally in the low carbon global economy over the coming decades, including through science-based steps to protect the Arctic and its peoples. Canada and the U.S. will continue to respect and promote the rights of Indigenous peoples in all climate change decision making. Furthermore, the leaders emphasize the importance of the U.S. and Canada continuing to cooperate closely with Mexico on climate and energy action and commit to strengthen a comprehensive and enduring North American climate and energy partnership.

–—
Trudeau-Obama to link economy, environment at state dinner, says Dion | CTV News
▻http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trade-climate-and-arctic-to-dominate-discussion-between-trudeau-and-obama-1.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2665395.1447941078!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

Thursday’s state dinner in Washington will allow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama to make a strong statement linking the environment and the economy, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion says.

#arctique #états-unis #canada

WHO, experts raise questions about newly revealed Saudi #MERS cases | CTV News
▻http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/who-experts-raise-questions-about-newly-revealed-saudi-mers-cases-1.1852262

The World Health Organization and other experts are looking for answers to explain how Saudi Arabia missed or failed to report a substantial number of MERS cases and deaths over the past year.
Several experts praised the kingdom’s health ministry for making what must have been a difficult disclosure, revealing on Tuesday that the country had not previously reported an additional 113 cases and 92 deaths caused by the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus.
But they suggested until there is an explanation of how the cases failed to come to light until now, doubts will continue to dog Saudi Arabia’s response to the MERS outbreak.
(…)
He noted that in the chaos of a surging outbreak such as Saudi Arabia has been experiencing this spring, occasional cases will be missed. But the new cases represent a 20 per cent increase over the previously declared total for the country; the additional deaths are a 48 per cent increase.
Those numbers are hard to explain away, Osterholm suggested. “I think whatever the explanation was for adding these new cases it is not good. It’s either a lack of a competent surveillance system or an intentional effort to report fewer cases. It has to be one of the two.”

#nCoV

Treatment of Egyptian-Canadian journalist held in Cairo takes turn for worse | CTV News

▻http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/treatment-of-egyptian-canadian-journalist-held-in-cairo-takes-turn-for-worse

Mohamed Fahmy marked a month behind bars with no charge on Tuesday as he continued to face allegations of using unlicensed equipment and broadcasting false news while working for satellite news broadcaster Al Jazeera English.
Despite assurances from Canadian officials that his basic needs would be met, his family said his prison conditions had abruptly regressed.

Canada not planning H7N9 bird flu vaccine studies | CTV News
▻http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/canada-not-planning-h7n9-bird-flu-vaccine-studies-1.1275232

Sous ce titre se cache un intéressant développement sur l’inefficacité complète des vaccins contre les souches H7 du virus de la grippe (et donc, très probablement, d’un éventuel vaccin pour H7N9). D’où la nécessité de produire ce futur vaccin avec un #adjuvant, ce qui n’est pas le cas à ce jour des vaccins états-uniens contre la grippe.

Canada currently has no plans to ask its pandemic flu vaccine manufacturers to make trial batches of vaccine to protect against the new H7N9 bird flu, senior officials of the Public Health Agency of Canada have revealed.
While the U.S. government has said it will ask several of flu vaccine manufacturers to start growing up batches of serum against the new virus this summer, Canada will watch, wait and learn from the work the U.S. does, the officials said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“What we need to do in the international research-scientific community, the public health community is to complement each other. If the U.S. is doing something, we don’t need to do it necessarily,” explained Dr. Frank Plummer, head of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

Dr. John Spika, director general of the public health agency’s center for immunization and respiratory infectious diseases, said doing this early work is more crucial for the United States, which will have to make a decision about whether to use an adjuvant with H7N9 vaccine, if the virus causes a pandemic. An adjuvant is a product that boosts the immune response to a vaccine, typically allowing a smaller dose to have a protective effect.

Little-known hearing disorder misdiagnosed as ADHD in kids : experts | CTV News
►http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/little-known-hearing-disorder-misdiagnosed-as-adhd-in-kids-experts-1.1078063

OTTAWA — A little-known hearing disorder affecting two to three per cent of Canadian children is being misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, health advocates say.
The symptoms of auditory processing disorder (APD), which affects the way brain processes sound, are similar to ADHD — short attention spans, anxiety and difficulty reading.

Trouble du déficit de l’attention avec (ou sans) hyperactivité ? Testez aussi l’audition !

UN reports describes contraception as universal human right | CTV News
►http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/un-reports-describes-contraception-as-universal-human-right-1.1037849

It is the first time the UN Population Fund’s annual report explicitly describes family planning as a human right.

It effectively declares that legal, cultural and financial barriers to accessing contraception and other family planning measures are an infringement of women’s rights.

The report released Wednesday isn’t binding and has no legal effect on national laws.