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HAMILTON, ONT. - An Israeli airliner made an emergency landing Thursday in Hamilton, where it was met by tactical police teams. The El Al jet was diverted to Hamilton airport because of undisclosed threats to the plane and to Pearson airport in Toronto, where it had been scheduled to land. Officials at John C. Munro airport said the plane was initially diverted to Montreal. After touching down there, the plane continued to Hamilton so passengers headed for Toronto could complete their trip by bus. The plane was scheduled to take on passengers in Toronto before leaving for Los Angeles. Passengers...

OTTAWA (CP) - Two Canadian soldiers were killed and three injured Thursday in Afghanistan when their jeep struck a landmine. No names were immediately released. Next of kin were being notified. Canada has about 1,800 soldiers stationed with a 31-country force in Kabul. A second rotation of 1,800 is to go in early next year. The force is charged with stabilizing the capital of the troubled country and to act as a bulwark for the interim government of President Hamid Karzai. Canada is one of the largest contributors to the Kabul force. Defence Minister John McCallum warned in June, before...

Citizenship officer triggered alarm One man enrolled in flight school MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND BETSY POWELL STAFF REPORTERS A man enrolled in a flight school — where training involves flying over the Pickering nuclear power plant — is one of 19 people being held in a Toronto-area jail while federal officers investigate possible links to terrorist groups. Police from several forces acting in partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada conducted pre-dawn raids throughout the Toronto area last week, arresting some of the men on alleged immigration violations while others are now being held without any charges being laid but as a...

We are engaged in a global war By SALIM MANSUR -- For the Toronto Sun LONDON, Ont. -- The terrorist bombings during the past two weeks in Jakarta, Baghdad and Jerusalem, and the increasingly visible activity of al-Qaida and Taliban fanatics in Afghanistan, are indicators of one undeniable fact: we are being engaged in a global war of an entirely new type for which the past offers little guidance. We might say that five summers ago this month, when terrorists engaged in bombing American embassies in east Africa, we should have awakened to this fact. Or, we might say, the...

Hi all, In my reading of the site today, I've come up with some thoughts on the Bible....which led me to other thoughts. Do you think people tend to take it too literally? When the Bible says that G-d created the world in seven days, is that really seven days? I was thinking that perhaps it may have been seven days to G-d, but to us, being the lessor creatures of G-d that we are, could that seven days really be several millennea (sic), as in the time it took the Earth to form as proposed by science? When one...

You’ve probably heard that story about the Inuit having 50 words for snow? Well, the sign of a genuine Canadian is that he has 50 words for doughnut. When a glacial wind is howling through Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat and it has been dark for five months in Tuktoyaktuk, Canadians head for Tim Horton’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Robin’s Donuts, Country Style, Coffee Time, Baker’s Dozen, and all the rest of them. When it comes to the perfect doughnut, Canada is the unquestioned world leader. In the less important matters of world politics and military strategy, Canada is rarely seen as...

MPs defend ailing John Richardson. Two local Liberal MPs say Prime Minister Jean Chretien delivered a low blow when he tried to blame the party's Perth-Middlesex byelection loss on an Alzheimer's-ridden incumbent who waited "too long" to resign. John Richardson, the popular former Perth-Middlesex MP forced to leave his post last fall due to the onset of Alzheimer's disease, caused a "problem" in the rural riding by running in the 2000 general election and staying in office until last October, Chretien said in Ottawa yesterday. "Mr. Richardson had been sick for a long time and perhaps he waited too long...

Q1: Should Canada support the missile defence system proposed by the U.S.? Total Votes for this Question: 375 So far, 71% have voted for Yes. So far, 25% have voted for No. So far, 4% have voted for Not sure.

April 29, 2003 Hypocrisy, thy name is UN Iraqi oil is its true target By PETER WORTHINGTON -- Toronto Sun Now that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq is kaput -- if not Saddam himself -- why does the UN resist lifting economic sanctions on Iraq? Russia also doesn't want sanctions lifted, nor does Syria. Nor does France, though it says it's agreeable to negotiating. Only the U.S. and Britain want sanctions lifted. Why is this, now that Saddam is history, be he alive or be he dead, or be he disguised as a guy name Fred? The answer: Oil.When Saddam...

No truly new cases: Discovery of genome sequence should lead to detection test TORONTO - A Canadian scientific breakthrough in the race to combat SARS may enable health authorities to develop reliable tests and possibly a vaccine to stem the spread of a disease that claimed three more deaths in the country over the weekend. The number of Canadian fatalities from severe acute respiratory syndrome jumped to 13 after three elderly women, all of them in hospitals in the Toronto area, succumbed to the virus. Health officials maintain that even with these deaths, and more than a dozen additional Canadian...

Perle says French President Chirac, Chrétien 'deserve each other' OTTAWA (Reuters) — An influential advisor to the U.S. administration used an interview published today to write off Prime Minister Jean Chrétien as "a lame duck" who was giving support to Saddam Hussein, and said Ottawa would pay a price for not sending troops to Iraq. The comments by Richard Perle were the strongest attack yet by Washington on Chrétien and underline how seriously relations between the world's two largest trading partners have deteriorated in recent months. Officials say the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is irate over Canada's...

This is how Don Cherry probably wants it to end. With a big fight and a great big goodbye. The kind of public firing that would make him even larger than he is right now -- if that is, in fact, possible. He just won't say that for attribution. He has said far too much already. The uncomfortable relationship between Cherry and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is more combustible now than ever before. The major difference being that Cherry has never hid from what he is or what he says -- no matter how offensive it might be -- while...

Foreigners who went to Baghdad to be martyrs felt used by Iraqis By PETER WORTHINGTON -- Toronto Sun There are few things more pathetic than a "human shield" who not only isn't wanted, but is treated contemptuously by those he/she is trying to shield. Increasingly, the Iraq regime in Baghdad is turfing out foreigners who came to Baghdad eager to be martyrs and protect orphanages and non-military targets from bombs. Some human shields -- the saner ones, if that's not an oxymoron -- objected when Iraqis wanted them around oil installations, hydro plants and even military sites. The human shields...

Canadian troops may not be part of the Iraq conflict, but our technology is front and centre. About 1,700 defence contractors in Canada export military hardware such as armoured vehicles, electronic equipment and flight simulators around the globe. And much of the gear sold to the U.S. has improved since 1991, meaning American soldiers are better equipped to fight than they were more than a decade ago. "Technology is much more advanced," said Chris Stellwag of CAE Canada's military training division. Based in Toronto, CAE is a world leader in flight simulation technology,. Its state-of-the-art simulators can prepare pilots for...

Lol! My friend just got off the phone with his brother in Australia, and his brother said the Canadian embassy was pelted with eggs! Apparently there are some, rightfully so, who aren't happy with our Governments position. As an aside, this same friend of mine said Canada has up to 1000 troops in Kuwait, despite the fact our PM won't go in with the allies. There are rumours, however, that our troops are going in quietly with the English troops, so as not to bring attention to themselves. All so our Prime Minister can save face and not lose the...

American and Canadian shot dead Breaking News: World Published: 18-Mar-03; 10:41 By: ITN An American and a Canadian are among four people to have been killed in a shooting incident in Yemen. A Yemeni national was also shot and killed in the incident. Officials said a man opened fire on the three, who all worked for a Western oil company, before turning the gun on himself. Anti-US sentiment is running high in Arab countries over a possible attack on Iraq and perceptions that Washington is supporting Israel against the Palestinians. A Yemeni gunman killed three US missionaries at a hospital...

Anti-terrorism role could be altered at 'stroke of a pen' Sheldon Alberts, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief National Post Thursday, March 13, 2003 CREDIT: Andrew Vaughan, The Canadian Press OTTAWA - Two Canadian warships have begun patrolling waters in the Persian Gulf as far north as Kuwait and are poised to take on a direct support role for the U.S. military if Canada joins a war on Iraq, sources say. Since taking command last month of a multi-national naval task force -- officially called Task Force 151 -- the Canadian frigates HMCS Montreal and HMCS Winnipeg have been authorized to sail...

OTTAWA—Canada's military is working on contingency plans to contribute commandos, naval vessels, aircraft, high-tech Coyote vehicles and possibly ground troops to a war on Iraq, U.S. officials will be told today. And sources say Canada's Defence Minister John McCallum will use a Washington meeting with U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this morning to make clear that Canada is anxious to be part of coalition contingency planning for an Iraq campaign. The meeting at the Pentagon — McCallum's first visit to Washington since becoming defence minister last spring — is expected to be a nuts and bolts session that will include...

OTTAWA—Many Americans and even some Canadians should be apologizing over the story about five mystery men with alleged links to terrorism, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre. He singled out politicians like New York Senator Hillary Clinton and journalists who touted what he called a "hoax" story that the five, using false passports, entered the U.S. from Canada around Christmas Eve. The FBI called off a nationwide hunt for the men yesterday after determining a tip about the five from Michael John Hamdani, an accused immigrant smuggler jailed in Canada since October, was false. The hunt was launched with...