CBC News
Canada’s highest court will be asked to hear an appeal of the Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh case.
MacIntosh was convicted in 2010 and 2011 of 17 counts of sex crimes against boys in the 1970s in eastern Nova Scotia.
But an appeal court overturned the convictions on the grounds that his right to a timely trial was infringed.
Read More: http://bit.ly/wwaFWj
CBC News
Costa Crociere SpA is offering uninjured passengers €11,000 ($14,454 Cdn) each to compensate them for lost baggage and psychological trauma after its cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany when the captain deviated from his route.
Costa, a unit of the world’s biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse passengers the full costs of their cruise, their travel expenses and any medical expenses sustained after the grounding.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered since the Costa Concordia hit a reef on Jan. 13. Another 16 remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead. Search efforts for them resumed Friday as salvage crews prepared to begin extracting some 2,380 tonnes of heavy fuel oil before it leaks.
Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/27/cruise-ship-compensation.html
Guess which industry that is? Legal. If you need a fresh look and want full control over your website and domain name, please sign up on AdviceScene’s lawyer directory to receive your free website (we’ll transfer existing ones over for free) with your $50/mo subscription. For entire firms we’ll offer all lawyers their own website and the law firm itself a free website & domain name too (that includes existing websites/domains) . For more information please email nancy@advicescene.com or click on our ‘For Lawyers’ link on advicescene.com and sign up (1st 30 days is free). Now for the story:
When it comes to bringing in revenue, these firms do a heck of a job. But designing compelling websites? They stink at that.
When it comes to bringing in revenueand making headlines, law firms do a hell of job. The biggest ones bring in millions, even billions of dollars. They argue before the Supreme Court. They help shape global economies.
When it comes to designing websites, though, these firms are clueless. These are the folks who often charge upwards of $1000 per hour for their services, and yet their websites look like the work of some cut-rate freelance designers.
Like any other business’s website, a law firms site should serve the interests of its target audience and make it simple for a visitor to take the next step. In this case, “the next step” means picking up the phone to make an appointment or sending an e-mail….
DAVOS, Switzerland – The federal government is poised to transform immigration, pensions and research and development policy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today.
In a major speech to global movers and shakers at the World Economic Forum, he said the idea is to position Canada as a more competitive force in the global economy and to confront the pressures of an aging population.
“In the months to come, our government will undertake major transformations to position Canada for growth over the next generation,” Harper said in an address to the some of the 2,600 forum delegates.
Read full article at:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/67691–harper-outlines-major-transformation-of-immigration-retirement-investment
CBC News
Police in southeast France have arrested the former head of a French company at the centre of a breast implant scandal affecting tens of thousands of women worldwide.
Jean-Claude Mas, who ran the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, was detained at his residence in the Mediterranean coastal town of Six Fours Les Plages shortly before dawn, a police official said Thursday.
A police search of the residence was underway, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is officially in the hands of judicial investigators.
Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/26/breast-implant-arrest.html
BBC News
The FBI is seeking to develop an early-warning system based on material “scraped” from social networks.
It says the application should provide information about possible domestic and global threats superimposed onto maps “using mash-up technology”.
The bureau has asked contractors to suggest possible solutions including the estimated cost.
Privacy campaigners say they are concerned that the move could have implications for free speech.
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16738209
CBC News
The lawyer representing Hamed Shafia, one of three Montrealers accused of pushing four family members into the Rideau Canal and killing them, said his client is guilty of being “stupid” but not of murder.
Patrick McCann told the jury the account Shafia gave to a private investigator — that he followed the girls to the Kingston Mills locks, that they went in by accident and that he didn’t call 911 or tell anyone because he was afraid of his father’s reaction —was the truth.
“Hamed is guilty of being stupid — morally blameworthy — but other than that, he is not responsible for the girls’ deaths, nor were his parents,” McCann said. “It’s time to put an end to this Kafkaesque [episode] they’ve been going through for the past two and a half years, since the night of June 30.”
Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/25/shafia-trial.html
BBC News
A lawsuit has been filed in California suing US comedian Jay Leno for what it calls “racist” comments on the Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple of Amritsar.
Indian-American Randeep Dhillon says Leno “hurt the sentiments of all Sikh people in addition to the plaintiff”.
A recent Leno skit showed the shrine as the summer home of Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Mr Romney has faced questions over his wealth and Sikhs are angry the temple was shown as a place for the rich.
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16714305
BBC News
The US Supreme Court has banned law enforcement officers from planting GPS tracking bugs on suspects’ vehicles without a search warrant.
Officers will now have to seek permission from a judge before using such devices to monitor suspects.
The ruling could have an impact on the investigation of major crimes such as drug smuggling.
But it will be welcomed by civil liberties campaigners who have warned against unwarranted surveillance.
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16690976
BBC News
A Rwandan man has been deported from Canada to Kigali where he faces charges of helping to incite the 1994 genocide.
Leon Mugesera has been fighting deportation for 16 years with a series of appeals, even after the Canadian Supreme Court upheld the order in 2005.
He faces charges in Rwanda of inciting genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from an incendiary anti-Tutsi speech he gave in 1992.
Mr Mugesera maintains that the speech was taken out of context.
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16694130