Canadian takes over in southern Afghanistan

A Canadian general took charge of coalition troops in southern Afghanistan today, promising to carry on with the war against insurgents that killed 17 U.S. soldiers in the region last year.

Brigadier-General David Fraser promised that his new multinational brigade, including 2,200 Canadians, will carry on the same work U.S. Task Force Bayonet accomplished in southern Afghanistan - hunting down insurgents and encouraging reconstruction efforts.

Afganistan is again the world leader in Opium production.

More on Olympic Men's Hockey

EU steps into PalestineBut in a good way this time?

The European Union has stepped in to save the Palestinian Authority from imminent financial collapse with an offer of 120m euros emergency aid.

The European Commission says the money is for 'basic needs' and will keep the authority running for about two months.

The international community is debating whether to fund the authority when militant Hamas group takes power. Israel responded to the Hamas election win in January by cutting off monthly payments of $50m in tax revenues.

Olympic Wrap-Up

The Canadian Olympic Committee had raised eyebrows when it boldly proclaimed goals of a top-three finish and a minimum 25 medals at Turin. The concern was that it set the bar too high and raised unrealistic expectations.

As the games have come to an end, Canada won 24 medals - seven gold, 10 silver, seven bronze - to shatter the previous record of 17 set at Salt Lake City in 2002. Only Germany (29) and the United States (25) had more in Turin, but 13 Canadians posted fourth-place finishes with eight others coming fifth.

A Sunday headline on the ABC News website noted: 'Canada is emerging as an Olympic powerhouse.' I also heard that Canada had the broadest success by event - winning medals in 10 of the 15 Olympic Events. Still its bittersweet with the Men's Hockey team crashing out.

Liverpool 1-0 Man City

Oh yeah, Liverpool won yesterday. A Harry Kewell(!) first-half goal was enough to sink Manchester City and put Liverpool level on points with second-placed Manchester United. The Reds still look toothless upfront - we should have buried them. Man City have won only once away from home in any competition since August and showed why with a miserable first-half display.

A Return to Liverpool?

Plans are starting to form for another whirlwind trip to Liverpool for a match and other antics. This time we'll land in Manchester though - the drive to London and back was a killer (especially when you're there for Four Days).

Going Begging in a Year of Disasters

In January, to stretch its thinning supplies, the United Nations cut its already basic food rations to war refugees in Zambia by almost 40 percent not just for the Nangweshi camp's 15,100 residents, but also for 57,000 refugees from Congo in four other camps.

The cuts were made after the developed world did not respond to United Nations' pleas for help to feed the refugees. Like similar appeals, they went unheeded in a year of many disasters and what aid specialists call a growing malaise among donors about such emergencies.

That thousands of war refugees cared for by the United Nations should go hungry for want of about $8.5 million, what amounts to a rounding error in the budgets of wealthy countries, may seem surprising. But the international system that is supposed to protect refugees from hunger and privation is prone to breakdowns like this one, which has rendered 72,000 war victims in Zambia hungry for weeks on end.

Canada out in Hockey.

ARGH! The team looked horrible! They couldn't control the puck in any part of the rink. What a mess.

Attack of the Cat Paws

Bandai is releasing the 'Neko Nyanbou' in Japan sometime in April. So what is it? Well, these are fake cat paws with claws that can be controlled by a small switch hidden in the 'handle'. Why on earth would you use these? See for yourself!

In Sports Today

Being the good Canadian boy, I am of course following the progress of Canada's Men's Olympic Hockey Team in Torino. The team's performance to-date have been underwhelming. So it's good news that Wayne Gretzky tried to rally the team on Monday and they responded in kind with a win today.

Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Chris Pronger built an early first period lead for Canada but the team was on its heels the rest of the way, holding on for a 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic in the last game of the preliminary round.

Liverpool is playing Benfica today in the first game of the elimination round of the Champions League. Rafael Benitez's side are full of confidence following their victories over Arsenal and Manchester United, and will be looking to get a good result at the Estadio du Luz to take back to Anfield for the second leg. Chelsea plays Barcelona tomorrow.

Note for Karina

Neal had some news last night.

Sports News

Struck down with a cold, I didn't wake up to watch an important Liverpool match - the 5th Round FA Cup match against ManU. The Reds won 1-0 after a goal by Peter Crouch!

It hadn't been updated in a while, so it's a suprise to find out that right now I'm leading the Richmond St. Hockey Pool! Looking at the stats, I'm almost 40 points ahead of Sebastian, which is important as he still has his Lemieux retirement trade to make. I'll need a 60 pt lead to win this the pool, and considering Seb and I share many of the same players, this is seems a remote possibility.

Rice goes after Chavez

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is one of the biggest dangers facing Latin America, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has said. According to Rice, Chavez was trying to influence others away from democracy, and called for a united front against him.

President Chavez responded by accusing the US of aggression, saying 'world opinion is with Venezuela'. The exchange would appear to undermine recent efforts to improve increasingly strained ties between the two states.

Ms Rice has further accused Mr Chavez of leading a 'Latin brand of populism that has taken countries down the drain'.

YouTube - Life As A Guy

Here's something for all you bachelors out there - Life As A Guy.

Cheney accepts blame for shooting

Vice-President Dick Cheney has taken full responsibility for accidentally shooting a hunting companion.

Speaking on Fox TV(!?), he said "I'm the guy that pulled the trigger" and that Saturday had been "one of the worst days of my life".

Richest Football Clubs

Real Madrid have leapfrogged Manchester United to become the world's richest football club in terms of income, according to a report.

After eight years at the top of the Deloitte Football Money League, United were pushed into second place based on revenues from the 2004-5 season. Real Madrid's income has doubled in the past five years, as players such as David Beckham have boosted shirt sales.

Liverpool rose from 10th to 8th. Comparing the financials of the Money League members, English clubs continue to drive demand for players. So on an associated note, it's interesting to note that Chelsea has recorded the greatest loss in football history at £140M.

Liverpool win against Arsenal

Luis Garcia made it a Valentines night to remember at Anfield, coming off the bench to score a crucial winning goal three minutes from the end of the clash with Arsenal.

Garcia had only been on the field a matter of minutes when he converted from close-range to seal a well-deserved 1-0 victory for the Reds.

Cheney shooting delay under fire

As mentioned yesterday, Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured 78-year-old hunting companion Harry Whittington on Saturday while shooting quail on a ranch in Texas.

The V-P is now under fire as his office only made the (minor) incident public on Sunday, and only after it was first reported by a local newspaper.

The White House says the delay occurred as staff first attended to the victim and gathered the facts of the incident. Sorry? They can only do one thing at a time? Why the hell weren't they proactive and ensured that he had the correct license and his Security Detail were maintaining a controlled environment?

Hunger Strike in Guantanamo ended

During the past few weeks there has been a widespread hunger strike among the prisoners in Guantanamo. It was effectively ended last week when the prison authorities took tough action to deal with the hunger strikers.

According to American lawyers representing some of the prisoners, one of the methods was for riot control soldiers to hold the prisoners down while long plastic tubes were inserted into their nasal passages and down into their stomachs.

Where do all these prisoners come from, anyway?

According to the Pentagon, 95% of them were not captured by the Americans themselves.

Some 86% were handed over in Afghanistan and Pakistan after a widespread campaign in which big financial bounties were offered in exchange for anyone suspected of links to al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

The US lawyers quote the text of one of the notices the Americans handed out: "Get wealth and power beyond your dreams... You can receive millions of dollars helping the anti-Taleban forces catch al-Qaeda and Taleban murderers.
"This is enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life."

So, according to the figures supplied by the Pentagon, it looks as though more than 440 men out of the total of 517 at Guantanamo were handed over to the Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a direct result of these bounties.

Saddam returns to court

An angry Saddam Hussein has appeared in court saying he was being forced to attend after boycotting earlier sessions with his seven co-defendants.

The former Iraqi leader shouted 'Down with Bush' and continued a stormy exchange with the new chief judge who he says is biased and wants removed.

In a completely unrelated story, Cheney shot a man in Texas.

Liverpool 1 - Wigan 0

Liverpool registered their first Premiership win since mid-January.

Sami Hyypia's first goal of the season on the half hour mark was enough to secure all three points for the Reds in a scrappy game at the JJB Stadium and end their mini-slump - the longest since Rafa took over. Robbie Fowler started for the Reds.

Manufacturing loses most jobs in 15 years

Canadian manufacturers struggled under the weight of a strong currency and foreign competition in January, cutting 41,600 jobs in January. It was the sharpest decline since February, 1991, according to Statistics Canada.

Of those January cuts, 33,000 occurred in Ontario, the country's manufacturing heartland. Those reductions come on top of more than 100,000 job cuts last year, with two thirds of those in Ontario.

The Canadian Labour Congress called the manufacturing decline a 'crisis.'

In related news, the US trade deficit widened in December, pushing the shortfall for 2005 to record levels.

How to beat a traffic ticket

Here's a very funny letter sent to fight a traffic ticket

Rice: Iran and Syria 'incited violence'

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has accused Iran and Syria of fuelling anti-Western sentiment, in a row over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

Rice said both countries went out of their way to exploit Muslim anger at the caricatures. The accusation came as the UK embassy in Iran came under attack. Western embassies in Syria and Lebanon were burnt down over the weekend. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and his counterparts called the drawings offensive, but expressed alarm at the violent worldwide reaction to them.

The cartoons originally appeared in the best-selling Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September to accompany an editorial criticising self-censorship in the Danish media.

Since then some media outlets have republished the pictures in solidarity, while others - including the BBC - have refrained from publishing them to avoid causing offence to their audiences.

Matthew moved to New York State today

It's very exciting!

Yesterday I was available to irritate everyone while working on the move with Matthew, Mom and Dad. That big van sure was handy!

Liverpool defeated by Chelski

In a disgusting match of chippy play and theatrics from a mostly outplayed Chelsa, the result went against the Reds. This was unpleasant to watch - there was little class from the Blues.

Blogging when I should be Logging

Yes, taking a momentary break from running through my now 26 item "to do" list as I enjoy Solomon Burke's great album Don't Give Up on Me. His cover of Tom Waits' Diamond on Your Mind is playing right now.

I've picked up a fair amount of new music (well, new to me) in the past month or so, including CDs by Neko Case, Broken Social Scene, The Beta Band, Nick Cave and Radiohead. I think my Ween days are past me...

Worked out at lunchtime, taking the Boot Camp class at my gym. I think I acquitted myself pretty well. According to WWs I have lost 5lbs in the last two weeks. With today's workout, this means that even counting my Egg & Bagel brunch, I can have up to 5 Guinness tonight (over many hours, Mom) without hitting my flex points (which I magnificently exceeded last week).

Karina is back on Sunday.

Argh!

In a painful misread of the dates and being otherwise pre-occupied, I missed the one-off trade deadline for the Hockey Pool - along with the rest of the staff. No one seems to care but me though - the Pool Commissioner slipped his trade in. I think we just gave him $400.

Fowler returns to Liverpool today

Football always has room for players who can find time and space, no matter how quick their legs or how capacious their lungs.

Today Robbie Fowler returns to play for Liverpool having been a dynamic goal-scoring titan in the early part of his career. The question for many will be whether Fowler has the legs (and gas) to be effective in the side at the age of 30. The smart bet by Benitez is 'yes'. Fowler will now be working with the best fitness coaches around, in the form of the current Melwood Bootroom.

Time will tell!

Bush urges end to oil 'addiction'

In his State of the Union address last night, President George W Bush has warned the US must break its 'addiction' to oil. He said the US was too reliant on oil from the Middle East, often from 'unstable' countries, and had to find alternatives.

Two immediate observations:

1. He didn't try to curb consumption
2. He didn't mention that the US imports only 20% of its oil from the region (Canada and Mexico are larger)

Not much of a Moonshot George. This plan is par for the course, of course.