Store Owner Accused of Stealing $5.7M Lottery Win

December, 18 2007

A convenience store owner was charged yesterday for stealing a winning lottery ticket and claiming it for $5.7M. Hafiz Zulqarnain Malik, 60, was accused of stealing a winning lottery ticket back June 2004 and cashed it 6 months later in January 2005.

The police stated the the ticket belonged to a group of four people from the Toronto area. The customers simply wanted him to check to see if they won and he took the ticket from them.

Malik's assets have been seized. The assets include a house worth around $5M two cars, and a savings account.

The OPP have been searching for more and more convenience store owner and lottery employee frauds that occurred between 1999 and 2006.

I think things like this are awful. I mean when people come into stores expecting to see their lottery ticket validate, and then the store owner lies to them and tells them they lost. Thats not right. Then the man 6 months later cashes it and buys him self a house? Thats not right. At least buy a house in a country where the police can't take it away from you, but still cheating people out of their rightful money is just wrong.

CBC.ca

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/12/18/lottery-charges.html

Rescuers Race Weather to Find Missing Family

December, 19 2007

With another storm heading towards Butte County rescuers frantically search for a husband and his three children. The family went on a trip to find a Christmas tree on Sunday and they never returned home. Their car was found along a road on Monday night.

Reports say that the snow can be 7 feet deep in some areas. More snow is expected to come on today.

The missing are Frederick Dominguez, 38, Christopher Dominguez, 18, Alexis Dominguez, 15, and Joshua Dominguez, 12.

They were reported missing by Fredericks' ex-wife and a search team was sent out Monday night. So far they have had no luck finding them.

This is a tragedy. A whole family missing especially in the winter is not a good thing. I hope that they are found healthy and well. People should be aware of the weather before planning trips to go out, especially with children.

KCRA.com

http://www.kcra.com/news/14888194/detail.html

Fire at Building Next to White House

December, 19 2007

A fire was put out quickly in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building today. This building houses the Vice Presidents ceremonial offices and most of the White House Staff. This building is right beside the White House.

The fire started at around 9:30 am and started right near Vice President offices. The blaze happened on the third floor and so far there are no injuries reported. The office building was evacuated and the fire could have started either in a telephone bank or an electrical closet.

I think events like this occur often and there is not much to do when something like this happen. There was minimal damage and no one was hurt so all in all this was not a bad thing.

Associated Press

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/19/eob.fire/index.html

Cops' Locker Room Robbed During Hockey Game

December, 18 2007

A thief snipped a police badge along with a few wallets from a dressing room Tuesday. The theft happened while a few police officers were playing shinny at the Canlan Sports Complex.

The police were sharing the room and left the door unlocked. There were civilians around and there is a description out of the man who apparently stole the wallets and badge.

The only things stolen was one badge, a few wallets, and a couple of cell phones. This was not the first time that a police badge was stolen. A few years ago in Aurora several badges were stolen at an arena.

I think that even though that is very gutsy that this has received to much publicity. If this had happened to civilians there would have been no news paper article printed and the police would have just searched for the suspect themselves. Things like this happen all the time to normal people and even though it is hard to prevent things like this you should always lock your door for you locker room in any arena or sports facility.

Jackson Hayes
Tamsyn Burgmann

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/286703

Girls Lacing up Skates for Charity in Tourney

Dec, 12 2007

Fernando Spigarelli came up with the idea of hosting a tournament that would raise money for oncology at Sick Kids.

Spigarelli son Nicholas was diagnosed with Leukemia and was receiving treatment at Sick Kids. 11 years later Spigarelli finally decided to start the tournament. So far the tournament has raised almost $35,000. The money was donated to Sick Kids.

23 schools participated in the tournament, and took place at Canlan Sports Complex. The money was raised through raffles and corporate donations.

I think Spigarelli's initiative is amazing. If more people could put together events to try and raise money for charities then the world would be a much better place. Coming up with simple ideas like this could help many needy organizations get the money that they so badly need. Events do not even have to be big like this they can be small fund-raisers, but if more people did things like this the world would be a much better place.

David Grossman

http://www.thestar.com/article/284770

Lennon's Hair Fetches $48,000 at Auction

December, 12 2007.

A lock of John Lennon's was sold for $48,000 Wednesday. The hair was sold at an auction of Beatle memorabilia. The hair was donated by the hair dresser for The Beatles.

The hair was taped inside an autographed copy of John Lennon's book "A Spaniard in the Works". The item was sold to an anonymous bidder. The people who ran the auction did not expect to get this much money. There estimates on its price was about $5,000.

Lennon gave the book and the hair to their hair dresser back when they were big. The reason that the book was worth so much is because it is an original copy of John Lennon's book, a lock of his hair, and a signature. Glasow (the hair dresser) decided that she wanted to give the book and the hair to a fan and donated it to the auction of Beatle memorabilia. Another item that was donated by Glasow was a signature to her from George Harrison signed, George "Dandruff" Harrison. She stated, "Rather than these things being stuck in a drawer with nobody enjoying them, real enthusiasts could get their hands on these things."

I think what Glasow did was a good thing. By the looks of the article she did not seem like a big Beatle fan. By her late statement this proves I am write, she also gives the chance for someone who would treasure it more to have it.

I think that the amount spent on buying this is a little much, but they are a lot of people who loved The Beatles. Maybe this person favored John Lennon but I am sure that since $48,000 was spent on it the person who bought it must have either liked The Beatles or really admired John Lennon.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/284898

No author named. Associated Press.

Illicit Grow-op Leaks Into Outremont Daycare

Monday, December 10, 2007 | 2:50 PM ET

On Monday (today) a Montreal daycare was closed because flooding caused by marijuana growing operation the floor above.

The daycare was forced to close on the weekend because of the leaking that came from the room above. Further investigation discovered that there was an illegal marijuana growing operation. The room was crammed with more then 1,500 fully grown marijuana plants.

Employees working at the daycare said they had no idea that their neighbors above them were doing anything like this. They said they could not detect a smell which usually would come from these plants.

Firefighters discovered these plants when investigating the leak. The plants are now being brought into the police lab.

I personally think that this situation has a little humor. Sure it is not a good thing that the daycare was forced to close but I think that it is a good thing that the plants were found. The humor I see is that probably if the leak had not occurred and the flooding had not taken place then I am sure that the plants would never have been found or would not have been found for a while. This people did not have luck on their side seeing as since one of their pipes broke the daycare below them started flooding. None the less it is a good thing that so much marijuana can be taken off the street.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/12/10/qc-yeshivagrowop1210.html

Files from the Canadian Press.

Ice Storm in U.S. Claims 14 Lives

Monday, 10 December 2007, 23:07 GMT

In several states just east of the Rocky Mountains have died from an ice storm that has gone through these states. About 400,000 people have no electricity after the ice storms went through these states. The National Weather Service issued ice storm warnings for regions in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas.

A state of emergency has been declared in Oklahoma and Missouri after about 2.5 inches of ice has layered some regions. Both of these states expect even more ice and snow so the state of emergency will remain.

More then 14 people have now died from the ice storm. Most of these people died in traffic accidents. Twelve people were killed in a traffic pile up in Oklahoma, a homeless man died of hypothermia in Oklahoma city, and another highway accident killed another person in Missouri.

Many airports in the region were closed due to the icy conditions.

I think that in these states people should take more precaution as well the government should take more precaution. I think that all speed limits should be lowered during the time creating temporary speed limits for the time being. As well people should be more cautious while driving. Also I think that the towns that have been hit by the storm should make sure that homeless people have shelter. And towns should close down roads that they think would not be fit for people to drive on. If more precautions were taken I think that some lives could have been spared.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7137682.stm

No author shown.

Ancient Polar Bear Jawbone Found

Monday, 10 December 2007, 17:19 GMT

What appears to be the oldest known remains of a polar bear date back to around 110,000 to 130,000 years ago. These remains were found in Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic. A professor from the University of Iceland says that this jawbone found was probably from an adult most likely a female polar bear.

This comes as a shock to most because until recently polar bears were thought to have only evolved recently approximately 100,000 years ago. If the age of the jawbone can be determined then the outlook for these creatures could be positive because of their evolutionary heritage.

The good news one professor states is "And what's interesting about that is that the Eeemian - the last interglacial - was much warmer than the Holocene (the present)." Meaning that the polar bear was able to survive the weather stage that was warmer then the one we are experiencing now which is good news for the polar bear.



Before this discovery the oldest known polar bear was dated back to 70,000 years ago. Scientists are very excited about this discovery because the jawbone is still in very good shape.

I think that the discovery of this jawbone is a good thing for the scientific world. This will help us understand what the polar bears endured back then. For example knowing that the polar bear survived through a period that is warmer then our current temperatures now means that hopefully with the rising temperatures the polar bear will be able to survive this period of warm climate.

Also discoveries like this help us understand our past. Scientists believe that since most polar bears and other animals lived and died in the Arctic their remains could have been eaten, frozen, or sunk to the bottom of the Arctic. I think that more excavating should be done in the arctic because there are vast amounts of ice and places that could be searched.

By: Jonathan Amos

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7132220.stm

A City of Unmatched Diversity

According to a new study just less than half the population in Toronto was foreign born. This was from the 2006 census. This makes Toronto more diversified then Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City. It is not just Toronto that is diversified but also towns like Aurora, Markham, Mississauga have increased in the number of immigrants.

56.5% of the population in Markham is foreign born and the population of foreign born in Richmondhill has increased by about 51%. 49.97% of the population in the city of Toronto is foreign born. Because of the vast number of immigrants and other people moving into the city affordable housing has become hard to find.

In 2001 12,000 immigrants chose to move to the Peel region as their first place to live. By 2003 that number had reached 30,000 immigrants. Some people are worried about services and they think that the services might not be able to keep up with the growing number of immigrants.

Economist Armine Yalnizyan stated "Toronto is the most diverse city on the face of this planet. If we cannot make it work in Toronto, where can we make it work?"

I agree with Armine. I live close enough to Toronto and every time I am there I will see many different colors of people when I walking down the street. At different times there will be different multicultural events such as the Taste of the Danforth and the Chinese Dragon festival. Also there are restaurants of all types such as Chinese, Indian, Russian, Mexican, and many more different types. If diversity did not work in Toronto then I do not think it could work anywhere else. Seeing as diversity does work very well in Toronto I think soon enough many other places could become like Toronto.

I also think that it is good that people are moving more into the suburbs now instead of first moving to the city. It adds more diversity to places outside of Toronto and most people living in the suburbs get to know there neighbors. If there neighbors are from another country people will be able to learn other peoples customs making everyone more tolerant of each other. It is a good thing growing up in such diversity because people learn to be more tolerant of other peoples customs, nationalities, and traditions.

By: Francine Kopun
Nicholas Keung

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/282694