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Court bans on wild animals, child performers force struggling Indian circuses to adapt or die

The Canadian PressMay 17, 2013 03:45

MUMBAI, India - In the early morning heat and dust, daily practice at the Rambo Circus is in full swing. A trapeze creaks as two performers perfect their throws. A Colombian daredevil shouts to his colleagues scrambling atop a giant set of spinning wheels called the Ring of Death.

Japan PM pledges to slash red tape for growth

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 02:15

Japan's premier said Friday he would slash red tape in a bid to boost corporate investment as he seeks to capitalise on the feel-good mood of a soaraway stock market and a plunging yen. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set out broadbrush outlines of the third of his "three arrows" of a plan dubbed "Abenomics", which is intended to turn around years of deflation in the world's third-largest economy. The first two "arrows" -- a colossal government spending plan and aggressive monetary easing -- have fuelled optimism in an economy that has struggled for two decades.

Australian gets 45 years for Indian student's murder

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 01:15

An Australian man who raped and strangled his Indian student neighbour and threw her body into a canal in a suitcase was jailed Friday for 45 years for the "horrifying" murder. Daniel Stani-Reginald, 21, had plotted to rape and murder a woman for years before choosing Tosha Thakkar, a 24-year-old accounting student who lived in an adjoining room at his Sydney boarding house, the Supreme Court heard.

House GOP pushes full repeal of Obama's health care law - 37th vote to scale back or kill it

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 18:46

WASHINGTON - One more time, with feeling! The Republican-led House voted yet again Thursday to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, knowing full well that won't stop it. Only months away from the rollout of coverage for uninsured Americans, it was the 37th attempt in a little more than two years by House Republicans to eliminate, defund or partly scale back the Affordable Care Act. The Democratic-led Senate and the president will simply ignore the House action, which came on a virtual party line vote, 229-195.

Supreme Court to rule on case of mom who left newborn baby in Walmart toilet

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 16:50

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada is set to decide the fate of a Saskatchewan woman who gave birth in a Walmart bathroom stall and left the newborn in a toilet. April Halkett was found not guilty in June 2009 of abandoning the baby boy two years earlier in the store in Prince Albert, Sask. But the Crown disagreed with the verdict and took the case to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which upheld the findings of a trial judge.

Second appeals court finds Obama recess appointment is unconstitutional

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 16:45

WASHINGTON - A second federal appeals court has found that President Barack Obama exceeded his power when he bypassed the Senate to install a member to the National Labor Relations Board. The ruling by the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia came on the same day that a Senate panel considered a slate of five nominees for full terms on the labour board. Senate Republicans said Thursday they would oppose two of the nominees — Sharon Block and Richard Griffin — because they currently sit on the board as recess appointments.

Israel to 'legalise' wildcat settler outposts

Agence France-PresseMay 16, 2013 11:30

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Thursday the government wants to give retroactive approval to four West Bank settlement outposts it had previously pledged to at least partially demolish. In response to a Peace Now petition to the Supreme Court against the outposts, the state attorney's office said settlers had now purchased the private Palestinian land on which they built, paving the way for the government to give its blessing.

Man charged with confining, assaulting boy to plead guilty next week: lawyer

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 11:19

HALIFAX - A man accused of confining and sexually assaulting a teenage boy at a home in rural Nova Scotia will plead guilty to some charges in the case, his lawyer said Thursday. Mike Taylor said in an interview that David James Leblanc will enter guilty pleas on a number of charges when he appears next Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Bridgewater. Taylor declined to specify which charges Leblanc intends to plead guilty to, but said the matter would be finalized when the pleas are entered.

Supreme Court won't hear appeal in 2004 murder of Vancouver Island teen

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 11:19

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal from a man convicted twice in the 2004 beating death of a 13-year-old Vancouver Island girl. George Osmond is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murder of Kayla John of Zeballos, B.C. His first conviction was overturned on appeal because he wasn't given proper access to a lawyer. He was retried and convicted again in 2009. Testimony showed the girl was sexually assaulted and beaten to death in her own bed.

Supreme Court refuses to hear toilet-lid killer's appeal

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 11:19

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear Tyler Lee Nolet's appeal of his second-degree murder conviction for clubbing another man to death with a toilet-tank lid. Nolet said he was acting in self-defence when he bashed Kenny Wong with the porcelain lid in a Calgary bar in 2008. The two men knew each other from a prior altercation and Nolet told the court he felt threatened when he spotted Wong at the bar. But the trial judge said Nolet was likely out for revenge over his previous run-in with Wong.