Tied to tree, raped, woman tells MD's trial

A women told the St. John's jury on Wenesday that a physician tied her to a tree and had sexual assault on her. This women is the second person to get witness to testify against John Buckingham, a physician facing 23 charges involving with sexual abuse and drug uses. This women was addicted to cocaine since age of 13 and was addicted to OxyContin since age of 18.

Court heard she has been convicted of persuading doctors to give her prescriptions for narcotics.

Buckingham, she testified, was one of the doctors who prescribed OxyContin — a powerful painkiller often meant to be used for cancer patients — to her.
She testified she gave Buckingham sexual favours for the prescriptions, starting with oral sex at his office. Eventually, she testified, she had sexual intercourse with Buckingham at his house on a regular basis.

She testified that Buckingham once tied her to a tree and that they had anal sex. She told jurors that it hurt and that when she asked him to stop, he did not.
She said she was too ashamed to get treatment for the bleeding that ensued.
As well, she told the court, Buckingham whipped her with a branch while she was tied to a tree, leaving bruises on her back and legs.

In my opinion, John Buckingham is one of the worst kind of man that could be. I can't believe such a human can do this thing! I think that John Buckingham stays in prison for many years after seeing what he has done in the past (he deserves it)

Article from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2007/10/18/buckingham-trial.html

Britain to begin analog shutdown

Britain is beginning the first phase of its switch-off of analog television broadcasting on Wednesday, with residents in Whitehaven the first to go all digital.

Television viewers in the town, which is in the northwestern corner of the country, who do not have digital services such as Freeview or Sky will lose BBC2 when the switch-off begins.

Digital UK, the body overseeing the switch-off, said town residents are leaving things until the last minute. About 20 per cent of households, or 5,000, have not yet purchased the digital set-top box needed for the conversion. Britain will then continue a phased switch-off, resulting in the entire country going completely digital by 2012. Britain is the latest country to begin an analog switch-off, after Finland completed it in August. The United States is scheduled to turn off its signals in 2009, with Canada following suit on Aug. 31, 2011.

In Canada, the switch-off will only apply to free, over-the-air broadcasts and not necessarily to cable television subscribers. Under rules set by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, cable companies have the option of turning off analog signals if they can show more than 85 per cent of their customers are on digital. Canada's largest cable provider, Rogers Communications Inc., now has more than 50 per cent of customers on digital and is expected to surpass that threshold in three to four years.

I think that governments around the world are turning off analog broadcasts because digital is a more efficient use of the broadcast airwaves, where several digital channels can use the same transmission space as one analog channel.
Television providers also support the move because digital television creates additional revenue through the addition of on-demand services such as pay-per-view movies.

Article from: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/10/15/tech-digital.html

Canadian troops in battle near Kandahar city

The sounds of mortars and heavy machine-gun fire were echoing through Kandahar city today as Canadian troops along with U.S. and Afghan forces confronted a show of force by the Taliban in a major battle just outside the city limits.

Intense fighting reportedly left 50 Taliban dead and 50 more wounded after the Afghan National Police and NATO soldiers surrounded two villages in the Arghandab district, about 25 kilometres north of Kandahar city.

The Taliban were believed to have massed about 300 fighters in the area, hoping to take advantage of a leadership vacuum in the district which sits on a rebel infiltration route.

Major, Eric Landry, who is a chief of planning for the Canadian military contingent in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Forces, or ISAF. said "The Arghandab district is very close to Kandahar city,"
"The Taliban shouldn't have arrived here. It was one of the safest districts but it's not safe any more."

Why are Talibans and US soldiers, even Canadians fighting? I can't believe how much damage is done. For example, In Kandahar city, most of the buildings are destroyed, many inocent children, citizens have been killed or wounded and many soldiers are killed. I blame both Talibans and our soliders. Talibans should stop attacking, trying to overrule the country and take advantage of a leadership.

Indigo cuts book prices

New promotion cuts price of all books 10-20 per cent

As the Canadian dollar soared early today to its highest level since 1960s and postal warehouses filled up with goods bought online from U.S. retailers, another major Canadian retailer announced price cuts aimed at luring customers into its stores.

Indigo Books and Musics Inc are lowering its book price by 10 to 20 cents off on any books. They said that there will be higher discount is rewarded for costumers who belong to its "irewards" loyalty program. The reason that they are lowering its price is because many people are buying books from U.S. online system not from Canadian book stores.

The discount does not completely close the gap between the printed prices of Canadian and U.S. books. But in a notice to customers handed out in its stores, Indigo says books in Canada will always cost up to 10 per cent more due to differences in the scale of the business here.
The Canadian dollar rose another 0.3 per cent early Wednesday to $1.0513 U.S. and is up 22.6 per cent against the U.S. greenback so far this year. Yet consumers have pointed out that prices for many goods remain as much as 30 to 40 per cent higher in Canada.

Several major retailers have responded by publicizing their efforts to lower prices for consumers, including discount retailers Zeller's and Wal-mart.
The price gap on books is particularly evident to consumers as both the U.S. and Canadian prices come pre-printed on the book cover, Huie said.

Many consumers don't understand that the price printed on the book is set by the publisher, not the retailer, often six months before the book appears on stores shelves, Indigo also explained.

In my opinion, I think that because the book's prices are going down, it will be very good for all of us in Canada. However, because my father is working in Korea, he has to send more money for the same amount of money to be received. I wish that the book prices go down as much as possible.

Article from: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/272284

Murder conviction in Nazi dagger burglary

A jury has convicted a plumber’s assistant of suffocating an 83-year-old widow during a botched burglary in search of Nazi daggers, then burning her body to hide the evidence.

Richard Mackenzie, 36, faces an automatic life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 25 years after a jury came back Tuesday night with a verdict of guilty of first-degree murder after almost two days’ deliberations.

With its verdict, the jury apparently found that Mackenzie made a conscious decision not to remove a duct tape gag that he had placed over Ann Zeidenberg’s mouth to silence her screams, or that he stopped her from removing it herself as she panicked and threw up.

Defence lawyer Lorne Sabsay had argued that his client, who did not take the stand, was not the killer. In fact, it was likely that two other intruders had killed Zeidenberg, Sabsay said.
But Crown prosecutor Hank Goody alleged that it was Mackenzie who gagged Zeidenberg, then covered her body with debris and lit it on fire in the basement of her bungalow on March 18, 2004.

Mackenzie had been part of a crew doing drain work the previous September on Zeidengberg’s home, north of Bathurst St. and Eglinton Ave. W., when he stole a Nazi dagger from her late husband’s collection of war memorabilia, Goody alleged.

Her family, which is Jewish, had sold most of the collection, but was storing the dagger and four similar weapons in the basement for fear of them getting into the wrong hands.
The Crown alleged Mackenzie unsuccessfully tried to sell the stolen dagger to an acquaintance before eventually selling it to an antique dealer.

He came back looking to steal the other four – which the family had already disposed of – and Zeidenberg, a retired teacher, likely caught him in the act, Goody said.

Article from: http://www.thestar.com/article/272247