U.S. air base in South Korea put on lockdown, but no active shooter found

The U.S. Osan Air Base in South Korea lifted a lockdown Monday that had been ordered as a precaution after someone reported an unscheduled "active shooter drill" at the high school.

Security forces swept the school and its perimeters and found no injuries or suspicious activities, according to a posting on the base's Facebook site.

Morgan Nugent, the principal of Osan American High School, said in a Facebook posting that officials decided to err "on the side of safety" and lock the school down after a teacher received what sounded like an automated call saying there was "an active shooter drill taking place." There was no such drill scheduled Monday.

Osan Air Base, located south of Seoul, is the headquarters of U.S. air forces in South Korea, the 7th Air Force. The base is also home to the 7th Air Forces' 51st Fighter Wing. About 7,500 to 8,000 U.S. troops, civilian employees and their family members live and work on base, according to the base's public affairs office.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, whose 1950 attack started the Korean War.

The presence of the U.S. troops and annual U.S.-South Korean war drills are a continuing point of contention with North Korea, which claims that they are signs of hostility and designs at invading the North.

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U.S. air base in South Korea put on lockdown, but no active shooter found

A high school principal at the U.S. Osan Air Base in South Korea said Monday that officials locked down the school and base as a precaution after someone reported an unscheduled "active shooter drill."

Morgan Nugent, principal of Osan American High School, said in a posting on the base's official Facebook site that officials "decided to error on the side of safety" and lock the school down after a teacher received what sounded like an automated call saying there was "an active shooter drill taking place." There was no such drill scheduled Monday.

Nugent said security forces were sweeping the school and its perimeter and he would restart school once given an "all clear."

People on the base had been told to stay in their quarters or workplaces until further notice, according to Tech. Sgt. Stacy Foster, a spokesman at Osan. He had no other details.

Osan Air Base is located south of Seoul. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, whose 1950 attack started the Korean War.

Osan is the headquarters of the U.S. air forces in South Korea, the 7th Air Force. The base is also home to the 7th Air Forces' 51st Fighter Wing. About 7,500 to 8,000 U.S. troops, civilian employees and their family members live and work on base, according to the base's public affairs office.

The presence of the U.S. troops and annual U.S.-South Korean war drills are a continuing point of contention with North Korea, which claims that they are signs of hostility and designs at invading the North.

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U.S. air base in South Korea on lockdown amid reports of school shooting

New

Reports of active shooter at a high school on the base

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 30, 2014 9:57 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 30, 2014 9:57 PM ET

Osan Air Base in South Korea was locked down Monday because of reports of an active shooter at a high school on the grounds of the U.S. base, military officials said.

People on the base have been told to stay in their quarters or workplaces until further notice, according to Tech. Sgt. Stacy Foster, a spokesman at Osan. He had no other details. Another official confirmed the lockdown and reports of a shooter but also had no further details.

Osan Air Base is located south of Seoul. It is home to some of the 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, whose 1950 attack started the Korean War.

Osan's 51st Fighter Wing posted on its official Facebook site that a perimeter had been established and security forces had swept half of all three buildings in the area but had no reports yet of suspicious activity.

The presence of the U.S. troops and annual U.S.-South Korean war drills are a continuing point of contention with North Korea, which claims that they are signs of hostility and designs at invading the North.

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Toronto police probe whether highway death, discovery of 3 bodies related

Toronto police are investigating whether the deaths of three people found inside a Thorncliffe Park apartment building and a death on the Don Valley Parkway are related.

On Saturday afternoon, paramedics reported finding the bodies of two adults and one child inside an apartment unit at 85 Thorncliffe Park Dr.

That same day, a death on the Don Valley Parkway left the southbound lanes of the highway closed for hours.

On Sunday afternoon, Det. Tom Bui acknowledged that police are looking at what possible connections could exist between the two scenes.

"There is some correlation, but it is very non-tangible at this time, so we are continuing with the legal identification of the remains and of the deceased people and we will proceed once that identification has been made," Bui told reporters on Sunday morning.

The detective said investigators from the traffic services unit are working with the homicide squad.

Bui would not disclose an exact timeline of Saturday's events, but said police learned of the two scenes within a short period of time.

"It was a report that had been made to us that occurred in close proximity, time-wise to the incident that happened on the DVP," he said.

Bui said police will remain at the Thorncliffe Park building for several days. He also said police are speaking with next of kin "to assist us with a difficult identification."

As of Sunday, Bui said investigators are executing a search warrant at the apartment building and on "several vehicles."

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'It doesn't look good': WHO says Ebola targets set for Dec. 1 will be missed

Two months ago, the World Health Organization launched an ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, aiming to isolate 70 per cent of the sick and to have 70 per cent safe burials in the three hardest-hit countries— Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — by December 1.

Only Guinea is on track to meet the December 1 goal, according to an update from WHO.

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In Liberia, only 23 per cent of cases are isolated and 26 per cent of the needed burial teams are in place. In Sierra Leone, about 40 per cent of cases are isolated while 27 per cent of burial teams are operational.

With the target date looming on Monday, it looks almost certain WHO's goals will be missed, marking another failure in attempts to slow the biggest-ever outbreak of the deadly disease. The Ebola outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March and spiralled out of control after being declared a public health emergency in August.

WHO's Dr. Bruce Aylward acknowledged in October that to reach the December 1 goal would be "really pushing the system hard."

"If we don't do it in 60 days and we take 90 days: No. 1, a lot more people will die that shouldn't; and No. 2, we will need that much more capacity on the ground to be able to manage the caseload," said Aylward, who is directing WHO's Ebola response.

Small successes

In recent weeks, there have been some successes in curbing Ebola; cases seem to be declining or stabilizing in Liberia and Guinea. But the area around Sierra Leone's capital and a district in the country's north are seeing a severe surge in cases.

A child suffering from the Ebola virus receives treatment at a holding centre in Sierra Leone. The country will soon see a dramatic increase in desperately needed Ebola treatment beds. (Tanya Bindra/Associated Press)

The December 1 targets had been met in many places — but not all, which was the goal, said Anthony Banbury, who is heading the UN's Ebola response.

"There are still going to be many people who catch the disease and many people who die from it," Banbury said.

Even if the December 1 targets had been reached, WHO and others had predicted Ebola would continue sickening people in West Africa and possibly elsewhere until sometime next year. As of November 26, WHO said there were nearly 16,000 cases of Ebola and 5,600 deaths, including all confirmed, suspect and probable cases.

'You want to isolate 100 per cent of patients with Ebola and have 100 per cent safe burials.'— Sebastian Funk, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Failing to reach the December 1 target now suggests Ebola will spread even further as capacities to respond become even more stretched, according to Oyewale Tomori, of Redeemer's University in Nigeria, who sits on WHO's Emergency Ebola committee.

"We need to redouble our efforts to see what we can do to reduce the spread and catch up with the virus," he said. "Right now, it doesn't look good."

Other experts said the WHO goals were never very significant.

"You want to isolate 100 per cent of patients with Ebola and have 100 per cent safe burials," said Sebastian Funk, director of the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "Getting to 70 per cent doesn't really mean a lot."

New goal for Jan. 1st

The ultimate goal of WHO's plan is to isolate all Ebola patients and provide safe burials for all by January 1.

A woman prisoner suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus, from Tubmanburg central prison, to being taken to the Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia, Liberia. (Abbas Dulleh/Associated Press)

"We hope that what we're seeing in Liberia will continue, but unfortunately what can happen with Ebola is that it can go to new countries, as it has already to Mali," warned Dr. David Heymann, an Ebola expert who previously worked for the World Health Organization.

"The most dangerous thing would be if people now think Ebola is over and become complacent," he said. Earlier this month, the U.S. announced it was scaling back the size and number of Ebola clinics it had initially promised to build in Liberia, citing a drop in cases.

The UN's Banbury said the critical gap in those locations were new beds and that ending Ebola would be a long, hard fight: "We're by no means out of the woods yet, but we're headed in the right direction."

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Georgia teen missing 4 years found behind fake wall in home

The 13-year-old boy was discovered behind a wall in a Jonesboro, Georgia home and reunited with his mother early Saturday, police said. (CBC)

A 13-year-old boy who had been reported missing four years ago was discovered alive, hidden behind a fake wall of a home near Atlanta, Georgia, and reunited with his mother early on Saturday, police said.

Five people living in the home in Jonesboro, 28 kilometres south of Atlanta, were taken into custody, among them the boy's father, Gregory Jean, 37, and an adult female, said Sergeant Kevin Hughes of the Clayton County police.

Jean and Samantha Joy Davis face charges of false imprisonment, cruelty to children and obstructing an officer, he said, adding that three juveniles also in the home were facing obstruction charges.

The boy's mother apparently had reported him missing to child welfare but not police, and no missing person's report was filed in Clayton County, Hughes said.

The teen was apparently able to get to a phone recently and contacted his mother with his whereabouts, authorities said.

Called mom from inside hiding place

Clayton County police went to the home on Friday to look for the 13-year-old but Jean and Davis said they had no information about the boy, Hughes said.

Several hours later, police came back and again searched the residence. While the police were in the home, the boy called his mother, who relayed to officers where her son was hidden in the house, Hughes said.

"They discovered him hidden behind a false wall in the interior portion of the home," he said.

The boy appeared to be in good physical health and was reunited with his mother, who had come to Georgia from out of state, Hughes said.

Not enrolled in school

Neighbours in their quiet, well-kept Jonesboro neighbourhood said the family moved in about six months ago and kept to themselves.

'You can see the yard is immaculate. The boy kept it that way.'- Neighbour Julie Pizarro

The 13-year-old boy always seemed to be home and did not appear to be enrolled in school, they said.

"We just thought that they liked to keep to themselves," said neighbour Julie Pizarro, 37, adding that the boy was often seen tending the yard.

"You can see the yard is immaculate," she said. "The boy kept it that way."

The teen went missing in 2010 while visiting his father in Florida, WSBTV reported.

Jean was being held in Clayton County jail and no bail has been set, online records show.

Authorities said Jean and Davis could face more criminal charges as the investigation unfolds.

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Boys, 9 and 11, buried by snowplow survived 7 hours in air pocket

Two boys trapped in a snow pile for about seven hours after a snowplow buried them are recovering in hospital.

The two cousins told reporters on Friday they could hear their worried families’ cries but couldn't respond loudly enough to be heard. Police credited an air pocket with saving their lives.

Elijah Martinez, 11, and Jason Rivera, 9, were building a snow fort Wednesday night across the street from Elijah's apartment in Newburgh, N.Y., when a plow operator clearing a parking lot unknowingly pushed snow over them.

Buried in nearly two metres of snow, they could barely move and couldn't breathe very well, so they could do nothing as they heard the anguished cries nearby. Jason lost his gloves and his hat flew off. They relied on each other to stay alive, they said, sharing Elijah's face mask to try to keep their hands warm and talking to each other so they wouldn't fall asleep.

"I felt so tired. It didn't feel real that they were coming to get us," Elijah told reporters at the hospital where the boys are recovering.

Parents frantic

As the hours passed, their parents were growing more frantic, calling police and searching through the snowy streets for the children who were just outside the apartment.

"I just kept telling myself: 'This is not true. This is not real,"' Jason's mom Aulix Martinez said. "It was just scary, and as time went on, it got scarier. I was begging the police to please find them."

Neighbour Takiaya Stevens told The Associated Press that police rallied help for the search.

"The cops were coming to all the neighbours' houses. They were knocking on doors. They were ringing bells asking for shovels, asking for help," she said. "The neighbours came out. Everyone tried to join in the search for the little boys."

At about 2 a.m., Officer Brandon Rola spotted footprints that were fast disappearing as more snow fell. Then he saw a shovel.

"I felt led to dig," he said.

'The neighbours came out. Everyone tried to join in the search for the little boys.'- Takiaya Stevens. neighbour

Rescuers saw the sole of a child's boot and then motion, digging faster as residents joined in the rescue, some with their bare hands in the pile of packed, wet snow.

"When I first hit the boot, you just try and stay positive and hopeful," Rola said. "You get that ray of hope and everybody just started working together trying to get these kids out. And as the snow kept coming come off, you started to see more and more movement and then you started to hear the voices and it was a very great feeling."

A terrific feeling

Rola said seeing the look of joy and hope in the boys' faces was a terrific feeling.

The boys were conscious but suffering from exposure.

"I felt so happy," Elijah said. "Everything we went through just fell right off my back."

"I'm just glad they got that big block off my chest, that was heavy," Jason said.

They were very thankful for the officer who found them. "I want him to be proud for what he did. I want him to have a good Thanksgiving, because he's a hero," Elijah said.

The cousins appeared healthy Friday, with Jason dressed in plaid pyjamas and Elijah still wearing his snow pants and a black sweatshirt with skulls. They said they wanted to eat and go to Disney World when they got home from the hospital, but Jason's mother said she wasn't sure when they would be discharged.

Newburgh is about 100 kilometres north of New York City on the Hudson River.

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Bell, Telus face class action lawsuits over rounding up call lengths

An Ontario court has certified class action lawsuits against Telus and Bell over the practice of rounding up calls to the farthest minute.

Lawyers for two firms representing the plaintiffs say millions of Canadian were affected by the practice in which, for example, a call that lasts one minute and one second is rounded off to two minutes for billing purposes.

While Bell and Telus had previously billed customers on a per-second basis, in mid-2002 they changed their practices so that customers were billed on a per-minute basis, with calls being rounded up to the farthest minute, the suit alleges.

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This change was not disclosed by either telecom until the end of the class periods, lawyers for Rochon Genova LLP and the Merchant Law Group LLP said in a release issued Thursday.

The class actions were certified on behalf of Canadian residents who subscribed to Bell services and were billed by the minute between Aug. 18, 2006, and Oct. 1, 2009, and Ontario residents who subscribed to Telus services and were billed by the minute between Aug. 18, 2006, and July 1, 2010.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

However, Joel Rochon, partner at Rochon Genova, called certification of the suits "an important decision for everyday consumers."

"There is hope with this decision that mobile phone transactions will become more transparent," Rochon said, adding that the fact that "punitive and aggregate damages have been certified sends a strong message to the major actors in the cellphone industry that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated."

Amounts being sought were not specified in the release issued by the two firms.

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Pressure on Tories to apologize after Sun retracts story on Liberal candidate

Conservative MPs are refusing to apologize for pillorying a Liberal candidate, even though the news story on which their criticism was based has been retracted.

Sun Media retracted Tuesday a story published last week that attributed quotes about the Harper government's income splitting plan to Banff-Airdrie Liberal candidate Marlo Raynolds.

• 
  

  Conservative trap to ensnare Liberal candidate ends up embarrassing Tories

  
  

The quotes came from a secretly recorded conversation during a Nov. 13 public meeting in Canmore, Alta., involving Raynolds, local resident Tam McTavish, one other man and a young woman identified as Alexandra Constantinidis, a former parliamentary assistant to Conservative MP Rob Anders.

The story by Sun News Network personality Brian Lilley alleged that Raynolds had said couples with children would spend money saved from the Tories' income splitting plan on television sets and cars, not on caring for their kids.

"Mr. Raynolds advises that he did not make those comments and that in fact they were made by Tam McTavish, which Mr. McTavish confirms. Sun Media regrets the error," read a tiny correction box published Tuesday in the Ottawa Sun.

Four Conservative MPs, including Employment Minister Jason Kenney and Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards, last week used the story to accuse Raynolds and the Liberals of not trusting parents to spend tax savings on their children.

They denounced Raynolds in the House of Commons and Richards further used the story to solicit donations in a fundraising email that accused Raynolds of showing frightening arrogance.

They showed no inclination Tuesday to retract their denunciations or apologize to Raynolds, despite demands to do so from Liberal MPs.

"Marlo Raynolds is an honourable man with an exemplary reputation and is owed an apology by all of these MPs," Liberal Wayne Easter told the Commons.

"Sun News has published a full retraction today. Do these members have the decency to do the same? Will they apologize for misleading the House?"

No mention of the matter was made by Tory MPs in the Commons. And neither Kenney nor Richards responded to a request for comment on Sun Media's retraction.

Richards' Facebook page made no mention of the retraction but an earlier posting, blasting Raynolds and showing a video clip of Richards' statement on the matter in the Commons last week, remained.

Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann gave precisely the same answer Tuesday as he did on Monday, when Sun Media was still standing behind its story.

"The person who recorded the conversation maintains the comments in question are from the Liberal candidate. The audio tape is available online for anyone to hear," Hann told said when asked if an apology would be forthcoming.

It is clear from the audio that at least two men and one woman were involved in the conversation. However, the quality of the audio recording varies and, at the moment the words in questions were spoken, there is so much background noise that it's difficult to make out the words, much less who is speaking.

In emails to Raynolds, Lilley confirmed the person who recorded the conversation was a Conservative supporter and a woman. He attributed the poor audio quality to the woman "zipping up her coat when she thought you were getting nervous that she might be recording you."

Photographs taken at the Canmore meeting of the only woman involved in the conversation match the Facebook profile photo of Alexandra Constantinidis. Her Facebook page, which disappeared Tuesday, also included photos of her posing with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who personally awarded her father a Queen's diamond jubilee medal in 2012.

Under two different names, Constantinidis signed in at the Canmore event and at an earlier Raynolds event in Airdrie. She provided a phone number on one sign-in sheet.

When The Canadian Press called that number Monday, a woman who said she was Alexandra hung up when told she was speaking to a reporter.

Constantinidis is the same person who was identified last fall as having secretly recorded comments by another prominent Liberal, retired general and would-be candidate Andrew Leslie. That audio also made its way to Sun Media and was used as fodder for Conservative denunciations and fundraising pitches.

Asked if Constantinidis is working for Sun Media, Lilley said in an email Tuesday: "As for the woman you mention, I do not know her, have not met her and have no relationship with her. Nor to my knowledge does Sun Media."

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Strong earthquake jolts central Japan, causes building collapse

Updated

No tsunami warning after earthquake in central region

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 22, 2014 8:20 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 22, 2014 9:30 AM ET

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Supreme Court to hear landmark case for Métis and non-status Indians

Updated

The Canadian Press Posted: Nov 20, 2014 10:29 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 20, 2014 10:58 AM ET

The Supreme Court of Canada will hear a high-stakes landmark case that could extend the federal government's responsibilities to hundreds of thousands of off-reserve Aboriginal Peoples.

The federal government and groups representing off-reserve aboriginals had both appealed a decision by the Federal Court of Appeal in a case started 15 years ago by Métis leader Harry Daniels.

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On Thursday, the Supreme Court said it would hear both appeals.

The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, along with several Métis and non-status Indians, took the federal government to court in 1999.

They alleged discrimination because they were not considered "Indians" under a section of the Constitution Act, and thus have been denied certain benefits.

Both the Métis and non-status Indians scored a major victory last year when the Federal Court recognized them as "Indians" under the Constitution.

The federal government appealed that ruling. Earlier this year, the Appeal Court upheld part of the decision.

It ruled that while Métis should remain Indians under the Constitution, extending that recognition to non-status Indians should be done on a case-by-case basis since it is a separate issue.

The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples — which represents both non-status Indians and Métis — appealed the Federal Court of Appeal's decision.

The federal government, meanwhile, had appealed both lower-court decisions to extend Indian status to the Métis, while also arguing the appeals court was right to conclude that non-status Indians as a whole should not constitutionally be considered Indians.

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Obesity could be costing the world $2 trillion

New

Nearly half the world's adults will be overweight or obese by 2030 should present trends cont

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 20, 2014 9:37 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 20, 2014 9:44 AM ET

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Hackers may be streaming video of your home live online

New

Consumers urged to change password

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 20, 2014 9:35 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 20, 2014 9:35 AM ET

Experts have a message for anyone with webcams, baby monitors and home security cameras: change your password now.

Britain's Information Commissioner's Office said Thursday that footage being collected from security cameras — such as closed circuit television networks or built-in cameras like baby monitors — is being posted to the internet.

A website based in Russia is posting live footage of homes and businesses after having used the default login credentials for thousands of cameras.

The ICO is joining with its counterparts in the United States, China, Australia and Canada in warning consumers about the Russian website.

The Russian site takes advantage of the fact that camera users receive default passwords to get devices working — such as "1234." Many manufacturers also put default passwords online.

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Majority of minivans do poorly in new crash tests

The Honda Odyssey was the only minivan to earn the highest safety rating in new crash tests by the insurance industry.

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Thursday that the Nissan Quest, Chrysler Town and Country, and Dodge Caravan all garnered the lowest rating on the small overlap front crash test, which replicates what happens when a vehicle's front corner collides with another object at 64 kilometres per hour (40 miles per hour).

In each of those cases, the minivans' structure collapsed from the force of the crash. In the Quest, both of the dummy's legs were trapped and the air bag was shoved up into its face, the institute said. In the Town and Country, the dummy's head slid off the air bag and hit the instrument panel.

The Toyota Sienna earned the second highest rating of "acceptable." The institute said its structure was weak but the dummy was protected by its side air bags.

Only the Odyssey won a "good" rating. Its structure was damaged, but the dummy was protected from serious injury, the group said.

The Arlington, Virginia-based institute introduced the small overlap test in 2012. This was the first time a group of minivans was tested, and the institute said it was surprised to see some of the worst outcomes possible for this type of severe crash.

Minivans are at a disadvantage because they are wider than the car platforms they're built on. That leaves large areas that are less able to absorb the force of a crash. Minivans are also heavier than cars, so the damage they inflict can be more severe.

One other minivan sold in the U.S., the Kia Sedona, has not yet been tested. Kia is making a change to the vehicle that should improve its performance, the institute said. It will be tested in a few weeks.

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Woman who outlived 6 partners arrested after cyanide found in latest husband

Japanese police were looking for traces of poison in the home of a woman arrested on suspicion of killing her husband, one of six men who have died while in a relationship with her over the past 20 years.

Police say they suspect insurance claims or inheritance money could be the motive for the killings.

Chisako Kakehi, 67, was arrested Wednesday in Kyoto prefecture after cyanide was found in the body of her 75-year-old husband, a senior official at the investigative department told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Kyoto. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the pending investigation.

Kakehi has denied involvement in the deaths and has not been formally charged.

Her latest marriage lasted one month before her husband died in December.

Cyanide had also been found in the blood of a 71-year-old partner who fell while riding a bike in 2012, officials said. His death was initially attributed to a heart disease.

Kakehi had reportedly married three times and had relationships with three other men over the past two decades. All had died within a few years of marrying or starting relationships with her.

All the deaths occurred in the western Japan area, including Kyoto and Osaka.

On Thursday, police raided her apartment in Osaka following searches at her home in Muko city, and confiscated capsules and wafers to wrap powdered medicine as possible evidence, reports said.

Kakehi caught the attention of authorities after she called an ambulance to rush her latest husband to a hospital, saying he suddenly collapsed at home. An autopsy found cyanide in his blood, and investigators eventually ruled out a suicide, leading to Kakehi's arrest.

She was being questioned by the prefectural prosecutor before a decision is made whether to press charges.

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'We don't talk about that': Bill Cosby to reporter on sexual assault allegations

The Associated Press late Wednesday released the full video of an interview two weeks ago with Bill Cosby in which the comedian was asked about sexual assault allegations levelled agaubst him.

When the AP interviewed Cosby, on Nov. 6, the story involved long-circulated accusations from several women and recent criticism from comedian Hannibal Buress.

Cosby declined to comment, saying "We don't answer that."

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After his initial refusal to comment — as the interview was winding down but with the camera still running and Cosby and his wife Camille were wearing lapel microphones — the comedian asked the AP to not use the brief on-camera refusal to comment he had just made about the allegations. "And I would appreciate it if it was scuttled," he said.

The interview was on the record. The AP had made no agreement to avoid questions about the allegations or to withhold publishing any of his comments at any time.

In this Nov. 6, 2014 file photo, entertainer Bill Cosby pauses during a news conference. That same day, Cosby refused to address sexual assault allegations on camera. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

Former Ford model Janice Dickinson was the latest woman in recent weeks to publicly accuse Cosby of sexual assault. In addition to allegations that were widely reported a decade ago as well as new accusations, they have gravely damaged the 77-year-old comedian's reputation.

Since Tuesday, NBC has scrapped a Cosby comedy that was under development, Netflix has dropped a planned standup release of his, and TV Land in the U.S. said it will stop airing reruns of his 1980s sitcom hit The Cosby Show.

The AP interview was primarily about The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art exhibition featuring more than 50 pieces of Cosby's African-American art collection alongside African artworks. The show opened this month on the National Mall in Washington and is scheduled to remain on view through early 2016.

There are no plans to cancel the exhibition, a Smithsonian spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The exhibition has been very well received. We've actually had record numbers through the door," spokesman Eddie Burke said, adding the museum has had no complaints.

In addition, the National Artists Corporation said it had no plans to cancel any standup comedy shows that Cosby has scheduled throughout North America through May 15.

There are three Canadian dates on consecutive days on that schedule, all in Ontario. Cosby is slated to perform in Kitchener on Jan. 7, followed by dates in London and Hamilton.

Cosby has never been charged in connection with any of the allegations. Former Pennsylvania prosecutor Bruce L. Castor Jr., who investigated a woman's claims that Cosby had sexually assaulted her in 2004, said Wednesday he decided not to prosecute because he felt there was not enough evidence to get a conviction.

"I wrote my opinion in such a way as I thought conveyed to the whole world that I thought he had done it, he had just gotten away with it because of a lack of evidence," the former Montgomery County district attorney said.

If Cosby hadn't been co-operative with the investigation, "I probably would have arrested him," he said.

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2 new subatomic particles discovered at CERN

Scientists at the world's largest particle collider said Wednesday they have discovered two new subatomic particles never seen before that could widen our understanding of the universe.

An experiment using the European Organization for Nuclear Research's Large Hadron Collider found the new particles, which were predicted to exist, and are both baryons. Baryons are particles that are each made up of three tiny elementary particles called quarks. Neutrons and protons, the familiar particles that make up atoms, are also baryons.

In a statement Wednesday, officials at the lab known by its French acronym CERN announced the discovery, which could shed more light on how things work beyond the "Standard Model" physics theory explaining the basic building blocks of matter. The results also were submitted to the publication Physical Review Letters.

• Summary of the paper on Arxiv

"Nature was kind and gave us two particles for the price of one," said one of the CERN collaborators, Matthew Charles, of the CNRS's LPNHE laboratory at Paris VI University.

At the LHC (large hadron collider) in its tunnel at CERN (European particle physics laboratory) near Geneva, Switzerland, scientists have been deliberately crashing protons into each other to see what they can discover about the makeup of the universe and its tiniest particles. (Martial Trezzini/The Associated Press)

The new particles are more than six times as massive as the protons that scientists have been deliberately crashing into each other in a 17-mile 27-kilometre (17-mile) tunnel on the Swiss-French border near Geneva to see what they can discover about the makeup of the universe and its tiniest particles.

The heavier weight of the two particles is due in part to their "spins" in opposite directions which is "an exciting result," said Steven Blusk of Syracuse University in New York.

CERN-based physicist Patrick Koppenburg said the study, using data taken during 2011 and 2012, could help differentiate between Standard Model effects and "anything new or unexpected in the future."

Teams of thousands of CERN scientists also used the state-of-the-art particle accelerator to discover the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, without which particles wouldn't hold together and there would be no matter. The discovery helped Peter Higgs win the Nobel Prize by proving his theories right.

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Bill Cosby accused by model Janice Dickinson of sexual assault

Model and TV host Janice Dickinson added her name to the women who have accused comic Bill Cosby of sexual assault.

In an Entertainment Tonight interview that aired Tuesday, Dickinson said that the 1982 incident occurred in Lake Tahoe, California, where he was appearing.

She told the show that she wrote about the assault in her 2002 autobiography, No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel, but that Cosby and his lawyers pressured her and the publisher to remove the details.

A call to Cosby's publicist seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Bill Cosby, shown during a Sept. 26 standup performance, was silent when asked about the allegations in an NPR interview last week. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

In the interview, Dickinson said she met Cosby in Lake Tahoe at his urging after he said that he would help her with her singing career. They had met earlier when her agent had introduced them, hoping that she could get a job on The Cosby Show.

Dickinson said that after dinner, she and Cosby were in her hotel room and that he gave her some red wine and a pill. She told Entertainment Tonight she had asked for a pill because she had been suffering stomach pains.

"The next morning I woke up and I wasn't wearing my pajamas and I remembered before I passed out I had been sexually assaulted by this man," she said. She said she remembered Cosby dropping the robe he had been wearing and getting on top of her.

She said she never confronted Cosby about the incident.

"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do and this happened to me and this is a true story," she said.

In the memoir, Dickinson described stopping herself at his hotel room door when he invited her in after dinner, claiming exhaustion.

"After all I've done for you, that's what I get? 'I'm exhausted,'' Dickinson quoted Cosby as saying. He then "gave me the dirtiest, meanest look in the world, stepped into his suite, and slammed the door in my face," she wrote.

Cosby, 77, who was never criminally charged in any case, settled a civil suit in 2006 with another woman over an alleged incident two years before.

Attention to the legendary entertainer's past flared suddenly in recent weeks after another comic, Hannibal Buress, called Cosby a "rapist" during a Philadelphia performance. Two other women have emerged as accusers, including Barbara Bowman, who wrote an online Washington Post piece.

Cosby has remained silent, and his attorney, John P. Schmitt, issued a statement Sunday saying his client would not dignify "decade-old, discredited" claims of sexual abuse with a response. Schmitt later exempted the 2006 civil case from the blanket statement.

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Buffalo snowstorm blamed for 4 deaths

Four people died during a storm that dumped over a metre of snow around Buffalo and forced motorists in 150 vehicles, including a women's basketball team, to ride it out on a day when temperatures dropped to freezing or below in all 50 states.

One person was killed in an automobile accident and three others had heart attacks, including two believed to be shovelling snow at the time, Erie County officials said.

The same storm system is hammering parts of southern and northwestern Ontario, dumping heavy snow and creating blizzard-like conditions as it sweeps to the east.

Environment Canada warns some regions could expect as much as 25 centimetres of snow to fall by Wednesday. Residents are advised to expect winds of up to 80 km/h and near zero visibility. Motorists are advised to avoid non-essential travel until conditions improve.

In Buffalo, the snowstorm stranded cars, trucks and buses on a six-kilometre stretch. By late Tuesday night, many — but not all — had been freed.

Some motorists had had been trapped for nearly 24 hours. Officials said freeing the vehicles was delayed after two tractor-trailers jack-knifed as they were being moved.

"It seemed like a nightmare. It just didn't feel like it was going to end," Bryce Foreback, 23, of Shicora, Pennsylvania told The Associated Press by cellphone 20 hours into his wait for help. "I haven't slept in like 30 hours and I'm just waiting to get out of here."

Members of the Niagara University women's basketball team were napping on and off 17 hours into their wait. Some got so thirsty they drank melted snow, said Coach Kendra Faustin, who was travelling with her one-year-old.

Team spokeswoman Chelsea Andorka said the bus, with about 25 players and coaches aboard, was headed back from a loss in Pittsburgh when it came to a halt at 2 a.m. Tuesday.

"We were told the National Guard was coming by but haven't seen any signs of life," Andorka said. "The first time they came they told us to be prepared to stay for a while. One tow truck passed six or seven hours ago."

In a region accustomed to highway-choking snowstorms, this one is being called one of the worst in memory. Snow blown by strong winds forced the closing of a 212-kilometres stretch of the Thruway, the main highway across New York state.

Meteorologists say temperatures in all 50 states fell to freezing or below on Tuesday. They say the low temperatures were more reminiscent of January than November.

In New Hampshire and elsewhere, icy roads led to accidents. Lake-effect storms in Michigan produced gale-force winds and as much as 45 centimetres of snow, and cancelled several flights at the Grand Rapids airport.

Schools closed in the North Carolina mountains amid blustery winds and ice-coated roads. In Indiana, three firefighters were hurt when a semitrailer hit a fire truck on a snowy highway.

Omer Odovsc walks in front of his tractor trailer that got stuck on the 219 off ramp leading to Rt. 391 in Boston, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Henry Scull Jr./The Buffalo News/The Associated Press)

In Atlanta, tourists Morten and Annette Larsen from Copenhagen were caught off-guard by the below freezing weather as they took photos of a monument to the 1996 summer Olympics at Centennial Olympic Park.

"It's as cold here as it is in Denmark right now. We didn't expect that," Larsen said, waving a hand over his denim jacket, buttoned tightly over a hooded sweatshirt.

In Buffalo, Brian Krzeminski watched the snow pile up outside the south Buffalo convenience store where he worked overnight and served free coffee to the motorists and pedestrians who came in off the city streets to get out of the blinding snow.

"There are people that came out to get a few things. We had some people who came in just to get a 30-pack of beer, which is kind of odd," he said. "We've had EMTs whose ambulance got stuck. I'm constantly seeing cars get stuck."

The National Weather Service warned that the snow, generated by cold air blowing over the warmer Great Lakes, would continue through Wednesday and could eventually total six feet in places. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo deployed 150 member of the National Guard to help clear snow-clogged roads and remove abandoned vehicles.

"We have tried to get out of our house and we are lucky to be able to shovel so we can open the door. Basically, that's it, open the door," said Linda Oakley of Buffalo. "We're just thinking that in case of an emergency we can at least get out the door. We can't go any further."

"All around us, it's a solid four feet of snow that is so thick and so heavy you can hardly move it with a shovel," said Oakley, whose son Todd was with her, unable to make it to work just three miles away.

A lake-effect snow storm with freezing temperatures produces a wall of snow travelling over Lake Erie into Buffalo on Tuesday. A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a "polar vortex" descended Tuesday into much of the Northeastern U.S. (Gary Wiepert/Reuters)

Jim Lehmann was hunkering down with his wife in their town of Hamburg home, while outside his neighbour's house was barely visible through the blowing snow.

"The main thing to do now is sit in the house and wait it out," Lehmann said. "My neighbour works for a satellite dish company and he tried to get out this morning and he got stuck about 80 feet down the street. And he was there for three hours."

The town of West Seneca recorded 114 centimetres by late morning and Alden, to the east, had 120 centimetres. But typical of lake-effect snow, areas just a few kilometres away, including downtown and north Buffalo, had just a couple of inches.

At one point, nearly half of West Seneca's plows were bogged down in heavy snow, officials told The Buffalo News. In neighbouring Orchard Park, the highway superintendent called the rate of snowfall "unbelievable," while next door in Hamburg police cars were getting stuck.

Oakley and her son, Todd, were passing the time watching Netflix.

"We can't even walk down to the end of the street and get ourselves a pizza," she said, laughing. "Maybe if you had snow shoes, I don't know."

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Israel destroys home of Palestinian who killed 2 in attack last month

A relative of Abdelrahman Shaludi, a Palestinian who killed two Israelis with his car last month, stands at his family home after it was raised by Israeli authorities in east Jerusalem Silwan neighborhood on Wednesday. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)

Israel on Wednesday destroyed the home of a Palestinian who last month ran over and killed two people at a Jerusalem tram stop, a day after two militants killed four rabbis and a policeman at a synagogue in the city.

• Jerusalem synagogue attack leaves 5 dead; Canadian among the injured


• Canadian MD was among 1st responders at synagogue attack


• Palestinian youth uprising faces uncertainty as clashes with Israel increase

The home of Abdel-Rahman Shaloudi, 21, was blown up before dawn, police and the military said. East Jerusalem resident Shaloudi was shot dead by police as he tried to flee after mowing down commuters at a light railway stop on Oct. 22.

A three-month-old baby and a 22-year-old tourist from Ecuador were killed when he rammed the tram stop with his car. Seven other people were injured.

Shaloudi's home in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, adjacent to the old walled city, has been a scene of confrontations since the incident, which his family has said was a traffic accident.

Violence in Jerusalem and other areas of Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories has surged since July when a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by Jewish assailants, an alleged revenge attack for the abduction and killing of three Jewish teens by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's army has blown up or demolished militants' homes for decades but stopped the practice in 2005, saying it was counterproductive in their effort to discourage attacks. Court-sanctioned demolitions resumed earlier this year.

Tuesday's attack at a Har Nof synagogue where the four rabbis and a policeman were killed was the worst in the city since 2008 when a Palestinian gunman killed eight people at a religious school.

Among those seriously injured in the attack was Howie Chaim Rothman, a Canadian-Israeli citizen who is in a medically induced coma .

Tension has deepened in Silwan and other areas of Arab East Jerusalem in recent months, with almost nightly clashes between Palestinians throwing rocks and setting off firecrackers and armed Israeli police firing stun grenades and tear gas.

The unrest has grown since the July-August war in Gaza and the movement of dozens of Jewish settlers into Silwan in recent weeks.

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Canadian woman who gave birth in Hawaii billed almost $1M US

A warm weather holiday has turned into a hot mess for a Saskatchewan couple.

Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel gave birth nine weeks early while on holiday in Hawaii last December. Her baby daughter had to be hospitalized.

"My water broke two days into our holiday," Huculak-Kimmel said. "I spent six weeks on bed rest and then baby Reece was delivered by emergency C-section on December 10th."

Reece had to stay in the hospital for just over two months. Huculak-Kimmel thought that her insurance would cover the almost $1 million US bill.

In the end, Blue Cross denied payment. In a letter to the family, a Blue Cross worker wrote, "We are unable to provide coverage for any medical expenses incurred for Ms. Huculak's baby" and "please note that Ms. Huculak's travel policy expired on Nov. 9, 2013."

Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel gave birth to baby Reece nine weeks early, while on vacation in Hawaii. (David Shield/CBC)

The family is now unsure what they'll do next.

"Blue Cross said that because I had a bladder infection at four months and hemorrhaged because of that, that they would not cover the pregnancy," she said. "We thought we had done everything right. We thought we had covered all avenues and we thought we were covered. We thought we were safe to go."

Huculak-Kimmel said she tried everything possible to get back to Canada.

"We looked at all avenues to trying to get medevac (an air ambulance) home," she said. "One medevac company would not fly me in my condition and the other one would only do it with a surgical team on board and still recommended me not travel."

Huculak-Kimmel said she met with her own doctor, and Blue Cross, before the trip.

The family is still trying to figure out what to do about the bill.

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Snowstorm pummels New York, buries Buffalo in snow

New

Interstate 90 closed in both directions for 170 kilometres, classes cancelled, driving ban in effect

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 18, 2014 11:30 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 18, 2014 11:30 AM ET

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Jerusalem synagogue attack kills 4; Canadian-Israeli citizen among 8 injured

Two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, attacking worshippers inside with meat cleavers and a gun, killing four people and injuring eight others, including a Canadian-Israeli citizen, before they died themselves in a shootout with police.

The attack, the deadliest in Jerusalem in years, is expected to ratchet up fears of sustained violence in the city, already on edge amid soaring tensions over a contested holy site.

• Canadian MD among 1st responders at synagogue attack

Canadian officials wouldn't name the injured Canadian, who holds dual citizenship, citing a need for privacy, CBC's Hannah Thibedeau reported.

"We are aware that a dual Canadian-Israeli citizen was injured in Jerusalem," a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said.

Israeli police identified the people killed as three American citizens and a Briton. The victims were all immigrants to Israel and held dual citizenship.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel will "respond harshly" to the attack, describing it as a "cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to Netanyahu after the assault and denounced it as an "act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence."

On mobile? Follow @DerekStoffelCBC in Jerusalem

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, the first time he has done so since a recent spike in deadly violence against Israelis began. He also called for an end to Israeli "provocations" surrounding the sacred site.

In a statement, Abbas' office said he "condemns the killing of the worshippers in a synagogue in west Jerusalem." The statement called for an end to the "invasion" of the mosque at the holy site and a halt to "incitement" by Israeli ministers.

An Israeli police officer gestures as he holds a weapon near the scene of an attack at a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday. Two Palestinian men armed with axes and knives killed four people before being shot dead by police, Israeli police and emergency services said, the deadliest such attack in the city in years. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

Israeli police called the incident a terrorist attack and said the two Palestinian assailants were cousins from east Jerusalem. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a militant group, said the cousins were its members.

A PFLP statement did not specify whether the group instructed the cousins to carry out the attack. Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, praised the attack.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said six people were also wounded in the attack, including two police officers. Four of the wounded were reported in serious condition. He said police were searching the area for other suspects.

Butcher's knife

Associated Press footage from the scene showed the synagogue, in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Har Nof neighbourhood, surrounded by police and rescue workers following the attack.

Wounded worshippers were being assisted by paramedics and a bloodied meat cleaver lay near the scene of the attack.

An Israeli forensic expert covers the bodies of two Palestinians at the scene of a shooting attack in a Synagogue in Jerusalem on Tuesday. (Sebastian Scheiner/Associated Press)

"I tried to escape. The man with the knife approached me. There was a chair and table between us … my prayer shawl got caught. I left it there and escaped," Yossi, who was praying at the synagogue at the time of the attack, told Israeli Channel 2 TV. He declined to give his last name.

Yosef Posternak, who was at the synagogue at the time of the attack, told Israel Radio that some 25 worshippers were inside when the attackers entered.

"I saw people lying on the floor, blood everywhere. People were trying to fight with [the attackers] but they didn't have much of a chance," he said.

Fear of lone-wolf attacks

A photo in Israeli media from inside the synagogue showed what appeared to be a body on the floor draped in a prayer shawl, with blood spattered nearby.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attackers were Palestinians from east Jerusalem, which has been the scene of relentless clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in recent months. She identified the assailants as Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal from the Jabal Mukaber neighbourhood.

Israeli police crime scene investigators stand near the bodies of the suspected attackers outside a synagogue in the western Jerusalem neighbourhood of Har Nof. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images )

Soon after the attack, clashes broke out outside the Abu Jamals' home where dozens of police had gathered to carry out arrests in connection with the attack. Residents hurled stones at police who responded using riot dispersal weapons.

Israel has been on edge with a spate of attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, killing at least six people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Tel Aviv in recent weeks, prior to Tuesday's casualties.

Jerusalem residents had already been fearful of what appeared to be lone-wolf attacks using cars or knives against pedestrians, but Tuesday's synagogue assault harkens back to gruesome attacks during the Palestinian uprising of the last decade.

Israel's police chief said Tuesday's attack was likely not organized by militant groups, similar to other recent incidents, making it more difficult for security forces to prevent the violence.

"These are individuals who decide to do horrible acts. It's very hard to know ahead of time about every such incident," Yohanan Danino told reporters at the scene.

Kerry blames Palestinian leaders

Tensions appeared to have been somewhat defused last week following a meeting between Netanyahu, Kerry and Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman. The meeting was an attempt to restore calm after months of violent confrontations surrounding a sacred shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Israel and the Palestinians said then they would take steps to reduce tensions that might lead to an escalation.

In his statement, Netanyahu blamed the violence on incitement by both Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and said the international community ignores the incitement.

Masked Palestinians hold axes and a gun as they celebrate with others in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Kerry blamed the attack on Palestinian calls for "days of rage," and said Palestinian leaders must take serious steps to refrain from such incitement. He also urged Palestinian leaders to condemn the attack "in the most powerful terms."

"Innocent people who had come to worship died in the sanctuary of a synagogue. They were hatcheted, hacked and murdered in that holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality and murder," Kerry said.

Hamas praises attack

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, speaking alongside Kerry, also condemned the violence.

Hamas's statement praised the synagogue attack, saying it was a "response to continued Israeli crimes, the killing, desecrating al-Aqsa (mosque)," a reference to a recent incident at the holy site.

Much of the recent violence stems from tensions surrounding the Jerusalem holy site referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount because of the Jewish temples that stood there in biblical times. It is the most sacred place in Judaism; Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is their third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The site is so holy that Jews have traditionally refrained from going there, instead praying at the adjacent Western Wall. Israel's chief rabbis have urged people not to ascend to the area, but in recent years, a small but growing number of Jews, including ultranationalist lawmakers, have begun regularly visiting the site, a move seen as a provocation.

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canada condemns the attack "in the strongest possible terms."

“Attacks on innocent worshippers, in what is supposed to be a place of peace and tranquility, are cowardly and must never be tolerated," he said in a statement.

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Robert Latimer still needs case-by-case approval to travel abroad, parole board rules

The Parole Board of Canada says a condition that bans Robert Latimer from leaving the country without permission will not be lifted.

The board's decision in is response to a ruling, by a Federal Court judge, that the condition should be looked at again. The judge, in a September ruling, noted there is nothing to indicate that Latimer, 60, is a danger and needs to be prevented from freely travelling outside Canada. The judge ordered the parole board's appeal division to reconsider the case.

The board, in a decision by the appeal division released Monday, said Latimer has yet to show that he is capable of reporting to authorities with complete transparency.

• Robert Latimer not allowed to travel to South America

The board also said that although Latimer is a low risk to society, "a level of risk continues to be present."

Latimer was convicted in 1997 of the second-degree murder of his 12-year-old daughter, Tracy, who had severe cerebral palsy; he put her in the cab of his truck on his family's farm near Wilkie, Sask., and piped exhaust inside.

Latimer has always said he wanted to end his child's chronic, excruciating pain.

"It is concerning to the board, however, that we read on file that there has been no change in your thinking and level of rationalization which led to the offence," the board wrote.

An undated photo of Robert Latimer and his daughter Tracy at home. ((Maclean's/Canadian Press))

"You continue to deny this was a murder and believe what you did was the right thing to do. This represents a level of risk," the decision noted.

There was also a reference to concerns about how the board would manage Latimer's conditions if he were approved for unrestricted travel.

"The board assesses that unrestricted travel, lacking a board assessment on a case-by-case basis, may result in an increase in your risk to an undue level," the board said.

Latimer received the minimum life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years, despite a jury recommendation that he serve less time. He was released on full parole, with some conditions, in 2010.

The board denied Latimer's request last year to leave Canada without first applying for a limited-time passport. He appealed that ruling and it was upheld by the board's appeal division. He then took his case to the Federal Court in Vancouver.

Latimer's lawyer, Jason Gratl, said Monday he could not comment about the board's latest ruling until he talked to his client.

Gratl has said that if the travel restriction were lifted, Latimer would still inform his parole officer of travel plans and maintain contact by phone while abroad.

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Surgeon from Sierra Leone dies of Ebola in U.S. hospital

A surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in his native Sierra Leone died Monday while being treated in a biocontainment unit at a Nebraska hospital, the facility said.

Nebraska Medical Center said in a news release that Dr. Martin Salia died as a result of the disease. Hospital spokesman Taylor Wilson said Salia died shortly after 4 a.m. Monday.

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"Dr. Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite out best efforts, we weren't able to save him," said Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit.

Salia arrived Saturday to be treated at the Omaha hospital, where two other Ebola patients have been successfully treated.

Salia had advanced symptoms when he arrived at the hospital Saturday, which included kidney and respiratory failure, the hospital said. He was placed on dialysis, a ventilator and given several medications to support his organ systems.

"We used every possible treatment available to give Dr. Salia every possible opportunity for survival," Smith said. "As we have learned, early treatment with these patients is essential. In Dr. Salia's case, his disease was already extremely advanced by the time he came here for treatment."

Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leona. Five other doctors in Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola, and all have died.

The 44-year-old Salia had been working as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. It's not clear whether he was involved in the care of Ebola patients. Kissy is not an Ebola treatment unit, but Salia worked in at least three other facilities, United Methodist News said, citing health ministry sources.

Salia, a Sierra Leone citizen who lives in Maryland, first showed Ebola symptoms on Nov. 6 but tested negative for the virus. He eventually tested positive on Nov. 10.

Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, said in a telephone interview at the weekend that when she spoke to her husband early Friday his voice sounded weak and shaky. But he told her "I love you" in a steady voice, she said.

The two prayed together, and their children, ages 12 and 20, are coping, Isatu Salia said, calling her husband "my everything."

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Halliburton buys oilfield rival Baker Hughes for $34B

Breaking

Cash-and-stock deal comes after Halliburton prepared to go hostile with its takeover bid

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 17, 2014 7:29 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 17, 2014 7:31 AM ET

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Japanese economy slides back into recession

Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped back into recession as housing and business investment dropped following a sales tax hike, hobbling its ability to help drive the global recovery.

The world's third-largest economy contracted at a 1.6 per cent annual pace in the July-September quarter, the government said Monday, confounding expectations that it would rebound after a big drop the quarter before.

The news cast a pall over financial markets: Japan's share benchmark fell 3 per cent, and many others in Asia also declined. Shares were lower in early trading in Europe and Dow Jones and S&P futures were off 0.5 per cent, suggesting a dismal start for the week on Wall Street.

An economy is generally considered to be in recession when it shrinks for two consecutive quarters.

"GDP for July-September wasn't good, unfortunately," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a political gathering in Tokyo shortly after his return to Japan from the Group of 20 leading economies in Brisbane, Australia.

The downturn deepens global uncertainty as growth slows in China and remains stubbornly flat in the 18-country eurozone.

Japan's weakness could hinder growth elsewhere if its companies cut investment and buy fewer imports such as machinery, electronics and raw materials. Though it is a small, island nation, Japan is one of the world's biggest importers of food and the third-biggest buyer of natural gas.

The U.S. economy, which grew at a 3.5 per cent pace last quarter, is outpacing most of the developed world.

Japan's gross domestic product data showed across-the-board weakness in demand among consumers and manufacturers, who had stepped up purchases before the sales tax was raised in April to 8 per cent from 5 per cent.

• G20 commits to boosting economic growth, fighting climate change

"The impact of the sales tax was much more severe than expected," said Junko Nishioka, an economist at RBS Japan Securities.

Housing investment plunged 24 per cent from the same quarter a year ago, while corporate capital investment sank 0.9 per cent. Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the economy, edged up just 0.4 per cent.

Given the contraction, Abe is expected to announce Tuesday that he will delay a second sales tax hike — to 10 per cent — planned for next October. That would relieve pressure on the economy, but slow progress on efforts to rein in Japan's government debt, the largest among industrialized nations.

Abe is also likely to use the decision to delay the tax hike as a reason to call a snap election in mid-December to secure a public mandate for delaying progress on fixing Japan's finances. That choice may be puzzling to some, but the ruling Liberal Democrats have a solid majority and hope to consolidate their power further at a time when opposition parties are viewed as weak and in disarray.

Japan emerged from its last recession just as Abe took office in December 2012, saying he would end two decades of stagnation with a combination of lax monetary policy, strong fiscal spending and "drastic" economic reforms — a strategy dubbed "Abenomics."

But consumer spending is faltering as the population shrinks and grows older. Japanese manufacturers have lost their leading edge in innovation while shifting production to cheaper locations offshore.

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Putin says sides not abiding peace deal in Ukraine

Russia's president said he believes peace in Ukraine is possible but that neither side is fully holding up a truce struck in September.

In an interview with German television broadcast late Sunday, Putin said he was convinced that it was possible to end the deadlock in east Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have been battling Kiev's troops in a conflict that has claimed at least 4,000 lives since March.

But the Russian leader also noted that neither the rebels nor Ukrainian troops have fully withdrawn from key locations in the region in order to create a buffer zone, a key part of a truce deal agreed to in September.

"It is true that there are certain settlements that the armed rebel formations should abandon, and they are not being abandoned," he said. But he blamed the Ukrainians for not holding up their end of the agreement and setting a bad example for the rebels to follow.

Since Ukraine's pro-Russian president was ousted from power last February, Moscow has often referred to the new, Western-leaning government as a "junta" brought to power by an unconstitutional coup. Putin spoke more diplomatically on Sunday, saying he believed Ukraine "is a big European country with a European culture."

But he also lashed out against far-right nationalist elements in Ukraine and against what Moscow perceives as the repression of Russian-speakers in the region.

"I'll say this bluntly: we're very concerned that the desire could arise to use ethnic cleansing. We're afraid about a drift toward neo-Nazism" in the region, he said.

In response to a question about whether Russia was arming the rebels, as contended by both Kiev and the West, Putin said merely that "anyone waging a fight that they believe fair will find weapons."

• Stephen Harper at G20 tells Vladimir Putin to 'get out of Ukraine'

He stressed that without such arms the rebels would be quickly destroyed by the Ukrainian forces — something Russia "does not want, and will not allow." While Putin stopped short of acknowledging Russia's material role in the conflict, his comments went further in emphasizing Moscow's willingness to support the separatists than ever before.

During a speech Monday after the G20 summit in Australia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a defiant note on sanctions against Russia for its role in Ukraine, saying that those measures would remain in place "as far and long as they are needed."

Merkel spoke out against a political system dominated by "spheres of influence, which spurn international law," and warned that regional conflicts like the one raging in east Ukraine "can very quickly broaden to major fires."

But in Brussels, the European Union's foreign affairs chief said more sanctions against Russia would not help end the east Ukraine crisis.

Federica Mogherini said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers that there was a need to re-launch a dialogue with Russia, and also said she is seeking more ways to assist Ukraine in implementing economic and institutional reforms.

World leaders at the weekend G20 summit in Brisbane roundly criticized Putin over Russia's escalating aggression in Ukraine, but came up with no clear plans how to turn up the diplomatic heat.

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NYC police hunt for suspect after man pushed to subway death

A man standing with his wife on a Bronx subway platform was pushed onto the tracks Sunday morning by another man and was struck and killed by an oncoming train, police said. The assailant fled.

Police said an unidentified man pushed 61-year-old Wai Kuen Kwok of the Bronx off the platform at the Grand Concourse and East 167th Street station in the Highbridge neighbourhood, an act that appeared to be unprovoked. Kwok was struck by a southbound D train at around 8:40 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene; his death was classified a homicide. His wife was not injured.

There was no indication that Kwok knew the man or had had an altercation with him before he was pushed, police said. Witnesses told police they believed the man fled the subway station after shoving Kwok and jumped on a city bus.

Police later released video surveillance showing a man wearing a dark jacket getting off a city bus and walking into a store. The man emerges moments later smoking a cigarette and strolls away. Police said the man was wanted for questioning in connection with Kwok's death.

The victim's son, Gary Kwok, 29, a doctoral student at Adelphi University, told The New York Times that his father was a "fine, regular family man."

There have been three other incidents in recent years that involved a person being pushed onto the tracks.

In April 2013, a train ran over a man desperately clawing at a Manhattan subway platform after being pushed onto the tracks by a homeless suspect with whom he'd been arguing.

In December 2012, another homeless man was arrested for pushing a Queens straphanger in front of a Times Square train that fatally crushed him.

And later the same month, a mumbling woman pushed a man to his death in front of a subway train in Queens.

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Hunt club to cancel endangered rhino kill unless it gets to bring home 'trophy'

A Texas hunting club that auctioned off a permit to shoot an endangered black rhinoceros in Africa said it will cancel the hunt if a federal agency denies the winning bidder's request to bring the dead animal back to the U.S. as a trophy.

Corey Knowlton bid $350,000 at a January auction that the Dallas Safari Club billed as a fundraising effort to save the endangered species. Last spring, he applied for a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would enable him to import the rhino's body following the hunt in Namibia. But he's still waiting to hear back.

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  Rhino hunt auction draws death threats

  
  

The agency is applying extra scrutiny to Knowlton's request because of the rise in poaching, said spokesman Gavin Shire.

If the permit is denied, the safari club plans to refund Knowlton's money that was pledged to a rhino conservation fund in the southwestern African country.

"Most people that have an animal mounted, it's their memory of their experience," said Ben Carter, the safari club's executive director. "It's not always, `Look at what I've shot.' When they look at it, they remember everything. That's what he bid the money on, that opportunity."

The wildlife agency began taking public comment on the permit application this month and has already heard from many of the groups that fervently opposed the auction.

Safari club defends planned hunt

The safari club has defended the planned hunt, noting that auction proceeds would go to a trust fund administered by the Namibian government to help boost the black rhino population.

The wildlife service expects to make a decision after the public comment period ends Dec. 8, taking into account the state of the herd in Namibia, where 1,800 of the world's 4,880 black rhinos live. The agency also is examining exactly how the auction funds would be administered.

This file photo shows an Eastern black rhinoceros calf and its mother. (Todd Rosenberg/Lincoln Park Zoo/Associated Press)

Last year, the service granted a permit to import a sport-hunted black rhino taken in Namibia in 2009, but increased poaching since then may impact whether any more are approved, said Shire.

Each year, the Namibian government issues five black rhino hunting permits that fund efforts to protect the species. The program includes habitat improvement, hiring game scouts to monitor the rhinos, and removing the animals' horns to reduce their appeal to poachers.

"The aim is to re-invest these financial resources back to conservation, protected area management and rural community development," said Kenneth Uiseb, Namibia's director of wildlife monitoring and research.

'Kill it to save it'

But opponents of the auction say the programs are not worthwhile if they entail the killing of any endangered animal.

"Kill it to save it is not only cruel, it's not conservation," said Jeff Flocken, the North American regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "If black rhinos and other dwindling species are to have a future, people must be encouraged to value animals for their inherent worth alive, not their price tag when they are dead."

The safari club has said the hunt will involve one of five black rhinos selected by a committee and approved by the Namibian government. The five are to be older males that can't reproduce.

Namibia sold another hunting permit for $200,000 directly to Michael Luzich, a Las Vegas investment manager who is also seeking a permit to bring the trophy into the U.S., according to Shire.

Knowlton lives in Royse City, about 50 kilometres from Dallas, and leads international hunting trips for a Virginia-based company, The Hunting Consortium. He has killed more than 120 species, including the so-called big five in Africa — a lion, a leopard, an elephant, a Cape buffalo and a rhinoceros, according to the company's website.

He did not return messages left by The Associated Press for this story, but told Dallas television station WFAA in January that he believed the hunt would be managed well.

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