CANADA
#1 — CNews | Most groundhogs predict early spring
Ontario’s Wiarton Willie didn’t see his shadow on Groundhog Day, meaning it’ll be an early spring.
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#2 — Globe | Shafia wife killed because she was despised by husband, second wife
She once overheard one of the murderers refer to her as “that other one,” the honour killings trial was told – as though she were a piece of unwanted baggage.
And in a sense she was.
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#3 — LFP | Canadians support Northern Gateway goals: Poll
OTTAWA — A Nanos Research poll could put some wind in the sails of the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal to connect Alberta’s oilsands to a tanker terminal on the northern coast of B.C.
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#4 — NP | Windsor border agents walk off the job over ‘armed and dangerous’ safety hazards
WINDSOR, Ont. — Border services officers walked off the job at the Detroit tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge on Wednesday afternoon demanding the Canada Border Services Agency fix flaws in the policies stipulating how officers are to deal with people considered armed and dangerous.
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#5 — OC | Auditors were present, trial told
TORONTO — One of the great puzzles of the Crown’s case against Nortel’s top three financial executives is how the latter carried out their alleged accounting fraud when hundreds of outside auditors from Deloitte were scrutinizing the company’s operations.
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WORLD
#6 — BBC | Sugar tax needed, say US experts
Sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated, claim US health experts.
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#7 — CNN | New transportation bill creates safety concerns over bigger rigs
Washington (CNN) – Could tractor-trailer rigs almost as long as Boeing 737s be driving on a highway near you? If a new transportation bill proposed by House Republicans passes, the answer is yes, and the safety ramifications would be astronomical, say congressional opponents of the bill and the AAA Auto Club.
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#8 — Fox | 2,500 Cops in Mexico Abandon Their Homes Thanks to Cartels
The entire police force in the violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez was ordered to leave their homes and stay in a hotel for their safety after the recent killing of five officers by a local drug cartel.
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British troops will step back from their lead combat role in Afganistan by the end of 2013 under plans drawn up by the Nato-led Isaf international alliance, Downing Street said today.
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#10 — Telegraph | Elephants ‘should be drafted in to stop Australian bushfires’
Elephants could be introduced to northern Australia to prevent bushfires and contain the spread of invasive fire-fuelling grass, an Australian scientist has proposed.
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Re#1 … waiting for Bellingham’s “weather salmon” to weigh in on this year’s weather prediction, otherwise here are the main results:
•Wiarton Willie failed to see his shadow — meaning, according to tradition, an early spring is on its way
•Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam also says winter is ending soon
•Alberta’s Balzac Billy saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter
•Punxsutawney Phil also saw his shadow — and an extended winter.
A great day in Goundhog’s Ville