Afternoon Update February 9th, 2012 (10)

CANADA

#1 — CNews | Harper brings home Pandas from China

BEIJING – Brace yourself for a little Canadian Panda-monium.

Canada and China announced here Thursday that they’ve struck a widely expected agreement that will see a pair of the rare black-and-white bears spend a decade in the Great White North.

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Globe | Canaccord, Chinese bank unveil $1-billion fund to invest in Canadian resources

Globe | PM lands investor protection deal, raises human rights in China

NP | China and Canada set for free trade talks as Harper pens multibillion-dollar deals

#2 — Globe | Pickton investigator details gap between clues, evidence in late 90s

All the clues pointing to a Port Coquitlam pig farmer as a killer were adding up for the first Mountie probing Robert Pickton when women were vanishing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, but the officer has told an inquiry he just couldn’t gather the firm evidence required to launch a full-scale investigation.

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NP | B.C. police let ‘slam-dunk’ attempted murder case against Pickton slip away in 2000, inquiry hears

#3 — LFP | Enbridge won’t offer natives better terms

Canada’s Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) will not offer better financial terms to aboriginal bands standing in the way of a major oil pipeline from energy-rich Alberta to the Pacific Coast, the firm’s chief executive officer said on Thursday.

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#4 — NP | Taylor: Car hacking, the crime of tomorrow

Omar Ramos-Lopez was none too pleased when fired from his job at an Austin, Tex., car dealership in 2010. So he decided to get even. Getting revenge on former employers may not be a particularly novel reaction, but his choice of payback was cutting-edge.

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#5 — OC | More members of top Mountie brass jumping ship

The RCMP is in the midst of another wave of departures from its senior ranks, including two deputy commissioners, two assistant commissioners and a senior executive.

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WORLD

#6 — BBC | Spain’s Judge Baltasar Garzon convicted for wiretapping

Spain’s Supreme Court has found the country’s best-known judge, Baltasar Garzon, guilty of authorising illegal recordings of lawyers’ conversations.

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#7 — CNN | Romney promises to get more aggressive with Santorum

(CNN) – Suddenly facing new questions about the strength of his candidacy, GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney indicated Wednesday he’s prepared to wage a more aggressive campaign against Rick Santorum, the surprise winner of all three of Tuesday’s Republican contests.

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Sowell: The Anti-Romney Vote

#8 — Fox | Obama to give 10 states a pass on No Child Left Behind deadline

WASHINGTON –  President Obama is set to give 10 states a pass regarding an approaching deadline under the No Child Left Behind law, after the states struggled to meet the proficiency standards for reading and math.

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#9 — DM | Pentagon weighing up military options in Syria as shelling of Homs continues for sixth consecutive day

Arming Syrian rebels to oust Bashar Assad’s ruling regime has not been ‘completely ruled out’ by the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department has revealed.

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Telegraph | Syria uprising: live

#10 — Telegraph | ‘We will defend ourselves’: Argentine defence minister ups the ante over Falklands

Argentina’s defence minister has heated up the rhetoric over the Falkland Islands by warning that if British armed forces land “in our territory we will defend ourselves”.

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