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Defence

Frigate assists burning cargo ship

HALIFAX - Crew from a Canadian navy frigate were assessing damage on a Panamanian-flagged merchant ship that reported an engine fire Thursday about 1,900 kilometres east of Cape Cod, Mass. Cmdr. Alex Grant of HMCS Toronto said his vessel arrived at the scene Thursday afternoon after receiving the merchant ship's location from an Aurora long-range patrol aircraft based at Greenwood, N.S. Grant said a team of about five crew had been deployed to the disabled ship to assess the crew's health to try to restore its firefighting capabilities.

Health

N.L. patient told of retest this week

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A Newfoundland woman was told just this week that she was one of nearly 1,000 patients from 1997 to 2005 whose breast cancer test had to be redone because medical officials weren't sure it was accurate. The startling revelation came Thursday, almost a month after a public inquiry began probing whether the Eastern Health authority properly notified patients of their test results. The woman was informed this week that her test was part of a large group sent to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto for review, said Deborah Collins, a spokeswoman for Eastern Health.

Hockey

Montreal mayor fights graffiti

MONTREAL - The city's mayor is seeing red - and white and blue - after firefighters painted several fire stations to show their support for the Montreal Canadiens. As the Habs prepared to face the Boston Bruins in the first game of their playoff series on Thursday, Mayor Gerald Tremblay was getting ready to send in work crews to clean up the impromptu paint jobs. "And we're going to send the bill to the (firefighters') union "¦ it's tolerance zero," he said. But Tremblay insisted his decision has nothing to do with a lack of team spirit. "I have Habs fever, but I don't put graffiti or paint in the windows of my house," he told reporters Thursday

Education

Canuck studies on chopping block

MONTREAL - Canada was heralded as "cool" by a highbrow international magazine a few years ago, but that popularity has dimmed in the ivory towers of the University of Vermont. The school has yanked funding from its Canadian studies program after interest sagged in recent years. Only three students at the U of V now major in Canuck. Faculty members fear the university's Canadian content could soon disappear into the mists of the Green Mountains. "Symbolically, (the cut) speaks very clearly to the fact that this administration simply doesn't care deeply about the study of Canada on this campus," history professor David Massell said in an interview from the Burlington, Vt., campus.

Justice

Mounties reverse Taser data policy

OTTAWA - The RCMP has done an about-face and decided to release more information about Taser use two weeks after a wave of criticism over secrecy about the electronic stun guns. Const. Pat Flood, an RCMP spokeswoman, said Thursday the force planned to disclose additional details of Taser firings in response to requests under the Access to Information Act. But there were early indications the Mounties would continue to withhold crucial points, including injuries to people hit with Tasers.