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Defence

U.S. war dodger pleads with Ottawa

TORONTO - An American national guardsman who refused to redeploy to Iraq pleaded with the Canadian government on Wednesday to let him stay here now that immigration officials have ordered him to leave within three weeks. Sgt. Corey Glass, 25, is said to be the first Iraqi war dodger from the U.S. to face imminent deportation from Canada. Like other American soldiers who fled to Canada, Glass's claim for refugee status has been turned down on the grounds he faces prosecution in the U.S., not persecution. A separate federal assessment concluded he might be punished for desertion but that didn't mean he was serious risk of abuse in the U.S.

Politics

N.L. deputy premier resigns from cabinet

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Premier Danny Williams hailed the departure of his highest-ranking cabinet minister Wednesday as the end of pork-barrel funding in Newfoundland and Labrador, accusing him of "strong-arming" his way into getting more money for his district. Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout, who is also the deputy premier, tendered his resignation from cabinet earlier in the day after a dispute with Williams over the amount of money allocated for his rural constituency to pave roads.

Health

Harper tightens up rules on labelling

BEAMSVILLE, Ont. - Food products labelled "made in Canada" will no longer be allowed to use a substantial amount of foreign ingredients, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday as he announced new guidelines that consumer advocates hailed as a "big step in the right direction." Under current rules, it's legal to call a product "made in Canada" if 51 per cent of the production costs were incurred here and the final transformation of product was in Canada, Harper said. Under the new rules, a "product of Canada" label will mean all or virtually all the contents are Canadian in origin.

Social

Women had fewer abortions in 2005

OTTAWA - Better education and easier access to contraceptives has significantly cut the number of abortions sought by Canadian women, particularly teenage girls. Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that Canada's abortion rate declined by 3.2 per cent overall in 2005, with abortions among teens dropping by almost six per cent. The drop in teen abortions follows a quarter-century decline in teen pregnancy rates, which experts link to the efficacy of safe-sex campaigns.

Global terrorism in decline: researchers

VANCOUVER - Terrorist violence is on the decline around the world, contrary to belief, says a new report by researchers at Simon Fraser University. The report released Wednesday said previous data suggesting steep increases in global terrorism were distorted by the high death toll from the war in Iraq, hiding the fact that terrorist violence is actually on the decline. The report, prepared by the Human Security Report Project at SFU, argues that fatalities from terrorist attacks around the world have actually decreased by 40 per cent since 2001. The project examined data from three U.S.-based research centres.