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Candu 6 reactor could be bomb springboard

OTTAWA - One of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s flagship nuclear reactors can be misused by other countries to build atomic weapons, an environmental group warns in a new report. The study to be released today by Greenpeace says foreign governments could use the federally owned nuclear vendor's Candu 6 technology to develop plutonium for powerful arms. "A country possessing Candu 6 reactors would always have the option of diverting spent fuel from these reactors to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons," the report says. AECL declined to comment on the Greenpeace document. Greenpeace commissioned nuclear expert Gordon Thompson to write the report. He is a professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., and heads the Institute for Resource and Security Studies, an American think-tank. Thompson's report comes as AECL looks abroad to sell its Candu 6 reactors. Nine Candu 6 reactors have been built in China, Argentina, South Korea and Romania. Two of the reactors - Point Lepreau and Gentilly-2 in Quebec - have been built in Canada.

Crime

Birthday party turns deadly as mom dies

OSHAWA, Ont. - A mother of three died shielding her husband from a deranged family associate, who went on a knifing rampage at her son's birthday party, relatives and police said Sunday. Relatives and neighbours identified the dead woman as Leslie Kelly, 26; her husband Ricky Kelly, 29, who was fighting for his life in hospital; and their two youngest children - Nate, 5, and Riley, 3 - were injured in the attack. Police shot the attacker dead during a confrontation at an adjacent unit. They identified the assailant as Gino Petralia, 47, whose son Steven, 13 - Ricky Kelly's half-brother - had been taken in by the Kellys after his mother died in August.

Security

Canada backpedals on sharing database

OTTAWA - Ottawa has quietly dropped plans to let the United States house a database of personal information about Canadians who hold special driver's licences aimed at better securing the border. The move follows vocal criticism from federal and provincial privacy commissioners, who warned earlier this year the scheme could open the door to abuse of the sensitive data. However, the office of federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is still wary of the plan to share information on so-called enhanced driver's licences with the United States. As of next June under Washington's Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, all people entering the U.S. must have a passport or other secure documentation confirming citizenship and identity.

International

Shuttle Endeavour lands in California

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts are safely back on Earth. The space shuttle landed Sunday in sunny California, after being diverted there by stormy weather at NASA's Florida spaceport. The safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base ended a trip that spanned 16 days and left the International Space Station freshly remodelled and capable of housing bigger crews. NASA had hoped to bring Endeavour back to Kennedy Space Center, its home port.

But dangerously high wind and approaching thunderstorms scuttled two landing attempts, and Mission Control opted for the temporary runway at Edwards.

Politics

Venezuela's president seeks indefinite re-election

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez asked supporters to propose a constitutional reform that would allow him to seek indefinite re-election and govern through 2019, giving him more time to build a socialist economy in Venezuela. "We are going to begin the national debate," the former paratroops commander told a crowd of red-clad government supporters at a rally in Caracas on Sunday. Chavez, who was first elected in 1998, is barred from running again when his term as president expires in 2013. Venezuelan voters last year rejected a sweeping package of constitutional changes that would have ended presidential term limits, with many of Chavez's opponents warning that he intends to be president for life. Any new attempt at a reform, which must be approved in a countrywide referendum, would open a new front for tensions between government-backers and their political rivals.