Winnipeg fans cheer possible return of NHL

Winnipeg fans cheer possible return of NHL

Hockey fans celebrate at Portage and Main in downtown Winnipeg following a report that an NHL team maybe returning to the city. 

More than 100 Winnipeg Jets fans gathered to celebrate at the intersection of Portage and Main as word spread that the city may be getting an NHL team again.

The Globe and Mail reported Thursday evening that an agreement is now in place to sell the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg group True North Sports and Entertainment, whose desire is to move the team to the city for the start of the 2011-12 season.

The report also says that the deal will be made official on Tuesday, when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will arrive in Winnipeg to make the announcement.

CBC Sports contacted sources close to the deal, including a representative of True North, who said the sale isn't final — yet. Tuesday may be a target date if everything comes together, and it could be finalized as early as Friday, but none of that is set in stone and the process could take longer than that.

Winnipeg lost the Jets in 1996, when financial issues forced the club to move to Phoenix.

At Portage and Main, hockey fans were ecstatic at the prospect of getting a team again. Supporters decked out in Jets jerseys chanted "Go, Jets, go."

Gary Kearn said he believes the city will get a new team.

"I'm super pumped to have an NHL team back in Winnipeg, and I want them to be called the Jets," he said. "So I figured I'd come down and join the rally and bring support to the name."

John Ali said he's crossing his fingers a deal will go through.

"Hopefully, this is it, because [I'm] getting pretty sick of the back and forth," he said. "Hopefully this is it. It kind of has the vibe that it was going to happen."

Brussels raids container shipping lines

Brussels raids container shipping lines

France's CMA-CGM is among the companies raided by European competition investigators.

Brussels, Belgium (FT) -- European competition investigators on Tuesday raided offices of at least four of the world's largest container shipping lines in some of the toughest-ever regulatory action against the industry.

European Commission officials said they had visited offices in several European countries as part of the investigation.

Competition officials said there were suspicions that the companies had violated rules prohibiting cartels, restrictive business practices or abuse of dominant market positions.

Denmark's AP Møller-Maersk -- operator of the world's largest container shipping fleet, according to Alphaliner, the information service -- said it was among the companies visited.

Others included France's CMA CGM, the third-largest operator; Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, the number five; and Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines (Nol), the number seven. Many other companies are also believed to have received visits.

The raids come as many container lines are showing renewed signs of weakness as deliveries of large numbers of ships depress the rates they can charge for each container shipped.

Several lines reported first-quarter losses, while Nol reported on May 3 that its rates for the four weeks to April 8 had been 2 percent below the corresponding period of 2010.

The raids are likely to increase many container lines' irritation with the stance of European regulators towards their industry, which until October 2008 was allowed to set rates jointly on services to and from Europe in "liner conferences".

Many in the industry blame the Commission's abolition of the conferences in the depth of the economic downturn for exacerbating the collapse in industry earnings in 2008 and 2009, which came close to sending some operators into insolvency.

It was unclear at what point investigators believed collusion might have taken place, but many in the industry have been surprised at the speed and strength of the sector's recovery, which allowed some companies to post record or near-record profits for 2010.

Christian Kledal, Maersk's head of legal services, said the Commission was investigating possible coordination of prices or ship capacity on services to and from the European Union and the wider European Economic Area. He said. "It is our clear opinion that our practices are in compliance with EU competition legislation, and we fully cooperate with the Commission's employees to investigate the matter thoroughly."

Nol and Hapag-Lloyd said they believed they had complied with the law. CMA CGM said it was "co-operating fully."

Missing Al Jazeera reporter safe in Qatar, network says

Missing Al Jazeera reporter safe in Qatar, network says

Al Jazeera's Dorothy Parvaz went missing after landing in Damascus, Syria, on April 29

(CNN) -- An Al Jazeera reporter who disappeared after landing in the Syrian capital of Damascus last month to cover anti-government protests has been released, the network said early Wednesday.

The network said Dorothy Parvaz was safe and well in Doha, where her fiance had gone to greet her. The journalist will head to Canada.

Al Jazeera lost contact with Parvaz after she disembarked from a Qatar Airways flight from Iran on April 29.

In a statement last week, Syria said the 39-year-old journalist was taken into custody after she arrived in Damascus with an expired passport and deported to Iran two days later.

But Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday as saying the Islamic republic had "no information" about her.

A statement that Parvaz's fiance, Todd Barker, posted on the "Free Dorothy Parvaz" Facebook page indicated she had been taken to Iran.

"She said that she was treated well in Iran. She sounded positive and grateful for the support - but a little embarrassed. We are very thankful to Iranian authorities for her release and good treatment," the statement said.

Added an Al Jazeera spokesman: "We are with her now to find out more about her ordeal over the last 18 days."

Syria has been roiled for six weeks by anti-government protests and has largely prevented foreign journalists from covering the unrest. Media organizations have been relying on social media, eyewitness accounts and cell-phone video to report the story.

Thousands of supporters from around the world started a social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter in an effort to draw attention to her disappearance.

Dozens of international journalists have been detained and expelled from Syria since March 15, when anti-government protests began, said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa.

Convicted murderer Twitchell files appeal

Convicted murderer Twitchell files appeal

Det. Bill Clark speaks to Mark Twitchell during an interview in the early hours of Oct. 20, 2008. (Edmonton Police Service )

Mark Twitchell, the man at the centre of Edmonton's most lurid trial in recent memory, has filed a notice to appeal his first-degree murder conviction.

Twitchell, 31, was found guilty by a jury on April 12 in the October 2008 slaying of Johnny Altinger. He is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Altinger, 38, was lured to a southeast Edmonton garage by an ad on an internet dating site. He was bludgeoned and dismembered.

Twitchell filed the handwritten appeal from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert without the help of a lawyer, and is appealing both his conviction and the length of his sentence.

Twitchell lists a number of points of contention with how his case was heard, including the publicity around the proceedings.

"The media attention surrounding my case was so extensive, so blatant and so overtly sensationalized that it is unreasonable to expect any unsequestered jury to have remained uninfluenced by it, regardless of judges instructions in the charge," Twitchell writes in the appeal.

He adds that he believes his lawyer did not "adequately and satisfactorily address key points on state-of-mind and credibility."

Those points include his "advanced knowledge of computers" which "undermines the implication I would use a computer to carry out a crime."

Twitchell also takes issue with how the Crown presented evidence where he lied to his former girlfriend, his wife and police.

"This led the jury to make an inappropriate and skewed character judgment — concluding that I'm a lifetime liar."

Twitchell also indicated on the form that he does not want a jury if a trial is held again.

Japan nuclear crisis under review at 2-month mark

Japan nuclear crisis under review at 2-month mark

(CNN) -- Japan's government and the owner of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are reviewing efforts to wind down the two-month crisis as thousands of nearby residents await word regarding planned evacuations.

Plant workers are making step-by-step progress toward restoring normal cooling, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

Nearly 80,000 people have spent two months away from their homes in the 20-kilometer (12.5-mile) zone around the plant, while tens of thousands more are awaiting orders to evacuate more distant towns where radiation levels are likely to raise the long-term cancer risk.

In the city of Fukushima, displaced residents berated Tokyo Electric President Masataka Shimizu and other top utility executives, who asked for forgiveness in their hands and knees Tuesday. About 100 residents from the village of Kawauchi were allowed to return home for a short visit.

They were issued protective gear, allowed to pack one small bag and spend two hours in their homes. Some returned to find pets -- left behind in the initial confusion -- dead of starvation, Japan's Environment Ministry reported Wednesday.

Private animal-rescue groups had mounted expeditions into the evacuation zone to rescue pets before the government began enforcing the restricted area in late April. Government officials plan to retrieve other pets Wednesday, the ministry said.

PM returns to Ottawa after majority win

PM returns to Ottawa after majority win

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper stops walking away from the podium as he is asked a question during a media appearance in Calgary on Tuesday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has returned to Ottawa a day after Canadians elected his Conservative Party to form its first majority government.

Cheering supporters greeted Harper and his wife Laureen, their children Ben and Rachel, as well as his campaign staff as the Conservative plane landed at Ottawa airport Tuesday evening from his home riding in Calgary.

Speaking at a news conference earlier in the day in Calgary, hailed Quebec's "shift to federalism" in Monday night's election, which reduced the once-dominant Bloc Québécois to four seats in the province.

The prime minister added he is disappointed that his majority government does not have a larger foothold in Quebec, as most of the Bloc losses came from an unprecedented surge by Jack Layton's New Democrats.

"Despite the fact that we did not make any gains, of course, as a Canadian and a federalist, I'm encouraged by the collapse of the Bloc," he said.

Harper won 167 seats in Monday night's election and will form his first majority government. He won minority governments in 2006 and 2008.

The Conservatives won 39.6 per cent of the vote. However, the party only won six of Quebec's 75 seats.

"I'm disappointed, but I'm not discouraged," Harper said.

The Conservative leader said he would not appoint an unelected person to his cabinet, which he did in 2006.

Harper said he would build his cabinet from the six Quebec MPs who won on Monday.

"We did win a number of seats for experienced MPs who will have a significant place within our government," Harper said.

"I would have hoped for more, but we do have significant representation there, and we will certainly be listening to what the people of Quebec say over the next four years."

Harper received calls of congratulations on Tuesday from U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron. During his telephone conversation with Obama, Harper congratulated the U.S. president and military servicemen on this week's raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Obama also renewed his commitment to the border security framework agreement the two leaders announced in February, the Prime Minister's Office said.

Harper told Cameron he looked forward to seeing the British leader at the upcoming G8 summit later this month. The two leaders also discussed the situation in Libya, the PMO said.

Health talks with provinces coming

The Harper majority government will have to renegotiate a massive health-care deal with the provincial governments.

The Conservatives committed during the campaign to keeping the escalator clause in the deal that will see six per cent annual increases in health transfers.

Harper reiterated his support for a universal health system, but he said he is not opposed to provincial governments experimenting with alternative forms of delivery.

"As you know, provinces have within the existing framework experimented with alternative delivery, but that is different from moving away from the basis of a universal system of public health insurance coverage, and we are all committed to that," Harper said.

He said he foresees a collaborative approach to coming up with a new health deal with the provinces. He said he will also respect the asymmetrical arrangement with Quebec, which was agreed to in the health accord signed by the former Liberal government of Paul Martin.

Champagne celebration

After running a tightly scripted campaign, for the last several weeks, Harper seemed relaxed as he spoke to reporters on Tuesday morning.

Harper twice left the microphone to signal an end to his news conference and twice returned to answer one more question.

The Conservative leader recalled how he celebrated with his staff Monday night after learning that he would lead a majority government.

"My staff had me celebrating last night," Harper said.

"They pulled me up to the room, they made me pop this champagne, and after I'd said a few words, they passed me the champagne and wanted me to guzzle it out of the bottle. And some of you know I'm not much of a drinker, but I did. However, they tricked me, and there was only that much in it. So much for my wild side. That's as wild as it got."

As he recalled the story, he held his fingers to suggest there was very little champagne left in the bottle.

Somali pirates get 439-year sentences

Somali pirates get 439-year sentences

The Alakrana fishing vessel on route to Victoria Port in the Seychelles Islands on November 17, 2009.

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- In a rare case, a Spanish court convicted two Somalia men of piracy in the 2009 takeover of a Spanish fishing vessel and sentenced each to 439 years in prison, according to a copy of the sentence viewed by CNN on Tuesday.

The long prison terms stem mainly from the conviction for illegal detention of the vessel's 36 crew members, with a sentence of 11 years for each count of piracy, or 396 years.

In addition, the defendants were convicted on three other counts, including armed robbery and belonging to a criminal gang, which boosted the overall sentence to 439 years.

The vessel, the Alakrana, was freed in November 2009 after being held for 47 days off the coast of Somalia. The crew included 16 Spanish sailors and 20 from Africa and Asia.

A day after the hijacking by 12 armed pirates, Spanish military monitoring the situation captured two pirate suspects on Oct. 3, 2009 as they left the fishing vessel. Then authorities took the unusual step of bringing them to Madrid.

Many other pirate suspects who have been captured by international military forces --- trying to ensure the safety of merchant shipping and fishing off the coast of Somalia --- have been taken to African nations for court procedures, but not to Europe.

The Spanish court identified the two as Raageggesey Hassan Aji, of Ceel Maccan, Somalia, who was born in 1978, although his birthdate was not disclosed; and Cabdiweli Cabdullahi, of Marka, Somalia, with no age given, although the court determined before the trial that was an adult.

Defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully for their acquittal.

Despite the 439-year sentences, a court official told CNN that the likely maximum that could be served for such convictions is about 30 years.

Spanish media reported in 2009 that a ransom had been paid to free the ship, and a leading Spanish fishing industry executive, Juan Manuel Vietes, told CNN at the time he was certain a ransom was paid for the release of the tuna trawler, but he didn't know the amount.

The Spanish government did not say how the ship had been freed.