OVER THE EDGE NEWSPAPER. NOVEMBER 8, 2006 Local Once again, UNBC is the best small university in Western Canada, accord- ing to Macleans magazine's annual sur- vey. It ranked 4th among small primarily undergraduate universities, with the top three spots being taken by institutions in Atlantic Canada, In:a separate survey, UNBC was also ranked the eighth-best research university in Canada, ‘The first in a series of Fine Arts classes is being offered at UNBC in partnet- ship with Emily Carr. The classes are “Drawing into Painting” on November 18 and 19, “The Contemporary Comic” on November 25 and 26, and “Chinese Art” on December 2 and 3, These cours- es will cost between$250-$265, and are precursors to UNBC'’s Bachelor of Fine . Arts program that is set to being in Sep- tember 2006. According to a new study by the UNBC School of Environmental Plan- ning, the Farmer's Market that takes place over the summer outside of the Court House contributes $794, 000 to the local economy. Provincial BC Premier Gordon Campbell has announced that smoking will be banned “in most public places in British Colum- bia by 2008, including hotels, schools, and hospitals. ; According to poverty advocate Kim Kerr, hundreds of low-income residents of Vancouver have lost their homes due to preparations for the 2010 Olympic games. A BC government report has suggest- ed that in order to save the endangered caribou population it might be neces- sary to kill predators such as cougars and wolves and even other prey, such as moose and deer that attract the preda- tors to caribou territory, Critics say the government should instead focus on curbing logging activities that take away from the caribou's territory. National You no longer have to be in shape to join the Canadian army. In an effort to get mote recruits, volunteers will now be given training to meet fitness goals. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has cancelled a Canada-European Union meeting. He says that he cannot leave the country due to the instability of a minority government, but critics say it is because the EU was going to chastise him for backing Canada out of its Kyoto commitments. They point out that he still plans to attend meetings in Vietnam and Latvia later this month. Liberal leadership frontrunner Mi- ~ chael Ignatieff has sparked more contro- versy by saying he would support moves to see Quebec recognized as a nation. n Somme The World Wildlife Fund has iden- tified Canada as the fourth highest “re- source squanderer” in the world. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has released a new report that identifies Islamic extremism as the Can- ada’s greatest terrorist threat. The report also reveals that 31 organizations and 274 individuals suspected of terrorist activities were monitored by CSIS over the last year, The Laval highway overpass in Mont- real has been reopened after it collapsed on September 30, killing five people. Dr. Malcolm Arnold told the Canad- ian Cardiovascular Congress that due to an aging population Canada will soon be in a the middle of a heart-failure“epi- demic.’ The Canadian Supreme Court has struck down two anti-terrorist laws as “unconstitutional.” The NDP has been vocal over Tory MP Peter MacKay’s refusal to apolo- gize for allegedly referring to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach as a dog, saying that the minister should be fined for every day that he doesn't apologize. It is alleged that when MacKay was ques- tioned on whether he worried about the effects of pollution on his dog, he gestured to the seat normally occupied by Stronach and said “You already have het.’ The comment was not recorded by official House records. An Ottawa-based Afghani Islamist group has been banned because the fed- eral government says it provides funds to militants who have attacked Canad- ian soldiers in Afghanistan. ~ Both the Canadian and US govern- ments have been criticized over the US's refusal to apologize to Maher Arar, a Syrian-Canadian who was sent by the US to Syria for a year of torture, despite being innocent of any crimes. Despite the lack of an apology, Ottawa has said it is “satisfied” with the US response. Canadian doctors have been given the lowest marks by an independent survey for their use of electronic medical rec- ords, The University of Alberta has topped the Maclean's list of universities in Can- ada. This is the first time the U. of Al- berta has made it to number 1. Toronto has lost the ability to make a bid to host the 2015 World's Fair. The loss came about from an inability for city, provincial and federal governments to agree on the conditions for Toronto to make the bid. Canadians have spent 7.9 billion dol- lars on goods online, That is only a small bit of the 762 billion dollars spent in total. NEWS BRIEFS international Ex-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, along with two co-defendants, has been convicted of ctimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging by a Baghdad court. An appeal can be filedin 30 days. Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist for the World Bank, has pre- pared a report for the British govern- ment that says global warming could cost up to $7 trillion in ecoriomic losses if current trends continue-- more than two world wars and the Great Depres- sion combined. It looks as though the US Democrats will take control of Congress in the up- coming midterm elections, due primar- ily to the Mark Foley sex-scandal and anger over the war in Iraq. Chinese President Hu Jintao opened a China-Africa summit in Beijing by an- nouncing that China will double its aid to Africa and provide $5 billion in loans and credit over the next three years, A lawsuit filed by a Muslim organ- ization against the newspaper ‘that first pulished cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed has been thrown out by a Danish court. : US President George W. Bush has changed his rune on the Iraq war, say- ing he is “not satisfied” and claiming that his old battle cry of “stay the course” ac- tually means being flexible and willing to adapt, A 43-year old man was arrested for being naked in his own home. Neigh- bours could see him through open win- dows and alerted the police. A 19-year old Alabama man has been arrested for raping his own mother as retaliation during a dispute with his brother. The dispute which lead to the incident has not been revealed, Austrian public restrooms had to re- move urinals shaped like womens lips after protests from women’s groups. The urinals are now on eBay. The Bush administration is under investigation on allegations that they've censored and prevented scientists from speaking freely about global warming. Despite various scandals and charges of corruption, left-winger Luiz Inacio da Silva was reelected as president of Brazil on October 29. Avigdor Lieberman, the new deputy prime minister of Israel, has said that the best solution to problems into the Middle East is to separate Arabs and Is- raelis. Many Israeli politicians, including the prime minister, quickly condemned the remarks. North Korean leader Kim Jong-II has told China that there are no plans for a second nuclear test, but the country will also not apologize for its actions. Two South Korean ministers-- in- cluding the top minister in charge of relations with North Korea and the De- fence Minister- have resigned from their posts following North Korea's nuclear tests. This adds to the problems faced by the government, especially since foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon will be leaving to take his position as Secretary General of the United Nations. Hundreds have been injured and ar- rested following anti-government riots in Hungary. In Nigeria, a new spiritual leaders for the country’s 70 million Muslims has been named: Colonel Muhammadu Sada Abubakar. The former military at- tache to Pakistan takes over the post of Sultan of Sokoto, a semi-symbolic pos- ition that stands for “good governance and Islamic unity.’ Hundreds of thousands of Venezuela held a rally in support of Manuel Ros- ales, the main opposition candidate to current president Hugo Chavez, Elec- tions for the position of president are to be held December 3. Chavez currently ‘leads by about 20 percentage points. Nicaraguans took to the polls Sunday. As of press time it seemed as if Daniel Ortega might take the position of pres- ident once again. Ortega first came to power as the leader of the pseduo-Com- munist revolutionary group known as the Sandinistas in 1979, after which he led a civil war against the US-backed Contra rebels. He was voted out of power in 1990. The US has warned that sanctions would be placed against the Latin American country if Ortega were voted in, but it is likey that Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez would lend support. The United Nations is holding its conference on climate change in Kenya this week, the first time the event has been in sub-Sahara Africa. Bulent Ecevit, a man who served as Turkey's Prime Minister five times, died of a stroke on November 5 at the age of 81. He became Turkey's first left-wing PM in 1973, the same year he ordered the invasion of Cyprus. He was impris- oned after military coups in the 1980s, and banned from politics for ten years. His final term as PM ended in 2002. German police are investigating why some euros-- the currency of the Euro- pean Union-- have been dissolving and -breaking apart. According to a report in the journal Science, in 50 years there will be almost no fish left in the sea if current trends continue. NASA has reversed an earlier decision and now plans on repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission will take place in May 2008. According to a new report by Nation- al Geographic Traveler, Stonehenge is “a destination in trouble” due to overzeal- ous tourists and inadequate preserva- _ tion and tourism management. - Rebels in Thailand have burnt down three schools and shot a teacher in the southern part of the country. This fol- lows a military coup that took place in October. 3 3 Sports . Hugh Campbell retired on October 25, ending his 30 year career as coach and executive of the CFL team the Ed- monton Eskimos. For the first time in history, the Tour de France will begin in England. On July 7, 2007, competitors in the cycling event will depart from near Trafalgar Square. FIFA has praised Canada for its prep- arations for the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, saying the event'could be “held to- morrow. Larry Nelson and Vijay Singh are among the newest entries into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Entertainment The news agency Reuters now has a permanent reporter in the online vid- eogame Second Life. Other companies are building a presence in the online world: Adidas, Toyota, and Starwood Hotels all sell virtual products, and the BBC is currently renting an island to stage live musical events. AskMen.com readers have -voted George Clooney the number one “man's man;’ ahead of contendors Jay-Z, Rich- ard- Branson, Lance Armstrong and ‘Tom Ford. Winnipeg-based punk group Propa- ghandi received $5000 as the winners of the first ever Echo Songwriting Prize for ‘the song"A Speculative Fiction.’ Tom Cruise and Katie Homes have set November 18 as their wedding date. For the first time since Forbes.com started tracking the earnings of dead ce- lebrities in 2001, Elvis Presley is not in the top spot. In his place is Kurt Cobain , who earned around $50 million US. Citing insufficient evidence, a judge has freed rapper Busta Rhymes from fear of a conviction over possessing a weapon, India is joining England, the United States, and others in having its own ver- sion of the reality show “Big Brother.” Heather Mills McCartney, who is cur- rently undergoing divorce procedures from Paul McCartney, is suing two Brit- ish newspapers for “false, damaging, and immensely upsetting” statements being made about her, Right-wing commentator Rush Lim- baugh was subject to much criticism after he accused actor Michael J. Fox of faking or exaggerating the symptoms of Parkison's disease when the visibly shaky Fox appeared in a political ad advocating stem cell research. Rapper Kanye West had a diva mo- ment at the MTV Europe awards: When he failed to win the award for best video, he crashed the stage and . went on a self-righteous, expletive filled rant, “[The video “Touch the Sky”] cost a million dollars, it had Pameral An- derson, I was jumping across canyons,’ he said. “If I dont win, the award show loses credibility.’