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Mary Tyler Moore On How That Famous Hat Toss Came To Be

January 25, 2017, 1:37 pm
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Mary Tyler Moore, one of TV’s greatest comedians and real-life feminist icon has died at 80.

The Brooklyn-born actress' rise in fame was catalyzed by the popularity of her namesake ‘70s sitcom. Moore broke the mold set for female characters at the time, starring as a 30-year-old single woman who put her newsroom career first.

mary tyler moore show
American actors Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight laugh in a still from the television series, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," circa 1976. (Photo: 20th Century Fox Television/Fotos International/Getty Images)

Aside from the trailblazing premise of all seven seasons of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” it’s perhaps the opening that continues to be best remembered by fans.

That scene, with Moore making her way through downtown Minneapolis in a black trench and blue beret. With a wide smile on her face, she twirls and tosses her hat into the air.

Moore recalled the making of the memorable scene to NPR’s Terry Gross in 1995:

It was freezing cold. It was in Minneapolis in January, I think, or February. And we didn't know what we were doing. We were just there to grab a lot of footage that shows a young woman's exuberance being in a new city, looking around, gazing at the sights. And I had in my hand a hat, a little beret that my aunt had given me for Christmas. And I had packed that along with whatever other warm things that I had, which weren't too many 'cause I was a Californian, to go to Minneapolis to do these film spots.


And, as in the key to any great scene: it’s all in the details.

One playful detail is the puzzled face of Hazel Frederick, wearing a green coat, fur collar and scarf, watching Moore rip the beret off and toss it above her head. She happened to be shopping and walking by the set while the camera was rolling.

“A neighbor spied Frederick on the first episode of the show and word was spread among Frederick's family. Alerted by a daughter, Frederick finally saw her widely televised image on the third episode,” read a 1999 obituary for Frederick.



The woman was more or less anonymous until she and Moore crossed paths at a book signing in 1996. There, the two met, and Frederick was brought on stage before an audience of 5,000 people.

Moore, harnessing her trademark charm and wit, introduced the 88-year-old as he “co-star.”

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Dan Aykroyd Writes Beautiful Eulogy To Ex-Fiancée Carrie Fisher

January 25, 2017, 1:49 pm
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Dan Aykroyd has opened up about his engagement to his "Blues Brothers" co-star Carrie Fisher.

The Canadian comedian and actor penned a heartwarming note honouring the late actress. Aykroyd's tribute is one in a series that will be published in the March 2017 issue of Empire magazine.

"I grew up as a simple Catholic kid from a government family in Hull, Quebec, so you can imagine how much of a privilege and honour it was for me to have known this one-off, broke-the-mould woman as a great friend," he wrote.

dan aykroyd carrie fisher
Dan Aykroyd and Carrie Fisher act in a skit on "Saturday Night Live" in 1978. (Photo: Al Levine/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Aykroyd shared a series of anecdotes about Fisher, from how the pair first met on "Saturday Night Live," to his proposal with a sapphire ring in 1979, and her reciprocal gift: "a Donald Roller Wilson oil painting of a monkey in a blue dress next to a tiny floating pencil, which I kept for years until it began to frighten my children."

The pair never married — Carrie reunited with her earlier love, Paul Simon, who she married before divorcing a year later.

"She was also in love with Paul Simon. She married him but I hope she kept my ring," Aykroyd wrote.

Carrie Fisher died in December from cardiac arrest. She was laid to rest, alongside mother Debbie Reynolds who died just one day after her daughter. They were both buried on January 6.




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Scarlett Johansson And Romain Dauriac Split After Two Years Of Marriage

January 25, 2017, 1:50 pm
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Scarlett Johansson and her husband, French journalist Romain Dauriac, are calling it quits after two years of marriage.

A source told People magazine that the pair has been “separated since the summer.”

The 32-year-old actress began dating Dauriac in 2012 and they tied the knot two years later, shortly after welcoming their daughter, Rose Dorothy.

scarlett johansson romain dauriac
Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac attend the Yummy Pop Grand Opening Party on December 16, 2016 in Paris, France.

Johansson has always been very private about her personal life, but in 2014, the “Ghost in the Shell” star revealed to Parade.com what first attracted her to Duriac.

“His brain. He’s the smartest person I know,” she told the site. “I was attracted to the way that he thinks, his sense of irony, how he looks at things.”

While the former couple has yet to comment on the split, it appears they are on good terms with each other. The two co-own the popcorn brand Yummy Pop and will continue to be business partners, People magazine reports.

In fact, the last time the pair made a public appearance together was in December at the grand opening of their store Yummy Pop in Paris, France.

Before Dauriac, Johansson was married to Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2010.

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Mary Tyler Moore Alcoholism: Actress Opened Up About Her Addiction And Recovery

January 25, 2017, 1:51 pm
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She was famous for her megawatt smile, but in real life Mary Tyler Moore’s life was marked by tragedy.

The actress, whose namesake show revolutionized the portrayal of women on television in the 1970s, died on Wednesday. She was 80-years-old.

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American commedienne Mary Tyler Moore smiles in a scene from 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' in Los Angeles in 1970. (Photo: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)



Moore and her mother both struggled with alcoholism, and her younger sister died from a combination of alcohol and painkillers at 21, the Associated Press reports. Her only son, Richie, also fought a battle with addiction, and accidentally shot himself when he was 24.

Moore wrote in her autobiography, excerpted in People magazine, that drinking became a problem during her unhappy marriage to Grant Tinker.

In case there’s any doubt about the acute state of my alcoholism, and the insanity it produced, I can recall with sickening clarity that on more than one occasion I played Russian roulette with my car. What’s more, some unwary, innocent people played with me.


After separating from Tinker in 1980 and moving to Manhattan on her own, Moore wrote that her alcoholism only got worse.

Not surprisingly, during that summer the distillation of my growing alcoholism took place. Even though I was accomplishing things by myself, it was all so uncomfortable that I anesthetized myself at the end of the day. Nothing was so tough I couldn’t get through it until 5:30 or 6. Then the effects of vodka on the rocks made it all go away.


Decades later, Moore opened up about her recovery in an interview on Larry King Live.

She told King that she visited the Betty Ford Center, an addiction treatment clinic in California, where she found “a lot of spirit and determination.”

mary tyler moore
Mary Tyler Moore arrives for the taping of 'Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl' in Los Angeles in 2012. (Photo: Sam Mircovich/Reuters

“Somebody said something ... if you want to get all the air out of a glass, what do you do? There's no way to do it but fill it with something else. And that something else is joy of living, reading, being creative, know you're doing the right thing,” she said.

“With alcoholism, you tend to drink because you're angry, or you drink because you're sad now, or you drink because you are just so happy you want to celebrate,” she continued.

“But unfortunately, it's debilitating.”

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Mary Tyler Moore's Son Richard Meeker Died In An Accidental Shooting In 1980

January 25, 2017, 2:15 pm
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Mary Tyler Moore’s famous character Mary Richards may have mirrored her personality, but life imitated art in another tragic way.

The actress, who died on Wednesday, lost her only child Richard Meeker in 1980. The 24-year-old accidentally shot himself.

At the time, she had just appeared in a film called "Ordinary People," in which she played a mother who lost a son to an accident. She was nominated for an Oscar for that role.

Meeker was talking to a roommate and “fiddling” with a sawed-off shotgun in the living room of the Los Angeles home they rented when it went off in his face, according to UPI.

Everyone interviewed at the time said there were no signs he would harm himself.

The model of gun, which had a hair trigger, was later removed from the market, according to The New York Times.

mary tyler moore richard meeker

Mary Tyler Moore and her son Richard Meeker Jr. at a benefit on Feb. 17, 1968. (Photo: Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images)



Moore’s estranged second husband, Grant Tinker, was notified first, but waited a few hours to tell Moore so the news — which he said destroyed her — didn’t come in the middle of the night, according to UPI.

"Calling Mary was the most difficult thing I ever had to do," Tinker said.

In a 2009 book called “Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes,” Moore opened up about the tragedy, saying time was a great healer.

"It came from out of nowhere. He was doing so well ... Unfortunately, there were terrible rumours that Richie killed himself, but it was an accident," she wrote.

He was a gun collector, she explained.

We weren't able to find many photos of Moore and her son together, but a fan dug up this photo of the two of them and Tinker.




Mary Tyler Moore was 80 when she died.

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Nearly A Third Of Canadians Will Be Immigrants By 2036

January 25, 2017, 2:21 pm
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OTTAWA — A new Statistics Canada survey says almost half the country's population could be an immigrant or the child of an immigrant within the next 20 years.

It suggests the proportion of immigrants in Canada's population could reach 30 per cent in 2036 — compared to 20.7 per cent in 2011 — and a further 20 per cent of the population would be the child of an immigrant, up from the 17.5 per cent recorded in 2011.

The numbers released Wednesday are a far cry from the country's first census of the population in 1871 — four years after Confederation — when 16.1 per cent of the 3.7 million people in Canada were born abroad, with Britain, the United States and Germany as the most likely countries of origin.

The population projections show immigration will alter the country's cultural landscape under all scenarios Statistics Canada explored as part of an ongoing project to map out Canada's future as the nation turns 150 years old.

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Lakashana Shri Narayanasamy shakes Constable Michael Roberston's hand after being given her citizenship certificate on July 1, 2016.

The upward trend in the number of immigrants to Canada would also have an effect on the languages spoken at home.

In Quebec, the percentage of people who claim French as their mother tongue is expected to drop to between 69 and 72 per cent in 2036, down from 79 per cent in 2011.

Across Canada, the percentage of francophones is also expected to drop to between 17 and 18 per cent from 21.3 per cent in 2011.

In Quebec, while the overall number of people who speak French at home — even if it isn't their mother tongue — is expected to grow, their share as a percentage of the population will fall to about 75 per cent from 81.6 per cent.

The share of those who speak English at home in Quebec, on the other hand, will rise three or four points to the 16 or 17 per cent range — due in part to the tendency of new immigrants to favour English over French when choosing a new language.

canada citizenship
More than 100 newcomers receive their Canadian citizenship during the World Cup of Hockey 2016 Legacy Project in Toronto.

Up to 30 per cent of Canadians in 2036 could have a mother tongue that is neither English nor French, a potential jump of 10 points from 2011.

Researchers concluded more than half of the country's immigrants will be of Asian origin within the next two decades, with a corresponding decline in the number of European immigrants.

Visible minority populations would make up a growing percentage of the working age population, defined as people between the ages of 15 and 64, potentially doubling their share to 40 per cent of the age cohort, up from the almost 20 per in 2011.

The projections also suggest that by 2036, between 13 and 16 per cent of the population would be people from a non-Christian religion, up from the nine per cent recorded in 2011. Within this group, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs would see their numbers grow most quickly.

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Can You Photograph Or Film The Police In Canada? Yes. Yes, You Can

January 25, 2017, 2:29 pm
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Toronto police say they are reviewing a video apparently showing an officer stunning someone with a Taser — and two cops telling the person filming they would seize his cellphone.

Waseem Khan was walking near Ryerson University Tuesday when he saw the incident unfold, according to the Toronto Star. The video he shot, which was shared by CityNews, shows a group of officers holding a suspect down on a sidewalk.



"He's down and they Tased him!" Khan says.

Moments later, one of the officers asks Khan to move back if he's going to be a witness.

"I'm not obstructing your arrest," Khan replies and continues filming.

“Get that guy out of my face, please," the officer says moments later as he points at Khan.

Later, two officers come up to him and threaten to seize his phone if he chooses to be a witness.

Police in Canada do not have the authority to do this. As long as someone is not obstructing police from doing their job, witnesses have the right to photograph an officer doing their job in public.

'Wrong approach'

Even Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash admitted the video was a "teaching moment."

“They have no authority [to seize the phone]," Pugash told the Star. "That approach is the wrong approach.”

Pugash told CTV that Toronto officers have been informed people can film them so long as they are not obstructing or interfering with police work.

"And as far as I could see from this video, the person filming wasn't doing anything wrong," he said.

toronto police
This officer in Khan's video tells him the suspect will "spit in your face, you're going to get AIDS." (Photo: CityNews Toronto/YouTube)

Khan's video takes an even more bizarre twist toward the end. As the two officers walk toward him, one of them says the suspect is going to "spit in your face, you're going to get AIDS."

Khan told CBC News the incident was disturbing to witness.

"You don't get HIV from someone spitting on you ... I think this speaks to the way this officer or these officers look toward certain demographics of people," he told the broadcaster.

Experiences like Khan's happen much more frequently in the U.S.

Despite it being legal to film and photograph police officers there, there have been many cases of cops seizing phones or ordering people to turn off cameras.

“There are First Amendment protections for people photographing and recording in public,” Mickey Osterreicher, an attorney with the National Press Photographers Association, told The Huffington Post in 2014.

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Rona Ambrose Says She Doesn't Think Trudeau Misspoke With Remarks On Phasing Out Oilsands

January 25, 2017, 2:53 pm
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Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose says she doesn’t buy that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau misspoke when he said Alberta’s oilsands need to be phased out.

“I think that is Mr. Trudeau’s ideology,” Ambrose told reporters Wednesday in Quebec City at her caucus retreat. “I think he is anti-energy.”

rona ambrose
Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose responds to reporters questions on Jan. 25 in Quebec City. (Photo: Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

When asked if she thought the oilsands should be phased out, Ambrose said such a shift shouldn’t be done until there’s “a replacement that makes sense for our country.

“If we’re moving towards another kind of energy then it has to be done in a way that is sustainable and affordable,” Ambrose said.

Trudeau raised the ire of Alberta politicians and Tory leadership contenders when he told a town hall in Peterborough, Ont. earlier this month that Canada must transition away from burning fossil fuels.

“We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow,” Trudeau said at the time. “We need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. That is going to take time.”

Trudeau addresses issue in heart of oil country

Trudeau addressed the controversy surrounding those remarks Tuesday with reporters covering his cabinet retreat in Calgary. The prime minister said he should have chosen different words.

“I misspoke. I said something the way I shouldn’t have said it,” Trudeau said.

But the prime minister did not shy away from his position that the Canada needs to break its dependency on fossil fuels in the long term. He insisted it’s not a new message from him.

“I talk about making sure that we understand that the resources in the oilsands, you know, 100 years from now, we probably are not going to be using for our fuel and energy sources,” he said, adding jet fuel could be the exception.

The Prime Minister’s Office also made the case last week that Trudeau’s words weren’t so different from those of former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, who joined with other G7 leaders in 2015 to commit to the full phase out of fossil fuels by 2100.

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Trudeau made reference to Harper’s pledge Tuesday night when an angry Calgarian at a town hall accused him of having a different message about the oilsands when he’s in western Canada than he does “down East.”

The man said Trudeau was “either a liar or... confused,” but said he was starting to think the prime minister was both.

“Even Stephen Harper recognized we have to get off fossil fuels eventually. We have to do that,” Trudeau responded, sparking cheers. “We cannot do that right now.”


"Even Stephen Harper recognized we have to get off fossil fuels eventually."
— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau


Again, Trudeau said every prime minister needs to get resources to market, including fossil fuel from the oilsands.

“I've also said that we need to do that in a responsible, sustainable way — that you cannot separate what's good for the environment and what's good for the economy."

With a file from Patrick Bellerose, The Canadian Press

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FedEx Truck Ripped Open As Train Smashes Right Through It

January 25, 2017, 3:47 pm
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Dashcam video caught the horrifying moment a train smashed full-speed into a FedEx delivery truck in Utah.

Video shows parcels flying into the air as the rear-end of the truck is blown away, completely out of the frame. Thankfully, the driver was unharmed and train passengers were not seriously injured. (Watch the video above to see exactly what happened.)

fedex train collision

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is investigating why crossing gates were upright when the train was approaching, allowing the FedEx truck to drive over train tracks, Complex reported.

"The agency has never had an accident like this before," a UTA spokesperson said of Saturday's collision in a release, adding preliminary information faults severe winter weather.

Fox 8 Cleveland reports that FedEx is working with authorities to "minimize the impact on customers" who had packages on the truck.

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Paul Godfrey, Postmedia CEO, Blames Google And Facebook For Struggling Newspapers

January 25, 2017, 3:48 pm
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Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey says digital giants like Google and Facebook are to be blamed for print media's downfall.

"Newspapers worldwide and especially in North America, vices are being tightened on them because print ad revenue is quickly disappearing," Godfrey said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Canada's Amanda Lang that was published Wednesday.

"And although we're all in the digital world — you know, you have to be — it is almost impossible to compete with Google and Facebook."

The comments were made the same week Godfrey's company cut 15 positions at the Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette.

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Paul Godfrey poses outside the Postmedia offices in Toronto in 2015. (Photo: Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Postmedia is set to reduce its workforce by 20 per cent this year, on top of the 3,000 jobs it has slashed in the past six years.

The struggling company posted a first-quarter profit after 15 straight quarterly losses, thanks to debt restructuring and savings from the job cuts, the Toronto Star reported last week.

In December, Godfrey's contract was extended until 2020. He also received a $900,000 "retention bonus" last year, according to CBC News.

Watch Godfrey's interview above.

With files from The Canadian Press

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'The Highway' Music Video Raises Awareness For Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women

January 25, 2017, 5:25 pm
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Students from a B.C. First Nation created a heartbreaking music video about missing and murdered indigenous women.

The song called "The Highway" was penned by students at the 'Na Aksa Gyilak'yoo School in Kitsumkalum First Nation, just outside of Terrace in northern B.C.

the highway video
Students hold hands in a still from "The Highway." (Screengrab: Nwe Jinan/YouTube)

The video that accompanies the ballad shows a girl who hitchhikes on Highway 16 — nicknamed the "Highway of Tears," for the high number of women that have disappeared along the route over the past 50 years — while the teens sing about resilience and their community's strength.

"I'm bothered by how my nation has been bullied and controlled, living here has been so hard and there's a road that leads to tears," raps one student.

"The Highway" was produced by N'we Jinan, a non-profit organization that aims to encourage First Nations youth to express themselves through the arts. The group brings a mobile recording studio into schools, where participants can learn about sound recording and music production.

"Within the studios’ residency, original songs are created containing messages that focus on cultural identity, language, struggle, love and self acceptance," reads the program's website.

Watch "The Highway" above.

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Trudeau: Sask. Oil Spill A Reminder To Be 'Mindful' Of Environment

January 25, 2017, 6:59 pm
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STOUGHTON, Sask. — The Saskatchewan government says it has confirmed which pipeline leaked 200,000 litres of crude oil on First Nation farmland.

It says it belongs to Calgary-based Tundra Energy Marketing Ltd.

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The site of an oil pipeline spill is seen in an aerial photograph provided by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, near Stoughton, Sask. (Photo: INAC/Handout via Reuters)

The company has been leading cleanup of the spill near Stoughton in southeastern Saskatchewan.

The government says so far 174,000 litres of oil have been recovered and 185,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil removed.

It says further assessment and cleanup, including excavation work, will follow until the site is restored.

Tundra confirmed on its website that it is the operator of the pipeline and is working with regulatory bodies and the Ocean Man First Nation to determine the cause.

Leak discovered by band member

Chief Connie Big Eagle said a band member who worked in the oil industry detected the smell of oil days before the leak was discovered.

The member eventually found the site of the spill contained in a small slough and reported it to officials on Friday.

She said emotions among the 540 band members range from disappointment to anger.

"Many of our people grew up in the oil industry and have made their careers in the oil industry and currently work in the oil industry, so there's lots of knowledge," she said in an interview Tuesday.

"I don't know about things returning to normal, as far as the environment goes, but I know we're all co-operating at this point, ensuring it's cleaned up properly and no further damage is caused to the land or the environment."

Trudeau: we need to do a better job

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the leak at a stop in Saskatoon early Wednesday evening.

"I think this highlights the expectation that Canadians have that while we grow the economy, while we create good jobs, we also are responsible and mindful of the impact on the environment, that we expect high standards of response to accidents but we also do a better job of being proactive on ensuring that our communities and our land is safe and protected."

Trudeau said the handling of the spill and the investigation is the province's area of responsibility, but the federal government is there to support the province in any way if needed.

He said federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has been in touch with Saskatchewan Environment Minister Scott Moe on the latest leak.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to media in Saskatchewan on Wednesday. (Photo: Liam Richards/The Canadian Press)

Tundra has said it immediately notified government officials and residents when the leak was reported and began removing surface oil with vacuum trucks.

Tundra is a subsidiary of grain and energy conglomerate James Richardson & Sons, Ltd., of Winnipeg.

The Ocean Man spill is almost as big as a 225,000-litre leak of heavy crude oil and diluent from a Husky Energy (TSX:HSE) pipeline into the North Saskatchewan River last July.

The leak forced the cities of North Battleford, Prince Albert and Melfort to shut off their water intakes from the river and find other water sources for almost two months.

Husky said it spent about $90 million responding to the spill, which it said was caused by shifting ground.

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President Enrique Pena Nieto Says Mexico Is Still Not Paying For A Wall

January 26, 2017, 5:28 am
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities.'' As early as Thursday, he is expected to pause the flow of all refugees to the U.S. and indefinitely bar those fleeing war-torn Syria.

"Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders,'' Trump declared during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security. "We are going to save lives on both sides of the border.''

The actions, less than a week into Trump's presidency, fulfilled pledges that animated his candidacy and represented a dramatic redirection of U.S. immigration policy. They were cheered by Republicans allies in Congress, condemned by immigration advocates and triggered immediate new tension with the Mexican government.

"I regret and reject the decision of the U.S. to build the wall,'' Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday in a nationally televised address.




Trump is expected to wield his executive power again later this week with the directive to dam the refugee flow into the U.S. for at least four months, in addition to the open-ended pause on Syrian arrivals.

The president's upcoming order is also expected to suspend issuing visas for people from several predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — for at least 30 days, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Associated Press.

Trump is unveiling his immigration plans at a time when detentions at the nation's southern border are down significantly from levels seen in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The arrest tally last year was the fifth-lowest since 1972. Deportations of people living in the U.S. illegally also increased under President Barack Obama, though Republicans criticized him for setting prosecution guidelines that spared some groups from the threat of deportation, including those brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

As a candidate, Trump tapped into the immigration concerns of some Americans who worry both about a loss of economic opportunities and the threat of criminals and terrorists entering the country. His call for a border wall was among his most popular proposals with supporters, who often broke out in chants of "build that wall'' during rallies.

trump mexicoDonald Trump and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto walk out after finishing a press conference at the Los Pinos residence in Mexico City Aug. 31, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

Immigration advocates and others assailed the new president's actions. Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project, said the president's desire to construct a border wall was "driven by racial and ethnic bias that disgraces America's proud tradition of protecting vulnerable migrants."

How Trump plans to pay for the wall project is murky. While he has repeatedly promised that Mexico will foot the bill, U.S. taxpayers are expected to cover the initial costs and the new administration has said nothing about how it might compel Mexico to reimburse the money.

In an interview with ABC News earlier Wednesday, Trump said, "There will be a payment; it will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form.''

Pena Nieto said Wednesday, "I have said time and again, Mexico will not pay for any wall.'' He has been expected to meet with Trump at the White House next week, although a senior official said Trump's announcement had led him to reconsider the visit.


"There will be a payment; it will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form.''


Congressional aides say there is about $100 million of unspent appropriations in the Department of Homeland Security account for border security, fencing and infrastructure. That would allow planning efforts to get started, but far more money would have to be appropriated for construction to begin.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC, said Congress will work with Trump on the upfront financing for the wall. Asked about estimates that the project could cost $8 billion to $14 billion, Ryan said, "That's about right.''

Trump has insisted many times the border structure will be a wall. The order he signed referred to "a contiguous, physical wall or other similarly secure, contiguous and impassable physical barrier.''

To build the wall, the president is relying on a 2006 law that authorized several hundred miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile frontier. That bill led to the construction of about 700 miles of various kinds of fencing designed to block both vehicles and pedestrians.

Needs congressional funding for officers

The president's orders also call for hiring 5,000 additional border patrol agents and 10,000 more immigration officers, though the increases are subject to the approval of congressional funding. He also moved to end what Republicans have labeled a catch-and-release system at the border. Currently, some immigrants caught crossing the border illegally are released and given notices to report back to immigration officials at a later date.

Trump's crackdown on sanctuary cities — locales that don't co-operate with immigration authorities — could cost individual jurisdictions millions of dollars. But the administration may face legal challenges, given that some federal courts have found that cities or counties cannot hold immigrants beyond their jail terms or deny them bond based only a request from immigration authorities.

Some of the nation's largest metropolitan areas — including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — are considered sanctuary cities.

The president also moved to restart the "Secure Communities'' program, which was launched under President George W. Bush and initially touted as a way for immigration authorities to quickly and easily identify people in the country illegally who had been arrested by local authorities.


"Your children will not have lost their lives for no reason.''



The program helped the Obama administration deport a record high of more than 409,000 immigrants in 2012. But Obama eventually abandoned the program after immigration advocates and civil libertarians decried it as too often targeting immigrants charged with low-level crimes, including traffic violations.

Among those in the audience for Trump's remarks at DHS were the families of people killed by people in the U.S. illegally. After reading the names of those killed, Trump said, "Your children will not have lost their lives for no reason.''

Trump's actions on halting all refugees could be announced sometime this week. Administration officials and others briefed on the plans cautioned that some details of the measures could still be changed, but indicated that Trump planned to follow through on his campaign promises to limit access to the U.S. for people coming from countries with terrorism ties.

___

AP writers Alicia A. Caldwell, Vivian Salama, Andrew Taylor and Erica Werner in Washington and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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McDonald's Canada, A&W About To Launch Breakfast War

January 26, 2017, 6:03 am
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TORONTO — Canadians hankering for a breakfast sandwich in the evening will soon be able to satisfy that craving at most McDonald's and A&W restaurants later next month, as the fast-food chains concede to growing consumer demand to have their signature morning staples served throughout the day.

On Feb. 21, McDonald's Canada will start serving breakfast beyond its usual cut-off time of 11 a.m. at 1,100 of its 1,450 restaurants.

And then less than a week later, A&W Food Services of Canada will launch its all-day breakfast program on Feb. 27. It expects 95 per cent of its 879 stores to make the transition by spring.

mcdonalds breakfast
A McDonald's Egg McMuffin and hash browns are displayed at a McDonald's restaurant on July 23, 2015 in Fairfield, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Serving up pancakes, eggs and hash browns is a growing market in Canada, according to Robert Carter, executive director of food service for market research firm NPD Group.

According to NPD data, 1.24 billion of the 6.5 billion visits made to Canadian restaurants between December 2015 and November 2016 took place during breakfast. That's an increase of 6.3 per cent compared to the same time period over previous years, one that came at the expense of traffic during other meal times, especially dinner.

During that same time period, NPD also observed that Canadians consumed nearly 536 million breakfast sandwiches — up nearly 49 million compared to previous years.

"When you look at where the growth in the marketplace has come from for the quick-service segment, it's all about the breakfast day part,'' said Carter, explaining that the generation born after 1980 tends to opt for a convenient take-away breakfast over making the meal at home.


"We started hearing from people saying, 'Gee, I wish I could get this any time of day.'''
— Susan Senecal, A&W
​

McDonald's Canada CEO John Betts said the company has been experimenting with extended breakfast hours for a little over a year at its two stand alone McCafe locations in Toronto, as well as various restaurants throughout the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver and Montreal since the latter half of 2016.

In early January, McDonald's announced the arrival of all-day breakfast at 17 of its restaurants in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

"Folks are looking for and have been looking for this kind of offering for the longest time,'' said Betts, estimating the company received thousands of tweets last year requesting the option.

"We know we're going to do well with it.''

A&W also tested the all-day breakfast option at 40 of its restaurants early last year and said it received a tremendous response, especially from millennials.

People have different schedules and traditions around when people eat have changed over the years, said Susan Senecal, president and chief operating officer.

"We started hearing from people saying, 'Gee, I wish I could get this any time of day.'''

McDonald's and A&W aren't the first major fast-food players to offer all-day breakfasts nationwide.

Starbucks Canada, for example, has offered breakfast during all its regular store hours in Canada since 2008. Company spokeswoman Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick said in an email that the coffee chain introduced the service to meet its customers' needs throughout the whole day.

a and w restaurant
(Photo: A&W)

Not everyone, however, is convinced breakfast hours need to be any longer.

Burger King and Tim Hortons both stop serving breakfast mid-day and the chains' parent company Restaurant Brands International has no plans to change that.

The company is focusing on other priorities, like expanding its lunch and coffee segments at Tim Hortons, said RBI's chief executive officer Daniel Schwartz in an interview before the companies announced their national roll-out plans.

"We don't shift our agenda based on what our competitors are doing,'' he said, adding he's unaware of any consumer demand for lengthened breakfast hours at RBI's two chains.

Both A&W and McDonald's will offer a limited menu for the extended breakfast hours.

McDonald's will serve McMuffin sandwiches and hash browns, as well as hotcakes and sausages — though Betts said customer demand may drive additional menu items to be available in the future. A&W customers will be able to purchase its Egger sandwiches and wrap, as well as hash browns.

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Fewer Sex Toys Contain Unsafe Chemicals Than Kid's Toys: Study

January 26, 2017, 6:34 am
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Fewer sex toys contain dangerous chemicals than children's toys, a Swedish inspection authority said in a report published on Monday.

In its study conducted in 2016, two per cent of the 44 surveyed sex toys that had been imported to Sweden contained banned chemicals, the Swedish Chemicals Agency said.

In a separate study the year before, the agency tested 112 toys in Sweden and found that 15 per cent contained banned chemical substances, including lead.

sex toys

"This was a bit surprising," Frida Ramstrom, an inspector for the agency, told AFP. "This was the first time we did such a study."

Of the 44 sex products examined, only one plastic dildo was found to contain a banned substance: chlorinated paraffins which is suspected of causing cancer, the agency said.

The agency said it was difficult to determine why more children's toys contained dangerous chemicals.

One contributing factor however was that sex toys were often imported by larger companies, which could exert more pressure on manufacturers to avoid harmful chemicals, whereas children's toys were more often imported by smaller companies which had less power to make such demands, according to Bjorn Malmstrom, a spokesman for the chemical agency.

Swedish law stipulates that chemicals in children's toys "must never pose a risk to human health".

sex toys

Three of the 44 examined sex toys, made of artificial leather and bondage tape, contained a type of phthalates used as a plasticiser at levels above a 0.1 per cent threshold, the agency said.

That specific type of phthalates is not banned in sex toys but is on the EU list of chemicals of "very high concern" as it can affect the body's hormonal balance and cause infertility.

Companies are therefore required to inform consumers if a product contains more than 0.1 per cent.

The global market for sex products is estimated at about $20 billion (18.6 billion euros) a year, according to British marketing research group Technavio.

It is expected to grow by nearly seven per cent per year between 2016 and 2020.

Americans and Chinese are among the biggest consumers of sex toys, according to Technavio.

toys

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Apocalypse Now? U.S. Elites Stocking Up On Guns, Gold, Exit Strategies

January 26, 2017, 12:36 pm
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Business elites are the most mobile people there are, and they have become especially mobile in recent years. For the truly wealthy, changing countries is at worst a paperwork headache (someone else’s paperwork headache, mostly).

So it’s not a good sign when a country’s business leaders show signs of packing up and heading for the door. They probably aren’t bluffing.

The U.S. isn’t quite there yet, but evidence is mounting that a growing number of America’s wealthiest traders and entrepreneurs are planning for the apocalypse — sometimes literally.

guns money
Evidence is mounting that America's business elite are planning for a worst-case scenario, amid concerns about social tensions, climate change and economic uncertainty. (Photo: Getty Images)

According to Evan Osnos, writing in the New Yorker, many are stocking up on weapons and gold coins. Some are building underground bunkers, and many are buying homes outside the U.S., and ensuring they have their own transportation to leave the country, should crisis come to pass.

“I keep a helicopter gassed up all the time, and I have an underground bunker with an air-filtration system,” the head of an investment firm, who was not identified in the story, told Osnos.

The person is reportedly a member of a private Facebook group where wealthy survivalists “swap tips on gas masks, bunkers, and locations safe from the effects of climate change.”

The person added: “A lot of my friends do the guns and the motorcycles and the gold coins. That’s not too rare anymore.”

steve huffman
Steve Huffman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Reddit Inc. told The New Yorker he got laser eye surgery because "if the world ends — and not even if the world ends, but if we have trouble — getting contacts or glasses is going to be a huge pain in the ass.” Huffman is one of a growing number of America's top business elite who are becoming engaged with survivalism. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A growing trend

This trend didn’t begin with the Brexit vote or the election of Donald Trump. Many of the world’s wealthy have grown concerned that rising inequality, and/or climate change, is going to cause social unrest.

“I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” former hedge fund manager Robert Johnson said in 2015, as quoted at The Guardian.


“A lot of my friends do the guns and the motorcycles and the gold coins. That’s not too rare anymore.”
— Unidentified head of an investment firm, as quoted in The New Yorker
​

Johnson was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where, a year later, some of the world’s top business leaders argued that the very nature of capitalism needs to be reformed if the world is to avoid a wave of populism.

Already happening in some places

As the world’s wealthy become increasingly mobile, they are also becoming more reactive to circumstances at home.

According to research from New World Wealth, recession-riddled Athens lost nine per cent of all its millionaires to emigration in 2015 alone. (The study defines “millionaire” as someone with a net worth of US$1 million or more, not including their primary home.)

Those who left Athens told the research firm that Greece's economic crisis and an influx of migrants and refugees were behind their decision.

paris champs elysees la defense
Sunset over the Champs-Elysee and La Defense in Paris. The city lost 6 per cent of its millionaires to emigration in 2015, according to a survey. (Photo: Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Paris lost six per cent of its millionaires in 2015, the year of the massacre at Charlie Hebdo and the Paris attacks. Those who left cited rising religious tensions and a lack of opportunity for their decision to leave.

The New World Wealth report calls it a “bad sign” when millionaires emigrate, because they “are often the first people to leave. They have the means to leave, unlike [many] middle-class citizens.”

The report notes that a flight of wealthy out of a country can have serious economic consequences. They take large amounts of money with them, which drags down the country’s currency, stock market and land prices.

There is also job loss, as 30 to 40 per cent of millionaires are business owners, and a “brain drain” as these people tend to be educated and are often innovators.

millionaire migration

China has it worst

China's wealthy have been moving cash offshore for years, in an attempt to diversify their investments away from the Chinese yuan. But that outflow of cash has caused the yuan to fall, further convincing the wealthy to get their money (and themselves) offshore.

According to the South China Morning Post, 60 per cent of China's richest people plan to move money offshore and buy a home abroad in the coming years.

Interestingly, their top destinations are Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. So while the U.S. risks losing some of its home-grown elite, it could yet become a second home for China's.

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Alberta Baby Boxes Are Great, But New Parents Need More, Says Researcher

January 26, 2017, 12:46 pm
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Baby boxes are all the rage among expectant parents, and the exploding success of the infant starter kits in Alberta shows no signs of slowing.

The Baby Box Company has been providing new moms with the boxes since November, filled with essential baby items such as diapers, wipes and teethers.

In that time, they have distributed an estimated 7,000 boxes, reports CBC News. (And that's only to people willing to pay. The company will begin distributing free boxes nationwide this March.)

baby box canada
Baby boxes provide a safe sleeping space for newborns, as well as infant essentials. (Photo: The Baby Box Co.)

But while it can be fun and exciting to receive a box full of freebies, a Calgary researcher says the boxes shouldn't be mistaken for the only support a new parent needs.

Dr. Karen Benzies, a professor with University of Calgary, has been leading research examining the best way to assist vulnerable first-time parents who are learning to care for a tiny newborn.

As part of her "Welcome to Parenthood Alberta" study, each participating family receives one of The Baby Box Company's kits. When empty, the box serves as a safe sleeping space for a baby.

#babybox #babyboxco #babiesofinstagram #safesleep #love #baby

A photo posted by The Baby Box Co. (@thebabyboxcompany) on



The boxes are modeled after similar boxes that have been used in Finland for more than 75 years.

Every expectant mother in the Scandinavian country is gifted with the box, so every baby, no matter their background, gets an equal start in life.

"Obviously it's worked. (Finland) had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, fast forward nearly 80 years and they have one of the lowest," Baby Box Company's Canadian program director Theresa Moore told the Calgary Eyeopener.



The popularity of the boxes is undeniable, says Benzies.

"People are attracted to the box because it's tangible. And it's got free stuff. And everyone likes free stuff."

But, she says, baby boxes only give a perception of support — in reality, new parents need a larger system that includes the help of people close to them.

Benzies' study, which wraps up in June, educates first-time parents about the importance of nurturing in a baby's early days. Lots of reassurance and comfort are crucial to an infant's early development.

"They learn to trust, they learn to know their needs are going to be met," Benzies says. "If they know their survival needs are being met, they are then open to interact with their worlds."


"If they know their survival needs are being met, they are then open to interact with their worlds."



Additionally, the study asks new moms to choose a mentor — someone from their personal network to act as a contact person during the weeks postpartum.

Mentors can be a friend, family member, neighbour or co-worker, says Benzies. Mentors are maintain contact with mom and baby once a week until the baby is six weeks old, then once every two weeks until the baby is six months old. They also keep a journal documenting their interactions with mom and baby.

Mentors ask questions like "how are you feeling?" and "how can I help you?" — important to gauging how a new mom is coping and identifying early signs of postpartum depression, says Benzies.


Mentors are told to ask questions like "how are you feeling?"


Kensee Mark, from Lloydminster, Alta., took advantage of the study, asking her sister to be her mentor.

Mark told Global News the combination of support from both the mentor and the baby box made her feel like her son "got a really good start. He got everything he needed."

baby boxes finland
The contents of the Finnish baby box are seen in this still image taken from video in Espoo, April 29, 2015. Finland has sent the boxes — including baby clothes, a sleeping bag and nipple cream among other items — to parents-to-be in Finland since the 1930s when infant mortality was high. (Photo: Attila Cser/Reuters)

While the outcomes have yet to be analyzed, Benzies says Mark's feedback is consistent what she's been hearing from many of the study's 1,500 participants.

"The anecdotes we're hearing back suggest this early support is a very positive enhancement (to the lives of new parents.)"

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Human-Pig Hybrid Embryo Created In Milestone Study

January 26, 2017, 1:07 pm
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NEW YORK — Scientists have grown human cells inside pig embryos, a very early step toward the goal of growing livers and other human organs in animals to transplant into people.

The cells made up just a tiny part of each embryo, and the embryos were grown for only a few weeks, researchers reported Thursday.

Such human-animal research has raised ethical concerns. The U.S. government suspended taxpayer funding of experiments in 2015. The new work, done in California and Spain, was paid for by private foundations.

Any growing of human organs in pigs is "far away," said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, an author of the paper in the journal Cell.

human pig embryo
This undated photo provided by the Salk Institute shows a 4-week-old pig embryo which had been injected with human stem cells. (Photo: Salk Institute/AP handout via CP)

He said the new research is "just a very early step toward the goal."

Even before that is achieved, he said, putting human cells in animals could pay off for studies of how genetic diseases develop and for screening potential drugs.

Animals with cells from different species are called chimeras (ky-MEER'-ehz). Such mixing has been done before with mice and rats. Larger animals like pigs would be needed to make human-sized organs. That could help ease the shortage of human donors for transplants.

Could grow hearts, livers in pigs

The Salk team is working on making humanized pancreases, hearts and livers in pigs. The animals would grow those organs in place of their own, and they'd be euthanized before the organ is removed.

Most of the organ cells would be human. By injecting pig embryos with stem cells from the person who will get the transplant, the problem of rejection should be minimized, said another Salk researcher, Jun Wu.

Daniel Garry of the University of Minnesota, who is working on chimeras but didn't participate in the new work, called the Cell paper "an exciting initial step for this entire field."

Here's what the new paper reports:

Scientists used human stem cells, which are capable of producing a wide variety of specialized cells. They injected pig embryos made in the lab with three to 10 of those cells apiece, and implanted the embryos into sows. At three to four weeks of development, 186 embryos were removed and examined.

Less than 1 in every 100,000 embryonic cells was human, which still comes to about a million human cells, Wu said. That contribution is lower than expected, he said, "but we were very happy to see we actually can see the human cells after four weeks of development."

The cells generated the precursors of muscle, heart, pancreas, liver and spinal cord tissue in the embryos. The researchers said they plan to test ways to focus human cells on making specific tissues while avoiding any contribution to the brain, sperm or eggs.

That addresses ethical concerns that the approach could accidentally lead to pigs that gain some human qualities in their brains, or make human egg or sperm.

There was no sign of that in the new research. The government, meanwhile, has signalled that it may lift the federal funding ban soon but impose extra oversight of any proposed work.

More human cells likely needed in embryos

A pig might not always have to be brought to term, Belmonte and Wu said. Even a pig fetus might provide human pancreatic cells to treat diabetes, or kidney cells to repair injuries to that organ, they said.

The University of Minnesota's Garry said the research offers some direction about what kind of human stem cells will work best. And it shows a need for boosting the number of human cells that appear in the embryo, he said.

Hiromitsu Nakauchi of Stanford University said his own unpublished experiments with pig and sheep embryos also found a sparse contribution from injected human cells. That's a challenge for making organs, but it might be surmounted by focusing cells on doing that job, he said.


"It seems kind of creepy."


Ethics experts were also impressed by the results. "It really does give a green light to explore more," said Insoo Hyun of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Hyun said he understood why some people might object on moral grounds to making animals with human organs.

"It seems kind of creepy," he said. But "this is a strategy to help save human lives" and so it is justified if properly done, he said.

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4 Moose Shot And Killed On Private Alberta Property

January 26, 2017, 1:51 pm
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COLD LAKE, Alta. — One man has been charged after four moose were shot and killed on private property in northeastern Alberta.

Police say they got a call about shots fired around 4:40 p.m. on Monday in the municipal district of Bonnyville.

When they arrived, they found four dead moose.

RCMP say the property owner did not give anyone permission to hunt on his land.

Dwayne Gerald Nest, 59, Cold Lake First Nations has been charged with unauthorized use of a firearm.

An outraged neighbour posted the following status to Facebook:



Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers investigated and no charges have been laid.

"In order to proceed with charges related to hunting on occupied land without permission, officers need an official statement from the landowner saying that permission was not, in fact, granted. In this case, it was the landowner's decision not to provide an official statement,'' Brendan Cox, spokesman with Alberta Justice, said in a statement.

"There was no evidence of any other offences.''

Cox says First Nations people with treaty status have a constitutionally protected right to hunt big game for food and are not subject to bag limits. He added the hunters in this case showed officers proof of their treaty status and the landowner granted the hunters access to retrieve the moose.

Also on HuffPost:


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Douglas Garland Trial: Defence Pokes Holes In Forensic Evidence

January 26, 2017, 2:20 pm
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CALGARY — A defence lawyer spent Thursday questioning the significance of many items seized by police investigating the killing of a Calgary couple and their five-year-old grandson.

Douglas Garland, 56, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their grandson Nathan O'Brien, who disappeared from a Calgary home in 2014.

Garland's lawyer Kim Ross cross-examined the chief forensic investigator in the triple-murder case.

obrien family
Alvin Liknes (left), Nathan O'Brien (centre) and Kathy Liknes (right.) (Photo: Calgary Police Service)

Ross had explanations for many of the items found in Garland's home and on his property, including a variety of knives, restraining devices and more than a dozen pairs of handcuffs.

"Would it be fair to say that you found a variety of cuffs — big cuffs, small cuffs, older cuffs, newer cuffs? There was a whole slew of cuffs?'' Ross asked.

"Yes, there was a wide range of handcuffs,'' replied Const. Ian Oxton.

"Like someone was a collector?'' Ross asked.

"Possibly, yes.''

Ross also pointed to a hacksaw, which was found to contain the DNA of Alvin Liknes and Nathan O'Brien. Oxton said it had been sent for DNA analysis, but not for fingerprinting.

nathan obrien
Calgary police search an acreage near Airdrie in July 2014. (Photo: The Canadian Press)

"Once the DNA process is complete we can't fingerprint after the fact. Swabbing the surface would destroy the fingerprints,'' said Oxton.

"So no testing was done on that hacksaw to determine in fact that Mr. Garland, Douglas Garland, had ever handled that item?'' Ross asked. "When you find these items you don't know how long they've been there. You don't know who put them there. You don't know who owns them.''

"No,'' said Oxton.

Many items still in original packaging

Ross said many of the items seized by police were still in their original packaging. He said police chose two books out of an office that had many others, including ones on organic chemistry and teaching.

One identified by police was the "Handbook of Poisoning.''

"Look at page three of that book please,'' Ross asked the officer. "It reads the 'Handbook of Poisoning: Diagnosis and Treatment.

"You agree with me that this book, it's a medical text on the diagnosis and treatment of poisoning. It contains nothing about the manufacturing or administering of poison ... simply treatment.''


"When you find these items you don't know how long they've been there. You don't know who put them there. You don't know who owns them."



Oxton, who also collected evidence at the Liknes home, said there were a number of usable fingerprints found at the residence, but none of them was a match for any suspects, including Garland.

"You didn't find any match to Douglas Garland for fingerprints in the Liknes residence, did you?'' Ross asked.

"No, we did not,'' said Oxton.

"There was no other DNA matching Mr. Douglas Garland found in the Liknes residence was there? No blood, no hair, no fingerprints, no footwear samples, nothing?'' Ross continued.

douglas garland
Douglas Garland is escorted into a Calgary police station in connection with the disappearance on July 14, 2014. (Photo: Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)


"That is correct.''

Kimberly Warren, an RCMP forensic hardware engineer, was asked to match a burned key fob found in ashes at the Garland farm with a 2013 Toyota Tundra found in the Liknes driveway.

"I noticed immediately there were similarities in size, shape and features,'' said Warren.

She was able to confirm that the fob was for a Toyota vehicle, but there were five possible models built between 2004 and 2016.

One of those was the 2013 Toyota Tundra.

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