Sundance festival lineup announced

Several Canadian documentaries on the bill at January showcase for independent film

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES–Films featuring Winona Ryder, Nick Nolte, Anjelica Huston and Paul Giamatti will be among those competing for top honours at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

The lineup announced Wednesday for Sundance, a key showcase for independent film, also included several Canadian documentaries, as well as American pieces on writer Hunter S. Thompson, musician Patti Smith and filmmakers Roman Polanski and Derek Jarman.

The National Film Board of Canada is sending two of its co-productions to the festival held in Park City, Utah. Patrick Reed's documentary Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma and Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze will screen in the festival's world cinema documentary competition, the NFB announced Wednesday.

Reed's film, a collaboration with Toronto's White Pine Pictures, follows Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. James Orbinski to Somalia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The feature, produced by Peter Raymont, had its world premiere recently at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

Chang's piece, co-produced with EyeSteelFilm, follows the Yu family as they try to recoup from the flooding of the Three Gorges Dam. It's the first feature film for the Chinese-Canadian writer-director.

Both films "look at the human spirit during times of massive change and crises," the NFB said in a release.

Taking place Jan. 17-27, Sundance chose 16 titles in its dramatic competition for American fictional films, including director Geoff Haley's The Last Word, starring Ryder, Wes Bentley and Ray Romano in a romance about a writer who crafts suicide notes for other people.

Also competing in a lineup heavy on tales of families at odds: Rawson Thurber's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, with Nolte, Sienna Miller, Peter Sarsgaard and Jon Foster in the story of a young man with a gangster father who goes soul-searching after college; Clark Gregg's Choke with Huston and Sam Rockwell in a mother-and-son tale; and Paul Schneider's Pretty Bird with Giamatti and Billy Crudup in a dark comic narrative of entrepreneurs trying to invent a rocket belt.

Another entry in the U.S. dramatic competition: Christine Jeffs's Sunshine Cleaning, the story of an enterprising mother and her reluctant sister who try their hand at the crime-scene cleanup business. It stars Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin and Amy Redford, daughter of Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford.

The 16 documentaries in the U.S. competition feature Alex Gibney's Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, about the Academy Award-winning director of The Pianist and Chinatown who fled the United States in 1978 over child-sex charges; and Patti Smith: Dream of Life, Steven Sebring's study of the music icon.

The Women of Brukman (Les Femmes de la Brukman), directed by Canadian Isaac Isitan, is also in the lineup. The piece profiles workers who take over a Buenos Aires men's clothing factory during Argentina's financial collapse.

Other Sundance documentaries include Isaac Julien's Derek Jarman, a look at the work of the British experimental filmmaker; Edet Belzberg's An American Soldier, which examines U.S. army recruitment tactics; Patrick Creadon's I.O.U.S.A., an exploration of America's fiscal straits; and Jackie Reem Salloum's Slingshot Hip Hop, a chronicle of Palestinians using protest rap in the struggle with Israel.

Retailers shouldn't wake to holiday tax hangover after Jan. 1 GST cut, group says

Steve Rennie, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - Retailers shouldn't wake up to a tax-change hangover on New Year's Day when Ottawa trims another point off the GST, says a group representing small businesses - even though the cut comes at one of the busiest times of the year.

Unlike the last time the federal government trimmed a percentage point from the GST in July 2006, this cut comes at the tail end of the busy Christmas shopping season.

"This is a little more tricky this time around because people return goods on the first week in January," said Garth Whyte, executive vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

"There's a little bit of a challenge there that employers are going to have to deal with... people are preoccupied with a very busy season. Lot of things happening."

Retailers will have to change their sales, billing, purchasing and accounting processes once the GST is lowered to five per cent from six per cent on Jan. 1, 2008.

If retailers' experience from the previous July 2006 rate is any indication, the upcoming cut should go off without a hitch. The federation said informal surveying after the July 2006 cut found that 90 per cent of its members reported it took them less than a week to make the adjustment, with little trouble.

The federation's research also showed its members expected to spend an average of $574 per business to make the switch to six per cent GST.

The Retail Council of Canada echoed the federation's optimism, predicting retailers wouldn't have trouble adapting to the cut.

"We've been through this once before so the experience is there, and we're anticipating that it'll be fine," said Derek Nighbor, the Retail Council of Canada's vice president of national affairs.

"We're quite confident that retailers will be compliant and set to go."

One of Stephen Harper's five key planks in the 2006 election campaign was a pledge to slash the then seven per cent GST by two percentage points. In their first budget, the Conservatives dropped the rate to six per cent and vowed to cut the GST again before 2011.

But that was before the government was faced with an embarrassment of riches in the form of a ballooning surplus expected to reach $11.6 billion for the 2007-08 fiscal year. Even after the Tories use $10 billion to pay down the federal debt, that would still leave a surplus of $1.6 billion.

The burgeoning government coffers prompted Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to announce in last month's economic statement that Ottawa would make its second GST rate cut, effective Jan. 1, 2008.

It costs about $5.5 billion for each point the GST is lowered, a total of $11 billion for both cuts.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Thai campaigner claims rival bribed older voters with Viagra

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANGKOK, Thailand - Vote-buying is an old practice in Thai politics.

But one candidate for December's Thai election has reportedly come up with a new tactic - handing out Viagra instead of cash.

The allegation, made today by a campaign worker against a rival party, comes as rules about handing out favours to voters have become stricter than ever.

Sayan Nopcha, a campaigner for the People's Power party in Pathum Thai province just north of Bangkok, said the drug used to treat sexual dysfunction in men was being distributed to elderly male voters.

Viagra is supposed to be used only on a doctor's advice, but is generally available over the counter in Thailand.

He would not identify the candidate who allegedly handed out the pills.

Under a tough new law, both the supplier and recipient of vote-buying can face criminal charges. Candidates can be disqualified and their party disbanded, as was the case with the old law, while voters who accept money or gifts can now face from one to 10 years in prison.

More than 4,200 candidates from 41 parties are competing for 480 seats in the lower house of parliament in the Dec. 23 polls - the first to be held after a bloodless military coup ousted elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September last year.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Manitoba law would require anyone finding computer child porn to come forward

Steve Lambert, THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government put forward a proposed law Wednesday that will require anyone who comes across child pornography to report it to the authorities, or risk a maximum $50,000 fine and two years in jail.

The bill, believed to be the first in Canada, puts the onus on computer technicians, relatives and the general public to report child porn they find on people's hard drives, DVDs, magazines and in other formats. Still, the province admits no one may ever be prosecuted under the law.

"Whether police will want to charge under this law or the (federal) Criminal Code, I will leave that with them," said NDP Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh, who promised the legislation a year ago.

"The key issue here, of course, is not about prosecutions. It's about prevention, sending a strong message and backing it up with protection for informants."

Critics argue police will have a hard time proving that someone - a computer repair technician who might examine images on a client's hard drive, for example - saw child porn and kept quiet. The bill expands an existing law that requires people to report child abuse, and so far no one has been prosecuted under it.

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives said they support a crackdown on child porn, but are worried the bill may amount to window-dressing.

"It's nice to stand on a soapbox and huff and puff about this legislation, but there had better be some teeth," said Tory justice critic Gerald Hawranik.

Hawranik also pointed to two anti-gang laws put forward by Mackintosh when he was justice minister in 2003 and which have not seen any prosecutions. The bills, which are supposed to allow police to seize gang members' assets and shut down their businesses, have proven unworkable for police and prosecutors.

Child protection groups, however, said the bill will make a difference.

"This bill is clear. Everybody has an obligation to report (child pornography)," said Rosalind Prober, president of the Winnipeg-based children's rights group Beyond Borders

The Child and Family Services Amendment Act requires any Manitoban who comes across child pornography to call Cybertip, a 24-hour hotline operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. The group then alerts police or child welfare workers.

"The legislation is not about criminalizing behaviour, it is not about pointing fingers, it is not about creating a snitch line," Lianna McDonald, the centre's executive director.

"This...is really saying that adults are the first line of protection for children and we have that obligation."

The bill also requires police and others to keep the informants' identities confidential, and forbids informants from being fired if they tell on a co-worker.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Canadians should brace for coldest winter in almost 15 years: forecast

TORONTO - Environment Canada says it appears the country will have to endure its coldest winter in almost 15 years as everyone is reminded what a real Canadian winter feels like.

Senior climatologist David Phillips says Canada has had a number of warmer than normal winters in recent years, but this December through February is forecast to be one of the harshest in recent memory.

With the exception of a small pocket in southern Ontario, the entire country is coloured blue for colder than normal on Environment Canada's weather map.

Precipitation forecasts are less reliable, but Phillips says the colder winter will likely result in a lot of white Christmas' across the country.

Last year, a number of traditionally cold and snow-covered cities like Quebec City, Ottawa and Timmins, Ont., had their first green Christmas in decades.

Phillips says a cold winter with lots of snow is good for the economy, and will likely push people into doing their Christmas shopping and booking holidays to escape the cold.

"I always think it's good for the economy when weather is behaving like it should, when winters are cold and summers are hot," he said.

"With the Canadian dollar the way it is and with this colder than normal weather, it very well may be that the busiest people in the country are travel agents."

Phillips says the forecast for cold weather is being triggered by La Nina, a period of lower than normal temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Hollywood writers call new offer a rollback

GARY GENTILE
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES–Hollywood studios presented a new contract offer to striking film and TV writers yesterday that the studios said would pay writers millions of dollars extra for shows created for the Internet.

But writers said some of the proposals amounted to rollbacks and said studios should adopt their counteroffer.

The Writers Guild of America said they asked for a recess in the talks until Tuesday to consider its options, but it called on members to continue picketing today and Monday.

The producers said the new offer, dubbed the "New Economic Partnership," included payments for work shown on the Internet, the key sticking points in the talks.

"The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million (U.S.) in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year," the statement from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said.

The guild countered with a lengthier response, saying the producers' proposal only dealt with advertising-supported programs streamed for free and jurisdiction over shows created for the Web "and it amounts to a massive rollback."

The writers said their plan, presented yesterday, would cost producers $151 million over three years.

"That's a little over a 3 percent increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10 percent," the statement said.

Film scoops $130 million from B.C. pockets

Film tax credits, a provincial program designed to keep the film industry coming to B.C., cost this province's citizens $130 million in 2006, according to a report acquired by the Georgia Straight on November 23. That's in spite of the report's observation that B.C.'s ever-increasing tax credits have a questionable impact on the state of the industry.

"Although industry representatives claim that the increase in the credit rates in 2005 led to a significant growth in the British Columbia industry," reads the report, "the industry is generally volatile and such attributions are difficult to support."

The tax-policy branch in the finance ministry prepared the Film Tax Credit Review Final Report in advance of the expiry of B.C.'s film tax credit program in 2008. Despite the report's findings, on October 19, Premier Gordon Campbell announced the program's extension to 2013.

Under the program, a producer can apply to the province for a reimbursement of 18 percent of labour costs for foreign productions and 30 percent for local productions, along with other deductions.

The cost of tax credits has risen sharply since 1998, when the program was created. That year, they cost B.C. $800,000. Both the value of the industry and the percentage of labour costs eligible have grown since then, to the greatest cost of $130 million last year.

According to the October 19 press release, the film industry directly employs 20,000 British Columbians. According to the Ministry of Finance report, however, the industry directly employs fewer just 13,000.

Pieta Woolley
http://www.straight.com/article-120244/news-from-hollywood-north

Websites attract striking writers with creative freedom, potential profits

Gary Gentile, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES - The operators of Internet entertainment sites such as MyDamnChannel, Break, Heavy and others have a message for striking writers - give us a look.

Many writers are doing just that, with the hope of retaining total creative control over their work and collecting as much as half of all revenue - a potentially sweet deal compared to a typical TV gig.

The actual dollars generated by such Internet sites remain minimal but operators hope that luring veteran entertainment writers will jump-start their bottom lines.

"Everyone has been awakened to the potential," said Kristen Stavola, a screenwriter who is helping launch a site to host short videos created by top talent.

Fellow screenwriter Peter Rader said the effort results from the interest expressed by writers on the picket lines.

"It is taking the studio model and flipping it on its head," Rader said. "Content providers will own and retain their own copyrights."

Movie and TV writers have had plenty of time to consider other options since their strike began Nov. 5 against studios, networks and producers represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Writers are demanding more money when TV shows and films are sold on Internet sites such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes. They also want a share of revenue when advertising-supported episodes and films are streamed for free on sites such as ABC.com.

The alliance has countered that it's too early to know which web business models will succeed and it is holding out for flexibility to experiment without being locked into payment formulas.

Many writers have dabbled with web offerings this month, which they say is helping open their eyes to the Internet as more than a place to rerun their TV and movie work.

Some A-list actors have even joined the effort and appeared in a strike-related web series titled "Speechless," where Sean Penn, Ed Asner and others demonstrate the helplessness of actors without a script.

Rader has had some success with his online video "The Office is Closed," featuring actors and writers from the hit NBC comedy "The Office." It has been viewed more than 500,000 times, well on its way to the one million hits Rader and Stavola say it takes to attract serious attention from advertisers.

The website MyDamnChannel features work from such people as comedian Harry Shearer, the voice of several characters on the "The Simpsons," and David Wain, a founder of the comedy show "The State" on MTV.

A musical satire from Shearer titled "Waterboardin' USA" has collected more than a million hits by taking advantage of the web's viral nature, where videos are passed along by fans.

Operators of entertainment websites said the next step is attracting advertisers.

They're convinced that will happen as established writers increasingly turn to the web to offer new content rather than making only occasional contributions.

"When major ad sales deals become a consistent reality on the web, then our business model will become a sure thing for talent craving artistic freedom and a solid paycheque," said Rob Barnett, the founder of MyDamnChannel and a former MTV and CBS Radio executive.

Advertisers now pay between 40 per cent and 60 per cent more for online ads than they do for TV commercials because web audiences tend to be younger, male and affluent - a sweet spot for advertisers.

Forrester Research expects revenue from ad-supported, online streaming to grow from US$250 million this year to $1.7 billion by 2010. But with far fewer viewers, the Internet rakes in just a fraction of the $70 billion in advertising collected by broadcast television, according to Forrester.

Longtime web producers and writers Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf, who run the website Epic-FU, said Hollywood writers shouldn't wait until Internet ad dollars start rolling in to make deals with websites.

"We really feel this is a time if enough writers were to get together and create content for the web, there would be a huge tipping point," Woolf said.

They cautioned that it could become harder to experiment after TV networks finally figure out how to make money and start flooding the Internet with reruns and short videos designed to promote their prime-time TV shows.

"Creators do have the power," Diaz said. "Why not take advantage of that?"

On the Net:
http://www.mydamnchannel.com
http://www.speechlesswithoutwriters.com
http://www.myspace.com/hollywoodinterrupted
http://www.epicfu.com

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Robots laugh, solve puzzles and get dental treatment at Japanese exhibit

Hiroko Tabuchi, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO - A robot math whiz breezes through a Rubik's Cube, using metal hands to twist and turn the colourful toy. A panda robot uses sensors to detect when people are laughing, and joins in. A dentistry student peers into the mouth of a new patient - a humanoid practise robot with a complete set of pearly white teeth.

Japan showed off its cutting-edge robots Wednesday at the country's largest robotics convention, a dazzling display of the technologies that make it a world leader in both service and industrial robotics.

The dental training robot, dubbed Simroid for "simulator humanoid," has realistic skin, eyes, and a mouth fitted with replica teeth that trainees practise drilling on. A sensor fitted where the nerve endings would be raises the alert when dental students drill too close - triggering a yelp from the robot.

"Ow, that hurt!" a female robot squeaked, narrowing her eyes as a young dentist drilled on her replica teeth. "Now, I'm OK," she said as the dentist eased off.

"Our aim is to train dentists to worry about whether patients are comfortable, and not just focus on technical expertise," said Dr. Naotake Shibui of the Nippon Dental University in Tokyo, who collaborated with technicians at Kokoro Co. to develop the robot.

Researchers are still ironing out a few kinks - including perfecting a function that lets novices inject anesthetic into robot gums - before working on commercialization plans, Shibui said. He said a prototype has been used at the university since September.

Across the hall, Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Mr. Cube robot used built-in colour sensors and a pair of dexterous hands to solve a Rubik's Cube, then raised the completed puzzle in glee to show off to spectators.

Mr. Cube is no match for his human counterparts, taking up to five minutes to solve a typical puzzle while the human world record is 9.77 seconds.

Still, the sensors' ability to quickly detect and differentiate between colours is a breakthrough in industrial robotics, said Kawasaki engineer Masafumi Wada.

"We hope to employ this technology to robots working in factories, so they can distinguish parts by colour, as well as size and shape," Wada said. "That would make production lines much more versatile," he said.

The main focus of the 2007 International Robot Exhibition, which kicked off Wednesday in Tokyo, is on industrial robots like Mr. Cube.

Japan is an industrial robot powerhouse, with over 370,000 in use in 2005 - about 40 per cent of the global total, according to a recent report by Macquarie Bank.

There are 32 robots for every 1,000 Japanese manufacturing employees, the report said.

Japan has also led the way in personal robots, with big players like Honda Corp. and Sony Corp. to little-known startups launching robotic companions for the home.

Waseda University's furry, panda-shaped Tocco-chan robot, for example, is designed to relieve stress by helping people laugh.

A web camera connects to software that scans a person's face for smiles - and when it detects one, the robot joins in by giggling and wiggling its arms and legs.

"We all know laughing is good for your health. This robot helps you laugh, by laughing together with you," said Waseda research student Saiko Hirano, who developed Tocco-chan.

"I wanted to design a robot that helps people," she said. "But mostly, this robot is the product of a wild imagination."

? The Canadian Press, 2007

Toyota recalls 264,000 luxury cars for fuel pipe problems

Engine defect prompts separate Mazda recall

The Associated Press

Toyota began recalling 264,000 luxury passenger vehicles, including 1,700 sold in Canada, over faulty fuel pipes, the company said Thursday.

Separately, Mazda said it was recalling 184,000 Axela sedans to repair an electric cable defect in their engines.

Included in Toyota's recall are Lexus models produced in Japan in 2005 and sold overseas, and Lexus, Mark X, and Crown models sold in Japan, according to Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Yoshie Matsuura. The Lexus GS300, Lexus IS250 and Lexus IS350 vehicles are being recalled in Canada, the United States, England and Germany.

Faulty fuel pipe design on the recalled models could cause cracks and corrosion and lead to a fuel leak, according to a notice filed with the Japanese Transport Ministry.

There have been 39 cases of trouble within Japan but no reports of injuries, according to the Transport Ministry. It was not immediately clear whether any problems have been reported elsewhere.

Toyota to step up quality checks
The Japanese automaker has been hit with quality control problems in recent years, as it ramps up production to meet booming demand. Toyota has promised to beef up quality checks. Included in Hiroshima-based Mazda Motor Corp.'s recall are 138,000 vehicles sold overseas. The vehicles being recalled were built between September 2003 and December 2006, according to a notice filed with the Transport Ministry.

The protective tube wrapping the cable is not strong enough to withstand the engine's heat and can wear through. The cable may be damaged as a result, leading to a short circuit that makes it impossible to start the engine, it said.

Ten cases have been reported in Japan, but with no reports of injuries, it said.

The Axela is sold abroad as the Mazda3, Mazda spokesman Takehide Hoshi said. The cars being recalled overseas went mostly to smaller markets, such as Israel and Singapore, he said.

Mazda is an affiliate of Ford Motor Co. of the U.S.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Chinese manufacturer issues Aqua Dots apology

CBC News

The Chinese manufacturer of a toy that was found to contain a powerful chemical that metabolizes into a potent date-rape drug when consumed has issued an apology.

The toys, sold under the name Aqua Dots in North America and Bindeez in Australia, included beads made by Hong Kong's Jssy Ltd.

Spin Master Ltd. has recalled about 4.2 million Aqua Dots toys in North America.
(Health Canada) "The incident has given the 'Made in China' brand a negative [impact] during the Christmas season," company director Liao Juyuan told reporters at a news conference in Shenzen. "I have to deeply apologize."

The toys were coated with 1,4-butanediol, which when ingested can cause unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.

The toys were pulled from store shelves in early November, after three children who swallowed the beads fell ill within a 10-day period. At least nine children in the U.S. were sickened after ingesting the beads. No illnesses have been reported in Canada.

Toronto-based distributor Spin Master Ltd. has issued a North American recall of about 4.2 million Aqua Dots toys.

In recent months, U.S. and Canadian officials have issued a series of recalls of made-in-China toys for safety problems.

With files from the Associated Press

Ottawa opens up wireless industry to more competition

CBC News

The Conservative government on Wednesday paved the way for new cellphone companies by announcing new rules for an auction of radio airwaves designed to spur competition in the wireless industry.

About 40 per cent of the spectrum will be reserved for new entrants, with the remainder open to all bidders, including Canada's big three providers — Rogers, Bell and Telus.

The government will also mandate roaming agreements, which will force existing carriers to share their networks with newcomers for five years, plus another five if the new entrants can build up their own networks nationally. If a new carrier is unable to reach a "reasonable" roaming agreement with an existing provider, an outside arbitrator will be brought in, Industry Canada said.

The government is also forcing existing carriers to rent space on their cellphone towers to newcomers, again at "reasonable" rates, or risk having an arbitrator come in.

In handing down the rules, Industry Minister Jim Prentice gave potential newcomers, including Quebecor, MTS Allstream, Shaw and Eastlink, virtually everything they asked for.

Prentice told a news conference that he agreed with their assessment that prices are too high and the wireless industry needs more competition. "Our goal at the end of the day is lower prices, better services, and more choices," he said.

Those who had been arguing for more competition were delighted with the ruling. "This is a grand slam for consumers," telecom analyst Eamon Hoey told CBC News. "It really puts a heavy knife into the oligopolic style of structure we've had in the cellular business."

Chris Peirce, chief regulatory officer of MTS Allstream, was pleased as well.

"They have really gotten their policy right and it's good to see they were able to resist the arguments" of the incumbents, he said.

But Liberal industry critic Scott Brison was not pleased. "There's no proof it will lead to lower prices," he argued, saying regulation would have been better. Brison said the auction decision will result in a $200-million windfall for the new entrants.

Lawson Hunter, executive vice-president and chief corporate officer of Bell, agreed with Brison and said the government was costing taxpayers money by subsidizing new entrants. The spectrum could go for up to 40 per cent less than what it would have if the auction were open to the highest bidder, he said.

"Basically you've sold an asset of Canada at well under market price."

He also said the auction rules were a direct reversal of the government's previous stance on the telecommunications market, which advocated deregulation and determination by market forces.

The other two major players were also disappointed by the announcement, with Telus saying that new companies are sufficiently large and have enough resources to bid in an auction without government aid.

Rogers head of regulatory affairs, Ken Engelhart, said the decision was about as bad as it could have been for the big three cellphone companies.

New entrants could launch by late 2008
The auction process is to begin on May 27, 2008, and is expected to last several weeks. Industry Canada expects new players will start up by the end of next year, at the earliest.

Attention will now turn to who the new bidders will be, with analysts expecting Quebecor, MTS, Shaw and Eastlink to enter the auction. Prentice said the amount of spectrum reserved for new entrants, or 40 megahertz, is enough to facilitate a new national carrier.

"It's reasonable to assume that will happen," he said.

Peirce said the MTS board will now have to decide on what portions of spectrum to bid on. Industry Canada stopped short of applying its set-aside rule on a national spectrum licence, which MTS had asked for, opting instead to apply the special condition only on regional licences.

Prentice said a number of regional players could, however, band together to form a new national cellphone provider.

Foreign companies, although faced with ownership restrictions, could also bid on the spectrum in partnership with a Canadian company.

The auction traces its roots to April 2005, when the Liberal government put together the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel to look at the state of the industry and the Telecommunications Act.

The panel submitted its report in March 2006 to the newly elected Conservative government and, among its broader telecommunications recommendations, suggested several changes to the wireless industry to make it more competitive.

Industry Canada, under then Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, launched a public consultation in February 2007 that incorporated some of the panel's suggestions.

The ministry asked whether special conditions should be imposed on the auction, including whether some spectrum should be set aside for potential new entrants and whether caps should be installed on how much any one company could own.

The framework also asked whether government intervention was needed in the commercial negotiation of roaming deals between cellphone carriers. Roaming agreements allow customers of one provider to connect to the network of a different provider, which allows subscribers to use their cellphones where their carrier doesn't have infrastructure.

About 90 submissions were made from various industry players, including incumbents Bell, Rogers and Telus, potential new entrants Quebecor, Shaw and MTS Allstream, the Competition Bureau and various consumer and business groups.

Dominant companies wanted free-market auction
The incumbents argued that no special rules should be imposed and that spectrum should go to the highest bidder.

The potential entrants argued that special rules were needed because the incumbents had every incentive to bid up the price of the spectrum to keep new competitors out of the market.

They also said mandated roaming deals were necessary because the incumbents had no incentive to sign reasonable agreements with newcomers. Without the ability to offer roaming onto other networks, the new entrants would have a difficult time attracting customers, they argued.

The potential new entrants cited high prices and the lack of competition between the incumbents as the reason for Canada's poor showing among developed nations in mobile phone adoption.

Canada's rank of 29th out of the 30-member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development was justification for the government to get involved in the otherwise unregulated wireless industry, they said.

The United States held a similar advanced wireless spectrum auction in September 2006 that netted the government $13.9 billion US. The Federal Communications Commission is holding another auction in January of spectrum that will be vacated when analogue television broadcasting is shut down in 2009.

The U.S. wireless industry is moving toward a more competitive framework, with the FCC imposing a number of open-access rules on its upcoming auction. Winners in the auction will be forced to make all cellphones, including those from rivals, work on their networks.

Rabinovitch renews call for 10-year mandate for CBC

CBC News

Canada's public broadcaster does not have the capital it needs to roll out high definition television in Canada or to expand radio coverage to underserved markets, CBC representatives told a parliamentary heritage committee on Tuesday.

CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch told the House of Commons committee the CBC's capital budget is down 30 per cent due to cuts made to its federal allocation.

The CBC needs a new contract with Canadians, preferably with a 10-year mandate and a firm funding commitment to give Canadians the improvements they want, including HD TV and more regional radio, he said.

Rabinovitch, along with CBC's executive vice-president of English services Richard Stursberg and executive vice-president of French services Sylvain Lafrance, presented during the final hearing before the heritage committee makes its recommendations on a new mandate for the broadcaster.

"The problem with the digital service is that we just don't have the money," Rabinovitch said.

The CBC's French service, Radio-Canada, has transformed its new studios to high-definition and the CBC is preparing for an Olympic broadcast next year that will be 100 per cent HD, he said.

"But it's expensive," he said, adding that the CBC also faces looming capital costs from aging equipment, including the broadcast towers it uses for over-the-air TV.

He estimated it would cost $100 million to $150 million to make a full transition to high definition service.

Expanding regional radio will cost an additional $25 million in capital and $25 million annually in operating costs, he said.

The underserved radio markets are not in remote areas, but rapidly growing communities such as Guelph and Hamilton in Ontario and others in southern Alberta, where currently there is no regional radio programming from the CBC.

New technologies attract younger audience
At the same time, the public broadcaster is striving to reach new listeners and viewers by integrating its existing services with new technologies, such as podcasts, cellphones and live streaming.

"The public broadcaster must serve Canadian viewers in ways they want to be served," he said.

Already radio, which traditionally appeals to an older demographic, is attracting more 18-to-35-year-old listeners because they can download programs such as Quirks & Quarks and Ideas onto an iPod, he said.

Ultimately, CBC would become a "content provider" distributing its programming through many different types of technologies, Rabinovitch said.

"We have a vision and we hope you will give us the tools to help us do it," he said.

A contract reviewed on a regular cycle would provide direction on what Canadians could expect from their national public broadcaster in return for a clear commitment from government on funding, Rabinovitch said.

The current Conservative government is reviewing all its operations, including Crown corporations, with a view to cutting expenses by five per cent over the next four years.

VP grilled over Tim Hortons comments
The CRTC's recommendation that more ads be allowed on TV would probably not make up any funding shortfall at the CBC, Rabinovitch said.

If there are further cuts in the CBC's funding allocation, that could lead to cutbacks in programming, he said.

Stursberg was questioned by committee members about his recent comment that CBC must become the Tim Hortons of broadcasters, rather that the Starbucks.

"The purpose of the metaphor is to capture what the CBC is trying to do," he told the committee.

"In the English service, the biggest challenge is failing to produce entertainment programming that Canadians will watch. We're the only country in the industrialized world that prefers programs from a foreign country," Stursberg said.

CBC programming should not be for an elite audience, but have wide appeal, he said. "Hortons is ... the service that has broader public appeal."

Stursberg renewed his plea for fee-for-carriage for the CBC — in which cable and satellite firms that carry the CBC signal would have to pay for it.

CBC has already boosted its revenues from sources other than advertising, and all that money has gone into programming, Stursberg said.

But the current system of year-to-year budgets leaves the broadcaster little room to take risks, he said. A long-term mandate would give the network more latitude to experiment with programming, he said.

Rabinovitch completes his term as CBC president on Dec. 31.

Global cellphone penetration reaches 50%

Reuters

HELSINKI — Worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion — equivalent to half the global population — on Thursday, 26 years after the first cellular network was launched, research firm Informa said.

Since the first Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) networks were switched on in 1981 in Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Norway, mobile phones have become the consumer electronics sector with the largest volume of sales in the world.

“The mobile industry has constantly outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts for subscriber growth,” Mark Newman, head of research at Informa said in a statement.

“For children growing up today the issue is not whether they will get a mobile phone, it's a question of when,” Newman said.

In recent years the industry has seen surging growth in outskirts of China and India, helped by constantly falling phone and call prices, with cellphone vendors already eyeing inroads into Africa's countryside to keep up the growth.

The Nordic start for mobile telephony was the basis for the success stories of Finnish Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson.

Fast growth in Asian wireless markets has since helped Korean Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics as well as China's ZTE take their place among the top six cellphone vendors globally.

But although mobile subscriptions have reached the equivalent of 50 per cent of the population, this does not mean that half the people in the world now have a mobile phone, since Informa said 59 countries have mobile penetration of over 100 per cent — where some owners have more than one phone.

“The economic difference between the more mature markets and those in developing countries is highlighted by the vast differences in operators' revenues per user,” Informa said.

Hutchison Whampoa's 3 operation has an average revenue per user of just over $70 a month in Britain, while Hutchison's Sri Lankan operator counts revenues of below $3 per user.

According to the International Programs Center of the U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the world reached 6,634,294,193 on Thursday.

At the same time 2,571,563,279 people were using the most widely used mobile technology, GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), according to global trade body GSM Association.

The second-largest mobile technology, CDMA, had 421.4 million users at end September. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Quentin Bryar)

Cinema swoop puts dent in pirated movies

UNNATI GANDHI
Globe and Mail

It all went down like a scene in an action film.

Shortly after midnight on a recent Friday night, a man nestled comfortably into his aisle seat beside his girlfriend at the back of a Montreal theatre, his digital camcorder atop a tripod recording the Steve Carell comedy Dan in Real Life. Meanwhile, just outside, cinema owner Vincenzo Guzzo and a team of private security guards prepared to move in.

“We walked in like a SWAT team. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Two guys went up one way, two guys went the other way, I went straight up the middle,” Mr. Guzzo, executive vice-president of the independent Guzzo cinema chain, said Tuesday.

“He had nowhere to go unless he jumped over me. And I'm 245 pounds of robust Italian hot blood.”

Police were called and a 23-year-old man became the first Canadian to be arrested and charged for illegally recording in a cinema since new legislation came into effect in June.

The arrest, which was the culmination of weeks of private investigation, has already put a huge dent in the city's normally bustling piracy industry, Mr. Guzzo said: Not a single illegally recorded movie sourced from Montreal has surfaced on the Internet since.

Montreal police spokesman Constable Raphael Bergeron said he too can't recall any illegal recording incidents from the last few weeks – significant because Montreal was recently identified as the No. 1 city in the world for surreptitious recording in theatres, topping pirating capitals in such countries as China, Lebanon and the Philippines.

It was a May visit from California Governor and onetime Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger that prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal government to get going on film-piracy legislation. An amendment to the Criminal Code was announced less than a month later.

Under the previous law, the federal Copyright Act, recording a movie was only a crime if it could be proved that it was for commercial distribution. The movie industry complained that the law was too difficult to enforce.

With the new legislation, filming a movie with a camcorder in theatres now carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment, while recording for the purpose of commercial distribution is punishable by up to five years.

Douglas Frith, president of the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association, said the fact that charges have been laid in this case shows that the legislation is working.

“It could be a breakthrough case. That theatre had been targeted fairly often, more than we would have liked, so this is very significant.”

The association also credits the industry's investment in a series of technological systems.

One such system, at a cost of nearly $5,000 to the studio, was a night-vision detector set up to scan the auditorium for digital camera lenses. It was installed in the Guzzo Lacordaire cinema in question, said Gary Osmond, director of investigations for the CMPDA in Montreal.

“This was the first time we used the technology and we caught someone, so it was obviously worth the money and the research and development.”

The association is considering installing the technology in other problem theatres in Montreal and Calgary.

On top of that, studios can determine at which theatre a film was recorded because each individual reel sent out has a set of watermarks printed onto different frames, generating a unique code for every theatre.

Louis-René Haché, of Montreal, has been charged with one count of recording in a movie theatre and one count of recording in a movie theatre for commercial distribution. A reporter's attempts to contact him went unanswered.

He pleaded not guilty to both charges this month and was released on a promise to appear with the condition that he not go to any Guzzo cinemas. He is scheduled to next appear in a Montreal courtroom Jan. 21.

With a report from Tu Thanh Ha

Canon plans to spend 1.3 billion on extra capacity to make toner cartridges

Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan, will spend ¥140 billion (US$1.3 billion) to boost its capacity to make toner cartridges for popular laser printers, reports Reuters. Toner is a source of profit for the company, typically generating consistent revenue. The company's laser printer-related revenues, which include toner cartridge sales, totalled ¥1 trillion (US$9.1 billion) in 2006, accounting for about one quarter of its total sales, says Reuters.

Reuters also reports that Canon will invest ¥80 billion (US$728 million) to build a new plant in Hita in Oita prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu by September 2009. The company will spend another ¥60 billion (US$546 million) to increase output capacity at an existing factory in Oita city.

Yangtze makes splash at IDFA

Marc Glassman
http://www.playbackmag.com/articles/daily/20071127/idfa.html

AMSTERDAM -- Of the 12 films representing Canada at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Up the Yangtze! occupies the most prestigious spot. The feature-length doc is up for the fest's main prize, and producers Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin pronounced its screenings to be very successful, in part because of the worldwide interest in its subject, China's controversial Three Gorges Dam.

The National Film Board/EyeSteelFilm coproduction follows a cruise ship filled with tourists down the Yangtze River, past cities, villages and farms about to be flooded by the massive hydroelectricity project. Director Yung Chang concentrates on two young Chinese workers on the ship, "Cindy" Yu Shui, timid and naive, and "Jerry" Chen Bo Yu, who is slightly older and confident.

"We've loved being at IDFA," comments Cross. "The festival is so respectful of the art of the documentary and the people who make it." The film was also a hit at the Vancouver International Film Festival and Montreal's Festival du Nouveau Cinema, and the producers are applying to Telefilm Canada for alternative distribution funding. EyeSteel is planning a grassroots campaign for next spring.

Other Canuck titles playing the IDFA, widely considered to be the finest such event in the world, range from Joe Balass' Iraqi memoir Baghdad Twist to older works such as the Oscar-winning Ryan and Donald Brittain's film essay Paperland.

White Pine Pictures brought A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman -- shortlisted for an Oscar -- and Triage: The Dilemma of Dr. James Orbinski, both about political and ethical issues.

Orbinski, the Toronto-based Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of Doctors Without Borders, was on hand for the world premiere on Saturday night. He came away impressed by the "power of documentaries that engage with issues of social conscience to affect peoples' minds."

White Pine's Peter Raymont, coproducer of Triage with the NFB and director of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire, believes that, "of the two, Orbinski is the more accessible figure. Young people will be able to relate to James and be inspired by his example."

Dorfman was another special guest of IDFA. The Chilean-American writer took his family to Amsterdam for four years, living in exile after the overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende in the 1970s.

"In many ways, you saved my life," he commented to a crowd of old-time Dutch progressives and artists.

Rudy Buttignol of B.C.'s Knowledge Network, CBC's Catherine Olsen and filmmaker Peter Wintonick are also at IDFA. Olsen and Buttignol are moderating sessions of its Forum, where filmmakers pitch projects looking for international co-financing, while Wintonick is running IDFAtalks, the daily program of panel discussions and master classes.

Broadcaster and doc-maker Avi Lewis delivered a surprise pitch at the Forum, for an adaptation of his wife Naomi Klein's bestseller The Shock Doctrine. Klein's thesis, that governments are being undermined by forces of privatization which use wars and natural disasters to increase their power, proved difficult to the roundtable of broadcasters. Nonetheless, Lewis was satisfied with the results.

"We were able to announce our project to a room full of commissioning editors and producers. At this early stage, that's enough," he said. Lewis has director Alfonso Cuaron on board as an executive producer and an £80,000 commitment from England's Channel 4.

The festival runs until Dec. 2.

Corel concentrates on China and Silicon Valley, will close current Minneapolis location

Corel Corp., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, says it is increasing its focus on the digital media market by concentrating its digital media operations in Greater China and Califonia's Silicon Valley. As a result of these changes, Corel will be closing its existing Digital Imaging facility in Minneapolis, Minn. In addition, the company will incur a one-time restructuring charge of approximately $2.2 million in the fourth quarter. Corel expects that the full benefits of this restructuring will be realized beginning in the second half of 2008.

©2007 PMA

Kodak Kodachrome processing to end in Japan

Kodak Japan, Tokyo, Japan, announced it will end Kodachrome processing in Japan as of Dec. 20, reports JPEA International PEN News Weekly. Kodak Japan already stopped selling Kodachrome film this past spring. The company said it will accept Kodachrome film in Japan through June 30, 2008, but it will be processed by U.S. lab KJ Imaging Co. Ltd.

The streets weigh in on mascots

Jonathan Woodward
Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - What is Vancouverites' take on Sumi, Miga and Quatchi, the Olympic mascot trio that was unveiled this morning with much fanfare?

Cute - but if the designers of the thunderbird, sea bear and sasquatch were aiming to represent B.C., why did they pick images that could have come from a Japanese anime cartoon show?

"We're Canadian, we're from BC. But to me, those look like little Asian video game characters," said Jason Lomax, 30, as he walked along Granville Street in Vancouver. "Are we in Hong Kong?

"If you look at the statues in the Vancouver Art Gallery, they are mystic, they are statuesque. They're not what my little brother would play in a video game. Can they take it back?"

No one should dispute the mascots are cute for kids, said Dennis Pozvek, a 33-year-old desktop publisher.

"They're cutesy and the kids will love them," he said. "I think they did a good job."

Sumi was introduced by the Vancouver Olympic Committee as an animal spirit who lives in the mountains, whose name comes from "Sumesh," a Salish word that means "guardian spirit."

Sumi's name is more Olympic than its designers intended, said Kim Bradford, 52.

"So sue me! I say, bring back Ookpik," he said, referring to the arctic owl that was briefly a Canadian mascot in the 1960s.

Miga is a sea bear, which is a combination of a killer whale and Kemode bear, a rare white bear that lives only in B.C.

But the way he was rendered by artists makes him look like a fictional character from Dragon Ball Z, an anime television show whose main character and his friends search the world for seven magic dragon balls, said Tash Considine, a 21-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, who is visiting Vancouver.

But Quatchi, the hockey playing sasquatch, "says Canada because he has earmuffs on and looks nice and warm," said Considine.

The trio's sidekick, Mukmuk, the Vancouver Island marmot, was the only one who didn't attract negative attention, despite there being a character named Muk in the television show Pokemon because he is a source of pollution.

China-Taiwan fight over trade judge paralyzes WTO dispute system

Bradley S. Klapper, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENEVA - Taiwan's refusal to allow a Chinese judge on the WTO's top legal panel is paralyzing the work of the global trade body, risking a "crisis" that could have far-reaching ramifications for disputes affecting billions of dollars of commerce, trade officials said Friday.

The standoff has angered China and other countries because the failure to agree on an agenda is preventing the World Trade Organization from taking up a number of other major disputes - including an argument over Chinese restrictions on the sale of American movies, music and books.

The self-ruling island rejected calls Friday from the world's biggest commercial powers to back down at a meeting called specifically to deal with the problem.

It has become an "extremely serious challenge to a system that is really the cornerstone of this organization," said Bruce Gosper, the Australian ambassador chairing the WTO's dispute settlement body.

Separately, Brazil and Canada are expected to seek a probe of whether the U.S. has violated international trade laws with the billions of dollars in subsidies it gives annually to American farmers.

Critics of the U.S. subsidies say they help undercut world prices for farm products and make it more difficult for Canadian and Brazilian exporters to win new business in the global food markets.

For the 151-member WTO, whose global free trade talks have repeatedly stalled, the dispute system and its regular sessions, investigative panels, rulings and occasional sanctions has been a symbol of reliability. But many negotiators are warning that the continued failure of liberalization efforts could lead to a surge of new disputes.

"If this situation persists much longer then we'll have a crisis," Gosper said.

Taiwan, which is excluded from most international organizations because of Chinese opposition, has seldom flexed its muscles in the WTO, which makes all decisions by consensus.

It joined the body in early 2002, just after China, which has claimed sovereignty over the island since the nationalist government left the mainland in 1949 during China's civil war. Under Beijing's insistence, the WTO admitted "Chinese Taipei" as a tariff territory, rather than a sovereign state.

In a surprise move, Taiwan blocked an entire dispute meeting Monday after failing to persuade WTO members to delay the naming of new judges to the seven-member WTO appeals body. The meeting would have appointed four new members, including Beijing attorney Yuejiao Zhang as the first Chinese judge.

Taiwan has not publicly mentioned Zhang by name, but insists that it has serious reservations about the "impartiality and qualifications" of one of the possible judges. The other three nominations are from the United States, the Philippines and Japan.

Zhang is senior counsel for Jun He Law Offices in Beijing, where she practices in the fields of foreign investment law, international trade law, intellectual property and arbitration. She was appointed director of the West African Development Bank in 2005, and has been a professor at Chinese schools and Columbia University in New York. Zhang speaks Chinese, English and French.

U.S. Ambassador Peter Allgeier, one of about 30 speakers Friday to urge Taiwan to drop its demands, said WTO rules already ensure impartiality and that the situation was becoming "very urgent." China, the EU, Japan and others made similar statements.

"Members have made it very clear that the selection of appellate body members is important, but we cannot allow a situation where the system is not able to operate," Gosper said.

The appeals body has special significance in the WTO system because it usually makes the last decision before the authorization of commercial sanctions that can amount to billions of dollars. Its trade rulings are final.

Judges are nominated by their countries, but must be "unaffiliated with any government" once appointed and cannot rule in any dispute posing a conflict of interest. Two panelists will step down next month, which could cause a backlog of cases if their positions are not filled.

When the dispute body meets again, it is expected to open a formal investigation of Chinese restrictions on American media sales, Washington's fourth commercial case against Beijing in little over a year.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Malaysian police fire tear gas, water cannon on ethnic Indian demonstrators

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian police fired tear gas and water cannon Sunday to disperse thousands of ethnic Indians who tried to stage a rally that had been banned amid government accusations that its organizers were stirring racial hatred, activists said.

Witnesses claimed dozens of demonstrators were beaten and arrested.

At least 5,000 people gathered before dawn near Kuala Lumpur's famous Petronas Twin Towers, in a rare attempt by Malaysia's ethnic-Indian minority to highlight complaints that they are economically marginalized by the ethnic Malay Muslim-dominated government.

Thousands of others massed in Batu Caves, a limestone cave Hindu temple on the city's outskirts, hoping to join the others in a march to the British High Commission to protest how ethnic Indians have remained largely poor since British colonial rule.

Authorities fired tear gas and chemical-laced water at the crowds in both areas, said P. Uthayakumar, a senior representative of the Hindu Rights Action Force, a nongovernment group that organized the rally.

"Police went into Batu Caves and beat many innocent people," Uthayakumar said, adding that more than 100 people have been detained.

Police officers outside the Petronas towers confirmed that tear gas and water cannon were used.

Thousands of people regrouped later near the towers in a standoff with hundreds of police. Shoes and slippers were scattered in the area and flower pots were broken after people fled the scene earlier.

An Associated Press reporter saw about a dozen people taken away in a police truck.

Police had obtained an unprecedented court order forbidding the public from rallying outside the British High Commission, and warned that protesters could be arrested on sight. Three of the Hindu group's leaders were arrested and charged in court with sedition Friday.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Canada, China reach consumer safety agreement

CBC News

Canada and China have come up with a plan to ensure that their consumer products are safe and to make sure problems can be dealt with more effectively when they arise.

An agreement announced on Tuesday establishes the Canada-China Joint Committee on Health, which will share information, set goals and address issues surrounding food, drug and product regulations, emerging infectious diseases and scientific exchange.

"Canadians have told us they are concerned about the safety of the food and products they buy and use, and our government shares these concerns," said Health Minister Tony Clement in a news release. "By announcing these measures today in co-operation with one of our trading partners, we are taking an important step to protect the health and safety of Canadian families."

The memorandum of understanding signed by Clement and the Chinese minister of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine will establish training workshops for Chinese manufacturers to ensure they understand and comply with Canadian safety requirements.

Working groups will be formed to share information on regulatory requirements and lab testing procedures for consumer products of concern, such as toys.

The memorandum also includes plans to improve communication and the sharing of product information between the two governments, including a mechanism for urgent consultation when critical safety issues arise.

Committee members will come from a number of Canadian and Chinese health-related departments.

"Many of the world's health issues are truly global in scope and demand the high level of collaboration this committee signals," said Dr. Chen Zhu, China's health minister in a release.

This agreement follows a series of recalls and product safety investigations relating to Chinese imports, including products ranging from pet food and toothpaste to tires and children's toys.

Vancouver artist, Montreal curator win Hnatyshyn Awards

CBC News

Vancouver artist Ken Lum and Montreal gallery director and curator Louise Déry won the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Awards on Monday.

The awards, named for former Canadian governor general Ray Hnatyshyn, are given annually for outstanding achievement by a Canadian artist and for curatorial excellence in contemporary art.

The artist award comes with a cash prize of $25,000 and the curator's award has a cash prize of $15,000.

Lum, 51, is a painter, sculptor, photographer and conceptual artist.

The jury hailed the artist's use of familiar commercial designs in his works as a means to "blur the boundaries between traditional and popular esthetics in the interest of revealing the basis of our contemporary ethos."

The jury also noted Lum's teaching, which "challenged the precepts of the established art world" including a period at the University of British Columbia and guest teaching in France, Germany and China.

Lum strives to open the field to non-European artists. He was co-founder in 2000 of Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art and has undertaken curatorial work in Africa, China and the United Arab Emirates.

"Taken together, Ken Lum's activities constitute an active, critical engagement with the public as to what art is, how it is used and who has access to it," the jury said.

He is known for works such as Four Boats Stranded: Red and Yellow, Black and White, which he installed on the roof of the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2001.

Déry is director of the art gallery at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She has also worked at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

In 2007, Déry curated the David Altmejd exhibition in the Canadian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, one of the highlights of the prestigious biannual event for contemporary art.

Altmejd's work was a gothic mix of birdmen and werewolves with flowers and stuffed animals that visitors lined up to view.

"Her exhibitions show an ability to engage with the contemporary world and her outstanding catalogues embody a desire to reflect on what it means to live in our world today," the jury said.

Chinese Olympic hurdler's legs insured for US$13.3 million ahead of Olympics

BEIJING - Chinese Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang's legs have been insured for US$13.3 million in the run-up to next year's Beijing Summer Olympics.

To him, though, the limbs are beyond valuation. "You can't really put a concrete figure on this," Liu was quoted as saying by the Beijing News newspaper. "They're priceless," Liu said.

Liu won the 110-metre hurdles at the 200 Athens Olympics, set a new world record of 12.88 seconds last year, and in August won gold at the World Athletics Championships.

Liu is one of the country's most celebrated sports stars, prompting Ping An of China insurance to donate coverage for his legs as part of its sponsorship of the Chinese athletics team.

Liu's race at the Beijing Games is expected to be one of the most watched events at the games.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

China expected to continue to drive up commodity prices: Bank of Canada

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - China's hunger for oil and minerals will continue to drive up commodity prices for years to come and be a key factor in global demand for Canadian resources, suggests a Bank of Canada report published Thursday.

The paper in the bank's fall review says China's economy has been expanding by an annual average of 9.7 per cent for the past quarter-century and there appears to be no end in sight.

Even so, China's impact on trade patterns since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 and subsequent runaway demand for oil and metals has caught the world by surprise, says the paper.

"Together, these two effects help explain the recent change in the relative prices of these goods," says the paper titled "The Effect of China on Global Prices."

"For oil and metals, China's size and growth are likely to remain among the key factors driving the growth of global demand for some time."

For instance, the paper notes that international bodies consistently underestimated China's demand for oil, which increased by 28 per cent from 2002 to 2004, and have contributed to the steep rise in crude oil prices to near US$100 a barrel level today.

As well, in 2002 China accounted for about 13 per cent of world trade in metal ores. Three years later, that slice of the pie had grown to 25 per cent, with estimates it may have exceeded 30 per cent in 2006.

As a result, between 2001 and 2006, prices for metals such as aluminum, copper, nickel and steel have almost tripled.

The paper equates China's emergence and impact on the world economy to that of Japan in the 1960s, saying that exporting countries will likely react by increasing supplies of these commodities, but the adjustment will take some time.

"Hence, the relative prices of commodities can also be expected to remain somewhat elevated."

Canada's economy has ridden the wave of global commodity prices since 2002, when the Canadian dollar began its move from under 70 cents US to parity with the greenback this year.

China's impact has not been all on the inflationary side, the paper adds, noting that the country's accession to the WTO has also resulted in the availability of less expensive consumer products in global markets, such as clothing.

"At this point...definitive empirical evidence that China is a net source of disinflation, or inflation, remains elusive," the paper concludes.

In another paper in the review, the central bank says foreign exchange markets are becoming larger and more efficient as a result of technological improvements such as electronic trading and other factors.

"As a result," the paper says, "foreign exchange and other markets are arguably becoming more open, transparent and liquid."

In a separate move, the Bank of Canada provided $1.45 billion in short-term liquidity on Thursday, a move that the central bank says is a routine maneouvre to support its overnight rate at 4.5 per cent.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Dubai investment company acquires "substantial" stake in Japan's Sony

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Dubai International Capital, an investment company owned by the ruler of this booming Persian Gulf city-state, has acquired a stake of undisclosed size in the Japanese electronics and media company Sony Corp.

The purchase disclosed Monday is the latest by Middle East investors who have become more aggressive in looking for investment opportunities overseas.

United Arab Emirates-based DIC described its investment in Sony as "substantial" in a statement posted on the company's website, but did not provide a specific ownership percentage.

Sony spokesman Daichi Yamafuji confirmed Dubai International Capital's purchase but refused to provide any other details.

"It's the other party that acquired the stake and we decline to discuss any other details such as the number of shares involved," he said.

The chief executive of Dubai International Capital, Sameer Al Ansari, said the investment in Sony, which owns consumer electronics, video game and movie businesses, was "consistent with our mandate of supporting premier global companies."

"The combination of Sony's truly global brand, its leadership in product design and its global footprint will spur the business' medium term growth as it capitalizes on positive underlying trends and emerging technologies," said Al Ansari in the company's statement.

Dubai International Capital was established in 2004 and is owned by Dubai-ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

It has made several other prominent investments this year, acquiring 9.9 per cent of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, a U.S.-based alternative asset manager, and 3.12 per cent of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., which builds Airbus commercial planes and military aircraft. The firm also holds stakes in Daimler AG and British bank HSBC Holdings PLC.

Sovereign funds in the Middle East, like Dubai International Capital, have been building up their investments overseas recently, many of them on the back of rising oil prices that have brought the region record cash flows.

Many companies have welcomed such investments because the funds tend to be stable investors, but some countries like the U.S. have expressed concern that their acquisitions could target sensitive industries with links to national security.

Last week, Canada's PrimeWest Energy Trust (TSX:PWI.UN) said 95 per cent of its security holders had approved the $5-billion takeover by Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., also known as TAQA.

The vote came a day after Canada's Industry Ministry gave thumbs-up to the deal first announced on Sept. 24.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Euro is in vogue from Egyptian street hawkers to Asian central banks

Emma Vandore, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS - Despite squeals of pain from European exporters, the strength of the euro is fast propelling Europe's single currency into a juggernaut.

Currency traders from Egyptian street hawkers to Asian central banks are looking to the euro as a better store of value as the U.S. dollar erodes. The shared 13-country currency hit US$1.4966 on Friday, yet another record high against the once steadfast dollar.

In Canadian financial markets, the euro rose about a fifth of a cent Friday to trade at C$1.4648.

As well as being the world's currency of choice in central bank reserves, the dollar has long been the de facto second currency in street markets and on tourist menus around the world.

Today, market traders in Luxor - site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes - snub dollars in favour of euros or local currency. In Russia, shops, restaurants and hotels that once listed prices in the mighty dollar rather than the unstable ruble have increasingly pegged prices to the euro.

While these trends are unlikely to perturb currency markets, concern is growing that foreign investors may start dumping their dollar-holdings. In particular, traders are watching China's central bank for changes in its portfolio.

Most of China's US$1.43 trillion reserves are in dollar-denominated assets such as U.S. Treasuries, and officials aren't happy about the U.S. currency's decline. Zhou Xiaochuan, head of China's central bank, urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday to boost the dollar, according to the Xinhua government news agency.

The euro - introduced to financial markets in 1999 and in notes and coins form in 2002 - has risen as a share of global official reserves from 17.9 per cent in 1999 to 25.8 per cent in 2006, according to the International Monetary Fund. In the same period the dollar's share has fallen from 71 per cent to 64.8 per cent.

The dollar's reserve-currency status confers important benefits to the U.S. - such as being able to borrow in its own currency and making life easier for exporters. Earlier this month Paulson defended the U.S. position.

"The dollar has been the world's reserve currency since World War II and there is a reason," he told Treasury reporters. "We are the biggest economy in the world."

Yet the 13-country European region is catching up with the U.S. Its economy will expand to $12.6 trillion (8.49 trillion euros) next year, only just behind the $14.3 trillion (9.63 euros trillion) U.S. economy, according to IMF estimates.

The dollar has been falling against the euro and other currencies as fears about the health of the U.S. economy have been stoked by the mortgage crisis that has tripped up borrowers and caused a credit crunch among banks.

Fears over the huge U.S. trade deficit, which leaves more dollars in the hands of foreigners, has also weighed on the currency.

Yet talk of the dollar's demise has been exaggerated, according to Paul de Grauwe, once a candidate for an European Central Bank board seat and economics professor at Leuven university in Belgium. Dollar weakness in the 1980s led to a similar debate, he told The Associated Press.

"There was talk then about other currencies replacing the dollar but it never happened," he said. "In the future, the euro will decline."

For the moment, the euro is definitely up - bad news for the region's exporters.

Planemaker Airbus has been pummeled by a slumping dollar, the currency in which planes are priced, against a corresponding rise in the euro - in which it pays most of its costs.

Chief executive Thomas Enders said the euro has now "crossed the pain threshold." The rate of the dollar's fall "is life threatening," he was quoted by Der Spiegel magazine as saying Thursday.

Still, the stronger euro confers benefits as well, holding down energy prices and inflation. And its strength reflects rising confidence in the euro zone and the global prospects of an economically unified Europe.

"There is a renewed self confidence on the European continent," said Holger Schmieding, chief European economist at Bank of America.

"A strong euro shows that people around the world think that the euro economy isn't as weak as they once thought. And it shows that people think the ECB is doing a good job."

Such pride may be behind the rethink by the skeptical Danes and Poles, whose leaders announced this week they might be ready for the euro.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country rejected the euro in 2000, said Thursday he plans to hold another vote, saying "a lot has changed."

Poland's new prime minister pledged Friday to put the country on the path to quickly adopting the euro. His country is one of five EU newcomers who chose not to align its currency with the euro in an exchange rate mechanism.

"In terms of sentiment, it's positive if an extremely euroskeptic country changes its mind," said Paul Mackel, a currency strategist at HSBC in London.

"That would send a positive message to pro-euro officials in other countries."

The euro entered circulation in 12 EU countries in 2002. At the time, Denmark, Britain and Sweden were the only EU members to stay outside.

After the bloc expanded in 2004, Slovenia has adopted the currency, while Cyprus and Malta will start using the euro on Jan 1, 2008.

In Cyprus, officials are taking a risky bet in their enthusiasm to celebrate the island nation's adoption of the single currency.

At official holiday celebrations this year, Santa is taking a backseat and being replaced by Europa - much to the ire of locals. A character in Greek mythology, Zeus named the continent after her out of gratitude that she bore him three sons.

"Where did (Europa) come from? You can't mess with Santa Claus," said 40-year-old Zena Georgiou, a mother of two daughters aged three and six.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Online Chinese youth caught in web, survey suggests

(CBC) - Chinese youth on the internet are more likely to use it to expand their social circles and increase self-expression - and to feel addicted to it - than American young people, a study released Friday suggests.

A random online survey of a total of 2,183 internet users aged 16 through 25 in the United States and China found that more than twice as many Chinese teens said they sometimes feel "addicted" to the web - 42 per cent in China compared to 18 per cent in the U.S. Nearly 61 per cent of the Chinese youth polled said they have a parallel life online, compared to 13 per cent of the U.S. youth.

The survey, conducted in November by internet company IAC and advertising agency network JWT, also reported that up to 80 per cent of Chinese respondents said digital technology is an essential part of their lives, compared with 68 per cent of Americans.

The report suggested the web is a source of freedom and expression in China, more so than in the U.S. Almost three-quarters of Chinese respondents said they felt free to do things online that they would not do in regular life, compared to one-third of U.S. youth.

"For young Americans, the internet provides an incremental increase in the huge range of options they enjoy in life, but for young Chinese it represents a steep increase in choice - and this is reflected in the strength of Chinese response to questions about opinions and interactions online," said Tom Doctoroff, CEO of JWT Greater China.

The expanded choices extend to the sex lives of Chinese youth. Just under a third, 32 per cent, of Chinese users polled said they used the internet to broaden their sex lives. Eleven per cent of American youth polled said they used the web that way.

"In terms of impact on society and psychology, digital technology could be to China what the '60s were to the West - a huge shift in mood and attitudes. The big difference is that these changes in people's emotional and sexual lives are happening in the privacy of cyberspace," IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller said in a news release from Beijing.

Other results from the survey include:

- Less than one-third of American youth polled said the web contributes to their social life, but 77 per cent of Chinese respondents said it helped them make friends.

- Nearly 86 per cent of the Chinese youth agreed that "I live some of my life online," while 42 per cent of the Americans agreed.

- A quarter of the Chinese youth said they would not feel OK going without internet access for more than a day, while only 12 per cent of U.S. respondents agreed.

- The Chinese internet users were more likely to enjoy games more when played against others online, and were more likely to report strong emotional responses online interactions.

The study noted that only about 10 per cent of China's population uses the internet, with a high proportion of users being young men in major cities.

U.S. eyes Canadian shows

Lee-Anne Goodman
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The ongoing screenwriters strike in the United States has had an undeniable impact in Canada – American shows filming here are shutting down due to a lack of scripts, throwing hundreds out of work amid fears that a prolonged strike could damage the entire North American film and TV industry.

But there's been one bright spot on an otherwise bleak horizon: American broadcasters are eagerly eyeing Canadian shows as diverse as Little Mosque on the Prairie, Durham County and The Border, a new CBC drama that premieres in January.

"We've actually had inquiries from the U.S. networks about shows that we've either produced or are going into production on, so it's been interesting – they're looking for alternatives," Kirstine Layfield, head of network programming for CBC, said Monday.

"The U.S. is the hardest nut to crack. They are the most parochial of markets in the world – they buy no British, no Canadian, no anything. Because they're so obviously self-reliant, when this happens they all of a sudden have to look outside themselves, and that's what's happening right now."

Except for The Border, Layfield didn't want to name the CBC shows piquing the interest of American broadcasters due to ongoing negotiations. But Mary Darling, head of Westwind Productions, says Little Mosque is getting some attention.

She disputed a recent assertion by the president of the Writers Guild of Canada that Canadian producers are "dreaming in Technicolor" and entertaining some "weird pipe dream" if they think American networks are going to buy their shows.

"It's not a pipe dream," Darling said, adding that the longer the strike drags on, the more it could benefit Canadian producers eager to crack the massive and lucrative American market.

"In fact, the possibility does exist. There are two different networks looking at Little Mosque right now. We've heard from people I never expected to hear from directly ... there's been a definite increase in interest since the strike."

CTV programming president Susanne Boyce said American broadcasters have long been interested in Corner Gas, and says negotiations are continuing throughout the strike.

Where does that leave the writers for some of those Canadian shows? The Writers Guild of Canada and the Writers Guild of America share 265 dual members – mostly Canadian writers in the U.S. who are now on strike. Hundreds of other WGC members in Canada are standing in solidarity with their American counterparts.

In Vancouver, the Writers Guild of America is striking against television shows being shot there, including Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica – both of which have ceased production – and Smallville. Those shut-downs have put about 200 people out of work.

Denis McGrath, a longtime Canadian television writer who also pens the TV blog Dead Things on Sticks (www.heywriterboy.blogspot.com), says no Canadian-based writers should feel like scabs if the shows they worked on find homes in the U.S. because of the strike.

"If you're a Canadian writer and you're a Writers Guild of Canada writer, you've got to think about it; you've got to find your way through," said McGrath, who writes for The Border, the drama about immigration police premiering Jan. 7 on CBC.

"But if you worked for a show – you wrote it, you got paid, it got produced and it sells abroad – I mean you can't be against capitalism. American shows are regularly sold into our markets on Canadian networks, and because our Canadian networks are saturated with U.S. programming there is less opportunity for Canadian writers, so I don't think any WGC member needs to be upset if a show they worked on gets sold."

The trouble arises if a show is suddenly green-lit by a Canadian network simply to take advantage of the strike.

"The dirty little secret of private Canadian broadcasters is they have tons of shows in development because they have money for that and they can spend that money and point to that on their balance sheet and say: `Look, we're trying to develop Canadian shows,' and then they just never green-light any of them," McGrath said.

"But if one of those shows gets green-lit because it makes a U.S. sale it would not have otherwise made – if I was that writer, I would feel really, really skeevy. That's where it gets complicated."

McGrath said he also doubts whether U.S. networks will make any major Canadian purchases, and adds that Canadian producers might suffer long-term consequences if their shows are seen by American audiences simply because of the strike.

"From a producers' standpoint, I don't think it's the boon they think it's going to be – you can't overestimate the insularity of Americans," he said.

"And if you sell a couple of shows to American broadcasters, they are going to be seen as `strike shows.' In the long