Tag: Canada

Breaking News News Sports

Brett Lawrie Loses His Cool (Column)

On Tuesday, Brett Lawrie — a baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays — lost control of his emotions during a game.

Lawrie was batting, and the umpire made a couple of calls that Lawrie disagreed with.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), there are four umpires including the home-plate umpire.

He is the one who decides if a pitch was a “ball” or a “strike.”

The pitcher pitches and when the ball crosses home plate the umpire makes a quick decision as to whether it was a good pitch (called a strike) or a bad pitch (called a ball).

If a batter gets three strikes against him he strikes out.

If a batter gets four balls against him he gets a ‘walk’ and is allowed to go to first base.

Breaking News News Politics

University Students Protest Tuition Hikes in Quebec

University students in Quebec have been protesting.

They have been told that the government is going to raise their tuition fees. In this case, “tuition fees” are the fees people pay to attend university.

Traditionally, Quebec has some of the lowest tuition fees in Canada. Only students in two provinces: Newfound and Labrador and Manitoba, pay less to attend university.

However, the increase will be the largest in the province’s history. The government intends to raise tuition by $1,625 by 2017. Students will pay $325 more each year for the next five years.

Student groups say the increase doesn’t go towards improving the quality of the teaching, and the hikes will force some students who can’t pay the extra money to drop out of school or take a second job. They worry that students who come from low-income families won’t be able to afford higher education.

News

If You Lose Your Cell Phone The Finder Will Probably Snoop Through It

Some people at a software company wanted to find out what happens when people find a cell phone.

Do they keep it, or return it? What do they do with it?

They found out that half of the people people who find a cell phone returned it. However, in nearly every case, the “finder” first looked through the information on the phone, checking out the owner’s photos, emails and apps.

In his experiment, Scott Wright, who works for Security Perspectives Inc., left 50 cell phones in various places in five cities in Canada and the United States. He left them out so they would look like they had been accidentally lost.

News

Canada The World’s Fifth Happiest Country

Canada is the fifth happiest country in the world.

That’s according to a World Happiness Report, released earlier this month by the United Nations.

And out of everyone in Canada, people in Quebec are the happiest of all.

Just four countries, all from Europe, beat out Canada. In order, they are Denmark (happiest of all), then Finland, Norway and the Netherlands.

Entertainment News Politics

Charles And Camilla To Tour Canada

Last year around this time, a royal couple visited Canada.

Prince William (second in line to the throne of England) had just gotten married to Catherine Middleton and the two spent much of their honeymoon touring Canada.

Next month Canada will get a visit from another royal couple—this time, it’s the father of the groom. Prince Charles is William’s father.

Charles is first in line to the throne. That means that when his mother—Queen Elizabeth—steps down, Charles will become king.

Charles will come to Canada with his second wife, Camilla.

Charles’ first wife was one of the most well-known and popular celebrities in the world, Princess Diana.

(Princess Di, as she was known, was killed in a car crash in 1997. When that happened, millions of people around the world mourned.)

Charles and Camilla will tour New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan from May 20 to 23.

Entertainment News Sports

Stanley Cup Playoffs Update

With the beginning of each National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, teams dream of winning The Stanley Cup.

The Stanley Cup is the NHL’s ultimate prize. It is a trophy awarded each year to the team that wins the playoffs.

The playoffs are composed of the top 16 teams from the regular season.

In the playoffs teams embark on a best-of-seven series in hopes of winning The Cup. The team to win four games first wins the series.

Each series win brings a team one step closer to raising The Stanley Cup as champion.

Last year the Boston Bruins were champions and won The Cup.

This year the Bruins lost in round one in a thrilling series against the Washington Capitals.

Amorphophallus-Apr282012 worlds tallest flower
Environment Lighter News Science

World’s Largest (And Stinkiest) Plant About To Bloom Near Niagara Falls

It’s stinky and it’s huge—and it’s about to bloom.

The world’s tallest flower is set to bloom this week.

Its scientific name is The Amorphophallus titanium (Titan Arum for short).

The extremely rare flower is at the Niagara Parks’ Floral Showhouse, near the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in Ontario. When it blooms, it will be the 22nd of its kind to bloom in a botanical garden.

Titan Arum is also known as the corpse flower. That’s because of the stinky odour it gives off. It smells like rotting meat.

Its horrible smell helps the flower attract insects that it needs for pollination. (Lots of insects are attracted to rotting meat.)

Titan arum normally grows in the rainforests of Sumatra.

However, this one—and another one that is also growing and will bloom after the first one—was donated by a man who lives in New Hampshire, U.S.

Health News

Raising Awareness About Prader-Willi Syndrome

Dante’s dad wants people to know about Prader-Willi Syndrome.

People with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) feel hungry all the time. That’s hard for most of us to imagine. We’re used to eating a meal and then feeling full for about two hours.

But kids with Prader-Willi don’t feel full. After they’ve eaten, they want to eat again. But of course if they do that, they’ll eat too much—not just three meals a day. That can lead to obesity—being overweight—which can lead to health problems.

Dante, who is now seven-and-a-half, was born with PWS. His dad, Keegan Johnson, wants to make people aware of the condition in order to raise money for research and, eventually, a cure.

News Politics

Dramatic PC Win In Alberta Confounds The Pollsters

“They” had predicted that this election would make history in Alberta.

“They” had predicted that the new Wildrose Party would win, and take over from the Progressive Conservatives (PCs), who have held power there since 1971.

“They” were wrong.

“They,” are the pollsters; the people who take polls. They ask people, prior to an election, how they intend to vote and make an educated guess as to who will win an election.

Most of the polls predicted not just a win for the Wildrose Party, but that the Wildrose Party might get a majority as well.

Entertainment News

Director James Cameron Goes To Earth’s Deepest Point

Canadian movie director James Cameron is known for doing some amazing things, in a big way.

He has directed some of the biggest movie blockbusters ever including Avatar, The Terminator and Aliens.

In 1997 he directed the film he is perhaps best known for, Titanic.

This year–100 years after the original Titanic ship sank to the bottom of the ocean–Cameron has gone down to the ocean floor himself, to the deepest point on Earth.