Hodgson Senior walkout signaled by xylophone ringtone

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hodgsonForty students at Hodgson Senior Public School on Davisville Ave have staged a demonstration against the refusal of teachers to provide report cards as part of their work-to-rule. It was a lively affair as reported by veteran education reporter Louise Brown of the Toronto  Star. And there was an element of intrigue. The surprise walk out by the Grade 7 and 8 students was signaled by a phone ringtone simulating a xylophone. As Brown puts it: “Like members of the French resistance, these politically charged young teens had arranged a code that would signal that it was time to get up and walk out of the north Toronto school to protest teachers’ refusal to type in marks on their final report cards. The student reading Tuesday’s announcements was in on the protest plot, said Grade 7 student Alexis ‎Cole — and suddenly, the announcements ended and there it was…“The iPhone ‘xylophone ringtone!’ ” she said.

Tall, muscular man lost his balance on cruise ship’s railing

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keith-group Keith White was a tall man, maybe six foot two inches or more from his appearance in a family photo above. White, on the left, was also large and muscular across his shoulders and in his upper arms. Investigators can only wonder how high the 34-year-old man had to lift himself with those strong arms on the second-deck railing of the Northern Spirit cruise ship Saturday night to lose his balance. Witnesses say he flipped over it, then lost his grip and fell two storeys to the lake below. Some have said not enough was done to rescue Mr. White and that may be true. But it is also true that falling off of a large passenger vessel at any kind of speed is an almost certain death sentence. Throwing a life ring at those distances is almost always futile. The shipping line, Mariposa Cruises, said it took some time to turn the boat around. In fact, Toronto police summoned by 9-1-1, were able to get to the scene before security staff had lowered a rescue boat.

GAP falls between the cracks as shoppers head elsewhere

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GAP, the trendiest clothes retailer of Y2K, will lock the door at 175 stores across North America including an unknown number of its 90 Canadian locations. In recent years, the appeal of the company’s goods faded somewhere along the way. although its Old Navy brand continues to do well. Gap Inc. also owns Banana Republic. The first GAP stores to go total 140 and will close this fiscal year. A further 35 will close later. Sources at the GAP specifically refused to say what is happening in Canada except that there will be closures. The San Francisco company also is closing an undisclosed number of stores in Europe. And it’s cutting jobs at its headquarters in an attempt to make the operation faster and more decisive. GAP has stores at Fairview Mall, First Canadian Place, on Queen Street W., Yonge Street and Yorkdale Shopping Centre. GAP also has seven Baby GAP stores similarly located in Toronto but the company has not mentioned this brand.

 

Mounties long arm did undercover work in Mogadishu

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L to r: Ali Omar Ader, Amanda Lindhout, RCMP assistant commissioner James Malizia

The arrest of Ali Omar Ader in Ottawa for the 2008 kidnapping of a Canadian woman in Somalia reveals a long and tricky arm of the RCMP.  Ader was the “main negotiator”” according to the victim, Amanda Lindhout, for the nasty band that kidnapped, raped and abused her during a year-long ordeal in Mogadishu. Mountie deputy commissioner James Malizia would only say the case was “complex.” No doubt. The Mounties had operatives in Somalia and they won’t even say if the Mogadishu government knew about it. How did they get Ader to come to Ottawa where it was no doubt a stunning surprise to him when he was arrested? Did we say tricky?  Ader was taken into custody on June 11 by the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team right in the capital.  He is charged with kidnapping and hostage-taking and appeared in court by video link Friday.  CBC.