The Americas

News from North, Central and South America

Tanker runs aground off N Canada

A tanker carrying 9m litres of diesel fuel runs aground in the Northwest Passage, off the coast of northern Canada.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Explosion on Gulf of Mexico rig

An explosion rips through an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the blast in April that caused a huge oil spill.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Orangeville woman may be victim of foul play

Police are telling the family of a missing Orangeville, Ont., woman to brace for the worst as the search for Sonia Varaschin entered its fourth day.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Fuel tanker runs aground in Northwest Passage

A fuel tanker carrying nine million litres of diesel fuel has run aground in the Northwest Passage, the Canadian Coast Guard has confirmed.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Photos in judge sex scandal ordered returned

A Court of Queen's Bench justice has ordered a Winnipeg man to return sexually explicit pictures of a prominent Manitoba judge to her lawyer husband.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Earl threatens East Coast with weekend pounding

Hurricane Earl packed winds near 125 mph as it blew toward North Carolina on Thursday, putting the Eastern Seaboard all the way to Canada on alert for a Labor Day weekend pounding by waves, gales and rain.

'Lights out' help migratory birds

A growing number of New York sky-scrapers switch off their lights at night to help reduce the number of migratory birds hitting the buildings.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Coast guard calls off N.L. plane crash search

The Canadian Coast Guard has called off a search near St. John's after it found no evidence of a small airplane crash into the ocean near the Robin Hood Bay dump that had been reported by a citizen.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Nose-diving hawk halts mail delivery

Canada Post has suspended service to a Calgary neighbourhood until a hawk with a bone to pick with the local mail carrier migrates for winter.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Disgraced Montreal politician drops Africa plan

A former Montreal municipal politician who was forced to withdraw from politics after he was accused of illegal financing has decided not to volunteer to teach good governance in Burkina Faso.
Read more [CBC Canada]

U.S. sues controversial Arizona sheriff in civil-rights investigation

Justice Department officials say Maricopa County's Joe Arpaio failed to turn over documents in a probe of his agency's immigration enforcement operations. Among his tactics are 'sweeps' of immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced it had sued Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, for failing to turn over documents in a probe of whether his aggressive operations against illegal immigrants had violated civil rights.

Burger King is sold for $3.26bn

Burger King is being sold to private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26bn (£2.1bn), it has been announced.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Que. group launches right-wing movement

A small group of Quebec right-wing activists and politicians hopes to create a grassroots political movement in the province.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Hadfield named space station commander

Col. Chris Hadfield will become the first Canadian astronaut to command the International Space Station during a mission launching late in 2012.
Read more [CBC Canada]

US accuses 11 of honey smuggling

US authorities indict 11 German and Chinese executives for conspiring to illegally import $40m worth of honey from China.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Rare red pandas born in Winnipeg

Two rare baby red pandas, born at Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park Zoo in June, are being brought out to meet the press.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Plummer to revive Barrymore in Toronto

Christopher Plummer is set to revive his Tony Award-winning show Barrymore in Toronto in the new year.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Tracking Hurricane Earl's progress

Susan Powell takes a look at the track of the current Atlantic storms
Read more [BBC Americas]

Mother held after girl allegedly stabbed

A 16-year-old girl is in hospital and her mother is in police custody after the girl was allegedly stabbed on Wednesday.
Read more [CBC Canada]

How does Samsung's Galaxy Tab compare?

Tablet computers to rival Apple's iPad are creating a stir as one of Europe's largest technology shows, the IFA, gets under way in Berlin.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Dell pulls out of battle for 3Par

Dell withdraws its bid for 3Par after rival Hewlett-Packard raises its offer for the data storage company to $2.1bn.
Read more [BBC Americas]

HST has divided B.C. business community

The group representing B.C. restaurant owners says the province's handling of the HST has divided the business community and damaged its relationship with the government.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Stolen military truck driven onto Winnipeg runway

A military pickup truck was stolen from the Canadian Forces Base in Winnipeg and then driven onto the runway at the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.
Read more [CBC Canada]

US East Coast on hurricane alert

Areas along the US East Coast declare states of emergency as Hurricane Earl churns towards the region, forecast to brush land on Thursday night.
Read more [BBC Americas]

Slain soldier's N.L. home holds emotional vigil

Hundreds of people gathered at a quiet vigil in western Newfoundland on Wednesday night to honour a Canadian soldier who died from wounds suffered in an Afghanistan bombing.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Man. judge in nude photo scandal steps aside

Lori Douglas, a Manitoba family court judge involved in a scandal over nude photos of her that appeared online, has asked to be temporarily relieved of her duties at the Court of Queen's Bench.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Hurricane watch issued for N.S.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre issues a hurricane watch for four Nova Scotia counties and expands its tropical storm watch to include large sections of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Liberals pull even with Tories: EKOS poll

Michael Ignatieff's Liberals have pulled into an end-of-summer dead heat with Stephen Harper's Conservatives, according to a new EKOS poll.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Missing Toronto teen's parents keep hope alive

Nearly a year after their daughter's disappearance, the family of Toronto teen Mariam Makniashvili refuses to give up hope she will be found.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Harper rallies Quebec supporters

Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned supporters at an outdoor rally in Montreal's suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux that the Liberals, NDP and BQ could align themselves to force a vote.
Read more [CBC Canada]

TD Bank profit rises 29%

TD Bank says its profits grew 29 per cent in the third quarter to $1.18 billion, narrowly missing analyst expectations.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Language law reform unavoidable: N.B. prof

New Brunswick's next premier should not shy away from a public debate when its time to review the Official Languages Act in 2012, according to a language law expert.
Read more [CBC Canada]

Man dies in Lake Ontario diving expedition

A man who had to be pulled out of Lake Ontario by police and rushed to hospital following a recreational diving expedition in Oakville has died.
Read more [CBC Canada]

'Edgy town'

Canada provides backdrop for Kerouac's On The Road
Read more [BBC Americas]

My dad worked for the mafia

Jennifer Mascia gave World News America a first person account of her extraordinary childhood and her surprise at finding out about her father's mafia past.
Read more [BBC Americas]