Business

Officers from the York Regional Police and Sûreté du Québec arrested five family members in Toronto, Ontario and Quebec regarding the February 5 armoured car robbery of C$2.3 million which occurred in Richmond Hill, Ontario. According to officers, a Garda security guard released information such as digital codes and security procedures to family members, who then proceeded to use the information the evening of February 5 outside a Royal Bank of Canada on Yonge Street. About half of the heist money has been recovered. It is alleged that the s

United States automobile company General Motors announced it has lost US$6 billion in the first quarter of 2009, amidst heavy declines in revenues. Not including special items, the firm said it had lost a net $5.9 billion dollars, or $9.66 per share. In the first quarter of last year, GM had reported a loss of $381 million, or $0.67 per share. Most financial analysts had forecast the automaker's losses to be over $6.7 billion, or $11.05 per share. GM had also reported that it had spent $10.2 billion in an effort to prevent bankruptcy. The man

After 100 days in office, United States president Barack Obama gave a speech on Wednesday, speaking about the swine influenza outbreak and the struggling economy, both described by the Los Angles Times as "two wars." He used a prime time television slot to showcase his message throughout the United States. During his speech, he said, "If you could tell me right now when I walked into this office... that all you had to worry about was Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, getting healthcare passed, figuring out how to deal with energy independence,

The American auto company Chrysler filed for bankruptcy Thursday, however a deal with European auto maker Fiat went through. The emerging Chrysler will be owned 55 percent by the United Auto Workers, eight percent by the United States Government, two percent by the Canadian Government and Fiat would begin with a 20 percent share. Chrysler Chief Executive Robert Nardelli will step down when the bankruptcy proceedings are finalized. Initially, the Italian company, Fiat, will appoint three members on the emerging Chrysler's new board, and the Un

The United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunged at an annualised 6.1%, after shrinking by 6.3% in the last three months of last year, according to a report released by the US Commerce Department, making the ongoing recession the worst in at least fifty years. The report was released just hours before Federal Reserve officials were scheduled to convene to decide how much money to insert into the economy. The GDP has now fallen for three quarters in a row for the first time in almost forty years. The decline is worse than the average 4.7

Iraq's Interior Ministry reported that at least 41 people were killed and a further 68 wounded on Wednesday after two car bombings in the country's capital of Baghdad. Two explosions occurred within quarter of an hour of each other in the late afternoon in Sadr City. The bombings hit a restaurant and a flea market. A third vehicle in the area laden with bombs was discovered and defused without incident by police. "I saw my blood covering the clothes that I had planned to take to my kids," said a witness to the incident, Saadi Rashid. "What a

In an election on Saturday, the Social Democratic Alliance and Left-Green Movement have won 34 of 63 seats in the Althing, the Icelandic parliament. They share approximately 52% of the popular vote. In February 2009, the centre-right Icelandic government, led by the eurosceptic Independence Party, resigned following mass protests following the collapse of the island's economy. The Social Democrat Alliance and Left-Green Movement formed an interim government under Johanna Sigurdardottir. The Social Democrat Alliance is eager to start negotiati

A University of Georgia marketing professor has allegedly killed three people and injured two others today in the southeastern United States. The shooting took place approximately 12:25 p.m around the Athens Community Theater in the Athens-Clarke County, in the northeast part of Georgia. Authorities suspect George Zinkhan in the shooting and have issued a nationwide alert for him and his 2005 red Jeep Liberty with Georgia license plate AIX1376. The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) reports that two handguns were found at the scene. Athens-

According to official statistics, Spain's jobless rate reached 17.4%, with slightly more than four million people unemployed. The figures have doubled over the past twelve months, the National Statistics Institute reports. The numbers are an increase over the previous jobless rate of 13.9%, which was revised in the fourth quarter of last year. Spain now has the highest level of unemployment in the European Union. Recently, the Bank of Spain estimated that the unemployment rate in the country could go up to 19.4% by 2010. "It is a terrible fi

The Tongan government has extended the state of emergency in the capital, Nukuʻalofa, for another month. The move has been criticised as unnecessary by the chairman of the Tonga Civil Society Forum, Drew Havea. He says that life is now back to normal in the capital, and blames a group of Nukuʻalofa businessmen for the rollover. "We are not sure why they are taking that particular action because we don’t see any issue but that’s their right. If they want to petition for rolling over these emergency regulations, there’s not much we can do, on o

The provincial election was called today in British Columbia. Alongside with the election, the citizens of the province will also be debating if they should change their electoral system from Single Member Plurality to Single Transferable Vote (STV). The vote for both the election and the referendum is to be held on May 12th. According to the Angus Reid Strategies online poll, the issues before the candidates this year are the economy, crime and public safety, and health care. Gordon Campbell is the current Premier of British Columbia, and l

Twenty percent of the American public believes that socialism is superior to capitalism, says a poll by Rasmussen Reports released on Thursday, April 9. Asked the question "Which is a better system - capitalism or socialism?", 53% of those polled found capitalism the better system, 20% preferred socialism, and 27% were unsure. The survey did not define either capitalism or socialism, but Rasmussen also cites a December 2008 result saying that 15% of Americans prefer a government-managed economy. Analysis of the poll's data by website FiveThir