setUoYouRPROFILE's blog: "tufui"

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Elizaveta Tuktamisheva is the youngest women's singles gold medallist at Skate Canada International in 30 years. The 14-year-old Russian was victorious at Canada's annual senior Grand Prix figure skating event Saturday after winning the short program the day before. Canada's Tracey Wainman was 13 when she won in 1981 in Ottawa. Tuktamisheva won the short program Friday and wound up with 177.38 overall points after finishing second to Japan's Akiko Suzuki in the free skating Saturday.tiffany outlet Suzuki, 26, who was fourth in the short, scored 172.26 overall. It was Tuktamisheva's first senior Grand Prix appearance. "I didn't feel a big difference," she said through an interpreter when asked about stepping up from junior. "I try not to think of the importance of the competition." Ashley Wagner, 20, of the United States was third in the free and third overall with 165.48. Amelie Lacoste, 22, of Delson, Que., was sixth with 146.40 and Canadian champion Cynthia Phaneuf, 23, of Brossard, Que., was seventh with 140.70. Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won pairs gold with a 201.38 overall score by topping the standings in both the short and long programs. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, who had been fourth after the short, were second in the free and wound up with silver with 180.82. Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Toronto won bronze with 174.84. They were second in the short and third in the free. The International Skating Union, meanwhile, is allowing Tuktamisheva to compete at the highest level this season even though she won't be eligible to skate for the senior world championship until 2013. Her composure belies her age. By 2014 in Sochi, Russia, she hopes to skate for Olympic gold. "I'm trying not to show everything that is inside," she said. "Even if I'm nervous, I try to hide it. I try to approach everything calmly. There is pressure but I try not to pay attention to that too much. "I just try to do my job." Her technical elements were solid -- she's an excellent jumper -- and she displayed an artistic flair beyond the grasp of most of the older skaters. Suzuki moved up from being fourth after the short program thanks to a polished long skate to classical music. She was 11th at the 2010 world championship but didn't make the 2011 team after finishing fourth at her nationals. "I am trying to improve step by step," she said through an interpreter. Wagner's only world championship appearance was in 2008 when she was 16th. She was sixth at the 2011 U.S. nationals. She showed at this meet that she's well on the way back to prominence. "I was so happy with what I put out," she said. "I was very satisfied, with the exception my Lutz." She fell on a Lutz midway through her program -- the jump has been a hard one for her to land as she's been suffering with tendinitis in the landing foot -- but everything else was impressive in her "Black Swan" routine. Lacoste was third in Canada and 16th in the world last season so finishing ahead of Phaneuf, who was 13th in the world, was important as she aims to win the national title this season. Lacoste went around only twice on a scheduled triple Lutz, once on a planned triple flip and twice on a planned triple Salchow. "I'm disappointed because I missed three big jumps," she said. "I'm usually doing at least five triples in my program. I wasn't my best but it was a good experience and it's just the start of the season." Phaneuf crashed to the ice trying to land a triple loop and doubled out on two other planned triples. She had opened her program with a triple Lutz, which is the jump that has troubled her the most. "I wanted to go out there and land the triple Lutz and I was able to do it so easily," she said. "Then I thought about not making any mistakes, but I just didn't attack enough."

Saif al-Islam - the son of slain ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - says he is innocent of crimes against humanity, an international prosecutor has said. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said talks with Saif al-Islam had been held through intermediaries. The ICC says Gaddafi's son, accused of crimes during the recent conflict in Libya, would get a fair trial. Saif al-Islam, aged 39, has been in hiding for months. Recent reports claimed the man,sacs louis vuitton who had once been the presumed successor to his father, was in a convoy heading toward Libya's desert border with Niger, where other Gaddafi allies have fled. But those reports have not been confirmed, and the ICC says it does not know where he is. Prosecutor's fears Mr Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters that the contacts with Saif al-Islam were through intermediaries, without revealing their identity. "There are some people connected with him that in touch with people connected with us, so we have no direct relation," the prosecutor said. He added: "But we trust very much the person who is in touch for our side. He says he (Saif al-Islam) is innocent, he will prove he is innocent, and then he is interested in the consequence after that." Mr Moreno-Ocampo earlier expressed fears that Saif al-Islam might decide against surrendering to the ICC and try to escape to a friendly country with the help of mercenaries. The ICC denies that any kind of deal is being arranged with Saif al-Islam, stressing that the goal of the talks is to ensure an arrest warrant is carried out.

Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM-T9.601.4217.36%), the China-focused miner battling allegations of wrongdoing, says an independent audit has cleared its name, but the company won’t claim victory until the anonymous short sellers behind the accusations are punished. A KPMG Forensics Inc. audit released on Monday vindicates Vancouver-based Silvercorp’s claims that it has not overstated revenues, as alleged in two sets of reports that surfaced last month. “It confirms our business is real … There is no fraud,” Silvercorp chairman and chief executive officer Rui Feng said in an interview from Hong Kong on Monday. KPMG was hired by a special committee of the Silvercorp board to investigate the accusations and found its recent cash and short-term investment balances were “substantially correct” and that revenues were not exaggerated. The findings “support the integrity” of Silvercorp’s accounting system and financial reporting in China and North America, the special committee said. While the review had limitations,burberry outlet cheap including an inability to talk to anonymous accusers, that wasn’t considered to have a big impact on its conclusions. Silvercorp shares surged more than 20 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday, before ending the day up 17.4 per cent, its biggest one-day gain in more than two years. Still, Mr. Feng is not calling the report a win given the time and about $2-million it has spent so far fighting the accusations. The have also dealt a severe blow to the company’s stock price and investors that include some Canadian pension funds and large North American mutual funds. Silvercorp shares plunged by about 30 per cent to below $6 last month as some investors fled, fearing the fallout from allegations that a second Toronto-listed company operating in China had accounting issues. Earlier this year, short seller Carson Block of research firm Muddy Waters accused forestry firm Sino-Forest Corp. of accounting fraud. Regulators in Ontario have halted trading in Sino-Forest securities, citing evidence of fraud, and are looking into allegations that the company may have misrepresented some of its revenue and exaggerated some of its timber holdings. Although Silvercorp shares are now trading well above their value before the allegations became public, Mr. Feng said the stock is still performing below its industry peers. “I don’t win. The day I win is when … regulators make those people responsible because they can use the same tactics to hurt other people,” he said.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford called police after a crew from CBC's satirical show This Hour Has 22 Minutes showed up unexpectedly outside his house to interview him. "I came out of my house and I was ambushed," Ford said. It was dark, Ford told reporters Monday evening, and two people who didn't identify themselves came running out of a car parked outside his home in Etobicoke and stopped him from getting into his car. "There was a lady dressed up and she was screaming my name: 'We got you Rob Ford, we got you,'" Ford said,burberry outlet cheap adding his six-year-old daughter was frightened and ran back into the home. Ford said he went back into his house and called 911. "I didn't know who they were and obviously I've had death threats and there was a camera and a mic," he said. "I'm open to the media, but when you come to my private house early in the morning and ambush me, I think that crosses the line." CBC spokesman Chris Ball confirmed the show tried to interview Ford outside his home for an upcoming segment of the show. "These surprise interviews are what 22 Minutes are known for and have been a part of the show for years," Ball said. "The interview began at the end of his driveway and concluded shortly thereafter. The crew had no interaction with the Toronto police."

(Corrects spelling of name in ninth paragraph. For more on Europe’s debt crisis, see EXT4.) Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- European leaders ruled out tapping the European Central Bank’s balance sheet to boost the region’s rescue fund and outlined plans to aid banks, inching toward a revamped strategy to contain the Greece-fueled debt crisis. Europe’s 13th crisis-management summit in 21 months also explored how to strengthen the International Monetary Fund’s role. The leaders excluded a forced restructuring of Greek debt,longchamp outlet sticking with the tactic of enticing bondholders to accept losses to help restore the country’s finances. “Work is going well on the banks, and on the fund and the possibilities of using the fund, the options are converging,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters at the Brussels summit yesterday. “On the question of Greece, things are moving along. We’re not there yet.” Greece’s deteriorating finances have narrowed Europe’s room for maneuver in battling the contagion, which threatens to pitch the country into default, rattle the banking system, infect Spain and Italy and tip the world economy into recession. The complete blueprint won’t come together until a summit in two days. Like yesterday, it will start with all 27 EU leaders before the 17 heads of euro economies gather on their own. Euro Slips The euro slipped on concern that the anti-crisis package will be less than the sum of its parts. The currency fell to $1.3842 as of 6:42 a.m. in Sydney from $1.3896 on Oct. 21 in New York. “Bottom line: although full details are yet to be known, the proposals as they stand leave us vulnerable to disappointment that this is truly a comprehensive solution,” said Charles Diebel, head of market strategy at Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets in London. The mayhem began in Greece in October 2009 when an unexpected cash shortfall left the new government unable to pay for its election promises. Since then, 256 billion euros of bailouts have failed to stem the tide, which rattled France this month, prompting Standard & Poor’s to warn it may lose its top credit rating. Expressing concern over the potential impact on their nations, world leaders including President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have stepped up calls for Europe to turn back the risk to the global economy. Victory Claims Europe has claimed victory over the crisis before. A plan in March was billed as a “comprehensive” strategy. A July accord on a second bailout for Greece and more powers for the rescue fund was hailed at the time as the “final package, of course,” by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Members of Libya's interim government urged "tolerance and reconciliation" on Sunday as they declared the official liberation of Libya, three days after the death of former leader Moammar Gadhafi in a battle in Sirte. The ceremony in the eastern city of Benghazi began with a reading from the Qur'an and the singing of the national anthem in front of hundreds waving the new Libyan flag. "We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hill-tops, mountains, deserts and skies," said an official who opened the ceremony,longchamp outlet which comes after eight months of conflict between rebels and Gadhafi's forces. National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil took the podium at the end of the event, starting by praying for "the souls of all the martyrs" — those who fought Gadhafi’s forces and who died during the late dictator's reign. "We should have forgiveness, tolerance and reconciliation. We should reject hatred. This is a necessary matter for the success of the future Libya," Jalil intoned. "Do not use force to take your rights back. All you have to do is to be faithful, patient and tolerant." U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the declaration in a statement released on Sunday. “After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise," Obama said. He added the U.S. looks forward to working with Libyans to "help advance a stable, democratic transition" as they prepare for free and fair elections. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also added his congratulations Sunday, sending out a statement that the UN is committed to supporting “the Libyan people and their authorities as they work to build this brighter future.”

Bank of Nova Scotia agreed to pay about US$1 billion in cash and stock for a majority stake in Colombia's unlisted Banco Colpatria, expanding the Canadian bank's footprint in the Latin American country. The Canadian bank, which entered Colombia last year with the purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland's wholesale operations in the country, said on Thursday it will pay US$500 million in cash and 10 million shares for a 51 percent stake in Colombia's seventh-largest bank by assets. Canada's No. 3 bank, commonly known as Scotiabank, also said it had an option to buy the remaining 49 percent at fair market value in seven years from Grupo Colpatria,burberry outlet cheap the holding company that has controlled Banco Colpatria until now. Colombia's banking sector could be attractive for foreign banks looking for growth potential considering only 60 percent of the population uses banks. Colpatria had said in September it expected to have a foreign partner before the end of the year, and banks such as Brazil's Banco do Brasil and Itau and Chile's CorpBanca were believed to have been interested. Grupo Colpatria had just bought back a 49.7 percent stake in the Colombian bank from General Electric Co earlier this year, after having sold the stake to GE in 2007. Scotiabank's acquisition is expected to close in December and will add a few cents to earnings per share in 2012. The deal continues its expansion in Latin America in recent years, when it has acquired substantial holdings in Mexico and Central and South America. "Colombia's population of 45 million people is young, mainly urban, and significantly underbanked," Brian Porter, Scotiabank's group head of international banking, said on a conference call. Banco Colpatria's operations will be combined with Scotiabank's existing wholesale business in the country. The acquisition is expected to close in December and will add a few cents to earnings per share in 2012, Scotiabank said. "We view the acquisition positively and believe that it incrementally adds to Scotia's very positive growth profile," Barclays Capital analyst John Aiken said in a research note. "Further, we believe that the issuance of common equity in the transaction should be viewed favorably." Canada's big banks weathered the 2008 financial crisis in reasonably good shape, and have continued to make acquisitions, most recently picking up assets in Canada being sold off by foreign banks.

A high-end grocery store on Avenue Road was forced to close its doors Thursday after health inspectors discovered it was infested with rats and cockroaches. Pusateri’s Fine Foods specializes in gourmet meats, chocolates, cheese and produce, and operates three locations in Toronto. Only the Avenue Road location was affected. Inspectors ordered the store closed Thursday afternoon, citing pest infestation and poor sanitation, a spokeswoman for Toronto Public Health wrote in an e-mail. “It is up to the operator to improve their services and arrange a re-inspection with the Public Health Inspector,” Rishma Govani wrote. A news release sent on the store’s behalf indicated that part of the storage area,burberry outlet cheap the walk-in coolers and some other locations were infested as a result of “human error.” It said the public areas of the store were not affected. Calls to the grocery-store chain were not immediately returned. A switchboard operator said she had been instructed to refer all inquiries to the chain’s public-relations firm. The business passed its last health inspection on Aug. 30, said Shawn Rusich, from Butter Public Relations. “They’ve been exceptionally sterile for 25 years of service,” he added. Pusateri’s Fine Foods closed its Avenue Road store at 3 p.m. on Thursday to empty the shop’s contents and thoroughly clean the interior. “They’re hoping to be back by Saturday at the latest,” Mr. Rusich said. The chain’s other stores in Yorkville and at Bayview Village Shopping Centre remain open.

OTTAWA - Shipyards on Canada’s east and west coasts have been awarded $33 billion to revitalize the navy and coast guard with 28 large vessels over the next 30 years. Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax will build $25 billion worth of new combat vessels over the next 30 years, and Vancouver’s Seaspan Marine Corp. won the $8-billion deal to build seven non-combat vessels, including a new Arctic icebreaker, the John G. Diefenbaker to replace — what else? — the 40-year-old Louis St. Laurent. Quebec’s Davie Shipyard, which was on the brink of bankruptcy before putting together an 11th-hour bid with Upper Lakes Group and giants SNC-Lavalin and Korea’s Daewoo,Longchamp Outlet was unsuccessful for the non-combat work. At the Davie shipyard in Levis, Que., near Quebec City, stone-faced union officials were licking their wounds Wednesday upon hearing that they had been passed over. Union president Paul-Andre Brulotte told QMI Agency that the long-term future of the troubled shipyard was in jeopardy. “It’s all of Quebec that’s affected,” said Brulotte. “The Quebec government counted on this, so it’s disappointing.” Throughout the 16-month shipyard selection process, the federal government maintained a hands-off approach to the selection process. Indeed, government officials insist even Prime Minister Stephen Harper was kept in the dark about who the winners were until Wednesday afternoon. The procurement process was handled instead by senior bureaucrats from the defence, public works, fisheries and oceans, and industry departments. Their work was overseen by a third-party fairness monitor, who signed off on the process and decision as being “made objectively, free from personal favouritism and political influence, and encompass the elements of openness, competitiveness, transparency and compliance.” NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel blasted the government for picking "winners and losers," even though her party's shipbuilding critic gave the government "credit" for the selection process. Peter Stoffer even called Wednesday "a very, very great day for all of Canada." Liberal interim leader Bob Rae said the feds, having encouraged the Quebec shipyard to spend money on the bid, now have a responsibility to ensure Davie gets sub-contracted and maintenance work as part of the larger contracts awarded to Irving and Seaspan Wednesday. “The procurement process has been touted by the government as fair and non-political,” Rae said in a statement. “But the Conservatives cannot use this arm’s-length process as an excuse to ignore the investments made by the communities that have not been successful in this process. "The Conservatives cannot escape responsibility for the economic impact of their procurement strategy, and they must reveal their economic plan for the Levis region.” Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose said the massive investment in shipbuilding would create jobs in all regions of Canada because of the numerous sub-contracts and maintenance that would be available to all Canadian shipyards to bid on. "Regardless of who received the contract, this policy will create thousands of jobs in all regions of the country through the many sub-contracting opportunities," she said. "It is important to note there is still the opportunity to compete for construction of over 100 smaller vessels that have been set aside. The shipyards selected today are not allowed to bid on these contracts. In addition, there are millions of dollars a year in repair and re-fit work in this strategy that shipyards across Canada can also compete for. The $2-billion contract to build 116 smaller federal vessels will be put out for competition, in a piecemeal fashion, for other Canadian shipyards to bid on, but both Irving and Seaspan are prohibited from bidding on those contracts. Turmel said that process should be accelerated before hard times befall smaller shipyards that are waiting for work.

QUEBEC - Premier Jean Charest is expected to announce a public inquiry into Quebec's construction industry later Wednesday. But the precise nature of what he will say remains unclear. In a statement from the premier's office, reporters were summoned to a 4:15 p.m. briefing, following by a news conference where Charest will make "an important announcement." He will be accompanied by Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier and Public Security Minister Robert Dutil. Charest has resisted calls for a public inquiry,Longchamp Outlet in spite of wide-spread allegations of corruption and collusion to fix bids on public-sector construction contracts. Sylvie Roy, the Action démocratique du Québec MNA who first called for a public inquiry in 2009, expressed skepticism Wednesday about the premier's intentions, noting that he must face a three-day convention of his Quebec Liberal Party starting Friday. “It is a trick to not answer the public and to pacify the Liberal membership for the weekend," Roy told reporters. “It has been 927 days since I asked for a public inquiry," she added "I calculate that $23 million a day is spent on infrastructure and we haven’t started the Plan Nord. “This is enough. We need a public inquiry.” Charest would not answer questions from Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois in the National Assembly question period earlier Wednesday about his intentions regarding a public inquiry. "You informed your caucus," Marois said. "You should tell the National Assembly." Charest replied that whatever he proposes, Marois will oppose, pursuing her "scorched earth" approach. He called on Marois to tell him how the provincial government can call a public inquiry while at the same time protecting the evidence police have accumulated, ensuring the prosecution of those involved and shielding witnesses. Marois did not reply, as per the practice at question period, when the opposition asks questions and the government is expected to answer. Marois asked whether the inquiry Charest has hinted he will call would be public and transparent, or closed, and whether it would be constituted under Quebec's public inquiries law, which gives full independence to the committee, within its mandate. Charest did not address Marois’ questions; instead, he repeated his own questions and said the government has already taken steps to deal with corruption.