First Canada lynx in 15 years found in Idaho

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A Canada lynx has been documented in Idaho for the first time in over 15 years when the imperiled cat was inadvertently caught in a foot-hold trap in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday.

"It's a very rare occurrence," Tom Keegan, regional manager with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said about the incidental capture last week of the high-elevation, forest-dwelling cat.

He said a man walking his dogs spotted the lynx on Thursday in the rugged mountains of east central Idaho in a legal trap set for bobcat and notified state wildlife officials. They released the animal unharmed.

The last lynx confirmed in the 4.3 million-acre forest surrounding Salmon was in 1991, when one was accidentally trapped. The cats were documented elsewhere in Idaho during the 1995-1996 trapping season, after which trapping lynx was outlawed.

Lynx were designated in 2000 as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species in the lower 48 states, where they roam the high country from Maine to Washington and south through the Rocky Mountains.

The animals have long legs and large, well-furred paws, making them highly adapted for hunting in deep snow for preferred prey like snowshoe hares, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lynx are infrequently sighted. Biologists mostly rely on tracks and scat to document the reclusive animal's presence.

Fewer than 100 lynx are believed to roam the mid- and high-elevation forests of Idaho, where they are classified as a "species of greatest conservation need."

Just 40 lynx have been recorded in east central Idaho since the late 1800s, according to Fish and Game.

A DNA sample collected from the recently captured cat will be analyzed to verify it is a wild lynx and to gain knowledge about its possible origins, Keegan said.

Like wolverines and other elusive forest carnivores, lynx can travel long distances, even hundreds of miles, he said.

Keegan said it was too early to say whether the lynx found in the Salmon-Challis forest was a sign of the animal's return to its historic range or if it was a random event.

"There's all kinds of speculation. It may be a transient animal or a resident animal," he said.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston)

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FDA releases Canada OJ results, more due next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators on Friday cleared the way for the first shipments of imported orange juice to enter the country since January 4, when authorities began testing for an illegal fungicide discovered in juice products from Brazil.

The Food and Drug Administration said final tests confirmed that three samples of Canadian orange juice were negative for the fungicide carbendazim. The sample findings allowed corresponding shipments from Canada into the U.S. market.

But there was no word about Brazilian orange juice, which has riveted industry attention and sent the commodities market for orange juice on its wildest rollercoaster ride in more than 20 years.

Test results have yet to be announced for 28 import samples from Brazil, Mexico and Canada. "Other samples are still pending and won't be released until next week," said FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey.

In a move that suggested testing could continue for some time, the regulatory agency said it planned to set up an online fact sheet that would be updated on Fridays.

The fungicide scare began after Atlanta soft-drink giant Coca-Cola Co. discovered carbendazim in shipments from Brazil and alerted U.S. authorities about a potential industry-wide problem. Coke is the maker of Minute Maid orange juice.

Carbendazim is used in Brazil to combat blossom blight and black spot, a type of mold that grows on orange trees.

But in the United States, it can be used only in non-food items such as paints, textiles and ornamental trees. U.S. authorities still allow trace amounts of carbendazim in 31 food types including grains, nuts and some non-citrus fruits -- but not in citrus juice.

The FDA said low levels of carbendazim are not dangerous and the agency had no plans for a recall.

But U.S. action to halt any imports with detectable levels of the chemical fanned market worries about orange juice supplies. Uncertainty over the import clampdown has already caused exporters to postpone shipments to the United States.

Brands such as Tropicana, from PepsiCo Inc., and Coke's Minute Maid may contain a mix of juices sourced from Brazil and the United States.

The FDA said testing typically takes four to five business days when no carbendazim is found during initial screening, and an additional seven days if further tests are necessary.

U.S. officials will allow any imported products containing less than 10 parts per billion to enter the United States, but will refuse entry to anything with higher levels.

The European Union allows imports with up to 200 ppb. The Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates fungicides in the United States, considers several thousand parts per billion to be a health risk.

The chemical is banned in Australia.

The FDA said importers will have 90 days to export or destroy any product that has been refused.

(Additional reporting by Josephine Mason in New York)

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Canada Day celebrated with Prince William and Kate [VIDEO] (The Christian Science Monitor)

New York – Canada Day will be celebrated across Canada, Friday, but in the capital of Ottawa, special guests are expected to garner more attention than usual. Prince William and Kate Middleton start their 11-day whirlwind tour of Canada and the US in Ottawa, Thursday.

The holiday celebrates Canada's 144th birthday, recognizing the unification of three previously separate British colonies into what is now Canada. Celebrations in Ottawa regularly include fireworks, concerts, and a parade, but this year Ottawa expects record-breaking crowds due to the royal couple's visit.

Gallery: Royal wedding day

Last year, Queen Elizabeth visited Ottawa on Canada Day as well, but did not attract the crowds William and Kate are expected to attract this week. The increased interest in the royal couple and their visit is expected to generate proportional media coverage as well.

Canadian Heritage minister James Moore told the CBC, "When [Queen Elizabeth] visited Canada last summer, there were 18 international journalists on the trip. On this trip, 274 international journalists are coming. It is by far the largest and most covered royal visit Canada has ever seen."

After spending the long Canada Day weekend in Ottawa, William and Kate will make their way across the country with stops in Montreal, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, Yellowknife, and Calgary. In the US, the royal couple will stop in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara where William will play a charity polo match.

On their tour the royal couple is trying to save British taxpayers wherever possible, staying at the British consul general's residence in Los Angeles instead of lavish hotels and even flying with regular passengers on a standard British Airways flight out of Los Angeles.

Gallery: Royal wedding day

Watch highlights from the Queen’s visit to Ottawa on Canada Day in 2010:

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Canada says documents clear troops of wrongdoing (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada released thousands of pages of declassified documents on Wednesday, which it said supported its claims that its soldiers played no role in the mistreatment of prisoners in Afghanistan.

The Conservative government has been dogged for years by allegations that military and political officials ignored evidence that Afghan authorities were torturing detainees handed over by Canadian troops stationed there.

The more than 4,000 pages of documents showed that Canada had met its international obligations on the treatment of prisoners, Foreign Minister John Baird told reporters in Ottawa.

"(The documents show) that the allegations are unfounded and critics' accusations of Canadian complicity with torture or even war crimes are simply not true," said Baird, who spoke to reporters before the documents were made public.

But an opposition lawmaker who had access to documents before they were released said the material showed Canadian officials knew there was a huge risk the prisoners they were handing over to Afghan authorities might be mistreated.

"It is impossible to reconcile (the government's) statements with the documents," Liberal Stephane Dion told CBC, saying the documents raised new questions about Canada's conduct.

Reports of abuse prompted Ottawa to sign a deal with the Afghan government in May 2007 allowing officials unfettered access to any prisoners handed over by Canadian troops to investigate allegations of mistreatment.

International law would have prohibited Canadian forces from turning the prisoners over to Afghan authorities if they knew they were likely to be tortured.

The government, which had initially balked at releasing the documents, again rejected calls for a public inquiry, saying the process had already cost C$12 million ($12.4 million) without finding any credible allegations of wrongdoing.

The documents were reviewed by a parliamentary committee and a panel of judges, who screened them for national security and diplomatic concerns before their public release. Baird did not say how many documents were kept secret on those grounds.

Defense Minister Peter MacKay accused opposition parties of attempting "sensationalize" the issue for political gain.

The main opposition New Democratic Party questioned the timing of the document release, saying it came in a way that meant lawmakers would not be allowed to debate any concerns raised in the material

"It's a very cynical approach," NDP leader Jack Layton said.

The document release comes as Canada has begun withdrawing its nearly 2,800 troops from the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan. Its forces have suffered more than 150 casualties.

($1=$0.97 Canadian)

(Writing by Allan Dowd in Vancouver; editing by Rob Wilson)

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Air Canada, CAW in pension compromise; strike over (Reuters)

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Air Canada Inc and striking customer service workers reached a tentative contract agreement on Thursday, settling on a compromise on the biggest obstacle to a deal: the issue of pension benefits and who should pay for them.

Air Canada's almost 4,000 unionized airport check-in and call-center staff will return to work on Friday after going on strike early on Tuesday.

With the threat of government back-to-work legislation hanging over them, Air Canada, the country's biggest airline, and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union agreed to put the issue of whether new hires should have a defined-benefit pension plan to binding arbitration.

Defined benefit plans are typically paid for by companies and are becoming rarer as employers struggle to fund yawning pension shortfalls and look to switch employees to self-funded defined contribution plans.

Air Canada, which has a market value of C$560 million ($572 million) and a pension deficit of about C$2.1 billion, was pushed to the edge of bankruptcy two years ago by heavy pension funding demands.

Under the tentative contract deal, existing employees' defined benefit plans will see only "very slight modifications", starting in 2013, and they will not suffer the large reductions that the airline wanted, CAW President Ken Lewenza told a news conference.

"The defined benefit plans that we have bargained collectively for the past 40 years ... are completely intact," Lewenza said.

He said he regretted not being to get the same guarantee in with the airline for new hires, but added that it was in the best interest of union members not to prolong the strike.

He declined to detail the wage increases agreed to in the four-year contract, but called them "very good". Other media reported the increases at 9 percent over four years.

"The agreement will help ensure the long-term sustainability of Air Canada while maintaining industry-leading compensation and benefits for our employees," said Duncan Dee, Air Canada's executive vice-president and chief operating officer.

Air Canada's stock soared nearly 9 percent to as high as C$2.19 after news of the tentative deal, later closing at C$2.17 for a gain of 16 Canadian cents.

A two-week union ratification vote starts on Monday.

Lewenza said it was not the government's threat of back-to-work legislation, a move he described as an assault on workers, that speeded up an agreement.

The House of Commons formally introduced legislation on Thursday to end the strike and also debated a motion to speed it through.

Air Canada had deployed 1,700 of its managers at airports across Canada to take the reins at check-in and ticketing desks, and diverted customer calls to centers in the United States. Disruptions appeared to be minor and mostly confined to flight delays.

The Montreal-based company is also in contract talks with four other unions, including its pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers, after agreements expired earlier this year.

Ottawa's move to legislate striking employees back to work signals that no other Air Canada union "will be able to strike for any length without triggering a similar move by the government", National Bank Financial analyst Cameron Doerksen said in a note to clients.

(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer and Louise Egan in Ottawa and Allison Martell in Toronto; editing by Peter Galloway and Rob Wilson)

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Air Canada customer agents serve strike notice (Reuters)

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – The union representing customer service and ticket sales agents at Air Canada Inc on Friday gave the airline 72 hours notice of a strike after negotiators failed to agree on a new labor contract.

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union, which represents 3,800 employees at airports and call centers across Canada, said its members will walk off the job at 11:59 pm EDT on Monday unless an agreement can be reached before then.

"After 10 weeks of negotiations, there are still a number of important issues halting progress at the bargaining table, such as demands for dramatic cuts to the pension plan...," the CAW said in a statement.

Air Canada, the country's biggest carrier, said in a statement it continues to work toward a deal with the union but has a contingency plan to continue "operating a full schedule" and minimize disruptions for customers.

Air Canada is in labor talks with five of its unions, including its pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers, after their contracts expired earlier this year.

(Reporting by Nicole Mordant; Editing by Paul Simao)

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Canada Post strike highlights mail's fading role (Reuters)

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – A rolling postal strike, followed by deep service cuts, has highlighted the fading role of Canada's mail service in the age of the Internet, with neither side likely to end up ahead.

On one side of the dispute are postal workers who are looking for higher wages and more job security -- saying the company is ignoring their ideas to modernize as consumers increasingly pay bills online and use e-mail for letters.

On the other is Canada Post, which, in addition to seeing declining demand, faces what the company says is a yawning C$3.2 billion deficit in its pension system, at a time when more than a third of its workers are within 10 years of retirement.

"The pie they are trying to cut up is already shrinking," said George Smith, who teaches at Queen's University and is a veteran of labor negotiations in the railway and broadcast industries.

Smith said the limited action so far indicates the sides know they will both get hurt if the postal service shuts down entirely and the public does not care.

The unionized postal workers started their industrial action last week, staging 24-hour rotating strikes in different parts of the country to press their demands.

The independent, government-owned corporation responded by idling workers and reducing urban delivery to three days a week. It says mail volumes are down 50 percent since the strike began and the workers' demands will doom the company.

Canada Post, which traces its roots to the country's founding, reported a C$319 million profit last year on revenue of C$6.1 billion.

But, like postal systems around the world, it has suffered as letter writers turn to e-mail and customers pay bills electronically, and use courier firms like FedEx Corp for parcels and urgent deliveries.

Letter volumes were down 4.2 percent last year and the average number of letters delivered to each address is off 17 percent from 2005, according to the company.

Canada Post says its latest offer would increase the top wage for current workers to C$26 an hour and keep its defined benefit pension system. But it wants a lower pay scale for new hires and other contract changes.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which represents the 48,000 urban postal workers, says it understands the difficulties facing Canada Post but it accuses management of not listening to fresh ideas such as offering banking services.

The union says the company is demanding other unfair concessions in areas including wages, staffing and safety.

The company says negotiations have stalled.

There has been surprisingly little public outcry at the reduced deliveries, although the dispute is pinching companies and government agencies that use the postal system for direct mail advertising and billing.

"While Canada Post volumes are dropping, the postal service still delivers 11 billion pieces of mail each year and remains relevant to the Canadian economy," the Canadian Marketing Association said in a release on Thursday.

The West Coast province of British Columbia faces an extra problem if the dispute escalates -- it is scheduled to hold a mail-in vote later this month on whether to repeal a controversial sales tax deal with the federal government.

John McCallum, a University of Manitoba finance professor, said the two sides need to reach a compromise that will sustain Canada Post for the long term, but he admitted that is very difficult given how quickly its competition is evolving.

"The problem with the future is that it doesn't come with a manual," McCallum said.

The federal government has urged the sides to keep talking, but has not said if it plans to intervene and legislate an end the dispute.

(Reporting Allan Dowd; editing by Janet Guttsman and Rob Wilson)

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Canada Post cuts deliveries due to rotating strike (Reuters)

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Mail delivers in Canadian cities will be cut to three days a week because rotating strikes have slashed mail volumes by up to half, Canada Post officials said on Wednesday.

Mail workers began rotating strikes last week in a contract dispute that both sides acknowledge is rooted in how the country's postal system will survive in the era of e-mail and digital bill payments.

Canada Post, which normally delivers mail every weekday said it will also cut staffing levels at mail processing plants, but post offices will keep their current hours and rural deliveries will continue five days a week.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers launched its strike action on June 3, accusing the federal corporation of ignoring proposals that the union says would protect workers while helping Canada Post adapt to changing times.

Canada Post regularly reports an annual profit, but says it cannot afford the union's demands as mail volumes continue to fall and as it struggles with a C$3.2 billion pension deficit. It says CUPW's proposal would increase the top wage rate to C$26 an hour.

(Reporting Allan Dowd; editing by Rob Wilson)

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Canada court OKs extradition of France bomb suspect (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – A Canadian judge ruled on Monday that a suspect in a bombing that killed four people outside a Paris synagogue in 1980 should be extradited to France.

Justice Robert Maranger, however, told the suspect, Hassan Diab, he would not be surrendered to France for 30 days, during which time he can make submissions to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson on why the minister should not send him there.

Diab is a Lebanese-Canadian, of Palestinian origin, and was arrested by Canadian police in 2008 after French judges issued an international arrest warrant for him.

The bomb, placed in a bag attached to a motorbike that was parked outside the synagogue in Rue Copernic, exploded on the final day of a Jewish festival, just before a crowd was due to emerge from the synagogue.

Maranger ordered Diab taken into custody while he awaits a decision by Nicholson on whether to surrender him to France. He will be able to appeal the minister's eventual decision.

Diab, 57, sat in the front row of the court with his wife, who wore a pink scarf over her head. Police constables led him away after the verdict as he waved to applauding supporters.

Maranger said his decision was in no way a finding that Diab was guilty. In fact, Maranger said: "I conclude that the Republic of France has presented a weak case where conviction is unlikely."

But Canada has a treaty with France that requires extradition if there has been sufficient evidence to mount a trial, he said, adding that he presupposed that would Diab would receive a fair trial in France.

Diab maintains his innocence and says the evidence is based on a flawed handwriting analysis comparing his writing with that found on a Paris hotel registration card in 1980.

French intelligence says Diab had been a member of the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

He has become a Canadian citizen and lectured on sociology at two Ottawa universities before his arrest.

Canadian government lawyers arguing on behalf of France opposed letting Diab stay out on bail, saying that he had lived in six countries and was a flight risk.

The case is Attorney General of Canada (the Republic of France) v. Diab, 2011 ONSC 337.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; editing by Peter Galloway)

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Bank of Canada holds rates (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada warned on Tuesday that it would eventually have to lift borrowing costs if the economy continues expanding, introducing some hawkish language that caught many in the market off guard.

The statement by the central bank -- which kept its key interest rate unchanged at 1 percent -- drove the Canadian dollar and short-term bond yields higher as traders increased bets on rate hikes later this year.

"To the extent that the expansion continues and the current material excess supply in the economy is gradually absorbed, some of the considerable monetary policy stimulus currently in place will be eventually withdrawn, consistent with achieving the 2 percent inflation target. Such reduction would need to be carefully considered," the central bank said in a statement.

The markets interpreted "eventually" to mean not the next rate decision in July but rather September or -- even more likely -- October or December.

Previous statements had only said that any future hikes "would need to be carefully considered."

"It doesn't sound like the central bank is gearing up for a rate hike in July but the warning that rate hikes will eventually come suggests that we'll see a few hikes before the end of the year," said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld.

"Markets had priced out nearly all of the risks of a hike not only in July but September as well. I think the bank was uncomfortable with the market starting to assume that it was going to wait forever to begin hiking."

Overnight index swaps, which trade based on expectations for the key central bank policy rate, showed investors see less than a 5 percent chance of a rate hike in July.

But swaps traders did increase the probability that the central bank will tighten at some point after July. The central bank has scheduled policy announcements in September, October and December.

The central bank became the first in the Group of Seven advanced economies to tighten monetary policy following the global financial crisis, hiking three times from June-September last year but pausing since then due to the weak global recovery.

SUBTLE SHIFT IN LANGUAGE

The bank now sees underlying inflation as only "relatively subdued" rather than "subdued" as in previous statements, but it did not change its overall outlook for inflation.

"It's a subtle change. And I think that's the theme here. They certainly didn't bang us over the head with any obvious changes, but there were a few very subtle shifts in the language," said BMO Capital Markets deputy chief economist Doug Porter.

"I do think they are eventually preparing the ground for rate hikes, but there's very little here to suggest that the bank has had a big change of heart. It's likely to be some time yet before they start raising rates."

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has said in the past he does not want Canadian rates to diverge too far from U.S. rates, which are not likely to rise in the near future, but he also has to guard against overheating in Canada.

The bank statement repeated that the persistent strength of the Canadian dollar "could create even greater headwinds for the Canadian economy" and dampen inflation.

And temporary supply chain disruptions from Japan will sharply restrain growth in the second quarter. But it expects this to be unwound in subsequent quarters.

It said the U.S. economy continued to grow modestly and European growth was maintaining momentum, but risks to peripheral European economies had increased.

The Canadian dollar climbed as high as C$0.9653 to the U.S. currency, or $1.0359, up from C$0.9723 to the U.S. dollar, or $1.0285, immediately before the Bank of Canada statement. It was the Canadian dollar's strongest level since May 20.

Short-dated bond prices, which are most sensitive to the interest rate outlook, deepened losses after the Bank of Canada news.

(With additional reporting by Claire Sibonney, Ka Yan Ng and Solarina Ho in Toronto; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)

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Canada oil output cut as Alberta wildfires rage (Reuters)

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Canadian oil production cuts could more than double by Wednesday as companies move to protect employees and property from wildfires raging through northern Alberta and cope with the shutdown of a key pipeline.

Oil companies had shut in close to 50,000 barrels per day of production Tuesday because of wildfires in the Western Canadian province, one of the largest suppliers of crude to the United States. Further cuts are expected as big fields are closed in because they cannot ship their oil to market.

Spurred by warm temperatures and gusting winds, 100 wildfires are burning in Alberta, with 23 considered out of control in a fire season unlike any seen before.

"We are facing something largely unprecedented," Colin Lloyd, executive director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, told reporters. "The situation overall is very dangerous."

Almost 260,000 acres (1,050 sq km) have burned since the emergency began over the weekend, more than the province lost to fire in all of 2010, officials said.

The worst damage is concentrated in the Lesser Slave Lake region of northern Alberta, about 200 km (125 miles) north of the provincial capital of Edmonton. There, fires destroyed 40 percent of the town of Slave Lake on the weekend, forcing officials to evacuate most of the 10,000 residents of the oil, gas and forestry hub.

There have been no official estimates of the cost of the fire damage yet.

For oil producers operating in the rugged, heavily forested region of northern Alberta, fires are a common threat. But the infernos seen over the past few days are surprising even seasoned industry veterans.

"I would think probably every year the industry has an issue with forest fires," said John Langille, vice-chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, the country's biggest independent oil producer. "I don't think any have been this dramatic -- certainly none have burned a town down."

The fires forced the closure of the southern leg of Plains All American Pipeline LP's Rainbow pipeline Sunday, the key conduit for oil producers in the region, shutting in tens of thousands of barrels of production.

Canadian Natural is slowing output at its Pelican Lake heavy oil field in Alberta, ahead of an increasingly likely shutdown, due to Rainbow's closure.

The company is filling up storage tanks at the 40,000 barrel a day facility and those are nearing capacity, President Steve Laut told reporters. When they fill, the field will have to be shut in, adding to the tally of production cuts.

Fire is threatening more of the company's northern Alberta properties as well. It evacuated 1,300 workers Monday from camps near its Horizon oil sands project when a blaze got within 150 meters (500 feet) of one facility.

As well, properties producing 3,125 bpd of oil and 8 million cubic feet of gas that are threatened by fire have been closed down.

Cenovus Energy Inc said Tuesday it is scaling back production at its 22,000 bpd Pelican Lake heavy oil field because of the Rainbow shutdown. Now pumping oil into storage, output at the field is down to 16,000 bpd and will be reduced further. Unless the line reopens, production will have to stop once storage tanks fill.

"We may reduce production even more tonight but we still anticipate our storage may be full sometime tomorrow," Rhona DelFrari, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email.

Other producers that have suspended some operations include Penn West Petroleum Ltd, which has shut 25,000 to 30,000 barrels a day of oil production in north-central Alberta.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc also said Tuesday it has shut in its Cliffdale and Seal heavy oil properties in the Peace River region, which are served by the Rainbow line. The company did not detail how much those fields normally produce.

(Editing by Rob Wilson)

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