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UNESCO loses funding
After voting to grant full membership to Palestine, UNESCO has lost its funding from the United States.
UNESCO, or, United Nations education scientific and cultural organization receives a large part of its funding from the US.
The vote was passed with a strong majority with the notable exceptions of the US and Israel. The decision means this is the first UN agency Palestine has been recognized as a member in.
A 1990 law prohibits the American government from funding any UN member that recognizes Palestine. This means UNESCO will lose up to one fifth of its current operating budget.
UNESCO is best known for its world heritage sites. After the vote Palestinians are set to apply for world heritage status for sites such as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Unlike a general assembly vote, the UNESCO vote did not allow vetoes. Every member got one vote regardless of size or influence. The US has already threatened to use its veto power if Palestinians attempt to join the UN in November.
If the US refuses to make payments to UNESCO for two years they will lose their voting rights at the next general conference but still be a member.
Montreal vaccination campaing begins
Flu season is here and public health officials are reminding people to get their flu shots. The annual flu vaccination campaign begins today with the goal to get more Montrealers vaccinated.
One in six Montrealers are expected to contract the flu this season.
Infants between six and twenty-three months, adults over sixty, and those with a variety of illnesses are eligible for free shots. Pregnant women in their second and third trimester and those around newborn babies are also qualified for free shots.
Statistics show that the number of people getting the flu shot has dropped by fifty six percent. The amount of health care workers getting the flu shot has also dropped.
The Montreal Public Health Department is uniting with the CLSC and forty pharmacies to dispense the vaccine.
Quebec restaurants required to track sales
As of today, every restaurant in Quebec is required to have a machine that keeps track of sales. The machine is called a Sales Recording Module, and its purpose is to reduce tax evasion.
The provincial government estimates that around $150 million in sales goes unreported every year.
Restaurants that do not have the machine installed could face charges of up to $10,000. According to Quebec’s Restaurants Association, up to a third of the province’s restaurants still didn’t have the device installed earlier this month.
Association spokesperson Dominique Tremblay predicts that many restaurants will shut down in favour of tracking their sales.
Water warning in Montreal
A boil water advisory has been issued in LaSalle and Lachine. It will most likely will not be gone until Tuesday at the earliest.
Once the samples of water from both of these boroughs have been inspected, action will be taken.
City officials say that this problem is because of water treatment chemicals being used incorrectly at a treatment plant in LaSalle on Sunday.
Roughly 80, 000 people are affected by this advisory. This includes homes south of St. Patick, west of Dollard Avenue, as far south as 80th Avenue and east of Dollard Ave to Lapierre Street. The north of Newman Boulevard is also included in this warning.
If you have any questions or concerns call the city at 3-1-1.
October 31st 2011
Produced By Melissa Mulligan
Read By Sarah Deshaies
Articles By Audrey Folliot, Esther Viragh, Daniel J. Rowe, Sofia Gay
Snowstorm hits US East Coast
A snowstorm is passing through the US East Coast, killing at least nine people.
More than three million homes from Maryland to Massachusetts have lost electricity. Some houses may not have power for many days.
New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and other parts of New York have declared emergency states. The Connecticut governor says citizens would still feel the effects of the storm even after it stopped.
In New York, it was the fourth snowy October day in a 135 years.
Most Occupy Wall Street protesters stayed put.
Wal-Mart is taking over
Wal-Mart will be replacing the longstanding Zellers outlet in the Dorval shopping mall.
When they heard the news, some shoppers were thrilled while others weren’t as happy.
Some people defend the fact that Wal-Mart is a place where low-income families can buy low-cost products, but others think it crushes competitors.
Merchants from adjacent small stores fear they will lose sales and consider relocating their store when the Wal-Mart opens.
The Target retail chain bought most of the province’s Zellers, but the one at the Dorval Gardens is becoming a Wal-Mart.
In May, Target announced that it would take over nineteen Zellers in Quebec, and over a hundred and five in Canada.
Renovations are scheduled to start on January fourteenth.
The new Wal-Mart is set to open in the Spring of 2012.
Millions for Halloween
Quebecers will spend roughly $85-million on Halloween.
The Retail Council of Quebec commissioned a study. It found that over 25 per cent of Quebec households would shop for the holiday.
The CEO of the council said that after Christmas and back-to-school, Halloween is an important time of year for consumers.
Around $50 will be spent on costumes, $20 on decorations and $30 on candy in preparation for the event.
Poisoned soldier to go on hunger strike
A former Canadian soldier will begin a hunger strike this Friday in protest. Pascal Lacoste believes that he suffered Uranium poisoning while on duty in Bosnia in the 1990s.
He will protest outside the Minister of veteran's affairs office until he receives treatment.The 38-year-old claims that veteran's affairs has denied his requests for toxicology tests and decontamination treatments. He suffers from a degenerative neurological condition, infertility and chronic pain.
He has chose Friday because he expects his body to start to fail on Remembrance Day.
The Barr Brothers @ Cabaret La Tulipe
The colorfully lit stage at Cabaret La Tulipe was just as crowded as the venue itself. There were several uncommon instruments sitting on it, including a harp, a hand-made electric tackle box guitar and its accompanying string bow. The venue was filled with faces ranging from the young to the quite old, all of whom were seemingly excited to be in attendance. This concert marked the second release of The Barr Brothers' self-titled debut album. “You know those Indian restaurants near Jean-Talon that keep their grand opening sign up for more than a year?” he quipped, “They were our inspiration.”
The band consists of Andrew Barr (drums and guitar), Andrés Vial (keyboards and bass instruments), Sarah Pagé (harp) and Brad Barr (guitar and everything else). Brad and Andrew grew up in Rhode Island and spent a decade in Boston prior to their move to Canada. In Boston, they also played with Marc Friedman as part of an avant-garde jazz trio called The Slip, which still currently plays shows there periodically. Following his newly engaged brother Andrew, Brad officially relocated to Montreal in 2004. Pagé was Brad’s neighbour; she was added to the group after they became familiar with each other’s music through connecting walls and eventually started playing together. The acoustics of the harp were a notable addition to the otherwise predominantly folk and blues aesthetic of the music and added an airy quality to the gentle string plucking and poetic lyrics.
The Barr Brothers’ set largely consisted of tracks from their re-released album, with a few pieces of newer, more up-beat material towards the show’s end. Despite the soothing mood imparted by the band’s instruments, the crowd was lively and engaged; they cheered, clapped and laughed loudly along with the band. The floor was packed with throngs of fans eager to dance as much as was socially passable within such a genre. “Mon francais n’est pas très bien,” Brad added later, “How do you say ‘you guys blew our minds tonight’ in French?”
It is safe to say that the feeling was mutual. Their set lasted just over an hour and a half, with the band returning for an encore performance beckoned by the audience’s deafening applause. Their album, The Barr Brothers, was officially released on September 27th on Secret City Records.
-Maryana K
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