The Bank of America is in the process of buying the largest mortgage lender, but a great deal of value will be lost for Countrywide Financial shareholders.

“US banking giant, Bank of America, is to take over the country’s biggest mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial, in a $4bn (£2.04bn) deal.

Analysts said the deal was a lifeline for Countrywide, which was rumoured to be close to bankruptcy.

The firm - a key participant in the sub-prime sector - had been hit by the severe downturn in the housing market.

Countrywide saw a 44% drop in home loan volumes in December and its highest level of foreclosures since 2002.”

Read the article for complete details.

Imagine yourself living your whole childhood not knowing you have a twin. Now picture yourself happier than ever and getting married.How would you react if, long after getting hitched, you realize that your significant other is actually your long lost twin?

This is exactly what happened to this couple..er, pair of twins…

“A pair of twins who were adopted by separate families as babies got married without knowing they were brother and sister, a peer told the House of Lords.

A court annulled the British couple’s union after they discovered their true relationship, Lord Alton said.

The peer - who heard of the case from a judge who was involved - said the twins felt an “inevitable attraction”.

He said the case showed how important it was for children to be able to find out about their biological parents.

Details of the identities of the twins involved have been kept secret, but Lord Alton said the pair did not realise they were related until after their marriage.”

Read the article for all the details.

The freedom Internet users are given to voice their opinions, post any images or videos they wish and belong to various online communities, is proof, yet again, that laws should be revised regarding its use.

Facebook is confronted with an issue, and not for the first time either. Pictures identifying the three people involved (the two murders and the victim) are being posted, whereas the public announcement of their identities is illegal for media outlets.

“Toronto police say the use of a Facebook web site in the Stefanie Rengel case highlights the futility of imposing publication bans and that something needs to be done to update the law. Under restrictions imposed by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, media outlets were banned from identifying either the victim or two teenagers accused in the girl’s death.

Despite the ban, all three identities, including pictures, are being freely posted on Facebook, which is against the law.

Police and legal experts are concerned that those actions might affect the right to a fair trial for a teenaged boy and girl charged in Rengel’s death.

The 14-year-old died New Year’s Day in hospital of stab wounds after being found bleeding on the sidewalk near O’Connor Drive and St. Clair Avenue by a passerby. Mark Pugash, spokesman for the Toronto Police Service, says the Rengel case is a perfect example of how Facebook can often interfere with the rule of law.“

Read the article for complete details.

Just when my hopes of hearing another Oasis album began to be let down, I stumbled across this fantastic update…

“The singer of the group Oasis confirmed that the recording of the album is going well, and is the first project in three years for the group will be released in August 2008.”

Read the article for full details.

Residents who have lost their homes after a recent wave of wildfires in Southern California can rest assured as many measures are being taken as a mean to assist them durng this difficult time.

“The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today announced several relief measures for the victims of wildfires in seven Southern California Counties.

The FTB will allow victims to receive additional tax refunds this year by immediately reporting their disaster losses through amended 2006 returns. In addition, the FTB has temporarily suspended mailing billing notices in the seven Southern California counties affected by wildfires. ”

Read the complete article for details.

Need I say more?

“TORONTO - The Canadian dollar closed above parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time since late November, 1976, on Friday, rising 0.66 cent to 100.52 cents US after rising as high as 100.88 cents US.

The dollar hit parity on an intraday basis Sept. 20 for the first time in almost 31 years because of higher commodity prices, especially oil, strong Canadian economic performance and “number one I think that the prime catalyst has been the broad based weakness in the U.S. dollar,” said George Davis, senior technical analyst at RBC Capital Markets.”

Read the article for full drama details.

Having an alibi is one thing when an individual is being placed under trial, but claiming to have been attacking UFOs (as Allison Norman has) as a mean to justify a shooting spree is beyond any form of defense I have ever heard.

It has been uncovered that Norman had seen an episode of “The X-Files” prior to the event and had been a heavy drug user.

“GEORGETOWN, Del. - A man who claimed he thought he was attacking space aliens during a two-state shooting rampage that left two people dead was sentenced to death Friday.Superior Court Judge T. Henley Graves followed a jury’s unanimous recommendation in sentencing Allison Lamont Norman to death.Norman’s death sentence is subject to automatic appeal, and executions in Delaware are on hold during legal challenges that claim lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Norman, 25, was convicted in June of first-degree murder in the death of Jamell Weston, 24, of Laurel, in the April 2005 rampage that stretched from Laurel to Salisbury, Md.”

Read more at NewsDay.com

Taiwan and China have been debating about the road to be taken by the 2008 Olympic Torch for five months, due to an argument about whether or not Taiwan is in actuality, property of China. 

Alas, the Olympic International Committee has announced the fate of the torch’s route for the following year - it will not, in fact, be passing through what China calls, “Chinese Taipei.”

“ TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - The International Olympic Committee said Friday that negotiations between Taiwan and China on the torch relay route for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games are at a dead end, and the torch will not be coming to Taiwan. The announcement ends a five-month saga that began when Taiwan turned down a proposal by the Beijing Organizing Committee to place the island next to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong on the prestigious relay route.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing claims the island as its own, and works hard to deny it any trappings of sovereignty.

The Taiwanese government of President Chen Shui-bian tries just as hard to emphasize its separateness, and makes no secret of its eventual goal of formal independence.

In rejecting the torch route, Taiwan officials said the Taiwan-Hong Kong contiguity made the island appear to be a part of China, despite their separate status. It said it would only participate when China stopped “downgrad(ing) Taiwanese sovereignty.” “

Read the complete article for all details.

“Gangster” rapper, Snoop Dogg, has pleaded guilty on the charge of…well, just read the following and then take a look at the original article (link below).

“LOS ANGELES — Snoop Dogg pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of felony possession of a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 160 hours of community service and three years probation, his attorney said.

Snoop Dogg, 35, was arrested in September 2006 after the discovery of a collapsible baton in his computer bag at John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

Authorities said it was a dangerous weapon. He said it was a prop for a video he was filming in New York.

His attorney, Donald Etra, said the felony conviction would be reduced to a misdemeanor after one year if Snoop Dogg does not violate the law.”

Read the article for full details.

With his smooth and charming voice, and well-crafted music, singer/performer Michael Bubble has won over females of all ages and backgrounds - preteens, young wives and even the elderly.

Yet Bubble admits that despite the great amount of success he has achieved, he is trying to compensate for his insecurity when he is off-stage by setting his goals higher - he wants to be the biggest and best entertainer in the world.

“ VANCOUVER - Superstar crooner Michael Bubble says he wants to be the greatest entertainer on Earth and that he also has acting aspirations. But off stage, Bubble confided he’s not quite as confident. “I’m still shy and nervous and insecure,” he told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday. He had just announced his Canadian tour dates Thursday surrounded by the luxury of billionaire Jimmy Pattison’s yacht.

“I keep wondering when it’ll happen, and I don’t mean on stage because on stage I’m great but in my life, I keep wondering when I’ll walk into a room and not hunch and for when I won’t be insecure and for when I won’t be too loud to overcompensate for my insecurities,” he said.

“I don’t know, it’s weird,” Bubble said.

“I look in the mirror and no matter what, I still see the 14-year-old kid. Maybe it’s part of why people have been attracted to me as a performer. God gave me a real gift and that was to turn off the self -conscious switch on stage and honestly, I could be naked up there.”

Bubble, 32, said people are shocked when they see his off-stage personality and that even his girlfriend, actress Emily Blunt, couldn’t believe the difference in his demeanour.”

Is he still as charming to you, ladies? Leave a comment with your opinion and view on this.

Read the full article for details.

Toronto’s CN Tower is no longer the tallest building in the world. The title has been snatched away by the Burj Dubai at 555 meters, which continues to be under construction with a goal to reach approximately 800 meters in height.

“The CN Tower’s 31-year run as the planet’s tallest free-standing structure is finally over.

The Burj Dubai - a fast-rising skyscraper in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates - has officially surpassed Toronto’s famous 553-metre landmark on its way to an expected final height of some 800 metres.

“The Burj Dubai tower has now reached 555.3 metres, and also scaled 150 livable levels, the largest number of storeys for any building in the world,” the project’s developer, Emaar Properties, announced Thursday.

“This architectural and construction masterpiece is truly an inspirational human achievement that celebrates the can-do mindset of Dubai,” added Emaar’s chairman Mohamed Alabbar. “Burj Dubai is setting new world records in construction of super-tall buildings, and the accomplishment of being the world’s tallest free-standing structure is another defining moment for the multinational team of over 5,000 people who are using their collective intelligence to make this iconic structure a symbol of human achievement.”

Earlier this year, the $1-billion vertical megaproject on the Persian Gulf shore topped the 508-metre Taipei 101 office tower, previously the world’s tallest building.”

Read the article for full details about the new world-record.

Hopefully the headline has already given you information about the potentially strong and positive movement to come in the near future.

“Guyana was among 143 UN member states which voted in favour of adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday.

Contacted on Guyana’s voting, Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabeth Harper said Guyana voted in favour of the declaration, which had the backing of other Caricom countries.

Two non-governmental organizations with large indigenous peoples membership - the Amerindian People’s Association (APA) and the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) - had called on the government to support the declaration on the occasion of World Indigenous People’s Day observed on August 9.”

Read the full article about this developing story.

It seems that the safety of Toronto’s streets and high schools these days are becoming of  great concern to residents, who continue to receive unfortunate news of teenage deaths caused by other teenages, near their residential areas.

This school has seen several incidents occur in the recent past and based on the report, students tend to carry pocket knives, yet there are no metal detectors anywhere on the campus. Thoughts or comments, anyone?

“TORONTO - A teenage boy was stabbed to death outside his Scarborough high school yesterday, causing some to again question the safety of Toronto students.

Police said the 16-year-old was in a laneway that leads to Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute, on Lawrence Avenue near Kennedy Road, when he was attacked by an unknown number of people around noon.

“We came around the corner and he was lying on his stomach,” said Michelle, a 16-year-old who was meeting friends for lunch. “There was a guy beside him and he was saying call an ambulance.”

The boy, whose name was not immediately released, died at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He had recently transferred to Winston Churchill from Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, after his family moved into the area.Police said there is no evidence the stabbing was gang-related. “But obviously that’s something we always have to stay open to,” said Detective Sergeant Gary Grinton, with the homicide squad.

Student Ushman Khan said he knew the victim and believes he was Tamil.”

Read the article for complete details.

A strong earthquake of a magnitude of 8.4 struck Indonesia earlier today, leaving two dead and 11 injured.

Two tsunami warnings were issued soon thereafter.

“JAKARTA - Two people died and 11 were injured in an 8.4 magnitude earthquake which struck Indonesia’s Sumatra region on Wednesday, triggering tsunami warnings in the Indian Ocean, an Indonesian government official said.

The earthquake also caused extensive damage to buildings along Sumatra’s coast, according to Adam Malik of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Office.

Indonesia issued two tsunami warnings, one after the first quake, and the second after a smaller tremor a few hours later in the same area.”

Read the complete article for further details.

…to climb a mountain together (the Katahdin, to be precise). This one is beyond me.

Who wants to join in on mountain climbing as a mean to sustain and further develop their regions? Maybe we should all tag along! (Please note the sarcasm here).

“FREDERICTON (CP) - The premier of New Brunswick and the governor of Maine have issued each other a challenge that promises to see them reach a new peak in their political careers.

Premier Shawn Graham and Gov. John Baldacci have agreed to climb the highest mountain peaks in Maine and New Brunswick, together, next summer.

Both men are active promoters of fitness, and earlier this summer Baldacci became the first Maine governor to climb Mount Katahdin in more than 40 years.”

Read the complete article for details.