Canada Education System Better than US and Europe

When there are debates about the world's top performing education systems, the names that usually get mentioned are the Asian powerhouses such as Singapore and South Korea or the Nordic know-alls, such as Finland or Norway.

But with much less recognition, Canada has climbed into the top tier of international rankings.

In the most recent round of international Pisa tests, Canada was one of a handful of countries to appear in the top 10 for maths, science and reading.

The tests, run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), are a major study of educational performance and show Canada's teenagers as among the best educated in the world.

They are far ahead of geographical neighbours such as the US and European countries with strong cultural ties like the UK and France.

At university level, Canada has the world's highest proportion of working-age adults who have been through higher education - 55% compared with an average in OECD countries of 35%.

Belgium Reached Deal to Back the Free Trade Pact Between the European Union and Canada

 A landmark free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada could be signed within days after the Belgian government overcame an impasse with its regional authorities on Thursday.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his national government had reached a deal with the holdout region of Wallonia. The region held a veto over the country’s ability to back the trans-Atlantic trade agreement. And the EU, in turn, needed unanimity among all its members.

The deal will go through regional legislatures by Friday night.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been due to travel to Brussels on Thursday to sign the deal, but those plans were effectively scrapped as the negotiations with Wallonia dragged on.

Conservative Theresa May officially sworn in as UK's second female Prime Minster by the Queen

Theresa May has been officially sworn in as Britain's new Prime Minister this evening after meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace. She becomes Britain's second female premier, following in the footsteps of fellow Tory, Margaret Thatcher. As is traditional for new Prime Ministers, she was also clapped in to Downing Street by staff and aides. More photos after the cut...

Speaking outside Number 10 after being officially appointed, the new Prime Minister, 59, promised to build a better Britain that works for more than the "privileged few" as she arrived at her new Downing Street home.

"The Government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives." she said.

First Nations Languages Studied By Zurich University

Three indigenous languages still spoken within Canada are part of a global project on mother tongues. (CBC)

Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press
Three indigenous languages still spoken in Canada are among a group being studied as researchers attempt to understand how children around the world learn their vastly different mother tongues.

The global project — spearheaded by the University of Zurich — is looking at Dene, East Cree, and Inuktitut among 10 languages.

Researchers already know that children have little problem learning to speak their native language. What's not well understood is exactly how this happens.

"We're trying to get a real sense of how children can acquire or learn any language in the world," Dagmar Jung, a senior researcher from the University of Zurich, said in an interview.

"It's a miracle that any child can actually learn any language it's exposed to when it's young.

Atlast! French terrorists killed in twin hostage standoffs in Paris

Brothers Cherif (inset top left) and Said Kouachi (inset bottom left), who attacked & killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday Jan. 7th have been killed by French police in a bloody standoff.

A third guy, Amedy Coulibaly (inset right), who was working with the brothers and killed a female police officer, was also killed by French police. Amedy is reported to have killed four people at the kosher grocery store (right) where he had been hiding with his girlfriend who was not caught. Full story after the cut...

Gunmen Murder 12 in Shooting at Paris Satirical Newspaper

Masked gunmen wielding Kalashnikovs and a rocket launcher killed at least 12 people and injured 10 more at the Paris offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday before escaping. French president François Hollande called the shooting "unquestionably a terrorist attack."

Two of the dead are policemen; the French cartoonists Cabu, Tignous, Wolinski, and Charb (the magazine's publisher) are all reported dead. A policeman at the scene of the shooting told reporters "it's carnage."

Max Read, Gawker

Germany Police Hunt Stolen Pigeon Worth $184,000

Police in Germany are looking for a missing pigeon, and any finder could be in line for a 10,000-euro ($12,250) reward. Duesseldorf police said Tuesday that the 6-year-old male homing pigeon, named AS 969, was stolen at some point on Saturday night from a locked aviary in the city's suburbs.

They say the light gray bird is valued by its owner at 150,000 euros ($184,000) and police suspect the thief or thieves were "connoisseurs" as it was the most valuable in an aviary full of other homing pigeons.

The owner offered a 10,000-euro reward for the bird's recovery.

Ukraine cuts electricity power supply to Crimea

Ukraine briefly severed electricity to the Crimean peninsula, nine months after it was annexed by Russia, in a pointed reminder of the territory’s reliance on Ukrainian energy sources, New York Times reports.

The electricity shut-off came as Moscow threatened a greater rift with the West if Ukraine attempted to make good on its intention to join NATO.

The Russian deputy defense minister, Anatoly Antonov condemned the decision on Tuesday by the Ukrainian Parliament to abandon Ukraine’s nonaligned status and declared that NATO was attempting to use Ukraine as a “forward line for confronting Russia.”

Ukraine’s ambitions to join the Western military alliance have been presented as a direct military threat to Russia by President Vladimir Putin and top security officials.

First case of Ebola recorded in Scotland

The first case of Ebola virus has been recorded in Scotland. According to the Scottish government, the Ebola patient is a health worker who arrived Scotland from Sierra Leone today December 29th where she was helping to care for Ebola victims.

She arrived Glasgow in Scotland from London Heathrow airport on a British Airways flight. All passengers on-board the flight are now being traced for examination. Meanwhile the woman has been quarantined at the Gartnavel hospital.

Rescue Operation To Save Almost 500 People Onboard Burning Ferry‏ Off Greece

DION DASSANAYAKE | EXPRESS
A RESCUE operation has been launched today to save almost 500 people onboard a ferry that caught on fire midway through its journey.

The blaze broke out this morning onboard the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic which was travelling from Greece's Patras port to Ancona in Italy.

Some 478 passengers along with crew members are onboard the ferry which caught fire in gale-force winds near the Greek island of Corfu.

An evacuation of the boat is currently underway and as many as 130 people had reportedly been rescued but that was no confirmed by Greek officials.

Europe top court admits obesity constitutes disability

Europe’s top court has ruled that obese people can be considered as disabled, meaning that they can be covered by a European Union law barring discrimination at work, Al Jazeera reports.

The decision on Thursday followed a question from a Danish court, which was reviewing a complaint of unfair dismissal brought by Karsten Kaltoft, a child-minder, against a Danish local authority.

Kaltoft, who never weighed less than 160 kilogrammes (352 pounds) during his employment, argued that his obesity was one of the reasons he lost his job and that this amounted to unlawful discrimination, an allegation the council denied.

The Court of Justice of the European Union was asked to rule on whether EU law forbids discrimination on the grounds of obesity or whether obesity could be considered a disability.

Milan police forced to remove an underwear billboard because is too distracting for drivers

SARA MALM | MAILONLINE
The advertisements featuring Argentinian-born model and presenter Belén Rodríguez will be taken down after residents complained that they were jeopardizing road safety in central Milan.

One of the billboards show the 30-year-old seemingly removing her underwear and another sees posing seductively on a bed.

Shortly after the billboards advertising an Italian underwear brand went up, residents began complaining that they were 'a serious danger for vehicular circulation'.

A local residents committee referred the road safety complaints to police and authorities are now set to tear down both the billboards.

Ms Rodriguez herself said the campaign was 'sensual, but elegant', and denied that the images, which are several storeys high, would cause crashes, The Times reports.

Thousands protest election results in Poland

Thousands of supporters of the main opposition party, the conservative Law and Justice, gather at the Three Crosses square in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. Alik Keplicz/AP 

Vanessa GeraThe Associated Press
Thousands of supporters of a conservative opposition party in Poland marched on Saturday to protest the results of recent local elections, which party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski says were falsified.

The November elections were marred by problems, with a computer glitch delaying results and many ballots declared invalid because voters apparently were confused and marked them incorrectly.

However, there is no indication they were falsified. Kaczynski’s critics accuse him of making false claims about the election outcome to motivate his base ahead of national elections next year.

His supporters marched in Warsaw under the slogan “in the support of democracy,” chanting “repeat the elections.”

Europe Praises Dutch And UK Response to Bird Flu Outbreaks

The European Commission on Monday said the Netherlands and Britain have taken sufficient steps to curb recent outbreaks of bird flu in poultry farms.

According to officials, the strain is different from the H5N1 virus that is deadly to humans.

However, World Health Organisation said it has killed almost 400 people globally since 2003, while most cases have been recorded in Asia.

According to the country’s Economy Ministry, Dutch authorities detected the H5N8 strain of bird flu at the weekend in a poultry farm near the city of Gouda of The Hague.

The European Commission, which must be notified of such outbreaks, said that all 150,000 egg-laying chickens at the farm have been killed, while the Netherlands has imposed a three-day transport ban on live poultry, eggs and other poultry products.

According to commission spokesman, Enrico Brivio, the European Union’s executive was also informed of an outbreak at a duck farm in the British region of Yorkshire.

OMG! Man survives being speared by 15-inch piece of wood

How come? The medical staff at a Polish Emergency ward were surprised when 40 year old Kamil Podwinski calmly walked into their medical centre with a 15inch piece of wood stuck right through his head.

According to New York Post, Mr Podwinski was renovating his home in Konin Poland when the freak accident happened. He reportedly told the nurses he was working when he slipped and fell face first onto a sharp piece of wood. The wood entered his face just below his eye socket and came out through the back of his neck. And he survived. He actually took himself to the hospital.

At the hospital, the staff had to call the fire service department because they'd never dealt with something like that before and were scared they might cause more injury trying to remove the piece of wood out of the man. The fire service arrived the hospital and helped the medical team remove the wood without causing further damage.

The incident has since been described as a miracle as the man who was calm through out the ordeal, didn't suffer serious injuries and is recovering in the hospital.

Paris Hilton Wins Female DJ Of The Year

Ashley Burns | Uproxx

Who would have ever thought that with the way her TV career fizzled out and the phone stopped ringing with movie roles after 2010’s The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation (real movie), Paris Hilton would still be relevant in 2014? It turns out that people who run nightclubs all over the world have a ton of money to spend, and paying six or even seven figures to a famous socialite who owns a laptop seems to be really good for business. After all, once Hilton proclaimed herself one of the “Top 5 DJs in the world,” she was reportedly earning millions for a weekend’s work of pressing play and letting the beat… not yet… drop. All that and she still had time to make horrible music videos for her original songs.

Hilton’s emergence in the DJ profession wasn’t exactly met with cheers and support from her so-called peers, as just last month, Deadmau5 wrote that Hilton is “straight up ass” and should “get the f*ck back in your go kart,” referring to the way she “encroached” on the EDM scene.

First Europe spacecraft lands on comet

Celebrating scientists in the main control room appear on a video screen at the European Space Agency after the first unmanned spacecraft Philae landed on a comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in Darmstadt, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014. Europe's Rosetta space probe was launched in 2004 with the aim of studying the comet and learning more about the origins of the universe. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

 | FRANK JORDANS

Landing with a bounce after traveling 4 billion miles, a European spacecraft made history Wednesday by successfully reaching the icy, dusty surface of a speeding comet - a cosmic first designed to answer big questions about the universe.

The landing by the washing machine-sized craft after a decade-long journey required immense precision, as even the slightest error could have resulted in stellar calamity.

Indications were that the spacecraft touched down almost perfectly, save for an unplanned bounce, said Stephan Ulamec, head of the lander operation.

"Today we didn't just land once. We maybe even landed twice," he said with a chuckle.

Ulamec said thrusters that were meant to push the lander, called Philae, onto the surface, and harpoons that would have anchored it to the comet failed to deploy properly. Initial data from the spacecraft indicated that it lifted off again, turned and then came to rest.

Europe | Germany kills 31,000 turkeys to curb bird flu

Vets gas 31,000 turkeys to stop flu spread

Some 31,000 turkeys were set to be slaughtered on Thursday after a dangerous strain of bird flu was discovered in north-eastern Germany, NAN reports.

Turkeys being fattened at a farm in Heinrichswalde, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, were found to have the highly pathogenic virus H5N8, marking the first time cases of the flu have occurred in Europe.

Several birds started to display symptoms at the weekend, with the number of sick animals increasing dramatically over the past three days.

The German veterinary research institute FLI has confirmed that the animals were suffering from H5N8, a strain that had mainly hit South Korea in the past and would oversee their slaughter by gas, and their subsequent disposal.

Nicki Minaj 8 Different Outfits At 2014 MTV EMAs

 

Which was your favourite Nicki Minaj outfit at the EMAs? Nicki Minaj hosted the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards yesterday in Glasgow and made 8 outfit changes.

More pics when you continue...

Oops! Belgian chocolate brand ISIS forced to change its name because of terror group

Belgian chocolate brand 'ISIS’ has announced it will be rebranding itself as ‘Libeert’ due to sharp fall in sales brought on by its name association with the Islamist terror group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

The company which was founded as ‘Italo Suisse’ in 1923, changed name to ISIS in 2013 because the chocolatier was no longer associated with either Italy or Switzerland. Now, they have to change their name again for a name association that is unquestionably much worse, with the rise of the terror group causing sales to drop. The company is not the first organization to have re-branded themselves because of the terror group.