Toronto hosts North America’s first sports film festival

The crossroads of social change may lie where the sports world and the real world intersect.

A unique and ambitious and unique four-day film festival kicks off at three theatres in Toronto Wednesday, North America’s first sports film festival, with a series of subjects that use the backdrop of athletics to examine subjects as diverse as discrimination against Aboriginals in Canada to blacks in hockey to wild wrestling matches among Bolivian women.

The festival of 50 films from 12 countries is the brainchild of University of Toronto instructor Russell Field who holds a doctorate in the socio-cultural study of sport and physical activity.

“The festival is a forum for artists, academics, and activists to exchange ideas,” Field says. The proceeds from the not-for-profit venture will be put towards hosting filmmakers from throughout the developing world making sure the festival’s films receive a wide audience.

Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope blasts off

SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft Corp. launched its WorldWide Telescope late Monday, bringing the free Web-based program for zooming around the universe to a broad audience.

WorldWide Telescope, developed by Microsoft’s research arm, knits together images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and others.

Computer users can browse through the galaxy on their own or take guided tours of different outer-space destinations developed by astronomers and academics.

The site lets users choose from a number of different telescopes and switch between different light wavelengths.

Great Lakes monitoring groups announce new rules to stop invasive species

MONTREAL – It is the aquatic lifeblood of our continent, the world’s largest freshwater circulatory system, stretching 3,700 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean into the Great Lakes and the heart of North America. And it is also very vulnerable to infection.

Scientists worry the foreign invaders that breed there will migrate throughout the continent, as many already have, threatening our ecology, natural resources, economy and even our health.

Ocean-going behemoths use the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system to bring in iron ore, coal, heavy machinery, salt and stones from ports worldwide to feed our industrial and agricultural maws.

WestJet introduces fuel surcharge on all flights

WestJet will begin adding fuel surcharges to all flights starting Tuesday, the company has announced.

The Calgary based airline says the surcharges will raise ticket prices by $20 for short-haul flights, $30 for medium range flights and $45 for long-haul flights.

“This is not a decision we have taken lightly. All Canadians have felt the impact of rising fuel prices and the airline industry is no exception,” WestJet Executive Vice-President, Bob Cummings, said in a press release Monday.

“We held off as long as economically possible but with the unrelenting and unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel over the last year, we are implementing this measure to offset the effect.”

UPDATE 1-MDA posts higher profit despite stronger C$

TORONTO, May 12 (Reuters) – Data-processing and space technology firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a higher first-quarter profit on Monday, even as a stronger Canadian dollar ate into the company’s results.

The company, which recently saw the planned sale of its space robotics and satellite technology business blocked by the Canadian government, said it earned C$26.1 million ($26.1 million), or 64 Canadian cents per share, in the three months ended March. 31.

That was better than the profit of C$21.3 million, or 49 Canadian cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

Jury selection to start in R. Kelly’s trial

CHICAGO — Attorneys in R&B superstar R. Kelly’s child pornography trial are expected to begin questioning 150 potential jurors on Monday and it’s unlikely any of his fans will be chosen to hear the allegations against one of urban music’s biggest stars.

The 41-year-old hitmaker, known for sexually charged hits like “Bump N’ Grind,” has pleaded not guilty to charges that he videotaped himself having sex with a girl as young as 13.

The selection of the 16 jurors, four of them alternates, will be key for both prosecutors and defence attorneys, said Steve Cron, a defence lawyer from Santa Monica, Calif., who has practised for 35 years.

“In a case where a celebrity has good and bad public images, it’s critical,” said Cron, who has no link to the Kelly case.

It’s unlikely the defence could pack the jury with R. Kelly fans, because “the prosecution should be successful in excluding them,” he said.