Surprise, it’s a Hyundai

Another big improvement is the suspension calibration, particularly in the base model. In its previous guise, the V6 handled admirably, but the four-banger’s suspension seemed under-damped and too softly sprung. Hyundai obviously meant for the four-banger to have a more comfortable, cossetting ride, but it just succeeded in making the base model’s chassis feel sloppier.

While the upscale six feels roughly the same, the four’s dampers have been substantially upgraded, with even the $21,995 GL I4 feeling stable and competent on a twisty road. As well, Hyundai is now offering both models with an upgraded sport suspension. While it transforms neither the four nor the six into a BMW, so equipped, the Sonata can now be called sporty, something the previous generation could never be accused of.

Nonetheless, the 2009’s biggest improvement is inside the cabin. Its decor and build quality are superior to the Camry’s and Altima’s, and it is now almost equal to the Honda Accord’s. The dashboard material, for instance, feels soft, the gauges are chrome-trimmed and the centre stack is much better organized. Compared with the Camry and Altima, the Sonata’s interior is – wait for it – elegant.

Canada auction aims to reshape wireless market

By Louise Egan

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s government launched an auction of wireless spectrum on Tuesday that it hopes will bolster competition and lower prices by allowing new players to break into the cellular phone market.

In a process that Industry Minister Jim Prentice estimates could take up to a month to complete, 24 companies can bid electronically on 292 licenses for chunks of wireless airwaves in different geographical regions across the country.

Of the 105 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum to be auctioned, 40 MHz will be set aside for new players.

China evacuates villagers after new flood threat

MIANYANG, China (AP) — Nearly 160,000 people have been evacuated downstream from an unstable earthquake-created dam that is threatening to collapse, and troops rushed to carve a trench to drain the water before it floods the valley.

The threat of flooding comes even as quake aftershocks continue to hit the region. Two temblors Tuesday collapsed hundreds of thousands of homes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Dozens of villages were emptied, the official China Daily said Wednesday. It quoted Premier Wen Jiabao as telling a meeting of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, that handling the danger from the swelling lakes was the “most pressing task” right now.

The newspaper said 158,000 people had been evacuated in case the newly formed Tangjiashan lake bursts before soldiers and engineers can drain off water from it.

Dozens of lakes have been swelling behind walls of mud and rubble that have plugged narrow valleys in parts of the disaster zone, adding a new worry for millions of survivors.

President says CBC ‘could have done better’ with songwriters gala

CBC president Hubert Lacroix was grilled by federal MPs on Tuesday over the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame broadcast this spring that did not include prominent francophone artists.

In a presentation to the House of Commons language committee, Lacroix admitted the public broadcaster “could have done a better job under the circumstances.”

The 44-minute broadcast of the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala provoked anger in Quebec because it cut out Quebec singer Claude Dubois’s performance and acceptance speech.

“This has raised awareness of what we should do to be more sensitive on this issue,” Lacroix said.

Cutting of the francophone performer “doesn’t help in promoting understanding between cultures,” said New Democrat MP Yvon Godin.

He pressed Lacroix over remarks made by Richard Stursberg that the gala broadcast had been cut to appeal to anglophone viewers.