Alberta spending $4B to reduce emissions with public transit, CO2 storage

CALGARY — Alberta will spend $4 billion over the next decade on green projects, including public transit and storage of carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.

A new $2 billion fund is being created for public transit projects across Alberta, which Premier Ed Stelmach says will also reduce emissions because it will mean fewer vehicles on the road.

Another $2 billion will be used to finance several major projects to capture carbon dioxide for permanent underground storage.

“The money comes from what we expect will be a larger surplus this year than forecasted,” the premier announced Tuesday.

“It’s being invested for the future in a way that will help Alberta take meaningful action on climate change without endangering jobs, the economy or our ability to support public services.”

Alberta has been under growing pressure across North America and around the world to reduce emissions from the oilsands, which some environmental groups describe as a dirty source of energy.

Apple to Rogers on iPhone: you’re on your own

Apple Inc. will not be selling the hotly awaited iPhone in its six Canadian stores when it is released this Friday, leaving Rogers Communications Inc. and its Fido subsidiary to sell the device on their own.

“The iPhone 3G will be available in Canada from Rogers and Fido,” said Simon Atkins, spokesperson for Apple. He declined to elaborate.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company broke the news during a private conference call on Monday evening, according to AppleInsider.com. The website said Apple was “disgusted” with the rates Rogers is charging on the iPhone, which has prompted nearly 50,000 people to join a protest at ruinediphone.com. An Apple store manager last week confirmed to CBCNews.ca that staff were “very disappointed” by the cellphone company’s rates and that Apple was keeping a tally of complaints.

Representatives at two Apple stores on Tuesday said the decision to yank the phones was made because Rogers has many more outlets and that the carrier is better suited to handle the multiple plans it is offering.

Linda Hogan Still Wants Hulk in Jail; Wrestler’s Camp Calls Her "Greedy, Delusional"

As far as Linda Hogan is concerned, if her hubby’s unwilling to spend his millions on this Las Vegas condominium, he can save his pennies for the jail canteen.

Hulk Hogan’s soon-to-be ex-wife was back in court today to press her argument that the former wrestling star should be held in contempt of court for failing to close the deal on a $4.3 million condo they had been planning to buy.

Make him comply, Hogan (who’s legal last name is Bollea) said, or else lock him up.

“We asked the judge to either force him to close and if he won’t, to put him in jail,” Linda’s lawyer, A.J. Barranco, exclusively told E! News Tuesday.

The former Hogan Knows Best matriarch first filed her grievance in Pinellas County Family Court in early June.

But one of her estranged husband’s attorneys, David Houston, agrees with his client (whose real name is Terry Bollea) that now isn’t the best time to be rushing into a big-ticket purchase.

PEN gives China failing grade for free expression

Media freedom organization PEN is giving China a failing grade on free expression one month before the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Conditions for both international and Chinese journalists have deteriorated between December 2007 and June 2008, according to a report released Tuesday by PEN Canada, the PEN American Centre, and the Independent Chinese PEN Centre.

“There were very specific promises that were made by the Chinese government when they were awarded the Olympics in 2001,” Marion Botsford Fraser, a representative of PEN Canada, told CBC News in an interview.

“They made very clear promises to improve human rights for their own citizens and also not to limit media coverage in the time leading up to the games and during the games.”

But in the months leading up to the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8, China has cracked down heavily on free expression over the internet, she said.