News

News read and produced by Erica Fisher.

WHALE interviews by Joel Balsam.

Stories written by Joel Balsam, Dominique Daoust, Aisha Samu and Sofia Gay.

CSU representatives and members of Free Education Montreal couldn’t be too unhappy about this year’s Valentines Day. The highly anticipated Wintery Hot Accessible Love-in for Education, also known as WHALE passed with flying colours. 

Commuters to the West Island will be looking at their own rail line soon. The Quebec government says it will go forward with the $600 million project.

Engineering studies are set to begin on Monday morning. They will take 18 months to complete and will cost $22 million.

Currently, commuter trains have to share rail space with freight trains, which causes delays for commuters.

News read by Sofia Gay and produced by Erica Fisher.

Stories written by Corentine Rivoire, Sarah El Fangary, Marcin Wisniewski and Chris Hanna.

Montreal’s own Arcade Fire took home the Grammy for Album of the Year for The Suburbs. It was the band’s only win of the night. Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs beat out albums by Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga. Eminem had 10 nominations. He left with only two wins for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance. Country trio Lady Antebellum took home five awards, including Song and Record of the Year for their hit “Need You Now.” Canadians Drake and Justin Bieber lost the Best New Artist award to jazz musician Esperanza Spalding.

News read by Jason Rouah and produced by Erica Bridgeman.

Stories written by Joel Balsam, Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo, Alina Gotcherian, and Samah Fadil.

ASFA elections take place February 15-16-17.

Interview by Joel Balsam

Video by Katie Brioux

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has resigned. The announcement was made Friday by Vice-President Omar Suleiman. The news comes after 18 days of mass demonstrations in the country.

The armed forces council will be handling issues of state. It says it will fire Mubarak's Cabinet, suspend both houses of Parliament and rule with the head of the supreme constitutional court. According to a military source, Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi will be the head of the ruling military council.

Opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei says he is hopeful Mubarak's resignation will start a new Egypt with democracy and social justice. 

Tensions are as high as ever in Egypt. In a televised address yesterday evening, Mubarak defiantly refused to step down as president. He did make some concessions, saying he would transfer his power to his vice president Omar Suleiman.

But Egyptians were not happy, expecting the speech to be his last. Groups of the protesters broke away from Tahrir Square after his speech. Some headed to the presidential palace and others for the state television station, both heavily guarded by the Egyptian military.

Read by Joel Balsam

Produced by Melissa Mulligan 

Articles by Erica Fisher and Jessica MacDonald

A manufacturer is recalling drugs from pharmacy shelves.
Health Canada said the medications are all over-the-counter in-store brands made in 2007-2008.
So far, no one has been hurt by the drugs
Inspectors at the Pharmetics plant in Laval suspected there was possible contamination between product lines and mixups with expiry dates. 
The recall includes acetaminophen tablets, and sinus and back pain relief medications.
The stores affected include Pharmaprix, Jean Coutu, Proxim and Loblaws. 
If you have any of these medications at home, bring them to your point of purchase. 

In Provincial news, the dispute over Sikh kirpans is making a comeback in the Quebec legislature.

The Parti Quebecois announced on Tuesday it would introduce a motion barring Sikhs carrying ceremonial daggers from entering the National Assembly building.

Last month, four Sikhs were denied entry into the building because some refused to surrender their kirpans.

The Charest liberals said little then, but PQ member Louise Beaudoin commended the security guards for making the right choice.