News

Montrealers came out to attend the 178th St, Patrick's Day parade on Sunday. The parade started of at Fort Street at noon and ended a little before three at Phillips Square.

The show went on this year with no incidents. Last year, a 20 year old man from laval suffered a tragic death during the parade. Measures of prevention were hicked up this year with an additional fifteen thousand dollars spent on security.

St. Patrick was an Irish blessing this year. It is reported that the parade was an upbeat one despite last year’s tragedy.

Photo by: Erica Fisher

Haitians went to the polls on Sunday to vote for a new president. Preliminary results will be announced March 31. 

The two candidates were a musician and a former first lady. Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly is a recording artist with no public office experience. Mirlande Manigat is former Haitian President Leslie Manigat’s wife. He was in office for four months in 1988. Mirlande Manigat is also a former senator. She has been involved in Haitian politics for some time. 

Todays News was read and produced by Erica Bridgeman

The stories were written by Jaqueline Di Bartolomeo, Michael Lemieux and Samah Fadil

The United Nation has authorised a no-fly zone over Libya. The security council said that it will do all that is necessary –including military action- to protect civilians.

The no-fly zone establishes a ban on all flights in the airspace. The United Nations has also demanded a ceasefire, calling out for Khadafy to meet his civilians basic needs.

The Libyan leader didn’t wait to voice his disagreement. In an interview broadcast right before the security council voted on the resolution, he dismissed the United Nations, saying that he does not acknowledge their resolutions.

Quebec’s 2011-2012 budget will see hikes in consumer fees across the board and includes some bad news for students. Tuition is one of several fees slated to rise in the oncoming years 

Raymond Bachand is the province’s finance minister.He tabled the sixty-nine million dollar budget Thursday. Bachand says the user fees will cover the two and a half per cent increase in public spending.

A VIA rail train that killed three teenagers this fall had its principle headlight dimmed. On October 31, 2010, five Montreal teenagers were walking along the tracks beneath the Turcot interchange when three of them were struck and killed. The teenagers were walking away from the oncoming train and neither saw nor heard it.

It is normal procedure for trains to dim their lights when approaching highways with oncoming traffic, but this information regarding the teenagers’ death has only recently surfaced. The driver did not see the teens on the tracks until seconds before impact and so neither the whistle or bell were sounded to alert them.

Photo courtesy of Adam Scotti

Tuesday's march against police brutality began peacefully downtown when 500 marchers started at Jeanne Mance Street and de Maisonneuve Boulevard and walked towards Saint-Laurent Boulevard.

In Japan, fear of a full-blown nuclear catastrophe rises after radiation levels surge at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, north of Tokyo.

A new fire at one of the plant’s reactors is believed to be the cause of the dangerous rise in radiation levels. Safety concerns forced emergency workers at the plant to withdraw on Wednesday, paralyzing efforts to cool down the overheating reactors.

Since last Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, Japan is trying desperately to avoid an environmental catastrophe, but radiation leaking into the air is making it difficult to control the disaster.

The NHL and its board of GMs believe stricter enforcement of boarding and charging penalties are necessary for making the game safer. The GMs statement includes harsher supplemental discipline for repeat offenders.

Two Concordia students studying in Japan are alive and well. Philippe McKie is a film production student living in Tokyo. He spoke to several Montreal news outlets and wrote a blog post about his experience. 

On Monday, University spokesperson Chris Mota confirmed he and the other student are fine. She said that when disasters happen abroad, the university contacts exchange students to make sure they are safe.

Minutes before the clock struck midnight, candidates for next year’s Concordia Student Union chanted and screamed for their respective parties. The annual Concordia stampede, where candidates run through the two campuses plastering the walls with campaign posters, ran without a hitch. This is thanks mostly in part to a change in rules.

This year, Chief Election Officer Oliver Cohen announced that candidates would be released floor by floor for the first few levels of the Hall building. Then, they would have the chance to put up posters on several billboards-on-wheels that would be placed throughout the campus.