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--Seventh NewsWatch--(Canadian Press Broadcast Wire (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) (OBIT-Sharon) (Audio: 76) Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has died, eight years after a severe stroke put him in a coma. Sharon was one of Israel's most controversial figures. He was implicated in the massacre of Palestinian refugees in camps in Lebanon. But then as a politician he cleared Israeli settlers out of Gaza as a peaceful gesture to Palestinians. A few months after that, he suffered the massive stroke. Sharon was 85. (7) (Pearson-Slowdown) The travel woes continue at Toronto's Pearson airport, and in Montreal. Operations at Montreal's Trudeau Airport were briefly suspended earlier today due to freezing rain. There are still dozens of delays and some cancellations. Meanwhile, a computer software glitch at Toronto's Pearson Airport means it's taking longer to check in. This follows a crisis earlier this week when a deep freeze created travel nightmares. (7) (Wrong-Body-in-Casket) (Audio: 34) The families of a Canadian and an American woman want to now how bodies of their loved ones got mixed up. Lisa Kondvar, of Warwick, Rhode Island and her family discovered another woman's body in the casket at a New Jersey funeral home last month. The body of her mother, Margaret Porkka, had been prepared at a funeral home on the island of St. Maarten. They believe Porkka's body was sent to a family in Ottawa who had it cremated, not knowing it was not their dead relative. The two dead women bore no resemblance to one another. (7) (Africa-Virus) Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a very violent start to 2014, with raging conflicts in South Sudan and Central African Republic, as well as continued violence in Congo, and attacks in Somalia and Kenya. The death tolls are huge and the individual incidents gruesome. One estimate says nearly 10 thousand people have been killed in South Sudan in a month of warfare, while in neighbouring Central African Republic combatants in Muslim-against-Christian battles have beheaded children. (7) (Chemical Spill) It's Day Three without usable tap water for about 300-thousand people in nine West Virginia counties. Health officials are still trying to determine how dangerous the water is after a chemical leaked into Charleston's public water treatment system from a nearby plant. Officials say 32 people sought treatment at area hospitals for symptoms like nausea and vomiting and a handful were admitted. (7) (ENT-Kimmel) The White House has responded to a petition calling for an apology and the removal of Jimmy Kimmel's television show. More than 105-thousand people signed the petition on the White House website over an October broadcast of A-B-C's ``Jimmy Kimmel Live.'' In a segment where Kimmel asked young children how the U-S should repay its debt to China, one boy said ``kill everyone in China.'' The White House says the Constitution protects free speech. (7) (NewsWatch by Roger Ward) (The Canadian Press) (c) 2014 The Canadian Press |