A10

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Finance

$1B sliced from Alberta's fund

EDMONTON - Falling stock prices have sliced roughly $1 billion from Alberta's rainy-day savings account. Finance Minister Iris Evans told the legislature that the value of the Heritage Savings Trust Fund has been reduced to $16 billion - a drop of roughly six per cent since June. But she says the loss is only on paper because the province isn't selling any of the stocks that have lost value recently. Evans is promising a further update on the heritage fund at a public meeting Thursday in Edmonton.

Environment

Erratic winds hinder Cal. firefighters

LOS ANGELES - Ferocious desert winds pushed one of three major wildfires burning across Southern California to nearly double its size overnight, firefighters said Tuesday, the third day of the blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands to flee. One person was killed by the flames; another died in a car crash as a blaze neared the freeway. The fires have charred more than 65 square kilometres in suburban Los Angeles and northern San Diego County, with the fiercest blazes burning in the San Fernando Valley, about 50 kilometres northwest of Los Angeles. Investigators are looking into the cause of all three fires.

Violence

String of attacks plague Tijuana

TIJUANA, Mexico - Eight people are dead in a string of overnight attacks in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. The state prosecutor's office says three teenagers - one of them a 14-year-old girl - were gunned down in the street. A few blocks away, officials found more than 40 shell casings and the bullet-riddled body of a man. In another part of the city, gunmen opened fire on a car, killing two men. Assailants attacked another car before dawn Tuesday, injuring a police officer and killing his relative.