TORONTO - After five years, Bonnie Brooks is handing over the reins of the Hudson's Bay Co. (TSX:HBC) to become vice-chair at the country's biggest department store.
Brooks, 60, has been the retailer's high-profile president since 2008 and will be succeeded by Liz Rodbell, who was most recently its chief merchant and executive vice-president.
HALIFAX - The Canadian government is planning to introduce new rules to make drilling and production companies more accountable in the event of offshore spills.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, speaking at a news conference Tuesday in Halifax, said Ottawa will introduce legislation this fall to raise the liability cap for companies operating in Atlantic Canada's offshore to $1 billion, up from the current $30 million. The liability cap in the Arctic would also increase to $1 billion from the current $40 million, he said.
WASHINGTON - House Republicans have unveiled slashing cuts to a program that helps localities build community development projects. Their rivals in the Democratic-controlled Senate are moving to restore Republican cuts to international food aid and nutrition help for pregnant women.
Senate Democrats are pressing to restore deep cuts to domestic programs like education, housing, health research and a variety of other programs despite agency budget "caps" which are more than $90 billion below the $967 billion level set under current law.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Taco Bell plans to test a "Power Protein" menu as part of its push to provide choices for people looking to eat healthy.
The chain says it will start testing the menu July 25 in Dayton, Ohio. The burritos and bowls will have more than 20 grams of protein and less than 450 calories.
TORONTO - The U.S. International Trade Commission has upheld a Canadian company's patent for its couples vibrator, banning the import, sale and marketing of all infringing products in the United States.
But the battle isn't over for Standard Innovation Corp., maker of the We-Vibe.
TORONTO - The Toronto stock market closed higher Tuesday as traders hoped that a two-day meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve will yield some guidance on the future of the central bank's stimulus measures.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 78.56 points to 12,367.46 but the market was held back by declines in mining stocks amid falling prices for gold and copper.
PHILADELPHIA - Would you like fees with that?
A Pennsylvania woman wants just the beef, not the fees she says she'll be charged to get her McDonald's wages from a debit card.
TORONTO - A New-York based hedge fund is putting pressure on Tim Hortons Inc. (TSX:THI) to make changes to boost profitability just months after it got a similar request from another U.S. investor.
Scout Capital Management has upped its ownership stake in the Canadian restaurant chain to 5.5 per cent, according to documents filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The stock market is closing higher as investors anticipate that the Federal Reserve will keep programs to support the U.S. economy in place.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 138 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 15,318 Tuesday.
TORONTO - A stronger vote of confidence for BlackBerry's future from analysts at RBC Capital Markets helped the smartphone company's stock rise nearly four per cent on Tuesday.
The bank raised expectations for shipments of new BlackBerry 10 devices and said the Waterloo, Ont.-based firm should be profitable this fiscal year, after recent quarterly losses.
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar closed lower Tuesday while the greenback advanced as the U.S. Federal Reserve started its scheduled two-day meeting on interest rates.
The loonie was down 0.32 of a cent at 97.94 cents US.
GREENWOOD, Miss. - Greenwood will host the 2014 Mississippi-Alabama Rural Tourism Conference.
The conference focuses on assisting smaller communities in bolstering tourism. The 2014 conference is scheduled for Oct. 20-22.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Basketball and talent shows commanded TV viewers' attention last week.
Three nights of NBA finals with Miami facing San Antonio were the top programs in prime time. They helped ABC, the network that aired them, to win the week overall, according to the Nielsen Co.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence — a set-piece for supporters of the spying.
The House Intelligence Committee, led by lawmakers sympathetic to the extraordinary surveillance, provided a venue for officials to defend the once-secret programs. There was limited probing of claims that the collection of people's phone records and Internet usage has disrupted dozens of terrorist plots, and few details were volunteered.
WASHINGTON - A federal bank that backed a huge airplane loan for Air India will have to explain that the loan didn't hurt U.S. airlines.
A lawsuit by Delta Air Lines Inc. had accused the Export-Import Bank of failing to follow a requirement that it makes sure its loans to foreign companies won't hurt U.S. competitors. The Ex-Im bank guaranteed $3.4 billion in loans in 2011 so that Air India could buy planes from Boeing Co. But Delta competes with Air India on some routes.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - It's a sight that can trigger dread: the low-battery message on your cellphone when there's no charger around.
But New Yorkers needing a little extra juice will have some new options this summer.
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland - Group of Eight summit participants are powerful people: the leaders of the U.S., Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan, plus top officials from the European Union. But they only make promises.
There's no actual change until the words are pursued by individual governments or other international organizations. Sometimes G-8 promises contain few details about how they'll be fulfilled. Other times they skip over places where the leaders couldn't agree.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador is working with regulators to revamp licensing rules for offshore oil exploration, Premier Kathy Dunderdale said Tuesday before leading a trade mission to China to drum up offshore oil and mining investments.
An outdated land tenure system often forces companies to decide on offshore bids within seven months, she told an oil and gas industry conference in St. John's. She said that puts new players at a disadvantage with little time to review seismic data and other details.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The price of oil rose above US$98 Tuesday as traders awaited the latest word on both the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and on U.S. oil supplies.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose 67 cents to close at US$98.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
CALGARY - Cenovus Energy Inc. is looking to triple the amount of crude it ships by rail between the end of this year and next.
The Calgary-based oil company (TSX:CVE) is expecting to finish 2014 by moving 30,000 barrels by rail — up from the 10,000 it's anticipating by the end of 2013.
HALIFAX - The Canadian government is planning to introduce new rules to make drilling and production companies more accountable in the event of offshore spills.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, speaking at a news conference Tuesday in Halifax, said Ottawa will introduce legislation this fall to raise the liability cap for companies operating in Atlantic Canada's offshore to $1 billion, up from the current $30 million. The liability cap in the Arctic would also increase to $1 billion from the current $40 million, he said.
OTTAWA - A Senate committee recommends the RCMP amend its code of conduct to explicity define and prohibit harassment.
Currently the behaviour is dealt with under the umbrella of disgraceful conduct.
TORONTO - A team of Canadian and U.S. researchers has developed a new "sharp-shooter" drug they hope may be a breakthrough in treating several types of aggressive cancer.
The drug, known for now as CFI-400945, is a new class of cancer agent that targets an enzyme involved in some malignancies, among them some types of breast cancer and ovarian, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.
OTTAWA - A handful of Canadian troops are about to take part in peacekeeping operations in Haiti under the command of Brazilian forces.
According to internal defence department documents, the deployment of an infantry platoon was approved by the Harper government in October 2012.
TORONTO - The U.S. International Trade Commission has upheld a Canadian company's patent for its couples vibrator, banning the import, sale and marketing of all infringing products in the United States.
But the battle isn't over for Standard Innovation Corp., maker of the We-Vibe.
GENEVA - The last day of Ahmad Mokaled's short life dawned on a sunny spring February morning in the southern Lebanon town of Nabatieh.
Feb. 12, 1999, was Ahmad's fifth birthday. So his father, Raed, pulled him out of school for an impromptu celebration with Ahmad's older brother, Adam, at a bustling public park where the boys sprinted into a growing throng of children.
MONTREAL - Montreal has had its second scandal-provoked mayoral resignation in less than a year, with an arrest and criminal charges leading to the departure Tuesday of an interim city-hall boss.
Replacement mayor Michael Applebaum stepped down a day after he was slapped with 14 criminal charges.
OTTAWA - Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer has handed a House committee the tricky question of whether two Tory MPs should be suspended over doubtful campaign spending.
Scheer says it's up to the committee on procedure and House affairs to decide if James Bezan and Shelly Glover should lose their MP privileges until their fight with Elections Canada is settled.
COURTENAY, B.C. - A fast and curious driver caught going 221 kilometres an hour in his new Subaru 20R through Vancouver Island traffic has lost his vehicle for seven days and netted a hefty fine.
Police say the posted speed limit on Highway 19 near Campbell River is 110 kilometres per hour.
OTTAWA - Two speakers hired by the Senate to help motivate senators and staff in the midst of a raging scandal over the abuse of taxpayers' money have had their event cancelled pending further discussion.
Communications consultant Barry McLoughlin and motivational speaker Marc-Andre Morel had been slated to talk about "the enduring value of the Senate and help bring a little perspective to the current situation," according to an invitation that went out Tuesday morning.
HALIFAX - A letter from the federal integrity commissioner says the chief executive of an economic development agency in Cape Breton is being investigated for alleged patronage appointments.
Mario Dion, commissioner of the Office of Public Sector Integrity, wrote that his office launched the inquiry into four hirings by John Lynn, chief executive of Enterprise Cape Breton Corp., following a complaint by Liberal MP Gerry Byrne.
OTTAWA - Leaked documents suggest Canada helped the United States and Britain spy on participants at the London G20 summit four years ago.
Britain's Guardian newspaper says spies monitored the computers and intercepted the phone calls of foreign politicians and officials at two G20 meetings in London in 2009.
EDMONTON - Police in Edmonton have withdrawn an Amber Alert for a nine-month-old baby girl they believed had been abducted by her mother.
They say the mother and child have been found and the baby is safe.
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland - The Group of Eight stopped short of calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad in its final statement on Tuesday, but called for a swift end to the bloody civil war and urgent peace talks to stop the country from spiralling further into chaos.
Despite the lack of consensus among the G8 around the fate of Assad, as well as the use of chemical weapons by his regime, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the outcome was better than he expected.
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland - Canada has publicly been called on the carpet by the European Union for holding up free-trade talks.
EU trade spokesman John Clancy took the unusual step Tuesday of criticizing Canada as the G8 summit in Northern Ireland came to a close.
OTTAWA - One week after defeating Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's attempt to open MPs' expenses to public scrutiny, the NDP has come up with a proposal of its own.
New Democrat MP Peter Julian has tabled a motion aimed at creating an independent body to oversee House of Commons spending, including MPs' expenses.
OTTAWA - Call it the Rathgeber clause: Liberals in the Senate say a Conservative bill that would force unions to disclose their expenses should match another Tory bill on disclosure of public sector salaries.
Conservative backbencher Brent Rathgeber quit the party caucus earlier this month after his private members' bill on public sector salary disclosure was effectively gutted by the government.
WASHINGTON - Defence Minister Peter MacKay was in the U.S. capital on Tuesday to meet with his American counterpart, Chuck Hagel, and bestow an honorary doctorate upon Sen. John McCain.
In their first meeting since Hagel was named defence secretary, the former Republican senator and MacKay were scheduled to sign the Caribbean Defence Co-operation Framework, an agreement aimed at guiding Canada-U.S. development efforts in Caribbean countries.
VANCOUVER - The federal government says a man allowed into Canada 17 years ago should be kicked out of the country because there is ample evidence that he was part of an Asian crime gang.
But in newly released written arguments, Lai Tong Sang's lawyer said that Ottawa is basing its arguments on multiple layers of hearsay evidence that is unreliable.
TORONTO - Many Canadians would be surprised to learn that in this digital age of email and instant messaging you can still send an old-fashioned telegram.
And the owner of Telegrams Canada, Colin Stone, says demand for the old-school service is steady, with about 20,000 messages being sent through his company each year.
MONTREAL - Coach Marco Schallibaum was serving a one-game suspension when his Montreal Impact had perhaps their worst game of the Major League Soccer season last weekend in Columbus.
He'll want a better showing from the Eastern Conference leaders when he returns to the sidelines for a game Wednesday night against the visiting Houston Dynamo.
EDMONTON - It was going to be a breakthrough campaign for career backup quarterback Matt Nichols, the year he fought to be the No. 1 signal caller.
Instead the 26-year-old Edmonton Eskimo formally ended his 2013 season Tuesday with the announcement he will undergo surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament on his right knee.
SAN FRANCISCO - Major League Baseball is dragging its feet on having team owners vote on the Oakland Athletics' proposed move to a new ballpark 40 miles south in San Jose, San Jose city officials said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The lawsuit — filed in federal court in San Jose — is disputing MLB's exemption to federal antitrust law, which MLB has used as a "guise" to control the location of teams, according to the suit.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Former Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis plans to get married this year.
People magazine says the 53-year-old Louganis will marry paralegal Johnny Chaillot.
BOSTON - There is no panic or frustration. But Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville acknowledges his team is in a tough spot going into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final.
"You lose back-to-back games, it gets your attention," the coach conceded. "We're in a hole right now. We want to make sure (Wednesday) we prioritize the importance of that game and it's a different level."
BOSTON - Injured Bruins forward Gregory Campbell limped up to the podium, the very picture of Boston Strong.
Campbell has become part of hockey lore since breaking his leg blocking a shot while killing a penalty against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern final — and then finishing his shift. While Campbell downplays his heroics, coach Claude Julien says he epitomizes the blue-collar Bruins.
DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings accomplished their No. 1 goal of the off-season Tuesday by agreeing to a $22.5 million, three-year deal with Pavel Datsyuk.
"It's a great day for the Red Wings," general manager Ken Holland said in a telephone interview. "He's is a world-class player and there are no moves I can make to find players like Pavel Datsyuk."
OTTAWA - Colin Miller will be on the bench with Canada's men's soccer team at the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Miller returned as interim head coach after leading the squad in a game against Costa Rica last month in Edmonton. He was also Canada's coach at a camp in the U.S. earlier this year, and was Canada's interim head coach for part of 2003-04.
OTTAWA - The home of the Ottawa Senators is getting a new name.
Scotiabank Place will be renamed the Canadian Tire Centre, the team announced Tuesday.
TORONTO - Five-time world hockey champion France St-Louis has joined the Canadian team staff for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
St-Louis was named an assistant chef de mission for the Games, joining chef de mission Steve Podborski and assistant chef Jean-Luc Brassard.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Sharks agreed to a contract extension with star centre Logan Couture to keep him off the market next summer.
A person familiar with the deal confirmed the extension, which was first reported by Comcast SportsNet California. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the contract can't be signed until the free agency window opens July 5.
SYDNEY - Australia qualified for the 2014 World Cup by beating Iraq 1-0 on Tuesday, with Josh Kennedy heading home the winner in the 83rd minute to reward a bold substitution by coach Holger Osieck.
Osieck, a former Canadian national team coach, made the surprising decision to take off talisman Tim Cahill and replace him with Kennedy, and the decision paid dividends when Mark Bresciano chipped a cross into the box, where the tall striker took advantage of lax marking to head past Noor Sabri in the Iraq goal.
PARIS - A trial involving Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery and Real Madrid's Karim Benzema on charges they solicited an underage prostitute has been adjourned until January.
The two France internationals face potential prison terms of up to three years each if convicted.
CINCINNATI - Zack Cozart and Todd Frazier hit upper-deck homers off left-hander Francisco Liriano, and the Cincinnati Reds moved a season-high 15 games over .500 by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Monday night.
The Reds (43-28) hit four solo homers in all, extending their best start since 1995, the last time they won a playoff series.
DETROIT - Max Scherzer improved to 10-0 and struck out 10, Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer and the Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-1 on Monday night.
Scherzer became the first pitcher to begin a season 10-0 — with all decisions coming in starts — since Roger Clemens went 11-0 for Toronto in 1997, according to STATS. He allowed one run and seven hits in six innings. Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 24th homer in the second, but struck out with the bases loaded in the fifth and the Orioles down by two runs.
BOSTON - They are still two wins away from their destination, but the Boston Bruins are gathering steam.
Daniel Paille and Patrice Bergeron scored second-period goals and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves Monday as the hard-charging Bruins blanked the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup final.
TORONTO - Maicer Izturis made sure a strong outing from Blue Jays starter Josh Johnson didn't go to waste.
Izturis drove in the game's only runs with an RBI single in the eighth inning Monday as Toronto pushed its win streak to six games with a 2-0 interleague victory over the Colorado Rockies.
ATLANTA - The cast of an Atlanta sports radio show has been fired after mocking a former NFL player who has Lou Gehrig's disease, a station official said Monday.
The show, Mayhem in the AM, was broadcast on 790 The Zone Monday morning. In a statement, General Manager Rick Mack said the station regrets comments made about ex-New Orleans Saints safety Steve Gleason.
BOSTON - The Chicago Blackhawks have scratched forward Marian Hossa from Monday night's Stanley Cup final game against the Boston Bruins.
Hossa was tied for the team lead with 15 points in the playoffs. He was third in the regular season on the Blackhawks with 17 goals.
