Wal-Mart to cut 11,200 jobs at Sam’s Club stores

Retail giant Wal-Mart has said that it is cutting 11,200 jobs at its Sam’s Club warehouse chain in the US. The majority of the cuts will hit staff running in-store promotions at the chain, after Wal-Mart decided to outsource these functions. Last November, Mike Duke, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, said that the trading environment for the…

3 Bomb Blasts Hit Near Baghdad Hotels

Three car bombs exploded Monday near three Baghdad hotels popular with Western journalists and businessmen, killing at least 16 people and wounding scores more, Iraqi police said. The first explosion struck at about 3:40 p.m. in the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel, toppling high concrete blast walls protecting the site and damaging a number…

Nato forces in Afghanistan to launch Helmand offensive

UK and other Nato troops are to launch an offensive to take back areas of southern Afghanistan, the British general in charge of forces there says. Maj Gen Nick Carter said the operation would “assert the control” of the Afghan government in parts of Helmand now controlled by the Taliban. He told BBC Radio 4’s…

Our duty to Haiti: donate then wake up!

One day prior to the earthquake in Haiti last week, Darren Ell’s art exhibit Haiti: Holdup opened in Concordia University’s Media Gallery. His photographic documentary pieces were a prescient warning about the vulnerability of Haiti’s fragile infrastructure — a fragility directly caused by American, Canadian and French manipulation. Ell’s exhibit consists of three enormous photographs, seven…

Tory lead over Liberals all but evaporated, poll suggests

OTTAWA — Stephen Harper’s Conservatives hold only a slim lead over the Liberals, according to a new national poll that suggests the government’s decisive response to the earthquake in Haiti has not translated into big political dividends for the Tories. The poll, conducted exclusively for Canwest News Service and Global National, said the Conservatives would…

Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel will never quit settlements (BBC)

The Israeli prime minister has taken part in tree-planting ceremonies in the West Bank while declaring Israel will never leave those areas. Benjamin Netanyahu said the Jewish settlements blocs would always remain part of the state of Israel. His remarks came hours after a visit by US envoy George Mitchell who is trying to reopen…

Surging cost of health care poised to pay a role in Harper’s spring budget (Globe and Mail)

Health care ignited a debate for Barack Obama that risks derailing his ambitious policy agenda – if not his presidency. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in contrast, has successfully hit the snooze button on the health file throughout his four years in power. This is about to change. On March 4, the Harper government is set…

In Haiti, aid comes with an agenda (Globe and Mail)

The international rush to help Haiti has produced some strange bedfellows and left some Haitians confused about who is running their country. Bitter rivals everywhere else, the United States, Venezuela and Cuba have found themselves working side by side in Haiti. Dozens of American soldiers are camped just outside the Venezuelan embassy, which is located…

Canadian soldiers swarmed by desperate Haitians demanding food (National Post)

LEOGANE, Haiti — A crowd of about 2,000 hungry Haitians rushed a food distribution point where Canadian soldiers were providing security on Sunday as homeless residents grow increasingly desperate for post-earthquake relief. Two platoons from the Royal 22nd Regiment were swarmed moments after aid workers finished handing out 2,400 boxes of food from the back…