By PAUL WALDIE, Toronto Globe and Mail

After several years of supplying corn to its neighbors, China has quietly started importing large amounts of the food staple in an effort to compensate for poor growing conditions and meet the rapidly changing appetites of its swelling middle class.

Icelanders like Jon Ogmundsson have endured many hardships in the last year, including soaring inflation, rising unemployment and a banking crisis so serious the country nearly declared bankruptcy.

Now Iceland's battered economy is claiming one more victim -- McDonald's.

When Detroit mayoral candidate Stanley Christmas was asked about the city's declining murder rate during an all-candidates meeting a couple of months ago, he replied: "I don't mean to be sarcastic; there just isn't anyone left to kill."

The global recession is forcing even Santa Claus to cut back.
Santapark Ltd. in Rovaniemi, Finland, which is billed as Santa's hometown, has seen a 12-percent drop in visitors and slumping profits because of the economic slowdown. The situation is so dire the Finnish government, which owned 35 percent of the park, has brought in new owners to overhaul the operation.

Joanne Smith lives in Chicago and she's never been to Saginaw, Mich. But Smith has just bought a house there. The price? $1.75.Smith, 30, was trolling on eBay last week looking for a PlayStation game when she stumbled across the small house, which has been condemned by the city. Bidding was at $1.25.

TORONTO -- When Henry Rachfalowski joined Canada Life Financial Corp. in 1998 as a senior executive, the firm offered to pay for a golf club membership as part of his employment package. But there was a problem: He hated golf.

TORONTO -- Ed Nowek has been keeping bees for more than 30 years. He has always marveled at their resilience and adaptability."They persevere quite well, up to a point," Nowek said from his Vernon, British Columbia, honey farm. "But I think we've just got to the point now where we are pushing them too hard."

TORONTO -- Canada's near-free-ride on food inflation is coming to an end and consumers better brace for some steep increases in their grocery bills.Food prices have been largely flat for months, mainly because of the surging Canadian dollar, which has reduced the cost of importing products from the United States such as fruits and vegetables.

Few citizens enjoy paying taxes, but the Canada Revenue Agency is hoping new advertising will offer some motivation and maybe even a new slogan: Paying taxes is the "Canadian way of life."The Canadian Revenue Agency plans to launch a multimedia campaign this year that focuses on compliance and targets new Canadians in particular. The campaign is set to run until 2010.

Jerome Kerviel may be the most notorious rogue trader in history, but he appears to have spotted something most major banks and leading economists around the world missed: the subprime meltdown.