International News

By GRAEME SMITH
Sitting on the rooftop of a shrapnel-scarred building in southern Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Omer Lavoie squinted into the sunset and looked over the swath of farmland that his soldiers had conquered.

About 10 days earlier, the commander of Canada's battle group was staring down hundreds of Taliban fighters in those fields.

By JOE FRIESEN
Canada is a promised land of freedom and vanilla ice cream for Kayseng, a 57-year-old former teacher who arrived in Winnipeg with her family last month after 11 years in a refugee camp.

Kayseng, her husband, Minnseng, and their three daughters were among the first of 810 people from the Mae La Oon camp in Northern Thailand to come to Canada under a new system for processing refugee applications.

By DEJAN KOVACEVIC
Early this month, the San Francisco Giants paid a $2.1 million signing bonus for a 16-year-old Dominican third baseman, Angel Villalona.

And that came not long after the New York Yankees paid $2 million to a 16-year-old Venezuelan catcher, Jesus Montero.

In each case, that is nearly double the highest bonus in a normal year, causing some concern that Major League Baseball's open market on international talent _ only players from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico get drafted _ could be pricing itself into an elite range.

Kevin McClatchy, the Pittsburgh Pirates' managing general partner, was aware of the Villalona signing and expressed some worry about the situation in general.

"Obviously, any time you see spending like that on 16- and 17-year-old kids, it does raise a red flag," he said.

By GRAEME SMITH
Sand-colored Humvees were a welcome sight for Canadian soldiers recently, as the squat U.S. military vehicles appeared on the front lines in Panjwai district, churning through the dust and stopping alongside the green Canadian troop carriers.

U.S.

By JOHN KOOPMAN
The last time an Iraqi Army division was under the control of the Iraqi government, back in 2003, American soldiers were chasing it and trying to kill its soldiers.

But this week the Iraqi government officially took control over one army division and a handful of boats and airplanes belonging to the navy and air force.

By MARINA JIMENEZ
When Ahmed Farooq crosses the Canadian-U.S. border, he isn't surprised when he is singled out for questioning. He is, after all, a young, single Muslim man born in Saudi Arabia who fits the racial profile of would-be terrorists.

But the fourth-year medical resident at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba never expected to be hauled off a United Airlines flight for praying.

That's what happened last month, after a fellow passenger complained that Dr.

By BRENT JANG
Sparky and Fluffy can kiss goodbye to the creature comforts of flying in style inside Air Canada's cabins.

Starting Sept. 18, pets will be banished to the aircraft cargo belly of Canada's largest airline, in a move that has elicited howls of outrage from animal lovers and sighs of relief from allergy sufferers.

"Flying in general is already stressful for the pet," Calgary Humane Society spokeswoman Cheryl Wallach said.

"When the animal is in cargo, it can be more stressful, when you think about air-pressure changes.

By GEOFFREY YORK
With gala concerts and flowery tributes, China's communist rulers are paying homage to Mao Zedong this week, marking the 30th anniversary of his death without any mention of the damage he inflicted on millions of victims.

More than 500 performers and thousands of elite guests will gather at the Great Hall of the People Friday night to venerate the communist leader at a concert titled "The sun is the reddest and Chairman Mao is the most beloved."

Eleven of Mao's poems will be recited at the gala performance of music and dance in the palatial building on Tiananmen Square where China's parliament holds its annual sessions.

It's the culmination of a week of exhibitions, plays, essays and other celebrations in praise of the revolutionary leader who dominated China until his death at age 82 on Sept.

By HAYLEY MICK
Brenda Wright says she and her two children had just eaten their turkey sandwiches and settled onto their beach towels when the horror began.

Her son, Casey, 12, noticed a black, doglike animal running across the Northern Ontario beach where the family was enjoying the last day of summer vacation.

In a sudden and unrelenting attack, the animal ripped into Casey's buttock, tore his mother's hands and leg, and bloodied his 14-year-old sister's scalp, lunging after the family of six as they fled screaming into Lake Superior.

"I was trying to fight him off and he grabbed my finger.

By STEVEN CHASE
A key Quebec political leader is calling for an emergency debate on the direction Canada's foreign policy is taking _ including whether Ottawa should pull its troops from Afghanistan.

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe said there's a growing feeling among Quebeckers that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is moving in lockstep with President Bush on foreign policy, from Israel to Afghanistan.

"I think they have more and more the impression that Harper is taking the same alignment that Bush is taking, and they are firmly against that," Duceppe said in an interview as the death toll of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan reached 32.

The Bloc says the Conservative government's foreign-policy actions this summer _ such as strongly supporting Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon _ have broken with Canadian tradition.

In a letter notifying Commons Speaker Peter Milliken of the debate request, Bloc House leader Michel Gauthier says the Tories have strayed from Canada's historical position "of mediation and balance" and from the "major values of the Quebecois and Canadian populations, which are, I am convinced by it, resolutely peaceful."

Duceppe said Quebeckers are disturbed by how the Tories "blindly" backed Israel, and this is translating into fear about where the increasingly violent Afghan mission is heading.

The Bloc leader wants an emergency debate in mid-September before Harper lays out Canada's foreign policy in a speech at the United Nations on Sept.