OUR WORLD:: Stories that set tongues wagging in other places

CANADIAN EXPATS' pension checks will be a little fatter this month if the loonie (Canadian dollar) continues to climb. It rose again on Friday Sep after jobs data for August came in much better expected while in the US job creation missed modest expectations.

 American job gains for June and July were also revised lower. The loonie was up 0.53 of a cent (U.S.) to 102.28 cents as the U.S. currency lost ground.

OLD DRINKERS ARE A BIGGER PROBLEM THAN YOUNG, says a Sheffield University study commissioned by the BBC in the UK. Laws mandating minimum prices for alcohol would save 50,000 pensioners from premature deaths over the next decade according to the research. It estimated that 1.4 million over-65s in Britain drink too much at home, and more end up in hospital than 16 to 24-year-olds

A PENTAGON ROBOT called Cheetah, that can out-run Olympian Usain Bolt. the world’s fastest man. was put on display Friday, September 6, and will be “field tested” next year. With four legs and no head, it reached 28.3 mph on a treadmill, compared to Bolt’s top speed of 27.78. Its task: running down enemy soldiers.

BRITAIN’S VICTORIOUS OLYMPIANS and Paralympians will get their own honors list, The Daily Telegraph reports. This will ensure that there is no restriction on the number of honors arising from the London Games. The latest British gold medal hero is Jonnie Peacock, who won the T44 100m in record time – ahead of South African Oscar Pistorius in fourth.

CANADA HAS CUT TIES WITH IRAN and has closed its embassy and is expelling all remaining Iranian diplomats in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Friday September 7.In explaining the move, Baird gave a laundry list of reasons: says The Globe and Mail . They included : Iran’s current support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its nuclear program, its long-time support for organizations Ottawa considers terrorist groups, its threats against Israel, its human-rights record and even the 1979 hostage-taking at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
ROYAL PARTIER PRINCE HARRY whose photo in the buff recently circled the world, is back on duty with his army unit, and heading to Afghanistan for a four month tour as an Apache helicopter pilot in Helmut province, the scene of some of the most bitter fighting during the Afghan war. Britain's media watchdog is taking no action against the paper that carried photos,m as is has received no complaint from the Royals says The Week.