Turkey lifts YouTube ban after more than 2 years

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey said Saturday that it was lifting a ban on YouTube more than two years after it blocked access to the site because of videos deemed insulting to the country's founder.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, who is in charge of Internet issues, said the government has been in touch with Google, which owns YouTube. There was no longer any reason to ban the video-sharing site, he said, as the offending videos had been removed.

"In the end, common sense prevailed. The reasons for the YouTube ban do not exist anymore," Yildirim said. "In the end,

"The ban has been removed," Yildirim said on NTV television. "But we didn't get here easily, we have been …

Britain digging out after heavy snow, cold snap

People across Britain are digging out after some of the heaviest snowfalls in decades.

The storm shut airport runways, closed roads and led to train delays across the country, with the worst-hit areas receiving a foot and a half (50 centimeters) of snow.

About 4,000 people were without electricity in southern England Thursday and drivers faced difficult journeys on icy roads. …

Amonte high on another Olympic try

Even though the NHL's Olympic debut in Japan last February mightbest be remembered for some rowdy behavior by American players aftertheir quick exit from the Games, Tony Amonte is all for the leaguegiving international competition another go at Salt Lake City in2002.

"I'd love to play because it's in the States," said Amonte, whowas one of the Blackhawks on the American team last winter.

"We came up empty in Nagano, and that left bad tastes in ourmouths. Without the travel, I think it would be a great opportunityfor the NHL. I'd like to give it another shot."The league is discussing whether to try again in the Olympics.The decision likely will hinge on how …

World Athletics Championships Results

DAEGU, South Korea (AP) — Results Wednesday from the World Athletics Championships:

Women
20K Walk

1, Olga Kaniskina, Russia, 1 hour, 29 minutes, 42 seconds. 2, Liu Hong, China, 1:30:00. 3, Anisya Kirdyapkina, Russia, 1:30:13. 4, Elisa Rigaudo, Italy, 1:30:44. 5, Qieyang Shenjie, China, 1:31:14. 6, Susana Feitor, Portugal, 1:31:26. 7, Ana Cabecinha, Portugal, 1:31:36. 8, Kristina Saltanovic, Lithuania, 1:31:40. 9, Beatriz Pascual, Spain, 1:31:46. 10, Ines Henriques, Portugal, 1:32:06.

11, Vera Sokolova, Russia, 1:32:13. 12, Olena Shumkina, Ukraine, 1:32:17. 13, Maria Vasco, Spain, 1:32:42. 14, Ni …

US deficit zooming to half-trillion as Bush leaves

The government's budget deficit will surge past a half-trillion dollars next year, according to gloomy new estimates, a record flood of red ink that promises to force the winner of the presidential race to dramatically alter his economic agenda.

The deficit will hit $482 billion in the 2009 budget year that will be inherited by Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, the White House estimated Monday. That figure is sure to rise after adding the tens of billions of dollars in additional Iraq war funding it doesn't include, and the total could be higher yet if the economy fails to recover as the administration predicts.

The …

Parking on these lines will cause accidents

The old Oldfield Boys rugby club next to the Green Park Tavern onthe Lower Bristol Road is currently undergoing renovation.

I have no objection to this but I am concerned for driversturning into Lower Bristol Road from Westmoreland Road andpedestrians crossing this road, owing to the number of cars(currently nine as I write) parked on yellow lines. This makes whatis a busy road …

CHAPTER 11 FOR WORKERS? NAFTA offers unions a way to defend their contract rights

Karl Marx argued that, under capitalism, the legal system was pretty much a tool of the ruling class, designed to protect property rights and keep workers in line. This is quite an oversimplification, but every now and then Marx comes close to the mark. If he could see what's been happening to the teachers in B.C., he'd probably say, "I told you so."

B.C.'s so-called Liberals have never been shy to wield custom-made legislation-arbitrarily, unilaterally, retroactively-to drive down wages and undermine unions. They've been quick to rip up labour contracts (both negotiated and arbitrated) whenever it suited their political or fiscal interests: health care workers, doctors, even Crown …