Canada's federal budget deficit narrows

Canada's federal budget deficit amounted to $4.2 billion during the first two months of the fiscal year, much smaller than in the same period last year when the economy was mired in recession, the finance department reported Friday.

The Finance Department's fiscal monitor noted the government spent $7.2 billion more than it took in during April and May of 2009 because tax revenues were down and social and economic spending to offset the slump was higher.

"The data is reassuring that the deficit should continue to narrow," said Mary Webb, an economist with Scotia Capital. "And it continues a trend we saw in the last quarter of fiscal 2009-2010, which is that revenues were coming back reflecting the strength of the Canadian recovery."

The improvement in the deficit year-over-year was most visible in revenues from personal income taxes and provincial sales and services taxes.

The government says the deficit includes about $1.7 billion in spending under the stimulus package introduced in January 2008.

Canada withstood the global economic crisis better than most developed countries and appears to be pulling itself out of the aftermath of the recession better than most. There has been no crippling mortgage meltdown or banking crisis in Canada, where there is greater oversight of mortgages.

In the March budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty projected the federal deficit would come in at $47.4 billion this fiscal year, which runs from April to March 2011.

But economic conditions in the first quarter of this year were far better than projected. The economy grew at a decade-high 6.1 percent during the first three months of 2010, and employment growth has kept advancing.

In the last three months ending in June, the economy created 227,000 jobs, adding to tax revenues and reducing the government's burden for unemployment insurance.

The jobless rate has gradually declined from last summer's high to the current 7.9 percent.

Webb said she would not be surprised if the deficit for the current fiscal year also comes in well below estimate, even though the Bank of Canada and analysts see growth braking to about half the pace of the first quarter.

Check imaging helps bank gain market share

Check imaging was an excellent investment for West Georgia National in Carrollton. It allowed this bank-with $172 million in assets-not just to provide valueadded customer services, but also to reengineer backroom operations, use information captured on processed items to identify prospective customers, and crosssell additional products and services to existing customers.

West Georgia National had been using Greenway Corp.'s PrimeImage check imaging system for three months to provide customers with images of processed checks when the bank discovered it could use the system to build business.

The bank noted that several of its competitors were swallowed up through big-bank acquisitions which in many cases resulted in higher fees. This did not entirely please many of their customers who were used to a "community bank approach". West Georgia National used PrimeImage's datamining capabilities and transformed the acquisitions into marketing opportunities.

Users of PrimeImage can establish queries of MICR and all information appearing on checks, and extract customer and competitor account bank routing numbers, account numbers, addresses, check amounts, and check numbers from its database of processed images. It also accepts value characteristics of "equal to", "greater than", and "less than" for increased accuracy in reporting specified information and numeric ranges.

West Georgia National extracted its competitors' bank routing numbers, generating a list of highly-qualified prospective customers. The bank sent a direct mail campaign to the list of people "victimized" by the acquisitions, promoting lower service fees and a friendly, community bank atmosphere. The mailing, coupled with follow up phone calls, delivered a strong return on investment.

Leighton Alston, president West Georgia National, said, "Our database of imaged items contains a wealth of information about our current customers' and prospects' banking patterns and habits. PrimeImage enables us to define parameters and perform large database searches for quantifying and qualifying new business and cross-selling opportunities."

Alston continued, "Database marketing is a faster and more accurate way of generating leads. Searches of more than 100,000 items can be conducted within minutes giving us substantially better, daily control of items and information passing through the bank. PrimeImage's Windows-NT environment facilitates the importing, transforming, integration and exporting of requested data fields and ranges of tangible reports."

PrimeImage is a truly flexible Windows NT-based system using an open architecture, client/server atmosphere. Capabilities include: multitasking, home office and branch location accessibility through a LAN/WAN environment, simplified check sorting, imaged statements, image nonsufficient funds notices, power encode, power proof, courtesy amount recognition (CAR), reduced item and statement research time, full reject, reentry and balancing functions, and an SQL relational database. It works in conjunction with a redundant array of independent disk (RAID) system for on-line, magnetic storage of images, which significantly reduces statement preparation time over optical storage.

First National Bank of Commerce, Ga., another Greenway customer, with more than $170 million in assets, used PrimeImage's data-mining capabilities to eliminate some 800 monthly teller line transactions. This was accomplished by performing a database search of all processed social security checks to identify social security recipients. They then direct marketed a convenience-based automatic deposit service to these customers.

In addition, First Commerce is experiencing a 99.5% satisfaction rate with the imaged account statements, particularly with its elderly customers who appreciate the easy-to-read statements. The bank served as PrimeImage's beta site in June, 1995.

With PrimeImage, the front and back of each check and deposit ticket is captured by electronic cameras mounted on an imageenabled check reader/sorter and transferred to a RAID system for high capacity, on-line magnetic storage with fault tolerant safety. The system is capable of assembling and printing up to 33 double-sided check statements per minute in check sequential order which significantly streamlines statement preparation.

Statements are also available to customer and corporate accounts on CD-ROM and through the Internet for convenient cash management options. Customers can access statements through the Internet, flip checks from front to back, magnify endorsements for verification, and print statements through a PC using a Windows application.

Greenway has joint marketing agreements and independent software vendor alliances with NCR and IBM. PrimeImage in being promoted at a national level in conjunction with NCR's 7780 imaging transport and IBM's universal transports (UTs).

For more information on Greenway Corp., contact Tee Green, vice president of sales and marketing at 770-834-0090 ext. 226. View Greenway's web page at www.banking.com/Greenway.

Jordan bans reporting on corruption case

Jordan's military court chief has issued a gag order for a controversial graft trial, reflecting the sensitivity of a case involving top officials.

Maj. Gen. Youssef Faouri said Wednesday that reporting could only be done when the military State Security Court issued its verdict.

Gag orders are rare in Jordan, but corruption cases involving high level officials are potentially embarassing to the government and often concealed from the public.

Four Jordanians, including an ex-finance minister, were charged last week for bribery in connection with a $2.1 billion project to rehabilitate the country's sole oil refinery.

If convicted, the four could be sentenced to three years in jail.

Meet the time team behind bonekickers

A major new BBC drama series set in Bath has been given its localpremiere in the city.

Bonekickers, which began on BBC1 on Tuesday, was filmed onlocation in Bath and Bristol and follows a team of archaeologists onan action-packed series of adventures.

Billed as "Da Vinci Code meets CSI", the series was set locallyby its two creators because, they say, the city has 3,000 years ofhistory under its pavements.

Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah - who both live in the city andcreated the drama hits Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes attended aspecial screening of the first episode premiere at the LittleTheatre.

Among the other guests were local people involved in the makingof the series including staff from the University of Bath, thecouncil-run Bath Film Office and members of the cast.

The crew was largely based at the university campus at ClavertonDown but also used other locations in and around the city, includingLarkhall playing fields and the Assembly Rooms.

The writers got the idea from watching another South Westtelevision export - Time Team - and created a group of adrenaline-fuelled archaeologists living in a fast-paced, action-packedworld.

But a search for a location to set the new drama proved fruitlessuntil the duo looked closer to home: "It dawned on us that we wereliving in the perfect backdrop for Bonekickers," said Mr Pharoah.

"Using real locations in the series has made everyone involvedexcited. It gives you a sense that history is under your feet,which, we hope, will get people going off and exploring. It's greatto find out more about what's on your doorstep and to re-discoveryour history.

"The city and the surrounding countryside are steeped inthousands of years of history, from the Romans onwards, and lookstunning irrespective of the weather."

During the series, viewers will see a team of archaeologistsbased in a fictional department at the University of Bathinvestigate everything from the possible discovery of thecrucifixion cross to the excavation of murdered 18th-century slaves.

In writing the series, the pair hired Bristol's archaeology guruDr Mark Horton - the man credited with making archaeology "cool"with the likes of Time Team.

He recently started Britain's only university course whichcombines archaeology and television.

Mr Pharoah, who has previously written for EastEnders, Casualtyand Silent Witness, said: "Once we found some areas that interestedus, we rang Mark. He then advised us on where to take the story.

"I chose the slave trade as a subject because I was always awarethat Bath and Bristol were built on the proceeds of that prettydisgusting trade, and I'd often thought about how you'd deal withthat.

"How does an area or a city get to grips with its past? I loveBristol and was born and schooled there, so it was those questionsthat gripped me."

Matthew Graham, who first became friends with Mr Pharoah whenthey worked on EastEnders, said: "I have always loved medievaltimes. If I had my life again, I would go to Trinity in Dublin andread medieval history."

The series, which stars Hustle actor Adrian Lester as forensicexpert Dr Ben Ergha, and William And Mary actress Julie Graham asfeisty Celt Gillian Magwilde, is being shown on Tuesdays on BBC1 at9pm.

Next week's episode will see the team uncover bones thought to belong to 18th-century slaves in the Bristol Channel.

KNIGHT COMMENDS INDIAN VILLAGERS SAVING TIGERS, CLIMATE

NEW DELHI, India, Feb. 5 -- The British High Commission in New Delhi issued the following press release:

UK's Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight today congratulated villagers in northern India who are helping to save the world's climate as well as their own endangered tigers.

Jim Knight visited Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India, the home of the endangered Indian tiger. The tigers' habitat had been shrinking because the surrounding villagers had relied on the Park's trees for wood to cook with. Demand had exceeded sustainable supply and wood was being taken illegally.

There were even lawsuits between villagers and the Park over allegations of trespass for wood collection and animal grazing. With the local population growing at a rate of 3.2 percent per year, the problem could only get worse unless a sustainable solution could be found.

400 biogas digesters have now been installed in villages on the Park's fringes. The digesters use cattle manure to produce biogas for cooking, avoiding the need for wood. The waste slurry is used as organic fertiliser, which is better and cheaper than commercial fertiliser, producing good crops and saving money.

Jim Knight said:

"The immediate needs for human survival were in urgent conflict with the preservation of a unique ecosystem," Jim Knight explained. "And the villagers received little or no benefits from the large numbers of tourists who visit the Park and so had no incentive to avoid damaging it. Nor did they have any reason to be concerned about the future of the tiger."

"You cannot blame people who are struggling to survive for trying to make a day-to-day living from whatever comes to hand. So conservation plans must include local people, as well as animals and their habitats."

Using biogas instead of wood for cooking also helps to slow climate change by reducing the amount of carbon - and other products of incomplete combustion - released into the atmosphere. Each digester saves about 4.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

The women in the villages have particularly benefited. Biogas is a cleaner and safer fuel for cooking so their kitchens are now cleaner and freer of smoke. Smoke inhalation in third world kitchens is a major cause of eye disease, respiratory illness and premature death in women. Another bonus is that they no longer have to make extensive journeys into the Park for wood, which was predominantly done by women and sometimes involved a round trip of 20 km.

Edited press releases are provided through HT Syndication, New Delhi.

KNIGHT COMMENDS INDIAN VILLAGERS SAVING TIGERS, CLIMATE

NEW DELHI, India, Feb. 5 -- The British High Commission in New Delhi issued the following press release:

UK's Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight today congratulated villagers in northern India who are helping to save the world's climate as well as their own endangered tigers.

Jim Knight visited Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India, the home of the endangered Indian tiger. The tigers' habitat had been shrinking because the surrounding villagers had relied on the Park's trees for wood to cook with. Demand had exceeded sustainable supply and wood was being taken illegally.

There were even lawsuits between villagers and the Park over allegations of trespass for wood collection and animal grazing. With the local population growing at a rate of 3.2 percent per year, the problem could only get worse unless a sustainable solution could be found.

400 biogas digesters have now been installed in villages on the Park's fringes. The digesters use cattle manure to produce biogas for cooking, avoiding the need for wood. The waste slurry is used as organic fertiliser, which is better and cheaper than commercial fertiliser, producing good crops and saving money.

Jim Knight said:

"The immediate needs for human survival were in urgent conflict with the preservation of a unique ecosystem," Jim Knight explained. "And the villagers received little or no benefits from the large numbers of tourists who visit the Park and so had no incentive to avoid damaging it. Nor did they have any reason to be concerned about the future of the tiger."

"You cannot blame people who are struggling to survive for trying to make a day-to-day living from whatever comes to hand. So conservation plans must include local people, as well as animals and their habitats."

Using biogas instead of wood for cooking also helps to slow climate change by reducing the amount of carbon - and other products of incomplete combustion - released into the atmosphere. Each digester saves about 4.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

The women in the villages have particularly benefited. Biogas is a cleaner and safer fuel for cooking so their kitchens are now cleaner and freer of smoke. Smoke inhalation in third world kitchens is a major cause of eye disease, respiratory illness and premature death in women. Another bonus is that they no longer have to make extensive journeys into the Park for wood, which was predominantly done by women and sometimes involved a round trip of 20 km.

Edited press releases are provided through HT Syndication, New Delhi.

KNIGHT COMMENDS INDIAN VILLAGERS SAVING TIGERS, CLIMATE

NEW DELHI, India, Feb. 5 -- The British High Commission in New Delhi issued the following press release:

UK's Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight today congratulated villagers in northern India who are helping to save the world's climate as well as their own endangered tigers.

Jim Knight visited Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India, the home of the endangered Indian tiger. The tigers' habitat had been shrinking because the surrounding villagers had relied on the Park's trees for wood to cook with. Demand had exceeded sustainable supply and wood was being taken illegally.

There were even lawsuits between villagers and the Park over allegations of trespass for wood collection and animal grazing. With the local population growing at a rate of 3.2 percent per year, the problem could only get worse unless a sustainable solution could be found.

400 biogas digesters have now been installed in villages on the Park's fringes. The digesters use cattle manure to produce biogas for cooking, avoiding the need for wood. The waste slurry is used as organic fertiliser, which is better and cheaper than commercial fertiliser, producing good crops and saving money.

Jim Knight said:

"The immediate needs for human survival were in urgent conflict with the preservation of a unique ecosystem," Jim Knight explained. "And the villagers received little or no benefits from the large numbers of tourists who visit the Park and so had no incentive to avoid damaging it. Nor did they have any reason to be concerned about the future of the tiger."

"You cannot blame people who are struggling to survive for trying to make a day-to-day living from whatever comes to hand. So conservation plans must include local people, as well as animals and their habitats."

Using biogas instead of wood for cooking also helps to slow climate change by reducing the amount of carbon - and other products of incomplete combustion - released into the atmosphere. Each digester saves about 4.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

The women in the villages have particularly benefited. Biogas is a cleaner and safer fuel for cooking so their kitchens are now cleaner and freer of smoke. Smoke inhalation in third world kitchens is a major cause of eye disease, respiratory illness and premature death in women. Another bonus is that they no longer have to make extensive journeys into the Park for wood, which was predominantly done by women and sometimes involved a round trip of 20 km.

Edited press releases are provided through HT Syndication, New Delhi.

Snakes alive!; Legendary reptile is thriving on Welsh hillside.(News)

Byline: DAVID PRICE

A TERRIFIED visitor ran for help when she saw a snake on the loose at a North Wales zoo.

But the timid four- foot long reptile, spotted at the Welsh Mountain Zoo,in Colwyn Bay, soon scuttled into a crack and disappeared from view.

To the visitor's surprise the delighted attendant called to investigate shouted: ``Snakes alive''.

It seems the April sunshine had coaxed the zoo's fabled Aesculapian snake to make an appearance at its adopted home high up in the hills overlooking the seaside resort.

Britain's rarest breed of snake was left in its temporary hiding hole to peacefully make its way back to its nest on the grassy slopes outside the zoo grounds.

``The visitor was told the snake had not escaped - well not recently,'' said assistant curator Peter Dickinson.

``And we did impress upon her that it was not poisonous, was rather shy and was not a threat to humans.''

But the sighting proved the Aesculapian - known scientifically as Elaphe Longissima - was still thriving after almost 30 years on the loose.

Just one was brought back to the Mountain Zoo from southern Europe shortly after the attraction was opened by Robert Jackson in the 70s.

It was a heavily-pregnant female who managed to slither her way out of her box and escape to freedom.

Old ``Essie'' laid her eggs in the wild. They hatched and now, three generations later, they are thriving on the North Wales coast.

``They are so rare in this country they have appeared in the Guinness Book of Records,'' saidMr Dickinson.

``They are olive green,great tree climbers and feed off mice, rats and other small mammals. They seem to survive because of the area's relatively mild climate.''

The snake, which can be traced back to Greek legend, is the species entwined around a staff as the symbol of the British Medical Association.

It was named after the Greek healer Aesculapius. Legend has it that one day Aesculapius saw a snake crawl out of a crack in the earth and entwine itself around his staff. Terrified,he killed the snake but immediately another appeared from the crack with a herbal leaf in its mouth.

It placed the leaf on the dead snake's head and it was miraculously revived. From then on, the snake has been associated with healing and in more modern times alternative medicine.

A BMA spokesman said: ``The snake is our symbol of healing but many other organisations use it in different forms to signify its medicinal powers.''

CAPTION(S):

The Aesculapian snake has been living around the Welsh Mountain Zoo for more than 30 years

Snakes alive!; Legendary reptile is thriving on Welsh hillside.(News)

Byline: DAVID PRICE

A TERRIFIED visitor ran for help when she saw a snake on the loose at a North Wales zoo.

But the timid four- foot long reptile, spotted at the Welsh Mountain Zoo,in Colwyn Bay, soon scuttled into a crack and disappeared from view.

To the visitor's surprise the delighted attendant called to investigate shouted: ``Snakes alive''.

It seems the April sunshine had coaxed the zoo's fabled Aesculapian snake to make an appearance at its adopted home high up in the hills overlooking the seaside resort.

Britain's rarest breed of snake was left in its temporary hiding hole to peacefully make its way back to its nest on the grassy slopes outside the zoo grounds.

``The visitor was told the snake had not escaped - well not recently,'' said assistant curator Peter Dickinson.

``And we did impress upon her that it was not poisonous, was rather shy and was not a threat to humans.''

But the sighting proved the Aesculapian - known scientifically as Elaphe Longissima - was still thriving after almost 30 years on the loose.

Just one was brought back to the Mountain Zoo from southern Europe shortly after the attraction was opened by Robert Jackson in the 70s.

It was a heavily-pregnant female who managed to slither her way out of her box and escape to freedom.

Old ``Essie'' laid her eggs in the wild. They hatched and now, three generations later, they are thriving on the North Wales coast.

``They are so rare in this country they have appeared in the Guinness Book of Records,'' saidMr Dickinson.

``They are olive green,great tree climbers and feed off mice, rats and other small mammals. They seem to survive because of the area's relatively mild climate.''

The snake, which can be traced back to Greek legend, is the species entwined around a staff as the symbol of the British Medical Association.

It was named after the Greek healer Aesculapius. Legend has it that one day Aesculapius saw a snake crawl out of a crack in the earth and entwine itself around his staff. Terrified,he killed the snake but immediately another appeared from the crack with a herbal leaf in its mouth.

It placed the leaf on the dead snake's head and it was miraculously revived. From then on, the snake has been associated with healing and in more modern times alternative medicine.

A BMA spokesman said: ``The snake is our symbol of healing but many other organisations use it in different forms to signify its medicinal powers.''

CAPTION(S):

The Aesculapian snake has been living around the Welsh Mountain Zoo for more than 30 years

Ex-New York cop markets loudest thing you can wear. (Personal Security Associates Inc.) (company profile)

Ex-New York cop markets loudest thing you can wear

You might think that after 20 years on the New York streets as an undercover narcotics detective, James G. Green Sr. would find a desk job pretty cushy. Don't count on it.

"Sometimes, I think I would rather kick a door down with an Uzi than deal with marketing," he says.

But Green's not complaining. North Carolina retail stores such as Crown Drug Stores, Ed Kelly's appliance chain and Omega Sports are stocking the new pocket-sized alarm he and his partner, E. Shepard Huntley, invented. Huntley says he expects their Greensboro-based Personal Security Associates Inc. to sell half a million of the …