[Music]

Good afternoon and welcome

to Toronto Today. I'm Rebecca Ananda and

I'm Julia Mohammed. It's a cold and

overcast day here in Toronto.

Here's what's happening - two major fires

spread through the city today,

elementary teachers are set to strike,

and the UN votes on Palestinian

statehood.

Here's julia with the top story. Thanks

Rebecca.

A fire at Jane and Shepard overnight

took the lives of an elderly man and his

son.

The Toronto fire department responded to

a two alarm fire before midnight

at Cherrington crescent. It took

firefighters hours to recover the bodies

from their family home.

Two people were rescued at the scene

and taken to hospital for severe smoke

inhalation.

This was one of the two fires that took

place last night in Toronto.

The other was in Chinatown in a vacant

building on Spadina

Avenue. Here's Aaron Sally with that

story.

The fire department responded to a two

alarm fire at 2 am this morning.

Police say the fire was started above a

storefront between Baldwin and Nassau

streets.

A man was taken to the hospital with

minor burns. It became a second alarm

fire which involves about a dozen fire

trucks and probably 40 50 firefighters

but they put it out quite quickly. You

know a couple hours they were all done

and cleaned up.

The fire was suffocated before it spread

to other buildings along the street

but the structure was virtually

destroyed.

Neighboring residents have been fighting

to have the building demolished for

years.

This has been the second fire in the

past three years in the building.

Residents and Toronto fire officials

believe the cause could be due to

squatters.

Officials speculate that homeless people

may have been burning candles to keep

warm.

Angie Vasdel lives in the area and

remembers the first fire

three years ago. I was fast asleep and

then as I'm sort of

you know turning in my bed. I'm sort of

starting to smell. I'm going what it's

like.

I'm half asleep but I feel like I'm

smelling tar.

And I finally sort of wake up and I look

up my window

and there literally there must have been

at least a dozen fire trucks.

The fire marshal is conducting an

ongoing investigation to determine the

cause of the blaze.

For Toronto Today, I'm Erin Sally.

Elementary teachers say they will strike

come December.

They are protesting Bill 115 which would

allow provincial government

to quash strikes and freeze wages which

teachers say

is unconstitutional. York region, Rainey

River,

Trillium Lakelands and Kawartha Pine

Ridge have already embarked

on work to rule campaigns.  The rest of

the school boards

will be in strike position throughout

December. Negotiations are expected to

last until the end of that month.

The strike will affect 76 000 teachers

and even more students. Parents will be

given 72 hours notice before strikes

begin.

Toronto Police have arrested a second

suspect in connection with the $2 million

toy theft from a Salvation Army

warehouse. 61 year old

Umesh Ramratan was arrested

last night. Police have confirmed the

arrest happened after police raided a

Brampton warehouse

and seized 26 skids of stolen Salvation

Army donations.

The donations included toys, school

supplies and food.

Ram Rattan has been charged with 40

counts including theft over

5 000. Since the thefts police have

arrested 51 year old

david rennie who faces the same charges.

How about Geeks for George as a campaign

slogan? The latest contender in the

liberal leadership race

is computer nerd George Decatch. Decatch

hopes to politically engage the 1.5

million computer gamers

who don't often vote. The 55 year old is

joining front-runner Justin Trudeau,

Toronto lawyer Debra Coyne and BC MP

Joyce Murray.

Ex-spaceman Mark Garneau is also in the

race.

The new Liberal leader will be elected

April 14th.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford may have lost his

job this week but he's won the battle

against the bag ban.

Yesterday, Toronto city councilors

decided not to continue with a ban on

single-use plastic bags

and just in time. The ban was due to take

effect January first.

Nicole Servinis has the rest of the

story.

In the last three years, Toronto has

placed a 5-cent fee

on single-use plastic bags and have

tried to ban them all together.

Only to remove all restrictions there's

no doubt it's been the plastic bag

industry. The companies that actually

make the bags that have been out there

spending a lot of time and money

probably,

trying to convince people that they can

that  they can't live without

plastic bags.

Franz Hartman for the Toronto

Environmental Alliance thinks people

against the ban were just not well

informed.

We're going to see a whole bunch of

plastic bags out in the environment.

Again you know littering,

creating environmental damage and it's

completely unnecessary.

There's 1400 tons of plastic waste in

Toronto.

A year that's equivalent to about 200

elephants.

So what do Torontonians really care

about convenience

or the environment. And I don't bring

recycle back from home to store. It's

really not convenient as the plastic bag.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings. I know it's

not

good for the environment at the same

time they are very useful.

I think it's kind of silly because they

had a ban first and then they revert

the

decision. I think the government needs to

really analyze what it's doing.

Even though the ban was overturned,

environmentalists hope that the new year

will bring in a new ban.

For Toronto Today i'm Nicole Cervenas.

Beef inspectors at the XL foods plant

were told to ignore

signs of contamination on carcasses

intended for Canadians.

This is according to memos picked up by

CTV News. The memos state that inspectors

should overlook signs of

fecal and intestinal contamination

except on meat headed to Japan.

XL foods is home to the recent e coli

outbreak.

The outbreak caused Canada's largest

meat recall

where at least 18 Canadians in four

provinces

became sick because of tainted meat.

It's been a year since the United

Nations failed to recognize Palestine as

an

independent state but that's something

Palestine isn't willing to give up on.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas

plans to ask the UN to recognize

Palestine

as the west bank Gaza and east Jerusalem.

But Canada, Israel and the United States

believe the move will only be

detrimental to peace talks with Israel.

The UN general assembly is expected to

vote in a few minutes.

Now back to local news. Rob Ford took off

many afternoons during the high school

football season,

suggests a story published today by the

Toronto Star.

The Star obtained a copy of disgraced

mayor Ford's daily itinerary.

Ford coached the Don Bosco Eagles - an

Etobicoke high school football

team, to a Catholic league championship

this year.

Ford is fighting to stay in office after

the Ontario Superior court

ruled this week that he violated

Ontario's conflict of interest law.

The next time you're in a rush to catch

a subway, your trip may be a little

easier.

If you ride the go train you could

already be familiar with the Presto card.

If you ride the subway get ready to use

that card a lot more.

We head underground for more on this

story.

Tired of scrounging for change while in

a rush to catch the next train?

Don't worry - you won't have to for much

longer. The Toronto Transit Commission

has teamed up with the Presto fare card

to help make commuters ride smoother.

So you might be wondering what exactly

is Presto.

Well it's one of the most complicated

fare systems in the world.

But it's made so simple for you right

here on this one little card.

All you do is tap on when you're heading

somewhere

and tap off once you've arrived.

Danny Nicholson says Presto is already

processing millions of transactions a

month.

It'll just make it quicker and it'll

also save the TTC about 10 million

dollars a year.

That's would be, it will cost us less

to collect fares. So that, that 10 million

dollars can be

allocated to other areas - perhaps things

like you know, buying new equipment, new

buses or streetcars or

or just fixing up the TTC in general.

Well it's faster because you can only

use a card.

Just pass the carD and that's it. You

don't have to search for money, look for

change and anything like that.

So just type your card that's it and

you're in.

The entire project is set to be complete

by 2016.

Although you might have to wait a few

more years until you can tap on at every

one of the stations,

you can look forward to a quick and easy

commute coming soon.

For Toronto Today. I'm Shannon Cuziz,

tapping off.

The former president of engineering

giant SNC Lavalin

was arrested yesterday in the Montreal

corruption investigation.

Pierre Duhain has been charged with

fraud. Duhames stepped down as CEO in

March.

over a series of suspicious payments

totaling 56 million dollars.

These inflated construction contracts

involve bureaucrats,

the mafia and construction companies.

Back-to-back explosions took place in

southern Iraq today and at least

45 people have been killed nationwide.

The attack targeted Shiite communities

in Baghdad but it isn't the first one.

Today's bombings took place three days

after three car bombs exploded near

Shiite places of worship.

The violence continues. Earlier today

security forces were attacked.

Everywhere else in Iraq authorities say

a suicide bomber drove his car into

checkpoint killing three people.

Two winning ticket numbers were

announced this morning for the second

highest top prize

in u.s lottery history. The winning

tickets

sold in Arizona and Missouri matched all

six numbers to win

587.5 million

dollars, the richest Powerball jackpot

ever.

Chuck Strut, the executive director of

the multi-state lottery association,

said 130 000 tickets were being sold per

minute.

Coming up to Wednesday's draw the

jackpot rolled over 16 times without a

winner.

It is still unclear if the lucky winners

are individuals

or groups. The Leveson inquiry into

journalism practices in Britain has

released its findings today.

The inquiry was set up by British prime

minister David Cameron after reporters

for the tabloid

News of the World, were found to have

used phone tapping.

News of the World reporters tapped the

phones of celebrities,

politicians and victims of crimes

including

murdered school girl Millie Dahler.

Speaking today in London, Lord Justice

Levenson was harsh

in his crisis criticism of the paper's

actions.

This has damaged the public interest,

caused real

hardship and on occasion

wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent

people. After the scandal broke, News of

the World was shut down by its parent

company, News International,

owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch who

testified before the inquiry.

Earlier this year Justice Leveson

recommends an independent

self-regulatory body be established

backed up by formal legislation to

monitor the press and encourage

high standards. Six million European Jews

died in the holocaust. Today the word

holocaust is enough to shake up the few

survivors that are still alive.

Hattie Epstein still trembles 70 years

later. She still tears up when telling

her story.

But it's a story that needs to be told

and Hedy wants people to know.

Ryerson University's Chang School

students have paired up with the

Israeli foundation to meet with

survivors and produce memoirs

for future generations. Here is Haley

Chan

with Hedy's story. One of my classmates

came

up to me and said

Hedy I want to ask you a favor. I said

what can I do? She said when you go

back after the war, find my boyfriend

and tell him how much I loved him. Why are

you telling me this?

You tell him. And she looked at me and

she said. I know I won't make it

and I know you will.

This is Bev. She's meeting with Hedy a

holocaust survivor.

Hi henry. Hi come on in.

Hi. Bev meets with Hedy here in her

apartment

every week to relive her past. The two

have grown close over the past few weeks.

Hedy shares her memories as Bev takes

down every detail.

She's writing a memoir but it's not

always easy

for Hedy to tell her story.

Okay Beverly, I

spoke to you about my childhood

growing up in Romania.

I started talking about my story,

maybe five six years ago, for

about 50 years. I couldn't,

I couldn't speak about it without

breaking down

and even though we tried

to tell to talk to our children and did.

i did not believe in, in not giving them

information if they were ready to listen.

The holocaust memoir

program was put out to both graduate

students and

members of the over 50

programs and what they did is they had a

training session for the volunteers

and then matched all the volunteers who

were going to take the memoirs

with holocaust survivors and that was

the process.

So I got matched with a woman a year ago

and now with Hedy,

to my great delight, Sandra Kerr

is part of that matching process. Her

partnership with the Israeli foundation

sets up students with holocaust

survivors.

I think it's, it's important in many

ways

for both groups. I mean there is the

opportunity for the survivor to tell the

story.

Sometimes they've never spoken about the

story before

so it's an opportunity for them to

release that at last.

Sometimes they have and they want to

make sure that their

family get to see and hear this story. We

have a number of

our students, our writing partners who

continue to meet

regularly with their survivor within

moments

of my father

going with the man,

never to be seen again. I also lost my

mother

who went ahead

on the road, which later I found out led

straight to the

gas chambers. When I tried to follow her,

I was stopped by a nazi soldier

who ordered me to go with a group that

was a young woman next to me

and I never saw my mother again. Either

it's almost like two girls walking

through the x.

Well it was yeah, no inkling at all

that what was to come in such a short

period of time.

But things started looking brighter for

Hedy although Hedy's family never made

it.

She had a chance at a new life. We were

liberated in April 14,

45. That's a big day in my life - my second

birthday.

life was good in Canada to us.

It was very satisfying to be able to

make my way. Besides the stool her father

left her, there was lots Hedy left behind.

We missed family. My children grew up

without

extended family and

I did too. Although Hedy lost her family,

it's helped Bev connect to hers. Sitting

and hearing Hedy's

story is at times

very difficult and emotional.

But when I think about my emotions

and my getting upset it's nothing

to what I know she has experienced and

what she continues to experience.

I am Jewish. My father never talked about

it

I knew very, very little through my

family connections.

so this program really gave me an

opportunity

to have a really intimate

in a sense experience, but knowledge

about what people actually went through.

It's enhanced my

understanding of, in a sense where I

came from,

where my father came from. What the

Israeli foundation, the purpose of

it is, is as an educational tool

and also a vehicle for never forgetting.

Gustavo Valencia Gomez is set to appear

in court next month on charges of fraud

and pretending to practice witchcraft.

The Mississauga man was charged

yesterday by police.

Gomez allegedly told a Brampton woman

that he was a healer.

The woman then hired Gomez to cure her

of throbbing headaches.

Gomez charged her over fourteen thousand

dollars to perform rituals and provide a

spiritual cure

for the headaches which gomez said were

the result of a curse.

The fate of three aging elephants at the

Toronto Zoo has finally been decided.

After months of deliberation, city

council voted on Wednesday

and the elephants are moving to

California to enjoy their retirement.

Iringa, Toca and Thicka will be

transferred to the Paws sanctuary in San

Andreas by December 31st.

The move will go forward despite earlier

concerns about TB

at the facility. Council examined an

independent study on infectious diseases

and determined that the sanctuary is a

safe home for the city's beloved

elephants.

A Toronto garbage truck operator carried

an extra heavy load this morning

according to Toronto police, a man fell

asleep in a dumpster after drinking too

much alcohol and was eventually

unloaded into a truck as the truck made

its way

to a lane near Ossington and Queen. The

driver heard the trap man yelling for

help.

The man was taken to a hospital with no

injuries according to police.

A new study suggests that a Facebook

post from the right person

can possibly reduce the chance of a cold.

Naomi Denis

has more.

A trip to your local drugstore with so

many medicines to choose from

may seem confusing.  A new study suggests

more people are turning to Facebook.

Tracy King says her family doctor

is not always available which has caused

her to turn to Facebook to help her

prevent colds.

Tracy often doesn't get the medicine she

needs from her physician

so she's taking advice from her Facebook

friends.

Often friends of mine may

give me their advice their personal

advice on

what to take if I'm feeling ill. Even

though wait times might be

excruciatingly long,

sometimes the doctor just knows best.

Self-diagnosis is a big problem these

days.

It's causing a lot more problems because

people, you know they buy vitamins or

minerals or

they start doing things that they think

will benefit them because they think

something's wrong with them.

But really they have no idea. They're not

a doctor. I mean you have to go talk to

someone who knows what you're talking

about.

With the cool winter months ahead and

the cold and flu season among us

be sure to get the right advice so you

don't catch a cold and you can enjoy in

the winter fun.

I'm Naomi Denis for Toronto Today.

Now joining us in studio is Erica

Eucalack with sports.

How are you doing Erica? I'm doing great.

Thanks so much.

Some good news finally for Toronto

sports. According to Forbes magazine the

Toronto Maple Leafs

are the first NHL team worth one billion

dollars.

The Leafs, who haven't won the Stanley

Cup since 1967

are worth 250 million dollars more than

the next most valuable team,

the New York Rangers. The Montreal

Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks,

Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings

round out the top six most valuable

teams.

These teams are also the league's six

original franchises.

Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding

spoke openly for the first time

about being diagnosed with multiple

sclerosis.

Harding decided to share the news to the

public during this NHL lockout to create

awareness for those suffering

from this disease. Multiple sclerosis is

an incurable

autoimmune disease that affects the

brain and central nervous system

but harding says that this will not end

his playing career.

In soccer news, Toronto FC has their

first ever president.

Kevin Payne arrived in Toronto to take

on this role after spending 17 years

with DC United.

Payne boasts an impressive resume having

won four MLS championships.

Payne just might be what TFC are looking

for after posting a franchise worst

in 2012. With only five wins

and 21 losses, Payne spoke to the local

media yesterday about his move.

I think the opportunity here is

absolutely phenomenal.

The opportunity to turn things around on

the field

and repay the fans for their

unbelievable level of commitment and

passion,

is one of the most exciting challenges I

can imagine.

FIFA has announced the final three

nominees for both men's and women's

player of the year.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi Andres Iniesta

and Real Madrid's Christiana Ronaldo are

the finalists for the men.

Where Messi is looking to become the

first player to win the award

four times. Canadian women's captain

Christine Sinclair didn't make the final

three nominees for the women

but Americans Abby Womback, Alex Morgan

and Brazil's

five-time winner Marta have been

nominated. The winners will be announced

on January 7th

In Zurich. That's it for sports back to

you.

Thank you Erica for that wonderful

report.

Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan was

arrested last night in New York City.

Police were called to the Avenue

nightclub at 4 a.m.

Police arrested Lohan at the scene and

have charged her with misdemeanor

assault

after she allegedly struck another

female patron.

Lohan is currently on probation for the

theft of a necklace in 2011.

In Lohan's latest acting effort, a film

for the Lifetime Network titled

Liz and Dick, released this week, Lohan

plays the title role of Elizabeth Taylor.

The film has been widely panned by

critics.

Two and a Half men actor Angus T. Jones

does not plan to quit the series despite

his public condemnation of the show

earlier this week.

The actor called the show filth and

urged viewers to stop watching in a

video

associated with the Seventh-day

Adventist Church.

Jones has not retracted his statements

but has since apologized for offending

the cast and crew.

The show's creator Chuck Laurie is

reportedly furious over the actor's

comments

and the show may choose to end Jones

contract preemptively.

The nineteen-year-old actor is currently

paid over three hundred thousand dollars

per episode.

Glenn Beck paid tribute to some

controversial artwork with his own art

stunt today.

The former Fox News persona submerged an

Obama doll in a jar of fake urine.

The pieces that inspired him are a

photograph called

piss christ by andres serrano and

another work that depicts

Obama as Christ. Beck claims he's

defending

freedom of expression and an artist's

right to blaspheme.

Art critics have yet to respond to

Beck's

performance art. Deadmau5 lit up London

last night in a surprise street party

show that wowed the audience.

The musician teamed up with Nokia for a

spectacular visual performance in

Southwark's Flat Iron square.

The evening began with Dead Mouse on top

of a roof of a motorcycle.

And after getting on Central London on

their feet, the artist whose real name is

Joel Zimmerman, tweeted

thanks for tuning in folks - was a bit

chilly, but we had a great time.

Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is in Toronto

filming for his hit tv show

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Word is that

Fieri hit popular dining spots like

Kamplansky's Deli,

the Lakeview, the Stockyards and Hey

Meatball.

Fieri will be in town until the weekend

when he is hosting

chef's challenge the ultimate battle for

a cure the benefit will be held at Mount

Sinai Hospital.

Food fans keep an eye out for Fieri and

his bright blonde hair.

And that's it for Toronto Today. I'm

Julia Mohammed and I'm Rebecca Ananda.

This is our last newscast of 2012. If

the Mayan apocalypse doesn't cause the

end of the world,

we'll see you next year. Thanks for watching.

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