Thursday, July 28th, 2011

She's officially the interim Leader of the Official Opposition.

Today in Ottawa the Federal Council of the New Democratic Party confirmed that Nycole Turmel will take the helm as their leader.Turmel is a first-time M.P. from Quebec and she'll lead the party while Jack Layton takes time off to focus on his cancer treatment.

Mr. Layton announced that he was fighting a new form of cancer on Tuesday.

Nycole Turmel takes lead of the party at a time of unprecedented change for the NDP, just three months after their historic gains in the May federal election.

We reached Nycole Turmel in Ottawa.

His death comes as a shock to the rebel movement in Libya. And it leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

General Abdel Fattah Younis, the rebel military commander, was reported dead by the rebel opposition leader, Mustafa Abdul Jalil at a press conference earlier today. General Younis was Moammar Gadhafi's former minister of interior but, the general defected from the Libyan regime at the beginning of the revolution.

Brian Conley was at the press conference where Younis's death was announced by the Transitional National Council. We reached him in Benghazi.

Nafissatou Diallo says she's going through a lot. But she's not about to give up.

The Manhattan maid has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in his luxury hotel room in May. The allegations forced Strauss-Kahn to resign his position as head of the International Monetary Fund, and crippled his chances to assume the French presidency. He is now out on bail, as prosecutors conclude their investigation and determine how to proceed with the case. It suffered a major setback due to concerns over Ms. Diallo's credibility.

But Ms. Diallo's lawyer has said if the criminal case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn crumbles, she will launch a civil suit against him.

Today at a press conference in Brooklyn, she spoke of the pain the case has caused her and her family. Here is part of what she said, for the record.

They were in one of the hardest-hit parts of the city. And after February's earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, Shaggy and Daphne were all but abandoned. And given that they're both goldfish, no one held out much hope for their survival.

But earlier this month, the two goldfish were found alive, having survived without any food for nearly one-hundred-and-forty days.

Vicky Thornley works at the company that kept Shaggy and Daphne in an aquarium in their reception area. When the quake hit, she grabbed onto the tank to keep herself steady and stop it from crashing to the ground. We reached Ms. Thornley in Christchurch.

Recently, I've been getting really into this one author. He or she wrote a whole bunch of really terrific Victorian-era erotic novels. Also, the spiritual epic "The Way of a Pilgrim", which he or she wrote in Russian in the nineteenth century. And then, more than a hundred years later, he or she wrote this hilarious political novel -- in English -- called "Primary Colors"! I tell you, if the same author's name weren't on all these books, I'd assume they were written by different people. Such is the breadth of this writer's talent.

And now, according to the publishing house, Little, Brown, he or she is about to publish something fresh, and I couldn't be more excited. Although booksellers don't feel the same. This week, they got an email from Little, Brown telling them about a new book, to be released in November.

It will tell, quote, "the inside story of life with one of the most controversial figures of our time." It's going to be big, and if buyers for bookstores want it by its release date, they have to order now.

Trouble is, those buyers have no idea whether the book is really a big deal. Because it's called "Untitled" -- and it's written by "Anonymous".

Now, since that initial message from Little, Brown, a little more information has emerged, which suggests the book might be about Bernie Madoff. But no one will confirm that. So booksellers are facing a tough situation: either buy a whole mess of copies of some book they know almost nothing about, or buy no copies and miss out on what may be the publishing event of the season.

As I was saying before, I think "Anonymous" is a prose stylist of the highest order. So I say, get buying, booksellers! Anonymous has never failed us before! Go through the desert on a book with no name. The rewards are unknown -- and, so far, unknowable.

Another day, another suspected war criminal arrested.

One week ago today, the federal government released its list of thirty suspected war criminals living in Canada. Today, a fifth person on the list was arrested, this time in Montreal.

The names and pictures of the suspects are published on the Canadian Border Services Agency website.

No one on the list has been found guilty by a criminal court. And that concerns Alex Neve. He's the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. We reached him in London, England.

It's been a long day with few reasons to smile at Toronto City Hall.

Mayor Rob Ford and the city's executive committee are holding hearings into proposed municipal budget cuts. Mayor Ford had campaigned on a promise to eliminate millions in gravy from Hogtown's budget without cutting public programmes. But the the city is now considering the elimination of everything from libraries to the cleaning staff at Toronto's jails. More than three hundred people showed up at today's hearings. Few had anything good to say about the proposed cuts. Fewer still brought came equipped with a sense of humour. Then, this afternoon, the mayor called Mary Hynes to the microphone.

Dateline: New York City.

It's quite possibly the most powerfully boring thing in Manhattan. Or at least it was. It's been going on, and on, and on since 2007. But with its boring work behind it, it's set to be encased in concrete, fourteen stories beneath the pavement of Park Avenue.

I wish could tell you I was talking about the latest studio set of Live with Regis and Kelly! But I'm not. I'm talking about a different kind of boring altogether -- the kind done by a ginormous drill. A "cutter head," to be precise -- the spiralled, sharp, mechanically-toothed end of a tunnel-boring machine. For four years now, it's been hollowing giant tunnels for a future station beneath Grand Central Station, which is due to open in 2016.

Known as Seli, after its Italian maker, the mammoth cutter head weighs two-hundred tonnes and stands over seven metres high. Normally, when such a tool has served its purpose, it is extracted from the work site, dismantled, and sold for scrap.

Seli, however, will meet no such fate. That's because the Spanish contractor overseeing the project has determined it will be more of a hassle to remove the cutter than to leave it where it is. First of all, it could take several months just to dismantle. Second, the parts would need to be hauled from Midtown to the other end of the tunnel, in Sunnyside, Queens. So removing it might interfere with ongoing construction, resulting in delays and millions of dollars in extra wages.

And so, this week, Seli will be given an official interment by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. It will be sealed off from the rest of the tunnel in a concrete chamber, which will then be filled with more concrete, to create a solid cast around the enormous machine. Its tomb -- marked by a commemorative plaque -- will offer structural support for the tunnel.

Which all sounds like a bit of an attempt to drill into New Yorkers that an auger in a well augurs well for the future.

In four years of high school, Kymberly Wimberly got only one B. The rest of her grades were straight A's, even in her advanced placement classes. She eventually finished high school with the highest grade point average in her class, and at McGehee Secondary School, the student with the highest GPA is named valedictorian.

Kymberly was named valedictorian. For a day. But soon afterwards, Kymberly's mom, who works at the school, heard staff say that naming an African-American student as valedictorian would create, quote, "a big mess". The next day, a white student with a lower GPA was named co-valedictorian.

Now, Kymberly is suing her school for what she says is a pattern of racial discrimination against the forty-six per cent black student population.

We reached her in Little Rock, Arkansas.

If the Giant Palouse Earthworm were as exciting as its initial description suggested, it wouldn't be in its current predicament.

The man who first described the invertebrate, in the Palouse region of Washington state in 1897, was named Frank Smith. Someone sent him some samples of the worms. And if he'd kept a journal, he might have written something like this:

"Dear Diary: this day hath truly been rife with wonders! Upon waking, I consumed some mushrooms I had discovered in the forest, and some cider that had been sitting in the noonday sun for a fortnight. Thereafter, for reasons I know not, mine eyes saw marvelous colours in the sky.

Then I was confronted with a monstrous writhing creature I have named the Giant Palouse Earthworm! Fearsome it was indeed!

Its length surpassed three feet, and when I attempted to embrace it, it expectorated in my face! Also it smelled sweetly of lilies. At this point, wracked with terror, I abruptly lost consciousness. Now my head is killing me."

It would be improper of me to suggest, as I just did, that Frank Smith was under the influence of something when he first described the Giant Palouse Earthworm. But it would be one way of explaining why he was so wrong.

Since that initial sighting in 1897, the earthworm all but disappeared. Which is why it was considered by many to be endangered. About five years ago, various groups began petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add it to the official list of endangered species. In 2007, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined.

And then, Jodi Johnson-Maynard, a professor at the University of Idaho, re-discovered the Giant Palouse Earthworm -- and found it wasn't quite as advertised.

In April of last year, Carol spoke to Ms. Johnson-Maynard about the worm. Here's part of their conversation, from our archives.

So the Giant Palouse Earthworm does not spit in self-defense. It isn't giant. And it doesn't smell like lilies. But it does exist. So once again, conservationists asked that the earthworm be protected under the Endangered Species Act. And yesterday, the Fish and Wildlife Service responded -- with yet another rejection. Because we don't really know where they live, or what threatens them, a spokesperson said, they can't determine whether they're endangered.

There's truth to that. But those who seek to protect the Giant Palouse Earthworm believe that rejection -- like their beloved worm -- smells a little off.