Canada's government loses bid to end gun registry

Canada's minority government has lost a bid to end a rifle and shotgun registry which police say helps to trace guns used in crimes.

Members of parliament voted 153 to 151 to defeat a bill that would have ended the registry, but Conservative PM Stephen Harper vowed to try again.

He said opposition to the regulation was stronger "than it has ever been".

Opponents say the programme is ineffective and treats rural Canadian hunters and farmers like criminals.

The BBC's Lee Carter, in Toronto, says the ballot was nailbitingly close as MPs stood up in Canada's Parliament to cast their vote.

The bill was defeated by an ad hoc parliamentary coalition of Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois members.

Canada has only a fraction of the gun crime of its neighbour to the south, the US, but has suffered shocking incidents involving firearms, our correspondent says.

These include the shooting deaths of 14 women killed by a gunman at a Montreal university in 1989.

BBC News

Six-nation group wants quick resumption of Iran nuclear talks

New York (CNN) -- The six world powers trying to negotiate with Iran say they want an early resumption of talks to resolve the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Wednesday with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany to discuss how to proceed with diplomatic dialogue with Iran and implementation of existing sanctions on Iran.

"We reaffirmed our determination and commitment to seek an early negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and focused our discussion on further practical steps to achieve it at an early date," the group, known as the "P5 plus one" -- the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany -- said in a statement. "We look forward to Iran's positive and constructive participation in this dialogue".

The international community charges Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Tehran says the program is purely for peaceful purposes.

Since the U.N. Security Council passed a tough round of sanctions against Tehran in June, the nations have repeatedly urged Iran to return to the negotiating table with little success.

Although Iran has signaled its willingness to resume talks, it has not responded to an offer by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the intermediary with Iran, to set a date. A senior U.S. official briefing reporters after the meeting said the group was "committed to a diplomatic resolution and it remains to be seen whether the Iranians are".

CNN

74 whales beached in northern New Zealand

As many as 74 pilot whales have beached themselves in northern New Zealand in the second mass stranding in the area in two months.

Rough seas and gusting winds are pushing the whales into rocks causing injuries that may force authorities to euthanize many of those that rescuers can get on the beach, said Patrick Whaley, operations manager for New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. Others are drowning in the surf along the remote beach in Spirits Bay.

“It’s heart-wrenching to have to see so many whales coming ashore and then drowning in the surf, without being able to reach them in time,” Whaley said.

Rescuers had managed to get eight of the whales above the high surf line and were planning to care for them on the beach overnight with hopes of returning them to the ocean in the morning, said Carolyn Smith, a Department of Conservation spokesperson.

At least 25 whales had died. Officials fear dozens of other whales may be in danger just offshore.

In August, 49 pilot whales died after stranding themselves on a beach at Karikari, also in New Zealand’s far north. Nine were saved during that stranding.

What’s behind the whale strandings remains a mystery. Theories include a herd behavior, where one animal gets in trouble and others follow, fleeing predators, beach formations that confuse the whales echo-location senses, or possible interference from human sonar.

CNN

Google Maps 'loses' major Florida city

(CNN) -- It's home to 90,000 people, one of the nation's biggest malls, a National Hockey League team and, the city's mayor boasts, the first IKEA store in the state.

But, for at least a month this summer, Google's computers "lost" Sunrise, Florida.

People who searched Google Maps for the city were directed instead to Sarasota, Florida -- a place that, while an alphabetical cousin of Sunrise, is actually 200 miles away. No Sunrise business or addresses or phone numbers showed up. Even city hall and other public entities were strangely absent, according to reports on news sites, blogs and Google help forums.

Google says it has since fixed the "technical error," and if you searched Google Maps for Sunrise on Wednesday, you would find a healthy grid of streets, malls and parks on the far outskirts of Fort Lauderdale, where it's supposed to be.

But this week's fix didn't come until after public outcry.

Sunrise's mayor, Mike Ryan, said this is the third time Google has dropped his city off the digital map, which he says is unacceptable.

"I don't have any problem with the idea that mistakes happen," he said. "The algorithms they have to apply to understand what my search is are undoubtedly complicated. What disturbed us is that this wasn't the first time it happened".

When he heard of the most recent drop, he was in disbelief.

"I said 'holy cow,'" he said. "It felt like a bizarre novel -- that all of a sudden we disappeared. We woke up one morning and we didn't exist in the ether world".

Sunrise isn't the first city that Google Maps has misplaced. The blogSearch Engine Land documented five cities -- La Jolla, California; Rogers, Minnesota; Wickliffe, Ohio; Woodstock, Virginia, and Imperial Beach, California -- that Google Maps has also lost and found.

The Mountain View, California, company did not respond to CNN's questions about those previous outages, nor did it provide details about the Sunrise case.

CNN

Obama announces development plan at U.N.

New York (CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the creation of a comprehensive administration initiative devoted to spurring development efforts around the globe.

Obama calls it new U.S. Global Development Policy and says it's the "first of its kind by an American administration".

"Put simply, the United States is changing the way we do business," Obama said at the summit of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, an ambitious agenda world leaders set 10 years ago to tackle global poverty, which has grown amid the world economic recession.

The program has four approaches. One is changing the definition of development.

"For too long, we've measured our efforts by the dollars we spent and the food and medicines that we delivered. But aid alone is not development. Development is helping nations to actually develop, moving from poverty to prosperity. And we need more than just aid to unleash that change. We need to harness all the tools at our disposal, from our diplomacy to our trade to our investment policies," he said.

CNN

Titanic 100th cruises spark buzz, debate

(CNN) -- The frigid waters of the North Atlantic aren't among the most prominent cruise destinations, but that may change as the world remembers one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

At least two cruises are planned in the spring of 2012 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, with both touting special activities, lectures and memorials to commemorate the tragic voyage.

Organizers insist it's a learning opportunity and a way to remember the victims, but some critics have called the trips tasteless and dubbed them "disaster voyeurism"´.

Still, both voyages are attracting interest as Titanic -- the subject of countless books and movies -- continues to fascinate.

"There's a magic about Titanic that transcends reality," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com, a website that features cruise reviews.

"Perhaps what makes it special is that its story, and that of the passengers who didn't survive their journeys, never did have a satisfying conclusion. And so that's why the ship continues to live on".

The Titanic Memorial Cruise on the Balmoral will retrace the doomed ship's original itinerary, departing from Southampton, England; passing by Cherbourg, on the French coast; and calling into the Irish port of Cobh before sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to the sinking site.

Once there, a memorial service will be held at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 2012 -- exactly a century after Titanic sank.

The ship will take 1,309 passengers on the trip, the same number of people who were on the Titanic.

More than 30 relatives of Titanic survivors and victims will be on board, said Miles Morgan, managing director of the cruise. He wasn't surprised the voyage has almost sold out, despite the grim occasion.

"An awful lot of the people are simply just really interested in the Titanic and everything about it and to them it's the opportunity of a lifetime to do something very, very different," Morgan said.

CNN

Study ranks world marine ecosystem impacts

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- China leads the world in the annual tonnage of fish caught and consumed, a study of nations having the greatest impact on ocean ecosystems says.

The research, conducted by the University of British Columbia in collaboration with the National Geographic Society and The Pew Charitable Trusts, ranks the Top 20 nations having the greatest impact through catching or consuming marine wildlife, a society release said.

China's top ranking is because of its enormous population, despite its very low per capita consumption, the study said.

Japan is high on the list, a result of its rate of consumption -- often by importation -- of fish rather than its catch.

The United States comes in third in both catch and consumption, due to its relatively large population and tendency to eat top predator fish such as Atlantic salmon, the study found.

Much of the world's catch is being purchased by wealthy nations for their people; poorer countries simply can't afford to bid for high-value species, the study says.

UPI

MLB: Chicago White Sox 4, Oakland 3

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Mark Teahen's RBI double capped a ninth-inning comeback Wednesday and the Chicago White Sox broke an eight-game skid with a 4-3 win over Oakland.

Trailing 3-2 entering their last at-bat, Carlos Quentin drew a one-out walk off Brad Ziegler (3-5). Pinch-runner Alejandro De Aza went to second on an out and scored the tying run when Mark Kotsay delivered a single.

Gordon Beckham came in to run for Kotsay and scored all the way from first when Teahen doubled to deep left center for the go-ahead score.

Matt Thornton (4-4) collected the win for tossing a scoreless eighth. Chris Sale got his third save after striking out pinch hitter Steve Tolleson with two on in the ninth to end the game.

Oakland starter Brett Anderson allowed only one run on six hits through 6 2/3 innings.

UPI

Gates stays top of US rich list with $54bn fortune

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been named as the wealthiest person in America for the 17th year in a row.

Forbes magazine put his fortune at $54bn (£34.5bn), with investment guru Warren Buffet second with $45bn.

Software tycoon Larry Ellison was in third place, while Wal-Mart heir Christy Walton was fourth on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans.

It took a net worth of at least $1bn to earn a spot in the rankings - up from $950m in 2009.

The collective net worth of the 400 billionaires rose by 8% from 2009, totalling $1.37 trillion - approximately the same as the GDP of Spain or Canada.

Social network trend

Those gaining wealth in the list included Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose wealth grew by 245% to $6.4bn, the report said, putting him at 35 in the list.

His fellow co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is the youngest to make the top 400. The 26-year-old is eight days older than Mr Zuckerberg and one of 16 new entrants to the list, which also includes another Facebook figure, Eduardo Saverin.

Another gainer was Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer and family, while among those losing ground were the family behind confectionary giant Mars.

And there were 34 dropping off the list, including real estate mogul Tamir Sapir.

The 18 people returning to the list after a period of absence included Sidney Kimmel, at number 365, who made his fortune in the clothes business before producing films including The Kite Runner.

The report also found that among the 400 members of the list, 231 had donated to the Democratic Party between 2006 and 2010 - giving a total of $6.2bn. This compared with the 247 people who donated $7.3bn between them to the Republican Party.

TEN RICHEST AMERICANS
Rank	Name	Wealth	Source	Change from 2009
SOURCE: FORBES BBC News
1	Bill Gates	$54bn	Microsoft	+ $4bn
2	Warrenn Buffett	$45bn	Berkshire Hathaway	+ $5bn
3	Lawrence Ellison	$27bn	Oracle	No change
4	Christy Walton & family	$24bn	Wal-Mart	+$2.5bn
5	Charles Koch	$21.5bn	Manufacturing	+$5.5bn
6	David Koch	$21.5bn	Manufacturing	+$5.5bn
7	Jim C Walton	$20.1bn	Wal-Mart	+ $500m
8	Alice Walton	$20bn	Wal-Mart	+ $700m
9	S Robson Walton	$19.7bn	Wal-Mart	+ $700m
10	Michael Bloomberg	$18bn	Bloomberg	+ $500m