Motorists in Boston should be wary of where they park -- tickets jumped to as high as $100 today downtown as a series of steep fine increases took effect.

Many fines downtown have doubled. In residential neighborhoods, the ticket hikes are more modest.

The fine for parking in a fire lane downtown increased from $40 to $100. Parking in front of a hydrant will now cost $100, instead of $75. The fine doubled for parking in front of a curb ramp from $50 to $100. In residential neighborhoods, double parking will now cost $30, instead of $20.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/07/boston_parking.html

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The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.

Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/30/guns.suicides.ap/index.html

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The commander of Sri Lanka's army, Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka, says the Tamil Tigers have been defeated as a conventional force. He said troops were advancing steadily into the rebel-held north and within a year the Tigers would lose large areas and their control over the population.
But Gen Fonseka admitted a low-level insurgency could last indefinitely.

The rebels are fighting for a separate state for the island's ethnic Tamil minority, complaining of decades of domination by majority Sinhalese-led governments.

-Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7481812.stm

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Today is Canada Day!

Frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday", the occasion marks the joining of the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec on July 1st, 1867.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Day

Play some hockey, eat some Canadian bacon, and hug a moose, Eh!